RUN RABBIT RUN!

The hare is everywhere! For some reason, adorable rabbits have emerged as a micro trend. I saw them at the Gift Show, their darling faces begging me to take them home. Is the rabbit poised to overtake the monkey, frog, or bird as the animal du jour?

Photo courtesy of Hugo Guiness
Providing character galore, the block printed Rabbit from the Hedgerow Series by Hugo Guiness at John Derian would be great in a nursery.

Photo courtesy of Dandelion
Highly detailed cast iron rabbits from Dandelion are so sweet perched on a side table or bookshelf. They have a wonderful aged quality to them but are actually reproductions.

A cache of vases in a variety of sizes and shapes from Oly capture a large hare rendered in blue against blanc de chine.

Caskata tabletop also featured rabbits. This duo is highly detailed in the spirit of Albrecht Durer drawings.

Photo courtesy of John Derian
A freely frolicking rabbit jumps across tall grasses on John Derian's decoupage plate.

FOG LINEN WORK: EMBRACE SIMPLICITY

Products from Japan's Fog Linen Work have an almost monastic tranquility. Longing for the linen quality and design she remembered from her youth, Yumiko Sekine created a collection of Lithuanian linen in 1993. She distributes her products throughout the US, Japan and Europe. Her artisanal, tightly edited collection combines zen simplicity, sophistication and functionality. From linen napkins to iron storage baskets and market bags, her pieces are right at home in Martha Stewart Living, ABC Home and John Derian's East Village shop, Dry Goods. Exquisitely serene photos on FLW's website make me want it all-- and want to move into a rustic farmhouse in Vermont, where I will start making strawberry rhubarb jam in the summer, goat cheese in winter, take up canning, bread, and pie making in an effort to connect with the locavore movement. For now I will stay put, put it is ever so tempting!

Gathering Basket made of iron

Natural Linen Table Cloth

Linen Apron in Navy Plaid

Checked Linen Coated Tray

Thick Linen Kitchen Cloth in natural plaid

Thick Chambray Linen Towel in Purple

Wire Desk Basket

Purple Loge Linen Hat


Feed Sack Basket in Natural

Daphnis Natural Linen Work Tote

Anne Round Bag in Plaid Natural

Triple Rack

A LITTLE BIT FRENCH: ASTIER DE VILLATTE IN NYC

Astier de Villatte patterned journals in sophisticated color combinations

Candles and heady incense hit the states at the John Derian booth at the Gift Show

John Derian has long imported the design world's favorite from overseas, Astier de Villatte. Carrying the Parisian line of whimsical white glazed terracotta tabletop in his lower east side curiosity shop has been a success -- the clamor for it just never seems to die down. Now, you can get the entire line of Astier wares from John, as he is representing the line straight from it's Parisian Rue Saint-Honore locale. Take a minute to look at their website, it is one of the kookiest and charming I've seen. MC Escher like graphic patterned notebooks, scented candles, and incense can transport you to the rainy foggy narrow streets of Paris in an instant.