air: work in progress

We´ve moved!

2011-02-06T11:41:00.000-03:00

Hi everyone!

Despite my recent rant concerning the use of wordpress, I have to say that I spoke too fast. I tamed it!

It´s still a work in progress, but this blog is now being merged with my portfolio site. So, head on over to airdesignstudio.com, browse around and subscribe to read my posts the moment they´re published.

It´s right here: www.airdesignstudio.com

See you there!

It´s here!

2011-01-28T15:26:00.001-03:00

Yay, January issue of "We´re in Panama!" is now out. As usual, you can download it free here. Please leave a comment telling me what you liked - or didn´t!

Have a great weekend! We´re heading to the beach for the weekend with a group of friends. Have fun!

Almost!

2011-01-27T21:24:00.000-03:00

This week I´ve been frantically working on the January issue of "We´re in Panama!"

I had a late start, with Christmas vacation in Portugal, but now it´s almost, almost ready. This issue is made with freehand embroidery on paper, and it will be available... hopefully before January is over!

Uh oh...

2011-01-24T19:57:00.001-03:00

These last few days I´ve been trying to give my portfolio website a revamp. It needed some updating, and since I was jumping into the wordpress pool to do it, I´d also change theme and refresh things a bit.

I think wordpress is a great platform, full of people who work for free or on a donation basis. It´s open coded and everything, and expandable ad infinitum.

But it just does not work for me. All my experiences with wordpress have been terribly complicated, even if the instructions provided (again, for free) are very detailed. To cut a long story short, I´ve made up my mind - though I grief for the loss of the look I really wanted for my portfolio - and am moving to blogger.

So, sometime in the near future, this blog will be effectively morphed into my portfolio site (something I wanted to do with my previous portfolio site, with no success).

I think wordpress is great - just not for me. And I´m very sorry for that.

Any comments or suggestions regarding portfolio sites and blogging platforms? Please let me know!

Sketchbook Project

2011-01-15T10:55:00.000-03:00

Just sent out my sketchbook for Sketchbook Project. I had a lot of fun putting it together! My theme was "in five minutes...", so I decided to add "...or less" to it. It has many quick sketches, and then freehand embroidered drawings - which obviously took longer than 5 minutes to make, but time went so fast it felt like only a short while had passed.

I´ll post more pictures soon and you can find its flickr set here.

(Background is a wonderful "chita de Alcobaça" my mother in law gave me for Christmas.)

Happy 2011!

2011-01-12T21:32:00.000-03:00

I had a wonderful holiday season, how about you? There were the typical colds and sore throats (too much of a temperature change, going from the tropics to the winter in Lisbon), but seeing friends and family was heartwarming and... plain good.

Now I´m back to Panama, to work, to my routine. I missed it too.

I´m finishing my sketchbook for the sketchbook project going on. Deadline is friday, so I´m giving it its final tweaks. Experimenting without restrictions has been fun. I´ll post some pictures when I send it off.

I´ll leave you with a poster I made for a conference, next week in Lisbon. It was my last project of 2010 and it was so much fun to do that I definitely hope that 2011 brings more work like this.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-17T13:12:00.001-03:00

2010 is close to its end and the holiday season is upon us. Handmade presents are wrapped (and photographed, but not posted due to potential spoiler danger), bags are packed with winter clothes and pojects are all finished.

I´m not even bringing my knitting - just a sketchbook- as there´s plenty of cooking, baking, wrapping, decorating, meeting friends, being with family... all that waiting for me there!

Happy Holidays everyone, and see you in 2011!

"We´re in Panama!" #7, the moisture issue, is here!

2010-12-09T12:50:00.000-03:00

The December issue, dealing with those (bad) mouldy surprises we´ve been having, is here! Download it here, it´s free!

Please leave a comment or send me an e-mail with your stories and photos reading it. It´s always a pleasure to know how you enjoy and explore it! Thank you.

Links to previous issues are right there on the sidebar. Enjoy!

All work and play

2010-12-06T17:55:00.001-03:00

I think that the best part of my work is that so many times it feels just like play. I´m now working on the December issue of my e-zine but stamping all these words just make them look and feel so much better.

Life in Panama

2010-12-01T21:05:00.000-03:00

The other day I was painting away on my balcony. There´s plenty of sea view (I can even see the entrance to the Canal) but there´s also this view:

And as latin as Panama is, everytime I step on the balcony (be it to water my plants or hang clothes to dry), I hear the men working there whistling and shouting comments. This may sound like I´m bragging, but hearing the comments you´d know that I´m not. Just not.

Anyway, so the other day I was painting and I start hearing this guy shouting and shouting, and repeating the same word over and over. Normally I just ignore it as white noise and concentrate on the waves, but this time it surfaced to conscience.

I pause. I look over.

There´s this guy, holding his protective yellow helmet on one hand, waving and shouting: "paint me! paint me!".

I wonder what he´d think if I asked him to model. In the nude.

Anyway, I finished my first canvas here in Panama:

(...and I really, really need to replace my camera. It will be 6 years old in February.)

Issue #6 of "We´re in Panama!"

2010-11-25T10:37:00.000-03:00

November issue of "We´re in Panama!" is now online! As usual, it´s free to download, and you can find it here. Print it out and enjoy it!

I love receiving all your comments and e-mails, so this month I´ll be raising the feedback bar: I´m preparing a presentation about my e-zine and want to include photos of readers - of you. Please send me your images of you, your kids, your friends reading this e-zine, or this e-zine travelling to different parts of the globe. The best images will be included in the presentation!

Oh, I can´t wait!

Enjoy reading it!

Buenos Aires revisited

2010-11-24T20:08:00.000-03:00

Going back to Buenos Aires felt a bit like going home. I needed to get a haircut, to visit my osteopath, buy some buttons (as if there were no buttons in Panama) and go to my favourite restaurants.

I didn´t visit one single museum - but I walked and walked, sat under the blooming jacarandas and took my sketchbook out to draw.

I had tea with friends, making up for a social life I still don´t have in Panama. I realized, those ties and friendships I created there were thicker and deeper than I had thought.

I saw Christmas decorations (this is end of November, already?) and felt cold, after six months of hot, humid weather. There was cold wind and sleeping with a blanket, hot sun and lots of blooming roses at the Rosedal de Palermo.

There was the girl in Osaka who recognized us and helped us with an off the menu request - she made me happier than she knows. As if it weren´t enough, I bought myself a good, solid portion of choc-salt cookies. And for once the lack of coins served my purpose: change was given in cookies. Oh, yum!

After five days of walking, feeling, experiencing a return to a city where I lived, where I was happy (and unhappy too), where I met so many new friends and met a new me, I came back to my new home in Panama. We´ll see where this ride takes us.

(Guess who came along?

Oh yeah.)

After many, many months...

2010-11-22T20:40:00.001-03:00

...I´m painting again and it feels so good. I missed all the brushes and colours and the freedom they contain in themselves.

Painting makes me happy.

(more photos here)

Just because it´s pretty

2010-11-19T18:49:00.001-03:00

(photo taken back in October in Bocas del Toro, Panamá. Nice, nice place to visit, but remember to bring mosquito repellent.)

A first: azulejos!

