Housewares

Greetings From Asbury Park…HGTV’s Design Star Episode 4 Comes to Shelter Home

American reality shows other than Idol don’t translate well in Japan, so I have been missing the proliferation of design content on HGTV and other networks. No Design Star or Million Dollar Decorators have been able to tempt me to watch them. That is, until they all started to visit my decorating backyard, better known as Asbury Park, New Jersey. Asbury has many famous associations, perhaps Bruce Springsteen and The Stone Pony being the most obvious to my generation, but it is also a historic beach community that has been riding a roller coaster of redevelopment as of late. The boardwalk and the downtown area along Cookman Avenue are in an upswing of renewal, filled with delicious restaurants and design shops joining long-standing antique stores (more on those in my next post). By far the best of these new shops is Gene Mignola and Scott Hamm’s Shelter Home, as the three lucky episode winners on HGTV’s Design Star discovered.

Design Star has a basic Project Runway type format. Each week a challenge is offered up and the designers compete to impress judges. One participant wins, one loses and leaves the show and the rest remain to compete the following week. Last week’s episode had the designers redecorating a bed and breakfast in nearby Spring Lake, NJ, either paired up or in one case, tripled up. While the pairs got regular bedrooms to work with, the trio of Meg, Mark and Karl got a suite. They had a slow start in making a cohesive plan, but got off and rolling as the show progressed.

Here’s the before photo of the winning room. Not much to work with, other than the expansive layout of the larger suite.

And here is the winning after view. Almost everything of note in the room is from Shelter Home – the couch, Buttercup chair, throw pillows, print, rug and more. You see now why I called the winners lucky. They were the only ones to shop at Shelter Home and the room would be nothing without it. Karl did do a beautiful job with his free form painted “paneled” walls, subtly evoking the beach and skyline. And I also enjoyed the very Tom Scheerer-like rope sculpture and arrangement Mark put together.

Here is a photo of the winning trio. Ironically, the thing I liked least was the favorite of the judges, the sleeping area designed by Meg, using fabric from Designer Fabrics on Route 35 in Ocean, an unassuming but great fabric store I use all the time.

Currently, Shelter Home has the same couch as the one featured above, a queen size sleeper called “One Night Stand” in the shop in grey.

Meg, Mark and Karl used the octopus print in green and it is also available in red. Not shown in any of the photos above is their use of the Algues wall sculpture, designed by the Bouroullec brothers, and here hanging on the wall of the store.

In addition to the items used on the TV show, Shelter Home has so much more to offer. They have a sample of every Dash & Albert pattern, which is lovely as the colors are so hard to judge on the website, as well as many of the rugs for sale in the smaller sizes.

There is also lots of John Derian decoupage, hard to find outside of his eponymous store in NYC.

Every color Point A La Ligne candle.

The largest selection of Alessi in the state.

The Chin Family of timers and salt shakers, designed by Stefano Giovannoni and Rumiko Takeda, is the result of a collaboration between Alessi and the National Palace Museum of Taiwan. While these little fellas are Chinese…

Don’t they remind you of modern Japanese kokeshi dolls?

Shelter Home is also stocking a shin-hanga inspired line of cards, like this one, by Ryo Takagi, particularly at their secondary location, a seasonal kiosk shop in the grand arcade of Convention Hall along the Asbury boardwalk.

If you can’t visit, take a look at their website as many of the items mentioned above are available for sale.

Shelter Home
704 Cookman Avenue
Asbury Park, NJ 07712
Phone: 732.774.7790
Fax: 732.774.7799
info@shelterhome.com

Watch for my next post as Design Star isn’t the only HGTV show to visit Cookman Avenue recently…

Aug 7, 2011 By tokyojinja in Furniture, Housewares, Interior Design, Lighting, Metals, Porcelain and Pottery, Rugs and Carpets, Shop Talk, Textiles 1 Comment Tags: Alessi, Algues, Bouroullec, Chin Family, Dash & Albert, Design Star, HGTV, Rumiko Takeda, Ryo Takagi, Shelter Home, Stefano Giovannoni

I’m Galvanized…By Oversized Metal Buckets and Cans

It all started during a visit to a friend’s place in Lake George. In talking about rebuilding her lake house (more on that later), we looked through photos of her sister’s place on Shelter Island. Leslie Hoffman, my friend’s sister, has built an extraordinary sustainable house there and the photo below caught my particular attention. She is waiting for her deck to age to the color of an antique galvanized coal bucket. Read more about her living laboratory for sustainable principles here or follow her on Facebook.

