It was a gorgeous summer night in Pasadena where we came to enjoy the opening night of the California Design Biennial:

an exhibition that highlights the most significant and innovative designs being created in California. Great works of art are often inspired by challenges and adversity; this exhibition will focus on how California’s established and emerging designers are responding to current economic, political, and environmental challenges.

The show was curated by experts in the fields of industrial design, fashion, graphic, transportation and architecture. Our Woolly friend Rose Apodaca of A+R curated the fashion portion of the exhibition!

Go Rose!

A Gregory Parkinson dress with necklaces by Annie Costello Brown

Toyota’s Ad Campaign featuring real life plants!

One of the many wheeled designs on display was this sleek and functional wheelchair.

How Woolly! Felted Metal Folding Chairs by Tanya Aguiñiga

The yet to be released 4 door sedan from Tesla Motors.

A perfect place to hang out under this paper sculpture.

A Jetski for the skies? The Icon A5.

This past week us Woollys took root at the Carlyle on Wilshire. The residences are very beautiful, but were definitely lacking one key ingredient – Woolly Pockets! So without further ado we bid adieux to some glass vases & ushered in our favorite gal pals, Lana & Tina. The party kicked off & everyone had a blast. We even saw Rihanna in the lobby, but she didn’t come to our suite – she must have gotten lost, weird?!

We did three awesome installations in the condo that really complemented their spaces – they looked like beautiful living paintings! Stephanie is clearly a Woolly genius. Our friend Gilly hooked us up with some stunning Islands too. It has to be said that no Woolly event is complete without our favorite photog, Suthi Picotte! This time she brought a new friend, Star (whose name speaks to her abilities, for sure!). We took some awesome photos that we’ll be unveiling soon. In the meantime, we decided to post some pictures from our time spent at this beautiful place.

If you couldn’t tell by our name, Pockets are pretty important to us. There’s nothing like having an unexpected pocket (Woolly or not) of green in any setting.

That was the idea we were running with when we planted pop-up gardens all over NYC. It may be a concrete jungle, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any room for plants!

Which is why we’re kind of smitten with Angels Knoll in downtown LA. This little pocket of a park made a name for itself as the park Tom and Summer frequent in hit indie-romance movie “500 Days of Summer.” You know what we’re talking about. It’s Tom’s favorite place to admire the architecture in downtown LA, and we’re not the least bit surprised.

Bordering on one side of the of the park is Angels Flight, the world’s shortest funicular (attached to cable) railway, which just reopened this past March and costs a quarter for a one-way trip up the steep slope from Hill and Olive St. Something else that’s relatively new to Angels Knoll are the goats. You heard us right–goats! It turns out that it’s becoming something of a summertime tradition to ship in goats to eat up the weeds in the Angels Knoll hill. The woolly friends are only there for a week or so, which means they’ve already gone for this summer, but we’re still in awe: how genius is it to use goats to clear out weeds in a completely natural way, instead of using lawnmowers?

Really, though, we just love the idea that this park is adding some greenery to downtown. In the hustle and bustle of downtown, all you need to do for a breath of fresh air–literally and metaphorically–is shift your focus a little bit. Like we said, it’s a pocket of a park, but the good life comes in pockets, right?

Image via hglodge.com

We just got a scoop on a wild living wall up in Seattle! The Hunter Gatherer is a newly renovated bar featuring a 21 foot living wall with a twist: taxidermy animal heads peeking out from behind a green cascade of Pothos plants! The wall was designed and planted by Matt and Amoreena Herbage of Midnight Blossom, an amazing floral design studio in Seattle. They are a super creative husband and wife team with a strong sense of design and intention behind their work:

Our goal is to create the most unique and imaginative floral art, combining gorgeous, eye-catching and interesting flowers with the natural botanical elements native to our beautiful Pacific Northwest, such as hand collected stones, driftwood, and sand.

And, they also carry Woolly Pocket Living Walls!

Image via midnightblossom.com

Image via hglodge.com

If you’re in the neighborhood, be sure to stop by The Hunter Gatherer a sip a cocktail under the impala adorned living wall after checking out Midnight Blossom’s amazing looking shop!

