I am completely obsessed with following trends. It's an odd characteristic considering that my wardrobe is about as dull as it gets (hello jeans and a black t-shirt) and I would have had the same hairstyle since I was 20 if my hairdresser didn't force her scissors and color upon me. But, nonetheless, I love me some trend-spotting. I treat the act of predicting next season's color as though it were a sport and I'm always on the lookout for the animal du jour (you know the hipsters always have an animal, they're just now getting over bears, fyi). What I find most fascinating about trends is their evolution: from the '04 hipster adoration of sweet little deer to the '06 demand for taxidermy; the leap from skulls etched on everything, to the less predictable pirate craze. Most recently I've noticed a trend that has risen from the ashes of another well on it's way out: bullets and shells have evolved from the gun trend that has been set on, ahem, overkill, for a while.

Long-time friend Alex Reh, sorry, Alexander, left all of us Austinites for Industrial Design School in the Big Apple several years ago. Apparently all those tuition fees were good for something because our native Texan walked out the doors of Pratt with this quaint shotgun shell chair in his portfolio.

Each Chair is made from 388 once-fired shotgun shells (I'm pretty sure he does this himself when he comes home to his ranch in Texas). The Steel frame is gun-blued by hand, honestly, this finish almost rivals gold in my book, almost.

The buyer may choose from any of the bullet options above to work seamlessly with their decor. All this customization can't be cheap and Alex promises me that I can't afford one. And I thought we were friends.

I've been in love with his chair for a while and have been trying to coordinate an interview but apparently he's working on new things and wanted to wait until they were done. I was Patient-Pam for a few months but then I started seeing bullets and gun shells pop up everywhere and I knew I needed to do this post before the trend passed me by.

Sorry, Alex, I promise a follow up on your new goods whenever you're ready.

So, last week I was at a party during SXSW and caught the cute lady on the left wearing a bullet bolo tie, she was kind enough to let me snap a picture and mentioned that she found it on Etsy. I managed to track down the artist, awelldressedbullet

At THE VERY SAME PARTY, I also spotted another gal with a bullet necklace, I forgot to snap her picture but I did grab her card. Turns out, she's the artist behind Unearthen, a lovely jewelry site with lots and LOTS of bullets.

I knew that the bullet thing was about to go all trend crazy and I had to move forward without Alex's blessing. I scoured the internet and found all of these bullet goodies:

Bullet Bracelet by Astali. Man I love things in clusters.

Left: 22 Shell Necklace by etsy user oliveselkie; Right: Bullet, Padlock & Pearl Necklace by Etsy user sebastianjaramillo

Etsy continued to turn up the bullet charm with these finds as well:

Clockwise from top Left: Brass Bullet Belt Buckle by badassbeltbuckles; Mini Shotgun Shell belt buckle, also by badassbeltbuckles; Bottom Row: Shotgun Wedding Lights by awelldressedbullet

And, finally, rounding up the fashion portion of our program are these 2 t-shirts:

Lipstick Bullet, Left and Safety in Numbers, Right

Before you get all scared that this has become a fashion blog (remember I opened with a chair!) let me show you the few home goods I managed to dig up:

Clockwise from Top Left: Bullet Cocktail Shaker available at Amazon; Shotgun Canister at (wait for it) GREAT BIG STUFF (I'm so sifting through everything on this site after I write this post); Bullet Ice Cube Tray and the Bullets it produces along the bottom row.