Bits & Bobs

It's been a week now and there are still traces of my holiday scattered across the room. I tend to get a bit distracted when it comes to unpacking, rearranging and cleaning out my whole wardrobe. Most of the time I do it in steps; create huge piles on the floor, take a break, sift through one of the piles for a few minutes, take another break, stare at the mountain of things accumulating ontop of the bed and magically wish they would disappear to their right places.  It's pretty exhausting I tell you, my system that is, but I've come to terms with it.
Though I'm sure if I had these pretty items from Present & Correct to organise my random collections and my day.

 

for all things small and button-y

Office in a jar; I wish I could fit everything I need inside a jar as compact as this

The travel envelope; the perfect accessory to carry all your loose papers

If only all the random objects lying around would magically compose itself to this beautiful artpiece

images via; Present & Correct

Summer time

So I'm packing my too-small-to-fit-everything-but-damn-this-is-one-heavy suitcase, and I thought I needed a break from all that folding and rolling, so I decided to pop in a bit for a post. Yes, summer is here and that only means one thing. Travelling. My other love besides eating, daydreaming, designing, sleeping...

So on the subject of travelling, here are some typographic logotypes for the destinations I will be jetting off to in 24 hours. Have a great summer.

Fine dining and extremely fine shopping.. in New York, New York!

All ready to hit Miami, the Carribean & Florida with my sunblock & sunnies

Cambridge is close to London yeah? I was never good at Geography

And Part 2 of last post's story will be coming up after the break :)

Images via: www.albinholmqvist.com

Art in the City

I held off writing about this until everything was in picture perfect place. And now that I'm sitting here with my legs perfectly cosied up on the worktable and my sleeping patterns in tact, it's time to unveil what I have been designing, planning and cooped up in my studio for endless hours on this last month. May certainly did take its time to pass, but I'm not complaining, when you have a deadline you always beg for a few extra hours in the day.

There are two parts to this story (sounds intriguing, doesn't it :P). Ok, let me just get on with it then. As a graphic designer, I have always still loved to produce artworks. Get that canvas out and start splashing wildly away. I wish. I'm more of a detailed person, very micro in my works. While in university, I had taken a printmaking course, and I had started working on creating artworks on a theme around the old area of Dubai, Bastakiya, where my grandparents had lived. Back then, with no AC's (and living in a desert you can imagine how hot it can get), I was fascinated about how they used to live; in summer time when it would get hot, they would hoist up their mattresses and sleep on the rooftops. Their windtower houses, a funcionally built architecture that would capture the wind through the narrow slits in the box-like structure, and drive it within, cooling the interior and its inhabitants.

After university, I had always wanted to continue working on this theme, and I saw my chance when The Ara Gallery posted a call for an Emirati artist exhibition representing the UAE from their perspective. And here I am now, 2 weeks after the launch of the exhibition, breathing a sigh of relief and delight as my artworks have finally come to life on paper.

"Once upon a time" a reflection of Bastakiya's Windtower houses

a detailed look; the arabic type inteprets to 'once upon a time'

"Across the times" their means of living, on board Dhows and Abra's

"Endless Strides" their means of transport, across the harsh sandy dunes

"A moment" a blurred memory, captured to be preserved

Another Emirati artist exhibiting her artworks was Aljoud Lootah, the designer behind the successful fashion brand Niftee (www.niftee.ae). I really loved her works, depicting elements from the Emirati traditional gold jewellery blended with Arabic calligraphy to create a piece of art.

Hollywood in Pearls

So I started this post 2 months ago and then I seriously don't know what happened, and how we are now two months later. But I'm back and you can all rest assured I'm here to stay, sorry for giving you a fright there :P And on to my much delayed post:

Pearls, crystals and more bling. Last month, was pretty much packed with events, galleries and art weeks. I have just downloaded the images from my pathetic camera so I can finally blog about what I have been up to in March (other than munching on delicious finger foods to tea parties may I add, they suddenly sprung up out of nowhere and I've been stuffing myself with macarons, salmon rolls and biscuits).

Leila Marashi, owner of fashion label Sugar Vintage, recently collaborated with S*uce boutique to unveil her first artwork collection "The turathi-pop collection". Inspired by Hollywood sirens and famous faces, Leila added a whole new bling makeover plus an Arabian touch to these icons, leaving me starry-eyed with all those crystal encrusted artworks.

 Pearl encrusted Chanel perfume

 Arabic jewellery adorning the ever classic Audrey Hepburn

In detail

Beyonce in a traditional Burqa worn by old women and henna

Dihn Ood; small Arabic perfume bottles

the queen dressed in pearls

another perfume bottle dressed to impress

Miss Mona Lisa

We're all mad!

March couldn't have started with a more perfect way. This weekend I was in bliss.. or more like a Mad Hatter's tea party bliss...

