Playthings

As a collector of artist/designer vinyl toys I am always drawn to whimsical playthings.  While visiting Dwell magazine's online site the other day I noticed a recurring theme.  Okay.  Maybe I only imagined a 'theme' - so attracted am I, like a fish to a shiny lure, to cutesy and/or macabre whatnots.

Robots.  Robots on prints.  Robot toys.  Futuristic robotic looking housewares.

This adorable little guy is a MoMA exclusive.  Created, using reclaimed wood, by Brazilian designer Alberto Pretel this is one little guy who will be coming home with me from New York.  

3Fish Studios artist Eric Rewitzer not only creates super cool retro style robot linocuts.... he also creates modern furniture prints.  And, as if that isn't enough, the best of both worlds can be had with his limited edition "Better Together" series.  At $35 a pop, how can you choose only one?

Visit 3 Fish Studios to acquire and see more... Take Me There!

Our Children's Gorilla is a collective of in house, and select freelance, designers.  Their designs are primarily geared toward children (and big kids like me).  Quirky and irresistible, I see more than one thing I'd be delighted to make space for in my collection.   At the top of the page we feature Albert - strong (laser cut sheet metal), eco friendly (the metal is recycled!) little robot buddy to hang your what nots from.

And then, there's Gary.  Sturdy little natural wood and hemp robo friend.  A friend to last through the ages.  To tell secrets to and to pass down to the next generation of robot lovers. And if one is good, then two is even better!  Just keep him out of reach of the dog.

See more by Our Children's Gorilla... Take Me There!

Real robot themed goods from a virtual world?  Until last year, the Museum of Robots could only be found in a virtual world known as Second Life.  Now, they can be found two places online - as a Second Life museum dedicated to robot appreciation and as an online store.  Think robot housewares might be weird?  Think again.  

Flying Saucer Bowl

To see the full line of products and learn more about the Museum of Robots...  Take Me There!    

I don't presently have any robots living at my place.  But I think that's about to change.  I am, after all, going to be in New York next week.  My vinyl guys are going to have to make a little room for some new companions.

You're So ChiChi!

Kristen is obviously one ChiChi chick!

Here we get a peek at her Boontje Midsummer Light in all of its glory. I'm loving how it positively pops with the lickable pink walls!  

As an oddball aside ~ 

Is that...  Could it be....

A girly Domo???

I...  must...  have...  one.

If there is anything I love as much as a Midsummer Light (in any color), it is bold use of color in home decor.

In this snap we see some ChiChi in the awesome yellow vintage candy dish.  

And we get treated to the stylings of someone who is emboldened in their choice of color.  The contrast combined with a subtle explosion of the unexpected hue and the melding of modern with vintage makes for one impressive entry hall.

And as if that isn't enough to delight your senses today ~ the painting shown here, if I'm not mistaken, is an original work by Kristen herself. Talented girl!

Thanks, Kristen, for sharing your ChiChi with us!

Show Us Your ChiChi!

We hear great stories from our customers about how lovely a wall graphic looks in their space, or how delightful a Boontje light looks in their bedroom.  

We're pretty good at visualization but a picture speaks a thousand words so we're calling on you to show us your ChiChi!  

Send us a pic or two of something from our house which has zazzed up your house!

Vintage barware collector?  How about a picture of you and your friends toasting each other with some groovy glasses you picked up here.

Design junkie?  How about something you picked up 'as is' (I'm hinting at he-knows-who and the Herman Miller chairs) and prettied up on your own.  We'd love to see how it turned out!

Did a Boontje light add just the right amount of oomph to a room?

We love hearing how the treasures you find here work in your space and we'd love even more to see and share it with our blog followers.  

As incentive to take a few minutes to share your photos with us, every six months we will randomly draw from all submissions for a $50 ChiChi gift card!  This segment of Show Us Your ChiChi will run from January 4th, 2009 to July 4th, 2009.

I'll show you mine.....

Now you show me yours!

Happy New Year!

Happy (albeit a tad late) New Year to you and yours!

ChiChi hopes you had a fabulous holiday season and rang in the New Year with aplomb and gusto surrounded by the people you love the most be it family or friends or a combination of both!

Having been lax in posting, with a great many excuses, prepare thyself for a brief flurry of same.

Take note, please, of our new winter hours of operation.  We will likely reopen for Sunday shopping with finer weather in the spring.  And we most certainly will be offering more extended hours in the first two weeks of February to accommodate the lads and ladies who want to bring something uniquely ChiChi home to their love.

We've also added two new features to the blog which you will find in the sidebar:

Follow This Blog: Fellow bloggers will be alerted to updates as they're posted with alerts appearing in your Blogger dashboard. If you wish to be alerted to blog updates and you're not a blogger yourself you can also find a subscription button in the sidebar.

