Some marble related inspiration for all, as I have been pretty in love with anything marble from a young age (expensive taste, my mom says). Absolutely loving that marble-Macbook-cover (which I'm searching high and low for) and those delicate marble trays for succulents. These are all white marble inspiration, and might probably work on an inverse black marble inspiration board the next time. I don't care what color or form – I love all things marble!

I've been looking for quite a few hacks for marble-on-a-budget as these babies do not come cheap, no matter what the form.These two I found, and they are pretty great hacks that save you A LOT of money – so marble-esque!

1) Marble Stationery by The Lovely Drawer
2) Marble Side Table by Style Me Pretty (similar to the image of the side table above)
3) Gold-Marbled Entryway Table by A Beautiful Mess

What inspired you today?

I have been collecting ideas, and shopping for home décor items quite a bit this year. I have to also admit that I've been quite the candle hoarder too. I'm a sucker for pretty candles, nice smelling candles and overall, anything candle. I think they are the new 'teak wood' necessity – remember how at one point all everyone wanted was some piece of teak wood furniture in their home?

Just the other day I visited the only H&M Home outlet, and acquired another two candles. Not so much for the scent, although scent does play a pivotal role.

I have quite an obsession with marble, and I jumped at the chance to immediately buy this pine forest candles with a faux marble décor – ahh if only it was real. The price was befitting its faux-ness though, so I guess in all sense, it is quite a steal.

My inspiration for a décor piece that never came to fruition. :(

The other purchase I was very happy with was the golden pineapple, that has a concealed candle on the inside! How adorable is that? I actually wanted to get baby pineapples to use as décor for Chinese new year, but it's incredibly hard to find. After all, no one sells baby pineapples in the markets, as they have no use to anyone. Plus, pineapples are not easy to grow!




HOW TO SHOP FOR CANDLES
I would say that candle shopping is a very personal affair – what works for one doesn't necessarily work for everyone else. For example, I know of people who are crazy about lavender, but I gag at its scent – although its flowers are beautiful. I'd don't usually advise anyone to buy me candles, unless it's pretty and unscented, like my golden pineapple. You'd need a scent that compromises with everyone if you're buying one for the home/room/office. Here's a soft guide on candle shopping.

1. Determine which area you're buying the candle for. Living areas should have a fresh and evergreen scent; anything from grass, pine, ocean and even light florals like daisies. The kitchen area should have a more citrus tang to it, like orange peel, wood, salt, vanilla – anything warm, because it would add a nice ambience to kitchen smells. For the bedroom, depending on your personal taste, it should be something that ranges from sweet Bulgarian roses, gardenias or something stronger like bergamot and lilies, with a hint of musk. For the office, keep it light and fresh – something fruity like apple would do as well, otherwise go for pines or figs, something non-intrusive.
2. Choose a type of candle. The most popular versions are those in the glass cups/jars. They are safe and sturdier, as compared to having a bunch of them on a candlestick. I would recommend candles in jars/cups for use in the bedroom, living room and office. Standalone candles or those that require a candlestick are best for use outdoors, in your garden or in the bathroom. Be smart about placement, those cases of candles starting fires are no joke, it happens – and it's terrible.
3. Matches or lighter? I personally prefer matches, as they give a very nice burnt smell that reminds me of birthdays. If you do not like it, and prefer to just smell the candle, then use a lighter instead.
4. Why do some scents burn stronger than others? Perfumed candles usually have a much greater scent – as they are made by adding perfume to melted wax. Brands like Diptyque, Miller Harris, Jo Malone are known for producing top notch candles. However, for a cheaper alternative, I also find IKEA's candles to be quite effective – but only after 40 minutes of burning. Usually candles that have a very strong smell without lighting it up burns with a good scent, whereas candles that smell alright to the nose (but not so strong) will burn with a weaker scent. Remember, it doesn't mean the more expensive candles are better. I have known cheaper options that are great as well!
5. What is the point of having unscented candles? Ambience, of course. Say you have three or four candles clustered together in the living room for ambiance when you have guests over, and if each one of them are scented – it would cause a headache. There should essentially be only ONE scented candle amongst the unscented – so you get a nice ambience and slight fragrance, minus the headache, and you save money too as unscented candles are much cheaper.

