Finds & Treasures

With school starting next week for my little first grader I've got supplies on the mind. I spotted this adorable Gladly Gladee pencil case from the MoMA store.

So cute and super original. 

- Grace

Beauty and Longevity

Finding toys for kids that have longevity is hard. 

Finding toys that are beautiful, have longevity, and you won’t be embarrassed to have lying around when guests drop by is even harder.

This toy isn’t new by any means, but it meets all the criteria.

Beautiful? Check.

Longevity? Check! 

I bought this probably four years ago under the guise of a gift for my daughter, but I really thought she wouldn’t like it. 

I was wrong. She not only liked this gift then, but she likes it still today as a 6-year-old. 

She doesn’t play with it everyday but she plays with it probably 4 times a year and anyone with kids can tell you that’s impressive. 

I love having this toy around and I think it will be cool to have to pass through our family for generations to come. 

MUJI New York City in a Bag can be purchased from multiple vendors, but this particular one is via MoMA. 

- Grace

Sense of Touch in Art

The Back Series

Henri Matisse

1908 - 1931

On View at MoMA

When I was an undergraduate student, I had a professor who had achieved great accomplishments in art history. She had great experiences and great stories to tell us. 

One story she told us affected the way I approach art to this day. 

She taught an art history course to a group of blind people. The more you think about this, the more impossible and challenging it seems. She got special permission from the Museum of Modern Art for her students to feel Matisse's four-panel The Back Series. The students all touched the art and felt Matisse's hand-work and his manifestation of the Fauve style. Upon reconvening as a group, the students all agreed that for the first time, as blind individuals, they really understood what art was. 

- Grace

Century of the Child

From now until November 5, 2012 MoMA is showing an exhibition titled Century of the Child. 

The exhibition traces the history of children from around the world through the toys they play with and the items they interact with on a regular basis. 

The show features the years from 1900 to 2000. 

The exhibit is broken up into seven sections and each decade has its own title and theme. 

1900's-1910's theme is: New Century, New Child, New Art

Froebel Gift 2

C. 1890

1910's-1920's: Avant-Garde Playtime

Child's Wheelbarrow

1923

Gerrit Rietveld (same guy who designed Red Blue Chair) 

1920's-1930's: Light, Air, Health

Children During a Light-Therapy Session

1937

1920's-1940's: Children and the Body Politic

SAKAMPF Board Game

1933

1940's-1960's: Regeneration

Rooftop Kindergarten 

1947-52

Le Corbusier and Blanche Lemco Van Ginkel 

1960's-1990's: Power Play

Holdraketa and Original Box

c. 1960

1960's-2000's: Designing Better Worlds

School in a Box

1994

UNICEF

The exhibition site looks amazing on its own. 

This is one exhibition catalog I MUST order. 

- Grace

A Touch of Glass

Glass Chainmaille Necklace, $160 from andtheparade on Etsy

Glass jewelry is so elegant and delicate. I received the bubble necklace down below as a Christmas gift from my grandma a few years ago after admiring it in the jewelry cases of the MoMA gift shop for years. I'm half afraid to wear it because I imagine the worst: someone going in for a hug hello and the whole thing smashing against a major artery and making a real mess of things. Of course that'd probably never happen. With that in mind, I've rounded up some particularly pretty baubles that are perfectly safe, their makers assure us. Here's to overcoming fears for the sake of beautiful accessories everywhere!

Glass Pocket Ring, $45 from Sarahdee on Etsy

(you can put any small object you want inside!)

Ariel Necklace, $120 from MoMA

Coke Bottle Top Earrings, 

$23 from GroovyGreenGlass on Etsy

- Cathleen 

Olafur Eliasson's House

Everyone and their brother is posting about this, but I couldn't resist.

The Library Council of MoMA has commissioned and released this laser cut negative image book of Olafur Eliasson's house in Copenhagen.

The results are spectacular! The book is 454 pages long with each page individually cut and it is a limited edition of 225.

No word on the price—let me know if you find it.

Just to refresh, Eliasson is a Danish-Icelandic artist who focuses on installation art. You can find his personal website here.

Enjoy!

-Grace