little apple's Profile

Finally! I've been a fan of Perriand for years and have read extensively on her career. Totally one of the most unrecognized designers (let alone female), it's a shame that Corbu always was attributed to her work. If you look at the most famous pieces (the reclining lounge, the sofa, the side chair), everyone always mistakes it for Le Corbusier's design; fact of the matter is, he barely had any input in those (even Ms. Hoffman who wrote this AT article is giving him more than he deserves. He funded the project, which I suppose gives him some sense of ownership...). All the biographies will say that she designed them herself, and surprised him one night by inviting him to dinner to show him the completed designs. This is why they're actually quite tiny pieces of furniture as she was only about 5'2". Even DWR fails to recognize this! Read her autobiography, really, it's a great insight. Perriand was also quite off the beaten track for a woman of her time, it's fun to read about how she defied traditional women's roles; the necklace she is wearing in the first photo while reclining, for example, is a ball bearing necklace that she almost never took off. In the 1920's, that was sort of a big deal and she didn't exactly garner many fans as a result!

I am a crochet *street artist*, and my group is featured in the new Yarnbombing book.

To debunk all the questions:
We do donate to charitable causes. We crochet hats for children, scarves for homeless, etc. But we use better, quality yarn for that.
The only yarn we use when we hit the streets is cheap acrylic yarn that has been sitting on Salvation Army's shelf for years and years. It's cheap (usually a dollar for a bag of 10 different skeins) and since we're not getting paid to do it, cheap is good. I'd feel terrible giving a child a hat that has potential mildew already on it, but I feel much better about putting it on the street instead of filling a landfill. And who knows, it may get to the landfill if someone takes it down and throws it away, but the majority (about 90%) of ours have stayed up, some as long as two years.

That said, water/rain doesn't do much to the coozies. They rarely sag if properly attached - our group is purely crochet, not knitting, and crochet tends to stay taught for a long time. The sunlight is the worst enemy by fading the colors - but sometimes that looks nice. And even if they get wet, it's the same logic as drying your clothes outside - the sun or wind will dry it, and no mold has ever been spotted on ours that have sat out for awhile (we check on them frequently)

Meanwhile, I know there's the debate of strangling the trees. I myself have not researched it to its extent, but have heard and understand the concer; as a result, I never put coozies on trees.

My trademark is bicycle racks - it's all I do, even if the other ladies in my group put things elsewhere. I find this functional as a bicyclist myself - my bike has been scratched by bike posts, and to have a little cushion when resting is a protective measure.

And squirrels may pee on it, sure, but squirrels pee on a lot of other things, too. It's just urine.

And the main reason we do what we do is purely for surprising people. Someone walks down a street every day to work, and hey! Your bus bench now has a crocheted arm rest, *my, that's unusual!* We were caught once putting our coozies up by a 20-something man, and he was just besides himself, giddy. He said he had been seeing the coozies for over a year and had been dreaming about the moment he'd witness seeing them put up. It made our night, seeing that we've influenced at least one person.

MilenaB., my name is MelinaB.! How funny.

kmswann gets my vote for middleman/lady/swiss neutrality. I personally find their ads sexy. I am also a subvert and probably have notions of sexy that are different and quite strange to other people's, but that's our world, we all agree to disagree.

apdesigngirl, awesome, I had no that they sold those and I'm very excited.

Am I the only one who finds that the sizes are completely fine? I'm a medium everywhere on this planet, and it does not change at AA. Hm. Maybe I have a misguided self image.

Anyway, steering away from the politics, this post is about the sheets - I'm sure they're super comfortable, most jersey sheets are. And it's quite comforting that it's not cotton, I'm sick of the pretentious thread count debate. And $50-60 is not bad, considering I'm sure some of you have spent $150 on Egyptian cotton. But humidity in Chicago is no fun, which makes summer sleeping on the jersey no fun. But they could be useful winter sheets.

Definitely use the Metro - it's really simple to understand (Very much like the El, being it's color coded), and most of the major stations are actually museums with artifacts they found while digging the subway. And that's free! But don't try skipping the fare, even though the Greeks barely ever check your stubs, it's a hefty price if they do.

