New Arrival: Red Flamingo Pillow

Red Flamingo @ the Meijers residence

Whenever I get new designs in I am overly excited. I have taken a few snapshots (apologize for the quality) to give you a taste of my latest arrival: the Red Flamingo pillow. My hand painted design printed in The Netherlands on beautiful linen. The back panel is also in linen (neutral) with distinctive velvet trimming. I will be taking the first few to Miami tomorrow where they will be on  show at Bobby Berk Home!
So my next blog will be from the otherside of the ocean....

The Act of Juggling

The online Oxford Dictionaries define to juggle:
 "[with object] continuously toss into the air and catch (a number of objects) so as to keep at least one in the air while handling the others"

You may have noticed that I have not been very active blogging lately. It is not by lack of inspiration, but it is simply by lack of time. Focus is what I desperately needed. Although blogging has opened a whole new world for me full of inspiration and beautiful new frienships it has also been interfering with my focus. I have to keep telling myself that I am first of all an artist-designer. So that is what I have been up to lately. Back into my artistic mode. Tomorrow I will be picking up my new pillow designs from the atelier. I am really excited to see how they have come out. And... then this Wednesday I am off to Art Basel Miami where Bobby Berk and my agent Interdecorations are hosting a cocktail and viewing event at Bobby Berk Home in the Design District 2nd of December. I will be in Miami until the 6th and I promise to blog about my (ad)ventures!


Wishing you all a wonderful week full of focus and don't feel guilty in doing this (like I sometimes do..). People do understand and if they don't it is their problem!

Picture: courtesy Cirque du Soleil 

My secret life as a Gourmet Groupie

 salt crusted sea bass, long pepper and olive oil

one of Aurélien's favourite wines: Les Jardins des Babylones

 

marinated sardines, red cabbage jelly, orange zest and green asparagus

 turbot tartar, king crab, fennel ceviche and avocado cream

  Oysters ‘Creuses’, grapefruit, passion fruit and tapioca

 

with Executive Chef Aurélien Poirot

I have to come clean. Je suis une gourmet groupie. I became one through dear friend and business partner, culinary author and journalist, Lise Goeman Borgesius. A  few years back she started to take me behind the scenes of the culinary world. I am intriged by the high level of creativity and discipline of Les Grandes Chefs and their teams. So whenever I have the opportunity I "dive" into their kitchens.

Food inspires. I just love giving my artistic interpretation of a beautiful recipe. My latest series was commissioned by 5 star hotel Sofitel The Grand in Amsterdam.  I illustrated 5 recipes for Executive Chef Aurélien Poirot of The Grand's restaurant Bridges. The illustrations have been published in the form of culinary boxed notecards. 10 cards with enveloppes, 2x5 designs, blank inside with recipies on the back in English. The boxed note cards will be available through selected book, museum and department stores throughout the Benelux. For store locations outside the Benelux please go to store locations on my website. For online orders webstore.mariskameijers.com.

The Glamour Files - Part II - All about Brass

The Brass Shelves found and lost :)

 Studio last Sunday..

Pierre Vandel coffee table with brass detailing (in my sitting room)

 Brass shelves as seen on The Decorista

 Spot the beautiful brass shelves in the back - Maison21

stunning brass lamps & antilope - Maison 21

or just a tiny brass wall fixture - Maison21

 

Yes I know I promised to give updates on the editing of my interior. Brass is one of the ingredients with which I am spicing up. Ashlina, The Decorista, and I are on the same wave length when it comes to brass. She happened to do a post on brass shelves at the very same moment I was about to purchase some!
So last Friday I was oh so thrilled with my new conquest that I decided to "flaunt" the shelves first before putting them in my appartment. There they were bang bang bling in my Studio where I was hosting a lazy Sunday afternoon drinks & viewing party. BAD IDEA..... a dear client convinced me to sell it to her (along with some pillows from my collection of course :)).
As you may guess since Sunday evening I am frantically hunting for another pair of shelves but it is not easy. I saw the most wonderful pair but I would have to cross the ocean to get it as they are over at Maison 21.  But I think the ocean is there to protect me, otherwise I would buy up its entire contents. The tasteful brain behind Maison21 is Christian May, "a Los Angeles based interior decorator with decided opinions about design". And NO I am not getting any commission from CM, it is simply love!

So the current status of glamming up with brass is down to the brass detailing on my Pierre Vandel coffee table and matching sidetables. C'est la vie!

