Spring Wedding Floral Inspiration

The Spring weather has finally arrived, and the transition was sudden and explosive.  Toronto's magnolias exploded, spring blooms erupted across the city, and the trees and hedges seemed to bud and green overnight.

It certainly seems to have collectively brightened moods...steps seem lighter, people quicker to smile now that the weather is much more pleasant.

It's been busy past few weeks, working on wedding rings, custom grad jewellery projects and mothers day presents.  It's been fun to work on these pieces and share in a tiny way with people these celebrations and special moments, that they are so excited about...the energy is pretty inspiring!

I've been planning the details of my upcoming wedding, and it's truly been so much more work than I had planned....working out the details has been fun, and challenging.  Thought I'd share some of my floral inspiration, I'm thinking blush pinks, white florals, wildflowers and lots of greenery.  And I'm really liking the cascading bouquet idea, pretty wild and playful which will compliment the ocean side farm location.  

It's totally a diy affair for the most part, so we'll be taking care of the florals, and will be testing out some of our ideas before the big day...I'll be visiting the flower markets in the next few weeks to test out some of these ideas :)

Spring Jewellery Launch...The Gold Rings

The sun sparkle on silent waters
Collecting beach glass by the oceans edge
The haze of summer
Exhaling.


The Spring/Summer 2015 launch continues, with this series of minimalist gold stacking and hammered rings.  These pair really well with the neckpieces that are soon to come, inspired by the soft, opaque quality of beach glass, and the cottage collections of these holiday treasures as they accumulate on your bedside table.

I wanted to make some timeless gold stacking rings that can be paired with your old favorites, or worn alone, in a warm yellow gold to celebrate the return of the sun, and the longer days to come.

Beach images via: thisisglamorous, Studded Hearts and Oh, Pioneer.

All jewellery designs and images Anneke van Bommel.

Spring Jewellery Launch...the Silver Rings

I'm really hoping for warmer weather, and bare summer shoulders.  I can't wait for long, lazy days, sangria on the patio and road trips.  But for now, I've been dreaming of Spring, and wanted to share my Spring launch with you.

I'll be rolling out the new work over the next few weeks, and I don't know about you, but one of the sure signs of Spring for me is when I can leave my gloves at home.  And those bare hands need some bold statement rings....Enjoy!

All are available in my Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/touchthedutch

The Artwork of Talwst. Miniature scale. Massive Impact.

My friend, Swati posted an amazing photo and link to my facebook page to which I immediately responded..."WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?!!!!!"....initially drawn to the scale of the work, and the fact that the artwork is housed in beautiful, turn of the century jewellery boxes, the content then began to reveal itself.


This imaginative and fantastical body of work that provoked an all caps response, is by Toronto based, Trinidadian born, Canadian artist, Talwst. 


Talwst exploits and explores themes of marginalization, humour, human history and art history in his work.  His work explores these themes both whimsically and imaginatively, without sacrificing the gravity of the content.  In fact, the humour of the work is what really drew me in and had me both laughing out loud and moved to tears by the interiors of these miniature worlds.


Like a stage production, set at the point of the climax in the drama: the curtain lifts, as each jewellery box illustrates a tale of intrigue, romance, hilarity and heartbreak.


Many of the political pieces become precious Memento mori objects that honour and illuminate tragic moments in recent history that while reference art history, will also, I feel become a part of art history.  I am so inspired and excited that he is making this very important work.


Take a look at his work below, check out his website, and if you're in the GTA,
check out his exhibition at The Mississauga Art Gallery, which opens soon, and this statement by the curator of his "Minimized Histories: Marginalization and Unrest".


Check out this article in The Guardian, where Talwst describes the stories behind many of his most popular pieces.  And check out this curatorial statement of the artist's most recent exhibition, which opens next week, at the Art Gallery of Mississauga.

"Inspired by the unflinching scenes of Goya’s Disasters of War etchings, TALWST turns his meta-referential, pop-culture and art-history laden Infinity series into a searing indictment of the elision of narratives of people of colour and marginalized communities, particularly of those raised in protest or activism. Where previously his miniature dioramas in antique ring boxes featured pop-culture icons Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s cavorting in front of Pontormo’s Deposition from the Cross, this new body of work sees Frida Kahlo meet Missing 43 protesters in Mexico as TALWST subverts the bright street scenes of Enser’s Christ’s Entry into Brussels. Through his work, TALWST forces us to direct intense focus and consideration on the stories of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, missing and murdered indigenous women, among others, and the implications of these narratives in our purportedly post-racial, post-colonial world." 

Kendra Ainsworth

After Tom, After Kim, After Acid. 2014.

Shunga. 2014

Places We Can Go. 2014

Frolic. 2014

 

El Torero. 2014

Olympia Are you Ready? 2009

Execution of Michael Brown.

Kirk and the money shot. 2010

Por que? 2015.

Space Family Rothschild. 2014.

All photos belong to Talwst.

Heavy lifting. A love story.

In the fall, a friend came to me with a curious request.

To design a statement neckpiece in the shape of a building crane, with a lot of symbolism and meaning for her and her partner.  With all big projects there is that initial challenge of solving the puzzle and designing the piece.

I let the request kick around in my head for a while, and there is certainly no shortage of inspiration in Toronto, when cranes clutter the skyline....going about their daily business.

After the chaos of the holidays, I had some time to commit to thinking more seriously about the project, and spent a week in the studio figuring out how to materialize the piece.  I wanted to make a piece that could be hung from a pin, or reside in a shadow box, while not being worn, and function as wall art, as well as a scale that was wearable but pushing the boundaries of wearable scale.

After much consideration...the piece has been finished and was presented to the recipient a couple of weeks ago

The last resort.

I came across Last Resort: Apostogan in December, right in the middle of everything swirling around me, filling orders, working on shipments and while enjoying the momentum, came across this astounding film.

Shot this fall, in a remote village on the south shore of Nova Scotia, near Mahone Bay, some of the world's best skateboarders descended on the coast.  

For two decades, the multi million dollar project has been left abandoned, and then Red Bull stepped in with a vision to transform the space for a project that they had been considering. Hiring some of the best skate Park designers, they modified what was already in the space, and set to work at filming what is a stunning, transportative, and sublime result.

Is transportative a word?  I don't care.  Prepare to watch this beautiful dance on the edge of the world.

Photos by: Seetoh Lang, Scott Serfas and Brian Caissie