SHAPERS / / / JESS RONA

If you've never witnessed the glory and gorgeousness that is a well-coiffed, slow-mo Los Angeles pooch on the grooming table of Jess Rona, your life needs a dose of this magic right now. Justin Bieber, Kurt Vile, Britney Spears, Billy Joel, Beyonce, Simon and Garfunkel, Bowie, and a boatload of obscure LA-based indie pop bands, provide the soundtrack to 20-second videos of Rona's canine clients being blown out, lathered up, or just throwing some serious shade to the camera. As an actress, writer, singer, and super funny woman, Jess is on Funny or Die on the regular, currently is putting together a photography book, writing a pilot somewhat based on her life in LA as a dog groomer, and has, along the way, amassed a staggering 106,000 followers on her @jessronagrooming Instagram. 

Needless to say, we were stoked to have her on board for a SHAPERS Q+A interview! Thanks so much, Jess! You're pretty awesome. 

xx - Rebecca

Your personality and humor definitely shine through in your videos and you brilliantly capture the quirkiness of each dog’s personality with your chosen musical accompaniment. As an actor and comedian who now has a thriving dog grooming business and over 100,000 followers on Instagram, do you find your creative pursuits overlap and if so, how?

Wow what a great question! Yes! It's happening more now than it ever has. I recently got to teach Eric Stonestreet how to groom a dog, I made a video for The Standard Hotel, directed a music video for Tegan and Sara (which was the coolest thing I've ever done), I did a segment for Groomer to Groomer TV making a grooming demo, and I'm working on an original pilot with my creative partner Sammi Cohen about a groomer (if you're a fancy person reading this, buy my pilot and throw money at me so I can make it thanks!)

I watched your hilarious “Love Song” video featuring you and Jason Ritter and laughed out loud at your psuedo homage to the film “Misery.” Tell us a little bit about making this video.

I asked Sammi Cohen if she'd want to direct another music video with me (she also co-directed my first video "Oh Shit We Forgot About Jess Rona" with Milana Vayntrub). She story-boarded it out, came up with the concept and made it happen. We took over my friend's house for the day, and secretly filmed a few scenes in Griffith Park. I was in full make up with a basket of apples among the hikers who were staring at me. It was a lot of fun. We had a look-out in case the ranger came. But it went smoothly! I asked Jason Ritter on a whim thinking he'd be too busy (he's good buddies with my husband Eric Edelstein) and he actually said yes. It was amazing to work with him. His expressions in the video are priceless. He definitely makes the video.

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What kind of surprises has this business brought you, personally and professionally?

The whole instagram success is a surprise. People's reaction to me when they meet me is a surprise and I don't quite know how to handle it. I had a girl grab my arm and cry when she found out I was the one who made these videos. 

I only started making the videos cause I was going stir crazy in my garage. I needed to create, I needed an outlet. My friends were out auditioning all the time, booking jobs and traveling and I was antsy. I kept my grooming a secret for a long time because I only wanted to be known as an actress. Now I'm known as a bunch of different things (actress, comedian, groomer, director, musician, hottest girl on the planet) and I'm embracing it. 

If you could have breakfast with one famous person, living or dead, who would it be? And what would you order? 

This question is TOO HARD. I have so many that come to mind. (Larry David, Allison Jones, Katherine Hahn,Tony Robbins, Lena Dunham, Oprah, Jill Soloway, Obama, Bette Midler, Pema Chodron! - you ask the best questions by the way.) 

I'm gonna say Julia Louis-Dreyfus because I recently had a vivid dream about her where she was on a huge [cruise line size] boat and I was in the ocean and she saved me. I feel like we're going to work together one day.  

I would order my go-to breakky: Eggs over easy on a bed of breakfast potatoes with avocado, sautéed greens and carmelized onions, and coffee with homemade almond milk. 

Describe in one word each of these dog breeds:

Pug: Snorty
Bichon: Poofy
Jack Russell Terrier: Spazzy
German Shepherd: Sniffy
Standard Poodle: Elegant
English Bulldog: Stinky
If you put all those words together, you'll have the name of my next book. (jk!)

Are you a morning person or a night owl? 
I'm a night owl, but my schedule makes me a morning person.

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What's currently on your bedside table?
A lamp, ear plugs, phone charger, candle.

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Favorite song to get down to? "Helpless" by Poindexter off the Kitsuné America album. 
Favorite song to cry with? "In my Life" The Beatles
Favorite song to relax with? "Oh Honey" by Delegation
(These are just ones I picked because I have 100 favorites per question)

“*Lily Spindle’s SHAPERS profiles the people whom we consider to be remarkable movers and shakers, doers and dreamers, trailblazers and big thinkers, the people who are doing things a little bit differently and unconventionally, with immense heart, passion, and authenticity in what they do. Artists, designers, writers, philanthropists, iconoclasts, artisans, heroines, voyagers, and all kinds of extraordinary extraordinaires will be interviewed in our SHAPERS series.”

