São Paulo School of Arts and Crafts

available at Espasso

available at Modern Furniture


available at R 20th Century

available at Adesso

available at noho modern

Liceu de Artes e Ofícios is a technical college located in São Paulo, Brazil. The school was founded in 1873 with the mandate of meeting São Paulo's need for skilled labour. Their objective - 'to train artisans and workers for workshops, trade and agriculture'. 

'The College also produced furnishings and wood paneling. Some of these works can be found in places like the Rio Sheraton, Meridien Hotel, Sydney Hilton, Hotel Tropical Manaus Hotel Transamerica - Sao Paulo and in airports. There is also a room with furniture in the Lyceum Ipiranga Museum and also the Immigrant Memorial.' more here.

Furniture produced at the school during the 1950s-1970s is now highly collectible.

Gussied Up Abandoned Buildings

Patrick Baillet's, Spaces Palimpseste, takes me back to my first year art history class and our examination of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's battle against the, 'frivolous art of the day.' Baillet paints Pre-Raphaelite images, such as Rosetti's Monna Vanna, amongst graffitied walls of abandoned, decaying buildings in France. Not sure if this is where he was going with the whole thing but it sounds good. For more of his work visit is website here. Images © Patrick Baillet

Digital Graffiti | Architecture | Thought Rants | Fashion | Design

Tagging a gravestone, locking locks on a fence, sticking gum on a wall. Why do people participate? Self expression? Community? Dopamine? Are Facebook, Tumblr, or Foursquare forms of digital graffiti? Why or why not?


image via my tumblr via here

• be fearless
• go beyond the obvious
• never assume
• look for hints transform them to innovation
• ideas for ideas' sake are worthless

The day before I left for my holiday vacation two of my instructors took me out for drinks - which somewhat turned into an intervention. They told me my job was sucking the life out of me. I appreciated their candor because I'm a tough love kind of chick.

Time for some changes - 2013 will see me up in front of a class again. I'm looking forward to making my students' brains hurt. I'll be teaching into the digital marketing program I created so expect to see a few thought rants like this one. I'm also going to be creating a new e-retail program which I'm really looking forward to as that's where my business was born. Besides thinking, I'm also passionate about design, architecture and fashion so I'll be blogging more - which is also a passion. Oh - and I'll also be opening shopbijouliving.com Three cheers for the entrepreneur!

Happy New Year to You! I really appreciate you sticking around and following my ups, downs and circular motions! The best is yet to come.

How to Reuse Bottles

a soap dispenser available here

lights available here

a hummingbird feeder available here

a wind chime available here

  torches available here

a chandelier available here

and don't forget they also make excellent boot trees.

Happy 80s Holidays

from me -  in my Molly Ringwald meets The Cult phase.

Concrete Walls for Everyone

We have a wall in our living room that is really hard, we can't get nails into it, hence no art. I think there might be concrete underneath some thin layer of something or other. Now, wouldn't it be nice if I could get my hands on this concrete wall paper from Norwegian designer Tom Haga? My concrete wall could actually live up to its reputation. Remember the scrap wood wallpaper by Danish designer Piet Hein Eek I wrote about last year? No need to get an industrial loft - paper your condo to look like one - or perhaps a forest, or the view from the moon.

Quote of the Week - Thomas Jefferson

If you want something you've never had, you must do something you've never done.

image via

My 6 Gift Wish List

dwarf globe blue spruce

black cable knit sweater (image)

Le Labo Musc 25

These earrings. I had the same ones once but then I was robbed.

Fiorentini + Baker

Sterling Silver Bobby Pins

Italian Mid-Century Barware - Gio Ponti Style

1950s 4 piece silver plate bar set
buy it here

Art Wall Inspirations

source

source

Dark Shadows

source

vintage ELLE Decor

source

source

NY Times

6 Unique Gifts for Him

Ludwig mies van der Rohe LEGO Architecture Farnsworth House

Vintage suede leather Jansport pack

mid-century rayon neck scarf


TDK 3 Speaker Boombox Audio System

Leather key chain flash drive


vintage bakelite stag horn bar ware

Before you start your party do this

Light new unscented candles a few hours before, blow them out and add a drop of essential oil. When you light them for your party they'll emit your special scent. Some Chistmasy oils are mandarin, clove, cinnamon, pine and cedar.

btw - Le Labo is doing oils now.