"Don't be late for a very important date on the 12th of March. By order of the Royal Queen of Hearts, you are hereby summoned to attend our Jumeira Wonderland, and celebrate our day of madness with tea and goodies. Wear your fanciest hats and dress to impress the Queens. Respond to the queen by 10th of March or it's Off with your heads!"

With this super cute invite, I couldn't wait for Saturday to come. And it was worth my over-excited anticipation, the whole place was swarming with Alice and tea goodness and it was madly magical! It was incredible.. and having friends that are up for anything crazy that gets thrown at them makes it all the better.

A wonderful floral wonderland

Something magical is going on here

quirky Alice in Wonderland themed cupcakes

would you like a teacup with that?

pastries, cheesecakes and scones (yummy)

my very own feather to mark my spot

what's a mad hatter tea party without a few hats  {1st place winner}

my cousin's crazy top hat {won 2nd place}

Doesn't it look lovely, all the colors and details and the whole fun of it all. Makes me want to throw a tea party now... Well one of these days (I hope).

Pop Art gone Arabic

While I was shopping and lusting away in the vintage Bambah Boutique, I came upon two enormous pop art canvas paintings. Corinne Martins, the artist behind those paintings, goes back to her Middle Eastern roots and explores the themes of Arabic popular culture. Can I just say, my wishlist got a teeny tiny bit longer.

Coca-Cola :: Tide

Pringles  ::  Crash

Notice the old 'Pepsi-Cola' crate holding the Miranda bottles <3

 Pepsi; there's something about arabic type that makes my heart tingle

www.corinnemartin.com

Vintage haven {Bambah Boutique}

You probably figured out I love vintage.. I really do.. I am one of those people who's heart gets all jittery and fluttery at the sight of a typewriter or an old neon sign. Dubai is full of boutiques but none of those vintage, that is until the charming Maha Rasheed opened up 'Bambah Boutique' a one of a kind vintage store. Bursting with character and old style decor, it was love at first sight. Sequins, bows, dresses, florals, metallic, there's everything you've ever dreamed of, including a clock with arabic numbers that works anti-clockwise!

{Bambah Boutique} bambah:: an Arabic word for pink 

Charming decor with homemade scones and tea

My new found love, the Arabic clock {5:47}

My favorite corner, really loving the mint colored walls

The gorgeous 50's wall

 

 I'm a proud owner of a tunic black dress from the LBD rail

 "Old Fashion is the new fashion" and I totally agree.
A snapshot from their lovely website www.bambah.com

{The metal wire on the left spells out Bambah in Arabic, بمبة , such a sweet detail}

Photo credits: FiveFive Fabulous

                       Fashion Gossip          

365 Days

Can you believe we are already halfway into the first month of 2011! And I still haven't gotten me a calendar for the new year, that's already 13 days of unwritten mini stories. One of the things I love about starting a new year is the search for the ultimate journal. I love writing. Or more so, I have a memory of a goldfish so I need to constantly write down my everyday adventures (not that going to the gym, or strolling down the beach may count as being adventurous). But I digress. My favourite part is rubbing my fingers over the back of papers and feeling the marks made from my pen, it reminds me of school days where I would scribble and scrawl all sorts of little drawings on the edges of my arabic books. Some serious doodle masterpieces were created back then, unlike today where everything is digital. For me, keeping a journal each year is more than just counting down the days, it's to document my life, my thoughts and my doodles :)

So when I came across Design Sponge's vintage postcard calendar journal, I knew it was the one. I mean, can you imagine how many stories could be written over the years. And the best part is if you run out of writing space (which I'm sure I would) you can just keep on adding more papers as you go on. Plus, it's so pretty with all those postcards popping in between each month. Brilliant!

a novel a day

On an unrelated topic, I found these mysterious letters a while ago and couldn't get it out of my mind. What a cool idea. I wish I was one of their neighbors. Lenka and Michael have sought out to sending out handwritten letters to everyone in the world, and they started with sending a letter to each of the 467 households in the small Irish village of Cushendall. I wish I lived in their neighborhood. I mean, who wouldn't want a personalised handwritten letter of their own. And their stuff is hilarious, I hope my writing would be as funny and spontaneous as them one day.

mysterious letters

So & Sew

Chocolate chip icecream punctuated with drops of rainbows, tea parties and dreamy photos; these are exactly what appeal to me this time of year. Quick, hearty and satisfying. So when I came across these images of local designer, Hind Abdulrazzaq's Spring 2010 collection of 'So & Sew', I was in winter heaven. Here is where both fashion and interior merge to create one powerful design collection... oh be still my beating heart <3 (Is it just me, or there seems to be an Alice in Wonderland vibe in the images below.. yes? no?)

one; there's a potion that can make you shrink

two; and a cake that can make you grow

three; animals that can talk

four; Alice, cats can disappear

five; there's a place called wonderland