This Victoria's Secret Bombshell candle is one of my favorites, that is unfortunately, running out, as it is quite a small jar. I can't seem to find it anymore in KL either.

Are you a candle obsessed lady as well? Do share your collection with me.

For Spring 2015, H&M Home is bringing in lots of light and natural elements for our homes. You can expect to brighten up your living space with a few simple ornaments, rugs and pillows – and bring a little Mediterranean touch into your home.

For starters, you can go with the obvious – ethnic prints and clean lines, striped and tasselled cushions, and rugs as well. The color green is an important element in the design (what else spells nature more than green, after all). The overall look gives a very nice, rustic charm which is very popular these days. I also love how they had revamped and kept some of my favorite styles in décor, such as those lovely bronze tea lights and candle holders. I don't know when I started to become such a candle person – but candles are an amazing touch to bring to your living space.

“I love the possibilities of spring, as the new season brings light and nature into the home. We have so many great ideas, and amazing new products, to refresh every room in the house.” – Evelina Kravaev Söderberg, H&M Home’s head of design.

For the kitchen, there is also quite a focus on getting ready for a new season of entertaining, with wooden cutting boards and storage boxes, along with new herb storage, carafes and bottles for water. I especially adore those vintage-but-modern storage boxes, they add such a beautiful touch to any home. I know most of us in Malaysia are dying to have these nice wooden homes like they always feature – but our weather and notorious termites makes it really tedious to upkeep and expensive too. At the least, we can have one or two wood elements in our kitchens without needing too much care.

The wire bowls and containers are something new, and I think they look fantastic. Very edgy, modern and minimalistic – enough to hold your fruits and whatnots in place.





Goodness knows we can use some beauty in our life – and H&M Home strives to bring us just that. You can start shopping the collection in stores by this month. Happy decorating! :)

Cats are explicitly popular, no one can deny that. They are in fact, the most obsessed-over animals in Japan (wait, how about.. the world?). It's no wonder the Japanese are coming up with lots of creative ways to lionize cats into super cute and sometimes iconic symbols.

I have scoured the internet to find three talented artisans, from Japan, who have made cats into food (not actual cat meat), food art and even as a fashion statement. These are really cute and being a cat person myself, I'd probably spend all my bucks getting my hands on these things.





MARSHMALLOW CATS
These are soooo cute and they look so delicious. Imagine putting one 'catmallow' into your hot choc, it's going to be too cute to eat! Created by the Yawahada Marshmallow Shop, these cute, edible cats are modelled after a cat named Hirokichi. They come in cute little paw versions, and also a whole cat. The marshmallows come with a vanilla coating and chocolate ears and paws, which are also flavors that are popular with the crowd.




You can even order these online from their shop, the prices are quite alright for such a cute creation. I think imma go get me some of these adorable paws. Not sure if my cats will approve, though.






CATS & SUSHI
I've seen this ridiculously strange-and-yet-cute artworks somewhere on Facebook. However, they are so unique and realistic that I've got to give this a feature. Created by Nekozushi, under a company named Tange & Nakimushi Peanuts, these kitties are sold as artworks and also printed on various items like calendars and postcards.





As pretty as they look, none of these are edible. In fact, nothing from the shop is edible. Just for the eyes to devour.






EMBROIDERY CATS
Cats peeking out of your shirt pockets are nothing new, but embroidered cats with realistic features? Amazing! This is the work of embroidery artist Hiroko Kubota, who had begun making clothes for her son as a hobby. She owns an Etsy shop which sells the shirts for a hefty price of $250-$300, but at the meantime, it seems that the response is too overwhelming and she can't get the shirts out fast enough. Nonetheless, this are really wonderful pieces and hopefully she can make more soon.





The Japanese are so damn creative, I'm pleasantly surprised each time I see a new creation coming from them. They're just amazing, what every creative mind out there aspires to be, I'm sure.

Letterpress is very 'new' in Malaysia, when ironically, it is one of the oldest printing methods in the world. It is something that many Malaysians are still very unfamiliar with. Unless you're a design student, or work within a certain industry; chances of you knowing much about the letterpress process or the end product itself, is nil.

