Hello Pretty is Winding Down

After more than ten fulfilling, magical years beginning in the good old days of 2012, Hello Pretty is retiring and heading off to the beach with a drink with a tiny umbrella.

Read our goodbye letter

Art

Pretty chocolates

Pretty chocolates on http://hellopretty.co.za
Pretty chocolates on http://hellopretty.co.za

I spotted these lovely, tasty looking bits of chocolatey goodness on the interwebz last week, and felt that it was compulsory to share: Chocolates That Represent Japanese Onomatopoeic Words To Describe Texture. I mean. Just look at them.

 

Pretty chocolates on http://hellopretty.co.za
Pretty chocolates on http://hellopretty.co.za

'There are many factors that determine our experience with chocolate: the type of cocoa, the percentage used, and the flavors. But when Maison et Objet, the pre-eminent design show in France, told Oki Sato that they were naming him Designer Of The Year and asked him to design a set of chocolates, he had to pause. The head of the Tokyo and Milan-based design studio Nendo needed to rethink the concept of chocolate.

Nendo has created “Chocolatexture,” a series of 9 chocolates, all the same size, but each representing a Japanese onomatopoeic word that describes texture.
“The 9 different types of chocolate are made within the same size, 26x26x26mm, featuring pointed tips, hollow interiors, smooth or rough surface textures,” says Sato. “And while the raw materials are identical, the distinctive textures create different tastes.”'

Pretty chocolates on http://hellopretty.co.za
Pretty chocolates on http://hellopretty.co.za
Pretty chocolates on http://hellopretty.co.za
Pretty chocolates on http://hellopretty.co.za
Pretty chocolates on http://hellopretty.co.zaI spo

Delicious as well as beautiful? I am definitely in favour of that idea!

Source.

My very own Painting for Ants by Lorraine Loots

In case you've been snoozing and not heard of Lorraine Loot's 365 Paintings for Ants project for 2013, she explains it on her website. In a nutshell, every day for the full year of 2013 Lorraine painted a miniature painting about the size of a coin. You could book a painting, and when you did you got to pick what you wanted  to be of. And her work is consistently mindblowing and gorgeous and incredible.

They arrive beautifully framed. It's a bit difficult to take a photo because of the glass in the front of the frame, but I made an attempt. This is mine:

She has since developed the project into a postcard collection (365 Postcards for Ants) . You can see an archive of all her paintings from the 2013 project over here: http://paintingsforants.tumblr.com/archive

Thank you Lee (and Lorraine), I'm so proud of my artwork.

Pretty Personal with Riz & Resh of the Dollie House

 Pretty Personal with Riz & Resh of the Dollie House

Photographic duo Riz & Resh are long time friends and favourites of ours - they recently made us look fancy in our own little photo shoot, and we've had the likes of A Ring To It and Bow Peep turn to them for product photography. Bottom line is, they have mad skillz.

And to our delight, they've joined us as Hello Pretty sellers! They're selling product photography packages that are pretty darn great, and we felt that they deserved to be on the other side of the lense for a change.

 Pretty Personal with Riz & Resh of the Dollie House

  1. Hello! Tell us a little about yourself.

    The Dollie House is the home to Riz and Resh Dollie.  We're both simple beings who find great pleasure in food and greenery (not the bushy kind you're thinking of).

    Resh is a quiet individual with a vision of living clean and building a sustainable existence for his family.  He is the eldest of five brothers and is an avid yogi with an honours in Anthropology.  He is also the prettier member of The Dollie House. 

    Riz has a great passion for people and Instagramming meals.  Riz has worked in every sphere of media and has been messing around with cameras for over ten years. Riz's students gave her a pet name; B.B.D. (we will leave this open to your interpretation).

    We both travel as often as possible and feel as that it's an essential part of the growth of a person.

  2. How/why did the Dollie House?

    The Dollie House was the love child born from our shared passion for visual pleasure.  We both hail from art backgrounds and chose to focus on the anthropology of people and their memories.  We're both fascinated by human behaviour and observation, and photography was a good way for us to express what we saw and experienced through sharing brief passionate moments of peoples' lives.

