I love the amazing synchronicity of the web. It’s so cool how you can meet the most incredible people—without technically meeting them at all. I’m lucky to have a long list of lovelies I've met online who I consider good pals (meeting online sounds so seedy, eh?). Anyway, all of these friendships have a unique story behind them. One of the most recent is this one!
Through a random occurrence of events I posted this photo:
And a young woman half way around the world in Berlin posted this photo:
What makes this interesting is that on my desk is a letterpress calendar for Studio on Fire, featuring the work of artist Rilla Alexander. The other photo is an image of Rilla’s computer desktop in Germany, featuring a photo of me and my mother from the 70s—found on Flickr. And so began our friendship. It’s a new one, but I’m so thrilled to have met her. Rilla is an insanely talented artist. Her style is so charming and fun (just like Rilla) and she draws a lot of her inspiration from myths and visits to old book stores. Rilla is a member of the well known and respected art and design collective, Rinzen and her work has appeared all over the world.
Look how cute she is....and Mr. Tom, her furry assistant.
Rilla work has appear at places like the Louvre and in Tokyo’s Zero Gate. She recently was asked by the Museo del Prado in Spain to create some illustrations based on characters from Heironymous Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights triptych (read more about it HERE.) If you're not familiar with the painting, it is a surreal trippy piece that has lots of fanciful creatures. Rilla's interpretations are much more playful and sweet—i love the tea cup!
Her other projects are just as unique. Check out this amazing room at the Hotel Fox. Rilla told me that when they complete the room, the hotel initially plunked a big, oversized white bed right in the middle….and it felt so wrong. She said a light bulb went off in her head and she sprinted to the production managers office and asked them to consider replacing this really expensive/fancy bed with a simple cozy tent. AMAZING!
Lovely Miss Rilla, someday I'm coming to Berlin to go on a walk with you and Mr. Tom!
Read an interview with Rilla at GrainEdit.
haha I slept in that room before. It's beautiful.
ReplyDeleteOh, Alex, you're so sweet! Mr Tom is already waiting by the door for your visit.
ReplyDeleteBetty, that is so great that you stayed in the Sleep Seasons room. Can you imagine that hotel in the middle of winter, with no heating, concrete floors and builders everywhere? That's what it was like when we spent 2 weeks painting those walls! It was quite an experience...
As a muralist and decorative painter I always look for inspiration in magazines, the internet, home decor books, etc. I have had a picture of that room in my file since I saw it a few years ago in Elle Decor (I believe). I hope one day, one day I will show it to a client and they will squeal with glee and ask me to paint something similar. Thank you for highlighting more of Rilla's work. She's quite talented. Nice friendship forming. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a random coincidence that led to your new friendship! Love that tent room - what a fabulous idea - a regular bed would have been so boring!
ReplyDeleteRilla, I kinda can, yes haha. I was there in february and eventhough the heating worked it was cold as hell! I still loved it though. It was the coolest hotel I've ever stayed at. The breakfast that they make is amazing too.
ReplyDeleteAlex, thanks for stopping by my blog. I love yours too!
Alex that is such an amazing story - I love the photos and the way there's more than one thing that tie you together through those images! And WOW, Rilla's work is amazing! Thanks for introducing her work to me.
ReplyDeleteApologies for whatever ID comes up with this comment. i seem to have problems commenting on a few blogs, and yours is one - through no fault of yours. maybe it's just as well though because I'd be commenting on every post. Love your blog!
Lisa
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Alex, so glad to have found your blog. Rilla's work is definitely inspiring!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to following you!
-Diana
shakti space designs: well you must keep up posted! i know I for one will def want to see your special mural when the day comes! : )
ReplyDeleteAmy: isn't that tent bed cool??
betty: *waves* nice to see you too!
lisa: lady lady you can comment however you want, I'm just always thrilled when you stop by! btw every time i comment back i get a "blogger cannot process your request" notice and then I have to click it again for the comment to go through. ARGH. i should look into squarespace or wordpress!!
Diana: aw i'm so glad you found me toO! nice to meetcha! And yep, Miss Rilla is rilla cool. hee.
sooooooo cool....and dang child ....you have the karen richter vans,,,,lovem'!
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