SHOPPING: Design Stars

SHARP IMAGE
Function, meet form. “The idea was to take the knife holder off the counter—to make something more decorative than a big chunk of wood,” says Joshua Kanter, a furniture and cabinet craftsman in Great Barrington, Mass., who began designing the wall-mount kitchen accessories earlier this year. Kanter sources exotic wood from the scrap bin of Berkshire Products in Ashley Falls, Mass., enlivening each with woven strips of veneer or burled planks. Slots for up to eight knives of varying sizes extend through the device, ensuring that wayward water droplets or crumbs simply fall through the cracks.

Starting at $55 at JK Cabinets and Furniture, Great Barrington, Mass., 413.429.6840,
 

FRAME OF MIND
Clichés, smeeshays. Sticks & Stones mirrors, crafted by creative people with disabilities at Great Barrington’s Community Access to the Arts under the guidance of faculty artist and Cut It Out twig furnishings founder Janice Shields, are guaranteed to elicit double-takes. Made of sticks collected in Stockbridge, Mass., and polished river stones, the organic adornments send a mighty message.

16- by 18-inch frames about $125 at the Berkshire Botanical Garden Shop, Routes 102 & 183, Stockbridge, Mass., 413.298.3926; Campo de’ Fiori, 1815 N. Main St./Route 7, Sheffield, Mass., 413. 413.528.1857; Evergreen Fine American Crafts, 291 Main St., Great Barrington, Mass., 413.528.0511; Community Access to the Arts, 40 Railroad St., Great Barrington, Mass., 413.528.5485; Cut It Out by Janice Shields, 413.298.0677

LOOMING LARGE
Though tapestry fabrics have been fashionable for centuries, Adams, Mass.-based design outfit Rennie & Rose has helped to reinvigorate the traditional aesthetic in New England with its line of table runners, placemats, pillows, and throws. More than sixty designs—from the Art Nouveau collection’s flowery stained-glass-like configurations to the colorful, graphic patterns known as the calling cards of Frank Lloyd Wright—are woven from cotton blends at American mills; Wright-inspired fabric will be unveiled next year.

About $14 to $74 at Red Lion Inn Gift Shop, Main Street, Stockbridge, Mass., 413.298.1623; Rennie & Rose, 413.445.7444
 

YOU MAY ASK YOURSELF…
It started with a daffodil. During a regular morning sketching session back in April 2009, artist, health coach, and physical therapist Donna McKeen Condon of Great Barrington, Mass., twirled a flower bud in her hands. “What if I just…” she thought out loud, “…open?” The first of her happy, hopeful credos was born. Now Condon creates about twenty simple ink-and-watercolor designs, which she prints herself on note cards, textiles, and ceramic, glass, and porcelain tiles used as drink coasters, wall art, or in home renovations. “Nature and the world offer instructional metaphors,” Condon coos. “Life doesn’t need to be that complicated. We overanalyze, we spend more time thinking than just doing—and feeling.”

4- by 4-inch tiles about $10 and 6- by 8-inch tiles about $20 at Chocolate Springs, 55 Pittsfield Rd./Route 7, Lenox, Mass., 413.637.9820; Kripalu Shop, Route 183, Stockbridge, Mass., 866.200.5203; Red Lion Inn Gift Shop, Main Street, Stockbridge, Mass., 413.298.1623; What If I Just, Great Barrington, Mass., 413.854.1546

BOOM, ROOSTED
Fast on the heels of two mainstream trends—crafting décor from salvaged materials and homesteading—Paul Lenny of the B. Mango and Bird boutique in Lenox, Mass., nabbed seventy-five chicken nesting boxes circa-1930 from Eastern Europe. “People just don’t raise them like this anymore,” Lenny says of the tin-and-wood structures that predate the excessively cramped
quarters of today’s factory farms. Mount one outside to fill with plants and birdseed or repurpose it as an interior shelf and revel in curious inquiries. Quips Lenny: “Your neighbors are not going to have one of these.”

Singles, doubles, and triples about $125 to $175 at B. Mango and Bird, 74 Main St., Lenox, Mass., 413.637.2611
 

HERE COMES THE SUN, AGAIN
Longtime collectors of traditional American stoneware handmade by Bennington Potters may be thrilled to discover that the artisanal Vermont factory is reviving—after a five-year hiatus—its sunny Morning Glory Yellow Dinnerware. But hurry: the mottled-sunshine glaze, introduced in the 1970s, colors soup bowls, trigger mugs, and three sizes of plates in a special-edition run set to expire in 2011.

Sets of four, about $56 to $96 at Bennington Potters Yard Factory Store, 324 County St., Bennington, Vt., 800.205.8033

[SEPTEMBER 2010]