2010-11-09T16:03:00.001-03:00

Sometime ago my friend A. asked me to design a panel of portuguese traditional, hand-painted tiles ("azulejos") to match the coat-hanger she wanted to have by the main door in her new flat.

I was thrilled with this project! Not only it was the first time I ever designed an azulejo - I studied lots and lots of designs when I was in university, but unfortunately never got to design my own -, but also because I love, love patterns and that chemistry that happens when you put modules side by side and repeat them.

The brief was to design something that was based in traditional patterns, but with a modern twist. I came up with a design and crossed my fingers. The tiles were brilliantly executed at Azulejaria Santiago, where they were brilliantly hand-painted and later installed in their spot.

I´m thrilled with the result and looking forward to working again with patterns and azulejo!

(Not so much a) sidenote: if you´ve ever been to Lisbon and rode the subway or just wandered around the streets, you´ll know how much azulejo tiles are used in public spaces. One of the greatest panel designers is the living legend Maria Keil, a huge inspiration to me. Check out some of her work by clicking here.

All images by Christophe Sauvage.

So many things

2010-11-08T19:29:00.000-03:00

These have been very introspective times here in this studio of mine. I´ve been having loads of work (which I´m thankful for) and am, constantly, searching for more work, creating new projects and presenting new ideas to potential clients.

It´s been busy, busy, and I haven´t felt like posting much. Sorry.

One thing that has been on my mind is the (long overdue) portfolio website redo. Oh dear. I wonder if I´m alone in this, but just thinking about having to change it makes my heart shrink a bit. It´s not that I don´t think it needs to be updated - it´s just that working on something that I can´t control (because I don´t know enough when it comes to web design) and therefore takes me three times longer than it should makes want to jump off my 49th floor balcony. Ok, not so literally, but you get my drift.

Other than that, it´s still kind of weird not to have four seasons, but only two: it´s still pretty much rainy, terribly wet all the time. Not too hot, though, which is fine. It´s almost the end of the year and I don´t feel it around me. No yellow leaves on the floor (as during my northern hemisphere days) nor purple jacaranda trees (as in Buenos Aires), so sometimes I must check the calendar just to be sure. It´s November. It´s chestnut and fireplace time in Portugal.

Anyway, enough about this. Here´s some of the things I managed to do on my breaks from my design projects:

This is my third attempt at knitting a Christmas present for someone mysterious - can´t say that person´s name as he or she does not know he or she is a recipient of a knitted gift.

The first finished sweater was too small (but too cute to frog); the second one was rightly sized, but not well designed; therefore, frogged.

This is the third go. We´ll see how it goes.

We use cloth napkins at home and needed our stocks refilled, so I bought some native kuna design fabrics (100% cotton, unfortunately not organic) and sewed a pretty simple hemline on them. There´s a learning curve in sewing, people!

And I finally started painting again. This time, there´s no class, no studio, no model, just me, my brushes and the beautiful view from the balcony. We´ll see where that takes us.

What have you been up to lately?

An issue with clouds

2010-10-15T18:11:00.000-03:00

An issue of "We´re in Panama!", that is! This time around it´s all about the clouds in the sky during this (very) rainy season. Check it out here!

You know how it works: download it, print it, fold it and comment! Or better still: send me a picture of your copy of the zine in the wild!

Let´s be escapees?

2010-10-14T21:00:00.000-03:00

While I draw clouds, clouds and more clouds, I´ve been listening to the wonderful podcast "Escape from Illustration Island" and the interviews its host, Thomas James, conducts.

First of all, let us all thank modern day technology that has me here, sitting alone in my studio, listening to wonderful interviews of people who have been through the same experience as me and also other people who have lots of good information and advice for me.

Then, not only interviewees have interesting testimonials to share, the questions they are asked are very pertinent too. Sometimes it feels like Thomas actually reads minds (or maybe my questions are the same as other people´s?) and asks exactly what I was thinking.

Anyway, this has been an excellent resource for me, specially now that I´ve moved to another country and need to start a new client database here, from scratch.

If you haven´t yet, I encourage you to download "Escape from Illustration Island" now. All in all, very good. Praise to Thomas!

Clouds, clouds, clouds

2010-10-14T13:02:00.000-03:00

Among other projects - in the middle of them, in the little spaces between them - I´ve been working on the October´s issue of my e-zine "We´re in Panama!" (links to previous issue on your right).

It´s amazing how much one project can bring fun and joy to a work´s day!

Largo do Conde Barão, Lisboa

2010-10-12T19:20:00.000-03:00

Went to Lisbon for a couple of weeks to visit friends and family and perform (very happily, I may add) my aunt-duties. Among these duties is taking the older niece to her music class, wait, pick her up and drive her back. While I was waiting I went for a walk and stopped to draw this. It´s strangely quiet at that time, maybe because it is one way only and the exiting traffic must go through another street. Beautiful - and very lisbonesque.

Happy sight

2010-10-07T11:54:00.000-03:00

Poor lightning, crappy photo, happy sight.

You can catch them all here.

Home. Finally.

2010-10-04T20:51:00.000-03:00

After four and half months of "camping" under a roof, we are now officially at home, with our precious mattress and bed and pillows and bed sheets.

(Rented furniture smells, rented bed linen is polyester-made, rented dishes are ugly. I am grateful that there are companies specializing in temporary furniture rentals, but guys, let´s try to make it look like a home - albeit temporary - and not just a prison cell with smelly wood and baroque details.)

Yay!

(I talk about the adventure in the last issue of my e-zine. Check it out!)

Yay! "We´re in Panama"´s issue four is now out!

2010-09-30T08:43:00.000-03:00

As usual, it´s free to download. Print it and fold it and you´re ready to go!

You can send me an email, comment below, or use the tiny facebook button below to share it there; bottom line is: just spread the word!

P.S.: If you´ve missed any of the previous issues, you can find them here: August, July, June.

Some thoughts on north-american design

2010-09-06T21:30:00.000-03:00

Whew, what a grand title this is! I´ve been writing this post in my mind for a long time now, basically since I arrived to Panama and had first-hand contact with american-designed home appliances.

As you might have read on the first issue of my e-zine, my first impression of home appliances was that they´re disproportionate large in size: in Argentina, my washer, a top-loading machine, had a capacity of 5.5kg, which was absolutely perfect for the two of us. I just had to make sure not to put too many towels to wash at the same time, because the effort would make the machine stop and not spin water out. Other than that, it worked just fine, with extra points for low energy consumption.

Here in Panama most of the household appliances we had back in Argentina do not work or will need an adaptor, as electrical current is 110 here, versus the 220 in Argentina (and Europe as well).

So we sold or gave away most of the appliances and now are faced with a totally different reality: big flats, enormous appliances and the close contact of north-american industrial and graphic design.

Apart from the size, one thing that really stands out is the fact that efficiency is not a concern here. Some appliances - the ones prepared to be sold in Canada, apparently - have energy comparison charts displayed; but most do not. Small appliances, as a blender, for instance, have no such thing as energy efficiency information (to be fair, I think that these appliaces are exempt from those charts in Europe too).

