Tales You Lose

Often Instagram supports a self-obsessed type of world where people share an ideal picture of themselves for the world to see. Some accounts however are such a relief from this, like @zhion. This account features Brazilian designer, Andre Levy's ongoing art project Tales You Lose. Levy paints coins collected from his travels and turns them into tiny little treasures. He explains "I'm into painting coins and designing imaginary friends for myself." 

Aren't they awesome!!

Kari Herer

Portland based photographer Kari Herer draws on experience in fine arts and graphic design, along with a love for nature, to create clever and beautiful still life prints. These prints are available on etsy and are so affordable! Definitely adding one to my Christmas wishes...

Cereal Magazine's Forest Gallery Exhibit

Cereal Magazine is definitely a favourite of mine... Recently a competition was conducted where readers could submit their own photograph inspired by the theme forest to be considered for inclusion in the next issue of the magazine. After many incredible entries, 13 were selected for the exhibition (which took place in London last week) and to be included in issue 4 of the mag. A limited edition forest cover for issue 4 was printed with only 100 copies, where all proceeds from the project, including sales of the magazine and prints were donated to the International Tree Foundation.

Here are some of my favourite shots from the top 13. To see them all, head over here...

How to do nothing...

Doing nothing is something I struggle with... Actually to break it down I struggle doing nothing at home, in my house & I struggle doing nothing when people I know are around. For example, earlier this year when I was studying full-time at home, alone, I'd await the weekend to go out and do things. Jorge, however, felt completely the opposite... After finishing a working week of between 38-50 hours all he wanted to do on his weekend was sit at home and do nothing. 

I am happy however to go somewhere like the beach, park, or forest and do nothing there... 

Kinfolk have published an insightful article on The Idler: How to do nothing, written by Nikaela Marie Peters, which I thought I'd share some bits of...

"As people get older, they realise that time is more valuable than money. And finding more time to do absolutely nothing is perhaps exactly what we all need... 

It's the stuff of gods and infants -- the birthplace of great works of art, philosophy and science. The habit of doing nothing at all is super-important to our individual and cultural well-being, yet it seems to be dying in our digitized age... 

Far from laziness, proper idleness is the soul's home base. Before we plan or love or decide or act or storytell, we are idle. Before we learn, we watch. Before we do, we dream. Before we play, we imagine. The idle mind is awake but unconstrained, free to slip untethered from idea to idea or meander from potential theory to potential truth. Thomas Aquinas argued that "it is necessary for the perfection of human society that ther should be men who devote their lives to contemplation... 

Is true idleness a lost skill? How often do we sit, serenely unoccupied? How often do we walk, as henry David Thoreau advised, with no agenda or destination, present and free? What an uncommon sight: a solitary individual, his head not buried in a newspaper or laptop or phone, simply sitting -- his mind long wandered off... 

Productivity is not the only measure of time well spent. Some of the most important scientific innovations and inventions were 'happened upon,' unplanned, after years of unproductive, leisurely puzzling... 

I'm convinced that time spent idle makes for a healthier state of mind. We want less and are more at peace when we get it. We sleep better and work harder. Simpler things bring us joy. When we daily observe our immediate surroundings, we are more grounded in our context, more attuned to the rhythms of whatever season or place we are in..." 

The Animal Print Shop

Sharon Montrose is the photographer behind The Animal Print shop, an online gallery and store that features affordable fine art photographs. Sharon and her husband Spencer create playful, yet sophisticated photographs specialising in animals. I first spotted Sharon's work in the nursery of stylist Erin Michael's new baby boy Jagger. The decor of his room is beyond cute! (See it here)

Anyway... here are some of my favourites from The Animal Print Shop... 

Hank Bought A Bus

Hank Butitta is a recent Architecture graduate from the University of Minnesota. For his Master's Final Project, Hank purchased a $3000 school bus from Craigslist with the idea to convert it into a tiny living space. In just 15 weeks the 225sqft bus was transformed into an open, unrestricting portable home for just $6000, coming together to create the ultimate road trip vehicle. The project explores the idea of living small and helps to expand understanding of living in small spaces, in a very fashionable way! See details of the bus and Hank's road trip around America here.

Malene Birger's Spanish farmhouse

I recently stumbled across this house on Est and instantly fell head over heels in love. It belongs to Danish fashion designer Malene Birger but is actually on the market at the moment for a small sum of 1,295,000 Euros (if you're interested)!! 

The renovated farmhouse is located in the valley of S’Arracó in Andratx in south-west Mallorca, Spain. Tempted?