Last year, I got hooked on a sketch comedy series called Portlandia that satirizes, ever so gently, the righteous lifestyles of the Pacific Northwest’s boho-urban elite. One of our favorite episodes parodies the cliched “bird” prints as an icon in Portland’s earth-loving, greener-than-thou, eco-fashion sensibilities. You’ll recognize references to the sketch whenever you hear the phrase: ” Put a bird on it!”
But let’s face it. Birds are soo last year. Today, it’s all about the owl bird. Owls. They’re sprouting up everywhere. Where did they all come from?
I spotted this lovable pair of owls last weekend and said, that’s enough — it’s time for a blog post. These guys were sitting on the shelf of a Ten Thousand Villages shop, an ethical retailer that specializes in <you guessed it> fair trade and gets its unique handcrafted goods from artisans around the world. These rotund little guys were gourds in a former life in Peru, before migrating northward to Alexandria, VA. When did the los Peruvianos get so hip?
Just look around next time you’re out and about — the owls are on pillows and necklaces and plates and coasters and invitations and oh gosh, what’s that? …ugh. so cute it hurts. They’re even on <gulp> the test print that Suz and I made at a block printing workshop earlier this year. OK. Guilty as charged, but I swear we drew this dude before the rest of his family crashed the party. *E
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