Image via myballard.com

Midnight Blossom
1101 Northwest Ballard Way
Seattle, WA 98103
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Hunter Gatherer Lodge
722 East Pike Street
Seattle, WA 98122
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This past Fourth of July weekend (Happy Birthday America!) my darling and I visited one of our favorite places in the world, OJAI! Ojai is a quaint, friendly town nestled in a fertile valley in the hills above Ventura, California. The first people to settle here were the Chumash, who named it Ojai, which translates to “Valley of the Moon.” You’ll know why when you go on an evening stroll during a full moon!

Ojai is well known for their arts community and especially for the farms and gardens that grow so readily here. The climate, geography and soil make for a perfect environment to grow almost anything. From the moment we arrived, we were dining on locally grown Ojai produce, including the best strawberry shortcake ever from Boccali’s Pizza!

Throughout the weekend, we hiked in the hills and took strolls around town, but most importantly, we relaxed poolside at the Herb Garden Pool!

When we weren’t busy being lazy in the sun, we continued eating great meals around town, including an Italian themed lunch at Osteria Monte Grappa of Rosé, Stuffed Artichoke & Calamari and Polenta Salad!

The food was as wonderful as the setting:

We saw fruit nearly ready to be picked off the tree!

The highlight of the trip was a visit to New Oak Ranch‘s Lavender Farm where we picked bunches of lavender in their field.

The smell was simply heavenly, and the bees were so happy to share the blossoms with us!

A horse named Pal came over to see how we were faring with the lavender picking!

Heading back home we had to stop at this fruit stand for the tastiest plums ever, organic and just $1.00 per bag!

Let us know how you’re enjoying this wonderful summer and the fruits of the season! Drop us a line on Facebook or on Twitter!

Stay Woolly!
-Alex
The Engaged Observer

Below the sweeping arch of an elevated train line, a bright, sun drenched wall in downtown Los Angeles isn’t the first place you would imagine finding lively tomatillos, peppers, strawberries and delicious sage thriving and growing. That just makes it all the more Woolly that we recently planted a vertical farm here with some amazing green thumbs!

Meg Glasser of Urban Farming & Meredith Hackleman of Metabolic Studio teamed up with us to give the Homegirl Cafe a new source of fresh veggies, fruits and herbs! Agromin threw in the soil and Rainbird supplied the drip irrigation system! Now that’s teamwork!

Father Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries, kicked off the festivities with some inspirational words of wisdom.

The Woolly Pocket Vertical Farm is the fourth Urban Farming Food Chain location in Los Angeles. Urban Farming’s mission is to end hunger by planting gardens on unused land and spaces while greening the environment, educating people and uplifting communities. It seems we’re accomplishing these goals and more with this newest installation!

The Homegirl Cafe will harvest and use the edible goodies from this vertical farm in their cafe, serving hungry Angelenos while giving at-risk and former gang youths an opportunity to become positive and contributing members of society. I love how this solar powered cycle of life works so beautifully! Grow On Lovely Woollies!

Image via LAWeekly.com

Here in Los Angeles, the food truck has become a culinary & cultural phenomenon of epic proportions. Before a certain mexican/korean mashup taco truck opened a twitter account and started serving delicious cross-cultural tacos, L.A. had over 4000 traditional food trucks serving hungry Angelenos at construction sites and anywhere people were hungry. The power of the internet made it possible for foodies to track down and locate a new breed of “gourmet” food trucks serving narrow bands of culinary creations such as ice cream sandwiches, indian dosas, deli food, BBQ ribs and the ubiquitous yet satisfying grilled cheese sandwich.

Image via LAinBloom

Image via Filter-mag.com

Image via komodofood.com

Now L.A. has well over 100 trucks tweeting and roaming the city bringing yummy delights to a hungry and connected populace! But what if you want to try everything in one place?

The LA Street Food Fest is the answer! On July 24th, over 60 of the city’s best gourmet mobile food vendors will be serving samples of their wares at the Rose Bowl! There’s even a live concert featuring local bands as well as beer and tequila tastings! The best part is that by gorging yourself on yummies from all over L.A., you’ll be helping to plant 3 Woolly School Gardens in schools all over town!

