Barbara Barkley

Barbara Barkley has been making fine art in handmade paper for over 20 years. Originally schooled in traditional Japanese papermaking, Barkley combines the ancient knowledge of processing and manipulating plant fibers with more contemporary, Western techniques to investigate the feel of antiquity possible in papermaking. Her award-winning work has been exhibited in both festivals and galleries, and has been purchased by collectors in more than 15 countries

Third Moon Song (Silent Page Series)

Barbara Bellin

Barbara Bellin is a portrait painter of houses and since 1971 has completed over 400 commissioned portraits throughout the United States and Europe. These range from private homes, estates and embassies to cathedrals, universities, museums and hotels. Bellin began art studies at the Art Student's League. She graduated from Vassar College and did graduate work at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Parson's School of Design. Bellin's preferred medium is gouache, watercolor, and ink on a special French-made paper. She maintains studios in New York City and Westport, CT.

Bill Claps

The human form and nature are the primary inspirations for his work. He is very interested in exploring the intersection of abstraction and representation in drawing and painting, and his work seeks to find terrain and strike a balance between the two. Because He feel that the true essence of a subject can be best channeled by tapping into the instinctual and subconscious, immediacy and gesture are very important to him in his paintings and drawings. Consequently He works very quickly in the execution of his works, particularly at the beginning, and He believe that the quality of his brush strokes reflects this feeling.



Bill lives in New York City and paints in his studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He grew up in Glen Ridge, N.J. Bill studied painting in Florence, Italy and in New York at the Art Students League and at Spring Street Studio.

Back Study 1

Chip Ming

Born in Guangdong, China and raised in Hong Kong, Chip Ming has developed and applied an artistic language which draws on wide ranging sources, to explore the roots of the calligraphic image: seal carving, wood carving, ink painting, as well as sculpture and sgraffito. As images, Chip Ming’s works function in both the Chinese and the Western implications of the word. Thus, in the Western sense, one can look at an image created by Chip Ming and feel a sense of calm, without knowing that the text is a Buddhist Heart Sutra.

Del Weber

Born in Spain in 1951, Del Weber learned various weaving techniques from his mother and has continued to evolve as an artist over the past 30 years. Weber incorporates various knotting and weaving techniques with found stones creating a unique form of sculpture. Del derives his knotting techniques from traditional Japanese and Native American basketry, wicker furniture, loom weaving, fly-tying and nautical knotting.

Del Weber

Del Weber

Enid Munroe

Fairfield, CT resident Enid Munroe works in various media; painting, silverpoint, collage, combine constructions with many one person exhibitions. Her work is in many corporate and private collections and in several museums. She is the winner of several mixed media awards in the Silvermine Art Guild of the Northeast Annual Juried Competitions. She is also the author and illustrator of “An Artist in the Garden”.

Cloth Series II

Cloth Series III

Evelyn Dunphy

Before painting the beauty of Maine, Evelyn Dunphy traveled the world. She painted the breathtaking mountains and countryside of Japan and ckmbed Mt. Fuji, traveled the bush country and Vicotria Falls in Livingstone, Xambia, painted in the American Southwest and visited Europe, India and Sri Kaka where she climbed Sirigiya.



Sailing on a freighter up the coast of Labrador to the northernmost settlement of Nain, painting every day on the ship as they weent in and out of the many small outports was one of Evelyns favorite trips. In Newfondlands Gros Morne World Heritage Site she took a boat into the fjord where the cliffs tower 2500 feet, black bears fish from the shore, and hiked over the tablelands.



A Maine native, her life experiences are reflected in a wide range of subjects - Mt Katahdin, the north Maine woods, Maine and Maritime coastal landscapes, Moosehead Lake, Japanese still life, portraits of Mt Fuji, and dramatic florals. Her paintings have been juried intoi many national and international exhibitions where they have received numerous awards.

"Marriage"

Hedy Klineman

Manhattan-based artist Hedy Klineman describes herself as an “abstract expressionist”. It is her engagement with paint and color, especially her vivifying brushwork, that truly distinguishes her as an affiliate of that painterly mid-century clan. While Klineman might not be Buddhist per se, there is a particular Tibetan emphasis to her work overall, which is evident in the images of Tibet’s Tara and Yamantaka and the lovers of Shakti and Shiva, as well as Japanese Buddha’s.

Buddha Mlac 2

Buddha Head

Helene Verglas

Helene Verglas attended Finch College and was graduated from The Tobe Coburn School of Fashion Design, and the New York School of Interior Design. She enjoyed successful careers as both a fashion stylist and an interior designer before embarking on her journey as a fine artist. Being a purist – and one devoted to the techniques of the Old Masters – Verglas doesn’t varnish her oils, but uses the centuries old French polishing technique of applying multiple layers of hand burnished beeswax.