SHAPERS / / / SUDSOURCE

You know we love our local creators and doers and dreamers. Throw in these nitty gritty details - smart women with big brains and hearts on a mission to change the world and WE'RE IN. ( Also, in full disclosure, creams and soaps and serums made organically and sustainably and smelling scrumptious? They get me EVERY DAMN TIME.)

At a recent Artists and Fleas market on Abbot Kinney, I wandered into the SudSource booth with a friend (and my Jack Russell, Fred). Owners/founders Kathleen O'Clock and Julianne Reynolds were lovely and helpful and I instantly adored their philosophy - curb waste and protect the environment while choosing and using non-toxic, totally sustainable body, hair, and skin care products. Refill and reuse and repeat. They'll also deliver TO YOUR DOOR. Could Sephora ever make that claim?

So, while this SHAPERS feature isn't about photography, furniture, timeless design or bitchin' textiles, it is about honoring our creative do-gooder neighbors, the future of our precious environment, and it certainly doesn't hurt that Kathleen has a short-legged adorable Bassett Hound muttlet named Fiona (see pics below), adopted through Los Angeles' Much Love Animal Rescue in 2005. Yep, we're big fans! Thanks for tackling this SHAPERS Q+A solo, Kathleen, (while Julianne is on summer vacay).

xx - Rebecca 

Could you tell us a bit about your shared vision for Sudsource? How long have you known each other/how did you meet? 

We’re both passionate about Nature, and we’re concerned about the health of our environment and eco-systems given their importance for our collective wellbeing. As a society we’re finally waking up to the fact that our convenience model for consumer goods isn’t sustainable. Sudsource was created to offer an alternative to the “single-use packaging” model in the body care market. Our vision is to grow the business so it’s available in as many communities as possible across the country, and continue to spread the word about the budding Zero Waste movement we see as the New Way (which is really the Old Way) of buying products.

Kathleen and Julianne with Sudsource customer (@iquittrash on Instagram), a fellow woman on a mission to reduce waste. She brought her own glass containers to the market to fill to the brim with her favorite Sudsource products!!

We met 18 years ago in an acting class in NYC. We became friends and remained in touch over the years. We reconnected in the 2004 when we found ourselves both living in Los Angeles. For the following 10 years Julianne was busy travelling and building her career as a filmmaker through her company Romanski Films, while I worked in the Entertainment industry in Post Production. In 2010 after having my first child I was ready for a career change. During the first weeks home with my newborn, I had an epiphany about packaging waste looking at all the plastic bottles in our bathroom. After 4 years of R+D and a surprise second child, I founded Sudsource Fall of 2014. When Julianne returned from her travels she was excited about Sudsource and its mission to reduce waste, so we combined our strengths and launched sales April 2015.

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What was the hardest part of your first year of business and what did it teach you about your vision and/or longevity as a company? 

The first year was about connecting with our community and finding out what’s important to them. The hardest part has been making adjustments and absorbing the inevitable losses and hard lessons of starting a business. What I’ve learned through this process is that there’s a lot of support for the Refill model; the primary issue for customers is convenience. We’re working on getting our pumps and bulk jars into stores so customers can get refills at their convenience. In the meantime, we offer local delivery within 30 miles of Los Angeles as an option.

The quiet and peaceful Venice-based Sudsource office, complete with a relaxed Fiona stretched out on the floor. 

What's your favorite LA/Westside activity to help you to relax or rejuvenate? 

I get a massage whenever I can; I love going to Exhale in Santa Monica. I also train with ComplEATFitness in Marina Del Rey once a week.

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Bestselling Sudsource product or scent?

Our best seller is the Face Cleansing Oil. It’s the only product we have with essential oils in the formula (geranium, lavender, and pink grapefruit). It smells wonderful and the feedback we’ve had is that it’s done wonders for people’s skin.

Favorite summer reading book?
I’m loving “But What If We’re Wrong?” by Chuck Klosterman right now.

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Your 3 top tips on staying healthy and living well.

1. Exercise as often as possible, even if it’s just a short walk.
2. Make time to connect with friends and family.
3. Gratitude, the benefits are immeasurable.

Hi, Fiona. Adopt a shelter dog, people. They'll love you (and play ball with you) forever and ever. 

Do you live by any particular motto or philosophy? Please share the details. 

I’m in the “We’re all in this together” camp. No matter what our backgrounds or where we come from, we all want and need the same things; this includes all living things and the natural world. The more we extend ourselves to each other, and help when/where needed, the better we all are. We’re all one, just love.