DESIGN REFUGE - MONTHLY COLUMN "THE LEARNING CURVE"

Today you can find my first monthly column over at Design Refuge. Each 3rd Monday of the month I will share lessons learned during my passionate mission to build a brand. Simply because oh boy my life is not all pretty pictures :)!

If you haven't heard of Design Refuge yet it is the largest meeting place online for design bloggers worldwide! Tastemakers like Table Tonic, Bright Bazaar, Little Blue Deer & A Diary of Lovely are members so if you haven't registered your blog yet what are you waiting for! Get daily inspiration from contributors such as The Decorista and founder of Design Refuge Dagny Thurmann and interact.

Art Basel Miami & Bobby Berk Home

Well it is all set. Eva Roepers of Interdecorations who is doing a fabulous job at representing me in The States will be hosting a cocktail and viewing event during Art Basel Miami together with Bobby Berk Home on December 2nd.

Urban chique Bobby Berk Home is smack in the middle of Miami's design district. The store features a great selection of hand selected items from around the world showcased through faultless design vignettes. Bobby Berk Home also has  Flagship store in trend setting Soho, NYC.
As you can imagine I am delighted to stir a cocktail (or two) with my bold, colourful artwork and designs at such wonderful location. Thank you Bobby and Eva! And...if you are in Miami at that time please join us (rsvp eva@interdecorations.com)

Ivy & Piper - a new wonderful online interior design magazine!

Lazy Saturday. Time to catch up on some blogs and I immediately hit the jackpot with Ivy & Piper! A fabulous new online magazine on interior design
Dive in and get inspired by contributions of trendsetters like Anna Spiro. I am not going to reveal more as you just need to check it out yourselves!
Founders Melanie and Elizabeth can be really proud of their first born. Congratulations and thank you for this new wonderful source of inspiration.

images from the magazine Ivy&Piper, Anna Spiro, Kelly Green

The Irresistible Piet Paris

 

 Saks 5th Avenue window display

Runway Victor & Rolf

 Piet Paris at the exhibition
signing the MMM Hair pencil drawing

Paris' original illustration on my wall

Yesterday I showed you my latest art purchase, a pencil drawing, not revealing who the artist was. Well it is by gifted creative director Piet Paris (1962). Paris is a fashion illustrator extraordinaire. His distinctive colorful, graphic work is made with stencils created from an initial sketch and colored with acrylic, gouache or pastel using a paint roller. He has done illustrations for many magazines like Vogue Japan, a wonderful campaign for Saks Fifth Avenue and the runway design for Victor & Rolf Spring RTW 2011 collection. Besides making illustrations Studio Piet Paris also designs products, on commission as well as under its own label. Paris runs the Studio together with dedicated Marc Kwakman.
20 years "in the business" was recently celebrated by a sales exhibition and a book launch here in Amsterdam. It was a an instant hit and a complete sell-out! And so well deserved!

Studio Piet Paris is on facebook.

The Glamour Files - Part I

 

"MMM Hair" pencil drawing on my wall

Lifting a tip of the veil. As announced I am editing my appartment by adding some glamour. First element is art. Although my walls are already covered with quite a selection I recently purchased two wonderful pieces by a gifted Dutch fashion illustrator. His signature pieces are usually in mixed media/collage, but one of the works I purchased is a pencil drawing called "MMM (Maison Martin Margiela) Hair". It was instant love..... Can you guess the artist's name? I will reveal the second signature piece tomorrow!

 

A Touch of Modern Glamour

Pages from Glamour by Michael Lassell

Hope you had a wonderful spooky weekend. Halloween is not that big in The Netherlands so I enjoyed a quiet family weekend partly browsing books for inspiration. Next month there will be another magazine shoot at my appartment and this is such a trigger for change. I am especially charmed by touches of glamour so I am figuring out how to implement those in my existing setting.
This summer I bought the book Glamour by Michael Lassell. Michael Lassell is a gifted writer and editor and former features director of Metropolitan Home. Here are some pages to give you a flavour. The book shows interiors with a high wow factor, it is simply inspiration heaven. If you love Glamour it is an absolute must have and you can find out more about Michael through his website and blog.

Follow me over the coming weeks while editing my eclectic appartment into something just a bit more glamorous.


And to conclude with a totally different book. The winner of my book give-away Before (During) After (Louisiana Photographers reactions to Hurricane Katrina) is the lovely Jeanette of Everton Terrace (blog).