Thanks to Craigslist and a really cool older guy in Niles, IL, we are now the proud owner of a set of four amazing Eames Herman Miller fiberglass arm shell chairs in seafoam green. (!!) (click the image above for more pictures)
They are from 1957, with metal glides on zinc H-bases. Two of them still have the foil label from that year. The maker’s mark looks to be the double triangles/mountains from Summit Plastics in Kalamazoo. I am in awe of these chairs, and our luck in finding them. We saw found them the day before we left for Florida and called the person selling them, who was awesome enough to hold them for us for a whole week until we could drive up there (it’s near Elgin, so we spent the night at my parents’ and hand an insane sushi orgy furnished by materials from Mitsuwa – more on that later).
Thank you, Craigslist. Oh man.

I won this book on eBay tonight – it was published in 1961, and illustrated by Charley Harper. Probably the coolest biology book ever, aesthetically; very excited to get it! It’s in slightly rough shape but considering its age (and the deal I got on it) I’m quite happy. All pages are complete and intact.

Read more about the book here.
First two images courtesy of the above link.

We’re headed to Florida for 6 days starting this Sunday; my month has been super busy work-wise but generally nice with fantastic weather and a great trip to Elgin around the beginning of this month. We visited the flea market again and I scored a vintage Nelson bubble lamp in the small spherical shape. I’ll post pictures soon once I get this place straightened up and actually take some. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser really is magical, by the way, because it is fantastic at cleaning up vintage pieces like fiberglass chairs and our bubble lamp; the thing was completely filthy but looks new after some work with one of those. I wholeheartedly endorse them.
I also found two original Rorschach ink blot test cards; each is double-sided with an ink blot image and numbered. I still need to look up my specific blots.
Finally, as I’m hopelessly bag-addicted and there’s no help for it, I bought two Lug bags to do my traveling with and I’m really happy with them so far. I got the Skipper in grass green and the Taxi Full Tote in ocean blue, below. The texture, weight, construction and color of these bags is fantastic, can’t wait to haul them around some airports (and Disney World).

I have a small obsession with this designer. She has done some furniture and housewares but specializes mainly in fabrics, clothing and bags/pouches. This is my most recent Orla acquisition; I found this on sale at Nordstrom when I was out with my mom and sister this weekend. It’s so well made and generally awesome. The material is laminated canvas (so it’s waterproof but still light and flexible) with leather on the handles/closure, lined with cotton in another cool print.

I’ll go more into my collection later, as I would like to document it and it’s getting ever larger — recently I’ve realized through selling and finding neat older pieces on eBay I’ve refined the collection to the point where I can’t bring myself to sell any more of the ones I have… hm.

At “Carrie’s”, an odd little curio shop packed with random vintage stuff in downtown Champaign, we found a full 8-piece set of vintage Bodum glasses last Sunday. I am in love with their design and the clean happiness of the white handles. They even have the older Bodum creed stamped on the bottom. They look unused; I wonder what their history is, if any.

I’m a huge fan of the artists at Nervous System, who use biology-inspired shapes and patterns coupled with high-tech methods to create amazing jewelry. I recently got this ring from them, which is actually 3D printed out of a durable but flexible nylon; how cool is that? I will be collecting more of their stuff in the future, this is so exactly up my alley it’s crazy.

The short bookcase in my living room contains, among other things:

Margot the betta, a gregarious female that most enjoys freeze-dried bloodworms.

– and –

My two largest shiva lingams, the largest one a gift from my father. I have several more of these that are 1.75″ and smaller. They are visually and texturally intriguing. My dad collects them two and has some really great ones. The type of quartz these stones are comprised of is only found in the Narmada river in India.

I just bought a new camera and I’m using it as impetus to start blogging again.

I live in central Illinois and work for an increasingly well-known mathematics/software development company called Wolfram Research. I program linguistics and parsing structures into the recently launched Wolfram|Alpha. When I’m not doing that, I’m usually at home in my mid-century ranch house full of mid-century furniture (an ever-growing collection). I have a cat and two fish. I make art, primarily photographs and ink drawings, and I’m slowly getting into cooking. I collect a lot of stuff, actually; a habit I get from my father. Some collections I have currently include Orla Kiely bags, shiva lingam stones, Playmobil sets, ammonite fossils, antique marbles, and sea shells.

That concludes my introductory post.