Helene Verglas

Helene Verglas

Janet Slom

A distinguished, South African artist, Janet has studied painting at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, and in the U.S. at The Art Students League (NYC) and Bennington College (Bennington, VT). Janet has had 10 solo exhibitions and has been a part of 47 Group Exhibitions including Prominent South African Artists at the Adelson Gallery, New York ART 2001 in Strasbourg, France; SALON DE MARS 2001 in Geneva, Switzerland; Cow Parade 2000 in New York and Stamford, CT; and “Rebuilding Torn Cities” at the United Nations in 1999.

Ocean Essence IV

Rainbow Blessing

Junko Mori

Born in Yokohama, Japan in 1974, Junko Mori graduated from Musashino Art University, Tokyo in 1997. She has exhibited in group projects both in Japan and in New Zealand. Junko is currently Artist in Residence at the Liverpool Hope University.

Junko Mori sculpture

Kate Faulkner

English-born sculptor Kate Faulkner trained for several years as an assistant with an internationally renowned bronze figurative sculptor. Working mainly on commissions, Kate Faulkner’s work is held in private collections in London, Los Angeles, and New York. Her most recent work innovatively combines bronze and cut Perspex to stunning effect. She is continuing to explore the unusual combinations of these two materials, seeing the extent to which their paring can be pushed.

Mars and Venus

Votive

Kevin Bubriski

Vermont photographer Kevin Bubriski has exhibited worldwide; his work is in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the International Center of Photography, among many others. Bubriski worked for nine years in Nepal, and has photographed his journeys to India, Tibet and Bangladesh. He is the author of Portrait of Nepal (Chronicle Books), which won the 1993 Golden Light Documentary Book Award, and Power Places of Kathmandu (Inner Traditions).

Hay Bales

Casbah#1, Morocco

Lynette ten Krooden

Lynette ten Krooden receiver her BA in Fine Arts from the University of Pretoria in 1978. She lives in South Africa and is a lecturer at Pretoria Technikon. Her work is held in various private and corporate collections around the world

Summer

Max Donoso Saint

Photographer Max Donoso Saint was born in Chile, and attained a bachelor’s degree in Design at the Universidad de Chile and Film at the Universidad de Vincennes in Paris. A photographer for 25 years, he has traveled all over Latin America and Europe, while also residing in Paris and Santiago. Saint has published 4 books in Chile and has contributed to The New York Times, House & Garden and Saveur in USA and Photo and Madame Figaro in France.

Mg Aw

Born in 1945, Burmese artist Mg Aw studied with U Thein Han. Mg Aw’s work is emblematic of a whole generation of Myanmar artists who, rather than focusing on the repression and poverty of the country, choose to depict the beautiful and uplifting moments of its rural daily life. His work has been widely exhibited in Burma, including the Rangoon University Annual Art show, Gardener Art Show, Gangaw Village Art Show and G. V. Art Center, among others.

Woman Dressing Series 7, Oil on canvas

Seated Woman, Oil on canvas

Min Wae Aung

Burmese artist Min Wae Aung studied traditional landscape painting at the State School of Fine Art in Yangon. However, experience working as a commercial, graphic artist and a visit to the US in 1993 led him to progress towards a more contemporary, graphic style that has captured the imagination of collectors and curators around the world. Min Wae Aung draws inspiration from the Buddhist monks and nuns that are a part of daily life in Myanmar. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries worldwide and is held in major collections such as the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, the Singapore Art Museum and the Trammell and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art in Texas.

Waiting

Toward Monastery 2

Payal Khandwala

Payal Khandwala was born in Mumbai, India in 1974. Payals interest in drawing and painting started at a young age. She always had a deftness for portraiture, landscape, watercolors and oil painting. She graduated with a diploma in Fashion Design from SNDT University, Mumbai in 1994, with several awards for Construction, Design and Illustration. In 1995 Payal moved to New York City to pursue a degree at the Parsons School of Design. Two of her shows, one at The Fine Art Company and the other at the Jehangir Art Gallery, both sold out on the preview. Her works are currently on consignment in galleries in New York and Mumbai and in several private collections in the US, India, France, England, South Africa, Belgium and Spain.

