Still settling down

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.

Dancing babies

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!

Let me take a deep breath

...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.

É amanhã | Tomorrow!

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!

We´re shipping!

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.

Introducing abbrigate*

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