haute gingerbread ideas: moomin house

There is nothing more quintessentially holiday than gingerbread. Nothing more quintessentially Swedish/Finnish than Moomin, so this year I will give this Moomin lighthouse a go. For those of you unfamiliar with Moomin, they are hippo-like troll creatures from a series of books and a comic strip by Finnish illustrator and writer Tove Jansson (born part of the Swedish speaking minority in Finland). originally published in Swedish by Schildts in Finland. The family of trolls are white and roundish, a carefree and adventurous family who live in their house in Moominvalley, in the forests of Finland. Moomin residences include a lighthouse and a theatre.

Gingerbread has an interesting history as well, originally brought to Europe by the Crusaders. There are written Swedish references showing nuns were baking gingerbread to ease digestion in the year 1444. The first documented trade of ginger bread cookies is dated to 1500's where they were sold in monastery pharmacies and town square farmers markets. Gingerbread became widely available in the 1700s. Originally, the term gingerbread referred to preserved ginger, then to a confection made with honey and spices.
To make your own Moomin Lighthouse follow the PDF tutorial on AOA!

More gingerbread house ideas here & here.

jack & marjorie: handbag give away winner

Congrats to Lela for winning this repurposed bag from Jack & Marjorie!

feuerwear: recycled fire hose bags

Feuerwear from Germany has a beautiful color range for their collection of upcycled firehose bags. From bright vibrant red, soft faded orange to clean white, the used fire hoses give each bag wonderful character. Feuerwear manufactures messengers, handbags, organizers, filofax's, shoppers and fanny packs. With indestructible durability, these bags would make an awesome gift for the holidays!

Thanks Veshengro

elvis & kresse: recycled firehose bags

Elvis & Kresse from Amsterdam, utilize waste fire hoses turning them into chic red handbags, toiletry bags wallets and belts.

top cardboard designs

Kids On Roofcustomizable dollhouse
Fuchs & Funke Red Papton Chair
Everyday Studio tiger head
Die Fabrik777 Chair by Stefan Hölldobler
Color Me House
A4A Design Italy
Ann Woods castle
Farm Designs UK Giles Miller lamp and screen
Cardboard Safarimoose trophy
Cardboard Safari skull
Frank Gehry's cardboard chair deserves mention as he was one of the first Architect/Designers to utilize cardboard for a high end design piece.
Leo Kempf
Gray Pantsscrap lighting
Cat Cocoon

Most of these cardboard designs have been blogged about before on Haute Nature, just type 'cardboard' in the top left search blank.

beatriz milhazes: brazilian art

Beatriz Milhazes,
Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1960, entered Rio’s renowned Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage in the early 1980s. She emerged on the Brazilian art scene in the midst of what was known as “the return to painting” of the Geraçao Oitenta (the 1980s Generation), which followed the more conceptualist art that dominated the country in the 1970s.

Her technique is part monotype and collage, first painting the motifs and drawings of her work on translucent plastic sheets. She then applies them to the canvas and peels the plastic off, superimposing images and colors in a variety of combinations. During the transfer process, part of the motif sometimes tears, leaving portions of itself behind. The laborious process leads to rich overlaid images and translucent silhouettes.

Milhazes has recently branched out into arenas of theatre sets, site-specific installations, and design work, including fabric and tapestry. The artist has stated: “I am seeking geometrical structures, but with freedom of form and imagery taken from different worlds.”

garbage warrior: pre-screener

Gotta see this movie about Earthship construction around the world and trying to get a bill passed for experimental architecture that is environmental and energy efficient--you can rent it on Netflix.

haute nature: staghorn trophy: sean & stacy kelley

True garden brilliance in these mounted elkhorn & staghorn ferns by California based artists Sean & Stacy Kelley! Their project is meant to illustrate our disconnection with nature. I completely love antlers, so this version is an animal friendly must for my living room!!

john male: animal friendly animal rug

John Male is on the animal friendly front with this inventive non-animal hide rug. I love that designers like Sean Kelley and Jason Miller are creating such aesthetically pleasing, decorative animal alternatives for the home. The animals thank you.
Rug available at Studio John Male.

teahouse symbolism: a1 architects

For many lucky enough to possess one, their backyard is a place of solace. This Tea House by David Maštálka of A1 Architects in Prague, was built as all tea houses are for the slow appreciation of the mundane aspects and beauty of life. Built from oak & burnt larch facing, it was constructed in a mere 35 days.

The Teahouse as a typological kind follows the Japanese tradition of minimizing space and is intended as place the meet with guest at a cup of tea for a spiritual release. The tea house meant for ideals of harmony, closeness, ritual, hospitality, etc. are aspects of life we often forget with our busy schedules, but which we should all incorporate into our lives daily.

Many people possess a backyard studio or shed, but few build such a glorious tea room.

From Wiki: According to the Nihon Kōki (Latter Chronical of Japan), drinking of tea was introduced to Japan in the 9th century, by the Buddhist monk Eichū, who had returned to Japan from China. This is the first documented evidence of tea in Japan.The ideogram for word tea house translates into three different definitions — all metaphysical. First, 'Abode of the Void' obviously refers to the Buddhist concept of nothingness, of the vacuum, and the aesthetic principle that the pavilion must exist for itself alone. When not used for tea rites it stands empty and idle. 'Abode of the Fancy' implies a personal relationship between the tea room and its designer. It is not built for permanency or posterity, but to express the Buddhist teaching that just as the body is a temporary temple, so the 'hut' is fleeting, a temporary thing, a resting place. The thatched roof suggests perishability; the slender pillars the fragility of life; the bamboo supports suggest lightness; the use of ordinary materials testifies to non-attachment. 'Abode of the A-Symmetrical' is also basically Zen, which is the philosophy of Becoming — a dynamic, endless process. Symmetry suggests completeness and the 'aping of an abstract and artificial perfection.' In the tea room or the Japanese house the decorations are always off-center, the balance occult; sets come in threes and fives; one never finds the artistic representation of a person on display...