untitled

untitled

Phan Luan

Phan Luan’s paintings are inspired by his keen awareness of nature and of his surroundings. He feels very fortunate to live in such a stimulating environment. Phan Luan lives in the house where he was born. A true son of Hanoi, Vietnam, LOuan’s affection for his hometown pervades his paintings. Accompanied by his ever-present sketchbook he loves to walk through familiar street, enjoying and recording the beauty of everyday scenes. The magnificence of nature and of old Hanoi serves as a key impetus for his work.(credit Judith Hughes Day “Phan Luan”)

The Market

Wei Jia

Wei Jia was born in Beijing, China in 1957 and received his B.F.A in 1984 from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and his MA in Studio Arts in 1987 from Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania. His knowledge of Chinese traditional calligraphy and brushwork developed from an early intensive study of traditional painting, calligraphy and literature. Wei has created a painting series entitled Calligrapher Series. It is the abstract beauty of line, rhythm, and structure that becomes form and movement, meaning and expression.

Calligrapher No.&(Shen Zengzhi)

Bo and Alison Jia

BO JIA was born in China and graduated from China Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou. After graduation he worked in Beijing at the National Museum of China on Tian An Men Square. In 1989 he came to United State and first worked in antiques restoration, and then continued his career as a fine artist. After several years in the US, Bo’s ambition to consummate designs from China was realized with the founding of Middle Kingdom.



ALISON ALTEN JIA was born in the US and graduated from the College of William and Mary and Harvard University with degrees in East Asian Studies.



In 1998 Bo an Alison founded Middle Kingdom with a group of top artisans to create timeless, evocative decorative ware. Almost ten years later Middle Kingdom’s singular vision has been well received. In the future we look forward to Middle Kingdom being spoken of in the same breath as established luxury brands from Europe and America.

Middle Kingdom

Carol Cassidy

Carol Cassidy has been working with textiles and fiber art for nearly three decades. She studied weaving in Norway and Finland and earned a BFA from the University of Michigan in 1980. In 1989, after working as a weaving advisor to a U.N. weaving project in Vientiane, Laos, she decided to establish her own textile business to preserve and continue the tradition of hand-weaving of silk in Laos. She set formed Lao Textiles in 1990. The studio produces a broad range of hand-woven, silk textiles ranging from intricate brocade and tapestry wall hangings to ikat scarves and shawls to custom upholstery and curtain fabrics. She has lived in Vientiane with her husband and two children since 1989.

Carol Cassidy pillows

Carol Cassidy scarves

Chinese Ceramics

Kismet® partners with Jingdezhen porcelain makers for items such as garden stools and a variety of blue & white pieces.

Reproduction made in a traditional way with a twist.

Garden stools

Chinese Furniture

Kismet® partners scour the Chinese countryside sourcing unique and beautiful pieces from the Qing Dynasty.



KISMET has access to a warehouse in nearby Norwalk, CT where shipments of Chinese antiques and reproductions arrive four times a year.

Asia Imperial alter table

Furniture from Shanghai

Jane Herold

Jane Herold established The Pottery in the fall of 1984 after apprenticing at Wenford Bridge Pottery in Cornwall, England, with renowned potter Michael Cardew. In his works "The beauty of a pot ought not to be a natural consequece of its usefulness, just as a man`s happiness ought to be a natural consequence of his work."

Judy Katz

A native New Yorker, Judy Katz, a graduate of Music and Art High School and the Syracuse University School of Fine Arts, is a graphic designer, potter and painter. Working with gouache and ink on paper, Katz escorts the viewer through Victorian villages, gorgeous mountain ledges, waterfalls and hidden places. Each painting conveys a joyful spontaneity, as if Katz is not only recording what she sees but creating it as she sees it. She taught for 12 years at the Parsons School of Design and has appeared in no less than 31 one-person and group shows throughout New York and New England.

Four Vessels

Chain Stitched Original Design Pillows

Judy Ross

Home Designer Judy Ross studied print making at the Rhode Island of Design, textile design at the Fashion Institute of Technology and received a fine arts degree. It was in Kashmir, India that Judy discovered the ancient art of chain stitch, which eventually became her artistic palette of choice.. Her scarf collection was sold in Europe at Browns of London and Kashiyama in Paris, Fred Segal, Ultimo and Barneys in the US. Actress Meryl Streep and art dealer Holly Solomon were among her fans, the latter hosting a gallery presentation of her work in 1994. A limited edition series of shawls and scarves is currently on display with textile designer Cora Ginsberg in New York.

Chain stitched original design pillows

Karen Ford

Ceramic artist Karen Ford took her first pottery class 13 years ago at the Parson’s School of Design. Her current work is a collaboration between clay, fire and glass. She creates texture by using pieces of starfish, seashells and beads. Karen strives to create work that is constantly evolving and evokes a calm and peaceful feeling. She currently teaches ceramics at the Silvermine School of Art in New Canaan, CT.