Let´s talk about small appliances now: bread-making machine, blender and the likes. They´re mostly large and volumous for their useful area (bread mould or blender jar, for instance). They´re incredibly heavy. The blender? It smells like burnt plastic after 4 seconds of being in use. The toaster gets alarmingly hot on the outside too, risking a burn to the uncautious half-asleep person who operates it in the morning.

Really? A toaster that burns on the outside? Sad, but true.

The large appliances, such as washer, or dryer (why, why, why isn´t the dryer on the same actual machine as the washer? Why do I need the bulk of two gigantic appliances? And why do I need something that takes about 10kg of clothes?) are absolutely not efficient in design or consumption. The large capacity on the top-loading washer means that I almost need to dive into it to rescue those socks that got to the bottom of the pile while washing. And the dryer... why on earth is the dryer a front loading thingie? I have to kneel to save those socks that get in the bottom! Being from the same family as the washer, couldn´t they at least be front or top loading - both of them?

Do not get me started on the fridge, that is as large as my first wardrobe and, in the end, doesn´t fit that much inside.

Finally, to the graphic design part of all of this: it appears that everyone must speak english to operate these machines because not only they have no pictograms whatsoever (for wool or synthetic fibre, or wash-cycle, for instance), they have lots of text. Lots and lots of text. Even the dishwasher, a model very, very similar to the one we had in Argentina, has text here above its little LED illuminated buttons, instead of the pictograms we found back there.

I think there is an explanation to this design-culture-shock: in Europe (and Asia, from my experience), there are many, many limitations for designers when working on both industrial and graphic aspects. Some of them are:

- space and weight constraints: fuel is very expensive in Europe and therefore the cost of transportation must be as little as possible. Housing is expensive too. This means that appliances are as small and light as they can be for their function, so they need to be designed very smartly.

- a market with many languages: this means that all the information conveyed must be expressed in an easy to understand way. Appliances are small, anyway, so there´s no point in describing so profusely all those instructions and danger alerts. Pictograms are used and text is only used when absolutely necessary. You´ll see a danger alert have the word "danger" in more than one language, but other than that, information is given through pictograms.

In face of all this, I can only say - and I know how biased I am by being portuguese - european design is a lot more developed and smarter than north-american one. I know that this is a huge generalization and mean absolutely no offense to anyone who does not share the same view, but I have yet to come to find evidence that convinces me otherwise.

Constraints and limitations are the two main things that drive designers to push farther and work better.

Sunday morning at Casco Viejo

2010-09-01T20:47:00.002-03:00

With some iced tea and a couple of bee visitors.

E-zine´s August issue is out!

2010-08-30T12:02:00.000-03:00

To make your monday a sweeter, here´s a link to this month´s issue of the e-zine "We´re in Panama!"

I´m enjoying working on my zine so much, that sometimes find myself thinking about new themes for upcoming issues, about what new materials I want to try or just connecting new and inspiring information I find in everyday and making into a possible zine format. This is fun - a lot of work too, of course, but basically, fun.

What is best about the zine is to receive your comments, so please write to me and tell me what you liked - or didn´t!

To check out previous issues, click here: July, June.
Have fun!

Still settling down

2010-08-11T11:35:00.002-03:00

It feels like this move from Argentina to Panama is taking forever to accomplish. We have been here for almost three months now, but still having this "we're camping" feeling. Our boxes are due out of the port of Buenos Aires today, but no one knows for sure if that ship will sail - and I mean it literally.

Among the new flat related activities, and still without a desk to speak of (or a good internet connection, really), I've been working on this:

They're new designs coming soon to abbrigate*, inspired by the traditional portuguese lover's embroidered handkerchiefs. I think that they are beautiful, even if you can't read the messages. But reading them in all their unorthodox orthography glory certainly adds to the charm.

Speaking of embroidery - now this is a long topic - the Museum of Art and Design in New York has a wonderful book about it, more specifically a catalogue of one of its exhibitions, featuring plenty of interesting artists who use embroidery as a medium. I was a bit disappointed to see that portuguese artist Lourdes Castro wasn't featured, since she was already using embroidery back in the sixties, I believe. (here's a pdf for a more comprehensive outlook on portuguese contemporary art, you can download this pdf; a very succint presentation of artist Lourdes Castro is available here)

The catalogue is, however, a very interesting source of inspiration served as the final push to get hold of the (sewing) needles. It felt, from the beginning, like a whole new world was opening ahead of me and that this was another perfect medium to go on illustrating. I'm in love with it, can you tell?

Just don't ask me to cross-stitch. It's still a taboo after all those years in school, filling enormous surfaces with tiny little crosses. No. Maybe one day, but certainly not now.

Way finding in Panamá

2010-08-03T21:12:00.000-03:00

There are some things about Panamá that just make this an endearing place. One of those is this set of signs located at the top of the hill that crowns the City, Cerro Ancón, pointing to places of interest in the city. I find this naive charm somewhat irresistible, and, most specially, loveable.

Casco Viejo, Panamá

2010-07-29T20:45:00.001-03:00

Panama City´s historical centre (or the second historical centre, to be exact) is absolutely beautiful. It´s a mixed neghbourhood, with government houses and cathedrals and then schools and little, badly lit shops which smell like food and humidity. Walking there, there´s so much to see: a balcony here or a window there.

I foresee plenty of early morning drawing expeditions.

More images here.

July issue is now out!

2010-07-23T19:40:00.001-03:00

Just in time for the weekend, the July issue of my zine is now out! Download it here, it´s free! Just print it out front and back and then fold it in half and again in half and you´re set.

I´m looking forward to reading your comments!

In case you missed the June issue, it is available here.

Xaile viajante

2010-07-22T23:04:00.000-03:00

Now that I have the photos of the shawl I mentioned the other day, I´m writing a proper post about it.

It´s a mix of the Boneyard and the Travelling Woman Shawls. I needed something easy yet beautiful (emphasis on the Boneyard part) to knit while moving from Buenos Aires and walking around there finishing the last paperwork. Some mindless knitting was also needed for the airplane and some later travels around central and north America.

Moving can be... hmm, very demanding, let´s just put it this way, smile, and carry on.

To finish the shawl i wanted it to have some lacy texture, so I went for the Travelling second part. One repeat of chart A and another one of chart B and the yarn was just enough. With emphasis on the "just".

And now I have a wonderful woollen shawl that is absolutely not needed in the tropical country I now call home.

Raveled here. More photos here.

Went to NYC part XIV

2010-07-22T08:48:00.001-03:00

Then a short stop in Miami... and I was back home in Panama.

Went to NYC part XIII

2010-07-21T12:47:00.000-03:00

Took the NJ Transit to Newark. The kind lady who sat next to me told me where to exit.

Went to NYC part XII

2010-07-20T12:44:00.001-03:00

And then it was time to leave

Went to NYC part XI

2010-07-19T06:36:00.001-03:00

More goosebumps and some tears at the MoMA. It´s like all the paintings you saw in the history of art books are there.

Went to NYC part X

2010-07-18T12:35:00.001-03:00

Shakespeare´s "Winter´s Tale" at Delacorte Theater during Shakespeare in the Park summer festival. A NY hit!

Went to NYC part IX

2010-07-17T12:33:00.000-03:00

Brooklyn Bridge seen from Manhattan Bridge

Coming close...

