Our clients occasionally will share their personal hobbies or lifelong passions with us. One of Molly’s current clients really enjoys fishing and about a year ago came across internationally acclaimed underwater photographer Marc Montocchio at a fishing tournament off the coast of North Carolina. We had to share! Aren’t these photographs fantastic?

After seeing and being fascinated by these photographs our client and his friend decided to do something about it. They wanted to promote the fishing lifestyle using Marc’s photographs. Today, the company is called Occhio and there is a storefront right in Morehead City, North Carolina. 

Re-used board and batten from a home right here in Raleigh was planed down and put on the exterior of Occhio’s Dockside storefront. Interior floors of heart pine, simple sheet-rock walls with neutral paint show off the artwork in the gallery side and the t-shirts, Kaenon glasses, OluKai flip flops and other great merchandise in the other side of the store.

(Below is a picture of Marc inside the store. To see a complete video about the gallery click here.)

Below is an example of  the t-shirts.

Marc, a native of South Africa now lives in Morehead City, North Carolina and still travels around the world taking pictures of underwater creatures. The fascinating part besides the vivid and rich high-definition picture quality, is the camera angle and that the photographs are printed on aluminum. The viewer gets the sense as if they are looking streight into the eye of the fish, almost as if nature is staring right at them. 

A true “full circle” of adventure photography turned into an unbelievable work of art to enjoy for years. Drop by if you are ever in Morehead City and get hooked on the “Occhio” experience.

My kids love their new t-shirts and snatch them from the dryer to show off to their friends at school!

Molly

Recently Molly and I had the opportunity to sit down with the Edelman Leatherrepresentative, Chris McGough, to see new Edelman Leather.  WOW, I we saw leather in a whole new way.  Not only did we see amazing new colors, styles, and applications, we saw leather that is powered by Crypton, which means, total FREEDOM! 

Edelman Leather Care products powered by Crypton apply the latest technology to cleaning and restoring; they contain no harsh chemicals, no bleach, no solvents; no VOC’s are released.  Food spills, liquids, some inks, red wine, and coffee can be removed easily.  The luxury of the leather is no sacrificed and is more practical.  It can be applied to all of the leathers listed here: All Grain, Baby Alligator, Cashmere Calf, Dream Cow, Jumbo Crocodile, Lusterleather, Magnifico, Metallic Dream Cow, Modern Metallics, Napoli, Parchment Cowhide, Royal Hide, Scotch Grain, Shagreen, and Smoked Metallic.  So next time you want to use leather but are afraid of the kids artwork ending up on it, or the bottle of red wine all over it, think again.  There is an option. 

We also got to see some full hides up close and do the whole touch and feel test.  What an amazing difference.  Here are some pictures of the pieces we looked at:

Another amazing feature that Edelman Leather does is BOOKBINDING LEATHER FOR UPHOLSTERY.

 Imagine, anyone can sit in an upholstered chair and feel intellectual because they are sitting in Bookbinding leather.  The story unfolds.

The concept is unique. A special dyed vegetable crust, a shade slightly lighter than the finished color, and, brings the grain to a dramatic peak. Onto this is our special glazing powder which enables us to polish the grain and the dyed color altogether. But know that these are crushed, crushed, crushed hides of ultra quality.
The colors are all new.  KEEP YOUR MIND AN OPEN BOOK!

We hoped you enjoyed the update on leathers!

Sincerely,

Molly and Ashley

Finally- we can almost eliminate the elephant in the room, aka: the television. I’m not ready to give up the occasional Seinfeld or necessary weather update- but these solutions for the housing of the television truly do minimize the aesthetic distraction of the “tube” right down to the image on the screen- which is all we really want to see.

Our local “glass & mirror guys” at Carolina Glass & mirror have used this TV Majestic Mirror

(shown below as a mirror, then the tv) with great success on a recent project in downtown Raleigh.

You can also try creating a shallow recessed area in Sheetrock to embed the television into a wall- very neat & clean!

This living room designed by Newell Turner featured in House Beautiful showcases the TV on an easel!

I love creative places to sit- those extra places to perch that don’t look overly contrived. These examples featured below fit into in each space very naturally, yet provide a bit of surprise.

For the hostess-adding floor cushions provides a place to perch on the floor and a quick way to prepare some space for even more guests.

A built-in bench in the foyer, stairwell, or kitchen can become a efficient use of space.

Wouldn’t this lamp in ivory porcelain look fantastic on a buffet in a kitchen or a dining room? We love the bit of whimsy it could add to a formal asethetic.

These cloisonne lamps are also very beautiful and could add some color & pattern to a mostly neutral space.

I hope to showcase more of Molly’s finds in a bi-monthly blog series. Be on the lookout for more items spotted by Molly.

Product Photos from the Anthropologie Website.