Karen Ford teabowl

Molave Designs

In collaboration with artisans from the Philippines, Molave offers a unique collection of home accessories that combine organic character with modern sensibility. Created using natural materials indigenous to the Philippine Islands, all pieces are thoughtfully crafted, reflecting the diverse styles and design heritage of the archipelago. The beauty of the land, melded by the culture and creativity of the Philippine people, bestow each piece with warmth and intrinsic elegance.

molave designs antique cartwheel

Perry Castellano

Perry Castellano’s apostrophe work is inspired by nature. Using organic forms and shapes, his pieces have an earthy quality with a fluidity that is found in natural phenomena. The viewer is drawn to each piece by the exquisite way it melds with the outdoor environment it is created for. The wonder and joy this work inspires has resulted in his pieces finding homes in gardens throughout both the East and West Coasts of the United States.







In 1998, Perry Castellano’s unveiled his metal work to the public for the first time at the Silvermine Artist’s Guild in New Canaan, Connecticut, where he also studied under Master sculptor, David Boyajian. Castellano’s work received recognition and acclaim upon its debut in Southern California in the spring of 2001. He was awarded the Blue Ribbon in Beverly Hills in the prestigious Affair in the Garden show, first place in the sculpture category.

Raindrops fountain

Red Flower

Red Flower was founded by childhood friends Yael Alkalay and Victor Silviera. Yael has often felt that red flower is her “calling”, her way of offering a healing and giving message to people seeking care, a change, a desire to be present, a sense of living fully and optimism about creating environmental change.

Integral to the growth of red flower has been Yael’s cradle-to-cradle approach to formulation. Each product must meet the gold standard of certified organic, bio-dynamic and wild crafted ingredients. Through the stewardship of her husband, Yael has been able to localize production, create micro-distillery projects and support local under-served economies. Every red flower product is made in upstate New York with sustainable manufacturing practices and created to biograde on contact with soil

red flower candles

Snapdragon

Snapdragon is the ultimate collection for the design-conscious customer. Their style is simple, chic, individual and timeless.



Perfectly balanced proportions, understated details and glorious lacquers, all help to highlight the exceptional quaitu of the materials used, making every piece of Snapdragon furniture as beautiful as it is unique.



Thes same principles guided the skilled cabinet makets of the Ming Dynasty(tfom the 14th to the 17th centuries in China), and are still relevant today - resulting in timeless furniture design.

Spirit Song Collection/ Diamond Teak

The story of Diamond Teak begins with the founders, Kevin Yardley and his wife Christine. After graduating from Harvard University, Kevin and Chris moved to Costa Rica to teach in rural public schools. They soon turned their attention to practical environmentalism and the issue of reforestation. Diamond Teak provides beautiful solid teak furniture crafted exclusively from reforested trees. In order to ensure a source of consistently superior teakwood that is also environmentally friendly, Diamond Teak develops and maintains their own teak plantations. From the certified seeds that become the highest quality teak to our own master furniture makers, we rely exclusively on proprietary resources to produce our world class furniture.

Spirit Song teak bench

Tucker Robbins

“Modern primitivism” is the moniker by which Fairfield, CT born designer Tucker Robbins refers to his unique furniture collection. For the past 20 years, Robbins, a former monk, has been a cultural ambassador, traveling between trend-setting designer showrooms in New York and the remote jungle communities where he hires local craftsmen to help design and build his furniture. He has worked with indigenous craftsmen, resulting in an extraordinary and unique collection of modern furniture and accessories. Each piece is a reflection of worlds that have come before.

Human Chair

Japanese Acacia Wood Table

Denise Wood

Jewelry designer Denise Woods artistic heritage extends back to the Italian Renaissance when her ancestor, Giovanni Rustici, collaborated with Leonardo DaVinci. She graduated with a degree in Jewelry Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology, has traveled through Europe and explored the latest trends for a major fashion jewelry house and worked for two years in Bali as a designer for a major fashion collection. In 1999 she launched her own collection, Denise Wood Designs. Most design are executed in 18K gold enhanced by pearls, druse, diamonds and a variety of gemstones. Known for their quality, style and attention to detail, Denise Woods designs adorn the modern woman in a wonderfully wear able line of fine jewelry

18K gold and druse pendants

Denise Wood Rings

Diane Firtell

Ten years ago, Diane Firtell, owner of Diane Firtell Design, became inspired by the Mayan calendar and the twenty glyphs and decided to begin creating jewelry based on her interest. Each piece is unique and is infused with the deeply moving and transformative energies of the ancient glyphs. Diane also teaches The Nia Technique and currently lives in upstate New York.