The Sudsource booth at local LA markets allows you to test out a full range of their products. You can also bring in your own glass containers and get refills of your favorites! 

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If you could have lunch with one famous person, living or dead, who would it be? And where would you dine?

The living Dalai Lama at Crossroads here in Los Angeles.

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*Lily Spindle's SHAPERS profiles the people whom we consider to be remarkable movers and shakers, doers and dreamers, trailblazers and big thinkers, the people who are doing things a little bit differently and unconventionally, with immense heart, passion, and authenticity in what they do. Artists, designers, writers, philanthropists, iconoclasts, artisans, heroines, voyagers, and all kinds of extraordinary extraordinaires will be interviewed in our SHAPERS series.

A "FULL HOUSE" IN LOS FELIZ: REVAMPING A LIVELY L.A. HOUSEHOLD

Name: Scot + Kerry Armstrong
Location: Los Feliz, California
Size: 2300-square-feet, 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1 1/2 bath
Years lived in: 9

Located at the foot of Los Angeles'  iconic Griffith Park in sun-dappled and lovely Los Feliz is the beautiful one-story home of the Armstrong crew. An incredibly busy house just by the nature of its inhabitants -- husband, Scot, is a screenwriter/director known for, most recently, as the creator, writer, and director of the Showtime series "DICE" featuring Andrew Dice Clay, as well as  his work on "Road Trip," "The Hangover:Part II", and "Old School," while Kerry is the director of HOME DOG LA, an animal rescue intervention program, and they're parents to 9-year-old fashionista, Lake, and 5-year-old Charlie. They've got a bevy of mid-sized, fabulous rescue dogs and a corn snake, to boot. Hello, literal "full house"!

When we first walked into their home, we immediately sensed the innate energy within its walls - ebullient, mirthful, and wonderfully contagious. Most elements of the house didn't convey that innate liveliness and happiness, however. 

"WE MOVED INTO OUR HOME IN LOS FELIZ RIGHT AFTER THE BIRTH OF OUR FIRST CHILD," SAYS KERRY. "OVER THE YEARS WE ADDED ONE MORE KID AND 4 MORE DOGS! OUR KIDS WENT FROM BEING BABIES TO A 5 AND A 9 YEAR OLD AND OUR HOUSE NEEDED A GLAMOUR OVERHAUL! WE LOVE OUR HOME BUT ALL THE DECOR AND THE WALL COLORS WERE FEELING OUTDATED AND DULL . . ."

We sought to make a totally livable, 100% lovable space for this family of four and all their darling animals wherein beauty, richness, color, and light was infused into the space without becoming "precious" about anything. We felt like nothing newly introduced by us could be delicate and fragile -  in terms of textiles, accessories, and furniture, we brought in pieces that were hardy but spectacular: indigo cotton pillows and poufs, modern wool rugs, washable cotton coverlets, a variety of vintage lamps in sunny yellow and burnt sienna, a custom credenza made locally in L.A.; new paint colors for the master bedroom, den, and daughter's bedroom are bold and bright (deep azure, radiant yellow, and fuchsia, respectively) and we hung large-scale, abstract contemporary artwork from Los Angeles artists' whose work we adore, and these balanced perfectly the couple's rather substantial art collection, comprised predominantly of photography and representational paintings. 

For us, the challenge was in finding that fine, ineffable balance between the utilitarian and "sturdy" to ensure that the awesome Armstrong crew gleefully and comfortably lives with the home's changes, while also making the space come to life and reflect the joyful nature of its creative and captivating people. I think (and hope!)  we succeeded! Some Before and After photos are shown below, as well as a few individual room shots. 

This bedroom was a combination of pale blues and dapple-greys. Totally fine, for all intents and purposes, but a bit ho-hum. We proposed something more sumptuous and deeper, a combination of vintage and new. And they were ready to do it! Wall color is Benjamin Moore's Adriatic Sea; abstract painting by Los Angeles artist David Lloyd, bedding is Pine Cone HIll and Pendleton, ceramic lamps are vintage, bed and bedside tables are clients' own. 

Welcome to the bedroom of a rock and roll 9-year-old. Making the transition from her childhood wallpaper and furniture wasn't without its flashes of fear, but giving her the ability to choose the paint, bedding patterns, and art from our specific proposals made this 9-year-old a part of the transformation. And it's one helluva bedroom now!  A Warhol print hangs on Benjamin Moore's Hot Lips, vintage frosted glass desk lamp, anodized aluminum trunk for costume + accessory storage, custom-made pillows and zebra print coverlet, client's own bed, desk, and desk chair. 

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Vintage indigos paired with sunshine yellow make this den glow. Painting by LA artist Ned Evans. Wall color is Benjamin Moore Dalila. Client's own coffee table, sectional sofa, and floor lamp. 