However, once you see how beautiful letterpress can really be – you'll have a new perspective on this technical art form. It is an olden day form of printing something onto a piece of material, from paper to cowhide – anything that allows you to leave an impression upon its surface. It isn't easy to produce letterpress work, because it's very unlike your conventional printer where you can print 1,000 copies at a push of a button. You can make a variety of really cool stuff with letterpress; from name cards to seasonal greeting cards, wedding invitations, coasters, postcards – basically anything to do with paper or impressionable material like leather.

The Alphabet Press (TAP), is the pioneer of the letterpress revival in Malaysia. One of its main founders, Cliff Leong, had kindly obliged some of his time to answer and explain a bit on the business. He starts off on how TAP had come about.

"It began about 3 years ago, when we wanted to print a letterpress name card for our web design company. At that time, we don’t know much about letterpress. We thought it’s just a debossed effect which you can get done locally, and easily. Upon discovering this printing shop in Pudu, we gave it a try, but the post-product turned out really bad. So, we visited all the other printing shops in Pudu, asking one after another. No one knew how to do it.

Baffled, we decided to look for a letterpress company in Bangkok, Thailand. We found one, and asked for a quotation. The cost was so expensive, it literally gave us a heart attack, and we decided to stow away the idea. Some time from then, we were in Bangkok for a trip, and coincidentally found this lovely letterpress card in one of the shopping malls. The touch and feel of it, is beautiful. One of us voiced what the rest of us felt, "Why don't we do it ourselves?"

From that point, we conducted plenty of research both online and offline. From the history of printing, to the printing technique, we read through everything one-by-one. We learned a lot about this craft in theory, but we still needed to try it hands-on. This led to a hunt for letterpress workshops. They are quite common in New York, but the cost was just too high. Luckily for us, we found one nearby – in Melbourne, Australia!

We started learning the letterpress process by its older method. That method requires using lead types and century-old presses, which makes good impression on paper. From then on, we evolved into using a contemporary letterpress method, which uses a much thicker paper – thus leaving a more pronounced impression. Martha Stewart was the one who made this popular by sharing a picture of a letterpress wedding stationary on her website. It became a hit. Letterpress became a sought-after print finishing that no other printing can match, but that was in the West.

This is what we’re doing in TAP. Merging the convenience of technology to bring new life to the old craft, and bringing that to Malaysia. Although letterpress is an old printing technique, we think it’s also a timeless craft that will only become more valuable and precious with time."

And it is quite apparent, the beauty and quality of their products, as you can see from some of the examples of their work, that they had kindly shared with me (their own name cards as well). I love how the colorful designs are brought out, and given extra depth with just a simple concept of indenting the material. Loving the local touches too, as you can see in that CNY card and the Ramadan kuih bahulu card. I foresee this as the future of all lavish wedding invitations. Heck, it will be my wedding invitation! ;)













Beautiful, no? That Valentines Day card is mind-blowingly simple, and yet so functional. I'd keep that sort of card forever! I have this habit of keeping and collecting cards, and anyone who gives me cards like these, it's staying in my 'keepsakes box' forever. Now, since the letterpress business is new and quite unknown to many in Malaysia, I had asked Cliff to give a few insights into the company, and the foreseeable future for TAP.


What made you decide to venture into the letterpress business, especially when this is such a niche market in Malaysia? 
We’re from web design background and working in the web industry requires a systematic and technical background. However, we also want to produce tangible art with more creative freedom. We love stationery, leather wares and custom-made goods. We admire the craftsmanship of artisans who create goods with limited resources while using olden day techniques. That's what we want to do.

In the letterpress business, is it easy to find clients who are keen to give it a go? Because in terms of cost, letterpress do cost a lot more than the conventional printing. 
“Thank you, finally there’s letterpress in Malaysia!” said one of our customers. We all get very excited about it. Especially when there's someone out there, appreciating and sharing the same passion as we do. In this competitive world, I think we have to choose the road less travelled (or not yet taken). Do something special, something niche. And of course it should ideally be something that brings value to people and to ourselves. The freedom of expression, and to have total control over the output – this is the most precious thing a designer can have. We want to give people something to love, and at the same time, keep us satisfied too – that is more important above all else. So all in all, for these people who gets it, cost is secondary.