2010-07-16T23:07:00.000-03:00

...has a totally new meaning for me:

This is the total amount of yarn left from knitting this shawl!

I´ll post more photos of it when I have them. If you want more info in the meantime, here´s its ravelry link.

Happy weekend!

Went to NYC part VIII

2010-07-16T12:32:00.001-03:00

Hearty meals are easy to find and imperative to fuel the hard working tourist.

Went to NYC part VII

2010-07-15T12:31:00.000-03:00

It was so hot!

Went to NYC part VI

2010-07-14T12:29:00.000-03:00

Central Park and the Upper East Side seen from the Belvedere Castle.

Went to NYC part V

2010-07-13T12:26:00.000-03:00

Then I visited the Museum of Arts and Design, which I loved. If you´re a bookworm, do not visit the museum shop! Speaking of shopping, Purl down in Soho offers another huge lot of temptation...

World Cup (knitting) fever

2010-07-12T18:14:00.000-03:00

Along with my friends in Argentina (ravelry group here), we ran a World Cup Challenge to accompany the match watching that was predicted. I didn´t watch many, as they were broadcasted at ungodly hours like 6 in the morning, or "totally-at-work-hours", like 9 am.

Still, I managed to finish my challenge (and to draw it too).

Went to NYC part IV

2010-07-12T06:24:00.000-03:00

I felt goosebumps while I was in the museum.

Went to NYC part III

2010-07-11T06:22:00.000-03:00

It was dark and wobbly inside.

Went to NYC part II

2010-07-10T06:20:00.001-03:00

Visited the Guggenheim Museum and fell in love with Julie Mehretu´s "Grey Area" exhibition.

Went to NYC part I

2010-07-09T12:20:00.000-03:00

Last week I was in New York visiting my cousin.

I´m writing about it on my other blog. To see the whole flickr set, click here.

Happy weekend!

New e-zine! First issue is out!

2010-06-21T19:45:00.000-03:00

I´m so happy to share with you my new personal project: my e-zine! Download it here, it´s free!

It´s best viewed printed on paper, front and back, with a total of two pages. Then two simple little folds and you´re off!

Check it out and when you´re done, drop me a line with your comments. I´m looking forward to reading them!

2010-06-14T18:04:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone! With all this World Cup craze I wonder if anyone is still reading blogs or just focusing on the basics and getting back to the cheering. I can speak for myself: Portugal plays tomorrow, so before I go buy some flags and wear put my flip-flops on I´ll leave you with a link to this wonderful presentation called "How to promote thyself" by creative team Tak. Difficult topic, cool instructions, point gets across. Thank you, Tak!

Dia de Portugal

2010-06-10T10:35:00.000-03:00

Today, June 10th, is our national holiday. It is celebrated in Portugal with lots of speeches, free concerts and recognitions for lifetime achievements for people. Abroad, embassies and consulates usually arrange for some sort of celebration, but funnily enough there isn´t diplomatic representation here in Panamá. Not to worry, though, I can party on my own.

Funnily enough, we, the portuguese, aren´t usually very proud of our achievements as a nation and as a collective of people, but now that I live far away, the distance allows me to see that a country which celebrates its national holiday on a cultural date - the anniversary of the death of Luís Vaz de Camões, our most famous author - it´s got to be a very cool country.

Bom Dia de Portugal!

A sidenote: the flip-flops above are part of the "havaianas" special world cup collection, given to me by a dear friend. As the portuguese flags and scarves we own are stuck in a box somewhere between Buenos Aires and Panama City, I intend to wear them every single day to support my team! Força Portugal!

Dancing babies

2010-06-03T10:34:00.000-03:00

I´m designing a set of postcards for abbrigate* to convey the message that our garments are so durable and resistant that they´ll be in perfect shape to be given to someone else even after your baby has overused them and eventually outgrown them. I wrote about it here, in abbrigate*´s blog.

Talking about the illustration, though, I had so much fun coming up with the concept: I thought about "forwarding" and "pass it forward", and then I needed an image to illustrate it. I remembered then how much I loved Henri Matisse´s representations of dancers holding hands and how using his idea and composition would be a homage paid to one of the artists I admire the most. Thinking about this painting, La Danse, I imagine huge amounts of good energy flowing through the dancers´ arms and hands into one another.

I believe that Baby Kimonos, Baby Vestmonos and Leafy Vests may flow too: when your kid has outgrown a garment, pass it forward to the next kid. Environmentally safe and financially sound!

Azulejo inspired

2010-06-01T10:48:00.000-03:00

Lots of things have been going on in the last couple of weeks, starting, of course, with our move to Panamá City, where we´re located right now.

All my art supplies are in boxes so I´m having fun with the limited choice I have right now: watercolours and watercolour pencils.

Sometime soon more regular posting will resume, but for now, I´ll go back to settling down and unpacking. Thanks for stopping by!

Hemp

2010-05-11T18:29:00.003-03:00

I´m knitting with hemp. It sounds like a statement and it could be one: hemp is definitely a misunderstood fibre, mostly because it is plain hard to knit with. Or at least, I´m finding it rough on my fingers and am looking forward to the advertised softness that comes with machine washing.

Now, it may seem as I don´t enjoy it. I do, I really do, but this particular fibre improves with wear and wash, and, you know, I´m a slow knitter. Let´s call it a process knitter, actually, and knitting with a rough fibre is... odd.

There are plenty of positive aspects to it, though: it´s a vegetable fibre, which I like; it gets softer with use; it´s fresh enough and warm enough for my covering needs in Panama (indoor temperatures extremely low due to excessive air conditioning!); it´s easy to care for, so no hand-washing will be needed. And, mostly, I felt an urgent need to knit for myself, even if I´m moving to a tropical country where temperatures are always high and it´s summer all year round.

Pattern is Citron and my shawl is ravelled here.

News

2010-05-07T15:47:00.003-03:00

And that´s why I´ve been away from the blog. Lots of new adventures to come in a country where there is no Winter. Yay!

Let me take a deep breath

2010-05-04T09:04:00.004-03:00

...and calm down a bit. I´ve been travelling a lot for the past couple of months. At the same time, I´ve been working a whole lot too. It´s good to be here, but it was good to be there, too.

New pattern! Meet "Bonecas"

2010-04-08T12:37:00.003-03:00

I´m happy to share with you that I´m publishing my first ever knitting pattern! It´s Bonecas, the pattern for my ravelympics challenge, which I blogged about here.

It is a dress-slash-tunic for a five year old kid, knitted in two colours of fingering weight yarn. Any two yarns with similar weight will work for this project.

It is free to download, with all the usual restrictions: not to be sold, shared or published in forums. Items knitted using this pattern are not to be sold - you know how it goes! If you love it and want to share it, please send people here. Please write me if you spot any mistake or you want to share your thoughts on it. Happy knitting!

Ravelympics?

2010-03-30T19:15:00.004-03:00

Well, yesssssss... and although I do know that I´m way behind, I´m still very happy for having finished this project altogether. It was a challenge for me and one of my crafty goals for the year. I´m happy to have completed it in March, which leaves me nine whole months of new challenges ahead of me.