Photographs: Ester Havlová

upholstery arts: biodegradable sofas

Upholstery Arts is a completely biodegradable sofa! Using FSC-certified wood, 100% natural latex, 100% natural wool, non-toxic fire protection, non-toxic glues, stains and finishes & ecological textiles; this has to be the greenest sofa around!

angus hutcheson: eco lighting

Angus Hutcheson eco light shade diffusers are fabricated by hand from rattan, mulberry tree bark, silk cocoons and hand cast polymer. Bases are stainless steel. Available at Ango World.

kulae: biodegradable yoga mats

Kulae yoga mats are 100% biodegradable and four inches longer than a standard yoga mat. Constructed using closed cell technology (so germs, bacteria + odor cannot penetrate the mat surface) and weighing less than 2.5 pounds, this mat is revolutionary, and is the new eco standard for yoga mats. Kulae mats are also 100% recyclable once it has outlived its usefulness in your practice (PVC- and Latex-Free).

top picks: haute heart shapes in nature

Isn't it lovely when NATURE gives a little HAUTE LOVE ❤ back?
Heart Leaf
Heart Stones
Heart Tomato
Heart Cloud

elder co-housing: spreading retirement concept

As baby boomers turn 60, many are beginning to plan how they will spend their golden years. Many will shun institutional facilities for a concept spreading across America "elder co-housing' experience. These co-housing villages and communities are created by residents for mutual support and environmentally conscious living. Although Cohousing Communities for Elders are somewhat rare and just now catching on in the US, they have been a staple in many European countries for decades. (Netherlands, Denmark)

The Glacier Circle Senior Community in Davis California began in 2002, With the help of co-housing designer Virginia Thigpen, eight households evolved. In Abingdon Virginia ElderSpirit Commmunity is a larger project that includes privately owned homes as well as affordable rental units. Others Elder Co-Housing communites are springing up across the country from Alaska to Florida.

You can obtain more information for yourself or a family member at:
Plan B Retirement
Aging in Community
Culture Change Now
CoHousing Association of US.
Aging Today

arts & crafts at burning man festivals

Craft and Art are central to the theme here at Haute Nature.

As objects for daily use, works of decorative art allow deep insight into the culture and time in which created. Objects and their aesthetics are a human construct of representation, describing and standing for something in our reality. We create art in order to make sense of the world.

Representation began with early literary theory in the ideas of Plato and Aristotle, and has evolved into a significant component of our language, our objects and our personas. Our created goods reflect our tastes, our desires and aspirations.

As craft agenda has changed throughout time from: dogmatic ideology, skilled master and apprentice, aristocratic indulgence, social inclusion to industrialized convenience; humans have traded raw ingenuity & variety for cost margins and quick mass production.

As representation still retains its communicative nature of sending a symbolic message, the contemporary world restricts subject matter, setting boundaries that limit audiences (ie. movies) promoting a certain set of accepted ideologies and values. Within a society many of these codes or conventions are informally agreed upon and have been established over a number of years. Despite these restrictions, representations still have the ability to take on a life of their own once in the public sphere.

It is refreshing to see a venue where these obstructions for the most part are erased and there is merely "objects representing", produced, valued, viewed and exchanged. Such is the canvas of Burning Man. Year after year, it seems to be an arena for endless amount of this raw, representational craft. In the real world, craft will continue to require the underpinnings of funding allowances, protective and legal rights, tax issues, etc.. but inside the culture of Burners you'll find art and craft in a universe free from monetary agenda or definitive purpose other than expression. At BM, sculptures made from disgarded parts, giant welded insects/structures fastened together from scraps and truly whimsical concept cars ignore the inherent contradictions between craft as a lifestyle and craft as a business. There is a sense of art purely for the community at Burning Man.

Can we make a transition to a new sustainable model for art and public works that combines representation and business? What role will craft play as the world changes?
Fun resources:
Craft Council
Decorative Arts
MET Decorative Arts

sprig toys: recycled milk jugs

Designers Justin Discoe, David Bowen, David Monahan & Chris Clemmer decided that toys they were creating and sending to manufacture weren't ecological in the least bit, actually harmful to the environment, thus Spring Toys was born. This socially responsible children's toy company works tirelessly to make high-quality toys, directed in their offerings with a simple mission statement: "Active, inspirational, fun toys made safely and sustainably." Made from recycled materials and powered by that seemingly limitless energy source - KIDS! -The world of Sprig is a place where kids power the fun, which fuels their imagination. It's where the batteries stay out of landfills, and kids get off the couch.

Sprig's adventure vehicles and character guides become favorite toys to recipients! The clean design of all the adventure mobiles take imaginary safaris to Africa, to the Arctic, the Amazon, the Outback, or the Himalaya. Sprig Toys are all made of Sprigwood, a kid-friendly, durable, bio-composite material made of recycled wood and reclaimed plastic. I am proud to support Sprig Toys, a local Colorado company based in Fort Collins Colorado. They are perfect presents!!