  3. What do you love?

    We both thrive in any natural environment and have a keen affinity to aesthetics of the visual kind.  We love pretty things, appreciating good food and reading as often as possible  

    Riz loves talking and Resh enjoys silent conversations.  Resh loves cooking and Riz loves eating. We love constant change, hence the choice to grow The Dollie House.

  4. Can you tell us about the wonderful things the Dollie House makes/does?

    We offer a range of lifestyle photography packages and visual styling for shoots and interiors.  Riz focuses on events, family, portrait, maternity and wedding photography.  Resh thrives in making things pleasurable for the eye and desirable for the soul; he spends his time styling shoots and visually merchandising store windows.

  5. Tell us something unusual about you/your trade/etc that people generally don't know.

    We shoot weddings most weekends and because we're so passionate about our jobs, we often become family confidants for the day.  After a few hours with a client's family, we often feel like we're a part of the family.  People always feel the need to share their family histories with you.

    We both love visual storytelling, and voluntary information usually helps strengthen the visual depth of the photographs.

 Pretty Personal with Riz & Resh of the Dollie House

These beautiful shots by Ronél Kruger Photography.

Face the Foliage by Justina Blakeney

Just look at what magnificent things Justina Blakeney makes.

Justina hails from LA, is a lot of things besides being a creative wunderkind.

She's started a movement using Instagram (@justinablakeney) inviting people to join her and make foliage faces of their own. I love how inclusive that is - it's seldom that an artist invites others to "copy" what they're doing.

If you'd like to participate too (admit it. You do.), tag your pictures on Twitter and Instagram with #FaceTheFoliage.

Justina also sells some things that you might love on Etsy, like this Jungalow Mobile. I think she's a good artist for you to consider supporting.

Err'body needs a colour thesaurus

I felt like I needed my Monday to start with a burst of colour. I mean, there are worse ways to start the week right?

So writer Ingrid Sundberg took it upon herself to help out anyone that was feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the fawns, oysters, cantaloupes and periwinkles of the colour world, by putting together a fun infographic showing them all off.

I’ve learned that we all have different associations with color words,” Sundberg told Bored Panda. “For example the color sapphire is a light blue to me (since that’s the color of the sapphire on my engagement ring), but a sapphire can also be a very dark blue. I doubt there can be an ‘official color guide,’ as color is so subjective.

Writer Ingrid Sundberg creates colour thesaurus on hellopretty.co.za
Writer Ingrid Sundberg creates colour thesaurus on hellopretty.co.za
Writer Ingrid Sundberg creates colour thesaurus on hellopretty.co.za
Writer Ingrid Sundberg creates colour thesaurus on hellopretty.co.za
Writer Ingrid Sundberg creates colour thesaurus on hellopretty.co.za
Writer Ingrid Sundberg creates colour thesaurus on hellopretty.co.za

There was no official color guide. This was something I made for myself based on color words I liked and the colors the words evoked for me.

Fun right? Now you go off and have a bright and colourful day.

Nando's Accidental Art Instawalk

Nando's Accidental Art Instawalk

I was super excited to receive an invitation from 10and5.com to join the Nando's Accidental Art instawalk last week Friday. Like, suuuper excited. I had seen hints and hastags all over the interwebz leading up to it, and was keen to throw on some walking shoes, meet some cool people, and get to know my new city a bit better (for those of you that aren't aware, I'm a Durban girl who threw caution to the wind and moved to Cape Town with one suitcase and a box of books).

Alas, it was not meant to be. I had my best walking shoes on, I had thrown on sunscreen and all my devices were fully charged - and then I collided rather impressively with a door frame. After a very audible crack, I was gifted with two broken toes and a fractured baby foot bone, an hour before the walk was due to start. Devastated much?

However, lovely Melissa from Between 10 and 5 kept me well in the loop, and sent me all the photos afterwards, so I was totally there in spirit. And then Ads and I had Nando's for dinner, because, well, Friday, and I had just broken my foot.

