The Splendid® brand celebrates summertime at its flagship boutique on Robertson Boulevard, welcoming warm days with cool treats courtesy of Ciao Bella Gelato, an all-day 10% discount in store, and children's craft workshops with renowned artist Karen Kimmel of Kimmel Kids.

 

Kids will have the opportunity to create custom artwork and accessories with Kimmel and her team, transforming Splendid fabric into macramé necklaces with vintage beads and using custom stencils to create one-of-a-kind artwork.

 

Kimmel's work has been exhibited in highly regarded museums and galleries such as LACE, CA and The Barbican Gallery, London and boasts collaborations and projects with The Ace Hotel, Fendi, Marc Jacobs and Nike. Karen's work has appeared in publications such as Vogue, W, Paper Magazine and The New York Times. 

 

Founded in 2002, Splendid is the culmination of founder and designer Moise Emquies' quest to create the ultimate t-shirt.  His success in designing such a piece resulted in what is now a complete lifestyle collection of ultra-comfortable styles for the entire family, found at its flagship on Robertson Boulevard in the brand's hometown of Los Angeles, in high-end department and specialty stores nationwide and

Over the last two months I have been doing an Art of Exchange ceramic and stencil workshop at the 1st Street Gallery in Claremont. 1st Street is an art center and gallery for adults with mental and developmental disabilities. On October 2nd from 6-8pm the gallery will be exhibiting the work we have created together. I know it is a bit of a trek from LA, but the place and the people are so inspiring. If you have the time and can make it, I would love to see you there. If not, we will be showing the work from the show at Heath Ceramics Los Angeles in January.

Promises to be an inspired LA evening....

Looking forward to seeing Kelly's geodestic dome bird houses!!

The Generic Man and Generic Surplus Pop Up

store at Space 1520. The party goes from 7-10 and will include drinks,

snacks, and a very special appearance from Michel Vedette and his

Automatic Body Dancing instructions...all the way from Le Baron Club

in Paris (his first appearance in the US.)

Installations by local LA artists such as Kelly Lamb

 Joanna Bean, Atelier, Daniel DeSure and many others

Also there is an afterparty at the Mountain Bar in Chinatown with DFA

dj Justin Miller from NYC.

If you are in NY and love to shop, check out "My Amazing Friends" put together by one of the worlds premiere shoppers, Kim Hastreiter of Paper Magazine. She has asked her creative BFF's to make unique products to sell at Partners & Spade, a new conceptual store put together by the innovative minds of Andy Spade and Anthony Sperduti. This store houses an ever-changing treasure trove of products resulting from the divine and complex union of art and design. I made some new goodies for the event, take a peek and keep the love of consumerism alive.

 

Partners and Spade

40 Great Jones St.

New York City

Opening June 3, 6:30-8:30 pm

 

 

 

this SUNDAY
NEW EDITIONS is pleased to welcome...

The Art of Exchange
Karen Kimmel & New Editions' Stencil Workshop

Sunday, May 17, 2-5pm
 
Karen Kimmel's Stencil Workshop encourages children to make their own mark by drawing with her nature-inspired stencils. Through this process children learn to connect with their creativity and explore abstraction. For this workshop Kimmel has created a new set of stencils from her prints created especially for New Editions.
 
Come draw, explore and create your own work of art!

learn more about Karen's work for New Editions at:
http://neweditionsart.com/artists/karen-kimmel
at our first Pop-up store in The Brentwood Country Mart
225 26th Street, Suite 51, Santa Monica, CA 90402
(Southwest corner of the Mart, across the parking lot from Bank of America, between Turpan and Mrs. Beasley's)

Well, I'm not much of a Valentines person, to me showing someone's love is not a one-day a year event, nor can it be wrapped up in a glittery pink and red card embossed with some overarching love statement. But, as to disprove what some may interpret as a "love-bashing attitude," I have to give it up for my man who yesterday delivered one hell of a Valentines gift (early of course, keeping secrets is not his style.) Here she is....the one in pink! It's so lovely; I fear it will make more of a splash hanging on our walls then being covered in wax.

This slinky handcrafted beauty of a board is from the OC's newest collective of shapers and artists, slave4soup. Definitely worth a trip to OC and while your down there, might as well catch some waves...

As if I wasn't happy enough, you can imagine how excited I was to find out that Michelle Obama selected a dress designed by Cuban-born American designer Isabel Toledo to wear today. Isabel is one of the most inspirational, unpretentious, real and talented designers working in fashion today. I am lucky enough to know, because she designed my wedding dress eight years ago.

A dear friend, Kim Hastreiter, the publisher and editor of Paper Magazine brought me to her studio, where I was instantly charmed by Isabel and her husband Ruben's generosity (he drew a picture of me for Isabel to work from, which they gave me) and realness, I asked her how many wedding dresses she had designed and she told me fourteen. Out of curiosity, I asked, how many of those people are still together, she said "every last one." Needless to say,I was all in.

So on the evening of this incredible day filled with happy tears and celebration, I look at the beautiful and intuitive Michelle Obama and think; she picked exactly the right dress, by exactly the right designer, for such a momentous time in history. Isabel Toledo has incredible design mojo and the yellow/green glistening in the Swiss (love the Swiss) wool lace warmed the day. Toledo said, "I wanted to pick a very optimistic color, that had sunshine," she said. "I wanted her to feel charmed, and in that way would charm everybody," and indeed she did, on this brisk day in January Michelle Obama, together with designer Isabel Toledo, set the perfect tone for a historic day.

A side note, Michelle's green leather gloves were from J. Crew. The website is experiencing problems do to the high volume of people trying to purchase their own pair...and so, a style icon is born.

A creative convergence, a design moment, right here in LA. Tomorrow Heath Ceramics is opening their LA store on Beverly Blvd. and they have collaborated with the very best. Adam Silverman, of Atwater Pottery is at the helm and word is that he has designed a series of lamps with his iconic crater glazes for the store opening. The interiors have been left to the talents of Commune, and as if designing the store wasn't enough, they are also launching their line of linens inspired by the simplicity of the Bauhaus. I know you may have vowed to play it small this holiday but Heath's treasures will put even the Grinchest to the test.

Heath 7525 Beverly Blvd LA, CA 323.965.0800

With the swing states becoming more and more critical in the presidential race it was such a satisfying feeling to register voters at Undefeated in Las Vegas during the last day to register in Nevada. It was empowering to all involved, as we all got to see how we all can play a part in building our community.

As an outsider to Vegas, it was my complete honor to watch as the previously unregistered employees and customers of Undefeated and neighboring store Stussy stepped into the democratic process and not only got themselves signed up to vote, but encouraged their friends to do the same. The feel good effect was contagious and by days end the neighboring Starbucks was sending down free smoothie samples and the tanning salon next door, was making sure everyone was wearing sun-block. The trip reminded me that our community is powerful, and that outreach is really a matter of managing ones own belief in their power to make a difference. Together with the ULV student body and many other people who drove in from LA to help register voters, close to a 1000 people in Vegas registered to vote. My only regret is that I didn't do something sooner.

If you have any questions regarding the status of your registration or want to register (the deadline to register in LA is October 20th) check out www.rockthevote.com.