Meow!

Asics teams up with Sanrio’s Hello Kitty to create one heck of a pair of sneakers. This info comes via Highsnobette, which reports these shoes will be available starting Nov. 1.

(Sure, I'm grown, but I admit I was a wee bit enamored with the Hello Kitty store while at the Taipei airport earlier this year. So many memories of childhood!)

This is also a good excuse to post the *incredibly* artful stop-motion origami video about Asics. I was searching for a how-to on origami flowers a while back and this came up. Now, it's definitely one of my Vimeo favorites.

Origami In the Pursuit of Perfection from MABONA ORIGAMI on Vimeo.

Slurp

Morning coffee just *might* taste better in this "forest monsters" mug. It was designed by Peskimo and is available for purchase on Poketo.

A night — or two — at the museum

The new location of The Museum of Chinese in America just opened last month at 215 Centre Street in New York City. Architect and designer Maya Lin is responsible for the Manhattan building. (She also designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, in Washington, D.C.)

It looks like there's lots to see, but I'm particularly interested in the exhibit on Hazel Ying Lee, an Oregonian and aviator who flew during the 1930s and 40s. She even flew fighter plans for the U.S. Army. (Plus, she wore kickin' boots.) How cool is that? Lee died young, at 33, but apparently you can learn about her life through photos, letters and memorabilia at the MOCA.




Upcoming events at the museum include The 32nd Asian American International Film Festival and a grand opening celebration on Sept. 22.

Admission is free on Thursdays, thanks to Target. Let me know if you check it out.

Raindrops are falling

Courtney Chu, of Chicago, creates imaginative clothing for kids using found fabrics that look as comfortable as they are colorful. She even incorporates silk screening into the CourtneyCourtney line. Each item is one of a kind. Totally giftable and adorable!

Squeeeeze

These awesome illustrations are by Anneka Tran, of the United Kingdom. Too entertaining to pass up. Via Penguin and Fish.

On whimsy

Life is too serious sometimes. Or at least mine is, unfortunately. That's why work like Kim Haller's is so necessary. We're talking whimsy to the max here, people.

Haller is a mom and a part-time high school art teacher in Milwaukee, Wis. (Also, she's a Korean adoptee, like me!) She has an amazing collection of illustrations and prints that she sells on Etsy.

Here's Haller — in her own words — on inspiration: "I spend a lot of time making notes of things that my husband, daughter and son say and do. We have post-its everywhere in our house. I also have a collection of them in my head. Most of my work is inspired by these floating phrases and pictures. I like to build them into the characters and patterns that I create, mixed with little bits and pieces of my own various collections, obsessions, quirks and childhood stories. I hope when people look at my work they can find a sort of familiarity, whether it be in a particular character illustration itself, a pattern, texture or color that I used or a relatable environment that I created."

An uplifting way to start the week, m'thinks.

Weekend adventuring

Good stuff from a blog with good taste: 3.1 Phillip Lim Safari Dress via Cracking Good.

Pandamonium

Artwork by Stephanie Grace Lim makes me smile. Grin, really. Afterall, who doesn’t need a healthy dose of pandas, sumos and ninjas, especially on a Friday?

Lim is an artist, illustrator, designer and overall creative firecracker who is based in California. She most recently worked as a creative designer at PayPal, but her background is in newspapers, logging time at the San Jose Mercury News, The Charlotte Observer and The Ann Arbor News.

Fulfill even more of your (OK, my) panda fixation here. Tai Shan, the panda cub at Washington, D.C.'s National Zoo, turned 4 on Thursday. He celebrated with a beet cake!

Bowled over

Karen Ford is a Chinese-American artist who says she “found her roots in clay.” She creates functional porcelain and glass art out of her Westport, Conn. studio.

I’m a fan of these pretty white bowls. I’m pretty sure the pale white coloring is just begging to hug a crisp green garden salad.

Luv Lauren

Fun earrings, bracelets and rings are coming from the hands of a budding jewelry designer named Lauren Weber. She’s out of the Los Angeles area, and her wares are under the brandname LaurenLuvS on Etsy.


Lauren says she got into jewelry making after attending a bead show in January. "My favorite pieces that I like to use are peace signs, love, inspirational words, feathers and stars," she said.

Her favorite style? "I like the 'soulful' urban feel with a hint of modern day fashion," she said. "I like the inspirational charms that say 'believe, live, love, dream' because it is a physical reminder to the person who wears it. And to top it off, anything that can make a girl feel pretty is always a plus!"

Cambodian conscience

As the Khmer Rouge Tribunal continues to weigh who should be held responsible for the deaths of some 1.7 million people during the Pol Pot era, a film about Cambodia's genocide is airing here in the U.S. on HBO2 this month.


Award-winning filmmaker Steven Okazaki is a Japanese-American who has used his medium to create documentaries on addiction, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the HIV virus. This time around, he focuses on the atrocities that occurred more than 30 years ago at a Phnom Penh school-turned-torture camp called Tuol Sleng. Visitors to Cambodia's capital can go inside S-21, but Okazaki's film also gives somber but beautiful insight into the terrible things that happened there.

Click here to learn more and view an airtime schedule.

Type calendar

Parker Hu is a young designer who is creating cool work out of Connecticut. She’s currently searching for a manufacturer that can produce this eye-catching 2010 type calendar she designed for the Society of Typographical Arts.

So noted

Joy Deangdeelert Cho is a Philadelphia-based graphic designer who runs Oh Joy! Studio and OhJoy.com. She transfers her love of color and pattern into products for the likes of Swell by Cynthia Rowley and Ilene Rosenzweig, Target, Mattel, QVC, Charlotte Ronson, Michele Varian Home, Otis & Claude, Pfiff Lingerie, Mari's New York, Joya Candle and Urban Outfitters.

Current offerings include a winsome set of notebooks available via her Web site. I am especially fond of the “Noted” Olive Ombre Notebook, pictured above. So pretty! File folders, available through Chronicle Books, are also tempting. Why waste precious desk space on boring manila?

Tick tock

Bang-Yao Liu created an amazing stop-motion video, “Deadline,” for his senior project at Savannah College of Art and Design. Don’t forget to check out a behind-the-scenes look at how it was done, too.

Welcome!

Welcome to Creative Cat, where East West Magazine spotlights work by some of Asian America’s best and brightest in the fields of art, design and craft. Working on a project? Know of someone who deserves to be showcased? Hit us up at creativecat at eastwestmagazine dot com.