Murami

The Glen Lake Art Fair

2008-08-12T20:59:00.003-04:00

Murami had a booth at the 2008 Glen Lake Art Fair in Glen Arbor, Michigan. It was a great time and I will be hitting the workshop hard after I finish training for a century (yes, that's right, 100 miles on a bike) for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Donate here !

And here are some photos from the show:

Merry Elfmas!

2007-12-13T12:38:00.001-05:00

Here's a little something for you folks who were wondering how I get all that Murami production done! Enjoy, and happy holidays!

The Murami Elves!

Updated web site!

2007-12-07T10:43:00.000-05:00

I've been holed up in my workshop for countless hours over the past few weeks. The result? EIGHT new frame styles (with more on the way), and a beautiful new web site design! (And I'm totally caught up on Preston & Steve and NPR podcasts!)

I must admit that I am not responsible for updating the web site. My wonderful webmistress and designer Tian Qiu Xia, all the way in Kunming, China, has been the source of the beautiful new additions and updates to the site. I send an email with requests, and while I sleep, magical things happen to the web site. I can't thank you enough, Tian!

I have, however, dabbled a bit in Dreamweaver and FTP site maintenance because of Murami, so I'm grateful for this learning experience and so excited to show you the finished product.

Go, shop, and enjoy!

Holiday Production

2007-11-28T13:23:00.000-05:00

I spent an entire day in the shop yesterday working on frames. I cast a new set of knobs - the wine labels - that seemed to be a big hit. I'm going to have fun over the next few weeks. I've had several people come to me about holiday orders. I would say thank you for being patient with my MIA status from blogging, but I don't think anyone noticed. ;)

Stay tuned! I'm going to take photos of the new frames and post them soon.

Murami frames on eBay!

2007-01-12T12:39:00.000-05:00

Welcome to a new wave of Murami action! I'm going to open an eBay store to sell Murami frames. Please see the first listing here!

Show photos!

2006-10-09T23:33:00.000-04:00

Here are a couple photos from a show I did on Sunday in Reading, PA. The weather was perfect and I ran out of business cards! Thanks to everyone who came by.

Moving (on up)

2006-09-14T09:58:00.000-04:00

Here's just a little update: Murami's "headquarters" will be moving shortly to the Philadelphia area, and the site will soon have a working online store!

Inhabit wall flats

2006-08-08T14:01:00.000-04:00

These would be a great way to start incorporating more texture and three-dimensional objects into the knobs. I've really been thinking a lot about how to do it with class. This image is from Design Public.

Flavor Paper in NOLA

2006-08-03T20:48:00.002-04:00

Check it out!! Flavor paper sells books of samples of all of its wallpaper for just $20. I ordered mine today! They have awesome psychedelic wallpapers, and if you buy from them you'll feel good supporting a New Orleans business.

News about new wallpaper style

2006-08-02T13:55:00.000-04:00

Newsweek published an article about the new trends in funky wallpaper. No more vines and matronly paisley!

Text of the article follows:

By Anna Kuchment

Newsweek

May 31 issue - Knitting needles, brooches and swing skirts aren't the only vintage accessories making a comeback. At last week's International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York—an annual showcase of high-end design for the home—a crop of start-up companies showed off a fresh take on something long associated with Grandma's house: wallpaper. Instead of yellow daisies and toile, there were sequins, fringe and trippy Mylar. "Wallpaper is getting a new lease on life," says Arlene Hirst, a senior editor at Metropolitan Home.

The return of attention-grabbing graphics for walls is only the latest sign that minimalism is dead. Austere, Zen-like spaces, so popular in the 1990s, are giving way to bright colors and witty designs. The ICFF show was brimming with examples, like LED lamps that looked like stacks of yellow, orange and blue children's blocks (glide-inc.com); furniture made from loose change (johnnyswing.com), and chandeliers decorated with gilded leaves and flowers (artecnicainc.com).

