Tag: decor

Meet the Boutique: Bibelot & Token

Outfitting your home is just as important as outfitting your person, so we’ve recruited some amazing home goods boutiques to help you do just that. Toronto’s Bibelot & Token is one of them. Run by Bianca Goldman, a hilarious former copywriter who took a career right turn when she became a mother, the online boutique has all the minimalist accessories, apothecary finds and home goods of our dreams. We caught up with her to talk all things decor and find out about a few of her favorite things.

 

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TELL US HOW YOUR BOUTIQUE STARTED. I had been secretly creative and trying to find a way to bust out of an office-rut, in my own slow and quiet way, for years. I had been writing copy and sitting behind a computer for the brunt of my adult working life, so after I had my daughter, I wanted to figure out a way to re-jig and revamp my life in a way that would allow me to work, but not be bound by a 9-5. And I wanted to be around for the moppet. I had a good, long think on it, and decided to throw caution to the wind and combine my love of all things design — fashion (I’ve been writing my blog, A Wee Bit Skint, for roughly nine years now), textile, decor, jewelry, etc. — and open up a little online shop.

#TBT: Your Teenage Bedroom

When you’re a teenager, your bedroom is the best place in the house. You could close the door, turn up The Smiths or TLC or Alanis Morissette, gaze up at your poster of Leonardo Dicaprio or Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp, and just be. It was the place where you practiced your dance moves, called your first crush and cried through your first breakup. It was a sanctuary. The Tumblr Teenage Bedrooms on Screen has compiled the most amazing collection of the best teenage bedrooms from our favorite TV shows and the movies and it’s giving us serious nostalgia. So we had to ask: remember what your bedroom was like?

“I was a major nerd about certain things during high school. My teenage bedroom was full of architecture books, origami since I got obsessed with dodecahedral and modular paper projects, and video games. Everything was beige or electric blue.” – Ivan Gilkes, co-owner of In Support Of.

“It was light purple (I was obsessed) and filled with N’Sync and Justin Timberlake posters.” – Tanya Sheikh, co-owner of In Support Of.

“I was really into black and white (go figure). So I would cut out black and white photos from magazines and decoupage them as a border around my whole room. It was during the time that those Guess ads and all of those Calvin Klein ads (Eternity, Obsession, Jeans, CK One) were everywhere. So I had naked pictures on Kate Moss up on there. Wish I still had it!” – Adele Tetangco, co-founder of Garmentory

“My high school bedroom was a reflection of my school and social life, which back then was everything.  I had pictures of of all my friends pinned up on a cork board. Pictures that were taken with film cameras of drinking parties we would have at night when parents weren’t home. Decorations were all thrift shop finds, back when thrift shops were teeming with vintage. I was particularly into the ’70s, so lots of tacky wall-mountable butterflies, weird, half-melted home made candles, incense holders (for Nag Champa) celestial-print things and any old hippie paraphernalia.  Oh, and a Rocky Horror Picture Show movie poster, because I was soooo subversive. I also had a clear blowup plastic pillow from Urban Outfitters that was filled with tiny green feathers.  I was just on the verge of entering into the rave years. This pillow may have been what pushed me over the edge.” – Andi Bakos, owner of West End Select.

“It was the room above the garage and I painted it navy blue (the closest thing to black my mom would allow). I put up those glow in the dark stars around my bed and then plastered the walls with pages from magazines – ads, fashion spreads, you name it. But I loved my poster of Jim Morrison of The Doors the most. And my stereo. It was one of those stacked stereos with speakers on either side. I went through all stages of musical taste there.” – Elisa Kosonen, VP of Communications at Garmentory

We wanna hear about yours in the comments below! And be sure to check out Teenage Bedrooms on Screen on Tumblr.

The ceramic artists on Instagram inspiring our next #OOTD

One of the cool things about Instagram is that we get to find out about the lives of the people making the things we love. Our recent ceramics obsession led us to these three babes who not only handcraft incredible wares for the home, but have that easy, “just stepped out of the studio” kind of artist style we wish we could pull off at the office.

How to pick art for your home like a boutique hotel

As a full-service art consulting firm, Vancouver’s Farmboy Fine Arts is a team behind the scenes of some of the world’s biggest hospitality chains and coolest boutique hotels. Their role? To curate art collections and dress up the decor with some incredible graphic work and design. Every time we travel we wonder how we can bring a little of that boutique hotel feel home, so we quizzed Design Director Craig David Long to give us a behind the scenes look at the hotel art world and how we can expand our horizons beyond Ikea Klimts and MoMA posters.

ARE THERE ANY MOVEMENTS OR TRENDS IN THE ART WORLD RIGHT NOW? It is very hard to pinpoint thematic or aesthetic trends that span the art world at large, because art is such a vast and expansive thing. Art can be decorative or conceptual, contemporary or historic, and there is great variety within between artistic practices, such as style, medium, or what an individual artist’s thematic interests are. There are also many regional differences between art communities, based on social and cultural factors, the local market’s appetite for art, and the maturity of that artistic community.

Within hospitality, however, that is definitely where trends start to emerge. For hotels in the three- and four-star range, we are beginning to see some departure from traditional hung artwork, like framed art and canvases, though those will always be present. We are seeing art take on more architectural applications, such as printing imagery on substrates like metal, glass, mirror and textiles; the trend toward large graphic wall murals; as well as incorporating three dimensional and modular wall art in the guest rooms and public areas.

At the higher end, we have definitely seen hotels really begin to understand and appreciate the cultural, social and investment value of collecting fine and contemporary art as a long-term strategy. Our company has been a long believer that collecting fine art originals not only enhances the guest experience, but it can also foster dialogue with the local community and even yield financial return over time as well.

 

Meet the Boutique: Blush

She calls her store The Pink Bubble and is just as sweet as her gorgeous Instagram feed would suggest. Michele Lee is the owner of Blush Boutique, a little piece of fashion paradise in Guelph, Ontario. After getting her start at Club Monaco, she opened up her own boutique in 2004 and has basically been the queen of the outfit vignette ever since. We caught up with Michele to talk summer getaways and the art of packing.

 

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