August moving into September

Local artist - Robert Chaplin came into my Gastown store soon after I opened.  Since then he has brought me much delight with his humour and unusual work.  He has just opened a little shop on the corner of Cordova and Carrall street where he is showing his snowflake series www.royalcanadiansnowflake.com where you can sponsor a snowflake!  Give it a name!!! Robert is a frequent visitor on the Fanny Kiefer show on Shaw.  I have always carried Robert's books.  At $20 each these signed editions are a delight for adults and children.

We are on the brink of the Maiwa Symposium where every second year we are given the opportunity of meeting amazing artists, writers, and doers from around the world,  going to workshops, lectures, shows, and events.  It is an extravaganza that goes on for some months!  I have taken the opportunity of having two shows in the store insprired by the Maiwa events.  The first one starting mid-September will show 'contemporary head-dresses' from Jools Elphick who I met when I was staying in Brighton in 2003.  Jools' hats are machine and hand knitted, and explore head-wear inspired by many cultures.

OLEANA blankets will be shown at the end of September at the IDSWest show.  Very exciting!

For the past four months Mieka has been working in URBANITY. She took the helm last week and gave me the opportunity of taking some days to tidy up my house - which looks like a home now instead of a waste-paper basket!  Mieka is a student at UBC and has been given the opportunity of having a role in the Model UN conference being hosted by the University in March 2012.  So, although she will be in for a couple of weekends in September, she has started a new path.

We are being asked when we will begin to have autumn collections in the store.  They are on their way, and I expect that by Jools' exhibition we will have made the transition.  I love it when the woolies take over, though have to admit, this year, I have wanted summer to really play itself out.  We still have some linens that are great for fall transition.

The Award for Design Excellence

I have often been asked about the words on the back of the tag on Oleana products where it says 'Tildelt Merket for God Design - Norwegian Design Award 1993, 1997 & 1999'.  The words basically mean, 'Award for Design Excellence', and now the Norwegian Design Council has created a logo that can be used on products that have been given this award.  You can see more HERE.  An exhibition called 100% Norway organized by the Norwegian Embassy in London highlights products that can boast the logo shown here.

This item has nothing to do with Norway except that I found it in the Norwegian InteriørMagazine, and is exceptional in its design, I think, maybe because I am a magazine hoarder.  If I had seen this I would never have thrown or given away all the wonderful magazines I have collected in the past.  You can see more HERE.

I found another kind of design here in Vancouver on the weekend.  It is a garden project called The Bulkhead Urban Architecture Project and is on the Seawall, just west of the Athletes Village. You can see a film about it HERE.  I have posted many pictures of the garden on my personal facebook page, and here is one of them.  If you are in Vancouver you might enjoy having a look.  

And here in URBANITY we are making plans for the Autumn.  In the meantime, we are happy to see the summer stock going out the door. It is Fall cleaning time (I always prefer to clean house ready for Winter,. than to clean house ready for Summer) and all kinds of items are appearing that bring extra interest to the dwindling summer clothes racks!!

Timeless fashion

The latest Selvedge has featured Nygardsanna on the cover, and has some pages inside from one of the previous collections.  I recently found a film with Anna Bengtsson giving a talk as part of the exhibition of recipients of the Guldknappen  -Golden Button- award for fashion, which she won in 1998.   The Nordic Museum in Stockholm is having an exhibition showing the work of the designers who have won this award over the past 30 years.

Hot summer days are here and now you can buy a timeless piece of Cut Loose at cut prices!  Look for the coloured dots on the tags.

Pattern knows no borders

Oleana's designer followed the silk road from Grenada in Spain where the Moors brought Islamic patterns to Europe, then on to Istanbul, and further to China.  Patterns flow from one country to another, from one culture to another.  

Pattern knows no borders

We mourn for Norway. 

Summer flowers

We were expecting  a summer collection from McVerdi in Denmark, but it never arrived, which for a while was a bit of a worry.   As it turned out though, the collections that did come seemed to be perfect for the weather we have been having.  We are close to August which is bound to be sunnier than July, and so I am pleased that a small collection of Indian cotton dresses from Anokhi via Magic Mountain, have arrived.  The dresses are made by Anokhi in India for Magic Mountain which is an Ontario based company.  They are block printed in wonderful colours.  It is still my dream to bring Anokhi directly from India.

I ordered more linen 'lantern' pants from Cut loose which are on their way.  Because I have had requests for them, I have also ordered a good selection of corduroy pants for the autumn -- basic cord pants that are the perfect basic casual pant.

