Steve Jobs "Stay Hungry Stay Foolish!"

I started my day a bit depressed. Too many things not going according to plan. Running behind facts, feeling a bit lost..... am I foolish wanting to follow my dream? And then I find out that an amazing man has died. I have listen to his 2005 Stanford address many times and it keeps touching me and above all motivating me to continue to follow my passion!

"...and most important of all have the courage to follow your own heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. every thing else is secondary..." Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

PLS VOTE FOR ME: APARTMENT THERAPY'S DESIGN SHOW CASE 2011

Yes a very short post only to say that it is past my bed time but I have just found out that I have been selected by Apartment Therapy for their Design Showcase 2011. Totally over excited as you can imagine so please vote for me over here and spread the word! Thanking you all for your support!!

Goodnight xox

About Paris, new designs and meeting Jonathan Adler!

 

introducing a new tray design at the Maison: Electric Ikat

(taken from one of my handpainted designs)

Red Flamingo and Abstract neon trays

micro ikat (silk) pillow and abstract neon

(linen) pillow teamed with abstract neon tray

and tray table

ever expanding collection!

 With design icon Jonathan Adler

 Chloe (right) my queen of sales @ work

 new arrival: Electric Ikat birchwood tray table 

made in Scandinavia 

Hall5A-D104 upon arrival

 greeting card design on new arrival:

Micro Ikat (in Purple) pillow

 with Trine Jensen and Kari Janne Standal of 

Norwegian magazine Rom123

After the New York show Maison et Objet in Paris was another roller coaster ride. It started with carefully packing the complete content of our booth in my vintage Mercedes G only to find out that my car was very vintage indeed! Ready to roll I noticed something leaking. Bad news.... after a call to my super friendly garage we were able to switch cars having to leave a few bits and bobs behind as it was a smaller :}}. We arrived safely in Paris with a few hours less to build up the booth. HALL 5A - D104. I felt lMinnie Mouse in this vast hall with mainly big players like Andrew Martin, Jonathan Adler and Eichholtz.  But....we had an amazing response to my designs from both retailers as well as press and are really excited of all the things to come over the next few months both in terms of adding new retail partners and product features in international press publications. The cherry on the cake was Jonathan Adler coming into my booth, picking up my tray designs and saying "your stuff is beautiful!"
Paris was great and we will be back in January. This week we are preparing for the Dutch "Maison": De Woonbeurs in Amsterdam starting Saturday 24 September.
Interested to purchase my designs check our list of retail partners here or go to my webstore. If you wish to become a retail partner or if you are an interior designer interested in incorporating my designs in your projects mail to info@mariskameijers.com.
For the US please contact eva@interdecorations.com.
BON WEEK-END!

Meet me in Paris at the Maison et Objet! ...and new press from Norway

Packing for Paris today. Last week has been hectic preparing for my debut at the Maison. Nervous, excited......
Hope I will have time to blog from Paris but it might have to wait until after the show. Wish me luck and if you are there do visit me at my booth in Hall 5A - D104, same location as Jonathan Adler and Andrew Martin :).

And thank you ROM123 (Norway) for featuring my Blue Bird pillow design in your magazine and I am excited meeting you in person at the Maison.

New York NYIGF Diaries (part 3 finally!)

