Category Archives: Nature

Yellow, is it me you’re looking for?

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What you will learn: 3 Fall 2017 trends you should know about!

How long it will take you to read this post: 1 minute & 37 seconds 

Why you should read it: So you can be in the know… duh 

3…2…1….GO!

Good morning. As Hurricane Irma is subsiding into a tropical storm and the people of Houston are beginning to recover from Harvey, we can all take a deep breath and continue in our efforts to help the people affected. With the US being hit by two record breaking hurricanes within a two week span, it is hard to talk about color, print, pattern, trend, and everything else we do everyday in the studio. Hopefully these bright, beautiful trends will make us all feel a little bit better as we let ourselves get wrapped up in something pretty, at least for a minute. That “something pretty” today will be yellow ochre! 

Now that September is fully upon us and New York Fashion will week soon behind us, we can look towards the 2017 Fall trends with ease. Let us take the guess work out of what you will be seeing:

Stripes & Plaids

We are seeing stripes and plaids more and more on the streets & on the runway this fall.

Check out this take on vertical stripes from the Dior Fall 2017 collection along with a few others…

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Hello Clueless! From the 90’s grunge inspired plaid blazers of NYFW to the Italian runway of Ferretti, we are seeing it more and more. Do you have any vintage left that you can pull out the the depths of your closet?

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Mohair Yarn & DIY 

Tactile, chunky, fuzzy, oh my!  We know people love their DIY and we keep seeing mohair yarn used to make beautiful pieces. We have never tried knitting but this makes us want to test it out! Would you?

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Also, we saw this mohair-blend coat by Michael Kors and our heart skipped a beat.

Turmeric

So, food. When thinking of yellow foods, we want to shine a light on something different than bananas and lemons. Turmeric is popping up more and more as an ingredient and these turmeric date balls are anti-inflammatory, lower your risk of heart disease, help treat depression, and help to improve your brain function. Honestly, what is not to love about them?! Plus, they are beautiful, tasty, and easy to make.

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@spinachforbreakfast Turmeric Date Balls

It looks like others are seeing the yellow ochre trend too! For more yellow ochre and trend inspiration, check out our Instagram @designworksinternational.

In the name of Print & Pattern,

DW

We need more news like this | Sketches & Musings

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It’s “feel good moments” like this that make me smile and regain faith in our community, especially when the person we are talking about is my husband, Neil Breslau. I was also honored that one of our very own at Design Works International, Jim Simon took it upon himself to write a blog about the Libertad Urban Farm and Neil’s involvement in helping Tanya restore the farm after a thief took off with her produce that was ready to harvest and stole all her tools and destroyed the farm during this terrible experience. We like to say out of bad comes good and this story is a perfect example of just that….enjoy the read and video. We are all proud at Design Works International and hope that you will be as well…

Sincerely,Nancy Fire Breslau

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I’ve long believed the world can be a difficult place and I’ve begun to think that as a society we seem to focus on the negative rather than positive. This is a nice story about some go…

Read the full blog and watch the newscast here: We need more news like this; | Sketches & Musings

Top 10 Style Tips to Share with Homeowners – GAF Blog

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Source: Top 10 Style Tips to Share with Homeowners – GAF Blog

Floral Focused

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Florals

At Design Works International, our NYC based design studio, we are seeing a resurgence of floral designs in home decor… our print collections reflect this by introducing many different techniques in creating our latest floral designs. See my “Industry Trends” in the latest issue of GardenCenter Magazine to keep current on our “floral-focused” decor trend and how products today reflect this upbeat style. Interested in seeing more designs, contact us at info@designworksintl.com.

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Spring in NYC

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The calendar says spring, and it looks like old man winter has finally packed his bags (fingers crossed). Luckily the annual Macy’s Flower Show is on and we can walk the two blocks to be inspired by the color and the beauty.

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Happy Harvest… in all shapes and sizes!

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Did you know that “Gourds” are part of the plant family called Cucurbitaceae. The term refers to a number of species and subspecies, many with hard shells and even some without!
The bottle gourd, one of the earliest known gourd species, dates back to 13,000 BC and has even been discovered in archaeological sites. It has served many purposes throughout history including tools, musical instruments and objects of art. Many artisans today use gourds as their artistic medium and carve and paint them. Some even use as them drums to make music and even bird houses!
We love that gourds come in all shapes and sizes as well as amazing colors and patterns… no two are alike which means they are truly “one of a kind”… like each designer and their designs.
So next time you look at these beautiful “sculptures from nature” we hope that you too can appreciate their uniqueness from a designers standpoint! Happy Thanksgiving!
photo by Nancy Fire

photo by Nancy Fire

The Harlem Meer in Central Park

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Located on the Northeast corner of Central Park at 110 Street and 5th Ave  is the Harlem Meer which was built in 1861 and restored between 1983-93.

The word “Meer” is Dutch for lake which is home to The Charles A Dana Discovery Center that was built in a Victorian style to emulate the original Victorian structures of Central Park.

The waterside plaza that sits next to the discovery center is used from mid-June through September for Sunday afternoon performance festivals….and good to know that if you like to fish you can participate in the catch and release program that is a summertime favorite for many in NYC!

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photo by Nancy Fire