Archive for the ‘inspiration’ Category
Thanks to all for your Insta-Inspiration – especially Katie Mclean!
We asked our friends through instagram (@elementeden), in partnership with No Subject LA (nosubjectLA) and Foam Mag (@FoamMag)… what gets your creative juices bubbling #CreateCultivate?!
Everyone posted some rad painting, photo, street art, and still life shots… But we had to pick just one of you little creatornators as the proud winner of a $500 shopping spree with Element Eden.
Proud to announce Katie Mclean, 21 year old graduate of Otis college of Art and Design, as our Create and Cultivate contest winner. She posted multiple masterpieces, featuring her eclectic,sensual, and naturally captivating vision through painting. We’re truly blown away and inspired by your beautiful style.
The extent of her work wanders much farther than paintings – scope her stuff on http://gypsyeye.com/ and @gypseye805
Can’t wait to see where your wanderings take you Katie and on behalf of the Element Eden family thanks for getting us inspire-wired!
What every weekend should consist of: Create & Cultivate
Create and Cultivate is essentially pinterest on crack…. the team over at No Subject LA partners up with Foam Magazine and some of the lead influencers in the creative realm, providing a weekend to inspire, inform and support future innovation.
The two day getaway was hosted at none other than the uber-hip Ace Hotel in Palm Springs, and we had the pleasure of teaming up as a co-sponsor of this years event! While we could write a detailed essay on all we loved, learned and obsessed over during the weekend, we’ll save you the long read and sum it up as this…
-Brand strategist, Jasmine, taught the art of personal branding in a social media world
-Yours truly (our team at Element) gave a workshop on creating macrame plant hangers and jazzing them up with feathers, beads and braided knots
-Zico coconut water started day two off with outdoor yoga against a sunny mountainside view
DIY Sardina Lomography with Juliana Neufeld!
Starting her schooling in the realm of photography and further expanding into illustration… artist Juliana Neufeld’s partnership with Lomography for a DIY of their new La Sardina camera only makes sense!
Inspired by eighties graffiti, children’s illustrations and beautiful textiles, we love the final piece Element Advocate Juliana Neufeld created!
Stay tuned for some upcoming tee graphics in our collection by Juliana and check out her most recent project on our organic totes with West 49 HERE!
REAM MORE and get inspired to decorate your own camera!
Rewrite beautiful…
“Street artists believe just because their art doesn’t sit in a gallery, doesn’t mean it isn’t art. Equally, just because society claims beautiful is found in your appearance, doesn’t mean it is.” -Irvina Kanarek, street artist from Newport Beach, CA and founder of, Rewrite Beautiful
Merging street art with eating disorder prevention seems an unlikely feat, but when Irvina when she found herself with 3 very different jobs: a nanny, art teacher, and counselor in an eating disorder rehab clinic, it all came beautifully together. All the girls she came into contact with had one thing in common; they were all jeopardizing their lives to make themselves “beautiful”. The art students were experimenting with eating disorders while the rehab patients were dying from them. Irvina worried that the little girl she nanny’d, would one day grow up and be welcomed into this cycle…. and thus was born Rewrite Beautiful!
Today, Rewrite Beautiful holds street art workshops for the public inspiring action, creativity, kindness and strength. They educate on eating disorders and invite people to make street art stating that beauty is an action, where it is displayed to the public for all to enjoy.
Our little Q&A with the lovely Irvina:
Us: What projects do you have going on for summer? Is there one you’re most excited about and why?
IK: This summer I’m going to be working on the third draft of my first book, How To: Rewrite Beautiful. It’s gonna be an epic book! Part memoir of my days being a hot mess and what I have learned about being creative, kind and a strong girl in the world. It’s so easy to say we want to be a certain kind of person, but it’s so hard to actually do it! I’m talking about different ways of expressing creativity, why it’s so important to be kind to yourself and tools for being strong and going after your dreams.
Us: Did you always know you were going to start a non-profit?
IK: Heck to the N-O! Starting a non-profit was the last thing I thought I would ever do! I grew up with my mom running a non-profit and decided early on it wasn’t for me. However, when I got the idea to start Rewrite Beautiful I could see that a non-profit was the right business model for us. It was a humbling and inspiring moment when I realized that something I had written off years ago was actually going to serve myself and others in a great way. I was also excited to bring my own creativity and life experience to this non-profit and make it apart of my story and help many others through it.
Us: What’s it like talking to people about a taboo subject like eating disorders?
IK: It can be pretty gnarly, sometimes I get so nervous and think, “What am I doing? I’m so not cut out for this.” I relate it a lot to being an artist. You create this body of work and when you show it you’re thinking, “I hope people like it. Do they understand it? Is it inspiring them?” Being an artist is such a risk, but it’s so exciting when someone comes up to you and says, “Oh my gosh! This is amazing! I want this in my house!” It’s the same thing for me. I speak at schools and talk about something that’s never discussed (eating disorders.) While I’m speaking I’m wondering, “Do they get it? Are they inspired?” But, it’s totally worth it when someone comes up to me after and says, “Wow. What you’re doing is amazing. I need help. What should I do? Where should I go?”
