Design For Mankind

jacquie bos arthouse http://www.plywerk.com/ caesarstone burke decor jessalinb"/ crywolf clothing ruby plaza pretty little thieves paper doll stoneandhoney.com alibli some prints pistachio press indiobay advertise_here

the dailies: kris atomic.

We haven’t had a Daily here in awhile, and that’s my fault, as this goodie has been sitting in my inbox and collecting dust. In the spirit of spring cleaning and my love for Kris Atomic (this girl is INSPIRING!), I introduce a Day in the Life of Kris below!

Enjoy (and thank you, Kris! I love having you here!)

7.10
Good morning! The alarm goes off and I snooze for 10 minutes, then lie in bed reading emails on my iphone and waking up. It’s taken me about 10 years to work out that I’m an early bird and not a night owl. I get my best work done in the mornings, so I try to be up by 7am. My boyfriend Andrew and our cat Matilda sleep on.


7.35
Brush teeth, wash face, get dressed yadda yadda. Even though I work from home and don’t leave the house some days, I try to put on proper clothes and make myself presentable otherwise I can’t really get in the mindset of work.

07.55
Breakfast. Realise we don’t have any bread so no toast, settle for some fruit and tea. Lady Grey tea is my favourite, with milk/no sugar.

07.59
Sit down to work. Watch the latest episode of House and write to-dos in my filofax, reply to some emails and work out what I need to do today. I’m useless without my lists!

08.32
Work on colouring an illustration for a print. I usually draw on paper, then colour digitally so I spend a lot of time staring at the screen. I worry about my poor eyes.

11.00
Matilda starts running around and making a racket which means she wants to play so I drag her favourite feather toy around for a bit.

11.05
Andrew is up and working. He’s a photographer and programmer (and definitely a night owl!) but he works from home too, so we see a lot of each other. He works really hard so it’s very motivating to have him sitting next to me, because I’m a natural procrastinator.

11.08
Matilda hangs out on the rug next to us while we work. I wish I was a cat.

12.15
Since I didn’t have a very substantial breakfast, I’m going to have an early lunch. I’ve been trying to perfect my home made hummus this week and this one seems the best yet. I also make a godawful mess of the kitchen, blessed as I am with the ability to use every pan, dish and utensil in the house when making anything. I’m a pretty rubbish cook, but I do try.

12.32
Lunch of hummus, pitta bread and mint tea while I read the new issue of Vogue that just arrived in the mail.

12.35
Matilda is peeved that I’m using “her” table, so she sits next to me trying to sabotage my food by sticking her tail in it.

13.41
A bit more drawing, then I get ready to go to the gym. It’s sunny outside but still very cold, so I wrap up in my duffle coat and scarf.

13.42
I’m also wearing my favourite chinos from COS and a whole bunch of layers to battle the cold.

13.53
I live in Brighton, right by the sea. I’m looking forward to the summer when it’ll be really lovely.

14.00
There are lots of nice little shops and restaurants…

14.01
…most of which I haven’t been in since I moved here in october! Until last month I was working full time in London, so I was never really around. Now that I’m freelance I’m trying to explore the area a little at a time.

16.00
I didn’t take photos at the gym, but now I’m on my way back. I try to go running 3 times a week and do yoga on the other days. Today I did 10km in an hour and 20 minutes, which is pretty slow. I watched Gilmore Girls while I ran though, which is always a bonus!

16.10
It’s good to get out of the house a little bit every day, or I start to feel like a hermit.

16.21
I love the colours of the houses in Brighton, so much nicer than boring beige.

16.33
Stop off at the grocery (I buy a courgette, red pepper, chai tea and udon noodles) on the way back home. I’m wearing my new heeled brogues today. I love them!

16.45
Back to the workstation. As you can see we basically live in an apple store. All those cables and wires drive me mad, but it’s necessary. I work on colouring another illustration, read twitter, reply to emails and prepare some blog posts for the next few days.

17.55
A break to lounge with some blankets and cushions while I read (Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel). Matilda sleeps like the dead next to me.

18.30
Dinner. Sorry it’s not very photogenic! It’s thai green curry with green beans and baby corn, leftovers from last night. Andrew was feeling a bit anaemic so he had a steak and some spinach instead. I eat in front of the computer while I catch up on blog feeds and look at photos from Paris fashion week.

