etsy love: kjoo

in the interest of spreading the handmade love, i'm starting a little feature here on bits and bobbins which shows off what i think are some amazing goods made by amazing artists, designers, and makers on the inimitable handmade marketplace, etsy.com. it's all about what catches *my* eye, anything from clothing and wearables to homewares. i'll show you a few pieces from each seller's shop and give you a teensy little bit of info about the artist and their wares, linking back to their etsy shops and items.

enjoy!

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first up is kjoo, aka maria, a graphic designer and fiber jewelry maker who hails from portugal. i first became aware of her via her flickr. i have been a fan of her work for some time, and i've actually written about her here before, over a year and a half ago, but her work delights me so that i feel like she deserves repeat mention.

kjoobranchring.jpg

maria's work shows a finely honed sense and sensitivity to color and texture. unusual colorways, skilled, steady handiwork in the realms of hand-stitching, felting and crochet, and a studied skill in marrying various found materials makes for a deliciously amorphous, experimental, organic feel to her whole body of work. her work is transcendent, her pieces are akin to wearable art.

kjoochokerbrooch.jpg

a good pal of mine here in san francisco is a big fan of maria's work and has several of her one-ofa-kind pieces in her jewelry collection, so i can also attest to their beauty in the flesh. they have a soft tactile look and feel on sights, and you can palpably sense the work and trained eye that fashioned them.

the piece below is one of my favorites.

kjooberberchoker.jpg

more kjoo lovliness here. viva, etsy!

beautiful stranger TV

beautiful stranger TV.png

fly recently posted about beautiful stranger TV: it's a street fashion video site where the creators hit the streets of NYC to hunt down and interview it's stylish denizens, asking them what they are wearing and doing, basically what their into on a myriad of levels. what makes the site special? alongside each video featured on the site is a clickable listing of websites that the beautiful stranger mentioned in his/her interview so you can "procure the beloved items these style setters can't live without". the whole kit and kaboodle was a brainchild of several people who were/are in the beauty/fashion/media/lifestyle industries.

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genius, i say, especially that last bit. it's sort of like the listing of products one sees under many a wardrobe_remix (which i purposely included/instituted from the get-go) and coupled with some street fashion photos on certain smart sites and magazines of that sort (i'm thinking hel-looks, and in many japanese (street) fashion magazines, like the maverick in this genre, fruits), except it takes said listings to the next level and hyperlinks them, making it easier for people to surf over and grab it for themselves.
AI fantasy thought that would take that very idea to the next level:
it would be great if the technology inherent in the ever-burgeoning semantic web could help with this sort of thing, making semi-automatic linking of things people list without the individual having to do a lot of work to make the actual links. such a thing might not be far off.

threadbanger + compai

in the interest of spreading the DIY fashion love, i pass along this:

this past week, threadbanger's rob & corrine talked to compai, a brooklyn-based design crew that makes awesome recycled clothing. they are the force behind the DIY books 99 Ways to Cut, Sew & Deck Out Your Denim, 99 Ways to Cut, Sew, Trim, and Tie Your T-Shirt into Something Special, and the up-coming tome, 99 Ways to Cut, Sew, Tie & Rock Your Scarf. in the video, the compai ladies work their magic on a sweatshirt, making it way more stylin' and girlie. tres, tres cute. do check it out!