Proudly debuting The Painted Peacock silk scarve

All smiles with the team of HGTV magazine

Painted Ikat linen  pillow on vintage chair

Hamptontoes' Lisa Ehrlich

The Decorista and Luxury Monograms's Melanie Duncan

With Parker Bowie of ELLEdecor

Timeout with Eva Uribe Roepers and Bobby Berk

You must be thinking WHAT HAPPENED! No posting and pictures of the booth at the NYIGF. Complete radio silence. Did something go wrong.....No we just did it. Our first paticipation at the NYIGF! It went really well but everything just happened so fast and there was so much follow up and work that there was no time to blog about it. We had great response from retailers, interior designers and (social) media. Guess who came in to our booth: ELLEdecor, Coastal Living, House Beautiful, Women's Day, HGTVmagazine, Hamptontoes, Diane James, The Buzz Blog, The Decorista, Neimann Marcus/Horchow, interior designer Meg Braff (who will be opening an exciting store soon!), Celerie Kemble's team, HD Buttercup, HB Home, Style Beat blog and many more! Thank you all for your enthousiasm and we will be back in January. Otherwise meet us in Paris at the Maison et Objet, Hall 5A booth D104 (9 to 13 September, Woonbeurs (RAI Amsterdam, 24 Sept- 2 October ) or Highpoint, Suites at Market Square (22 to 27 October).
Interested in my art and designs? For the US contact Eva Uribe Roepers of Interdecorations or send an email to info@mariskameijers.com

GIVEAWAY Mariska Meijers tray over at Simplified Bee

When I was in San Francisco last month I had the pleasure of meeting stylish blogger Cristin of Simplified Bee . She had organized a well attended SF bloggers meet up and it was just a coincidence that I was in town. It was great having the opportunity meeting so many colleague bloggers from across the pond. To celebrate my first NY show Cristin has kindly organized a giveaway. If you love my designs here is the opportunity to receive one for free. Simply hop over to Simplified Bee to enter. Good luck and I am sure Simplified Bee will be one of your favourite blogs to follow (if you are not already following :)). x

New Press: Thank you Dutch women's weekly Margriet!

 the interview (by Saskia Smith)

 sharing a page with Tom Hanks

and Dutch politician Jolande Sap

 With stylist/make-up artist Petra Neumann
 and photographer Ester gebuis 

 Petra in action

 Margriet magazine

Yes I am still here!!!! Trying to catch up after 10 days New York! A blogpost about the NYIGF experience will follow later this week. Will do so from the Austrian mountains as I am leaving for a much needed short break. But here is some news to share. This magazine was in my piled up mail when I arrived back in Amsterdam! Dutch Women's weekly Margriet did an article on women that took the leap changing their lives radically to follow their dream!....and I share a page with Tom Hanks :))).
Thank you Margriet magazine, Saskia Smith (interview), Petra Neumann (styling/make-up) and Ester Gebuis (photography) for such wonderful exposure!

Note: I am sporting one of my new designs, the Painted Peacock scarve, 100% Silk (Crepe de Chine).
We introduced the first scarve designs at the NYIGF and the scarves will be available soon. For information send an email to info@mariskameijers.com

New York NYIGF diaries (part 2)

Yesterday we went to Pier 94 to register and check out our booth. Setting up for a fair is far from glamourous. The exhibition hall looked like it was hit by a small tornado. We had to plough our way to the booth :). Crates, carton boxes, wrapping material, ladders......With too many hurdles it meant that we could not bring our things in yet so we are a bit behind schedule. Arriving back at the appartment the street was blocked as Obama had just landed on the heliport in front of our building. Anyway today is a new day and I have made a fresh start with another fab morning run along the Manhattan waterfront and a Starbucks breakfast in the first rays of sun. Tomorrow I a will post pictures of our booth at Pier 94 #40049. Off to work! pictures both from my iPhone, Breakfast and Brooklyn Bridge at sunrise

New York NYIGF diaries

I arrived yesterday at JFK with just too much luggage. Why am I doing this to myself :)). Roll-up banners, tray tables, new sample collection.....part of our booth display is already in New York stored at my dear friend Bobby Berk's store in Soho. After a good night sleep I feel well rested and already did my morning run in Battery Park. I felt so happy that it made me cry a little. I am working from Bobby's appartment this morning waiting for Eva (of Interdecorations) to arrive from Miami. This afternoon we will start setting up our booth!

The picture above I took with my iPhone on my morning run. How fabulous is this girl's outdoor office! The picture below is my current view (also fab!).

