earth day... (hooray!)

Last week we celebrated an unforgettable Earth Day with Anthropologie customers and it was SO much fun!  If you were able to attend, thank you so much for a simply perfect day!  For anyone who wasn't able to join... boy, you missed a party!  Jojo taught 5 terrarium how-to classes in Manhattan and outside Philadelphia on both friday and saturday.  It was such a treat!

The tablescape set-up turned out quite charming and inviting.   It was overgrown with vintage suitcases and copper buckets brimming with natural elements for the picking... pebbles and stones, driftwood, ferns, many varieties of wild mosses, and more.  The entire scene begged to be explored and a number of other shoppers wandered in to say hello and to ask questions about terrariums. Take a peek...

Jojo may have been nervous at first, but no one ever noticed.  He was an engaging speaker and teacher... and seemed to really captivate attendees and passersby.  We were also very impressed by the collective creativity as well!  So many jars of whimsy and wonder!  

I think for most people, it was a nice reason to unplug from the busy day and take an hour escape into a moment of wilderness fantasy... 

          

  

We took away from this experience such wonderful, positive energy given off by our guests and from the amazing Anthropologie store teams as well... just great people.  

It was such a (glorious) shock anytime a mention of admiration for S+S was made.  I guess it is still surprising to realize that people even know about us!   Earth Day will - for us - be forever unforgettable... and its all thanks to the amazing people we met at the events.  


For the first time, S+S felt more than an art/science project.  It felt like a family...

  

(sigh)


Happy < belated > Earth Day.   
ps.  thanks again to anthropologie's events  team (for the wishes-come-true.)

posted by S+S

drifting away to earth day... a sneak peek.

hello, it's Jojo and I am excited to share a tiny preview of my make-a-terrarium workshops planned for  Anthropologie later this month... in celebration of Earth Day 2011!

I will be leading 5 workshops in New York City on April 22 and another on April 23 in Wayne, PA for Anthropologie customers and friends who are interested in making terrariums with me.  I am a little nervous but mostly just excited to meet everyone and to share what I know about terrarium-making!  It should be a lot of fun!

 

Each person who attends the workshop will create their very own wilderness terrarium inside a vintage canning jar.  Everyone will also be encouraged to forage through bins of random bits & bobs to create a truly personal and bespoke living object of their own!  

And... in the spirit of Earth Day, all of the elements for the workshop will be natural and neutral... the beautiful textures, colors, and shapes of the natural world.  

I began to experiment with driftwood pieces in preparation for the workshops... 
What do you think?

This look and feel seems perfect for Earth Day and I hope it will be a hit for the attendees of my Earth Day workshops.  If you are planning to come, then I can't wait to meet you and create something together.  Otherwise, wish me luck!

posted by jojo

the slug and the squirrel... and the walnut.

...Walnut Street, that is!  So proud to announce that Jojo just delivered a gaggle of new terrariums to Anthropologie's store in Philadelphia... a gorgeous little perch on Rittenhouse Square in the heart of the city,  google map it here.


The new collection includes 100 pieces and people seemed interested right away.  We lingered a bit to observe a few customer interactions with the terrariums and people were snapping them up left and right.  One woman broke the top off while examining it excitedly.  We immediately jumped in and offered to fix it, but she would not even part with it for a moment.  She insisted on buying it anyway!  


It was really exciting to see the customer reactions happening in real time. I wonder how many will be gone after the weekend?  Even better... I wonder how many times Jojo will stroll in and check on his little flock? (ha.)  Introducing the walnut collection...

Jo's camera also grabbed some beautiful detail shots in studio before the pieces went out to Anthropologie. He's too humble to say it, but it is some of his best work yet...

    

(you break it, you buy it?)  Remember the woman who loved her terrarium even when broken?  
Well, her beloved is pictured above at right... a candle in the wind.

and now, if you'll excuse us, it's time to collapse.
Thanks again Anthropologie for the love!


have a great week everyone. xx

Hello New York! T Magazine is smitten... and so are we.

there must be magic in the air, because this week was something unforgettable and so surreal.  Instead of waking up from an amazing dream, this week we awoke to the dream.  we are so happy with lucky stars in our eyes and we are just positively awestruck...

somehow it seems our little terrarium shop is officially of "the moment" according to the truly incomparable New York Times, which has featured us on their T Magazine style blog this week!
Check out the full "Earthly Delights" feature here. (bursting with delight and disbelief ourselves!)

Jojo spoke a few weeks ago with a lovely editor from NYT about his own process and inspiration and all about terrariums, of course.  Our fingers were crossed and it indeed came true!  W owe countless thanks to the entire NYT style office, and especially to Madison Shimoda for her generously kind praise.

We are long-time readers of NYT and style section loyalists.  This group of people are true mavens of design and certainly have seen it all.  That's precisely why we are so tickled that they found a moment to also be excited about us!

And of course we are forever endeared to our friends at Anthropologie, who made all of this possible when they added us to their mix and shared our story with editors and bloggers at an enchanting press preview event.  They have been so endlessly positive and supportive... working with them is the dream that keeps on dreaming... and we are forever grateful.

Also this week, Jojo delivered a gaggle of terrariums to the stunning Anthropologie home office.  Now a table of our terrariums welcomes people into the office lobby.  Jojo said it made him feel like family... like he had been welcomed inside to a good friend's dinner table.  (swoon)

Later this month, our Slug and Squirrel terrariums will be seen in yet another Anthropologie store!  Philadelphia will launch our new collection later this month, and its so exciting!  Our terrariums are already being sold in Wayne, PA (the very first Anthro) and in their massive manhattan store at Rockefeller Center!

Click here to see previously posted photos of our first Anthropologie collection.

It was impossible to imagine all of this incredible success and exposure, when we began The Slug and the Squirrel just ten months ago.  We knew Jojo's work was something very special, but we never even imagined how quickly things would grow and where this journey would take us.

If this is just the beginning (and we hope it is), we cannot but wonder with stars in our eyes where this road will lead.  Right at this very moment, tiny as it may be... anything and everything seems possible.

it's a wonderful place to be... and dream.

The Slug and The Squirrel in Anthropologie