I couldn’t shake that image of the old galvanized metal bucket – the color and texture had captivated me. Later that same visit I was reminded at Lakeview Antiques in Bolton Landing…

Returning south to New Jersey, my interest was unabated…

Culminating in the most amazing find…

The logo makes me think I have made a great discovery. I don’t know much about Pennsylvania Railroad memorabilia, but I am sure someone else out there does. I’ll report back when I know more.

In the meantime, how should I use it?

To hold shoes near the entryway?

For a huge floral arrangement à la Rebecca Cole?

If not flowers, maybe plants? Or perhaps as a giant ice bucket for cooling summer beverages?

This just in…I am thinking it might look best atop my newest find – this china cabinet. And if I win the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint giveaway over at From the Right Bank, I’ll have just what I need to paint it! Stay tuned for more on this fixer-upper…

Image credits: 1. via Gimme Shelter, 2-6 & 10. me, 7. Martha Stewart Living, 8. Rebecca Cole Designs, 9. Pottery Barn

Jul 20, 2011 By tokyojinja in Gardens, Housewares, Metals 6 Comments Tags: Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, antiques, galvanized metal, Gimme Shelter, Pennsylvania Railroad, Rebecca Cole

Estate Sales…An American Institution

My neighbor E. knocked on my door early this morning and offered me a little antiquer’s crack cocaine…a low entry number to an estate sale at a big house a few blocks away. Rumour had it that it was chock-full of furniture, books, memorabilia and a few generations of general accumulation. With four floors to cover, I was hoping for some great scores. While US flea markets are akin to shrine sales, I don’t think the estate sale has a comparable entity in Japan. And speaking of items made for the export market the other day, I was hopeful there might be some lurking in the 100+ years of stuff.

Unfortunately there was no luck on the Asian goods. As you might expect, the house was full of heavy Victorian furniture, like this massive Renaissance Revival bookcase and velvet covered chair.

Less expected perhaps, although less so on reflection, was this. Need a buffalo head anyone?

Most of the more valuable items were traditional antiques. There were a few tables covered in Wedgwood Jasperware, including this rare domed cheese dish. There were many other tables full of crystal and china.

All of those giant bookcases were full of books. Even though I have taught my daughters not to judge a book by its cover, I am definitely weighing books for their physical appearance these days. I want my bookshelf here in Ocean Grove, which I have yet to find by the way, to be visually beautiful. That being said, I don’t want a bunch of fake things picked just for their appearance so I do try to pick up classics and others things that sound like they might be interesting to page through. I am sure my husband will be excited by Speeches and Letters of Abraham Lincoln.

My house has no coat closet in the front so I have been keeping an eye open for a coat/hat rack. I had been thinking about a Thonet bentwood style, but stumbled across this simple Mission oak one at the sale. I think it will do to hold an occasional sweater and sun hats, if only it would warm up and stop raining, that is.

I also picked up a little silver plate and glass condiment basket to add to my bits and bobs of antique silver. There is nothing like the patina of old silver.

And no groaning, those of you who are bored with this topic, but for those who aren’t, I got this mid size glass fishing float for ten bucks. You know how sad I was to leave my big ones behind in Tokyo, but I think I can ft this one into my tiny bathroom. To give a sense of its relative size, I have put a few of my tiny ones into the photo. Still searching for the perfect basket or container for those, so styled photos yet to come!

Rumour has it everything will be half price tomorrow. Let me know if you want me to run back and get the buffalo head!

Jun 25, 2011 By tokyojinja in Books, Movies & TV, Furniture, Glass, Housewares, Interior Design, Shrine Sales and Flea Markets 4 Comments Tags: estate sale, Japanese glass floats, Jasperware, New Jersey Antiques, silver, Victorian antiques, Wedgwood

Artist Spotlight…Lisa George and the Modern Art of Ikkanbari at PaperGlueBamboo

Ikkanbari (literally, idly pasting) is the ancient Japanese art of recycling worn out baskets by wrapping them in washi (handmade paper), coating them in nori (rice glue) and sealing them with kakishibu (persimmon juice) for a waterproof finish. Original old baskets are hard to come by, as they were not preserved as precious art objects, but here is an antique example from Sri Gallery.