19.04
Back to work again! I draw some looks from the autumn/winter shows, this one is from Lanvin. Then I sketch some ideas for the launch of my new online shop next month, while listening to The Brothers Karamazov audiobook.

23.20
Bedtime! I get into my pjs and read Three Cups of Tea and try not to cry. I’m always crying at books! Hopefully, I’m asleep by 12am. Night night!

the dailies: christine of small magazine.

You’re familiar with Christine, yes? Of Small Magazine and Little Bean shop? I certainly don’t have children, but if I did? Whoa.

Also, can we talk about how adorable her children’s names are? Amelie and Miette? Get out of town.

Also again? Cutest tooth fairy story EVER below.

Anyway, Christine is here to share her inspirational day with us — from her home to yours! Enjoy, and thank you, Christine!:


6:49 Wake up. The girls always sneak into our bed at some point in the night. I manage to crawl out of bed, grab some coffee and make the girls lunches.


7:17 Sit on the couch with my 3 year old, Amelie and check my email. Well, try to. Instead we have a blank Word Document up and Amelie is randomly tapping letters and making me sound them out into crazy sentences. She laughs. I laugh. Amelie has the BEST laugh.


7:30 Amelie, Miette, Steven (my husband) and I eat breakfast. Help my 6 year old, Miette get dressed for school. My husband takes her to school.


8:05 Amelie and Steven have a dance party. I applaud and check my email. Shower and get ready for work. It’s a battle this morning to get Amelie dressed. It’s very cold and she wants to wear a sundress and hot pink sandals. She keeps asking us “When are we going to the beach house?” This girl LOVES the beach, dislikes winter. Just like her mama. Steven takes Amelie to school.


9:22 Drive to work and think about what I am going to work on first today. Organize the shop; get right to sewing or work on Small Magazine.  Decisions, decisions…


9:45 Open the shop. Get some music on. This morning I am in the mood for Miike Snow. Organize the shop. Clean a bit. Check email. Organize all of our advertising for the Spring Issue of Small Magazine.  My studio is right behind my shop so I get back there and figure out what orders I need to get started on.


10:44 Finish cutting out 19 dresses for a wholesale order.  I really enjoy this part of production. It’s a calming task. I help a few customers who come into the shop.


12:20 Eat lunch and read blogs. There is a great café next to the shop but today opted for brown rice and broccoli. I work on a few layouts for Small. Check the time in Australia where Olivia my co-editor lives to see if she’s home or awake yet to chat about the next issue. I love that we can still work on the magazine even though we are currently in different time zones. It’s still too early there…


1:15 Sew.


2:00 Sew some more. Some customers come into the shop.


2:45 Still sewing.


3:35 Steven and Miette come to the shop. Steven is a photographer (also the photo editor of Small) so I take advantage of that daily on all my projects. Miette is also my favorite model. Today we are photographing my Fall/Winter 2010 collection. I need to get it out to my showroom for an upcoming market. Steven has a little photo studio behind mine.


5:00 Close up shop. Drive home and look forward to dinner. Steven is cooking tonight. He is an excellent cook!


6:00 Eat dinner. This usually consists of the girls taking a bite of their food, getting up and dancing and Steven and I telling them they must sit and eat. We wonder if we will ever have a meal where everyone just SITS and eats.


6:30 Homework. Miette has to fill in the missing numbers from 1 to 100. Kindergarten is pretty intense. Remember when the only thing expected from kindergarteners was to color inside the lines? She’s done and she is off to the playroom with Amelie to dress up and play. Steven and I talk a bit about our day.


7:05 I promised Amelie this morning that we would make cupcakes tonight. She loves to cook. In fact Steven said she made the meatballs for tonight’s dinner all by herself.  I give the girls the task of getting the pans ready. I have to distract them after we finish mixing the batter otherwise they will eat spoonfuls of it.


7:30 Miette lost her second tooth today. She does not want the tooth fairy to take it so we write her a note to please leave the tooth AND the money.


7:40 Cupcakes are done. We each eat a cupcake with some milk. Amelie only likes the icing and Miette only likes the cake. A match made in heaven. I like the whole cupcake.

