this weeks obsession - fig and fauna

i came across this really amazing website today .... fig and fauna. fig and fauna is a 3.5 acre homestead in south florida that also serves as a boarding & training facility for their palm beach store onblonde pet spa.
the site features fantastic photography (as you can see from above) of their farm life and animals along with recipes. definitely check it out - really gorgeous. and the recipes look super yummy. (plus i must admit i am slightly jealous of their lifestyle - animals, gardening, food ... just add fashion and i'm in heaven!)

this week's obsession - serge lutens

ca. 1965

1972

with photographer guy bourdin for paris vogue, 1970

serge lutens in morocco

the moroccan home of serge lutens

jun rope by serge lutens, 1978

photographer, filmmaker, hair stylist, make-up artist, perfumer, art director & fashion designer. what didn't serge lutens do? (and do extremely well) his images were such a huge influence on me growing up - they were so exotic & beautiful & well, weird & i loved them.  they were everything i was not & everything i aspired to be & do.  what's amazing is how well they have held up & how current & relevant they still are. love.love.love.

this week's obsession - daniel turner

daniel turner

the fall of a legacy, encased tar, camphophenique, transparent vinyl, pine, 2007

sooting plexiglass, 2007

mercury release, dropped fluorescent tube from gallery fixture, 2010

untitled, steel wool rubbing, 2011

untitled, sun bleached vinyl, 2010

untitled, iron oxide stain, 2011

untitled wall rubbing, mixed mediums, 2010

genesis 5250, encased tar, camphophenique, transparent vinyl, pine, 2008

the smithsonian broadcast, fluorescent lights installed in a cotton field in south east virginia, fluorescent lights, generators, 2006

all work by daniel turner.

okay, okay, i'll admit that i am incredibly shallow & it was the photograph of the artist, daniel turner, that i first became obsessed with. but then i googled his work & wow. i LOVE it - really, really brilliant & talented artist. although, i would still have to resist the urge to say "come to mama" if i were in the same room with him. mreow.

this week's obsession - beldi

moroccan market bag with colored leather handle, $44

boucherouite #3, $550

handmade spiral leather bracelets, $16

thick striped moroccan blanket as rug 3, $750

leather slippers, shopbeldi exclusive, $37

beldi specializes in handcrafted items from morocco (beldi loosely translates to "country" in moroccan arabic). husband & wife team, chafiq ennaoui & aimee bianca offer authentic, handcrafted items from morocco that focus on the artistry of the everyday & products with history. i pretty much want everything on the website!

this week's obsession - su beningfield

ripula ring, $1,030

inesse II ring, $800

lunula II pendant, $960

on a snake chain or rubber cord

imber I earrings, $1,100

stellans II earrings, $960

i had the pleasure of meeting jewelry designer su beningfield today on a photo shoot.  her pieces are amazing.  beningfield's jewelry is sculptural, relflecting her years of practice as a design architect. her south african upbringing imbued her with a love of natural forms & a fascination with sensual lines, while her study of dance inspired the interplay of gravity & movement in her work. 

her pieces are first modeled on the computer & then 3d printed in wax, before being cast into precious metals. they are then painstakingly assembled & finished by hand with each piece combining the latest techniques with age-old manufacturing techniques. 

"architecture is sculpture that we inhabit - jewelry is sculpture that we wear," states beningfield. "each is spatial & interactive in its own way, but jewelry has the joy and frivolity of pure expression, because its function is only to be beautiful & adored. designing it is particularly liberating & joyful."

i can tell you that i tried on the inesse II ring and it was really, really difficult to take it off & give it back! truly stunning...it reminds me of classic pieces from another time - a true artist.

you can see more of her work here.  to order contact the designer directly here.

j'adore! 

this week's obsession

Woman Panther, 1938

Portrait automatique de lʼautomate dʼAlbert-le-Grand (Automatic Portrait of the Automaton of Albertus Magnus), 1938

Initiation préliminaire aux arcanes de la forêt, 1936

C'est qu'elle sait être plus jolie encore la machine infernale, 1936

georges hugnet, portrait by dora maar

georges hugnet 1906-1974

hugnet was a poet, editor, artist & film director active in the dada & surrealist movements. born in paris in 1906, he spent part of his childhood in buenos aires, argentina until moving back to paris in 1913. in 1920 he started a friendship with his neighbor marcel jouhandeau who introduced him to his hero max jacob. he also befriended many other influential artists during that time including joan miró, marcel duchamp, pablo picasso, tristan tzara, man ray, gertrude stein & jean cocteau, most of whom he collaborated with.

in the 1930s he became involved with the surrealist movement when andré breton became interested in his work after reading and article titled "spirit of dada in painting". he was "excommunicated" by breton when he failed to end his friendship with the former surrealist paul éluard.

in the 1940s he joined the french resistance and published non vouloir, one of the first resistance pieces published in france. in 1940 he married germaine pied; their marriage would last 10 years. in 1950, at the age of 44, he married 17 year old myrtille hubert. they had a son the following year, nicholas hugnet.

he concentrated on trading & collecting rare books and manuscripts until his death in 1974.

this week's obsession

jetta goudal was born in amsterdam in 1891. she was a pretty big silent star in the 1920s & made several films with cecil b. demille. in 1927, demille cancelled her contract saying she was too difficult to work with prompting her to sue him for breach of contract. in a landmark ruling, she won the suit when he couldn't (or wouldn't) provide financial records to support his claim, setting a precedent in establishing actor's rights.

afterwards, of course, many of the hollywood studios refused to hire her and she made her last film appearance in a talkie in 1932. in 1930, she married harold grieve, an art director and a founding member of "the academy of motion picture arts and sciences". she joined grieve in running a successful interior design business and became active in actors equity's fight for the unionization of film actors.

"i don't like being called a silent star." she is quoted as saying...."i was never silent."

love her.