Paper Shoes

Found this site when I couldn't sleep. Shoes and dresses made of paper by Danish artist designer Violise Lunn.
I love the delicate temporal aspect of the handmade paper and their exagerrated appearance.

My New Addiction

Polyvore. It's...addictive.
Notice I've added some my own jewelry to each one and I'm drawn to the same coat and the same white jeans (visit my page, code name "Oiseau" to find out the designers.)
Also vote for me for the Hayden & Harnett contest. Just keepin' it local.

Thanks Thanksgiving

Photo by Brian Klutch for The New York Times

Hope your Thanksgiving was great. We had a wonderful meal with our families and I gave thanks to Karin Nelson, a New York Times Style Editor, for choosing one of my stickpins in this article in yesterday's Style section of the Times.
The response has been so intense, I have no more of these particular pins left (they're all made from antique flowers) so I'm getting ready to post some new ones this afternoon. Thanks also to all of you who have purchased a pin from me. Wear them well.

By KARIN NELSON
New York Times
Published: Thursday November 22, 2007
Read on www.NewYorktimes.com

APART from the great debate on the significance of sporting an American-flag pin (Barack Obama reportedly finds them phony; Rudolph Giuliani won’t leave home without one), lapel pins don’t get much attention. And unless it’s the Légion d’Honneur, they get even less respect.

On the runways, it’s a different story. This season, men’s wear has been treated to an artful array of lapel adornments, some rather handsome, others a bit ludicrous: Sonia Rykiel showed purple knit roses affixed to gray tweed overcoats; Gucci went sporty with feather boutonnieres; Louis Vuitton offered simple gold bouquet stickpins; and at Lanvin, there was a silk flower that, up close, looked more like an abstract carrot. The message from Europe: it’s time for men to consider pinning one on.

Timothy Elliott, the public relations manager of Barneys New York, has. He wears a small heart-shaped stone pin made by the jewelry designer Kazuko, who died in September. “I like the way it looks with tailored clothing,” he said. “And I’m a conservative straight man.” Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

“Men’s fashion has so many rules, which means creativity within constraints,” said Mordechai Rubenstein, who designs one-of-a-kind boutonnieres fashioned from fishing lures under the label Mister Mort. “I see the lapel thing as a nice evolution for men who pay a bit of attention to what they’re wearing.”

And, he said, women are hooked. “They keep stealing them off my desk.”

Orangette for Thanksgiving

My favorite food blog, Orangette, has some amazing Thanksgiving recipes and is so beautifully written, I get lost in it for hours. This is good and not good because I have to get to work now...
I want to try the Vinegar Roasted Shallots, The Dreamy White Beans, the Touch of Grace Biscuits.

Mobiles and Flowers

I've always been a big fan of mobiles. I used to have them all over my room and sit and touch them lightly so they'd move. I tried making them when I was a kid. I think they'd make great gifts for the holidays...
I love these (above) made from recycled magazines by Frazier & Wing. They remind of the long marigold garlands I used to see in India or prayer flags in Katmandu (or are these just market decorations here?)When I was looking for pictures of garlands, I found this wonderful website, The Human Flower Project, about "how the lives of people and flowers interact". Nice!!!

Bonbon got a Facelift

Check out the new look of the site:

Rollover the "eggs" to see some new Holiday 2007 pieces as well.

What's New?

I've been a bad blogger. What the Bonbon Machine has been up to:
1. Filling orders from the Paris show. In a few days all the little "birds" will fly to Tokyo, Denmark, Italy, Spain, and (drive to) NY.

2. Updating the website and there's still more coming. Hopefully by next week you'll see the facelift while we get ready for a whole new site overhaul.
3. Planning our holiday shows. This is such a great sale with some amazing designers.

This is my third year doing it. It's where I get all my holiday gifts...
DIVINE STUDIO
21 E. 4th Street
New York City
DECEMBER 16th, 11am-6pm

4. Filling web orders like crazy--most popular necklace this season:5. Getting geared up for FA08 and sorting through some of the gorgeous new pieces I found in France.
6. uh...........

EARLY OISEAU GETS THE WORM

Thanksgiving is over and next thing you know Hannukah starts on December 5th this year (at least you have 8 days to pick something up) and Christmas, well, we all know when that is. The schedule is starting to feel tight!

Oiseau de Nuit Necklace,
Bonbon Oiseau

Oh Lapel!

