Susan Dworski

Día de los Muertos: A Spirited Celebration to Make Your Own

As fall turns inexorably toward winter, the Day of the Dead festivities serve to help us re-experience
a powerful and sustaining truth: that the intense sorrow of death and the intense joy of living are indivisibly
and forever, One.

Scared? Great. Do It!

Reading Holton Rower’s “Run Toward Your Fear” sign recently, I recalled a remark that Tom Robbins made to me years ago when I was fretting about whether to sign up to design a big, new project with a tight deadline that required a great many skills I did not have—skills I would have to learn on…

Build Miniature Worlds for Fun and…Healing

Japanese artist Tanaka Tatsuya witty miniature worlds inspire our own improvisations using tiny toy people. After all, when life seems out of control, and the world’s closing in, nothing’s more centering than taking a moment to stop and play.

BIG Leaning Mirrors Expand the View

I’m crazy about how mirrors can animate a room and bring it to life. Particularly oversize, leaning mirrors. I thought these were beauties. … You don’t need to do anything — no hanging or rigging; just set them where the look best or reflect the best view. An oversize picture frame can easily be fitted…

Tessa Traeger's photos of hands in the Vivarais region of France

Hands as Tools: Ethiopian Version

(Video link HERE.) State-of-the art eating in Ethiopia. Made by hand, eaten by hand. When I was there, I don’t think I saw a cooking utensil that wasn’t either wood or clay, a rough panga for chopping beef, and a cheap plastic cup here and there for pouring. No need for Sur la Table, Williams-Sonoma or a…

Ultimate Aikido for Everyone

The invitation to a baby shower asked guests to include a note divulging our most sage piece of advice for successful child wrangling. Two words make an equally effective mantra spoken anytime and anywhere—with significant others, friends, co-workers, and all the others with whom you co-exist. Here they are.

Weekend Eats: Shakshouka (Spicy Tomatoes with Eggs)

Susan Dworski sent us an email recently with images of a dish from Green Kitchen Stories: Shakshuuka with Hummus and Sweet Potato Chips, and this note: We eat Shakashuka for Sunday night supper at leasst twice a month. Or more. My recipe is very similar to this one, but their hummus sounds great. And the chips.…

Wise Words from May Sarton

Susan Dworski sent us this powerful quote from poet May Sarton after we mentioned how helpful reading Pema Chodrun is during times of upheavel, accompanied by this note: Pema’s book is a standby at our house. Good call on that one. It reminded me of a quote from poet May Sarton that has always been an inspiration…

How to Dance on the Side of a Building (Video)

(Video link HERE.) Don’t know about you, but we could use some fantasy flying about now. Although we find ourselves a bit over saturated with GoPri videos and curiously jaded to their magical effects, not so with this video of acrobats “dancing” on the side of a building. We find it even more magical with the…

Cargo Bikes to DIY or Buy

When we saw the image, above, of a hacked cargo bike Susan Dworski spotted on a Venice California beach, we thought of our old friend Peter Hoffman, chef of Back Forty and Back Forty West (formerly the great Savoy) in NYC. When his kids were young, he’d ride his odd-looking custom-made cargo bike to Union Square…

Embroidery Fix Redux: Disguise Rips with Images or Symbols

Recalling Virginia del Giudice‘s recent post on using needlework to cover holes in vintage garments, Susan Dworski alerted us to an inspiring iteration on the theme of embroidery fixes:

Noticing Gratitude

A message came in from a reader today that knocked us out. It was forwarded from our friend and frequent contributor Susan Dworski:

Surprising Painted Patterns on Floors, Walls, Ceilings

Why buy rugs to roll out on your floors, when you can paint them? Why collect art when you can decorate walls, floors and ceiling, with found materials? I’m smitten by these two wildly different, improvisational ways that artists have used paint to mimic and displace art in such disparate places as a house on the…

Wake Up: Weave Wonder Out of Failure

Recently, it feels like no matter how hard I try, I just can’t seem to erase the ominous “f” word, spelled out across my interior blackboard in capital letters: F A I L U R E. My insomniac “fail” rumination was interrupted at dawn when a photograph flew over my e-transom, jolting me out of my…

Solar Lanterns Become Wondrous Bubbles

“Sensual wave“, an art installation by French architects Marion Moustey and Alexandre Arcens, gave us ideas for late summer-fall gardens lit with Soji Solar Lantern. Susan Dworski first posted about the wondrous, inexpensive solar shoji lights she festooned her garden with. “Sensual Wave” takes her idea a step further.

Reorganization as Soul Cleanse

A 48-hour disappearance into the depths of my studio was finally interrupted late yesterday by a well-meaning friend. He peered in to find me on hands and knees wiping out the lowest shelves with damp paper towels. “Jeez. Still at it?” I swiveled and growled like a rabid dog, sweat pouring down, hair plastered, eyes raccooned…

Intuitive Method for Organizing Stuff

(Video link HERE.) I LOVE this video! Filmmaker/designer Casey Neistat describes his great Intuitive Categorization Method for organizing his tools and little stuff. I’m loving it especially because it showed up right on time, in time, this morning.

DIY or Buy: Attention Grabbing Geometric Headboards + Panels

These distressed, pastel painted wood panels from Urban Outfitters are enchanting, but why not use the idea as a springboard for a summer DIY project to install anywhere in the house or garden?

In Praise of Shadows and Quiet, Muted Interiors

I’ve been yearning for shadows since June 21st when the world took a tumble towards autumn, trailing crayon-bright, midsummer color and loud solstice revels. Parched by the bleached Scandinavian cottages and austere, no-tint white rooms that are everywhere online, I’m craving soothing darkness and a place to sequester in silence. This stark, in-your-face, white duvet bedroom suddenly hurts my eyes…and…

Closet Strategies with a Simple Piece of Fabric

Since when is it hip, slick and cool to lie in bed and stare at your clothes and shoe racks––no matter how neatly organized––when you’re rustling up romance? I’m talking about a very particular theme of design porn these days: highly-styled, out-in-the-open clothes racks that make me wonder: What would happen in this uber-neuter scheme if…

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