We believe in fostering great community, which is why it’s important for the LA Street Food Fest to give back to local organizations at each of our events. The LA Street Food Fest Summer Tasting Event will fully fund edible school gardens at at least 3 LAUSD elementary schools including: Elysian Heights, Crescent Heights and Annandale.

We’re so grateful to LA Street Food Fest for their generous support of these worthwhile schools and Woolly School Gardens! Please show your support by attending the LA Street Food Fest. Tickets are selling fast!

In my corner of Echo Park, the neighbors are all packed in tight. I live in a back house, with enough room for a small walkway and a strip of dirt about a foot wide. If I lean out my bedroom window, I can touch the fence that separates me from my neighbor. It’s not much space, and when I tried growing carrots they were chomped by a bunny that roams the neighborhood at midnight (see?). But I’ve got some beets and lettuce and tomatoes that are happy here.

And I’m happy here, too. I get to work from home a lot – I write the LA Times book blog, and while I do go into the office, it’s also kind of my job to sit at home and read and write. My little back house is perfect for that – except for my neighbor, and next Friday.

It would be more accurate, I suppose, to say my neighbor and “El Proximo Viernes.” If you know “El Proximo Viernes” (“Next Friday,” in English), you probably know the contemporary version by Espinoza Paz. It’s a Mexican ballad, and my neighbor plays a version that was recorded, I’m guessing, before Paz was born – all big analog horns and sweeping ranchera waltz beat. It’s a pretty good song, actually, or that’s what I thought the first time my neighbor played it at top volume. But then he played it again. And again and again and again, hours at a time. While singing along. At the top of his lungs.

So when my friend Stephanie told me about Woolly Pocket, where she now works, I thought YES! I could plant carrots out of the reach of the midnight bunny, and simultaneously create a sound barrier between me and Mr. Next Friday. Instead, I planted pretty things that will drape.

I think I’ll need a higher fence – and a few more pockets – to completely banish “El Proximo Viernes,” but I’ll wait until next Friday to worry about that.

Carolyn Kellogg

http://www.carolynkellogg.com

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/

We were super excited to share our Woolly love for plants and gardening with the thousands of inquisitive visitors we met at Dwell on Design this past weekend! Inside the Los Angeles Convention Center, we planted a living wall chock full of native grasses and yuccas, a perfect pairing for the start of summer!

Our booth was conveniently located next to the Wine Australia tasting garden! In the shade of an ancient olive tree, people perused pockets with their toes luxuriating on the realistic artificial grass! For so many people, it was their first time seeing pockets in person, and the first thing (just about) everyone did was reach out and feel the 100% recycled plastic felted wool.

It was a sheer joy to see their eyes light up as the proverbial lightbulb turn on in their heads and they realized a couple pockets can turn that ugly cinderblock wall into a green oasis! We spoke to so many amazing people with great ideas for pockets, from backyard restorations to Juvenile Halls to Recovery Centers for Injured Military Veterans.

The rest of the show was totally inspiring as well! Our Woolly friends at Potted in Atwater hung their new circular hanging pots all around the show!

A Chandelier Of Epiphytes!

An Ellipitcal Rocking Bed!

A bizarre rotating mirror machine!

The Heath Ceramics Truck brought a new line of tiles!

It wouldn’t be a Dwell event without Prefab Homes!

or Sheds

or Tents

or this Geometric Plywood Yurt by Gregg Fleishman!

After 3 days on my feet, I couldn’t keep my eyes off this piece of machinery, possibly the greatest hammock ever invented!

Plants have a way of making us smile. In unexpected places they can even make us downright joyful and elated! That’s why the Woolly Bunch has been out and about in New York this week planting spontaneous pop-up gardens all over the city.

Nothing makes us happier than to bring joy to people’s lives through plants and gardens! We’d love to know if you’re enjoying the pop-up gardens all over town, so send us your photos and thoughts on Twitter or Facebook!!

Gothamist

@Lucy_Sykes

@sarakategr