Us: When you start planning a street art workshop where do you get your inspiration from?
IK: I get so much inspiration when I go running! I can’t stand the gym so I end up running at the beach, back bay or even the good ole’ concrete streets of suburbia! I’m definitely a thinker, my mind is constantly pacing, running allows my mind to just chill out. Then all the sudden I’ll see the way someone hugs someone, then I’ll see the texture of a piece of trash, then the sunset and boom! I’ll put them all together and have a great idea. So many times I’ll have to run really fast to get home so I can write it down before I lose the idea!
Us: We notice you use a lot of recycled materials in the street art is there a reason for that?
IK: Yes, I’m cheap! Ha! No, I really just love the idea of giving a new life to something that may be seen as trash. For instance the CD’s we used for the last street art workshop to spell out “Beautiful” we’re a lot of old cd’s I used to burn photos when I was into photography. I don’t shoot photos anymore, but the creative time I spent studying photography got me to where I am today. I thought of the purpose they once served. All the sudden I saw all the CD’s in my head spelling out “Beautiful” and the next thing you know I was laying them all out on my bedroom floor trying to see how many I needed to spell it.
Us: Have you always been interested in street art?
IK: I visited Los Angeles a lot as a kid and saw a lot of graffiti. When I mentioned it, my parents would point out the amount of skill and talent it took to make that kind of art and though the people who were tagging walls weren’t doing it legally, they had something they wanted to express. I think this got me to thinking that everyone really is an artist, it’s just a matter of when and where they’re gonna express it. Then in college I was invited to Banksy’s 2005 show in Los Angeles, Barely Legal and I was hooked.
Us: What is an upcoming project you have?
IK: I’m working on getting the Rewrite Beautiful School Programs into more local schools so more kids can hear the message and make art with us. Publishing the book, How To: Rewrite Beautiful and of course our annual art show in the beginning of December! Life is super busy and Rewrite Beautiful takes a lot of work, but I’m really blessed to be working on projects I not only believe in, but that I know are helping others grow into their strong girls they were created to be.
Much love to our girl Irvina for spreading the mission to Live, Learn and Grow!! Read more about Rewrite Beautiful HERE!
Opening reception of “STALKER” by Lisa Solberg, this Friday!!
Our good friend Lisa Solberg’s dream-like, large-scaled oil paintings can keep any viewer entranced for hours. Growing up in Chicago, and graduating from the University of Colorado Boulder with a Bachelor of Fine Art, Lisa now lives in Los Angeles, where she creates her beautiful, expressionist art. Her media of choice is oil paint, creating flowing silver-grey metallic strokes in her newest installation, STALKER, which will debut at THIS Los Angeles this Friday, June 15th, from 7-10 pm.
Within this installation, Lisa combines her already well-known and appreciated painting skills with attention to drawing. Reflective insulation panels with cutting techniques create poetic, bold and thoughtful imagery focused on the sublime.
Check out Lisa’s installation at THIS Los Angeles, located at 5906 North Figueroa Street Los Angeles, California 90042. You will not be disappointed!!!
STALKER continues through July 14, 2012.
Gallery hours: Thursday – Saturday 12-6 PM, and by appointment.
Contact: this@thislosangeles.com for more information.
See more of Lisa Solberg’s breathtaking paintings HERE.
Summertime Clothes
Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes (Dam-Funk Remix) (you can dance around to this in your summertime clothes)
Still working on the painting for my friend Durek and too shy to share details yet, soon soon promise!
But here’s something you can lay your eyes on now, either here in this post or in real life, on your body all summer long!
Element Eden’s Summer collection is currently available and there’s four pieces I created in this line. I wanted to share the details on how these things travel from my imagination into your hands.
I also think it’s a little serendipitous that the designers traveled to India last year and said a lot of the inspiration for the summer collection came from the textiles, colors and prints they saw on their trip. Almost simultaneously, I was in Indonesia for a few months where I was inspired by the colors and textiles there. I drew all of these drawings during my stay and even painted one on the side of a friend’s cafe. Now they are available for you to wear on super soft oversized organic tees.
First I take my imagination to paper. I use tracing paper so I can redraw parts a million times over and over until it’s super perfect just like us virgo’s like it. I use colored pencils to keep track of updated sketches.
Finally I re draw everything one more time and then finish them in ink so the lines are clean and clear. Then I scan these drawings and either color them digitally or send them over for Esther (the graphics wizard) at Element Eden to color up and place on Tee’s.
Seriously did I say wizard? Esther Kim is my favorite graphic designer that I’ve ever worked with! This is my favorite part when she sends me back this magical stuff! She works closely with me doing revisions on color and layout to help my imagination + mixed with her awesome visions = come ALIVE. Aren’t these collaborations the best? I think so! XOXOXOXOXOXO I LOVE YOU ESTHER KIM YOU ARE SOoooooo SUPER AMAZING!!!!! XOXOXOXOXO Even just doing this post I get so excited at this point in the process, more than the actual tee’s.