7:50 The girls and I take a bath. This is my favorite time of the day. We relax, talk about our day and laugh. A lot.  Unless I have to wash their hair…

8:15 Read a few library books to Miette. She brushes her teeth and I tuck her into bed. Steven goes in to tell her a story. Amelie and I hang on the couch and watch some SpongeBob. I check my email.

8:40 I read Amelie some books, help her brush her teeth and get her into bed.  I work on Small Magazine on my laptop on the couch. Most nights are devoted to working on the magazine. But tonight I just want to watch some television.

9:00 Steven and I watch Chopped. I love this show.

10:00 Brush my teeth and go read in bed. I make it through about four sentences into an article in the New Yorker.

10:05 Fall asleep.

For more fun-filled dailies where we follow our favorite creatives, click over to The Dailies!

the dailies: rubyellen of my cakies.

Time for another Daily! I’m going to give you the day off to let this one soak in, b/c whoa. Today we’re following the day of Rubyellen of My Cakies fame (blog / etsy)! Such a sweet gal with an even sweeter family. Take it away, Rubyellen!

7:00am :: Wake-up, check emails, blog and quietly sneak out of the room (because there is a sleeping baby) to get my day started. Waking up for me is easy as I am one of those annoying happy-pappy people in the morning. My husband, Ben, on the other hand takes a least an hour until he is friendly.

7:20am :: Sit down and eat some oatmeal. I hated eating oatmeal when I was pregnant, but since I gave birth, oatmeal for breakfast is all I want. Well, maybe along with some chocolate chip cookies.

7:30am :: Get ready to make Ben’s lunch, so I go outside to our garden to get some swiss chard, which I put in Ben’s sandwich. I then put together Ben’s sandwich, wrap up his fruits and vegetables and pack up his lunch for the day. I have to make sure he has a nice balanced meal, he is a dietitian after all.
7:45am :: Wake True and Brave up because they like to say goodbye to their Papi as he leaves for work.

8:00am :: Say goodbye to Ben as he leaves for another day at work. Then, I get the girls dressed and ready for their day.

8:30am :: True and Brave sit down to eat their oatmeal and blueberries.

9:00am :: Hear Soul crying, so I go upstairs and she is wide awake. True, Brave, and I talk to her a bit and Soul smiles back at her big sisters.

9:10am :: Change Soul’s stinky diaper.

9:15am :: Change Brave’s wet diaper. Then, let the girls lay down together and laugh a bit as I take pictures.

9:30am :: Time to feed Soul. True and Brave are off to make a mess in their rooms.

9:40am :: Brave comes marching in as I am feeding Soul and exclaims that True is not sharing, so I tell her to stay and hang out with me and Soul. She proceeds to jump and spin on the bed as Soul is feeding.

9:58am :: Soul is put to nap and us girls go downstairs as I am ready to pop in my video and do a workout. I have been going strong for one month, but we will see how long this lasts. It is hard to find time with three little ones. True and Brave sit on the couch and read while I do the first portion of my workout.

10:30am :: I pause my workout video as I see the girls are done (bored) reading as they have now joined me in my workout, so I take out the play dough for them to play with as I finish up exercising.

11:00am :: I am done exercising. We all get our sketchbooks and sit together drawing and doodling.

11:30am :: True and Brave say they want to continue working on their painting that we started the day before, so I get out their canvases and paints and we all continue to work on their paintings.

12:00pm :: As the girls are painting, I go to see my little Soul is still sound asleep.

1:00pm :: We take a break from painting and we all eat lunch together. Lunch for today is some tacos with ground turkey, mixed with corn on a hard shell tortilla, and for greens, I use the swiss chard grown in our garden. They also have carrots on the side to munch on.

1:30pm :: The girls go back to painting another color on their canvas as I clean up the kitchen. It is amazing how such little girls can make such a big mess!

2:00pm :: I am beat and glad that it is their nap time. We all go upstairs and I put them in their own rooms for a nap.

2:05pm :: By this time, Soul has a fully loaded diaper and ready for another change.

2:15pm :: Time to feed Soul again, so we lay down together and I check emails and do some blog reading.

2:30pm :: I play with Soul a bit and then put her down for another nap.

