* editor’s note: please welcome new contributor, los angeles-based photographer lily glass who’s joining the sfgirlbybay team this week and will be sharing lots of L.A. goodness!

today we visit Alchemy Works, a unique retail experience nestled on the bustling East 3rd street in Arts District of Los Angeles. Founded by Lindsay Parton, this well-­curated space sits just a few doors down from her husband’s store Apolis (more on that shop soon!), and offers a range of lovely printed material, apparel, household items and handmade gifts. grab a cup of joe at blacktop coffee which sits at Alchemy’s front entrance and also browse a wide collection of warby parker frames in the back corner. with the amazing selection and gorgeous layout of her first shop, we can’t wait to see what Lindsay has in store for her new locations coming to venice and orange county later this year.

• all photographs by lily glass.

there’s a lovely new collection out from ferm living for Autumn/Winter 2014. This is a collection of reflections from life and the lovely things that surround us. ferm living has a true passion for well-crafted design and everyday aesthetics — “Small moments are said to make life big. Moments like enjoying a dinner with family and friends, having a good cup of coffee, reading a book in a favorite chair or just staring at a vivid shadow. Having thoughts and listening to the silence. Or sharing thoughts and breaking the silence. There is room for life and we want to invite you inside.” a lovely sentiment to match ferm living’s lovely new collection of homewares, bedding, kitchen and serving pieces, as well as wallpaper and textiles. you can view the entire online catalogue right here.

meet the Carpe Diem Mug from greenhouse design studio. there’s Hello Gorgeous, Good Morning Beautiful, I love you, I love you too, Hello Handsome and Good Morning Sunshine, and each one is handmade and signed by artist Alex Marshall in her Corning, California studio. greenhouse design studio carries a wonderful collection of sustainable homewares and is a generous sponsor of mine (and of makeshift society!) and is giving away one set of carpe diem mugs to a happy sfgirlbybay reader.

*contest is now closed and a winner has been selected. thanks for entering!

to enter to win the set of carpe diem mugs:

• visit the greenhouse design studio site.

• come back here and comment below letting us know which item at greenhouse is your favorite.

• enter by thursday, august 31st, and we’ll announce a winner on my twitter account the following week, so be sure to follow.

• as always, please be sure to include a way to reach you in your comment — via twitter, facebook, your website or email.

this “it list” comes from one of my artistic idols, gothenburg, sweden-based camilla engman. i think i’ve been following camilla’s work, and her travels with her trusty pup morran, since i started blogging in 2006, so i am most happy to get a glimpse into her personal wish list. and, it’s a really good list, so i am right there with her. bali? sounds perfect. thanks so much, camilla!

“Things I dream of:
I love everything I see from Confetti System, so I would like them to decorate my home or to throw me a birthday party. There is something with Alma Allen’s sculptures that make my heart sing. I’ve been looking at the website and dreamt about them for years now — I would have a problem choosing, though. I really want one of David Neale’s pieces of jewelery, especially one of his brooches. Karin Eriksson has a wash bag that I always want and envy, I think it is a Lisa Stickley one. So now I want one too!”

“Any of these Amy Stein – Domesticated – photos, would make me happier. Since I saw the movie Eat, Pray, Love I want to go to Bali, which I’ve never thought about before. Mostly because I want to live in an open bungalow like she did in the movie and to have a yoga area.”

“I long for nature. I’m dreaming of being a sea kayak person, traveling around the world with my kayak paddling in all kinds of different water and nature but always in good weather. I would very much like to go to Lofoten in Norway, so why not bring the kayak there? I know there is an art scholarship I could try to get to stay there a while. I’m always looking for a good looking backpack, it’s not as easy to find as you might think. I found this one the other day. I live on top of a hill so biking is out of the question for me, but with an electric bike I could biking around all day up and down. and Petersham Nurseries looks like the perfect place to stop for a coffee/tea and a cake or two!”

get camilla’s “it list”: 1. a Confetti System party; 2. one of Alma Allen’s sculptures; 3. David Neale’s broach; 4. Lisa Stickley wash bag; 5. Amy Stein – Domesticated – photos; 6. an open bungalow in Bali; 7. a sea kayak; 8. a trip to Lofoten in Norway; 9. a lester backpack; 10. ecoride electric bike; 11. a visit to the Petersham Nurseries cafe.

there’s a brand new housewares collection that i have been eagerly anticipating the launch of — Sparrow & Co. i kinda couldn’t wait to share, as i’ve been following them around twitter for a while now, awaiting the opening of his online shop.  Sparrow & Co. is a unique homewares collection brought to you from glasgow, scotland by Samuel Sparrow – i love even just his name, right off the bat!

Inspired by traditional crafting skills the Sparrow & Co. collection will have an emphasis on handmade products from countries including Morocco, Uzbekistan, Asia, Central America, and of course Scotland. samuel has very kindly offered a 10% discount to sfgirlbybay readers – simply enter the code ‘sfgirlbybay’ at checkout.

you can also follow samuel’s sparrow & co. blog here.

sthlm is the home of independent swedish design, and features a new swedish artist every month. this month, these serving trays from the current artist in residence, Maria Holmer Dahlgren, really caught my eye! what a fun way to offer your guests a cocktail, or serve up a very happy meal.

and, these colorful cutting boards from mrs. murphy recently featured at sthlm are quite festive, too. so jolly, even when cutting onions!

i also quite adore these pretty oven mitts and kitchen teatowels from Bengt & Lotta for sthlm. swedish design that’s very snappy and eye catching.

and finally, from Lotta Kühlhorn for sthlm, these are some very cheery coasters and cutting boards, too. an apple and an orange a day!

i recently came across the talents of a designer whose home i couldn’t resist sharing. isis, aka souvenirs du passé récent contributed some images of her Belgian studio & home in ghent to the sfgirlbybay flickr pool and i was instantly inspired. i’ve found myself really into neutrals, whites, and natural textures and isis’ home is full of stylish ideas i’d like to pull off in my own home, and she’s photographed them so beautifully, i think you really might like these small, detailed vignettes i created from isis’ images.

isis is a student of archeology, and she also has a line feminine and nostalgic of jewelry and homewares, which you can find in her ety shop Paper Flower Girl, created with a combination of new and vintage materials ranging from metal to fabric. Every ‘souvenirs du passé récent‘ created in isis’ studio is labeled, numbered and classified as if it were a museum object in a cabinet of curiosities.

isis finds herself currently kind of in-between homes, one, a two room student apartment in Belgium, with a shared kitchen and bathroom, and the other a home in Holland she and her boyfriend are currently renovating. isis promises to share that home with us when renovations are completed. in the meantime, i couldn’t wait and wanted to share some glimpses into corners of her beautiful Belgian apartment. for more about isis, check out her blog and more of her flickr photostream.