With the end of the year approaching I’m a little nostalgic. I keep thinking about last month’s trip to New York City and the question asked of me over and over,” Why are you here?” At first I’d answer in my most practical Midwest way,” I’m on vacation! Yay!” but then realized what was really being asked: What was my purpose (as in aspirations and determinations)? And so this refreshingly grounding inquiry came home with me to Chicago and is still on my mind.

Three years ago I started this site and it’s grown slow and steady. Often I wish to progress Ashes & Milk faster, grow it bigger, include more artists and their work, photograph artwork in amazing ways like Ditte Isager, increase sales through more aggressive marketing and restock sold-out pieces for all of you wonderful people who write asking me for more. -Perhaps I will give you just that, minus the fast part. Please bare with me because the truth is, I’ve always taken life slow to savour its details and in turn can promise to stay true to what this project is all about.

With all this said, I’m really happy to introduce to you the newest addition to Ashes & Milk, Geoffrey Lilge who created a collection of hand-crafted Wood Serving Boards.

Above are a few of Geoffrey Lilge’s Walnut Serving Boards. Each piece is a unique functional object fashioned by hand from a single piece of wood.

The story behind the creation of these boards is sweet and born out of love. Geoffrey sought to find the perfect cutting and charcuterie boards to outfit his wife’s restaurant. After about 4 years of prototyping and restaurant testing he came up with these beautiful simple solid wood boards.

A sneak peak of Geoffrey’s warm and inviting studio.

[ Be sure to check out the entire colleciton of Geoffrey's Wood Serving Boards
at Ashes & Milk. ]

[ For those of you in Canada, see Geoffrey's boards in action at Culina and Highlands Kitchen Restaurant. ]

While reading a new blog The Boo and the Boy, I stumbled across this creative way to place an organic rug or wall hanging. I am in love with the placement of this textured wool piece that is draped over a gigantic ottoman big enough for the whole family to lounge on. The idea has got me thinking about new ways to display the work of Ashley Helvey. I think her pieces could go beyond the wall or floor and move onto an ottoman or even a couch.

The above image is from Ikea Family Live

Above Ashley Helvey is creating a Wool Felted Rug. You can see more of her textiles and read about how she creates each piece at Ashes & Milk right here.

The above stones were created by French artist Lionel Esteve called Again the Night.

Eight stones (huit pierres) in varying dimensions are delicately embroidered with yarn (pierres, fils à broder). They remind me very much of Ashes & Milk’s artist Yoran Morvant and his Pierres Graphiques.

Photography of Lionel Esteve’s artwork is courtesy of Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin.

The photo above is of a lichen plant growing on a rocky surface which reminds me of this…

In the first post of this series I discussed the muse behind the beautiful work of Yoran Morvant and now, in turn, I’d like share with you the way I am inspired by this collection. I love it when art is a reflection of nature and believe Yoran’s work a great example of this. When I first saw his Pierres Graphiques, I was immediately reminded of the gorgeous patterns that lichen plants organically create based on the the surface of the rocks they inhabit. This parallel led me to an interest in learning more about lichen and coincided with me meeting a new neighbor who is actually making a career out of lichen. In fact, Todd Widhelm is working on his doctorate in Lichenology and is currently doing research at the Field Museum in Chicago. He was kind enough to share a collection of photographs from his fieldwork in Thailand and a recent visit to the Big Thicket National Preserve in southeast Texas.

To my surprise, lichens are very species-rich. In fact there 15,000 recorded species of lichen found throughout the world which grow in all shapes and forms.

They also grow on the bark of trees like the above photo shows.

And can be fluffy and flower like.

Or form patterns that look like coral.

And are often mistaken as moss.

This post is part of a two part series. You can view the first post [ here ].

Photo from Men’s Vogue and here.

Last night I, along with 200,000+ Chicagoans congregated Downtown to welcome our 44th President of the United States. It was the most inspirational and transcending experience I’ve had in long time. The crowd was peaceful and calming considering how many of us were in one place.

Everywhere everyone celebrates here here here here here and here…

Congratulations to you all.