Inspiration

I wanted to share some of the inspiration for the Quilted Library of Babel project I've been working on. For this project I've drawn on a short story, a favorite movie and my favorite color palette.

Library of Babel/La Biblioteca de Babel

The name itself references Jorge Luis Borges' short story, The Library of Babel (Biblioteca de Babel), in which he describes the library as a universe that consists of an enormous expanse of interlocking hexagonal rooms, each of which contains the bare necessities for human survival—and four walls of bookshelves. It's one of my favorite stories, and I've been fascinated by it for years.

Set in the 1940's, Espiritu de la colmena is a film by Spanish director Victor Erice. It's eerie, quiet and just beautiful to watch. I first saw this film for a Spanish film class in graduate school, and instantly fell in love with it. One theme, that is carried out throughout the entire movie, is that of the beehive. The image of the honeycomb is seen various times in the movie -- it's very hard to miss! Not only is this movie visually stunning, but it's an amazing critique of post-Spanish civil war society and the effects of dictatorship and war on a society, and it's individuals.

Papered Pom set from BHLDN

A couple of years ago when my husband and I were planning our wedding, we drew a lot of inspiration from our love of books, and the stylish items and decor at Anthropologie stores. Above is a papered pom set from Anthropologie's wedding line, BHLDN, that is pretty spot on to the color scheme I chose for my project. It's also very similar to the colors at our wedding -- very soft and warm tones. If only BHLDN existed when I got married. Side note: We actually had tissue paper flowers/poms, that were made with the help of my awesome coworkers, decorating the backdrop for our ceremony.

Isn't this brooch beautiful? Couldn't pass posting this little guy.

Honeybee Brooch from BHLDN

Well, there you have it! What things bring inspiration to your projects?