Back in business after a nice sabbatical away from my laptop. For the past two weeks I’ve been in Asia- Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo, traveling with friends and family at various points along the way. After taking what feels like 500 photos, I’ve started combing through with an editor’s eye. I figured I’d kick off the new year with some shots from Hong Kong.

The juxtaposition between new and old is incredible. There’ll be a woman deboning a fish in a dilapidated doorway beside an investment banker in a mirrored sky scraper. The scaffolding is made of bamboo throughout the city and the branded exteriors are  statements of growth and prosperity. The last building is a condo on Hollywood Road and I was obsessed with it. If Pattern Pulp ever gets a storefront, it might just take a page out of this playbook…

One of these looks a lot like the other…I was rather surprised to see Coach‘s windows last month, as it seemed like they had run out of ideas. When making product and sending ideas to the factory, you nearly always create a technical CAD drawing and send it off with high hopes of returning as beautiful merchandise. They’re essentially the blueprints for the fashion world. Interestingly, while I was in London, I crossed paths the retail chain, Warehouse and spotted a similar display. Hopefully this doesn’t become a trend. Some things should stay behind closed doors. The clutter doesn’t quite translate when selling the dream. That said, when comparing the two, Coach’s life-sized handbags are a nice compliment to the drawings.

Our friends Claudia Brown and Jessie Whipple Vickery at Pattern People have some cool projects up their sleeves. Today I present you with their latest and greatest – a collaboration with the Ace Hotel in Portland.

On October 1st, Pattern People was tasked with designing their dream room for a day. Their idea resulted in all-over patterns (obviously) from wallpaper to bedding to pillows. Instead of working at full-scale, they recreated a miniature room complete with tiny furniture, plants, lights and of course, surface designs. As the finishing touch, the diorama featured a fish eye peep-hole, adding to the miniature magic.

This past weekend brought a unified preparedness throughout the east coast. While taping your windows was a practical approach (depending on the type of tape used), it also offered an artistic opportunity to showcase your message. While most people stayed geometric with their execution, it was refreshing to see who strayed from the norm, i.e this bookshop’s literary design (posted via Bookavore’s twitter feed).

Just as smile-inducing was Bloomberg’s alter ego, El Blumbito that surfaced as a result of his multiple press conferences. Kudos to comedian, Rachel FigueroaLevin for ceasing social media gold and entertaining thousands of cabin-fever crazed New Yorkers.

When everyday items turn up in unexpected places, the results can be really fun. Even  a terracotta pot can tell a story when displayed as a pattern on a wall. Taking a page out of Anthropologie’s playbook of presenting small things in mass, Pylos, a Greek restaurant in the east village of Manhattan has had their ceiling covered with curvy jugs since the day they opened.

On the other side of town in the meatpacking district, L’occitane‘s latest retail venture utilizes a similar concept. Terracotta pots line the entrance and ceiling. The impact is strong, the concept creative and budget, most definitely affordable.

I stumbled across a simple yet intriguing retail display at Liberty London a few months ago and snapped a photo, not sure what it would connect to. Lo and behold, this month’s denim issue from Nylon features an interesting spread with a similar pose. Do you think it sells the product, how engaged are you by this leggy ying yang?

There’s both a timelessness and modernity to brocade patterns. Just as camoflauge has evolved into a seasonly staple, so has the brocade for numerous industries, including stationary, lingerie, fashion and home decor.

There’s a bit of irony in today’s comparison, as the styled setting from this month’s Anthropologie catalogue juxtapose to the  faded and taped Delta terminal reveals the do’s and don’ts when applying a large graphic repeat. When applied appropriately and in context, the design can sell the story and emit the appropriate mood. When applied carelessly, any notion of luxury is lost, making a mockery of the entire execution.

When it comes to retail display design, I’m a huge fan of the homemade variety. After observing numerous stores in different pockets of the world, it’s safe to say I’ve seen a lot of stuffed dolls. Grotesque, pretty, sock-like, they’re everywhere, challenging the perfect beauty of their mannequin counterparts.

Here are three favorites. The blue and white blinking patient is from an indie shop in Shoreditch, on the east end of London. The inside-out doll with suspended guts is  from Dagmar Rousset’s shop on Fitzroy Street in Melbourne, Australia.

Using irony and curves to sell perfume, this lumpy lingerie model kills it in Milan.

Imagine wandering into an environment with wonderful sensory overload. A place to learn French, inspect global and varied patterned products and chat with a sweet and knowledgable owner.

I had this experience on my last trip to Melbourne on Fitzroy Street at Dagmar Rousset’s concept store, The French School. The items are sweet and quirky and the language learning hours, accommodating. The perfect mergence of two worlds cast down under. I’d love to see this idea pop up round New York and all over the world.

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Here’s hoping you had a restful weekend! There’s a bit of irony in today’s slideshow.

This collection is part of the Washed Up, Project Ocean window exhibit at Selfridges that I shot while visiting London a few weeks ago. In the spirit of summer fun, awareness and celebrating the ocean’s treasures, this theme couldn’t be more appropriate to usher in the second half of summer, particularly in light of Montana’s Yellowstone oil spill.

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Ever since my full time retail and product development days when I was tasked with visiting Rootstein and other mannequin showrooms, I’ve really loved the art of dressing and display. While in Milan last week on a visit to CorsoComo, Milan’s wacky concept store that’s much like Colette, I wandered into the most magnificent mannequin-filled space. The director was kind enough to walk me through the loft and share a bit of background on the business. He also let me take pictures. My favorite’s a tie between the painted thigh-highs and rooster bag. What’s yours?