i first noticed Megan & Mike Gilger of The Fresh Exchange when they tagged me in an Instagram photo of their travels in Cape Town – they had been making use of my Cape Town City Guide to discover some cool places to see. i always get the warm and fuzzies when people tell me that the guide helped them in some way, and when anyone visits my city for that matter, so I clicked over to their site and what a nice discovery.
Megan is a talented designer and together she and Mike have a design studio called Wild Measure. on their trip to Cape Town they collaborated with Over to create an app in 24 hours (!!) that with allow people to celebrate their love for Cape Town, featuring Megan’s beautiful hand-lettering, appropriately called Cape Town Love.
The app was inspired by the city we have been working in for the past 6 days, and we wanted to develop something that did not just offer another pack of graphics, but meant far more. We wanted to find a way to celebrate the Mother City, and to help encourage people to discover the beauty that we have found in this place.
read about how they created the app in 24 hours here and watch a short video by Megan and Over designer Aaron Marshall. the app itself is great to look at and a dream to use. i think it’s pretty damn awesome that a handful of talented Americans created such a lovely app that’s so appreciate of our city. download it here.
in lieu of a These Things today i thought i’d do a bit of a Stuff Lately catch up. you can follow me on Instagram if you like. don’t fret, These Things will be back on monday. have a great weekend, everybody.
my desk was featured on Dwell this week – i’ll be making a small appearance in their September issue, have a look out for it!
been filling the house with flowers and plants…
taking road trips with Anton’s GTO (her name is Charlene)
enjoying capturing bits and pieces of Cape Town:
and taking walks on the promenade, which is just a block away from our flat:
some new acquisitions, type mugs & my wedding shoes (8 weeks tomorrow!)
if you’re a regular iPhone snapper / Instagrammer (or, indeed, a professional photographer) you’ll be familiar with VSCO. their original VSCO Cam iPhone app is a favourite of many, with a handful of beautiful film presets and easy editing tools that turn your every day photos into something pretty magical. they just released their updated app (so you can’t get the old one anymore) – and it’s now free, but features in-app purchases for several film bundles. faded & moody; bright + clean; analog classic… take your pick. i haven’t played with it too much, but it is a sweet little app and i know it will help make my pretty average photos on instagram look just that little bit better.
the most exciting thing about the update for me is their release of VSCO Grid - a free minimalist publishing platform for people to showcase their mobile photography. they emphasise that it’s not a social media platform – i.e. not a competitor for Instagram – but rather, ”focused on craft, curation and content, and less on followers and likes.” at the moment it’s in the beta / testing / let’s hope we don’t break the servers / only for awesome people phase, but hopefully it will roll out to the rest of us soon.
this is what’s been happening offline lately! if you follow me on twitter and instagram you’ll probably be up to speed.
i moved out of my old home…
…into a wonderful new home!
luckily for me there is a plant shop right across the road from said new home
i’ve been making new friends. actually, not with the fearsome little guy on the left – even though i desperately wanted to. but i did make friends with a neighbourhood cat, who i might lure inside someday and never let go.
i visited Jess & Luke at their pop-up restaurant at Pier Rabe in Stellenbosch. that’s a fig and custard danish with lavender and honeycomb ice-cream. there was actual honeycomb inside.
they do wonderful displays to entice you to part with your cash.
always appreciating the glory that is the pooches.
and, the best for last. i received the most beautiful thing i have ever owned from the greatest man i’ve ever known.
here’s the story behind the ring.
last year Anton approached Karin from Dear Rae to design (the world’s most beautiful) engagement ring. they set out to find a rose cut diamond, an antique cut that has less facets than a modern brilliant cut diamond. after weeks and weeks of searching they were still coming up empty handed. rose cut diamonds are rare to find because diamond merchants hunt them down and re-cut them into brilliant diamonds so that they’re worth more on the diamond market.
so when we got engaged Anton proposed to me with a beaded ring his grandmother, who used to be a jeweller, made from Xhosa beads that they bought from the ladies on the beach in the Transkei (a common sight if you’ve ever been to that part of the country). he told me that my real ring was coming, but i was so deliriously happy that i didn’t care – and just knew that he probably had some amazing plan up his sleeve.
meanwhile back in Cape Town, Karin was scouring through the Long Street Antique Arcade when she came upon an antique ring that had an old mine cut diamond in it. a predecessor to the modern brilliant cut diamonds, these were usually shaped and cut by hand making the facets quite large and the shape uniquely asymmetrical.
it is set in a matte gold band, and Anton gave it to me on Valentines day by the sea where we had our first ever date. aaw, shucks. it’s the most amazing thing i have ever worn and will ever call my own. the story behind it makes the ring a thousand times more precious than it already is, something i hope to pass on to some lucky grandkid someday.
i had a few posts prepped for yesterday & today but unfortunately my computer c-c-c-rrraaasssshhhheeed and i spent the entire day trying to fix it yesterday. sigh. i managed to get it back up and running this morning, but while i sort that bugger out here’s an update on some instagrammin’ and real life things that have been going on. did you see the new instagram web profiles that have launched? they are still busy rolling it out, but you can see what it will look like by visiting famous people’s instagram profiles like oh, i don’t know, Barack Obama.
in the meantime you can follow me @miss_moss or just check out my instagram page.
you can follow me on instagram with the username miss_moss or just check out my instagram page
left: did you know pineapples grow like this? well, i didn’t. seen in the greenhouse at babylonstoren. right: we had the most amazing margaritas, empanadas, pork tacos and tres leches cake at orinoco in bree street
finally got to check out the beautifully styled tamboers winkel (de lorentz street, just off kloof). we indulged in a poached pear and blackforest ham sarmie and cauliflower & vanilla soup (yummo)
perhaps one day if i’m lucky enough i’ll get to do a great american road trip, but for now i can live vicariously through the photographs of Kevin Russ. you’re probably thinking that these were shot with some rad medium format camera – but they were actually all taken with Kevin’s iPhone… i know. you can follow Kevin on instagram, view his mobile photostream, and see his professional work on his flickr and website.
click on the images to view the original on instagram.
man, i’m really loving Instagram. i was hooked since day one, but it’s great to see so many more people using it since the android integration, and so it’s popping up very regularly on my twitter and facebook feeds.
lately my photos have been all shoes shoes shoes and rugs rugs rugs… and the occasional pink drink. if you want to follow me on instagram my username is miss_moss (missmoss always seems to be taken, wherever i go)
