The art and craft chez Copper Catkin, part 1

We love to fill our home with art, craft, and decorations made by local makers.
When we travel, we also buy from the local markets, so we have beautiful collections of souvenirs from all over the world – Europe, several countries on the Mediterranean coast, North Africa, and the Middle East, are represented here. as well as the USA and some Pacific Islands. 

Lots of our treasures are currently packed away in preparation for the big move, so we have a very pared-down aesthetic at present. It’s nice, but I miss my pieces of flair…

​When I attend markets myself as a stallholder, I have a little tradition of buying something from another stallholder at the start of the day, even if it’s food, as a sort of karma seed – if I start by sending good vibes out, hopefully, the good vibes will bring me good sales that day. More importantly, it puts me in a good mood, and gives a fellow stallholder a boost at the start of their day.

​I love to find places for these little treasures around our home.

​So, let’s start with the shelves in our room. Here, we have cute little mushroom artworks by Ceri’s Creations. 

​On the nexgt shelf, we have a custom-made bunny, using our own fabrics, made by Tings, perched above three gorgeous bunnies from Knack craft market.

In between the floating cube shelves, we have a beautiful tapestry by Polly Lind Artist, featuring the scene that we photograph every day when we leave the house.

​The two tiny wooden boxes were bought back in the mists of time at the now-defunct touring craft fair, and contain my little collection of semi-precious stones and crystals, collected during my teens and early twenties. 

​The paua butterfly is by Paua Art by Jessie, the tui is by Peg Creative, and the winged mouse is by Mouse Maker.​

The duvet cover and the throw pillow are my own kereru design – click on the photo to shop on Redbubble!

You may have read about our extensive bathroom renovations earlier, so here is just the detail of the artwork in our bathrooms.

I have started collecting small things for this shelf – it currently features aliens by Wonky Stitches NZ, a bass guitar clock, a baby shark by Shop Nikkis, a cactus, also by Wonky Stitches NZ, a whio rubber ducky by Antics, a little enamelled box that was a gift from my brother, a flask from What The Fox filled with scented diffuser oil from Button + me, and a collection of fossils.

As we are trying to both support local makers but also not increase our own clutter, we generally buy consumables, like soaps and pampering items. I really love relaxing with a candle by Button + me, or a Doodlebum wax melt, scenting the air.

In the main bathroom, we have a selection of handmade soaps  – custom berry soaps by Underground Soapery and rainbow soap by Kiki’s Creations, in etched bowls by Burnt Offerings – and soaps in What The Fox flasks, with bath salts by River Mist Soaps.

In our ensuite, we have another Burnt Offerings dish filled with soap made by Sweet Escape, next to a ceramic tÅ«Ä« dish by Melissa Boardman, and a slate tile painting by Paper Pigment Rock.
We also got towels printed at Society6 to match my wallpaper design, which is the feature wall in the mudroom bathroom.