Dwell Product of the Day: We're going to give this one a shot though the widget I installed on my laptop seems to get fritzy now and again. Dwell's product of the day features the ultra hip, the newest, the eco-friendliest and the best of design objects. Many of the items we have in the house have been appeared in previous "Product of the Day" features.

In preparation for some fantastic new merchandise we wish to introduce to the 'Peg, and to bring out of hiding some incredible up-cycled pieces we are working on, we are going to be featuring a huge housekeeping sale for the entire month of January.  

On sale right now....

All Christmas items at 50% off!

Digit Bands for $7

Select Espe bags and accessories at 30% off

Select Vintage inspired giftware at 50% off

Select upcycled and vintage furniture discounts of 35% 

Select authentic vintage items at 50% off

Stop by any time during our regular hours, sip on a not-quite-famous-yet complimentary latte and browse around for one of the many bargains featured.

Who doesn't love a bargain?

Hooray for Espe! GoGo for the Groovi!

Oh boy! Oh joy! The fall line of Espe has arrived at ChiChi! Although we couldn't possibly carry all of this fall's styles, we chose a killer selection to share with you. Be careful though, once you see these you'll surely want at least one and they sell out quickly. Since Espe's offerings are all limited editions, if you see something you want and can't make it in give us a call, we'll figure it out together.

I don't know about you ladies, but I've always wanted a convertible. In my other life I had a convertible Toyota RAV4 - but that was in my pre-Mommy days. Espe's line of convertibles makes it possible to own a safer, more practical alternative and we can to take them into the house too!




The Espe GROOVI convertible is one of the most (if not THE most) practical bags on the market. Depending on your needs it can be used in a multitude of ways! For starters, the bag comes as you see it here, with an extra long, thin strap that you clip on to each side and a separate smaller bag inside. The top of the tote can be folded down to show off the interior's contrasting tone, the smaller bag can be removed and used with the long, thin strap or hung outside the tote for easy access to your keys, shades, etc. This is one "Groovi" bag!











The second convertible we think you should test drive is the LUX. It's a shoulder bag, but unzip the handle and presto! It's a backpack. This one reminds me of the old Certs commercial - "Two, two, two mints in one!"

Oh and psssssst, wanna monkey around with us? Check out this GoGo tote with its MODO accessories.

With a high cool factor added to touches of whimsy, the rest need no introduction.

When Everybody Wore a Hat

The illustration above is the cover of a children's book which my moppet and I have enjoyed reading many a time. The author regales us with a nostalgic trip in this memoir about his childhood. William Steig was 96 when this book was published. He passed away about six months after publication. Though he published many books in his lifetime he may be best known as the author of Shrek! Yes, *that* Shrek, which came as a total surprise to me when I discovered this not ten minutes ago. But I digress... The first time I read "When Everybody Wore a Hat" I found myself grinning the entire way through. I have read and reread it countless times now, and I still find myself smiling from cover to cover. If you haven't read it, even if your kids are all grow'd up and have kids of their own now, I'd recommend picking up a copy the next time you're passing through a book store. It begins; "This is the story of when I was a boy, almost 100 years ago, when fire engines were pulled by horses, boys did not play with girls, kids went to libraries ..." And, of course, everybody wore a hat.


Whatever happened to hats? Why doesn't anybody wear them these days?

I love vintage hats. Hats with feathers. Hats with veils. Bonnet hats. Halo hats. Pillbox, cloche, wide brimmed, banded and bedecked with flowers. I must have inherited my admiration for hats from my Baba, a very ChiChi woman with closets full of hats and shoes with matching handbags and drawers full of gloves (I won't even mention the rhinestone baubles). I've just never been able to wear them. They look stupid on me. Or I look stupid on them. Whichever it is, I've always thought of myself as not being a 'hat girl'.


Earlier this month I read an article in the Los Angeles Times lamenting that the hat hasn't made a sensational comeback since Jackie O banished hers to the back of the closet (check out the link below!). Heads haven't made much of an ado by way of a fashion statement since then. The author of the article, Patt Morrison, makes mention of the hat department at Nordstrom and I couldn't help but wonder, if no one, except Miss P and Patt in the hat, is wearing them, then why would a huge department store chain like Nordstrom have an actual hat department?

On a recent trip to Pheonix I vowed to keep my eyes open for hats and found I didn't need to be particularly observant - I couldn't walk into a department store or a boutique without practically tripping over hats. Pretty hats. Funky hats. Vintage inspired hats. I tried a few on. I purchased none. I vowed to try to find that article again - only this time I was going to actually watch the accompanying video in which the author demonstrates the do's and do not's of hat wearing. The sagest piece of advice she had? You wear the hat. Never, ever, let the hat wear you. Easy enough for her to say. She has a hat head. Miss P has a hat head. I simply do not. Then again, after some reflection, maybe I have been relinquishing too much control to the hat. I'd better go watch that video again. We have some pretty delicious hats coming out of the closet for spring.

Take me there!