Whimsical Textile Design -- Coral and Tusk

A friend told me about the wonderful textile designer Stephanie Housley of Coral and Tusk.

Brooklyn-based Housley mostly confines herself to tee shirts and onesies for babies and little children, but she has a couple of pillows that are really fun. She is a RISD grad who spends part of the year in India; in fact she is there right now, so I had to lift images from her Etsy store. She uses organic cotton almost exclusively. Check out this humorous Hungry Whale pillow. $120.00.

The Baby Goat shirt, below, best exemplifies her talent with thread. Amazing. Cute kid. $46.00.


The whimsical detail in this shirt called Crab Claw Crusher is a story in itself. Note the jellyfish and the charming little crabs. $70.00.


A Circus Tent onesie would be a fabulous baby gift. A cool summer outfit for any wiggley baby. $46.00

Pinchy Whale. Great name. I think I love her sensibility as much as her designs. $46.00.

Finally -- and I would love to have this one in an adult size shirt -- my favorite design (if pressed) is called Leaf Cutter Ants. $46.00.

Prices are a little high for every day, but perfect for a special gift. Coral and Tusk products can also be found at Acorn Toy Shop and Sweet William in Brooklyn as well as John Derian in Manhattan.

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Currency Commentary -- the Art of Mark Wagner

I stumbled upon the work of Brooklyn based artist Mark Wagner this afternoon. He makes these wonderful Currency Collages.

Wagner takes the everyday -- in this case the dollar bill -- and makes art. The pieces are really quite beautiful. He is represented by the Pavel Zoubok Gallery in Brooklyn. I found his artist statement on their website:

The one dollar bill is the most ubiquitous piece of paper in America. Collage asks the question: what might be done to make it something else? It is a ripe material: intaglio printed on sturdy linen stock, covered in decorative filigree, and steeped in symbolism and concept. Blade and glue transform it-reproducing the effects of tapestries, paints, engravings, mosaics, and computers-striving for something bizarre, beautiful, or unbelievable... the foreign in the familiar.

On his website, Smoke in My Dreams click on the thumbnail and you find larger images 'd suspect. His work both fun and decent commentary on the world we live in.

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