Pattern is my own and yarn used is industrial alpaca (discontinued) in white and pure wool, handpainted by me, for the contrast colour. I was very serious about destashing, but I guess that it takes more than a dress for a five-year-old to finish 200g of lace weight yarn... Destash mode goes on!

More photos here. Project on ravelry.

Beautiful pattern

2010-03-26T12:09:00.002-03:00

Geninne has posted a beautiful, gorgeous, cute new embroidery pattern over at her blog. Don´t miss it!

(This was the push I needed to go and learn embroidery. Thanks Geninne!)

É amanhã | Tomorrow!

2010-03-26T11:26:00.002-03:00

Amanhã é o grande dia da inauguração da Attraction Store, uma loja de artesanato urbano português no centro histórico do Porto (Rua Escura, nº 45). É a partir das 16h e quem lá for poderá encontrar postais meus e peças abbrigate*. Não faltem!

*

If you´re in or around Oporto tomorrow, please stop by the opening of Attraction Store, a project of a friend of mine. Some of my pieces will be available, as well as abbrigate* garments. Don´t miss it!

Autumn

2010-03-23T16:59:00.002-03:00

With the end of the summer break, painting classes resumed in the beginning of March. We started with a fixed pose - and a canvas resulted - and then the quick exercises that I love. It´s good to be painting again.

Oscar winner: "El secreto de sus ojos"

2010-03-08T12:25:00.001-03:00

Totally unrelated: I´m not the craziest oscar fan but I´m so pleased to learn that "El secreto de sus ojos" won the award for best foreign picture. Do go see it if it comes to a cinema near you, it definitely deserves all the awards it wins!

"Vale uma máquina fotográfica"

2010-03-08T12:18:00.004-03:00

This was a project made for a friend who wanted to surprise her husband on his birthday. It´s a long story: he´s a photographer and one day he went home to realize all his photographic material (lenses, cameras, filters) had been "subtracted" from his room. It was his birthday very recently and my friend wanted to surprise him, so she gathered all friends, who then chipped in for a new camera.

The postcard she asked me to design is a collage (digital type then added) and it splits in two parts (you can see how it goes here): on the left, you can see her present; on the right, all the friends´ share. She came up with the idea and I put it down on paper. It was lovely to work on this: being away from most of my friends, I love to contribute this way to their birthday celebrations!

My own olympic challenge

2010-02-22T15:02:00.003-03:00

Although i haven´t signed up officially for ravelympics, I set myself a knitting challenge - one of my crafting goals for 2010, which was knitting with more than one colour, using stranding as a technique.

On the opening ceremony day and the weekend after, I went away to the seaside in Uruguay and, didn´t get to it - I love knitting but swimming in the sea comes before if I happen to be near the ocean. So, lots of swimming and no knitting at all!

Upon my arrival I had a new prototype for abbrigate* to finish, so all of the previous detours to say that it was only last friday I managed to cast on for my olympic challenge. Knitting two colours the portuguese style (with yarn going around your neck for tension) is just plain easy, there´s no juggling with yarn on the right or left hands, so I highly recommend it as a good technique for this kind of pattern.

I´m knitting a pattern of my own, it will either be a dress/tunic or a short sleeved sweater - let´s see how much yarn I have for it - for one of my nieces (or for both of them, considering the first will outgrow it sometime soon-ish), with a little doll pattern on the yoke and raglan sleeves. I´m using 2.5mm circulars and white yarn is industrial alpaca and the coloured one is my own hand-painted pure wool. The result is a lightweight warm sweater, perfect for end of winter and spring weather.

I know there´s a more than huge chance of not finishing it by the end of the olympics but all in all my challenge was to knit with two colours, a mission that has been accomplished with a high degree of satisfaction. It´s amazing how many new creative knitting-doors it opens!

What are your (knitting related or not) challenges?

Inspiration

2010-02-17T15:45:00.002-03:00

I´ve been catching up on some TED Talks I regularly download and these are absolute no-miss:

Jamie Oliver´s take on obesity as a major public health problem and the fight against it;

Jaime Lerner´s insights on city design, mobility and sustainability, definitely a lesson worth receiving;

Stefan Sagmeister explaining the power of taking time off (I liked the example of Porto´s Casa da Música visual identity project, very interesting way of going beyond what is normal in graphic design);

and the surprising talk given by Dan Pink on the science of motivation.

They´re so inspiring that I think I really need to take a nap to absorb it all. (It´s too hot to work anyway.)

Toasting for another wonderful year

2010-02-09T14:48:00.002-03:00

Yesterday was my birthday - I love it when it´s my birthday! I had a wonderful day pampering myself and having fish on every meal (sounds dreamy to me!). I toasted for all my blessings and for my dear friends and family members, and specially for those close to me who are battling against difficult diseases.

Life is good. Here´s to that!

This is fun

2010-02-02T09:49:00.001-03:00

A dear friend of mine sent me this link earlier today and it kicked my day off with laughter. Knitting is fun.

New work

2010-01-29T16:29:00.003-03:00

Another week (of intense heat, let me add) has gone by. There has been work going around here, but also knitting and my first steps into quilting.

But today this post is just to let you know that I just uploaded some new work into my portfolio: they´re both two new brand identities, which are here and here.

In the meantime, have a great weekend. Stay fresh - or warm, whatever the case may be. I´ll go for fresh, though!

My crafty new year resolutions

2010-01-22T11:52:00.002-03:00

One of the things I hate the most is the feeling of not having time to do something and having to postpone it. So this year I decided to get on with my crafty objectives as soon as possible, as if the year were about to end in a couple of months.

Without further ado, I present you two of my crafty resolutions for 2010:

1. Knitting with more than one yarn (and colour).

This was long overdue. It was actually a 2009 goal but knitting projects came and went and I didn´t have the chance to fit this one in. Also, I knit portuguese style (yarn goes around my neck for tension) and thought that it could only mean: huge mess. Well, it isn´t. I think it is even easier than to use both english and continental styles at the same time and I can say that while knitting this swatch I almost got the same speed as if I were knitting with one yarn only. I need to add here, though, that I´m not a speedy knitter nor pay much attention to speed when it comes to knitting; it is only to illustrate how not messy it is.

I´m going to knit a dress to my older niece (so that it will fit my younger niece in a couple of years!) with a decorated yoke. I researched a bit for knitting techniques and decoration design but the pattern is basically a combination of different sources.

This is my Ravelympics project and it is ravelled here. More photos available here.

2. Learning to quilt.

I am a quilting beginner, so I welcome any suggestions or links to useful resources you may know of. I read as much information as I can find on the web and I watch lots of youtube videos. So far, I´m loving it. I started with some fabrics I had at home (used on abbrigate* packaging) but am now hungry for more. I still don´t know what I´m going to do with this small project but I think I want to finish it and it may serve as... I don´t know, a doll quilt? For one of my beautiful nieces? Hmm? We´ll see.

For more photos of this project, click here.

Well, we´re still in January, so there´s plenty of time for new and improved crafty goals for 2010, right? Coming soon, my entrepreneurial goals, though this is a far more complicated topic!

