then and now

This is Elly and Pim, my mother's second cousins (as far as i can tell) in Holland.
For a couple of years now I've been working on a project to preserve the memories and stories of the Dutch side of my family. Initially I tried to find out who each person in each picture was, but that proved very daunting, so now I'm just scanning and uploading all the pics and saving them on Flickr.

One day I'll go back and add the names and stories.

It's proved to be a fascinating project that has reconnected me with family I never knew I had - like Elly and Pim above. They have a family tree of the van Hoofts (my gran's side) running back to 1374! I don't know who did the work to put that together, but it's incredible.
It's also shown me a world I've never seen before - immigrants arriving at a new harbour, family portraits in a country devastated by war.

See an older world you never knew here.

custom labbit show

On Saturday 6 August, ToiToy in Cape Town will be holding their second custom vinyl toy show, this time using Frank Kozik's iconic Smorkin Labbit - and I'm super excited!

Not just because I love toys, and I do, but because I've been actively involved in this one, selecting some of the designers that would get to customise the 10" bunny-with-an-addiction.

The pieces will go on display on Saturday 6 August at 10.00 in the ToiToy store on Kloof St, but will only be available for purchase from the ToiToy website (for the benefit of international customers).

Here are the ones done by designers I chose:

Board Brain by Paul Oxborrow

Commander Jin by David Maclennan

Trash Magnet by Hilton Qiu

Senor DeMario by Ivana Raguz

Say My Name by Hannah Hughes

You can get a sneak peek of the rest of the customs here.

an exhibition

Nathaniel Stern is back in the country for a short sojourn and bringing his famous "lily scans" with him. Only this time, they're not our local Emmarentia lilies, but American Midwestern lilies.

For those who haven't seen this particular work before, Nathaniel has had a custom body-pack made so that he can strap on a desktop scanner and a laptop, and then he wades in to a lake - and literally scans lilies. Read more about his process here.

His latest exhibition will open this Saturday (30 July) at 2pm at Art On Paper (44 Stanley in Johannesburg).

it's for a good cause

Who wouldn't want a pink breast cancer charity ninja from Shawnimals??? There are only 100 pieces, and she comes with a 6x8" print. 

plush, it's for a good cause


via Clutter magazine

munch munch

And if all that Dunny cuteness wasn't enough for one day, meet the Fluffy Friends! Plush toys with teeth that'll chomp their way through to your heart.

today's the day!

Dunny 2011 is launched.
At Kidrobot stores around the world, people will be gathering to rip open little boxes and ooh and aah at their contents. Dunny 2011 looks like a fantastic series, and I can't wait to get my paws on some of them.