I recently ordered a colorful, fun and very summery necklace from Cursive Design and I can’t wait to get it in the mail and be able to wear it! Jewelry designer Sarah Fox is so talented and creates such gorgeous necklaces it was hard to pick just one, so I had to share all her lovely work with you!

Every piece in the new summer collection is absolutely stunning, with a blend of different fabrics, shapes and colors. The pieces have a great eclectic mix of neon, neutrals, hard lines and organic shapes that are inspired by Sarah’s intersection of country and city, paralleling her roots and current city life.

I got the chance to talk to Sarah briefly, and she even took the time to describe her design process and share it with you since I was so curious to know what inspires her and how she gets through different stages to create her beautiful jewelry.

My jewelry design process usually starts with looking at and playing with color swatches and than I narrow in on the material choices for the piece. I’m interested in combining color and transforming materials. I always want these pieces to be playful and unique. I strive to create statement pieces no matter what the scale. I want girls to put these pieces on and get noticed. When I’m designing I’m mostly thinking about what I would wear but sometimes I imagine my jewelry on girls that I admire. (I had a picture of Zooey Deschanel up in my studio while creating my summer collection. I think her style is impeccable and I love her music.)

I also asked Sarah how she became interested in jewelry and fashion design.

My interest in jewelry and fashion began at a very early age. I remember opening up both of my grandmother’s jewelry boxes and being in awe of their sparkley pieces. I was a child of the 80′s/early 90′s and every media image had girls with tons of accessories on them which had an effect on me. My favorite store in the mall was Claire’s and I remember counting the days down to my 13th birthday when I could get my ears pierced. I actually started my first “business” in highschool where I made and sold hemp necklaces. (Remember it was the early 90′s with the hippie/grunge look was in full effect). I dyed the hemp to make mine “different from the rest”. It’s funny to think that I’m doing the same thing when I dye the lace for my jewelry now. After high school I decided to go to art school and studied Sculpture and Color Theory and graduated with a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2003. I started Cursive Design in 2006, quit my “day job” in 2007 to work from home full-time, and now I’ve been working in my studio space since early 2009.

Thank you so much for your time Sarah, for sharing your gorgeous work, design process and inspirations with Burrs & Berries readers!

P.S. I am currently in Lebanon until Saturday, and will be going to Jordan as well for a few days to visit old friends, so I will be taking next week off since I won’t have full access to the web. I will return to blogging on August 5th, and Flickr Favorite will be back in full effect at the beginning of September! So how are you all doing? How has your summer been so far?

(images: cursive design)

Happy Weekend friends! A lovely message hit my inbox a while ago from Serena of Sang and Serena Company, and I am so excited to share with you their beautiful inlay furniture that is like no other.

After a chance meeting in India, Sang and Serena Company was born with the intention of supporting traditional craft-making skills of an artist-entrepreneur’s art school. Sang and Serena then made these beautiful products accessible to North America through one-of-a-kind pieces that are completely handmade and derived from natural materials. These stunning pieces, intricate and decorative, are potential heirlooms to be passed on and cherished for generations.

Unlike many furniture, these bone inlay pieces have great value and are so much character to a space, creating a middle ground where East meets West. Every item designed and imported is environmentally friendly, with so much detail and soft smooth surface, a fusion of cultures as well as a meeting between history and modernity. My favorite piece is the gray and white chest of drawers; such intense pattern and detail that is yet so elegant is often hard to achieve, and I find it is done perfectly! And you, what do you think of these beauties?

(images: sang and serena company)

Since I missed Etsy Love last week, I’m determined to make it up to you today with a lovely set of shops featuring talented artists selling everything from fashion to mosaics.

I just recently discovered this beauiful little shop in Portugal. Kjoo is filled with gorgeous experimental textile jewelry that is designed by Maria João Ribeiro. If you love color, texture and shapes, these pieces are bound to lure you in like they did me, without hesitation!

