Tchochkes

I was in Beijing, China last March and on my final day there my camera died. Fortunately, my N95 has a passable camera – so I used it and got these shots. You might be asking yourself, “she took these photos in March – it’s now July – what happened?” Ummm… don’t ask that. I don’t have an answer.

The point being – isn’t this the most gorgeous hand painted wall in a shop you have ever seen? I just wanted to sit in Everglory all day and look at it – but we were totally pressed for time because we put off the 798 District for the last day. What an insane mistake that was!

Now that’s a red wall done well.

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Tchochkes has been growing exponentially (we had over 3,000 visitors on June 30th!) and in our desire to make this site as wonderful as possible we are adding even more writers! Shelly is originally from South Africa and has a background in art and marketing. I’m so excited to be adding a writer from the southern hemisphere and look forward to seeing what catches her eye. As usual, please give her a warm welcome by leaving a comment. Thank you, Shira

Hi Tchochkes readers. I am very excited to be writing for Tchochkes. Interior design has been my thing for as long as I can remember, though I branched out into Art and Internet marketing, it remains one of my greatest loves. I think that the way that people design their homes says so much about them and I also love designing and re-designing my own apartment. I am very interested in green design, it’s a bit scarce to find here in Israel, so I will be adding a green angle here and there when I find interesting things to post about. For now, here’s my first post:

Barda is a family-run furniture studio in Tel Aviv which started way back in 1970. Their furniture is beautiful, light, dreamy, and creamy (in color), and has an “English country cottage” feel to it.

Barda’s furniture is made of solid wood and comes in many shades of white and cream.

The Barda family specializes in children’s furniture, although they do create furniture for adults, too and some of their book cases and desks can definitely be placed in parts of the house other than the kid’s rooms. Their kids’ furniture is functional and safe with rounded corners. Almost all the kids’ beds have a pullout bed which fits neatly underneath the bed itself, perfect for sleepovers, and functional drawers for storage. Tell me, who couldn’t use an extra bed which is hidden most of the time as well as storage space?

This is a pic of the store. I wouldn’t mind that closet for myself.

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Trend Board by Patti Boker Elkon

There’s always a first, the American retailer K Mart, a leader in budget product is now an authority on up and coming home furnishing trends.  This series of 4 videos which feature K Mart’s chief design officer, Theresa, are not bad and offer some good, easy tips on how to look for emerging market trends.

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Leopard Fun is located up the block from Leopard, the main home shop that we reviewed previously. However you would never expect the stores to be related by the style of the items they carry. Only the name of the shop gave it away. Both stores carry well made items – but Leopard Fun has a heavy dose of whimsy – which is great for the kitchen.

Ignore the wallpaper and the seriously shoddy job of pasting the wallpaper on the wall – how cute are these kitschy clocks?

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Can’t get to the forest?  Then let nature come to you.  This custom made iron bed by Shawn Lovell is a clear illustration of the nature trend that is happening right now in home furnishings.  Although it is a bit pricey, $15,000.00, it is  “one of a kind gorgeous”.

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We have a new weekly writer! Daniel Klein is a graphic artist whose apartment has been featured in Tchochkes. His design style is really fun. Originally from the US, Dani was an Art Director who has recently gone freelance. His artwork is amazing, BTW. Give him a warm welcome and leave a comment! (A nice one, preferably.) Dani will be posting every Monday. ~ Shira

Dear readers, I am thrilled to kick-off my weekly post on the wonderful world of Tchochkes! You may or may not have picked up on it, but there is a fun art and design trend that has been gaining momentum over the past decade. I’m talking about the vinyl-toy movement—an amalgamation of graffiti artists, designers and limited-edition plastic toys.

The phenomenon originated in China and exploded in Japan, drawing inspiration from pop culture and anime. In the USA, a company called Kidrobot has been at the forefront of popularizing the vinyl-toy culture since 2002, and it is wildly successful. The company collaborates with contemporary street artists to produce collectibles, which are sold for as little as $6. Many of the fabulous tchochkes are actually quite valuable, some having been sold for thousands of dollars. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) acquired 13 Kidrobot toys in late 2007 for its own permanent collection.

I’ll admit that this may not be an aesthetic that everyone can appreciate, but my own small collection really infuses some personality into the room. Most of the toys are suitable for children, however, many come in raunchy adult themes such as the “Smorkin’ Labbit” series by Frank Kozik featuring bunnies in bondage gear smoking cigarettes.

"Dunny" is one of the most popular series by Kidrobot (photo: kidrobot.com)

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Yaakov Sasson is best described as an eccentric. I talked with him a bit, but I couldn’t quite tell whether he lived here or if this was his work space or gallery. According to Houses From Within “The roof top on Alfasi is not a house but really an institution.” Which doesn’t really answer my question either. I think you’ll see what I’m saying though when you check out his place.

Above is the hallway to get up to the rooftop. There are so many brilliant elements here. Some of my favorites were:

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I saw the pouf emerging in home furnishings a few months ago and now I see it everywhere.  What we have here is a gentrified “floor pillow” that comes in many colors, shapes and sizes.  Some of the most popular are the Moroccan leather pouf in neutrals and brights, the Suzani folk themed embroidered pouf and the good old square floor cushion.

Leather poufs by John Derian

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I recently had the pleasure of visiting the Galil Mountain Winery in the upper Galillee region of Israel.  The building is amazing, designed by architects Weinstein & Vaadia, built in 2000 it is a joint venture with nearby Golan Heights Winery and Kibbutz Yiron. Read the rest of this entry »

I stumbled upon this garden a few weeks ago in Gedera. I’m drawn into this stranger’s yard surrounded by sculptures made of trash, hoping no one will come out and shoot me. Read the rest of this entry »