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A salon-style assemblage of their many animalium paintings makes the den of these dog lovers even sweeter. 

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A quiet space in the front alcove, which once served as the kids' art storage space. Credenza custom-made in Los Angeles, tall bright yellow table lamp and shade are vintage, pottery by Venice ceramicist Nancy Wright, black and white photograph is client's own. 

*(Total Lily Spindle re-design non-sequitur here, but if you haven't checked out DICE, do it as soon as possible. It is damn funny + clever.)

xx - Rebecca + Deb 

The Best White Paints in the Business

Deb and I have known each other for a long time and as a natural consequence of spending many hours together, jokes have developed and insinuated themselves into our lexicon as friends and business partners. For example, I have an abiding need to throw my body into every Chesterfield sofa I encounter and every few hours, without fail, I can be relied upon to announce, "I'm hungry," and we've got to remedy that real quick or I become almost inconsolable. Also, sometimes, we show up for an art opening or similar event wearing basically the same outfit.

Recently, we were on a job site in Silver Lake and I was trying to convince a client obsessed with green paint for his home (which was already a flat, rather dark sage green and had been for nearly a decade) that a version of white was an absolutely infallible option. I actually uttered the words "a yummy white" in the midst of my persuasive speech and in my peripheral vision, felt Deb throw me a look like, "what the hell are you talking about?" Because, 9 times out of 10, as Deb is fully aware, I'm pushing for a white wall. But now I'm using the word "yummy" to make it more tantalizing. A groan and eye roll is totally justified. 

Yes, I love a white wall. I really, really do. I adore an accent wall in a bright, bold, surprising color. I admire dark, deep colors in small spaces. And I understand and honor the theory of paint color affecting your mood. But I really love white. Maybe it's because of all the art I think looks incredible against white, but it's my go-to paint color, no matter the space. My argument is that no white is exactly the same, as white, in the visual spectrum, actually reflects light and is a presence of all colors (it's science).

                      Some of our favorite whites pulled together as evidence - no white is exactly like any other. 

Here are five CANNOT GO WRONG WHITES::

DECORATOR'S WHITE, CC-20 (BENJAMIN MOORE) ::

A clean, soft white that isn't too cool and isn't too warm, but always feels fresh and brings radiance to a room. 

Designer Barbara Hill used flat Benjamin Moore’s Decorators White throughout this 1920s abode in Atlanta, Georgia. DWELL magazine; photo by Gregory Miller.

GREAT WHITE (FARROW AND BALL) ::

One of those mercurial whites, becoming pale yellow or pink or even lilac in hue, depending upon the time of day, the slant of light, or the furnishings in the space. 

              Farrow + Ball's "Great White" (from F+B site)

SWISS COFFEE (BENJAMIN MOORE) ::

This white is warm and creamy, elegant and peaceful. It's just plain ol' excellent. And not just because Veronica Mars digs it. 

Kristin Bell, her dogs, and Benjamin Moore's "Swiss Coffee" on the walls, "Simply White" on the cabinets. 

MASCARPONE (BENJAMIN MOORE) ::

True to its delicious namesake (you see why I started calling white paint colors "yummy"?), this is a velvety, smooth, ever-so-slightly golden white. We've used it in bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms, and bathrooms and it's equally awesome in each. 

BM Mascarpone offset by a pop of orange in the home of a digital designer, using the high chroma colors of BM's 2016 Trends Palette .Image source: Copperline

PURE WHITE (SHERWIN WILLIAMS) ::

Bright and crisp, timeless white. Let's put it this way: it's part of the Pottery Barn 2016 Spring/Summer color collection. It works just as well on furniture as it does on walls and cabinets. 

Pure White cabinets make for a happy and cheerful kitchen no?
Image source: Decorpad

Now, I KNOW you want to know if my "yummy white" speech was convincing for the aforementioned client slightly obsessed with sage green. Stay tuned. We'll share that news in future posts! 

xx - Rebecca

Mid-Mod JT Getaway

When you've got more dogs than humans in your house, it's a massive undertaking to take them with you on a road trip. And my man and I LOVE a good road trip. A few years back, when we were 50% less dog, we traveled for days with Lucie and Fred in tow, stopping off to visit friends (and drink amazing, smoky, dangerously delicious mezcal made by Ron Cooper) in Taos and Sante Fe, taking our time on long, aimless walks with the dogs, watching them frolic in their first (and only) snowfall, running into Paul Ruscha serendipitously and having an incredible brunch with him the next morning. 

