Lately I've been featuring a lot of stuff from Etsy. Besides just being a great technology based website, Etsy has a lot of other things going for them. In fact, I think that we here at GRM share a common goal with them. Supporting the artist and makers at a grassroots level. By taking out the middle man, prices are down and creativity is up.This weeks Etsy find is Minerva Orduno, an architect-in-training, interior designer, budding photographer and jeweler. Minerva has a good eye and has some great prints on sale for a good price. $15 gets you a high quality print and the satisfaction of knowing you are helping someone live their dream.

Minerva Orduno at Etsy.

A while back I got an email from Jessica that went a little something like this:

Can you please focus on eco vegan products as well? There is such a huge market of people who want it all,

good for the eye, good for the wallet, good for the planet, and good for the animals.

It can be done if enough people ask for it... matt&nat or via vegan is a good example...

Hopefully Jessica knows about OTSU, a San Francisco based store that carries all sorts of vegan goods. I was perusing through their online store, and found all sorts of good stuff, like these Eyeglass Cases by FluffyCo. Handscreened vinyl and great graphics mixed with the knowledge that it hold up to even a hardcore vegans standards makes these inexpensive cases a great find.

FluffyCo Eyeglass Case available here for $16.

Have something you would like us to feature? Contact us and let us know!

It seems like the small scale print shops are getting more and more attention these days. And for good reason, they have the goods. In fact, I came across my Christmas cards from Potion Brand the other day, and was thinking I needed to start looking for more small shops. Luckily for me I stumbled across Sesame Letterpress. Sesame Letterpress is a Brooklyn based husband wife team that dedicates their time to making the printed world a little bit better. They make all sorts of goodies, from drink coasters to gift tags (shown above), all off which show a great attention to detail and nice original designs. Oh and of course, they are affordable.

Available at Greenergrassdesign and Elsewares. Prices vary.

It always warms my heart to see someone who loves Charles and Ray Eames as much as I do. Seattle based Orange Peel Enamel makes wonderful enamel pendants, all of them super hip modern designs. My favorite of course is this ode to the Eames' called "I love Eames". Each pendant is made individually by hand, and fired at 1500 degrees. The detail and design of the pieces are truly top notch, and the prices very reasonable $25. A web site is in the works, until then check them out at etsy. Orange Peel Enamel at etsy.

Border Wallpaper-by-Numbers isn't new to the blog scene, it got a fair amount of coverage a while ago, but it is new to the MoMA Store. These whimsical and stylish 6" borders would look great in a kids room. The borders come in three different colors and pattern, and include paint by number style graphics. You can go ahead and fill them in with paints or colored pencils, or you could just leave them the way they are. $20 will get you 20 feet of 6" high border. Available from MoMAstore.

No, it's not a modern version of Alfred Hitchcocks spooky 60's movie, its another great product from the guys over at Furni. They have launched a brand new store, and have a couple of great new things, including Birdz. Currently on preorder, these modern wall hangings show Furni's ability to break the mold of their typical style, and push their creative edge. For $38 you get three acrylic wall mountable silhouettes of a bird that look totally fly (sorry couldn't resist) cruising across your wall. We can't tell you how much we love the stuff that these guys do. We think that they have really embraced a great vision, and hope that they have tons of success. Helping to support guys like Mike and Devin is exactly why we started this website six months ago.

Get them straight from the source at the new Furni store.

I am constantly looking for a place to write down little notes to myself. I finally got a dedicated notepad to sit next to my computer so that I wouldn't have a million little pieces of paper sitting around with phone numbers and addresses and such on them. My notepad is nowhere as nice as this one however. Fresh from Sprout Home, this Brown Twig Notepad is silk screened with hand mixed inks. The cover features nothing else than a brown twig, and each of the 100 heavy weight white pages has a slim green design down its side. Just the thing to add a little order to your life.

Available from Sprout Home for $15.

Here is a great post from the good people over at Better Living Through Design. It was too good of a find to not pass along.

Simple, small and affordable. Thats exactly what these little Bean Vases are. The high gloss bone white china will add the perfect accent to just about any modern interior. The small hole at the top it perfect for holding a flower just how you want it. Did I mention they are affordable?

Dishwasher-safe Small Vase. 3.5"x2"x3"H $2.95 Large Vase. 4.25"x2.75"x4"H $3.95

Available at Crate and Barrel.

I stumbled into this genre of photography a while ago, and thought that it was some crazy fun looking stuff. I almost forgot about it until I saw this ActionSampler Camera over at Unica Home. It is a Lomographic camera (see link if you don't know what that is) that takes a four picture series on one print. With a little creativity these little cameras can produce some amazing photos. They are reasonably priced too at only $30. I was impressed by the overall form of the camera too, very modern!

There are some of my favorite pics from lomography.com after the jump.

If you were into the look of the Algues, but weren't quite up to the adventure of stringing them all together to make a proper screen, then perhaps the Fusion Partition is for you. Don't let the name fool you, just because they are called a partition doesn't mean that's all you can use them for. These funky modular pieces are the perfect stater kit for some affordable wall art. In case you haven't noticed, 3d wall coverings are the next wallpaper, and we happen to love the idea. The Fusion Partition is sold in a set of four panels (about 11" square each) for a mere $20. They come in a couple of different colors (slate shown to the right) and fit into any decor. From CB2, $20 for four.

