Museo Del Oro

When I introduced gold into my recent pieces it got me thinking about how inspired I was by The Museum of Gold. Last year my husband and I went to visit his hometown of Bogota, Colombia. One of the places that he took me to was this museum. 
At the time I took a ton of photos in the museum of the beautiful pieces and the way that they were displayed. So on the topic of gold here are some photos from inside the museum of some of my favourite pieces. There is a lot more information available about the history on the museum website. 

This shape really interested and in the gift shop they sell cast replicas of some of the pieces with information about which time period they’re from. I thought that these earrings below were the perfect souvenir. 

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Gold

Over the past week I’ve been busy and so inspired, all by adding gold to the colour palette. I’m using it on a whole line of new things for spring, including another version of the iPad sleeve. Here’s a peak inside of my studio and what I’ve been working on.

 I’m in the midst of finishing up and photographing so there will be more to come.

New Oversize Tote

The first “Shibang” bag was a large denim tote that I made and embellished with my first hand dyed wool and loopy first hand spun yarn. It was purple with an orange centre and in an abstract way looked a bit like a flower. I was a Textile Arts student at Capilano University in my first year and I wanted a bag that could carry all of the wool, fabric and books I was bringing to class each day.

What I liked about this bag was how it added some interest to any outfit and was different from anything I’d ever seen before. I began making large tote bags in 2005 and continued for a couple of years until I focused on creating smaller items.

This season I am bringing back the oversize tote in new version — made on heavy wool with structure, leather handles, rivets & metal feet. This is the perfect canvas to showcase a large colourful abstract flower and it looks good with a blazer and jeans, a casual outfit or for travelling.

The style is inspired by classic shapes with an influence from vintage luggage.

One perk of being back in the Vancouver area is that I am close to all of the family furniture and special belongings that date back many decades. The suitcase and trunk pictured above have been in the family for a long time.

The trunk was used by my great aunt Flora when she travelled to Scotland to visit family and brought it full of food. The brown suitcase belonged to my great uncle in Australia and he gave it to my parents to use when they were returning to Canada after their honeymoon in Australia and didn’t have enough space to carry everything back.

Interior Design Show WEST

This past Friday was a very busy and day in downtown Vancouver. We started the day at a conference for small and medium sized business called SOHO where the day was filled a roundtable breakfast, networking and many great speakers. After spending the day at the conference we headed down the Interior Design Show West (IDS West) going on at The Vancouver Convention Centre. The show floor was filled with so many inspirational displays, products and ideas.

I love everything to do with interior design and as this is a direction Shibang is heading.

I took a few photos of different exhibitors at the show that I found interesting but there were many others as well that I didn’t photograph. This one above and below is SALARI. The textiles were the draw here and these colourful seats were so sturdy to sit on — not only fun to look at.

These sculptural pieces by COLLABORATION are beautiful up close and looked stunning displayed on top of and filled with moss.

MOLO had a big presence at the show with their soft wall structures and treehouse like display, beautiful lamps suspended and much more.

 

Here’s a shot of the dining area which was designed by Moooi.

This is only a small representation of what and who was there. I have put the links to the websites of the companies I mentioned and by looking through the IDS West website there is a directory of everyone. Marimekko was also there. I absolutely love them and have yet to visit their  Yaletown location.

My Scuttle Featured Artist

Thanks to Holly for of the online shop and blog My Scuttle for having Shibang Designs as the featured artist this week.

To see the full interview and details about the giveaway click here.

Colombia

Last week I returned from a two week trip to South America. I went to Colombia with my fiancé Juan, to meet all of his family and see his country for the first time. We stayed in Bogotá (the capital city) with his parents for the majority of the time and also took a trip to the Caribbean coast where we spent a few days in Cartagena.

The colours, lush vegetation, mountains and the many new fruits I tried were all very inspirational. Here are a few photos from both cities and an island that we visited.

 

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