Leatherphilia

Leather is one of my favourite materials - its feel and scent is very distinctive. I like how it's durable, and the way it ages. I was captivated the first time I saw an item by South African leather brand Missibaba. Since 2006, Chloe Townsend and her talented team of craftswomen have given South Africa beautiful leather accessories.

What makes seeing a Missibaba design so captivating is the exciting way leather is used. The colours, patterns and stitching make me feel very happy - intricate, handcrafted details are a big design favourite of mine. Beauty combines seamlessly with practicality; the bags and wallets in the range are all good sizes.

The Missibaba range also includes jewellery. A team is based at the Ikhaya Trust Centre, Kayamandi township (close to Stellenbosch). This team's catalyst was a job creation and skills development project. The women use the off-cuts from the Missibaba workshop to make the 'sweetie' and 'caterpillar' necklaces. The women also embroider custom-made Missibaba items.

Sweetie necklace

Caterpillar necklace

Photos: 1 and 2

If you were stuck on an uninhabited island...

...And you could only hear one song for the rest of your life, which song would you choose?

I was watching a video for California Dreamin' by the Mamas & the Papas on Youtube today, and came across an interesting comment: ''If I were trapped on a desert island and could only hear one song for the rest of my life it would be this.''  That got me wondering which song I would choose...

A top contender is  Gold Dust Woman by Fleetwood Mac. The song has an otherworldly quality to it. Stevie Nicks' vocals are hauntingly beautiful. The guitars provide a mesmerising boat for the story to sail in. I have listened to this song so many times, yet it is still as powerful as it was the first time I listened to it. I do believe that Gold Dust Woman is one of Fleetwood Mac's finest songs.

About a newspaper article's tag line

About two weeks ago (I shouldn't be so lazy about posting...) I was tearing up some old newspapers for papier mache. I came across an issue of Free 4 All, a free newspaper we got at school. In it, there was an article about being a good kisser, with the tag line 'For Boys'. I laughed because I'm quite sure that both sexes would want to go into a kiss with some idea of what to do.  It reminded me of a quote in a magazine which was talking about the 'experienced man, innocent woman' stereotype (to be fair, the quote was talking about sex, but a 'boy experienced in kissing, girl innocent' story is in a similar vein) . The 'For Boys' tag line seemed to reflect that stereotype, which was weird...it was almost like the newspaper was participating in the subtle gender role socialisation process that a good number of media sources slip into young people's lives.

On the other hand, the tag line probably had no sinister undercurrents. You can look at it either way. This post was just the bunch of thoughts in my head at the time.

Sublimely awesome

I first came across this ad on the lovely blog Narrylikes.com. The ad is for Dutch children's charity Kinderpostzegels, and directed by Christian Borstlap. The characters are simply illustrated, yet so expressive.

things to learn from Matt Edgar on Vimeo.

Not your average tourist destinations

I couldn't decide which strange object to post about, so here's a double feature of strange places instead!

The Capuchin Monastery in Brno, Czech Republic allows visitors to see its catacombs, where the mummified bodies of monks, abbots and various people rest. I think it's safe to say that the catacomb is the most visited part of the monastery! Bodies were laid in the catacombs until 1787, when Emperor Joseph II forbade bodies to be buried in the catacomb.

The bodies in the catacomb were accidentally mummified - the ventilation holes in the tunnels keep the air constantly dry, which mummified the bodies hundreds of years ago. Baron von Trenck is a famous figure in Brno, and so rests in a glass-topped coffin in a separate room.

I felt a little squeamish when I saw this picture, so I've put in a link instead of posting a picture of the catacombs!


I now end off the 'strange objects/strange places' series with a place where dead people are part of the decor.

This place, also in the Czech Republic, is the Sedlec Ossuary, Sedlec, near Kutna Hora. Bones decorate nearly every wall of the small Roman Catholic chapel, and a delicate bone chandelier hangs from the ceiling.The ossuary lies beneath the Cemetary Church of All Saints. The bones of approximately 40 000 to 70 000 people are contained in the ossuary. From what I've gathered, one man arranged the bones decorativley - his name was František Rint. The woodcarver was paid by the prominent Schwarzenberg family to arrange the bones in 1870.

I think I would visit all the weird places I've posted about. The places are definitely very creepy, yet somehow fascinating.

Photo source: http://0.tqn.com/d/goeasteurope/1/0/i/5/-/-/SedlicOssuary4.JPG. See more photos here