December 04, 2008
designer mademoiselle a. aka thymbyl designs
I recently featured one of Thymbyl Designs' advent calendars here and loved so many of her other items for sale - which included not just her crafty projects but gorgeous antique finds from antique fairs and high-end flea markets in Germany, where she lives. I was curious to learn more about the mysterious Mademoiselle a.
Who inspires you? People who think outside the box and who don't swim with the mainstream.
What are you passionate about? Good stuff. This can be anything, but it has to set off this funny inner "passion alarm".
What’s the best lesson you've learnt? Patience goes a long way, and passion is its best fellow traveler.
What's next? Regarding trends? The "handmade" trend will lose its status as a hip, indyish grassroots trend and will get exploited by mainstream mass produce: products with a "handmade" look and feel, but produced in masses, by machines or underpaid labourers. Regarding me? I've been wanting to write the first German "Tezukuri Zakka" book for nearly five years now. Unfortunately, this trend still hasn't reached Germany, and I fear that what may eventually make it here will be a "Zakka" how Americans understand it (which is often not what it really is in Japan).
What are you reading? There is lots on my reading pile; mainly business books, some craft books, a lot of research literature; one or two classics make it to the pile every two months or so, print magazines about graphic and web design, business, lifestyle and fashion. And the newspaper, of course.
Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy by Martin Lindstrom
Buying in by Rob Walker
Marke Eigenbau by Holmm Friebe, Thomas Ramge
Zakka Sewing by Therese Laskey, Chika Mori
Printing by Hand by Lena Corwin
The pity of it all by Amon Elin
Heinrich Heine:Narr des Glucks by Kerstin Decker