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Shopping blog featuring products made by people not factories.

Under the Root

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My name is Jennifer M. Brown. Under The Root began for me almost ten years ago with the intention of moving fabrics across the body to capture the essence of movement.

The ideas and dreams were growing like grass on my brain and fingernails. The skillset with textiles had just began to develop and continues to lighten my grasp with the human body and deepen the desires with running fabrics across the skin.

The Company, Under The Root, began in Chicago while designing and producing pieces for performers, clients, and necessity. It has continued, since 1998, to create delicates with sustainable and reclaimed, repurposed textiles.

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The structures are designed to connect wearers with their personal charm, burlesque nature, conscious responsibility, and utilitarianism character. Each pattern has the inclination to uncover an individual’s sensuality and playfulness. This discovery, then releases the humor and desire for textiles that overlay the skin and ‘turn on’ the needs of what breathes underneath.

Today, each handmade structure reflects the use of materials and the grace of the human body. The designs display the nostalgia of the vintage eras they represent and the functionality needed for the 21st Century.

The collection of materials being drawn from include vintage textiles, sustainable fabrics, recycled and reclaimed textiles from glorious, miscellaneous finds, and the ever-growing cutoffs. All the materials are hand-picked and laundered before the construction.

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An enlightening day at the gallery…

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Inspired. That’s what I felt after visiting the Vancouver Art Gallery last weekend. My husband and I are members, so we’re free to pop in any time we like to check out the newest exhibition which is a great luxury. So much so that we may not even look into a new exhibit in that much detail in advance like we would otherwise, we’ll just head down instead to check it out in person. For some reason I wasn’t that excited about the WE: Vancouver exhibit. I figured, I live here already, and as much as I love it I’m not super interested in some kind of rah rah city pride type of thing. I found something very very different that encouraged me in more ways than one. (The Reclaimed Dress above is from Etsy shop, Adhesif.)

Seed Bombs from Visual Lingual

With the dawn of the internet, we’ve seen the rise of countless different types of sites – and I couldn’t help but wonder after visiting the exhibit, how this easy transmission of information might be changing our collective perspectives for the better. Now it’s altogether possible that the folks whose thoughts and work were on display came to these views without the internet’s helping hand, but there were three outlooks that I have heard expressed again and again by people online and by my own friends in the last couple of years that I can’t help but wonder if there is some kind of interplay there, and a really great one at that, that is making these types of views far more mainstream than they ever have been before.

Throughout this post, you’ll find handmade items that I feel fit the various themes of this post in one way or another!

Reclaimed Wood Vase from Peg and Awl

The first “manifesto” I came across in the gallery found it’s main focus in nature and architecture, and painted an enticing vision of individuals who find themselves deeply connected to the outside world in a sustainable way. If you’d like, read more here about Mari Fujita and Matthew Soules vision of a future where we commute by kayak and pluck tomatoes from our wallpaper, right here.

Next, a commentary on conscious consumption – reminding us to be in touch with what we eat and use in our day to day lives. Either by baking bread, or planting a fruit tree or any other number of things as Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon suggest here.


Reclaimed wood terrarium from Ecogro

Next stop – a display courtesy of Natalie Purschwitz, who for one year decided to wear only things she made herself. You can read more about her project here.

If you have a chance to read these manifestos or to peruse Natalie’s blog, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Are you inspired like me, or do you think these lofty ideas and ambitions are unrealistic or somehow unattainable?

Delaware, USA

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[hTara]

I’m in the first state, for the first time, for vacation. So I thought it fitting that I should bring you the best of Delaware for this week’s shop local post!

On our first night here, we stopped in a tiny little building set just off the main boulevard of Rehoboth Beach. Heidi Lowe Gallery is an “Innovative Jewelry Studio” that houses small exhibitions of jewelry art throughout the year. I got to see a display made up exclusively of earrings!

The inside of the gallery is quite simple and the displays change with each exhibition. For the jewelry exhibition, Heidi had affixed black silhouettes to the cream colored walls. Each silhouette displayed a single earring.

Heidi Lowe Jewelry Gallery

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Shades of Green – Moss

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What is moss? Let’s start with a quick botany lesson. Lacking conventional leaves, stems and roots, moss is a simple plant belonging to the class Bryopsida. It is believed to have evolved from primitive vascular plants and is among the first green land plants to have developed during the evolutionary process. There are now over 12,000 species of moss.

Commonly found in wooded areas and at the edges of streams, mosses thrive in damp, low-light conditions. Although a few varieties of moss can survive drying out, and will return to life after being dehydrated, all mosses require constant moisture to survive. Indoors, where the air is typically dry, terrariums are perfect environments for growing moss. This lovely example by Mossopotamia is made from an upcycled glass jar. As easy to care for as it is pretty, all that it takes to keep your moss lush and green is a light misting of water and indirect light. As shop-owner Sherri says “No green thumb or horticulture degree required!”

terrarium

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Organization for the Little Artist

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Teaching children about the techniques and pleasure of art is a truly wonderful thing. Finding ways go keep their own art supplies in order…not so much. Here are a few handy items to keep their paints, pencils, tools, and even their completed projects in order.

The bright and cheery art clips pictured above are handmade with child and earth in mind and are available in a variety of colors and themes. These wooden clips, created by Wanda at Maple Shade Kids are eco-friendly and can be used to display inspirational pictures in a creative workspace, hang projects to dry, organize papers, and so on. Take a look at their shop for additional designs and other adorable items for your child’s room.

In whatever area you choose to designate as your child’s creative space be prepared to have containers around to sort supplies that will be used on a regular basis. The art bucket shown above features a convenient handle for easy transportation and individual side pockets to hold up to twelve markers. Mom N Mia Quilts designs these handy little buckets for your creative toddler. Don’t worry about spills – they’re machine washable!

If you already have designated buckets for your supplies, don’t forget to add labels. Created by the graphic designers at The Sticker Hut, these mini chalkboard labels give you the freedom to erase and re-label over and over. Let the kids get creative and write out the labels themselves. They add a little personalization and simple creativity to your space.

Share some of your idea with us!
Link to photos of your child’s creative workspace below.