speculaas cookies, earl grey tea, milk tins

These books were printed and compiled as a representation of my Dutch family heritage and the traditions that have been carried through the last few generations.  My family has been fortunate to have access to a collection of photographs and stories that live to tell the lives of my great and great-great-grandparents in the Netherlands.  These three books are composed of photographs, poetry, fabric, and tradition as my own interpretation of the values that my family has laid for me.

the simple joys

Sometimes I forget about the "little things" in life - like this yummy bowl of cherries that sits on the table every morning at internship, or the soothing melodies of classical music (weird, I know - but I've actually grown to like it), the sunlight that streams through the stained glass windows at church, homemade sweet tea, riding my bicycle, running in the rain, conversations with young children ...

Blessed and undeserving. Blessed in grace. - the ministry of imagination

Meta Mosaic 2013

eeeeek, so excited and inspired to be a part of and prepare for the 2013 SNAG Conference next Spring!

small object design

Did you know that in the world of industrial and environmental design a "small object" can be classified as any object smaller than a truck? When I registered to take a Small Object Design course at my school three weeks ago I never knew that I'd find myself designing, modeling and constructing furniture!  But as weird as this might sound as a jewellery designer...I actually grew to like it.  There are so many similarities that can be drawn between furniture and jewellery design - yes, there are many differences too (scale being one of them) but they also hold many comparisons when addressing the form and construction of these objects. While I have always had a keen interest for interior design, my appreciation for environmental and architectural design have most definitely heightened in taking this course...I've actually found myself admiring the quality of design and craftsmanship in the furniture like forms I've seen in passing these past few days...weird.

Aside from the fact that I have grown to like furniture design; I did struggle with the time constraints of the course. For example, we were expected to design, model and construct a furniture-like form in the matter of two days - which is incredibly quick, considering we had just learned the rhino software a week prior.  Oh well, sometimes you've just got to push through.

process work

While I was not particularly interested in the style we chose to pursue for this project, I do feel as though I have acquired a skill set that I can continue to explore and apply to my own jewellery designs (and perhaps even a little furniture too...ha ha).  I think the most beneficial skill I gained through the course was the ability to output precise orthographic drawings! Yes, we've learned how to do draw from various perspectives in school, but this has got to be the most efficient way to produce a refined set of drawings. These actually made me so excited because I see potential in this technology as a tool for expressing one's ideas without having to construct dozens of samples (yes, samples are still good - but let's be efficient here!)

"end" bicycle seat I designed in the midst of all the chaos

sunday mornings

sunday mornings have always been my most favourite time of the week.  Living in the heart of the city this past year has lead me to appreciate the quiet, the calm and the peace.  These are three things that I often find difficult to see in the city, where people are always on the go, myself included, moving and working at a hundred miles an hour.  Not that moving quickly through the week is always a negative thing, but it becomes destructive when I find myself forgetting my intentions or reasons for even going about half the things in my week.

an anonymous post card I received in the mail this past week.  it was an encouraging reminder

another reason to love sunday mornings: one of the only times when the city doesn't wake up until noon and you actually hear the birds in the morning...it is refreshing.

three hour challenge

In one of my classes this past semester we had the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of in class challenges - whereby we were given a design task at the beginning of class that was to be fulfilled within the three hour time frame of the class.  These challenges were designed to encourage us to think critically as designers and generate innovative ideas that could be constructed within a short time frame.

Our first three hour challenge was to design and construct a ring that could be worn in three different ways - this ring did not have to be made in precious metals, but could embody the use of any material we preferred.  While I was able to complete the challenge within the time frame, in all honesty, I found it quite frustrating.  I tried to scramble through my ideas as quickly as possible, yet found myself distracted by the stress level that was quickly rising in the studio :S It almost reminded me of an OCAD University version of Project Runway (not nearly as intense) but in the sense that people are moving quickly around the room like flies and you're just waiting for an accident to happen... Anyhow, it wasn't really all that bad and as we continued to complete these challenges, you were able to get a feel for how you worked best under stress. 

The following challenge was to create a collection of three or more articles of jewellery that embodied a common theme and used at least three different materials OR three different techniques.  I chose to work with maple, walnut, yarn/thread, and ribbon and utilize the techniques of piercing, embroidery and sewing. I found this project to be a little more enjoyable the second time around!

Modeled by my littlest sister, Natasha Kaldeway