the REsurrection diaries

*korres products are amazing! - *kayak ice-cream, its pure magic - *aztec style scarf image from thisnext - *aztec inspired dress image from mifashionblog.com - *image of feathers from superstock.com

In Greece one will often hear a person (generally a male) call another (male) by a short word - 're'. It is slang and literally means - you.  ie "Ti kanies re" translates to "What you doing" and "Re malaka" translates to "you -dot dot dot" and if you don't know what malaka means, ask one of your moussaka eating Greek buddies to explain it! 

Re. It is a word that sits on my mind as those two short letters have so much meaning even if it is in another context or language. This is the recap of my short term sabbatical that I was recently on. I renewed not only my love for the Mediterranean but for my own personal spirit.  I revisited places, in my mind and physically, pushing those little boundaries. I re-energized my batteries (by solar power) and I re-evaluated many aspects of my life as well as my blogs life.

To the untrained eye it would seem that I was just lying there, on a beach lounger, dipping my toes in the turquoise clear ocean while sipping on a frappe cocktail and staring at the 'view', that I was in true holiday non thinking mode. But that is not so. Beneath my Tom Ford aviators my mind was in a whirlwind of decision factors regarding what exactly my next blog write-up would be about. Would it be in the blogs best interest for me to comment on the various fashion factors taking the Greek isles by storm this summer season? Do I mention how aztec patterns have influenced their way in and are creeping into textiles and fabrics? This trend was even brought through with the use of american red-indian style feathers and beading on flat sandals. Do I pass comment on how it seemed like the Gods truly knew what they were thinking when they brought the wedge/platform heel back into fashion. It's as if they were smiling down on me and lending me a helping hand for walking down those cobbled streets (if they wanted to be laughing down on me they would have chosen stilettos!) And just because I have a slight fetish with shoes doesn't mean that is the only thing I was looking at from a design perspective. 

The interior design of many of the authentic restaurants, better known as tavernas, seems to also have come a long way. In the past I recall it was the higher priced places that felt to be authentic didn't mean having to have the cookie cutter postcard style image. They actually attempted using a different shades of blue, green or red to the normal taverna style and obviously their extremist take on what is typically Greek has now filtered through to the average priced establishments. In my opinion it seems like an even more authentic look has therefore been achieved. As if those restauranteurs called up their grandmothers and asked for crochet curtains. Walked into a paint store and took the daring chance of going with a different hue of blue. Or went up to their remote mountainous village and filled their car with hand painted pot-plants filled with the most pleasant smelling basil/thyme/mint and then placed those strategically around their restaurants. The glorious food coming out of greek kitchens these days could rival the 'invention' tests sprung on contestants in a Master Chef programme! Vegetarian dishes have always been in greek households, but now many secrets are finding their way onto menus. Meatballs (keftedes)? Soooo 2009! How about a tomato ball (tomatakeftedes) or zucchini ball (kolokithokeftedes)? - it sounds so wrong translating these beautiful greek tongue twister words into english! Spinach pie (spanakopita) or cheesepie (tyropita)? Hell no! Try a Paros style mushroom pie (manitaropita). Trust me, I did try and even got looked at strangely the following day by the waiter when I went back to the exact same restaurant and ordered the exact same items as the evening before! There's even a new take on the traditional gyros at some places as they add rocket and lettuce! I don't know if this is due to the economic crisis hitting their shores at the moment, but at first glance I was not liking it, until I took a crunchy bite, then it all made sense! And for heavens sake, if you are ever in Greece, hunt down Kayak ice cream! Jasmine, ginger and lemon all infused together as a single mouthwatering and very asian inspired flavour. Mastixa (gum mastic-google it!) flavoured ice-cream...not my favourite flavour but they have done it right and it is a completely greek inspired flavour! And no, I didn't just eat and eat! Well...not that much anyways.

I'm not a food blogger. I'm not a fashion blogger either. I am a designer who is influenced and absorbs my surroundings like a sponge. And then I blog about it. I don't have a set style that I can define and pinpoint as my own. Instead I am like a chameleon and I enjoy changing my colours because it's those many items in my daily living that inspire me. That is what I realised on my vacation. The stressing and worrying about where I will find ONLY design related inspiration from to blog about was around me the whole time!

x 

me

summer retreat

shoes from H&M

me.design.studio has taken advantage of the perfect weather conditions in the northern hemisphere and will currently only be available very sporadically. This is in no way due to the fact that I am sunning/partying/relaxing it up but mainly because a 3g internet connection is not as freely available as I was under the impression it would be. I will be updating as often as possible with fun new and exciting items I find out this way in the land of blue sea's, fishbowls and sun!

x 

me

made by me

So to keep a flow of idea's constantly flowing, I have decided to add in various 'day fillers' such as this one. Have to admit I thought of it only yesterday though (which-yes I know was Monday) while out 'browsing' at the local mall, I happened to stumble on a fantastic design at Foschini's. Of course what made it even more fantastic was a) the element of suprise at seeing these gift boxes in store b) knowing that I designed them! c) seeing 3monthes of hard work pay off and d) seeing the first mass produced item I have designed since free-lancing standing on REAL shelves (and my bookshelf doesn't count!).  