Important: become a bone marrow donor

2010-01-20T18:48:00.002-03:00

In 2008, a friend of mine got very sick with leukaemia. In 2009, the son of a friend got sick with leukaemia. The first found her way through with several doses of chemo but the kid is still struggling with it and needs a bone marrow transplant.

Like these two cases, there are lots of them, spread around the world. The good news is we can all register as bone marrow donors and our data becomes part of an international bone marrow donors database. This means that - in the event that we are compatible with someone who needs a transplant - we can be helping someone not only in our country but basically anywhere in the world. This means hope to patients and little hassle to donors.

So, to make it quick, here are a few links that answer most frequently asked questions and addresses to where to register in some countries. Please consider becoming a bone marrow donor.

Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide
World Marrow Donor Association
Informação em português
South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, UK, US

I´m poladroiding anything that appears in front of me

2010-01-18T15:54:00.003-03:00

I know the poladroid ship has sailed long ago but I am in utter love with this, it might even be the beginning of an overload of polaroid-like pictures around here. Please do let me know if I use them too much!

This is my adapted version of Saartje´s booties, pattern to be found here. It has transpired that these booties were immediately put to use. I´m a happy (adopted) auntie.

Ravelled here.

They knew I wanted to model my latest hand-knit...

2010-01-11T15:55:00.004-03:00

Snow isn´t the most common phenomenon in Portugal, happening every now and then in the north and mountain areas. But I guess someone knew I needed a good background for my Koolhaas hat pictures, right? Maybe not, but who cares. It was a beautiful, beautiful Sunday seeing the snow falling outside and then going for a walk and being a kid all over again. (Any Canadian reading this might be laughing their socks off, but guys, you know, this is more of a summer country than actually a winter country! Do come by in Spring, though, it´s lovely.)

Now I´m back to Lisbon and it´s cold, though not the snowy type of cold, and I´m already thinking about summer, which will begin (for me) next Sunday, back in Buenos Aires. The holiday season goes by too quick.

P.S. Photo above by my sister.

Looking back on 2009

2010-01-05T14:09:00.003-03:00

2009 was a good year. Not only did it bring me personal happiness, but it also brought me the enthusiasm to carry on working as a freelancer designer and illustrator. Knitting was a huge part of it, not only because of the creation of abbrigate*, a huge thing on itself, but also because I challenged myself as much as I could pushing me to try and do things I didn´t know I could or knew how to do.

In knitting terms, it meant knitting a huge blanket, knitting a sweater in the round (with cables!), and another one, this time top down, with a zipper sewn in.

I missed my goal of knitting with more than one colour on a given garment, but that I´ll leave for 2010.

For now, I wish everyone as much as I wish for myself: peace and health. For me, though, I´ll add lots of practice on the ability to embrace uncertainty and face change gracefully. I´ll fake until I make it.

Happy 2010!

We´re shipping!

2009-12-09T16:58:00.002-03:00

abbrigate*´s kimonos are shipping! It´s so much fun to look at them and think about how this project has been developing. It feels a bit like a child, albeit a professional one. I´m proud of it - if I may say so myself - and I look forward to the new challenges 2010 will bring along. A new pattern is being written as we speak, and that´s when I found out I could design knitted garments.

Sometimes we just set ourselves too many boundaries and it feels good to overcome them, a little step at a time.

Have you seen google today?

2009-12-08T10:04:00.002-03:00

Just a quick post to say that I love it how it looks today. Have you seen it? And bzzzzt!, I travelled back in time.

And back to work.

A short break after...

2009-12-02T12:11:00.003-03:00

Last week I paid a visit to a friend in Rio de Janeiro, resulting in a short break from work and blogging. Those few days were very welcome, specially now that the end of the year is so near and I´m looooonging for holidays.

There were lots of things going on, though, but being away from the computer prevented me from blogging about them.

I visited a painting workshop. It goes on during a whole Sunday, starting early morning and finishing in the evening. It´s an amazing, albeit exhausting, experience. It is very intense, not only because one discovers a lot about him or herself, but also because these discoveries are shared by the other people visiting the workshop, the models and the teacher. We come in at 9 am being just a bunch of people and leave in the evening feeling a bit like family.

Exercises are crazy fun: we start with quick poses (about 10 minute each) and end up, eighteen paintings later, painting dancing and singing models. Who, by the way, are great fun to work with. (One of the models is a painter and you can see what he has been up to here.)

See photos of all the exercises here.

Happy weekend!

2009-11-20T17:39:00.002-03:00

Just because it´s Spring, it´s weekend and these roses were so beautiful they absolutely had to be photographed:

Have a good weekend!

Almost mugged - but not actually

2009-11-17T18:37:00.003-03:00

Last Saturday we were almost mugged by two girls who tried to steal my camera. There go our prejudices regarding who looks suspicious and who doesn´t, because they looked absolutely normal, they could be your teenage kid´s friends. Or your kid, actually. Grrr.

Anyway, for some unknown reason we both fought back and I got to keep my camera, as well as all other valuables I was carrying (ID, basically, I don´t even want to think about losing my ID card here and having to go to the police station to report it - been there and it isn´t nice). Well, all this to say that I have my camera and I can still take pictures with it.

And that´s what I did. I took pictures of the vest I finished for my younger niece:

And I even took pictures to its picot edging, which I learnt specially for this project, as crochet is just not my thing (or maybe I should say crochet wasn´t my thing?):

And documented my older niece´s matching vest:

(both vests are Signé Summer Top by Lisbeth Kjeldsteen. Ravelled here.)

I also photographed some sketches for a new pattern for abbrigate* - my first pattern, how exciting! - to send to my sister in London:

And then I took lots and lots of pictures of the blooming jacarandas here in the city. November is definitely the best month to visit Buenos Aires.

I´m thankful for having my camera! And for everything, really.

Pleasures of modern life

2009-11-13T10:50:00.003-03:00

One of the pleasures of this modern, digital life we´re living is retrieving a developed film from the shop and marvel at all those pictures, with the same feeling of discovery we had once. Digital images are very practical, nothing to be denied there, but does anyone really get that feeling of surprise when seeing them? Probably not, because we see them immediately after they´re taken.

I´m happy to have my digital camera around, but it´s so good to go back to analog every now and then.

More photos here.

Have a great weekend!

Spring in Buenos Aires

2009-11-13T10:45:00.002-03:00

November is the absolute best month to be in town, I believe. Not too hot, not too cold, full-bloom jacarandas spreading their violet coloured cloud everywhere. It´s just to nice outside to be stuck all day inside. Working outdoors is better than ever.

More photos here.

Took my knitting out...

2009-11-09T12:16:00.005-03:00

...to the beautiful Rose Garden here in Buenos Aires. As I mentioned in abbrigate*´s blog, I really believe the knitting retains parts of the places we went to and feelings we had while knitting.

That´s why I think this is the perfect setting to knit a vest for my yougest niece, don´t you agree?

More photos of the places her vest has been to.

Failed illustration? Maybe not...

2009-11-05T19:58:00.005-03:00

Raise your hand if you can spot four faces here!

This is a papercut that didn´t turn out quite as expected. At first, I thought it was going to travel directly from my cutting board to the trash bin, but then I accidentaly held it and it sort of decomposed and became a "mobile". Love this kind of surprises!

More photos of the process of making this book here.