FAIR(Y)TALES and THANK YOU NOTES

with Ashlina in her NYC appartment

FAIR(Y)TALES
OK so what is new, or even better what is not new! After 2 weeks in the US I have been back in Amsterdam for just over a week and already packing for New York again. This weekend the NYIGF starts where I will be presenting my designs together with my US distributor Eva Roepers of Interdecorations. As you can imagine we are both very excited (and a bit nervous of course) as this is our debut! Organizing a fair from a distance is never easy. I spend a few days in New York during my last trip for some preparatory work. We decided to keep the booth display real simple. Ashlina (the Decorista and long time blogging friend) helped me to source a couple of vintage chairs. I bought  matching shelving units and adding my color popping designs should do the job! I will give a full report from New York.

THANK YOU NOTES
As a result of the wonderful feauture in RUE Magazine I had many shouts and tweets including: Casasugar, Bright Bazaar, Simplified Bee, Carribean Living, Of Beauty and Love, Twelve Chairs, Lifestyle Treats ... I apologize for those I have missed, google alerts is not always flawless and neither am I :). So thank you all for loving and supporting my work!

New press: Let's Rue!

 from Rue # 6 (photo by Henny van Belkom)

from Rue # 6 (photo by Henny van Belkom)

Came back this weekend from New York and am suffering from the worst jetlag in ages. I feel like I have been partying the whole weekend dancing on tables with a bottle in my hand...Despite this non alcoholic hangover I feel up beat and happy. The round trip Amsterdam-Los Angeles-San Francisco-New York-Amsterdam has been inspiring and successful. During my stay in New York the new Rue came out featuring a tour of my studio in Amsterdam. Thank you wonderful team of Rue, including Editor in Chief Crystal Gentillelo and Mackenzie Horan (who I both met in person at the blogger meet up in SF) and photographer Henny van Belkom for such a fabulous feature and exposure. The studio feature is spreading rapidly and has already been spotted amongst others on Casa Sugar and Simplified Bee.

One of my favourite features in issue 6 is "Singaporean Love Story" showcasing Agnes Verrier's stylish Singaporean appartment and the love story behind it (photographed by Scott Woodward and styled by Marie Maglaque).  Having lived and worked in Singapore for years I could more than relate to the feature and it made me a bit homesick as well :).

The San Francisco Files Part I - SF bloggers meet!

with lovely Mackenzie of Rue Magazine

with editor in chief of Rue Magazine Crystal Gentilello
and Caitlin Flemming of Sacramento Street

There is so much to share from my 6 days in San Francisco but I have hardly had the time to report. While flying out to New York I am writing this post which is not even about the many wonderful sites, the excellent food and fabulous shopping! No it is about my fortunate experience meeting a whole group of kindred spirits. Crystal Gentilello and Mackenzie Horan of Rue Magazine kindly invited me along to a SF bloggers meet up organized and hosted by Cristin of Simplified Bee and Malka of Closet Innovations. The event took place at the wonderful historic old warehouse building of the San Francisco Design Centre where the showroom of Closet Innovations is located. I was simply over the moon to meet with bloggers I have been connected to for quite a while like the elegantly tall Caitlin of Sacramento Street, stylish Kate of Centsational Girl and a beaming Erica Cook of Moth Design (who came all the way from Calgary)! I also made new blogging friends amongst others artistic interior designer Claudia Juestel of Adeeni Design Group, lovely photographer Krissy of Cottage Farm and up beat interior designer Courtney Lake of Courtney Out Loud. Meeting such a group of beautiful talented women (and man, sorry Courtney) was more than inspiring. We had a great evening sharing experiences and ideas and I can't thank everyone enough for making my SF trip extra special (and thank you Courtney for taking pictures!)

O yes and be on the look out for the upcoming issue of Rue magazine which includes a tour of my Studio!

all smiles with Courtney

classy ladies Kate and Cristin

with Krissy of Cottage Farm

with host Malka and some delicious Nappa wine