Sigmosaics is the shop of native New Zealander and lovely designer Kerrin. Here you will find functional decorative items, and art mosaics that are made from a mix of acrylic and resin tiles, ceramic tiles, recycled tiles, stones, mirror, glass and much more! I find all these gorgeous gems so reminiscent of the Mediterranean, and Europe in general, which is actually where Kerrin sources all her acrylic and resin mosaic tiles.

New York City fashion ceases to amaze me, inspire me and captivate me, and this Brooklyn shop is no exception. Alexandra Grecco carries the sweetest pieces from hair accessories to shorts, tops, and dresses. With a style so feminine, delicate, and playful, I can’t turn my eyes away from anything in that shop.

Kim is a photographer, designer and vintage seller from Massachusetts, who does all these things at a little shop called trampoline. With a series of items salvaged from a home at 303 pleasant street between the 1930 and 1960s, vintage is ever so charming! I adore those ruffled floral sheets, doily and crochet, and silver trays. Beauty and detail is everywhere here.

(images: sources listed above)

Fashion Stylist Leila Bani, represented by THEY Rep in Canada, is so talented from every angle. With a groundbreaking sense of style, she creates both casual yet charming looks, as well as more glamorous formal looks so beautifully.

Leila studied fashion merchandising at the Blanche MacDonald Institute and has since developed into a sought after editorial stylist, styling fashion editorials for several magazines including Flare, Zink, and Chatelaine.

All her works appeal to me, from the down to earth loose day looks to her almost high fashion outfits. Combining layers, different colors and patterns is always fun and interesting. The mixture of ruffles with straight cut shorts creates a lovely effect, and experimenting with material, mixing and matching styles and pieces often creates great looks. That is why I think I like fall fashion so much – it allows you to play with several layers and combine different pieces that often complete a look.

(images: they rep)

In the lovely countryside of party capital Ibiza lives a young family in a tranquil, gorgeous white villa filled with warmth, brilliant colors, and lots of design eye candy and inspiration.

Photographed by Hans Zeegers and represented by Taverne Agency, this home has many of my favorite decor elements. Built with a modern finish and exposed wood log ceilings, the decor combines a mixture of beautiful characteristics for a fresh and original result. White walls are contrasted with light wood cabinets, windows, and furniture, as well as a stunning dark gray kitchen unit, counters and shelving. And above all, who can resist the breath taking Mediterranean? All the gorgeous wood creates a warm and welcoming feeling to the house don’t you think? Everything looks so crisp, yet familiar and inviting.

Look at all the colorful details, aren’t they gorgeous? I love the little garland in the dining room complementing the gray, white and wood backdrop, and the darling row of lanterns lined above the dining table, with intricate little shapes and patterns. And how adorable is the bunk bed with pink sheets and curtains! It’s such a creative alternative to a regular bed frame, with interesting details and forms in the wood with such an adventurous feel and look that seems so appropriate for a child. I wonder what the family living in this home is like, it would be great to learn who they are, what their interests are, and how they were inspired to decorate such a wonderful home. What I love the most is the eclectic mix of pattern, texture, and contrast in neutral versus bright colors. And you, what do you love about this home?

(images: hans zeegers, taverne agency)

I find the most inspiring work comes from artists who take their craft to another level, creating new ideas and different dimensions like creating illustrations with a sewing machine using only thread. Doesn’t that sound interesting?

Super talented crafter and artist Miyuki Sakai has been creating award-winning illustrations with a sewing machine for over twenty years. Oh yes, I am serious. Have you seen her work before? Imagine the skill and patience one must possess to create such art! Miyuki grew up in Osaka, Japan, and adopted her unique style inspired by watching her mother make clothes for her family. After attending art school in Kyoto, Miyuki moved to Tokyo to work as a freelance illustrator, and now lives and works in San Fransisco.

