Luxe Living. We loved seeing the work of Brooklyn-based housewares and textile designer Aviva Stanoff. Rich but understated colors combined with silk, velvet and Aviva's unique etchings of natural materials make these designs unavoidably attractive. Aviva uses actual coral fans, ostrich feathers, baby's breath, etc. to etch her designs. Some of the new collections making their debut at the Gift Fairwere the bedding colelctions and the raw-seamed fringe pillows...
I have the pillow at lower left in the top picture. The ink of the baby's breath bled over into the velvet and left a little bit of a blue mark in one place. It's a handmade item, so I consider the imperfection to be sort of a beauty mark, but keep it in mind if you're a perfectionist, because the pillows (that one, at least) run $250 (Tao Living).
view Julie's profile
you spent $250 on a pillow? wow.
view msjessica's profile
It's hard to pull yourself together after swooning first thing in the morning. . . . Nothing is everyone's cup of tea, but Aviva Stanoff's patterns are mine down to the dregs. I want her sheets--in the feather pattern, or the coral pattern. Alas, I can't findthe sheets unfurled in their glory on her website. I would gladly subsist all winter on canned codfish cakes and tap water to own them. $250 for a throw pillow? OK, then. Any ideas for creating such patterns DIY? I'm suffering here. . . .
view Aulaire's profile
Yeah, I surprised even myself. The most I had ever spent on a pillow was $76 (Sharon Spain). I told myself I could do it because everything else in my bedroom was bought for cheap (clearance at West Elm, Macy's, Pier 1). The things we tell ourselves! I can see why the Aviva Stanoff pillows are so expensive, though. Burning out the pattern in the velvet and silkscreening exactly on top of the burned-out area... That's really hands-on. If you think $250 is a lot for a pillow, visit ABC Carpet & Home, where $250 seems to be the low end. I've seen unembellished fabric pillows there go for twice that.
view Julie's profile
Julie--
No need to justify the purchase or its price, as far as I'm concerned. I love that ATers have a wide range of budgets.
view patrick (the other one)'s profile
No, but I'm serious. How could anyone burn out those delicate feathers, no matter how hands on? And the modulations in the coral pattern--is it photgographic silk screen? I am determined to make my sheets with the feathers--which wouldn't need the burning-out part, unless they were meant to be very cool for summer. The ones I make won't be that gorgeous, but if I make them myself I will think they are, and I will love them. . . .
view Aulaire's profile