Here's another one that I can't take credit for (all of which belongs solely to The Red Dot), but the Emily Carr Institute Art + Design, having graduated talents like Neko Case and Terence Koh, has just opened up the studioshop. It's basically a classy Etsy—not to say that Etsy isn't classy—but having some pretty heavy artistic credentials does lend it a certain status. The store if filled with tons of goodies, including this awesome piece from Sarah Fuller's series' called The Photographic Tarot Project. I'm already a sucker for symbolism (the time spent decoding the album covers for both Ys and Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band attest to this) and Fuller's work displays this amazing tension between adult sensibilities and child-like whimsy.
(She is a Lovely Vessel by Diane Espiritu)
Diane Espiritu's pottery definitely has a down-to-earth feel, but the ethereal and often incomprehensible patterns (ribbons? flowers? faeries?) takes the traditional vase and turns it into a wonderful aesthetic question. I don't know if I should put flowers in it or just leave it on a shelf, but I know I want it. And the color is to die for.
Why, oh why, couldn't I have been born with some measure of talent?