If you like street art, you'll obviously see it everywhere, but a heavily hit area is on the Acropolis on/off of Polygnotou St. I've spotted some pretty famous pieces I've later seen in books there.

If you're looking for European fashion, the shops along Ermou St. have some of your global chains (H&M, Bebe, Zara, etc) but also have some independently own that are neat - plus it is a pretty pedestrian street that leads you from Syntagma to Monastiraki. Monastiraki is fun to walk through, but unless you plan on buying brooms or cheap tshirts, then there's not much to be bought. It's very touristy, so prepare for being elbowed. You're better off walking down all the side alleys - this is where I find better *thrifts* and quite a few of them sell Antiques.

If you walk further down Ermou, you'll hit Psirri neighborhood - there's a REALLY fantastic clothes/jewelry/accessories/housewares store on Ermou on the right hand side, I THINK it is called Shop. I can't remember for the life of me! But I maxed my card there, it was lovely. It's on Ermou at the cross street of Arionos, right side, I believe. Just look for the giant modern window displays.

If you head off of Ermou just one block back, at Karaiskaki St, you'll end up the center of Psirri - Iroon Square, the square that has a little ancient mosque and dozens of cafes; Psirri is the IT neighborhood right now - it's a bit like what Wicker Park was say, oh, 10 - 15 years ago before High Fidelity sold its soul- only Greek Style. It may seem dead in the daytime, but by night it is jammed with people at the sidewalk bars. They have lots of hookah bars there, too. And down some of those side streets are little shops, more modern/youngish types - just be careful what side streets you're going down, as Psirri is still pretty sketchy. Generally, stick towards the streets leading back to the Acropolis, and not so much the NorthWest ones.

Guard your bags/purses no matter what. Everywhere. My mother is Greek and speaks it fluently and dresses as Greek as everyone else, but still manages to have a gypsy trick her as to steal her purse (a popular one is the tag team - one's holding a baby and knocks into you, and while you're checking the baby's alright, the other loots your items). Always have your head up.

North of the University Area and West of Omonia is a neighborhood is also an up and coming neighborhood (but again, a bit sketchy). But here is where you can find record stores and vintage shops, and I'm terribly sorry that I can't give you any info for that - I have yet to explore that area! Shocking to say, being I live for records and vintage everything... But if you traverse down any of the following streets, i'm sure you'll have luck finding something!: Emm. Benaki, Zoodochou Pigis, Harilaou Trikoupi, Mavromichali, and Ipokratous. (I think i read in a magazine while there that there even are several punk and hipster bars there, something that isn't all too common in Greece).

If you have time, Halandri and Kiffisia are suburbs northeast of downtown, only about 20 minutes on the Metro - their centers are FILLED with shops, of the fashion and houseware variety. And super cheap sandal shops, and better quality than the touristy ones you'll find in Plaka.

Oh, and the main highway/road that the 2004 Olympic Stadium is off of (forgot the name!) is also the Furniture/Housewares mecca (Pretty much across the street from the stadium). You'll find Knoll stores and Artemides stores, Roche Bubois, etc etc.

And while you're at it, The Mall (that's its name) is right off of the Stadium. And while it is a mall, yes, it is quite a breathtaking one, with beautiful views of the Stadium - the third floor is completely domed skylights - and Karim Rashid furniture throughout. Also, my favorite clothes store in the world is there - Koton. Similar to Zara in terms of styles and pricing, everything is 100% Turkish cotton. I've had some of their clothes for years now, and they still look brand new. Such good quality!

Lastly, all the books will tell you all the museums to go to, and if one tickles your fancy, then do it! But the two places I love love love are both in Plaka: Museum of Traditional Musical Instruments (address: 3 Diogenous), and the Figures and Koukles Puppet Theatre (30 Tripodon) to see Greek puppetry that is pretty much a dead art!

~Melina

PS: Get souvenirs from this place:
http://www.greeceisforlovers.com/index.html