Since we've doubled our in-house rescue dog population, it's been a challenge to take our knuckleheads with us on trips in the 4-Runner. We're also fairly picky in where we'd like to stay (I cannot abide wall-to-wall carpeting, bedskirt ruffles, or pink carnation wallpaper -- and, yes, these things continue to exist in the 21st century) and we don't want to put the dogs through an epic trip wherein most of the time is spent in the truck, en route. And so, we head to JOSHUA TREE! A mere two-hour drive to arrive at the quiet, calm, and transcendent beauty of the desert. There's nothing quite like it and I've been mad for the desert since my first introduction to it eight years ago. 

In serious need of this getaway weekend, we managed to, by nothing short of a miracle, find an incredible, mid-century modern ranch house on AirBnb that accepted dogs (!!) and had fenced in acreage (!!) and could fit our three-day stay into their booking schedule (!!). We were psyched, and even more psyched upon arrival. Not only were our hosts, Colleena and Nathan, two of the nicest humans I've ever met, but they were super cool, to boot. The ranch's record collection included Love and Rockets, REM, the Rolling Stones, Donovan, the Killers, Chrissie Hynde, David Bowie, and more. We played records while making lunch, eating dinner, and pretty much every moment we weren't just sitting outside on the patio, breathing deeply, reading the paper, and watching our pups romp gleefully and safely within the sandy confines of the fenced yard.

Donut, taking a load off after many, many hours worth of sun and sand-filled fun. 

The wonderfully designed, super comfortable and dog-friendly house is just a few minutes from Noah Purifoy's Outdoor Art Museum (now returned to the desert since its LACMA exhibition earlier this year) and a hop, skip, and a jump from Yucca Valley's hip shops and restaurants. We were in seventh heaven. As were the dogs, who managed to have so much damn fun that they were falling asleep sitting up (photo evidence included in this post. see below.). 

Frederick: TOO....MUCH...FUN....zzzzzzzz

Heads up, all my design-loving and dog-adoring friends! Check out this magnificent spot in the magical, restorative high desert. Go. Relax. Romp. Nap. Eat. Stroll. Boogie. Breathe. Get outta the city and into the ineffable quiet of endless sands and yucca trees. It'll do your soul some good. And at the very least, you'll finish that book you've been reading. 

xx, 
Rebecca

Exploring Noah Purifoy's Outdoor Art Museum for the second time in several years. Incredible sculptures from a restless and imaginative mind...

Colleena's creating this mosaic masterpiece on the exterior wall of the recording studio, which looks onto the backside of the main house. 

SHAPERS / / / SHARON BEALS

We often use the word “nesting” in relation to filling our homes with all the sundries meant to make it cozy, comfy, and intimate, creating the ultimate refuge from the world. People refer to a lovers' den, at times with derision or judgment, as a “love nest.” And Gaston Bachelard wrote in his seminal Poetics of Space, “Thus the dream house must possess every virtue. How­ ever spacious, it must also be a cottage, a dove-cote, a nest, a chrysalis. Intimacy needs the heart of a nest.”

But to actually build a nest? With beak and claw? Using spider’s webs, caterpillar cocoons, plant down, mud, found modern objects, hair, feathers and down, sticks and twigs, moss and shells? This form of construction and design might be the truest kind of architecture, ingenuity, survival, and sustainability there is.

San Francisco-based artist Sharon Beals honors this fragile architecture with her book “Nests:Fifty Nests and the Birds That Built Them,” featuring gorgeous photographs of various species’ nests, all from within the past two centuries, currently preserved in several museums throughout the United States. Her photos have been exhibited at the National Academy of Sciences, the Morris Museum, and Gensler Architects in San Francisco. Beals’ prints will BLOW YOUR MIND – they’re exquisite and magnificent, each of them so wildly different in color, construction, shape, and density, that to this day I’ve been unable to decide which nest to buy (I’ve settled on a top five list and am taking it from there). We are so stoked to talk with her (at fairly great length, so we suggest to grab a cup of tea and settle in!) about her rescue pup, Tucker, the future of our environment, and her favorite room in her house.

Lily Spindle: Can you tell our readers who you are?
Sharon Beals: Half of my life was spent in Seattle, with a veer to the east coast, and the rest here in San Francisco, though I’ve never lost my love of moss and moisture. I’ve been photographing since my twenties, doing mostly editorial work, but along the way making photographs for myself and who ever would look at them. Lately my art has taken over, with gallery shows and collectors, and I’ve begun research and the photography for a second nest book.

Hoary redpoll (Acanthis hornemanni). Collected from St. Michael, Nome County, Alaska, 1896. Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. These tiny seedeaters survive minus-80 degrees Fahrenheit Arctic temperatures by doubling their weight in down in winter and living off plants not buried under the snow. Using a pouch in their esophagus, they can store seeds to be regurgitated and eaten under shelter. They also build well-insulated nests lined with willow cotton, caribou hair, vole fur, feathers, fine grass, and in this case, even sheep’s wool.