2:35pm :: Alas! Time for myself. I finally take a shower and get dressed up for the day (or what’s left of it anyways).

3:00pm :: I sit near Soul as she sleeps. This is when I have my quiet time and work on my various projects, or things for the shop. On this particular day, I was crocheting some bows for the shop.

3:45pm :: I go downstairs to have a little snack and sketch as I enjoy eating my Japanese mochi. After which, I go back to crocheting. My quiet times are such a treasure as it helps clear my head.
4:45pm :: Soul cries. I feed and change her again.

5:00pm :: Time to wake up True and Brave from their naps.

5:30pm :: Ben finally comes home from work. He tells me all about his stressful day and I try my best be a good listener because sometimes I am a very bad listener. After work talk, we are both too exhausted and don’t know what we should make for dinner.
6:10pm :: We all go downstairs and prepare dinner. We decided that he will cook some broccoli rabe, and I will prepare some whole grain cous cous with beans.

6:30pm :: We all sit down together to eat dinner. We pray, the girls insist on clanging our glasses to do “cheers,” and we all indulge in our yummy, simple made food.

7:15pm :: I take the girls upstairs, bathe them, and get them ready for bed.
7:30pm :: I tuck Brave into bed to sleep and Ben tucks True in for the night. Lucky Soul is still feeding throughout the night, so she gets to be in our room.
7:35pm :: I feed and change Soul again as Ben goes back downstairs to finish cleaning up the kitchen.
8:00pm :: Ben and I are so pooped out from the day. He showers as I do some stuff online, then we cuddle together in bed and watch a movie.

10:26pm :: We finally say goodnight (with a kiss) and get rest to do it all over again the next day. Goodnight!


For more inspiring days, enjoy our Dailies archives!

the dailies: color me katie.

You guys have been begging for more Dailies (and I don’t blame you!), so it’s time to deliver. My sweet intern Marisa lined up this goodie for us, and whoa. Seriously. Say it again. Whoa.

If you’re not familiar with The Dailies, it’s a series where we stalk follow a day in the life of a creative individual, from dusk ’til dawn. Everyone loves The Dailies, and if you don’t… well, then. Crap.

Anyway. Color Me Katie. I swear, you guys — this girl has mad talent. A card-carrying member of Improv Everywhere, Katie Sokoler has the most colorful perspective on the world than anyone I know. She has an awesome photo wall, plays with sidewalk chalk and turns snow into sno-cones.

Anyway, I’ll let Katie’s schedule speak for itself. Read on!:

8:00 am
Time to wake up! Morning is my favorite time of the day because the light is so pretty and soft.

8:20 am
I stumble over to my computer to check my email and put on music so I can sing in the shower.

8:45 am
….and sometimes dance.

9:20 am
I like to put a plate of seeds out on my fire escape to feed the squirrels and birds. But It’s mostly just to entertain my cat Moo, who likes to watch them from the window.

9:45 am
I make tasty coffee for me and my love.

10:00 am
Time to get to work! Tyra Banks is using my photos on her TV show next week so I need to go through and edit them.
11:30 am
All done and time to send them!

12:00 pm
Now it’s time to make a project for my blog. I’m making some fun silhouettes to put up on my wall. The first step is to cut out people from pictures.

12:30 pm
Then I trace them onto colorful pieces of paper and cut out the shapes.

1:30 pm
My wall just became a bit more colorful and fun!

2:00 pm
Posting the photos on my blog.
2:30 pm
Since I work mostly at my computer from home, I try to take a walk every day so that my head doesn’t explode!
3:30pm
Walking around my pretty neighborhood gives me time to brainstorm new ideas and fun projects to work on.

4:00 pm
Tomato soup with an egg? My favorite!
5:00 pm
Moo babysits Big Frog and Little Frog while I clean their tank.

6:00 pm
Back to the computer. Now it’s time to answer lots of emails and interviews!

9:00 pm
Matty and I have a big feast at a cozy restaurant and then go home to watch old movies.

12:00 am
Night!
Whoa! Inspiration overload, right? Follow Katie’s blog or check her out on Twitter. Thanks, Katie!

Copyright © 2007-2010 Erin Loechner. All Rights Reserved.
Designformankind.com