And then elves in a workshop mix up some potions and VOILA! Super soft organic Tee’s for you to live and dance in all summer long!
Click here to go get some now!
Planted like angelic seeds in my life I love watching them grow by Brooke Reidt
Element Eden asked me who I surround myself with and what draws me to those people. I thought I would introduce you to some of my friends who inspire me. Somewhere along the way they were planted like angelic seeds in my life and I love watching them grow! So many of my close friends are artists, constantly creating their own art and living out their dreams. There’s too many people like this in my life that I simply adore and are hugely inspiring to name here, so consider this a sliver. (A big sliver since I didn’t post yesterday.)
Meet Ixchel, such a small girl filled with so much magic! Ixchel is named after a Mayan goddess and she seems like she’s from another universe or perhaps a whole universe exists within her. She creates photographic images that you want to climb inside of and make a new life for yourself without boundaries. Just looking at her photographs takes you on a trip to places you can’t find on any atlas. All shot with film and no photoshopping! Look!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ixchelara/
This is Niki. I met her on a porch of a house called “The Legion of Doom” in Ohio when I was hitchhiking across the country at 17. She very much seems a part of me. Living on opposite coasts I still feel like I grew up right beside her. She’s a genius the way she moves color around on canvas, wood or paper. You know that story about the boy who turned everything he touched to chocolate? Well this is the girl who turns everything she touches to beguiling beauties. Niki and her art are a spellbinding sea yours eyes need to swim around in. http://planticandwingishscenery.blogspot.com/
Mariqueen is a mermaid. No seriously, you’ve heard the lore of singing sirens that make ships wreck? This is her! Her voice gives you shivers and it does kind of kill you in a way. She’s a mother, lover and singer of the supernatural descent. Currently hypnotising, mesmerising and making waves in her band How to Destroy Angels drown your ears. http://howtodestroyangels.com/
Steve is cosmic. If Picasso came back to life as a hunter of life his name would be Steve. Steve is a magician of the arts, he dances to the beat of his dreams. From sculpture, mosaics & installations, to abstract paintings erupting in color he manifests a world of love you can live inside of. His art is not only a life of dedication but a life celebration. http://stevefawley.com/
This is Chris. I think you can see just from this picture that the energy of this being is extraterrestrial. Yep this picture was taken from one of his performances somewhere on a moon orbiting in the outerest parts of outer space. I know I wish was there too! The energy this alien invests into the music he makes can take you there! Listen to his project Free the Robots it will take you on that universal voyage you’ve been dreaming of. Chris is also one of the owners of a really impressive restaurant here on earth who is celebrating their 4th anniversary this weekend, The Crosby go! http://www.myspace.com/freetherobots
June June she’s sucha swoon you just want to spoon her forever! Aside from being sweet like a pile of puppies, she’s made of crystal prisms that cast rainbows of light on everything in her path. You know that Rolling Stone’s song “She’s a Rainbow”, that’s June. June is an artist, designer, blogger, film maker and snowboarder. She’s kind of a mystic sometimes she disappears and then resurfaces with some new zesty project or film that captivates your heart. http://blog.boatpeopleboutique.com/ http://www.peepshowfilms.com/
Finally there’s Paul who is one of my oldest friends. He divides his time between New York and traveling to the edge of earth. Right when he’s teetering so close to the edge you wonder if he’s fallen off and disappeared forever, he propels himself back to the present dimension sharing stories of people through photographic artifacts. His photographs transport you into intimate introductions with people and places that are so alternative to the nature you know, you wonder if it’s a dream. Paul has dedicated his life to exposing these hidden treasures through portraits you can see here.
http://www.paulnemirahcollins.com/
Words to live by…
Known to many as a “wishing jar”… we prefer to call it “inspiration for the future”.
Recycle an old bottle and use it to keep little notes on goals, ideas, inspiration and quotes. Looking back is a beautiful reminder of how you’ve grown or possibly where you should grow.
The first note going in our jar of inspiration comes from our Advocate Amy Purdy: “It’s vital to be aware of what we take, and what we give”.
HEAR AMY PURDY’S STORY and how her lifestyle inspired our designers in creating the LLG Collection. VIEW THE COLLECTION
Seeking wellness…
Many of our fave pieces from the LLG Collection: Inspired by Amy Purdy, are now available at Swell! In celebration, we’ve teamed with the Swell crew to giveaway one of our favorite outfits from the collection!
The contest has already taken off with some amazing shots, inspired by the pursuit of wellness!
Join in on the pursuit and enter to win:
1) Post your photo on Instagram showing how you seek wellness!
2) Caption of post must include: #ElementLLG @ElementEden and @SwellDotCom
Can’t wait?
OR
Pinning our little hearts out…
Eden Advocate and artist Brooke Reidt
One of my favorite things around the Eden office is getting a peek in on our designers mood boards of the coming season!
Thanks to this lovely thing called Pinterest, mood boards can be brought to the masses… spreading never ending inspiration of all this beautiful world has to offer!
Share with us your mood boards and find us at Pinterest.com/ElementEden
And after all the digital fun you have, don’t forget to…