Foschini's became a client of mine through doing work for a friends wedding stationary (her bridesmaid passed my portfolio on) - and these fragrance gift boxes were the first two jobs I have done for them. I have also designed the current Father's Day mailer and ad campaigns for them which is the first time that Foschini's have come out with a Father's Day booklet for fragrance and jewellery! SO that was another major notch in the belt for me.design.studio!   
* am still waiting to receive the printed work for the ads and booklet and will upload once I have them in my possession. 
* many thanks must go to barry michaels -bmfa (finished artwork) for all his great work and idea bouncing on this job - and to jp gouws (re-touching) & emielke (photography)

x 

me

Step 2

I am quite sure if I went out tomorrow and browsed around the book-store I would come across a book titled 'The dummies guide to: Starting your own blog' and be very tempted into buying it! Except, I know myself, and how I go about doing things tends to be a 'try / fail / succeed and try again' sort of method. It's worked for 29 30 years so far, and I am kind of getting the hang of it by now. It feels like I started full steam ahead with my first blog write-up, even though it took me about an hour to figure out what the hell to write for the first time-it's very nerve-racking I can tell you that-to figure out what to write about for the next time. So I guess I'll just wing it and try explain in as little words as possible what my aim is about for creating this blog, what content will be in the blog, and what the blog I am about! 

me.design.studio for me is an outlet where I can journal the daily/weekly runnings of what is going on in my little world. This is going to be the place where if I find something inspiring/humorous/pretty etc I will share it. This is the space where I will be updating what I am working on at the moment, sharing that little bit of ME with you and maybe just maybe if I have had a bad day this is where I will be venting! 

Today was a good day design wise, (I will be sharing very soon a new exciting digital save.the.date I am working on for a client) I got my work done, I got to be very adventurous in the kitchen (steamed salmon with a helluva lot of garlic and ginger, topped with onions is yummy!) and I got to be creative with 'helping' my niece complete her Grade 3 art project. Making a car out of recycled rubbish is not easy, making a car that has to have a square, triangle, rectangle, circle and cone shapes added to the challenge. I will admit though-that when I pointed out to my niece that it looked 'more like a duck than a truck' I wasn't just saying it to get a giggle out of her. At least the duck/truck didn't have to have rotating wheels-otherwise I will have some major explaining to do to the Grade 3 teacher as to why my the project information sheet wasn't read correctly. 

So, anyways. No clue how to end this thing off, its like those telephone conversations when neither one of you wants to hang up and you each keep saying- 'bye, now you put down the phone' and the other one says 'no no you put it down first' and this goes on for about 5 or so minutes until you realise you're talking to a tele-marketer and you really don't want or need what they're selling!

x

me

new beginnings

Getting out of bed mid winter is generally not a pleasant experience. Getting out of bed mid winter, with no electricity and a flooded kitchen due to the leaking ceiling (which was fixed last week) is beyond unpleasant. But...I got up. Without any caffeine in my system and about 3 extra layers of sweaters to keep me warm I headed out to get items for breakfast. Stopping along the way to run a very long overdue errand of re-licensing my car (just you try fine me again you sea-point traffic molesters). It was a quick experience, fill out the green form, hand over a stupid amount of money and voila! done! The good thing that came out of it - was the little printed piece of paper with yellowing edges prestik-ed to the wall behind the woman who helped me at the re-licensing thingy place. It made so much sense to me...and gave me a little push to start

So here is my start to a blog that I have been putting off for the longest time, thinking I didn't have enough time to start it. I don't know what will come of this, what I do know, is it's going to be a little journal style page put out there to the world regarding my life, which is basically my design.


me.design.studio doesn't have a set studio at the moment. Basically it's just floating around the Western Cape. I started focusing on the studio more in August 2010, and when I think of where I have come up until now, I smile. From a wedding stationary design for a friend of a friend, to being recommended by friends to more friends, to corporate work for Foschini's, to more wedding stationary and corporate identity work etc. My little dream studio (of one!) is slowly gathering momentum and a constant client flow and has me believing in the power of positive thinking and smiling an even bigger smile each day. Here I am...just me...in my little world, hopefully helping to impact the world of my clients and beyond. And now I am sharing my little world with you.

x 

me