apartment therapy...yeay

Click on the image to go to the full article.

A big thank you to Sarah Rainwater for such a lovely article. Please visit Sarah's graphic design website (wonderful) and her blog. She is quite a talent and an inspiration.

pretty in bisque

fleeting summer: part 2

photographs by Anna Choi

After my veggie goodness post, Anna Choi sent me images of a sunflower and zinnias she found at her local farmer's market. What a gift. I love the graphic quality of these photographs, the texture of each petal so pronounced, so vivid, so summer.

For more of Anna's photography, visit her blog, sardine.

fleeting summer

I love summers in Rhode Island. When I lived in New York City, the thought of summer brought on dread. Oh the smell and stifling heat of the subway! These vases are a celebration of the season, outside the city. (click on the image for a larger view)

my favorite moments from fog

Two weeks ago I wrote about Fog Linen, and this past Saturday I received Fog's catalog. Yumiko, the designer of the line, sent it to me from Japan, with lots of beautiful stamps on the envelope. Such a treat. Here are my favorite moments (click on the images for a larger view).









To order Fog Linen Catalogue: foglinenwork.com

still life saturday with berries

photograph by Sang An


painting by Severin Roesen


photograph by Gennadiy Shin


photographs by Maria Robledo


painting by Fedor Petrovich Tolstoy


painting by Willem Dolphin

veggie goodness

Inspired by Deb's blog entry on veggies from her garden and the farmer's market, I decided to show off some lovelies from yesterday's CSA pick up. And to point you toward Mark Bittman's blog in The New York Times called 101 Simple Salads for the Season. A must read, save and pass on (which many did as it is the No. 1 emailed article for a few days now). Now go forth and eat some veggies this weekend, and send me pics! asya@gleena.com

photograph by Francesco Tonelli for The New York Times

daily alphabet dose of inspiration

I have been featured on a lovely blog, the design alphabet, under the letter P (for Palatova). A new day brings a new letter of design and art inspiration. I am in great company, featured alongside with PomLove (gorgeous paper flowers) from Oregon and Pinkflor (sweet embroidery and illustration) from Buenos Aires. Visit the rest of the alphabet here.


photograph from PomLove


photograph from Pinkflor

a new way of seeing

May Tveit, an installation artist, makes me see things I have seen a million times in a new way. May's bales of hay, painted in solid bright colors, have an unexpected monumental quality. The paint accentuates the spiral and makes the bales heroic, sculptural.

May Tveit's work is now on exhibit at farm in Wellfleet, Cape Cod. May is giving a lecture at the Wellfleet Public Library this evening at 8pm.

all photographs courtesy of farm

embroidered table runners, from jakarta

all photographs courtesy of kainkain

In my search for table linens inspiration, I happened upon this gorgeous embroidery on table runners from the Etsy seller Kainkain. Kainkain means fabric in Indonesian, where the shop is based in Jakarta.

Kainkain is a small shop run by local women, embroidering on a manual sewing machine. Besides runners, the shop also makes pillows, napkins, sachets, place mats, and take on custom orders. I love the organic, modern delicacy of their work.

morning light

This morning I woke up to a subdued gray light after days of sunshine. This light has a darkness to it that is very soothing, and irresistible.

under the brooklyn bridge

The Brooklyn Flea under the Brooklyn Bridge is my coolest sale location to date. The day was beautiful, and not too hot. The bridge was right above our heads, and there is also a fantastic view of the Manhattan Bridge, which does not get enough attention, I think.




A big thank you to Deb (in pics above with her beautiful jewelry) from Bonbon Oiseau for sharing her booth with me. The day flew by in excellent conversation and steady sales.




Deb made gorgeous necklaces with gleena porcelain pendants, and I am a proud owner of one. It has such a good weight to it, and the length is perfect. The necklaces will be posted on gleenashop shortly, and Deb and I will be giving one away in a few weeks. Stay tuned for details. And visit Deb's blog entry about our day here.

some lovely bon bons

The talented Deb from Bonbon Oiseau and I collaborated on a necklace: the pendant is gleena porcelain, and everything else is Bonbon Oiseau. I love what Deb has created, her work elevates mine to a whole new level.

the magic middle kingdom

photography by Gentl and Hyers, styled by Ayesha Patel for Body+Soul
photography by Sang An, styled by Ayesha Patel for Body+Soul

There are a few pieces (like the red and the blue bowls shown above) in the photo prop house that always made it to one of my shoots. The pieces were fine, pure white porcelain, incredibly thin, with delicate, fluid lines. This particular collection consisted of bowls of various sizes and vases, glazed in bright, saturated colors. Every time I saw one of the pieces, I picked it up, admiring the perfect craftsmanship. And I did not know the maker.

About a month ago I received an email from Alison Jia, who together with her husband Bo creates the line of ceramics I have admired for so long. Alison saw my posting on the 4x5 polaroids I have kept from my photoshoots, and noticed her ceramic pieces which appeared in quite a few. Hurray for blogging, one mystery solved.

Alison and Bo's comapany is called Middle Kingdom, and everything about it, from their story, to the photography of the pieces, is pure joy and magic. Seeped in classical and elegant Chinese porcelain tradition from the Song and Ming eras, Middle Kingdom's forms are fresh, modern and timeless. Click here for a list of stores that carry Middle Kingdom's creations.