With antique linen flowers I collect. Very limited editions
but I just got some more amazing flowers today!

I've been working on some new lapel pins for the holidays. Michael, from the studio where I do my smithing, makes fun of me because I really want to bring back the pin.
I do.
Pins show the world you mean business and people wearing them exude the kind of confidence I always stop to get a whiff of.

These are some with flowers and super fun with the keyfobs but I'm working on some....in gold! Yes it's true...coming soon... With the key fobs in sterling silver and antique brass

Happy Local Elections Bishop Allen

I vote for this band and this song and then this song and then this song. They have a sound that is just strummy right and a voice just bittersweet enough for me this Fall.

Cogs and Pearls

Brown Deer by Clive and Sunshine
(favorite thing of all time)

I love these embroidered silk ties by Bonnie Heart Clyde.
I've been into sashes lately and these will fill my needs. Is that a robot on the purple one?

Love love love these necklaces on silk thread by Rebecca Haas.
I've had one (on lavender) for years and I still wear it all the time.

New Math, limited edition book by artist Craig Damraurer.

Ivy Tall Vase by Perch! Design.
I'm a big fan of bird footprints
(is there another name for "bird footprints?
--Seems like there should be.)

Cog and Pearl, the best shop of it's unique kind in Brooklyn run by partner Kristin Overson and Seth Walter, was one of the first shops in NY to carry my line and now, lucky for the rest of the world, they have a beautiful new website with some of the same beautiful stuff as in their Park Slope Shop. It's a really fun site to explore--divided into nouns: person, place, thing. You can read the story of the shop on the site and now I'm wondering, is Seth in charge of the Cogs and Kristin in charge of the Pearls?
Perfect for holiday shopping NOW (see above!) I love doing custom pieces for the shop and we've come up with a few exclusive and very limited edition pieces just for the holidays and just for the site so snap 'em up--Cog and Pearl is the only place top get 'em!

COG AND PEARL
190 5th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
718-623-8200
Tues-Sat 12-8pm
Sun 12-6pm
Mon closed

Bonbon Oiseau Histoire Necklace, Cog and Pearl exclusiveBonbon Oiseau Le Fleurs des Fôret Earrings,exclusive to C&P

Ann's Birds

Days 1-2

Days 3-5 (I liked these days)

A few more pics from Paris: Ann Wood, of the famous Ann Wood's birds fame, lent me a few birds to go along with the my own Ann Wood bird-a cardinal (see cute red cardinal above)- to display with my work at Le Showroom. They looked awfully sweet and I moved them around a bit over the course of five days so they perched in different places. I'm not sure I did them justice but designers, buyers and guests were entranced with them and I found them really comforting to look at when the show slowed down for a few stretches.

They were for sure some of the most coquet oiseaux in Paris that week!

Speaking of Iconoclasts

I've been privy to some great TV lately. For example, am thoroughly enjoying the Sundance series Iconoclasts, directed by the incredible documentary film-makers Bruce Sinofsky and Joe Berlinger. Only seen a few but are the one's I've seen are really interesting. The concept brings together two great living innovators/visionaries who have made a great impact on American culture. They discuss their lives, their work and explore ideas and methods in such a way, I feel humbled being witness and relieved that the wizard behind the curtain is just a man.
I was particularly blown away by Maya Angelou's meeting with Dave Chapelle. High marks as well for Tom Ford and Jeff Koons from Season 1 and last night I watched Sean Penn with Jon Krakauer. They hopped a train in Alaska.
A great reason to get cable.

Also saw Good Ol' Charles Schultz on the American Masters Series on PBS the other night which was great. It moved like a Peanuts strip, slow and steady and rewarding in it's quietude. And you don't need cable.
(Also check out the Peanutizer on the PBS website so you can see which character you are most like. It said I was Snoopy, although I was hoping to be Schroeder.

Halloween Aftermath

Three thoughts on Halloween:
1. The holidays are near. Christmas decorations should be out by tomorrow (which may prompt me to run an earlybird shopping special!
2. Next year I'm going to dress as a woman. My German iconoclasts series is over. Last year the decision to go as Einstein may have prompted this year's decision to go as Beethoven--I'm extremely project based. And I'm glad it inspired Jim to choose a living German genius. He was so authentic, it was like being int he same room with Karl Lagerfeld.
3. I'm going to bake a pumpkin pie .