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LS: Tell us a bit about how your NESTS book came about. What's something incredibly poignant or sweet you learned about birds and their nest-building during the process of putting together this gorgeous book?
SB: The nest book evolved from a few nest photos on my studio walls. Visitors who might never pick up a pair of binos, were curious about the birds that built them. Why not try to do a book? What evolved is cross between art and science that tells the stories of the nest builders, inviting others to learn about the survival issues affecting them.

When I signed the contract to do the book, I took a deep breath and decided to do the writing too, diving into a tunnel of research, trying to parse dry data into comprehensible and engaging stories.

Fortunately, I’ve been allowed to documents the eggs and nests in five different ornithology collections: The California Academy of Sciences, Cornell’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, The Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, and Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. I can’t quite name the wonder and awe contained in cabinet drawer in a new collection, I can just try to capture it in an image.

Altamira oriole (Icterus gularis). Collected from Morazón, El Progreso, Guatemala, 2001.  Relatives of blackbirds and meadowlarks, altamira orioles can be found from the Rio Grande to Nicaragua, living in year-round territories as lifelong pairs. It can take the female a month to weave a nest, which is entered from the top. In Texas, altamira orioles are considered a threatened species due to the loss of the native trees of the Rio Grande to agriculture and flood control.

So many of their stories of these feathered wonders are compelling to me, if only for their migration stories. Young songbirds, some maybe a nickel in weight, and without any parental guidance, navigate hemisphere-to-hemisphere flights of thousands of hazardous miles to spend warm winters in the same feeding grounds as their ancestors,  These days, those sources of food may or may not still be there when they arrive. Come time to breed, they reverse that journey, and the face the same gamble.

But when it comes to nest building, one bird stands out for just sheer endeavor. In a month-long collaboration, A pair of Long-tailed Tits collects over three hundred pieces of moss, spiderwebs and the silk of about six hundred cocoons, pressing these into a flexible egg-shaped dome, which they insulate with 1,500 to 2,000 feathers that take twenty-eight miles of flying to collect, finally camouflaging this creation with 3,000 bits of lichen. I imagine it’s a similar feat for those tiny Bushtits we have here in California.

Cuban Emerald (Chlorostilbon ricordii), Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, Collected from Andros Island, Bahamas, on January 22, 1988.

LS: What is your biggest concern about what we're doing to our planet and its creatures, both big and small? Do you think what we're doing can ever be undone?
SB: It’s hard not to immediately think of climate change as the ultimate scythe, with even the current small rise in temperatures changing habitats right before our very eyes. Locally you can look at swaths of red and dead pines, felled by drought-stress and opportunistic pine beetles no longer slowed by a cold winter. This might be fine for some birds as food sources right now, but others that use the trees for safe cover will suffer.

These warmer, shorter winters also affect other insects, changing the time they hatch. As the main food of choice for birds, 95% of which feed their young with insects, by the time the birds arrive, these important protein rich calories may have flown. And of course, whose heart doesn’t break hearing about polar bears having to swim so far from ice flows to feed that their young starve? Or the glaciers everywhere, cascading away.

Do I have hope that we can reverse that? Of course we can look at the surge in solar, and bankrupt coal companies, and so many people all over the planet getting loud during the international climate conference. But hope is hard to manage when I look at crawling, SUV-laden freeways. Or recycling bins full of Amazon boxes, all of which come with a carbon cost. Or sometimes even looking at Facebook with everyone’s vacation pictures. My brain is like this carbon calculator, and it’s not a lot of fun being me, knowing that one airplane flight has a footprint that kills even the greenest persons energy conservation. Note to self: find an honest carbon offset vendor, not the little drib airlines offer.

“Use less stuff (I love that Lily Spindle is all about reuse). Know where anything you buy and what it’s made of comes from. Eschew those palm oil-laden snacks and think of orangutans, carry your own drink cup and bottle. Give up your scented laundry and body products, and just put a little good cologne behind your ears (what we are doing to water affects birds, mammals and fish downstream). Walk, bike, bus, train, and teleconference in some fun way. Go solar if you can, and travel electric. Buy “bird friendly” coffee. Plant your locally native plants to feed the insects that feed the birds, and join friends and neighbors to restore some land, or a vacant lot. And donate to or vote for anyone who is noisier than you about climate changing laws. ”

LS: Your little rescue pup, Tucker, is one adorable, vociferous hiking companion. Can you tell us the story of how this little heartbeat at your feet came to be yours?
SB: Ahh, Tucker! My significant other. My last good girl Ellie had left the planet, so a friend who works at Animal Care and Control asked if I would take this five week old pup in for a weekend. Of course this tender snuffler stayed for a week, and then another and when he was old enough, I signed his adoption papers with only the slightest hesitation. I’ve only rescued older dogs, so a pup was new territory. Of course one of his buddies taught him to bark, but he breaks my heart with his good-to-the-world nature. He and I are both lucky he’s so easy to love; he’s charmed the hearts of a small village of friends who love to take him in when work tears me away from him.

