ART PILLOWS AND PURSES — July 1-31, 2007

Unique designer purses and pillows made with unusual materials and techniques including: Felt pillows by Anne Kyyro Quinn of Finland; Woven pillows by Helene Vonsild of Denmark; Wrist purses by Inge Lindqvist and Karina Noyons of Denmark; Wood purses by Shinichi Miyazaki of the United States.

Inge Lindqvist and Karina Noyons
Inge Lindqvist, a Danish textile designer, and Karina Noyons, a jewelry designer, are the creators of the Wrist Purse. The Wrist Purse, made in Denmark of 100% wool, is the hands-free solution to carrying a cell phone and various small necessaries.

Wrist purse by Inge Lindqvist and Karina Noyons.

Anne Kyyro Quinn
Anne Kyyro Quinn is an internationally acclaimed fabric designer, now based in London, born in Finland, who sculpts industrial felt into a stylish array of home accessories, including throws, runners, and pillows, all cut, sewn, and finished by hand. Inspired by organic natural shapes, such as leaves or stones or rippling water, and expressed with Scandinavian simplicity, her play of light and shadow on an off white pillow delights both the hand and the eye. Bold colors, dramatically outlined with raised black and white edges, express humor and strength.

Felt pillows by Anne Kyyro Quinn.

Detail on felt pillow by Anne Kyyro Quinn.

Felt pillow by Anne Kyyro Quinn.

Helene Vonsild
For many years, Danish master weaver, Helene Vonsild, has created fabrics for Kvadrat, the Danish fabric mill which supplies the best Danish furniture manufacturers with exceptional quality upholstery fabrics, locally sold by Maharam. This year, she launched her own line of pillows, showing them at the Formland Fair, Herning, Denmark, in February, and receiving the "Formland Design Award".

The fabric that Helene Vonsild created for her pillows is quite remarkable. She weaves with two warps, and pulls the top warp together, creating a corrugated effect. Because she has planned her thread colors so precisely, the corrugation looks blue on one side, and brown on the other. As you walk past her pillow, you feel that is is changing color.

When we met Helene Vonsild in February at the Formland Fair, she told us that she was able to produce small samples of her fabric, but that the strength required to pull the top warp was such, that only industrial machines could make fabric larger than 12 inches.

Color-changing pillows by Helene Vonsild.

Color-changing pillows by Helene Vonsild.

Shinichi Miyazaki
Shinichi Miyazaki was born in Tokyo, Japan and earned a BFA in painting from Tokyo National University of Art and Music in 1965. He moved to New York in 1967 and worked as an assistant to sculptor Minoru Niizuma and as a model builder for Isamu Noguchi. He continued to paint but began working more and more with wood, in sculpture, furniture design and fabrication, and fine interior woodworking. In 1984 he moved to Massachusetts to refocus his attention on wood. He resumed work in sculpture, furniture and cabinetry, all out of which the handbags evolved.

Traditionally in Japan there was little distinction between fine art and beautifully crafted functional objects. Miyazaki is inspired by Inro, the exquisite carrying bags of wood, metal or laquer that have been used in Japan for centuries. As in many Japanese art forms, Inro embodies craftsmanship, functional; design and attention to the natural world in a harmonious whole. Miyazaki's desire is to, in some way, translate this harmony of elements into objects for our time and place. Handbags are a natural form for a sensuous material like wood with its appeal to touch as well as sight.

Wooden handbags by Shinichi Miyazaki.

Wooden handbags by Shinichi Miyazaki.