Two vests in Vestvember

2009-11-05T19:33:00.004-03:00

There´s some knitting going on here, worked with this fingering weight pure wool yarn. With my "partner in crime"´s help, its natural colour became a dark cherry and a wild fuchsia. Two vests will be made, for two little, adorable nieces.

Totally coincidental, Vestvember is going on and this is how I´m participating. Yay for Vestvember!

Hmmm...

2009-11-04T15:56:00.002-03:00

It feels like I´m only talking about nudes - and it may as well be so, taking from my latest posts - but I´ve been busy with other taks at hand. I´m working on my second book for kids, which takes a huge amount of time but nothing that can be shown, and looking for a publisher. Are you one? Do you know someone who may be interested in hearing from our project? I´d love to hear from you.

As for the nudes, more photos of Monday´s session here.

Another nude

2009-10-29T07:21:00.000-03:00

This is a painting I finished on monday during painting class. I´m having so much fun doing this I wish I had painting classes more often!

Website update

2009-10-28T16:23:00.002-03:00

Just updated my portfolio with some new work. Thanks for stopping by!

"Tongues of fire" goes penguin watching

2009-10-26T18:37:00.003-03:00

Those tiny things on the background? Penguins. They were delighted to meet my knitting.

We took a short break during the weekend and flew to Puerto Madryn to see the whales that come close to shore for reproduction. These three days were absolutely stunning and we also got to see penguins, elephant seals and lots of other animals. The landscape is stunning and the shinning sun helped make it even prettier. I´d definitely stay a couple more days, but work was waiting for us here in Buenos Aires.

Yay for short breaks with friends, penguin spotting and wonderfully cooked fish!

Frogged

2009-10-21T18:46:00.003-03:00

A frogged project is all I can write about now. I had an urgent project landing on my desk a few days ago and it was just sent to production. During these few days, it was all I worked on during work hours, after hours and even before hours. I went to bed late yesterday and I had lunch very late today. That is why talking about the frogged project seems like a holiday to me!

So, about the Morningside Neckwarmer. I´m not sure wether it was brioche stitch or the combination between the yarn and the pattern. Something wasn´t working for me. I love the neckwarmer and I love the ribbed and puffy result of this stitch - I just don´t appreciate knitting it. I didn´t the first time, I didn´t now. I wonder if I´ll give it a third try though - life is too short to insist on something that seems not to be rewarding.

I knitted a few rows, I practiced the sequence of movements, I appreciated the ingenious way of achieving a ribbing... and I frogged it. And moved on to another project. I love knitting, specially because I knit what I want, when I want, at the speed I want. Or can. Or both, really: I knit slowly but fully enjoy the process.

T-shirt

2009-10-14T08:42:00.001-03:00

Last week I was commissioned to design a t-shirt for a friend. I had such a good time working on this project! It was so much fun to integrate their faces with type and lots of lines and colour. I loved doing it and I´m glad he liked the result too. I think I´ll be trying more t-shirt designs in the future! Do you have any t-shirt related links to share?

About knitting

2009-10-13T16:10:00.002-03:00

I´m preparing an oral presentation for my german class tomorrow about... knitting! Funny how knitting became so anglicized to me, that sometimes I even have difficulties using the portuguese terms for it. Learning those in german was fun and useful too.

Above, my Tongues of Fire scarf (free pattern here), using Joji sock in Diavolo.

Papercut sketching

2009-10-08T09:03:00.001-03:00

Here´s a papercut illustration I´m working on. I love papercutting more and more as a medium!

My growing yarn stash part II

2009-10-07T16:45:00.004-03:00

Woollama by Joji

Sock by Joji

The other day I mentioned my growing stash.

I left some yarn for a new post, because this once I must tell you about some yarn that is hand-painted by Joji, my associate in abbrigate*. She chooses the best local fibres and hand-paints them herself, producing nicely hand-crafted yarn that is a pleasure to knit with.

I did enjoy knitting with Woollama, but am smitten with Sock. I´m using them for my Christmas knitting and therefore am not sure wether I can post pictures here, in case the recipients read this... In January, maybe? Until then, let the knitting-pleasure go on!

I´m on Jornal do Brasil

2009-10-06T19:43:00.002-03:00

Last Sunday, a text I wrote was published in Jornal do Brasil. Cutting a long story short, I´m very happy about it: blogging is fun, but writing a text to be actually printed? Wow.

My most heartfelt thank you to the people involved in this story.

Thank you!

2009-09-30T08:33:00.000-03:00

I´m happy to share with you that one of my photos taken at the ASUR Textile Museum in Sucre, Bolivia, is displayed in the Textile Museum of Canada´s new website "In touch".

Thank you, TMC, and thank you, flickr!

My growing yarn stash

2009-09-29T13:32:00.003-03:00

I went to Portugal for my vacation and took the opportunity of buying quite a reasonable amount of yarn, specially yarn that isn´t available here in Argentina. I also asked my sister in London to bring me a "combo" of natural fibres from her LYS and - finally - could get my hands on some hanks of Malabrigo, the uruguayan yarn not available in Uruguay (nor Argentina, for that matter).

So, arriving from London, via Lisbon:

Two gorgeous mercerized cotton skeins by Rico Design.

The famous Malabrigo Silky Merino, which had a really long journey from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, via London and Lisbon.

Debbie Bliss´ Cashmerino, both in aran and dk weights. They are so soft and nice, I´m seeing lots of Christmas presents being done with these!

I do not know this yarn´s name, but the brand is Bel Air. It feels like a cloud.

Now, the yarns I bought in Portugal:

Rosários 4 is a portuguese brand that carries lots of different fibres, like milk and corn fibres, for instance. I caught the end of the season sale and, although it was cheaper deal, some of the skeins were a bit worn. Still, I think they´ll look great when knitted.

Again, a yarn from Rosários 4, this time made of 100% natural silk. It feels incredibly soft against the skin, which makes it perfect to wear near the neck (more Christmas presents?).

Imported 100% hemp yarn from Lanaknits. I´m mostly curious about this yarn, as per its description it is the perfect yarn: it is machine washable; fresh in the summer, warm in winter; it gets softer with every wash. I wonder how knitting it will be like? Will there be a catch? The colours are beautiful too, so I´m thinking what I should do with them. Thinking hat on...

This Kauni 100% wool yarn has a very singular characteristic: it has only one colour change, going gradually from this fuchsia pink to purple. It looks very warm and my bet is that it will become a lot softer after washing and blocking.

And then there are some local (argentine) yarns I want to show you, but that´s something for another post...

Thank you!

2009-09-24T12:30:00.004-03:00

Thank you all so much for the enthusiastic support given to abbrigate*, the project I´m developing with Joji. We´ve been both thrilled and exhausted but all in all it has been a wonderful ride.

Despite all the hard work, I´ve been working on other things as well, namely during my painting classes. Every week I realize these sessions help me so much, not only on the painting itself, but also as a means of learning about colour, coulour mixies and combinations, composition, expression, ... well, I could go on and on and on. The best thing is the wonderful environment we have during our sessions, not only among students but also with our model and our teacher. They *so* rock.

More photos here and here.

