carta inc.

Owned by the talented Angela Liguori, Carta Inc. (originally from Rome, now located in Boston) produces beautiful custom made stationery, invitations, business cards and gorgeous hand-bound books. Since 1998 Liguori has worked with graphic designer Silvana Amato on limited edition books under the imprint of Edizioni Almenodue, which translates as “Press of at Leastwo.” I myself am a huge fan of the simple but lovely twine – I’m imaging using it for wrapping presents and the like…

boston magazine :: spring fashion

felt roundup

In a somewhat topical post – as this past weekend was Easter and April is Earth Month - olivejuice brings you an ecologically inspired felt roundup. Made from wool, felt is a sustainable and renewable material (“green” as it were.)

So far spring here in Boston has followed the “In like a lion,” segment of the popular saying – let’s hope this slew of felt products prompts Mother Nature to “go out like a lamb,” sooner than later.

FilzFelt

Boston-based FilzFelt was founded in 2008 by the “felt loving” duo of Kelly Smith and Traci Roloff. The two use 100% wool felt imported from Germany in all their products, and although the both come from different locales - Kelly from Northern Virginia, Traci from Wisconsin - they’ve married their design backgrounds to create simple and functional, colorful yet understated felt runners, coasters, placemats, and flooring.

As if cranking out pieces for FilzFelt weren’t enough, the two women juggle side projects of their own. Kelly and her husband, Chris Grimley, have their own design studio, etcetera media (see more on them below) and Traci runs the design blog, the girl in the green dress.

ETCETERA MEDIA

The brainchild of Kelly Smith of FilzFelt and her husband, Chris Grimley, Etcetera Media have been locally manufacturing all of their products – made from industrial wool felt imported from Germany – since it launched with their 6 Pack Wine Rack in 2007 (see above.)

the paper apartment

Angela of The Paper Apartment creates lovely pieces of art, crafty note cards, and other wonderful bric a brac. It's no wonder then that her apartment is equally stylized by her artist's hand - from her mantle to the expanse of delicate and dreamy paper flowers sprawling over an entryway.

Here are two of my favorite pieces:

I love Angela's bubbles and ruffles note sets...they're original and visually textured and the perfect vehicles for any message – from a “Thank You” to a “Hey, How’s it Going?”

rennes-le-château

Today I stumbled across the most amazing designer on etsy: rennes-le-château - the site has become hip to the idea of supporting local artists and now includes a geographical search.

I am smitten with the blush pink mini Gretel tote made from re-purposed upholstery leather – the fact that the bag comes with various pockets for me to stash my phone, wallet, keys, and various pieces of etcetera’s is just icing on the cake.

According to her bio, Julia (the mastermind behind these buttery looking bags and cases) is “physically attached to her Juki sewing machine and spends most of her time cutting out leather and drinking tea.” I say, sew on Julia, sew on.

Lift-off

The phrase “think globally, act locally” has been thrown around so much that perhaps we’ve all become a smidge disinterested in the merits of following this credo, of which there are many: supporting local businesses can strengthen the quality of life and the economic vitality of communities, it’s a way of voting with your dollar and supporting budding artists and designers.

I’ve always been a collector of lovely things with an obsession with fashion and design - my hope is that olivejuice will serve as a zoom tool for local creative talent and business owners alike (while allowing me to collect as much as I want without cluttering my apartment…)