Artist Lisa George of PaperGlueBamboo (known permanently to all as George as the result of years of British boarding school) has created a modern version of this venerable craft for the past 10 years. Using new bamboo baskets, hand-made unryushi (mulberry paper) and mingeishi (sugar paper) along with non-toxic glue and a low VOC varnish, she is custom making beautiful ikkanbari for modern interiors. Each season she creates a number of limited edition designs, hand tearing paper in shapes and motifs to decorate her pieces. Her inspiration is taken from Japanese textiles and items which she combines with a Western color palette. She is also inspired by the joy of the changing seasons, which is such an integral part of the Japanese outlook on life.

Items include kitchenwares such as bowls and platters, desk sets with trays, pencil holders and wastebins, small boxes and traditional shape baskets to hold everything from extra change on the nightable to rolled wash cloths in the bathroom. Items are finished in a clear varnish, giving them a durable finish. They may be cleaned with a hot damp cloth and then be left to air dry.

The photo gallery below has a wide range of designs from past seasons. The pictures don’t begin to show the handmade tactile quality of the pieces.

George is most famous for her shopping baskets, which take traditional Tsukiji fish market handled bamboo baskets and turn them into the chicest handbag, picnic basket, diaper bag, carry-on (they fit in the overhead compartment) or magazine rack around. After wrapping the exterior in traditional tenugui (cotton fabric), she hand paints a design on the outside. Interiors are lined in paper, much like the ikkanbari pieces and decorated with hand-torn motifs and then sealed.

Unlike the brightly colored, more abstract patterns above, these shoppers have distinctly Japanese motifs and themes. Some are new designs this season.

In addition, George creates large-scale paper “paintings” on boards and canvas called chigiri-e. Like ikkanbari, chigiri-e is an ancient Japanese art with the word chigiru meaning “tear” and e meaning “picture”. Traditional chigiri-e tends to be landscapes or still lifes, but George’s style is more whimsical and abstract. Technically, it is closer to collage or decoupage using hand colored papers that she has carefully torn into images and designs. She is always happy to discuss commissions.

So, the scoop on how to get some PaperGlueBamboo into your home? George is currently living in Carmel, California, so US orders are easy. You can contact her via the PaperGlueBamboo Facebook page and you can find more information on her technique and materials as well as additional photos. She will also be posting the new Spring line there shortly. George will be back in Japan for a big show and sale in April and is currently taking pre-orders for delivery then. If you want to be on the invitation list for the sale (and have never received an invitation before) just drop me a note. Her Etsy shop is empty right now, but should be up and running soon (if we all keep poking her about it).

My new lilac ume (plum blossom) shopper (and a Christmas gift, I must disclose) is sitting under a table in New Jersey at the beach, just waiting to be filled with magazines…

All photos courtesy of Lisa George, except image 1 from Sri Gallery and the final image from me.

Jan 14, 2011 By tokyojinja in Artist Spotlight, Housewares 37 Comments Tags: baskets, chigiri-e, ikkanbari, Lisa George, Paper Glue Bamboo, washi

What’s Cooking? Bright Kitchenware from Core Bamboo

A dear friend who knows my taste so well gave me a housewarming present – a bamboo bowl and servers in a delicious shade of deep eggplant – from Core Bamboo. I just love them! The folks at Core Bamboo seem to be able to turn out an adorable and functional line of bamboo kitchenwares, while remaining committed to a completely organic and green product.

Their success is based on the uniqueness of their raw material. To quote from their website: “Bamboo is one of the most remarkable resources on Earth. As a member of the grass family, not a tree, it grows at a much quicker rate than any other wood. From start to harvest (60-70 feet tall) it can take just four years. Bamboo is naturally anti-microbial, therefore stopping bacteria from growing. It is also one of the strongest yet lightest materials around. Bamboo is 16% stronger than Maple and is 33% lighter in weight than Oak. What is probably most remarkable is its unique extensive root system. When bamboo is harvested its natural root system spreads and automatically regenerates itself.”

What I particularly love about the line are the bright mix and match colors, and the lightweight strength.

The trays come circular and rectangular. I am going to get a big one for my mother-in-law as her drinks tray was on its last legs this Christmas.

They also do a line of classic natural colors, particularly the gorgeous cutting boards.

Gilt Groupe has lots of great items from Core Bamboo in their current sale, at about 50% off and more. It only runs for a few more days, so take a look here…

Image credits: 1-4. Core Bamboo, 5. Gilt Groupe

Jan 6, 2011 By tokyojinja in Housewares 4 Comments Tags: bamboo, Core Bamboo

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