LS: Are you a morning person or a night owl?
SB: I am both, I can swing out of bed at five for early light, or stay up for the stars. But I’ve finally learned to sleep in, and have cultivated the art of napping (if possible) when the mental fog rolls in.

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LS: Who are your top three favorite contemporary photographers and describe their work using one word for each.
SB:
Chris Jordan, confrontational.
Isa Leshko, empathetic.
Sebastian Salgado, important.

Violette, pot-bellied pig. Age 12. Photographer: Isa Leshko.

LS: What are some of the things that influence you/your work and your aesthetic?
SB: Though I rarely photo birds, it’s my concern for wildlife that inspired learning the botany and biology of the habitats in which creatures can thrive. My photographs aren’t flashy, but simply an attempt to “explain” this wildness, or even small wild fragments of our altered landscapes, along with the rivers and streams that sustain them.   

LS: What is your favorite room in the house and what surprises would we find there?   
SB: Well, there will be no photographs of my house, as it is tiny and contains much more than it should. But the living room’s nearly-always-open-door looks into my little native plant garden, which hosts the towhee that chirps me awake in the morning, and the bushtits pinging away in the coffee-berry. Oh, my exciting life, but I this is where I get restored, so the lack of surprises is just fine with me.

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LS: If you could take a long, meandering drive with one famous person, living or dead, who would it be? And where would you go?
SB: Someone I would make up who would be a cross between Springsteen and Thoreau and we would time travel to small towns across America and I would photo the befores and the nows.

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*Lily Spindle's SHAPERS profiles the people whom we consider to be remarkable movers and shakers, doers and dreamers, trailblazers and big thinkers, the people who are doing things a little bit differently and unconventionally, with immense heart, passion, and authenticity in what they do. Artists, designers, writers, philanthropists, iconoclasts, artisans, heroines, voyagers, and all kinds of extraordinary extraordinaires will be interviewed in our SHAPERS series.

Take your pleasure seriously

Last week, us Lily Spindle ladies were fortunate enough, thanks to the magnificent Lisa Chester Schroeder (read our SHAPERS profile on Lisa right here!), to get an extremely special, private, nitty gritty, anecodote-laden tour of the iconic Eames House and Studio in the Palisades. We began our day in Los Feliz doing a speedy outdoor patio installation, spent the afternoon shopping and eating in West Hollywood (Lawson Fenning and AMMO, respectively), and then drove up the respendent Pacific Coast Highway in the early hours of the evening to meet with Lisa and our wonderful guide, Catherine. Set on a bluff surrounded by eucalyptus trees, Case Study House No. 8 is an ingenious merging of work and life, as well as a brilliant collection of oddities, furniture, textiles, intimate ephemera, art, and books guaranteed to inspire you in unexpected and magical ways.

Among other tales, Catherine shared with us the story of the fragile and fantastic tumbleweed hanging from the ceiling by a string: when Ray and Charles were married in Chicago in 1941, their honeymoon-on-a-major-budget was a road trip to California to start anew. Somewhere in the Southwest, they came across this beautiful tumbleweed and popped it in the back of the car, later hanging it from the ceiling of the Case Study House No. 8, where it has remained and decayed bit by bit over time. Eventually, it will be replaced by another tumbleweed, chosen by the surviving Eames' generations and hung once again in that same place, continuing the tradition. 

The Eames House, as photographed by Julius Shulman in 1950. Photo: J. Paul Getty Trust. Julius Shulman Photography Archive, Research Library at the Getty Research Institute

While we were gazing upon the gorgeousness of the home's interior, we discussed the design trends of today, the impatience of our culture, the unfortunate myopia so often present when it comes to architecture and its relation to the natural environment. Deb commented on the books within the case, everything from high literature to "Where the Wild Things Are" and "The Little Prince," and we applauded their freedom in displaying whichever books they happened to love and revere, rather than those intended to intimidate or impress. Catherine laughed and brought us around the backside of the bookcase, where rows upon rows of Charles's softcover science fiction books were arranged. These beloved books were decidedly not given the esteemed placement of "forefront." As all couples do in shared spaces, in order to continue sharing a space, you compromise.

Interior photographs are forbidden during tours, so I'd like to defend myself in announcing this is not in fact my own photograph. Rather, it's one I've borrowed from the internet. The house and studio, including the kitchen and living room's interior furnishings and details, are shown today as they existed upon Ray's death in 1988. Uncanny fact: Ray died exactly ten years to the day following Charles's death.

