The art of Herb Williams instantly brings out the child in everyone. Williams, who describes his process on his website, says that he is the" only individual in the world with an account with Crayola." Williams uses crayons as the medium for his sculpture. Williams cuts his colors packed 3000 to a case. He cuts down the sticks and then bonda the paper, not the wax, to a form he has either carved or cast.
The colorful Yellow Lab shown above is made of cut yellow and blue crayons, wood and two-part epoxy resin. It measures 42" x 19" x 28" and is for sale for $18,000 through Vivre where you can also find several other of his playful pop pieces.
British jeweler Asprey has unveiled their annual Christmas Cracker. The classic British Christmas accompaniment comes with the traditional paper crown, a quotation, balloon and one gift item. This years items in sterling silver and lizard skin include a yoyo, deco cufflinks, silver pen, lizard book mark, silver and lizard skin tape measure, mini clock, silver heart bracelet, pencil sharpener, table magnifier, poker dice set, compass key ring and salt and pepper set. The crackers are wrapped in purple and silver and each one sells for $230 or a box of 12 for $2,635.
For the crafty and thrifty, here's a mini tutorial on making your own Christmas crackers.
One of the grandest estates in the Midwest has hit the market. Built in 1917, the Schweppe Estate in Lake Forest, Illinois was a wedding gift from Marshall Field and Company president John G. Shedd to his daughter Laura. It was famous for parties and on one occasion, Lake Forest society entertained the heirs to the crown of Sweden and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. The home has 11 bedrooms and was vacant for 40 years but was restored in the 1980s by over 70 craftsmen who tended to the marble fireplaces, wood paneled library and the plaster relief ceilings and limestone moldings. It is listed at $18 million. Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.
Fans of Art Nouveau may want to check out this one, Swann Galleries in New York is holding an auction of rare and important Art Nouveau posters on December 17. The highlights include 11 posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and seven by Alphonse Mucha. The posters are from the collection of Bob and Peggy Marcus, who assembled their collection over the course of 30 years. The auction's top lot is a copy of Lautrec's Moulin Rouge, La Goulue, 1891, the artist's first poster, in the very rare three-sheet version, and with the original top banner. Considered one of the most important posters in the history of graphic arts, the enormous color lithograph advertises a performance by can-can dancer La Goulue at the famous cabaret. When the poster was first released, dealers found the size unmanageable and discarded the top banner, making versions with the original top virtually unavailable. The provenance goes back to Lautrec's own estate, after which it passed on to his close friend, art dealer Maurice Joyant, and then descended to his heirs. It is estimated at $250,000 to $350,000.
French jeweler Mauboussin recently opened their U.S. flagship store, a 6,000 square foot boutique on Madison Avenue in New York City and to demonstrate good will to the city they are announcing a charity gift this holiday season to benefit City Harvest, New York City's only food rescue program. Mauboussin will donate 10% of the retail value from the purchase of any ring from the "Mes Couleurs a Toi" collection to City Harvest and customers will also receive a 15% discount on their purchase. There are six versions of the ring featuring a central 6.5 carat stone in amethyst, citrine, blue topaz, smoky quartz, lemon quartz and rose de France amethyst set in gold with accent diamonds, ranging in price from $1,850 to $1,950. The final day to purchase "The Gift that Gives Back" will be December 31.
A bit of Hollywood goes on the block this week when jewelry that once belonged to Hollywood actress Deborah Kerr will go on sale in London. Kerr, who starred in movies such as "From Here To Eternity" and "The King and I" died in October of last year. One of the priciest items for sale at the auction at Bonham's London on December 4 is this triple-stone diamond engagement ring from her first husband, Squadron Leader Anthony Charles Bartley. It features three yellow-tinted, brilliant-cut diamonds which weigh 2.32, 2.98 and 2.17 carats respectively each within a four-claw setting on a tapered hoop of woven design. The ring is estimated at £20,000-25,000.
Give you holiday season a boost by heading over to Holidash. Our sister blog has created the Holidash Season of Schwag. Holi and Dash are the naughtiest (and sexiest!) elves in the North Pole. They are too impatient to wait for Santa to deliver goodies on Christmas, so they're giving away the season's best stuff on Holidash.com. The giveaways include toys, gadgets, shoes, purses and more from brands such as LeapFrog, Motorola, Rebecca Minkoff, AT&T, Adidas and Ralph Lauren. So many prizes make it easy to win so head on over.
Those who can spend $1,500 might want to get into French Laundry on December 9. That's when Thomas Keller and Grant Achatz are hosting the third of three spectacular 20 course dinners. The first was held at Keller's New York restaurant Per Se, the second was held at Achatz's Chicago restaurant Alinea and the third will be at Keller's French Laundry in Yountville, California. The chance to have two of the top chefs in the U.S. cook for you is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Those who can attend can expect Keller's exquisite attention to detail and Achatz's inventive cuisine on course after course bound to feature truffles, caviar, foie gras and other expensive ingredients.
