Wearable Art Symposium at the Textile Center of Minnesota

This Summer, June 2-8, I will be attending and speaking at the Artwear Symposium 2010 at the Textile Center of Minnesota.  I am thrilled beyond words to be a part of this amazing experience.  For those of you in the area, i encourage you to check out the link below and see for yourself all the amazing artists, designers, and speakers who will be both attending and speaking on a vast array of topics from  Sampling Felt/Fabric Fusion & Partial Felt Applique Techniques to Intuitive Patternmaking to Digital Design for Wearable Art.  These lectures and seminars will be mindblowing and so exciting.   For those of you that have any interest in textile arts, this is a symposium you will not want to miss!  I will be speaking on social networking and using these techniques and venues as marketing opportunites and advertising moments for the artist and designer.  I am both humbled and honored to be speaking and all the while wondering how I am going to pull it off......

If anyone out there has ideas for venues I have yet to try, I would love to hear them!

Designer Out,
Bill

and check out this link!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.textilecentermn.org/symposium2010.asp

Restaurant Fetish!

Okay, so I have a restaurant fetish, especially for this one.  This restaurant has been one of my favorites in Minneapolis for as long as I have lived here!  I even had a birthday party here once!

Imagine a place that reminds you of sitting in your parent's basement in 1984 playing video games.  Imagine the tacky decor.  Imagine that hideous sofa that is kind of cool because it is vintage.  Those were good days when all you had to worry about was your score on Super Mario!

Now imagine that same concept in a restaurant.  Same wonderfully tacky decor, same vintage sofas, and same old classic video games.  Except now, instead of stealing cheap beer from your dad's stash, someone will bring it to you and it's not the same cheap stuff you had back then.  And imagine someone bringing you some delicious, classic, comfort food while you play.  That my friends is the Chatterbox Pub!

The food is amazing!   The staff is great!  The atmosphere is so much fun.  You can eat and drink, or play video games, or sit at your table and play board games.  I highly recommend the white tiger shrimp quesadilla, and the Young's double chocolate stout!  I also love their sake bloody mary and the build your own mac and cheese is out of this world.  The prices are easy on the wallet and this place is well worth a trip or ten!

Wannabe Food Critic, out!  :0

OLE!

Check it out at http://www.chatterboxpub.net/

Midtown Mpls

Location Hours

11am -1am Sun -Thurs

11am -2am Fri & Sat

Highland St.Paul

Location Hours

11am-1am Mon - Thurs

11am -2am Fri

8am -2am Sat

8am -1am Sun

Linden Hills Mpls

Location Hours

11am-1am Mon - Thurs

11am -2am Fri

8am -2am Sat

8am -1am Sun

Midtown Minneapolis:

2229 E 35th Street (612)728-9871

Highland Saint Paul:

800 Cleveland Ave S (651)699-1154

Linden Hills Minneapolis:
4501 France Ave S (612)920-3221

The NEW Micro Clutch

I just added two new mini clutches to my line-up.  The first, seen above, in aged gold, is the The Micro Clutch.  A simple envelope clutch that has clean lines and is just the right size for an evening out.  What I love about it is it can be so understated in a solid color, but add a pattern.........

And you get a whole new look.  A little bit more saucy!  I like-ah the Saucey, eh!

Now, turn it up a bit more and do two different colors and you have these!

                                                                                                                                   

This great little bag can be customized with over 50 different colors and finishes, so the number of options is huge, especially if you mix colors!

Personally, I think these bags would look great for a wedding.  Alot of brides give custom clutches as gifts to their bridesmaids, but silk and satin, while pretty, will not last like leather.  And while leather is something most women use everyday, and maybe it does not feel as special, with so many color options and so many finishes, there is sure to be something that will work for a wedding or special event!

And at only $48, this little clutch could show up multiple times in your closet!  The other mini clutch will be ready this week! Stay posted for more info!

Designer out!

I am back and finally catching up to all that has fallen by the wayside.  It is ridiculously hard to try to juggle a full time career, a full time design dream (and all that goes with it like designing, producing, photo-ing, editing, writing, posting, mailing, balancing finances, ordering product....etc, etc, etc), and still have time to promote your line and keep people interested.  I am exhausted just writing it out!  And, yet, I love it with all my heart.  And so, I continue.  More to come soon!

xoxo

designer out!

Where do the ideas come from?