Plain, painted walls were the last bastion of restraint. "Customers are going for a more complete, more decorated look," says Kathy O'Brien, a vice president at home-furnishings supplier F. Schumacher & Co., which has seen an uptick in sales of wall decor over the past two years. But this time around, clients will use the stuff more sparingly, predicts Gregory Herringshaw, assistant curator of wallcoverings at New York's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

Perhaps that's because designers are creating patterns that are wilder than ever. London-based Tracy Kendall ($180 to $350 per roll; tracy kendall.com) stitches or tags buttons, sequins and Post-it-like squares onto paper. Jon Sherman, founder of New Orleans-based Flavor Paper, hand-screens psychedelic 1970s prints onto Mylar ($150 to $250 per roll; flavor paper.com)—and just installed some in Lenny Kravitz's Creole cottage in Louisiana. Kyra Hartnett of Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Twenty2 also has unveiled new Mylar prints ($111 to $175 per roll; shoptwenty2.com).

Other designers are creating do-it-yourself wall coverings. Wallpaper-by-Numbers ($114 per roll, including acrylic paints; 2jane.com) lets patrons color in gerbera daisies or flying dogs. Philadelphia-based Jaime Salm of Mio showed panels of sculpted, recycled cardboard ($28 for a box of 12 square-foot tiles; mioculture .com). "You can paint it," he says. "You can rotate the tiles to create new patterns." Up next, says Salm: wallpaper on the ceiling.

Eripalmo vintage wallpaper

2006-07-31T11:55:00.000-04:00

I'm definitely going to look into getting some of this stuff by Eripalmo S.A. This company is located in Ecuador.

Duskyward designs

2006-07-31T11:38:00.000-04:00

Tracy Robinson (Duskyward) does some really great graphic design. I love her style.

Mibo patterns

2006-07-27T16:35:00.000-04:00

More great patterns and color combinations. This is a great pattern to pair with white or gray... Mibo designs from Design Public.

The Collection, "au mur"

2006-07-27T12:55:00.000-04:00

I've been trolling the design blogs (namely Oh Joy!) and found that lots of people are talking about wallpaper. This makes me very happy. I specifically want to mention The Collection, which is a french wallpaper studio. This is very fitting, seeing as I named murami in homage to my French-major background (mur = wall, ami = friend). Anyway, I love The Collection's collection (how was Joy able to display the photo on her blog?). Now, if only I could get a miniature version!

Glam photo shoot of the knobs

2006-07-27T11:37:00.000-04:00

Ever hear of Glamour Shots?

Why is fun wallpaper so hard to find?

2006-07-26T14:23:00.000-04:00

I don't necessarily mean that cool funky wallpaper doesn't exist (for example, see funkis or tappetitalo), but it doesn't exist for those who don't need to cover a room with it. ;)

I know most people want to cover rooms/walls/etc. with wallpaper, but not me! I want to cut it into little squares and make it into something totally new! My resin knobs. (Click "knobs" on the right-hand side of the page.)

I just cast a whole mess of knobs on Sunday. It's really fun (if you ignore the smell and the mosquitoes). Well, I think it's fun. Especially when I get to see the end product. Photos coming soon.

Anyway, what I want is busy patterened wallpaper, because each knob is only 1 1/4 " wide and I want some action going on in each one! But alas, most people don't want repeating patterns of 1 1/4 " on their walls. Therein lies the conundrum! Aside from the fact that I want sample sizes, and I don't blame manufacturers for looking down their noses at me when I ask for "just a little bit" of their wallpaper. I've contacted a few others that I found today (see above!) so hopefully they'll pull through.

Retro and funky fabric patterns

2006-07-26T14:19:00.000-04:00

I'm looking for wallpaper similar to these patterns to use in my knobs. I'm into the hip retro look at the moment. These are from kitty craft. Joy from Oh Joy created this very useful layout of photos. Thank you, Joy.

retro & quirky fabric...

Photos from Adams Morgan Art Market

2006-07-24T20:34:00.000-04:00

Here is our booth at the Adams Morgan art market on July 22, 2006. It was HOT but the day turned out to be sunny and beautiful and we got a lot of positive feedback about the frames. We'll be going back!

