A HUGE thank you to Oh Joy! for the wonderful mention on your blog today. I couldn’t be more excited about this! Check out the post here.

Check out the travel accessories featured here at LAMA!

Like many of you, I have been feeling completely devastated by the recent events in Haiti. The reports and coverage of the earthquake have been so heartbreaking. It has been so inspiring, however, to hear the stories of people like you and me who rise to the occasion and do their best to help out when others need it. I was so excited to hear that the lovely Jenn over at Indie Fixx has decided to start a silent auction over on her blog.

Jenn will be auctioning off some gorgeous merchandise generously donated by indie crafters, artists, and designers. 100% of the proceeds from Indie Fixx’s silent auction will go to the Red Cross International Response Fund. It’s for a great cause so head over to Indie Fixx and bid bid BID!

A sweet and lovely gift created by my dear friend and graphic designer Hijiri K Shepherd. This is definitely going up in my office as a constant reminder. :)

How much do I LOVE that she used Friend in a Nut to stage this shot?! Awesome! Thank you Hijiri!!

Happy 2010 everyone! It’s so great to be back and slowly (but surely) getting into the swing of things again. I hope Santa brought everyone exactly what they wanted for Christmas… a big high five to Santa if that something happened to be from LAMA! I hope everything was delivered on-time. We certainly did our best this year and it seemed to go pretty smoothly. Yay for experience!

This year I had no idea what I wanted for Christmas. I generally have a big list with price ranges, favorites and links/directions to everything. This year I can honestly say that there was very little I felt I needed and even less I actually wanted. I think I was just overly tired and feeling like nothing could possibly top a little rest and relaxation. To my delight, despite my request for nothing, my friends and family came through in a BIG way. It was so touching to know that my loved ones know me so well and were able to get me the best gifts I never knew I wanted. One of those amazing gifts came from my very own family and was a collective effort between my big brothers and my parents. Here’s what they got me:

Entitled “We Are All Kings” by Los Angeles based artist Amanda Visell, this print spoke to me in a very obvious way. I actually teared up a little when I opened it. It’s so amazing to know how proud and supportive my family is of what I do and what I love. It’s something I will keep in mind as I enter into a new year with LAMA.

Thank you to all of our wonderful customers for making 2009 a great year! A big thank you to all the amazing bloggers out there who have been so kind and have written so many beautiful things about LAMA. I can’t wait to show everyone this year what LAMA has cooking.

Need to have your gift wrapped? Just ask! We would love to make your special purchase look like the gorgeous gift it is. Want to send a special message along with it? Yup! We’ll do that too! Happy Holidays!

I bet you didn’t know we had so many fantastic, environmentally friendly products! Check out some of our favorites below. The eco-conscience individual in your life will love these great gifts!

Just released on the LAMA site today is the beautiful work of Buenos Aires based designer Pablo Ferraro. Pablo is the creator and owner of KOM, a fantastic company dedicated to creating environmentally friendly products with local manufacturers. KOM specializes in designing children’s clothing, homeware and accessories and has collaborated in the past with two of our favorite LAMA designers, Irana Douer and Sopa de Principe! It has been a pleasure to work with Pablo on bringing some of his fantastic products to the US for the very first time and we can’t wait to make more of his products available in the upcoming months. Recently I asked Pablo a few questions about his work. Below is what he had to say about his design process, his love of color and his future with KOM. Enjoy!

Designer Pablo Ferraro

LAMA: Can you tell me about your design process? I absolutely love your prints and your color selection! Do you design the patterns yourself?

Pablo: When it comes to the prints and KOMs design process: yes, I design the prints and chose the colours myself. I think that colour selection is probably the one thing I enjoy the most. Of course I love prints, but when I find myself with all the different pantone options, with tiny papercuts from magazines and thinking about how to match and combine colours I have a really great time.

A collection of original prints by Pablo

LAMA: I understand you are very dedicated to creating environmentally friendly products. Can you tell us about this?

Pablo: KOM uses 100% cotton that has not been treated with bleaches or chemicals that negatively effect the environment. All of our prints are done by hand to ensure the quality of our colors and the softness of our fabrics. At KOM, we choose to work with local manufacturers because we believe maintaining a close relationship with the different processes of production guarantees the commitment towards our project.

Fiesta Flags (Pink and Purple)

Fiesta Flags (Green and Blue)

Fiesta Flags at LAMA

LAMA: What are you working on now?

Pablo: Now i am working on my website (which hopefully will be up and running within a month). There you will be able to see some side projects I have with architects and people who work in decoration and home furnishing. The great thing about those projects is that basically you do everything custom made for a specific client and user, which makes it very very special, and you can play around with the colours you choose depending on the room, the piece of furniture, etc.

A peek inside Pablo’s studio

Thanks so much Pablo! We can’t wait to see what you do in the future! To check out Pablo’s products at LAMA, click here and here.

Based on customer feedback, we have decided to handle orders from Canada in the same way we handle all international shipments… on a per order basis! Originally, we thought it would be best to charge a $10 surcharge on shipments to Canada (shipping to Canada can get expensive) but we have come to realize that this isn’t best for all orders. SO, from now on, if you are a customer from Canada and would like to make a purchase from LAMA, let us know what you would like and we’ll send you the best possible shipping rate we can find (no more surcharges). Yay!!

flickr photo from meddygarnet

Thank you to our Canadian customers for your kind feedback and suggestions. We greatly appreciate you taking the time to make us an even better LAMA. LAMA loves Canada!!