Remember how felt was always the material of choice for grandma's special sequined fruit thingies? Well, leave the dentures in the Polident because felt is back, but not in a grandma kind of way. Check out a tiny sampling of always crafty Etsy's amazing selection of hip felted objects:
Etsy finds, clockwise from top left: Mix-tape Pouch by BraveMoonman, Red Felt Necklace by vaivanat, Custom Felted Likeness of Your Dog by AmeliaMakesArt, and Felted Goatee by bornlippy.
Need a place to play your felted mix-tape? How about this crazy felted boombox by flickr user blueblythemonster... it actually houses speakers that play music through your ipod!
(And check out her insane felted typewriter at notcot.org)
It so happens that the world of crafts and the world of home product designs often collide -- sans blood, one hopes. Branch is featuring a number of felted goods, most of which are modish and streamlined, but I am particularly liking their felted egg crate:
Mostly what I appreciate is its commitment to material, in that it looks just like what it is -- shaped felt. It also makes me think that the common egg crate is a marvel of industrial design, such an economical use of material and such a functional form. So very Bauhaus (no, not the band). Hmmm. Maybe I'll just cut up a regular eggcrate and put it on my table. Ok, that feels just a little too Vacation Bible School. Keep those dried-bean-and-paper-plate tamborines in the closet, please.
Speaking of the angelic, who knew felt could float? Check out this dreamy gigantic felt chandelier designed by Christopher LaBrooy at Innermost.
That thing is a whopper. I mean, seriously, it looks like a jellyfish preparing to swallow your head. I want it.
Of course I am saving the best for last. The very French Florence Doleac's felt covered chair is a beautifully elegiac piece, sentimental and simultaneously stark:
It reminds me of Joseph Beuys' nutty performance art that used fat and felt (and live coyotes. Yes, coyotes.) In Doleac's statement she says the chair recalls a tradition in which a new bride is gifted a felt rug by her mother, and you really can see the dress, the rug, a bride's flowing hair, in the lines. And of course I love this piece because I have a thing for chairs; they have so much presence. I mean, what takes up more space than an absent ass?