Who are your main target audiences for this business? Students, corporate companies, etc? 
Our customers, ideally, should be artisan themselves. People who care about the process, love the meticulous details – something that’s so fine, personal and soulful. Basically, people with good taste for the finer things. We don’t consider letterpress as fancy printing. It’s a craft. We want to target customers who can tell the difference between letterpress and common printing. Those who understand that letterpress is a crafted print with depth, a print that you can touch. It is not something a commercial print's finishing can achieve.

How is the modern letterpress different from the olden-day letterpress, in terms of technique and tools?
Letterpress was the primary form of printing and communication for the early 600 years of civilization. It is the mother of all printing. The technique of relief printing requires use of printing presses. Here’s a brief introduction of the process: A worker composes and locks movable type into the bed of a press, inks it, and presses paper against it to transfer the ink from the type which creates an impression on the paper. (Johannes Gutenberg is said to have invented the movable type printing press.)


What we’re currently doing considered as contemporary letterpress. As it is a cast icon machine that literally punches your print into paper, we’re able to control the depth of the impression. However, there are many variables that can come into play when we’re punching into the paper; such as paper density, opacity, edge bleed, depth, impression, evenness and so on. Since the process is done on machines that are nearly 50 years old, you’ll find that each print in your order has a life of its own.

What is the average duration to churn out, say, 100 pieces of letterpress cards? 
Because of the lengthy process of producing letterpress, we have a print turnaround within 14 working days.

Malaysia is a country where business competitors spring at every opportunity whenever there's one. Do you foresee any competitors in the future?
Yes we do. But we welcome anyone who is passionate about letterpress to be a part of the community. This is a very niche industry, and so much more education needs to be given to the mass, to spread the beauty of the letterpress craft. It’s good to have someone out there share the same passion as we do. We can perhaps collaborate and work together to reintroduce letterpress to the modern world.

What are your hopes and expectations for your letterpress business, in the Malaysian market, for the next few years? 
Next up, we are going to tap into the cultural and creative industry in Malaysia – mainly because our cultural diversity makes us unique. It’s a good opportunity to learn from the rich cultural content, document it, and make something out of it. We want to start with something simple, like a series of postcard that is designed based on the uniqueness of Malaysia, like the food, languages and architecture. We want to document this locality into something relevant to our current society, and of course, it has to be something that looks beautiful. For instance, imagine a cultural map of Penang and Malacca that is letterpress printed on a thick, soft paper. It will not only be beautifully designed, but will serve as an educational medium. We have so much advantage in this area, but it is not often to see someone who actually make it work. That's where we hope to come in.




thealphabetpress.com

“Decorate your home. It gives the illusion that your life is more interesting than it really is.” – Charles M. Schulz



In other words, when in doubt, decorate. A home is never truly yours, unless it carries your personal taste and style. So rejoice all you decorating enthusiasts, for H&M Home is coming to Malaysia very soon! By then end of July 2014, the very first H&M Home in South-East Asia will be opening in Avenue K.

Launched in 2009, H&M Home carries everything from decorative touches to household essentials. You can get luxurious bed linens, to soft fluffy towels and even scented candles, all curated specially to make your home much more beautiful. Designed in-house by H&M Home’s Head of Design, Evelina Kravaev Söderberg and her team, there is always something to brighten up any room in the house. It's about time to get that home revamped!






“I love the mix of clarity and poetry at H&M Home this autumn, and all of the new products that make it such an exciting time for dressing every room of the house." 
– Evelina Kravaev Söderberg 



The upcoming collection in Malaysia will be H&M Home's Autumn collection. The collection will feature mostly items that exude opulence, texture, contrast and warmth – in simple and yet practical designs that are fresh and rejuvenating. Based on the pictures here, you can see just how amazing this collection is, and how it can help transform your home. I don't know about you, but I am in love already! Check out more awesomeness below!











“Decorating golden rule: Live with what you love.” 
– Unknown


The whole concept here reminds me very much of a New York studio loft, but with a touch of class and taste. I like the raw-ness of the idea, and also the simplicity of designs enhanced by the textures used. The fact that you can also get such in-trend designs and quality for a fair price, is the best part when it comes to home decorating. I can't wait to get my hands on some of these must-haves when they open!