Introducing abbrigate*

2009-09-17T18:46:00.004-03:00

My very dear blog readers,

The last couple of months I´ve been writing about an exciting project I was working, not being able to disclose as much information as I wanted. So today is the day and I introduce you to abbrigate*

It is a common project with Joji, my associate and "partner in crime", as I like to say. I hope you enjoy visiting as much as we´re enjoying putting it together!

So this is how the story goes...

Once upon a time, in a far, far away land, two wizards joined forces against cold weather and came together to create abbrigate*, a new brand of hand-knitted, deliciously yummy baby wear to protect the youngest of the youngest from the cold.

Joji, one of the wizards, was a mom of two little wizard-apprentices. She used her knitting powers ever so intensely that one day she found out there was not one, not one single boy or girl suffering from shivers in those chilly days and nights of winter. Suddenly, she had no one else to knit for, because everybody around her was warm and cozy.

One day, Billy, the other wizard of this tale, told Joji:

"Oh, dear friend, don´t be sad! Why don´t you use your powers to keep children warm... everywhere in the world? There are other kingdoms out there who may be in need of your amazing knitting powers!"

We all know wizards never quit, so Joji and Billy sat down with their wizardry books and made an oath:

"We shall keep all babies warm and cozy during those chilly days and nights throughout the year!"

And, after repeating it three times, abbrigate* came to life.

abbrigate* is a mom-owned brand of hand-knitted, ecological baby wear.

abbrigate* garments have an unique character because:
- they´re exclusively designed by abbrigate*, for abbrigate*; they can even be customized by embroidering the baby´s name!
- they´re ecologically sound: fibres are carefully selected to combine the best materials with ease of care. That´s why we use hypoallergenic fibres that are machine washable.
- they´re handmade by knitters who earn a fair wage by doing something they enjoy.

abbrigate* ´s first line of products is a collection of Baby Kimonos for babies up to six months old. Kimonos come in ten (almost edible, may we add) colours, from the classic rose and blue to bolder alternatives. Future projects include expanding the offer with different models (late 2009), as well as launching specially designed, limited editions of our classic line.

Try our wizardry today and see how good our garments look even after being used by your children, your friends´ children and your grandchildren. And we´re not exaggerating! Find us on:

abbrigate* blog
abbrigate* shop @ etsy
abbrigate* shop @ bigcartel

The first time

2009-09-15T18:56:00.002-03:00

First times in life are milestones and yesterday was no exception. For the first time in my life, I registered a brand. Remember the good news I had to share before leaving on holidays? Today we registered our brand, our first brand, and I feel some sort of parental proud. Seeing this project grow and gain its own shape has been one of the most pleasurable work-related experiences. Every step we take feels like an acomplishment, like a small step on our personal and entrepreneurial growth.

I speak in plural because one key element in this odissey was my "partner in crime", Joji. She is a great incentive for me: there are no obstacles in front of her; if there, she graciously overcomes all difficulties with a smile on her face. In the meantime, she has also become a great friend, which brings me immense joy. Just one year ago I was a lot lonelier here in Buenos Aires and today the days are too short for all the things I want to do.

While I´ll go set up our upcoming shops, I´ll leave you with the happy photos. Check out Joji´s version of yesterday´s events here (in spanish).

And because I´m back to my real life...

2009-09-11T08:12:00.002-03:00

...I started painting again. Last Monday the exercise was to make two different compositions of two quick poses. Our model is the best and he holds very still in those uncomfortable poses he makes for us. He´s the best, really, and that´s why it is so enjoyable to paint him. He chose Pink Martini for the soundtrack and the atmosphere was wonderful, as usual.

More images here.

Central Park Hoodie

2009-09-10T09:39:00.005-03:00

My Central Park Hoodie, flickred here and ravelled there (pattern by Heather Lodisnky) is an almost finished object. Not quite though, because I put it on the exact moment I finished sewing it. And I´ve worn it since, every single day. Mine, in loosely plied alpaca yarn bought in Bazar Lanero (gracias por el dato, Jo!), in the yarn district here in Buenos Aires, is a total success. I couldn´t love it more. I´m actually finding it hard to take it off to wash it and block it.

Still, this post is to tell you about this hoodie´s travels. Before leaving for our vacation I started to take a look at our travelling hours and, really, long flights plus airport waiting needed more than books and magazines. So I took a cheap, plastic sewing needle with me and my hoodie´s parts. I´m not a fan of sewing, so I figured that an airport wait would be a good place to do it. Knitting needles are not allowed, so an actual knitting project wasn´t an option. And yes, I do envy those of you who show your knitting in airplanes. It just isn´t allowed here.

I finished the knitting during our ski week and the sewing adventure started in the airport in Ushuaia, where I assembled back and two fronts:

I then realized I had forgotten to leave the sleeves on my hand-luggage, so interrupted the work there. It proceeded the next day, in São Paulo-Guarulhos airport, where I sewed the sleeves to make them tubes, but didn´t have time (nor patience) to attach them to the armholes.

While in Portugal, no sewing at all. I had the mystery sweater (which is not a mystery to its recipient anymore) to knit on, and that´s what I did. There was a bit of knitting in the car, too. The AC was broken, so my knitting while travelling didn´t last long: with 32ºC outside, a sweater on my lap was pure torture.

So the next sewing moment was the daytime flight from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro. After watching all the movies I could and taking all the naps I managed to, I started sewing. And because this was the last thing I did during the long and boring flight, you can assess how little I enjoy it). I started to see that there may be a chance that I finish sewing and weaving in the ends before we landed there - and I did, but only just. Tha plane landed as I was putting away needle and dental floss box (used to cut the yarn) away.

I had a couple of ends to weave in:

And then... it was ready! Well, button less and lacking a good blocking, but ready. And it definitely came in handy because it was so very cold in the airport - what´s with airports and air conditioning? Still, a bit of modelling and showing off my hoodie was necessary:

And the sleeves, probably the part I love best:

And this is the story of my Central Park Hoodie. Now, guess what I´m wearing today...

It´s good to be home

2009-09-09T20:03:00.003-03:00

Our vacation was splendid, even more than I can describe it, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Well, maybe not the part when it was -15ºC - I wore clothes I didn´t even have names for! - but the skiing and being in Portugal, all with the fish and the seafood, the family and friends we got to meet despite the short time we were there, wow, that was really pleasant.

Now we´re back to winter, to Argentina, and it´s good to be home again. As probably everyone else who lives abroad and goes back home for a short time will understand and relate to, those three days we spent in Lisbon were very good, but very tiring too.

We started off flying south to the very tip of the continent. We had been to Ushuaia once and had since wanted to go back in winter. The town sits on a bay, surrounded by snowy mountains. The ski station is about 30 minutes away and it´s wonderful.

There aren´t a lot of people around, and there´s almost no waiting for the ski lift. The place is so little populated that we even had this little guy visiting while we were having lunch:

We then flew to the summer in Portugal:

Had a wonderful time visiting friends and family, obviously with the best diet around, fish and seafood. All topped with this:

A bit too hot for my taste! (pun totally intended)

And now we´re back and looking forward to showing you everything that has been happening here, but that´s for another post!

P.S. - Thank you all for your good wishes; and thanks for coming back!