Simple Pleasures

Space — something that anyone with a small house or apartment (like me!) will particularly appreciate.


(image via convoy — sadly, no photo credit given, so still looking)

Li Xiaofeng

Last year Chinese artist Li Xiaofeng was asked by Lacoste to create two different polo shirts for the 2010 Holiday Collector’s Series. Xiaofeng is a sculptor with an unusual choice of materials — he buys shards of broken porcelain recovered from ancient archeological digs, and then shapes and polishes them, drilling holes into each corner and linking them together with silver wire to create 'rearranged landscapes'. Since the two Lacoste polos would have to be shipped out of China, Xiaofeng decided to create new shards especially for the project, as China forbids the export of ancient artefacts — including porcelain shards. Bowls painted with designs inspired by early Ming Dynasty (1368 -1644 AD) and the Kangxi Period (1662 - 1772 AD) of the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911 AD) were fired and then broken and reformed into the extraordinary works of art you see here. I've posted other examples of his work — ones that use antique shards — for comparison's sake, too. More here. Via Yatzer.


(photography by Miko He)

Meet the Sponsor

I'm thrilled to welcome Linda of the lovely vintage shop Odd and Old to automatism! Linda is an English antiques dealer based in Lille (in northern France), and her etsy shop is where she shares her wonderful French finds — such as the ones shown here. Linda also has a Valentine's Day special on right now for automatism readers — just enter the coupon code AUTOMATISM at checkout to enjoy 10% off on any purchase until February 14 2011! A perfect opportunity to add a little Gallic charm to your home!