The first entrant into any marketplace has the benefit of being able to set the price for the service and those that follow often need to offer a lower price. That's the case in the space tourism game, now that XCOR Aerospace is offering tickets for suborbital rides at less than half the price of main competitor Virgin Galactic. XCOR Aerospace is partnering with tour developer and operator Jules Klar, co-creator of the 1960s-era "Europe on $5 a Day" guides, to sell rides aboard its Lynx spaceship for $95,000. The two-seat Lynx craft is under development at XCOR's Mojave Desert base. Lynx passengers fly in the cockpit next to Richard Searfoss, who made three spaceflights for NASA. The company plans to be able to make up to four flights a day. Test flights are set to begin in 2010 with first paid flights as soon as early 2011.
The Lima Peaks Ranch sits at the base of the impressive 11,000-foot Lima Peaks Mountains in Dillon, Montana. The ranch is located 15 minutes from an airstrip and includes an 9,880 square-foot residence that overlooks a private lake. The property has a variety of ranch buildings including a handcrafted log home, custom indoor horse arena, manager's home, private lakes and a fish hatchery. The property includes deeded, state of Montana, BLM land and adjoining Beaverhead National Forest grazing allotment for a total of 19,522 acres so that it can operate as a large ranch. Gorgeous land, great views and a home that is full of rich wood, graceful curving lines and large windows to take in the grand expanse. It is listed at $17.9 million.
The news is full of canceled holiday parties but one liquor company has taken this as a marketing opportunity. Kahlua, the coffee liquor is offering five $10,000 prizes to five small businesses that have had to cancel their holiday parties. Business in just five states: Texas, Colorado, Massachusetts, Georgia and Illinois are eligible. Kahlua has created a special website for the contest, www.KahluaSavestheHolidayParty.com which has instructions on how to enter. Applications close on December 7 and winners will be notified on or before December 12.
Ritz-Carlton is betting on the luxury hotel business to continue to be strong with the launch of the new brand extension, The Reserve. Next March the new brand will open Phulay Bay, A Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Krabi, Southern Thailand. The 54-villa and pavilion boutique hotel is set on the shores of the Andaman Sea and surrounded by a national forest with rugged rock formations and hidden waterfalls. Rooms offer tropical garden or cean views, private plunge pools and sheltered outdoor baths and showers and verandahs with out-door lounge beds. the resort has an infinity swimming pool featuring comfortable oversized day beds, cabanas and pool chairs, a gym, spa with ten treatment rooms, retail shop, personal butlers and the Living Room, a club house with a library with a wide range of international books in numerous genres and audio and video materials, board games and entertainment programs tailor-made as the guests' requests. The resort was designed by Thai architect Lek Bunnag to combine modern styling and architecture with accents of Thai culture and design.
One of the biggest Western imports to China just may be the love of golf. A recent report by KPMG Golf Advisory Practice published on December 1 after the completion of the World Cup of Golf at Mission Hills Country Club in Shenzhen, China, is part of KPMG's third annual Golf Benchmark Survey. It reveals that China has a rapidly developing and expensive golf market. China now has over 300 courses, more than half of which have opened since 2000. Club memberships and green fees are among the most expensive in the world with the average initiation fee of a golf club set at $53,000 One in 10 Chinese clubs charges initiation fees over $100,000, with annual dues ranging between $1,500 and $4,000. And then there are green fees that average $161 for an 18-hole weekend round. Currently golf in China is an elite sport played mainly by men (87 percent of club members are men). If the fees come down a bit and more people begin to play China could easily have one of the largest communities of golfers in the world.
The elaborate Vivienne Westwood wedding dress Sarah Jessica Parker sported in the "Sex and the City" movie didn't bring Carrie Bradshaw any luck but that hasn't stopped women from wanting it. Now, for two days only Gabriella Risatti, owner of Gabriella New York bridal salon in the Meatpacking District of New York City is making reproductions of the dress for $15,000 tomorrow and Thursday only. Risatti tells the NY Post that they will be taking measurements for those two days but only making 30 dresses.
The Christie's Paris sale of Impressionist and Modern paintings that belonged to French fashion designer Jeanne Lanvin came in far below estimate on Monday. The Washington Post reports that the sale raised euro7.67 million ($9.67 million) at the sale which included works by Pablo Picasso and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Christie's had originally valued the collection at euro20 million ($25.2 million). The top seller was Renoir's "Woman with a Parasol Sitting in the Garden," which went for euro1.16 million ($1.46 million) and has a top estimate of euro1.8 million ($2.27 million). A total of 23 of the 31 lots were sold. Another painting by Renoir, "The Tapestry in the Park (Presumed Portrait of Camille Monet)" went unsold as did works by Edgar Degas, Eugene Boudin and Camille Pissarro.Lanvin, died in 1946 at the age of 79, but was once of France's most influential designers of the 1920s and '30s and created the classic fragrance "Arpege." The paintings hung in her Paris apartment and a portion of the proceeds from the sale will go toward two arts charities run by the Polignac dynasty, the aristocratic family which Lanvin's daughter Marie-Blanche married into.
The Lanvin fashion label remains one of France's oldest fashion houses under the creative direction of Israeli-American designer Alber Elbaz. Recently Stella McCartney hired Frederick Lukoff, the business development director of Lanvin, to lead the British fashion brand, part of the Gucci Group. Lanvin has recently been it talks with potential investors to raise funds to expand.