Two of the 6 Liberty print dresses have been sent from Up The Wooden Hills in Sweden -size S and L. Two more are expected to be sent over the coming weekend. I am very interested to see the first two dresses which should arrive before the end of the week. Designer Lisa makes each dress herself

I have just enjoyed some days at home while Mieka has looked after the store.  I have enjoyed exploring all the new shops and coffee shops in Gastown.  I will add these two special places to my list on the right hand side of this page, but in the meantime, if you are in Gastown, do visit Olla Flowers, a most unusual flower shop on the second floor (where Mooncruise used to be).  And although there are lots of places to enjoy a cup of good coffee, I have totally fallen in love with Nelson the Seagull on Carrall Street.  They make their own slow-rise bread and everything is organic.  It has become a popular spot for lunch.  They serve their delicious coffee in thin cups, so it is piping hot.

Grab the sun!

As I write this there are soft clouds in the sky on a beautiful summer evening.  We are still receiving summer clothes, and when the sun shines we want light printed cotton dresses, so those are coming too.

Last week we received another small shipment from Fog Linen.  I had been waiting with glee to see what the 'carat' pants would be like, and we had a lot of fun in the shop as people tried them on.  They are very practical and somewhat unusual.  They look like a skirt-- a skirt you could wear on a windy cliff with no fears of it blowing up over your head.  Carat pants are very popular in Japan. 

New Arrivals

Last weekend I was in Toronto.  Just as I was leaving for the airport boxes began to arrive.  Mieke worked hard to get everything unpacked, steamed, and priced.  I think we have a wonderful collection of linen clothes to suit just about everybody looking for casual clothes that will look lovely for years.  I have chosen a few to show you here, and there are more.  (formatting in this post is very strange...please keep scrolling down, it is a long post)

Many of you are familiar with the felt jewelry that we carry that comes from Peru.  There is a new felt necklace available in three colours, and some very simple ribbon earings that play with 4 different colour palettes.

I get many requests for Cut Loose, and always have a list of people waiting for special items.  We have sun dresses, tops and skirts, pants, tees, and jackets.  In this image you can see a skirt and top belted with an Anokhi indigo patterned scarf.  The felt necklace is locally made.  The 'dotty' scarves on the right are striped on the reverse.  Tied loosely they are stunning, and soft too. On the lower right is a selection of linen scarves that have been available in all the summer colours. 

Nygaardsanna sent me another dress in three colours that has an uneaven hem and small buttons (and button holes) all the way from top to bottom.  The Nygaardsanna dresses are very popular and only get more beautiful with wear.  They are made from beautiful thick linen in a soft weave.  We have a number of dresses and blouses from their 'hytnes' collection that harks back to the simple clothes worn at the turn of the 20th century in the countryside.  You can see one of Patsy's necklaces on the mannequin to the left.  Urbanity is the only shop in North America carrying Nygaardsanna (noo gohrds anna) - no relation to the other.

Fog linen work has a small collection of clothes as part of their larger collection of homewares. The linen is grown in Lithuania, and the clothes are made there. Each collection brings surprises in the pattern of the weave, and like Nygaardsanna, there is a country feel to the designs.  I joke that these clothes are 'one size fits small'.  Lucky are those who fit these lovely designs.  We have dresses, shirts, and pants..

I am excited by the small collection of linen clothes that arrived yesterday from a designer in China.  Each of the 8 pieces are different from the other, but all of them have a very interesting design. These dresses are for those of you looking for something bold and funky.

We only have one GudrunGudrun piece left. This cardigan is made from silk yarn with 'stars' knitted with rough Faeroe yarn. GudrunGudrun (a partnership of two women with the same name) have their garments knitted on the Faeroe islands.  They also make thin woolen 'shirts' from eco merino that are knitted on machines in Latvia. They make many wonderful sweaters, and I am looking forward to carrying more.  The cardigan shown is unisex.

This is Oleana's newest alpaca cardigan that is inspired by a traditional Norwegian sweater from Fana.  We have paired it with Nygaardsanna linen shorts, and a white shirt from Guatamala.  We had these shirts last summer, and they have been brought back by popular demand.  There are 5 classic styles available made from a robust cotton fabric.

We have been promised a very hot summer, a bit sun sure would be nice!  Nothing is more comfortable than clothes made from natural fibres when the weather is warm. Urbanity focuses on clothes made from only natural fibres.