It’s time for the annual VL Gift Guide and, as before, the focus is on some of the many amazing independent designers whose work we admire. Three Sheets 2 the Wind in Georgetown, KY specializes in simple, almost childlike screenprints on fine linen, including these sweet canvases above, which would be perfect for a kid’s room.
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At 10 Patton Ave. in Asheville, NC sits The Leader building with its cool stained glass and tiled entryway. I’m guessing that The Leader was once the local newspaper, but I can’t find any proof of that.
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This year, VL work kept us really busy, but we were able to squeeze in a few quick trips. I found plenty of inspiration in Cincinnati and beyond, and here are my favorite posts of my adventures. Pictured above is the glorious Guardian Building in downtown Detroit.
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The Grove Arcade, designed by Charles Parker and built in 1928, is one of the architectural gems of downtown Asheville, NC. Built as a downtown public market, it still essentially fulfills that function with an array of boutiques, galleries and restaurants on the ground level and offices above.
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The old S&W Cafeteria building at 56 Patton Ave. in downtown Asheville is now an upscale restaurant called S&W Steak & Wine. In a town that seems filled with Art Deco architecture, this building is a gem, its façade covered in blue and gold geometric patterns.
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If you’re in the midst of holiday shopping right now, give the gift of independent design! Here are my favorite gift picks from the various corners of the VL microcosm: friends, friends of friends, neighbors, all of them amazing, hard-working people who love what they do.
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I spotted this ghost tile announcing Eagles Home in a doorway at 75 Broadway in Asheville, NC. Below, I broke my own rule of only catching these phenomena in their “natural” habitat and moved the leaves to get a better look at the letters.
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The Biltmore Estate in Ashevile, NC was built for the Vanderbilt family and opened its doors on Christmas Eve in 1895. The 250-room home was the vision of George Washington Vanderbilt II and was modeled after great country estates in France. It is the largest privately owned home in the US.
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Charlotte-based designer Nikki Mueller runs a one-woman show at Not Made in China, a studio that creates and produces buttons, mirrors, magnets, totes, t-shirts, and prints with a sense of humor. Originally from Oceanside, CA, Nikki both loves her current home in the South and lightheartedly makes fun of it. As an expat myself, I can definitely appreciate this!
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Joshua Callaghan, who earned his BA in Cultural Anthropology at UNC Asheville and his MFA in New Genres at UCLA, created this long-term temporary public art project for Playa Vista, CA. These stickers depict what you’d see if this infrastructure were not there.
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