Nando's Accidental Art Instawalk
Nando's Accidental Art Instawalk
Nando's Accidental Art Instawalk


I highly recommend taking a time out to watch the videos - the behind the scenes footage of how it all came together is just amazing.

Nando's Accidental Art Instawalk
Nando's Accidental Art Instawalk

I'm thoroughly smitten by all the artworks - they're so lovely and interactive. Perfect for public consumption!

Read more about the project here, as well as on the World Design Capital website over here.

Nando's Accidental Art Instawalk
Nando's Accidental Art Instawalk

 
Stunning right? I love this city. *pats back*

PS. Any hints and tips on how to push my foot through a pants hole without sounding as though I've been shot can be left in the comments section.

This guy's carving beats your carving.

This guy's carving beats your carving with Hello Pretty

I'm an impatient person. Like, flips out in traffic kind of impatient. And then I see something like this, which makes me want to be a better person.

Paul Roden and Valerie Lueth from Tugboat Printshop are two crazy talented humans, who undoubtedly tested the strength of their relationship during the two years that it took to carve this ah-MAZING forest landscape.

This guy's carving beats your carving with Hello Pretty
This guy's carving beats your carving with Hello Pretty
This guy's carving beats your carving with Hello Pretty

From BoredPanda:

"Paul Roden and Valerie Lueth, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based artistic duo, has unveiled their “Overlook” woodcut print, an epic work of art that they spent the last 2 years (on and off) designing and making.

The dedicated duo, which runs the Tugboat print shop, painstakingly cut trees, leaves, grasses, rivers and mountains into a board measuring 28 in x 46 in (71 cm x 117 cm). The dizzyingly detailed vista is then printed with three colors. “A panoramic infinity will be suggested by the print’s ability to eventually meet itself seemlessly at the edges,” explain the artists, “expanding like an eternal ‘wallpaper’ into an ever stretching vista!

The piece will be sold as a single piece, diptych, triptych, or as an endless wallpaper."

This guy's carving beats your carving with Hello Pretty
This guy's carving beats your carving with Hello Pretty
This guy's carving beats your carving with Hello Pretty

I mean. Incredible. Checkout the fantastic behind the scenes pics on their Instagram over here.

3D printed cityscape shells

3D printed cityscape shells on Hello Pretty

We stumbled upon this amazing post on boredpanda recently, which is just too gorgeous not to share - Japanese artist Aki Inomata has printed out 3D, clear plastic shells covered in mini cities for hermit crabs.

According to boredpanda, 'Hermit crabs usually inhabit vacated snail shells, but in their absence, they’ve been known to inhabit pieces of wood, stone or plastic, so their “partnership” with Inomata isn’t all that strange. Instead of their usual shells, Inomata provided them with tiny works of art to carry on their backs. The series is aptly titled “Why Not Hand Over a ‘Shelter’ to Hermit Crabs?”'

3D printed cityscape shells on Hello Pretty
3D printed cityscape shells on Hello Pretty
3D printed cityscape shells on Hello Pretty
3D printed cityscape shells on Hello Pretty
3D printed cityscape shells on Hello Pretty

The cityscapes include New York, Zaanse Schans, Thailand, Santorini, Honfuer and Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou. Check out the video showing how they're created and how the hermit crabs moved into their new homes:

Pretty right? I kind of want one!

Coffee love

Swallow Cafe Brooklyn Coffee Shop

Well hello gorgeous... you're good looking, serve what looks like great coffee, and you're in New York. It's as though the Classifieds Looking for Love Fairy Godparents were answering all of my deepest wishes!

Swallow Cafe Brooklyn Coffee Shop

The talented cads behind this handsome coffee spot are from No Entry Design, and they definitely know what they're doing.

The dreamiest part of it all is that Swallow Cafe is a twin! You can get your fix in both Williamsburg and Bushwick.

Swallow Cafe Brooklyn Coffee Shop
Swallow Cafe Brooklyn Coffee Shop

I love that all the beautiful branding was hand painted - it looks and feels so special. And is a testiment to the talent of the designers!

So Pretties, if you find yourself in the neighbourhood, go check it out and send us pics, so we can live vicariously through you!

Image souce

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