So, many wonder where a designer gets ideas.  Like all good designers, I keep an inspiration scrapbook.  Sometimes things pop into your head that maybe you haven't seen before, but usually, you see something somewhere and it starts your imagination; a great trim on a shirt or shoe, a beautiful suit or coat, a color comination on an upholstered piece, or the print on a great textile.  The list could go on and on.  Some of my designs were daydreams of handbags, some just popped in my head, and some were inspired by the gorgeous work of other great designers like Chanel, Liz Claiborne, Diane von Furstenburg, and many others.  Here are some great finds that helped shape Third Willow Handbags for Fall 2009 and Holiday 2009.

The two pictures below are from Vogue September 2009.  The pictures show Chanel's fall line and when I saw the runway show last spring, I fell in love with the sleeve cuff treatments.  The tight wrap with flowing fabrics on either side of the cuff inspired the Maxine Clutch below as did the image of the woman  in the purple dress from Glamour July 2009 below. 

Red and Gray are hot, hot, hot, this fall.  The picture below, speaking of gray and red, is from Marie Claire September 2009 and inspired both the Maxine above and the two red bags to follow, the Delores Clutch and the Imogene Clutch!

The bags above were also inspired by this image from Real Simple September 2009 below.

MMMMM, sequins!

These bags were also inspired by sequins, the Delores and the Clara!

The image of the woman with the bow on her skirt is from Marie Claire September 2009, while the image of the ruffles (which are a Third Willow mainstay) is from Real Simple September 2009.  Both of these images inspired the Jeannette Laptop Handbag that follows.

The images below also inspired the Jeannette Laptop Handbag, especially in the great fall wool plaids!  The image on the left from Liz Claiborne is forever plaid and is from Lucky September 2009.  The image on the right is from Real Simple September 2009 and is so yummy!

So, as you can see, inspiration can come from anywhere at any time.  Look at magazines, watch fashion shows ( my favorite is Project Runway ), sketch, draw, take pictures, and never stop collecting those images that speak to you!

Designer, Out!

Bill

Symposium at The Minnesota Textile Center in 2010

Check out this link from The Textile Center of Minnesota!  I love them, I do, and have been freaking about the great news to follow!  All I can say is HOLY CRAP!

http://www.textilecentermn.org/shibori/Shibori08Color.pdf

I have been asked to speak at a Symposium for Wearable Art at the Minnesota Textile Center in June of 2010.  The link above shows info and presentations from a previous year's Symposium.  This years will be a collection of workshops and lectures on all things to do with wearable art and fashion!  It should be amazing!

Third Willow has been recognized and I have been asked to speak about Social Networking and Marketing to promote small businesses and artists.  What a great honor, and frankly enough to make me a bit nervous for a presentation I have to give in one year.  Thank God I have time to keep working and practicing on all my networking outlets.  Now it is really time to master all these sites.  I already facebook, twitter, ning, blog, etsy, and flickr, but what else should I try.  There are so many ways to get your name and business out there.  I need to keep trying them all and see what comes up.  Anyone else have any ideas?  The more the merrier, and any help would be great.  I cannot imagine giving a 2 hour presentation to 30-50 people, but here I am, preparing for one year to do so.  YIKES!

And ya'll have to come if you live in Minnesota.  This should be a great networking and informational symposium for all artisans and etsians!

Designer, Out!
Bill

The Interior Designer On Television

The link below is me.  An interior designer "moonlighting" as an HGTV wannabe star.  Why won't they call me?  I really think I should have my own show by now.  I must have too much talent for one design network!

http://twincitieslive.com/article/stories/s1068733.shtml?cat=10698

Seriously though, my day job is that of an interior designer at a large furniture retailer.  My job can be really fun sometimes, but sometimes can be a lot of paperwork and planning and training.  One of the best perks of my job and sometimes the scariest is being on tv.  We do a three minute segment on a local television show called "Room for Improvement".  It is basically like an HGTV show where we find a room in someones home that needs to be redone and we do it for $250!  Thats right folks, I said $250.  Let's just say this ain't easy!  Then of course, I have to do it on camera and see it aired in my city.....arghhh, nervewracking!

Now, I always thought I would be a natural on tv.  Funny, witty, charming, interesting, perhaps get a tv gig out of this on HGTV.  Yeah, I was really hoping and perhaps a bit disallusioned.  For alas, it was not the case.  Lets just say, I have a face for radio and tend to look a little lost on television.  But, damn it sure is fun!  Check out one of my episodes above!  I will post the rest as they are filmed.

Designer Out,
Bill