I am so intrigued by her unique style and have probably examined every detail of these lovely illustrations that are featured in the Vive la Tarte article in the June issue of Martha Stewart Living. Like many others, I initially thought that the backgrounds were hand drawn with delicious looking tarts placed on top, but I was so wrong! I love love love all the detail in the patterns, color and texture Miyuki creates in these illustrations. Gorgeous! Do you create unique art, or do you have a favorite artist who does? It’s so inspiring and interesting to see what others do, where their minds wander and creativity and skill takes them.

(images: miyuki sakai)

Sunday Suppers is a blog by Casey Solomon and Karen Mordechai, dedicated to still life photography, food set ups and groups of people getting together to cook and hang out.

Created as a labor of love by stylist and photographer Karen Mordechai, Sunday Suppers are class-cooking-dining experiences held in Brooklyn and taught by local Chefs, with the wonderful objective of pairing friends with food. All the gorgeous photographs on the blog are styled and shot by wedding and food photographer Karen Mordechai, who captures the fresh, local, and seasonal meals gorgeously, and in an inviting manner.

I was immediately drawn to Sunday Suppers for it’s inspiring photography, it’s lovely content and great recipes. They also design entire events, or on a smaller scale, offer services like table design, buffet, set-ups, favors, and more. If you love the photography like I do, you can find some of Karen’s limited edition archival quality prints on the Sunday Suppers shop.

(images: karen mordechai for sunday suppers)

Hello dear friends, I’ve missed you! I know it has been a while and seems as though I disappeared off blogland without a trace, but the past week has been so unexpectedly busy and rushed for me, and I can finally say that it’s over! And since I’ve been away for what feels like forever, here’s a little Sunday special :)

Canadian fashion label dace’s fall 2010 collection was just released, and they are currently offering a free stationery set with every online purchase as long as supplies last that was made special for dace by Toronto’s The Paper Whale, so hurry over because their new collection is so gorgeous! And isn’t this video that was made for the fall collection so charming!

So, tell me how have you been?? I had so much work to do before I left Toronto – planning, cleaning, laundry and packing but I am finally in Dubai and Burrs & Berries will return to it’s routine tomorrow, at last! Now that I’m on this side of the world I can dig into design and fashion inspiration here and I’m so excited to share all this with you. But I am not totally relaxed because, I land in Dubai and guess what – No suitcase. This has never happened to me, and I just want all my stuff! Hopefully I will get it tonight or tomorrow because I cannot imagine what I’d do without everything I packed. Fingers crossed!

(images: dace)

How I love fashion! It would be so lovely to live a day in the life of a fashion stylist, meeting great designers, being at every fashion week in every major city, surrounded by gorgeous dresses, coats, shoes, and just everything fashion. I came across a July catalog the other day, full of pretty summer style.

In a warehouse on the edge of Philadelphia is a group of young, fashionable, creative people making the magic that is Free People. In this warehouse is so much inspiration and process of sorting through fabric swatches, taking photo shoots, ideas, video, art, food and culture. And although that sounds like long hours of hard work to say the least, it all appeals so much to me.

The Free People girl is a creative, bold and independent spirit, with a style that is comfortable, laid back and always has that effortless, fun loving look. Do you see that from the catalog too? This beautiful book was shot in Dolores, Colorado, and it encourages us all to take fashionable adventures each day, and to have fun and get creative with fashion.

(images: free people)

K Studio brings together great design, green materials and social responsibility through their line of soft textiles with core competencies in design, illustration, sewing and embroidery.

Launched in 2004, K Studio products can now be found in retailers across the United States. Starting with fabric made from sustainable materials like hemp, organic cotton and recycled wool, the designs are generated in house and then embroidered, assembled, packaged, and shipped by the K Studio team.

I adore their darling pillows; my favorite is the dog illustration. Their neutral palette, with a touch of color and playful designs make the pillows so casual yet fun and modern. Whether you’re looking for a custom order or you want 2,000 pillows to fill up a hotel, K Studio will deliver. What I love most is that it doesn’t stop at textiles. They even create paintings when inspiration strikes, which you can buy from their Etsy store.

(images: k studio)