Sterling silver "Mayan" pendants

Gretchen Schields

Born in Tokyo and raised in Hong Kong, Africa and Australia, Gretchen draws on her favorite history to create dramatic jewelry designs rich with the mythological and decorative art traditions of her exotic homes. Before she began designing jewelry, her illustrations for Amy Tan’s children’s book, The Chinese Siamese Cat, became the Emmy award-winning Sagwa, one of PBS’s top rated children’s series. Her cover art for Tan’s best selling novels and her illustrations for their The Moon Lady are among the artist’s well known works in a career that spans children’s publishing and television, advertising and fashion.

Gretchen Shields necklace

Gretchen Shields necklace

Hanimefendi

Hanimefendi produces handcrafted, luxury shoes and accessories based on traditional skills in Turkey and Central Asia. The handmade shoes or mules, inspired by traditional Turkish shoes, are made from antique and old hand-woven textiles from the Silk Road, of Chinese, Russian and Central Asian origin. The mules are accessorised with antique silk tassels from Uzbek wall hangings or horse trappings. Each shoe is unique and the fabrics, of course, cannot be repeated. The shoes are presented in a shoe bag made from hand-woven Turkmen silk.

Haminefendi shoes

Haminefendi bag

Iradj Moini

Iradj Moini Brooch

Iradj Moini necklace and earrings

Joyce Francis

Joyce Francis is a native Manhattanite artist who specializes in sculptured acrylic jewelry, purses, sculpture and a coveted collection of passionately carved, decorative bosses. All pieces are painstakingly handcarved, handdyed and sometimes handpainted as well. There are no embedded objects. Her purses have become part of the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Costume Museum, New York, The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, The Fashion Institute of Technology(FIT) Museum, New York and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland – and on the arms of various celebrity clients.

Handcarved and dyed lucite jewelry

KIRANN

The melding of traditional designs with the best of contemporaneity impulses is what distinguishes the jewelry of Kirann Nirankari. Each piece is intended to be special and original, which is achieved by an unwavering commitment to quality and aesthetics. Using her training ad a visual artist, Kirann combines in her work, an understanding of global trends, while retaining the eternal design techniques of the traditional craftsman. Her work in 18K gold and precious stones, and her exposure to the best in east and west is manifested in designs that are eclectic and classical, modern and traditional, timeless and constant.

18 K and precious "Indian inspired" jewelry

Mary Wallace Anderson

Mary Wallace Anderson is a goldsmith and jewelry designer who works in 22K and 18K gold with precious stones and pearls. A native of Charleston, South Carolina, she takes inspiration from the arts and decorative works of Asia, which she has seen in extensive travels in Asia and as a collector of neolithic Chinese jades and Southeast Asian sculpture. Mary leads a left brain/ right brain life, since she has also practiced communications law with major firms and corporations for 25 years. In 2000, she gave up the full-time practice of law to follow the dream of goldsmithing, and has never looked back.

Organic form 18K gold jewelry

Organic form 18K gold jewelry

Sandra Goodkind

Sandra Goodkind, a native of New England, started designing jewelry in 1997. The challenge of finding a different way for her mother to wear her favorite cameo, other than a traditional pin fueled her creative energies. She started doing custom designs with her customers’ own treasured pieces, and eventually the business blossomed.

Sandra designs one-of-a-kind jewelry, using original antique and vintage “elements” including: fobs, cameos, watch keys, intaglios- anything old, unusual and true to the period. She incorporates them into necklaces and bracelets using precious and semi-precious stones and a myriad of pearls from fine cultured to freshwater. Having been an avid jewelry collector for almost twenty years, Sandra found a need to be able to resurrect these old and often forgotten beauties, making them into something wearable for today.

sandra goodkind isabel collection

Susan Bickford

From one of the leading jewelry designers at Barneys to KISMET today, Maine artist Susan Bickford’s jewelry combines sterling silver, copper and gold detailed with precious stones and personal messages. Designed exclusively for KISMET, her beautiful bangle “message bracelets” were inspired by meditation whilst on vacation in Bali. Susan currently teaches visual art and art history at the University of Maine at Augusta as well as metalsmithing in her studio privately.

"Message" bangle bracelets

Message bracelets

Tamson Hamrock

Connecticut Cottages and Gardens, July 2006 - Tamson Hamrock designer