Seattle based Velocity Art and Design has some new picture holders from a company called Three by Three. You all probably know what a sucker I am for bent wood, so that may be one of the reasons that I like them so much. These curved woodnetic photo frames are purely simplistic. While they look like a normal piece of molded plywood, they are actually a wood veneer over a metal plate. This technique allows them to make the frames much thinner than traditional bent wood. Of course the other bonus is that you can use magnets to hold your pictures on, which makes for a great flexible and simple way to pin a picture up. Three by Three has lots of great organizational things too, make sure you check out their website.

Available from Velocity Art and Design from $16-$28.

This is for all of those procrastinators who still haven't gotten out their Christmas cards. Potion Brand is a San Francisco based company that produces high quality, and tasteful cards. They have a holiday line out which we think is simply delightful. The pictures above are an example of some of the cards that they have. They come in a box of 12 for $18, which isn't bad when you consider what you pay for one awful Hallmark card. Each box contains three different designs, and there are three different box sets available. We also admire their commitment to the environment by using environmentally responsible inks.

Support our modern grassroots artists, and get them here.

We are big fans here of alternative wall coverings, especially ones that are modular, so we were obviously excited to see that hivemodern is now carrying Algues. Algues is the french word for algae, and that is exactly what these little guys are designed after. Each unit measures about 12" x 10" and they are about 2" deep. They have multiple connecting points so that you can string a bunch of them together in any design that you want. The result is a very organic looking wall covering. They are available in four different colors and come in a box of 6 for $25, just enough to get your creative juices flowing. If you fall in love with the look (and we know you will) you can always expand later.

Available here.

Carina over at Mid-century Utah pointed out to me the other day that Laurie Smith of trading spaces has her own line of fabric. I don't have a TV, but secretly I am a junkie for those design shows, and trading spaces does have its good moments. I am usually a little skeptical about any designer lines that come from those type of shows, but I have to admit that Laurie Smith does have a nice selection of fabrics. It looks like Hancock Fabrics is the exclusive carrier, and they are all 25% off right now. Looks like it is time to break out those sewing machines, and make something mod for the holidays. If you aren't the best with a needle and thread, consider using the fabric to make some wall prints a lå the poppycotton wall hangings

I hope everybody enjoys their turkey or tofurkey as the case may be. Here's one for our loyal vegetarian/vegan fans, like Jessica. After lounging around around all day on thanksgiving, make sure you set aside some time to write a quick happy thanksgiving, or thank you for the feast note on your totally hip I HEART TOFURKEY cards from sidepony. These wonderful hand printed cards are made by Kimberly Robinson, straight out of LA. Make sure that you check out her website for lots of other great cards, and also baby tees.

Available here for $13 for a pack of 4.

***UPDATE*** Owl Print above is by http://www.etsy.com/listing/42898497/owl-portrait-5-by-7-inch-letterpress Looking for that perfect card to say "best wishes" or "congratulations"? Believe me, I feel your pain. I have spent way to many hours at Hallmark looking at drab humorless cards that just don't even come close to saying what you feel. I have always resorted to making my own cards, with my own messages. For those of you not up to the challenge of designing your own cards, check out these hip letterpressed cards from Sprout Home. They are all hand printed on antique letterpresses. The images are transfered by relief method, so the designs can both be seen and felt. Each card also comes with a vellum envelope.

Available here for $6.

Ok, I have to admit, there are a couple of things that I am an absolute sucker for when it comes to design. #1 Anything modular. The idea of a product that is flexible enough to be put together in a variety of ways, and allows for some creativity just appeals to me. #2 Green Design. To me good design should be global, since it is at the root of all consumerism, it only makes sense that efforts to protect our planet should start here. So, with these two weaknesses in mind, MIOculture has won my heart with their 3D Wallpaper. These made their way around the blogs about a year ago, but I thought that they were worth mentioning again for all of those that didn't catch it the first time. The 12" x 12" tiles can be arranged in any configuration you want and rotating them changes the pattern you get. They even have a program at their website that you can practice arranging them however you want. They are made completely of post and pre-consumer waste paper, and come with disasembly and recycling instructions. They come in four colors, and best of all, they are affordable. For $28 you get a pack of 12 tiles, or enough for a 3' x 4' space on your wall. That makes doing a whole wall fairly reasonable, or who says you have to do a whole wall. I think that a 3' x 4' section on a big wall would look great.

I have always been in love with wooden kids toys. There is just something about them that is intrinsically satisfying. So of course the first time I saw Playsam's modern wooden toys, I was in love. Apparently I am not the only one that likes them either, since their Streamliner line of kids toys was Selected by Swedish National Museum as a Swedish Design Classic. They also have a really nice line of activity toys, my favorite of which is the Roadster Saab Car. Its not the most affordable at $315, but is definately better than the alternative. We can't help but notice how much the icar looks like the new Apple mouse. Maybe thats why we like it so much!

So here is a quick rundown of some of the posts I lost.Vinylux had some cools record bowls. Then there was Leia Bell who has some great prints for sale for cheap. Also check out Morning Craft for some great artis direct home furnishings.