HOME • VISIT : Doug Johnston + Tomoe Matsuoka

photo courtesy of Doug Johnston & Tomoe Matsuoka

Having written about Doug Johnston and Tomoe Matsuoka's work, and shot their studio in this early Studio Visit, as well as waxing poetic about what they do just in everyday life, I won't say too much about it again in this post. But as sort of magical and interesting as their studio is, their home is a lovely, quieter, airier extension of that. 

I had the pleasure of house sitting for them last October while DH & I were in Brooklyn and they were traveling in Asia. Without any sort of plans on doing this little tour, I woke up in the morning to find nice little shafts of light everywhere in the apartment. What was I to do but start taking pictures? In the end, I had this nice little collection of pictures documenting their home, and tidbits of their life together.

I love how this visit came out. Its a bit more intimate than the others. Just a quiet morning at Doug & Tomoe's house. 

                      

- See the entire tour on VISITVISIT.US -

Studio Tour: Ellen Van Dusen

So when I went into shoot ALL Knitwear's studio tour, I had no idea that Ellen Van Dusen of Dusen Dusen shared the exact same room!


I felt:

1. Embarrasment for not having already known it.
2. Excitement that I would get to meet Ellen!
3. Panic -- would she be into my doing a studio tour with her too? did I bring enough memory cards? were my camera batteries charged up? Did I dress cute enough?



Luckily, she was into it or at least was gracious enough to allow me to shoot her space.

I mean, can you imagine? I have been coveting her clothes for so long! She has such a fun sense of pattern and color mixed with cool, comfortable and easy silhouettes and now I got to be all up in them. And I love it when two designers share a space and I get to see how they play off each other. And of course, meeting her cute dog Snips.

These images were shot last October and it has been inspiring to see her do so many things since then like present her line at NY fashion week.





See all the pictures on Flickr or on my website.

Studio Tour: Annie Larson

There is that special moment when you discover someone's work and it is just so completely different from anything you've seen and it actually changes your perspective, and your perception. I feel like this when I see certain succulents and I had talked about this a little bit on a previous studio visit and I feel like this about Annie Larson's work.

Her combinations of patterns and colors are not something that I would personally have thought would go well together BUT THEY DO. And they are perfect. Her clothing and accessories exude such a sense of joy, youth, freedom, and friendliness (child magic). I feel like her clothing represents the kind of person I want to be.

Please enjoy these studio visit pictures as much as I enjoyed visiting her studio!



View all images on my website or on Flickr

Studio Tour: Doug Johnston & Tomoe Matsuoka

Last October, Doug Johnston started a shop on his site to sell some of his rope vessel creations. Since then he has had numerous blog and magazine features, both national and international.  Compared to most people, who build that kind of demand and following over a period of years, his popularity has pretty much exploded overnight.

While in New York in June, I got to meet Doug and his wife Tomoe when they stopped by my booth at Renegade Craft Fair. I asked if they would be willing to show me their studio in Brooklyn and they said yes !  A couple of days later, my band of friends and I made our way to Ditmas Park.  He took us through the space, shared his process with us and even gave us a little demo.

Doug's wife, Tomoe Matsuoka, shares the studio as well and her work deals in conceptual, performative, interactive structures / wearables and furniture design. It is fun and full of child magic which is a quality I love.

Also, hello cute clothes. Can I have you?

He ended our tour by showing us the amazing rooftop space with a 360º view of the neighborhood. We could even see the  One World Trade Center being built in the distance.

Enjoy !

View images on my site or on Flickr.