DC Western Market - July 22, 2006

2006-07-20T10:36:00.000-04:00

Starting this Saturday, Murami will be selling frames at the DC Western Market in Adams Morgan. The show starts at noon and goes until dark. It's a weekly event, and I hope to be able to participate weekly with lots of new frames and styles. The bonus for going to see Murami frames at these shows is you'll be able to see brand new designs that may not be available online yet. I'll also be selling a few choice pieces of my handmade jewelry, which won't be available online either. Please come see us!

Murami's reseller list is growing!

2006-07-19T13:18:00.000-04:00

Blue Heron Gallery - Jennifer Flynn's Gallery of Empire

Tari's Gallery:

Murami now has FOUR retail partners! Our first was Tari’s cafe and Wild Women Gallery, located in Berkeley Springs, WV. The stores we've added since then are the Jennifer Flynn Gallery in Empire, MI; Maybings in Glen Arbor, MI; and Hutcheson Fine Jewelry in Reading, PA. Thank you to our resellers! We hope to keep adding more stores to our partners list, so if you’ve got a store and you want our frames, or if you know of a store that might, please let us know!

Here she is!

2006-07-18T14:34:00.000-04:00

Thank you to Tian Qiu Xia!

Murami’s most excellent web developer, Tian, has just wrapped up work on our beautiful new website. Check it out at www.murami.com! I think you’ll agree with me when I say that she did really first-rate work.

Through murami.com you’ll be able to view our entire collection, order frames online, find a local reseller, and keep tabs on shows and events where we’ll be showing our work.

Check back often…we’re always introducing new styles!

4 days until our first show!

2006-05-30T17:00:00.000-04:00

Make sure to come see the artists' sidewalk sale if you're going to be in Berkeley Springs, WV this weekend for the "Hey Girlfriend" festival. Murami will be there, selling our first batch of frames! If you won't be there (really?!) then wish us luck!

Wild Woman Show, June 3 2006

2006-04-27T11:50:00.000-04:00

Make sure to come see us if you're in the Berkeley Springs, WV area on Saturday, June 3! We'll be part of the Wild Woman sidewalk show, at a table selling our frames and earrings (and possibly some necklaces also).

Knobs

2006-03-09T13:47:00.000-05:00

Murami's newest project is handmade knobs. We're going to cast them out of resin, meaning that each knob will be made by hand, with various fabrics/items/patterns cast into them. I am really excited about it! It will make the frames even more unique.

Future Shop by Daniel Nissanoff

2006-02-23T13:58:00.000-05:00

Because I've either become iPod obsessed or lazy or both, I have been reading less and listening to audiobooks more. I know it's generally best for me to actually READ a book, but since I started taking public transportation on too-crowded buses and/or walking to work, I haven't been able to find time to read (I used to take an empty train for half an hour each way). Hence the audiobook, and hence my starting to listen to Future Shop this morning. It's about the impending boom of internet auctions. I personally thought, probably because I'm mired in selling on Ebay already, that it was mainstream. Apparently it's not yet. This leads me to believe that we really should embrace the Ebay-style auction world for some of our sales, maybe for "clearance" items when we get to that point. I worry that our particular product won't sell well on Ebay, because it's such a specific item that people may not be searching for or know that they even need. But, it's good for me anyway to hear from this book what buying trends are dominating today. For now we're focusing on establishing our own functioning e-commerce site.

Gearing up for production

2006-02-22T10:14:00.000-05:00

We just received our shipment of frames and got a ton of other supplies last week, so we're ready to start making our jewelery frames! There are actually three huge boxes under my desk. We have to set a schedule for our work so we can be sure to allocate time, probably weekly. Wish us luck!

Web site design

2006-02-15T18:32:00.000-05:00

So, web design is pretty grueling, and I'm not even the one sweating over a hot Adobe Illustrator file! Kristen has been working hard and came up with a good design that we all generally like but will be tweaking for a while until we come up with the final design and actually get it up on the web! So yes, right now the link in the sidebar doesn't work because there's nothing there. Not to worry! It will be there soon, as will our famed (or soon-to-be-famed) jewelry frames!

Iconoculture

2006-02-14T11:04:00.000-05:00

This website, iconoculture.com, could be a good resource for our market research. At this point we need to think outside our own heads for marketability (not that our ideas aren't totally awesome and the whole world won't want to buy them!).