Amsterdam is one of my very favorite places to visit and Sukha is a modern department store there where things are ​​produced responsibly and sustainably, using re-used and repurposed vintage items — like Clothing, furniture, jewelry, and handmade goods. Sukha means ‘joy of life’. Irene Mertens is the owner and founder of both fashion label Sukha, as well as the Sukha shop in the popular shopping district Haarlemmerstraat, named this year as the best street in the Netherlands. you can Find Sukha Amsterdam at Haarlemmerstraat 110, near central Station. you can find them on twitter and facebook, too.

• photos by seen by bien and Jeltje Janmaat.

Artist and former Anthropologie visual director Leslie Oschmann breathes new life into found objects with her Amsterdam design studio Swarm. For this piece, anthropologie commissioned her to transform and repurpose pairs of antique stools into a bench-cum-work-of-art, using both leslie’s own sketches and once-forgotten found drawings. one of a kind, handmade in the netherlands. sigh. please someone — bench me!

swarm…like bees to honey, i thought you might like to know there’s a new batch of leslie oschmann’s swarm bags. A series of unique, leather handled carry bags made by hand using vintage oil paintings leslie has sourced exclusively from markets in Holland and Belgium. Each swarm bag tells its own story go, hurry. these one of a kind handmade bags don’t last long.

the other day i happened upon the amazing cheese boards of brooklyn-based builder ariele alasko. i couldn’t even tell you how i got there, it was just another serendipitous day of my internet a.d.d. — one thing always leads to another.

and in this case, i realized my wanderings had found something special. ariele is a real maker – a woodworker — and has been featured on jennifer causey’s wonderful site, the makers (jen also photographed the images up top, and you can read her full interview here). when i saw what a cool girl ariele is, and how wonderful her wood making is, i just had to share.

ariele writes the blog brooklyn to west, which chronicles her work, ranging from headboards, to cheese boards and incredible dining tables, too. originally a california girl from monterey, ariele moved to brooklyn to attend pratt to study art, but her woodworking skills are mostly self-taught. she headed west (thus the name of her blog) to build and design a restaurant for her father, il vecchio, back home in monterey, and that experience lead to her current career as a woodworker. impressive, right? you can shop for her beautiful bespoke pieces here. here’s a bit more about the very talented ariele alasko and a peek at her lovely home.

What are your top three Etsy or online handmade shops?
I just recently discovered the amazing shop Falcon Wright and have been fawning over everything they make. I’ll have one of everything please! And definitely Herriott Grace, because what they make is such high quality and so pure.

What’s your favorite flea market, or secondhand find?
Everything in my house is a secondhand find, so this is a hard one, but I’d say my favorite is this amazing, metal-based, curvy, vintage rolling desk chair that I got at the dump in California — for three dollars!

What’s your favorite possession?
A cabinet I built that was the first piece of real furniture I ever made. It’s pretty much what started it all, what made me realize that this was what my future held. I built it from salvaged floorboards and an old glass window for the door. Even though it’s slightly crooked and pieced together {since I built it with only a hand saw and a drill} it’s reminds me everyday to keep working towards my crazy goals.

What are a few of your favorite things to do around your neighborhood in brooklyn?
Take walks. On a walk you can do so much: have a coffee and lovely conversations, hunt for treasures, search for dumpsters, and enjoy the amazing diversity that is Brooklyn. In a single walk you can have it all.

What five things can’t you live without?
In no particular order: my chop saw, my nail gun, my boyfriend, my love for what I do, and tea.

If you could go thrifting with anyone in the world, who would it be?
My friend Amelie. We are like two people thinking from the same brain. Nobody could compare.

Any favorite blogs or websites?
Of course! Can I take up an entire page? big bang studio; apartment 2b baking co.; la baleine noire; and wood and faulk.

What bores you to death?
I have banished boredom from my life! No more boredom for me, ever! But I suppose brushing my teeth is still the one things that holds on.

the incredible restaurant ariele designed and built for her father, il vecchio, in monterey.

dutch designer piet hein eek’s Scrapwood Wallpaper Collection has always wowed me, and now Piet Hein Eek has designed two additional styles which will be available as of November 1st. i love the look of this whitewashed plank wood wallpaper! i can’t help but wonder if he might be able to come up with flooring to match!? being able to lay down these white planks on my floor, instead of all that laborious painting? heck, yeah — could be genius!