From Julie and Janet:

Sam Whiteman is a Sydney, Australia–based furniture designer; we love his steel and Lucite coffee table. Go to Sam Whiteman for information; via Materialcious.

Celia
Priya Sebastian is an awesome artist and illustrator who works mainly in charcoal and pastel.
Whenever I see her work I feel 'black' is the most beautiful colour. Congregation Self-Portrait
The most striking feature in most of her illustrations are the 'eyes' of her characters, they seem to express so many different emotions!Yama
She uses colours also beautifully just to give that extra punch.* Sigh*
Cats
Woman
I am still under the spell of the amazing works by these two extremely talented artists. Hope you enjoyed their work as much as I did showcasing them.:-)

(images of Kalyani's work from Jellicle Cat and Priya's from The Plum Tree)

P.S. A special thanks to Masala Chai, who introduced me to Kalyani's work.

Well, not quite yet, but it's big news nonetheless. I just found out that Emily Eerdmans, design historian and author of Classic English Design and Antiques and the upcoming release Regency Redux, has inked a deal with Rizzoli to write a monograph of that rather mysterious and iconoclastic decorator Madeleine Castaing. Are you as excited as I am??

"The World of Madeleine Castaing" is scheduled to be released sometime around Fall 2010, and Jacques Grange has agreed to write the foreword. All I can say is that it's about time.

Let's get ourselves in the mood for the book by looking at images of Castaing's Paris apartment. As Emily notes, visitors to her homes felt as though they were stepping into a Balzac novel. I can certainly see why.

Thanks to Margot for my questions to Alexis Stewart and Jennifer Koppelman Hutt of Whatever Martha!. These email “interviews” are always a little awkward and lose the flow, but I think it’s still worth sharing. For example,I really wanted to ask them if they had been Beavis and Butthead fans, because a lot of the times their shows sound like “heh-heh, heh-heh, she said ‘balls…’” but I felt like that might come across as disrespectful, when really I had been a a huge B&B fan back in the day and meant it as sort of a compliment. But whatever, here’s the interview:

How did you two meet? When did you know that the kinds of conversations you have would be perfect for your Whatever radio show?

AS: We met in the hallway at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and soon started ordering lunch together. We knew the radio show would work when we couldn’t get people to stop listening to our conversations.

JKH: We met while I was working for my dad at MSLO and Alexis was filming The Apprentice: Martha Stewart. (As for the radio show) I still don’t know!

Alexis, at what point in your life did you find yourself able to laugh at some of your mother’s projects? She seems to be a good sport about it! Is she really laughing with you?

AS: I have always laughed (OK, sometimes cried) at some of my mother’s projects! She doesn’t mind!

How do each of you pronounce “herb” -  with a silent “h,” or do you  pronounce it like “Herb” Tarlick of “WKRP in Cincinnati?”

AS: I pronounce it with a silent “h�, although to my horror, I have found myself slipping and occasionally Jennifer has caught me saying herb with an audible H! Ugh!!

JKH: I pronounce it with a silent “h.”

Have you seen any photos of Peanut Butter lately? I wonder what he’s up to. I was also wondering if any of his face-painting victims sued, or still have nightmares.

AS: WWW.PEANUTBUTTERPEANUTBUTTER.COM

Ironically, I watched your show right after watching “The Rachel Zoe Project” and found myself wondering if Martha had a stylist during these early socks with loafers and shorts days. She wore more denim shirts than Said on “Oz.” Does she have a stylist today?

AS: No, of course she had no stylist – she definitely thought her outfits were beside the point. I don’t know what to say about the denim shirts, but lots of people copied her and they were in fashion at the time. Today, I think she has someone buy stuff for her TV show because she hates shopping for clothes.

Do you do any DIY projects at home now? What kinds of Martha-esque projects do you enjoy? Which ones will you never ever do?

AS: I don’t craft much, but occasionally I will try something, try to get it right and then give it up forever when I can’t! But I do clean my house myself and I cook a lot (check out our blogs at www.whateverradio.com).

Have you two picked out one Martha segment that stands out as the most hilarious one you’ve ever seen? Do you agree on which one that would be? Do tell!

AS: So many of them are funny and we did so many, that I really can’t remember which were the best.

JKH: Recently on her daytime show, Martha sampled hot dogs with Kevin Sharkey. It was FANTASTIC and really funny.

Thanks to Alexis and Jennifer for taking the time to answer my questions. You can catch Whatever Martha! on The Fine Living Network.

images from FLN.com