You can read about the history of the home/studio on the Eames Foundation site, but here's an excerpt: The Eames House, Case Study House #8, was one of roughly two dozen homes built as part of The Case Study House Program. Begun in the mid-1940s and continuing through the early 1960s, the program was spearheaded by John Entenza, the publisher of Arts and Architecture magazine . . . Charles and Ray proposed that the home they designed would be for a married couple working in design and graphic arts, whose children were no longer living at home. They wanted a home that would make no demands for itself, and would serve as a background for, as Charles would say, “life in work” and with nature as a “shock absorber."

Charles and Ray moved into the House on Christmas Eve, 1949, and lived there for the rest of their lives.  The interior, its objects and its collections remain very much the way they were in Charles and Ray’s lifetimes.  The house they created offered them a space where work, play, life, and nature co-existed.

We cannot recommend a personal visit to the mystical, gorgeous Eames house more vigorously! Take a picnic with you, sit on the grounds, and experience the enchantment and quiet power of this space. I promise you it's life-altering and absolutely worth it.

xx ~ Rebecca
 

Many, many, many thanks to Lisa for arranging this private tour for us! And huge gratitude to Catherine for spending the last hours of her work week with us and starting our weekend immersed in inspiration and beauty.

There's much about this maxim that galvanizes me - turning your passion into something relevant and meaningful. And it's nearly as good as this other Eames gem: "Any time one or more things are consciously put together in a way that they can accomplish something better than they could have accomplished individually, this is an act of design." Hallelujah!

(sidenote: our visit did inspire a conversation about feminism - its current version, as well as the challenges that Ray no doubt faced as a five-foot-tall woman in a predominantly male world. This is another story, however, for another blog post!)

Flea Market Shopping: 5 TIPS TO DOING IT RIGHT

There are plenty of awesome flea markets all over the U.S. - Brimfield, Round Top, and First Monday Trade Days are just a few of them. In Southern California, where our weather pattern is 70-degrees with blazing sunshine pretty much 98% of the year, flea markets reign. But if you're new to the game (or even if you're not), the process of flea market "picking," as it's deemed, can be downright overwhelming. I'm the first to admit I'm not a morning person, so driving to Pasadena in the (extreme) early morning darkness isn't my idea of a fun time, and I rarely arrive there any earlier than 8 AM. That said, we've done our fair share of flea market shopping here in Los Angeles and elsewhere (but that's another story entirely), so we're sharing a handful of our Lily Spindle tips to doing a flea right and finding what you want.

1) Some of the very best flea market pieces can be found in the booths that look like they've got zilch. In the most intensely "curated" booths, everything will be of the same general design, aesthetic, and period, say, boomerang coffee tables beside teak nesting tables holding atomic lamps (and the heavily curated collection will have heavily marked-up price tags to match). The ultimate flea market discoveries often exist within the booths you'd never even glance at twice. We once found a set of three split blade Ivar Alenius Bjork brass candle holders in amazing vintage condition at a Rose Bowl booth offering little else but rusty car parts, antiquated tools, and heaps of picks, shovels, and hoes. Keep your eyes open, always be scanning the flea market landscape for provocative colors, patterns, and shapes. Love can be found in the strangest of places.

image source: Long Beach Antique Market

image source: Apartment Therapy

2) It always takes longer than you expect it will (I mean, for heaven's sake, the Rose Bowl has over 2,500 vendors!) and I don't recommend making heavy social plans for later in the day. Maybe it's just me, but the sensory overload of a mid-size to huge flea market both energizes and enervates me and I'm totally incapable of throwing on some heels, slapping on some Urban Decay gloss, and chatting at a dinner party that same evening.

3) Cash, cash, and cash. Carry it on you beforehand (we usually get ours the night before). The lines for the ATMs are bananas and who wants to waste time standing in line when you could be shopping?

4) Wear a hat. Wear sunscreen. Wear your sunglasses like a good Angeleno always should. And wear layers, because as the day progresses, you'll get warmer. Oh, and bring water! Staying hydrated is muy importante.

image source: Apartment Therapy

5) Bring a truck to the flea market, if possible. And have a rope or two handy, to lash some purchases in/on your car or truck. I can't tell you how many times my husband's surf strap has safely secured furniture and lamps for their freeway journeys. I always travel with wrapping blankets, of course, because that's what us Lily Spindle ladies do, but that stash of cloth shopping bags you keep in your car can be useful, as well! I often stuff them in between pieces, use them to soften the sharp corners on sofa legs, art frames, and doubly wrap ceramics and other fragile pieces to ensure their protection as we roll home after a successful shopping expedition.

Do you have any flea market favorites you've scored over the years? Or any tips you want to share? Give us a holler at info@lilyspindle.com and we'll share them with our readers!