The Brooklyn Flea is a little over two weeks away. Aiko Designs will be there for the opening on Sunday, April 6th! There will be 200 vendors with a mixture of vintage and new items that range from records to furniture to jewelry to toffee.

The grand opening is from 10:00am through 5:00pm on Sunday, April 6th at 175 Lafayette Ave. in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. The opening festivities include a performance of Baby Loves Jazz featuring Sharon Jones at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple (across the street from the flea).

Looks like it’s going to be great!

Aiko Designs has teamed up with Nest, a nonprofit that provides micro-credit loans to women artists and artisans in the developing world to create and maintain sustainable entrepreneurial businesses. The funds for these loans are raised by Nest’s online sales and through participating artists and designers who provide a portion of sales of their selected pieces to Nest.

Mother of pearl disks on 14KT gold-fill chain. Chain is approximately 18” long. $85

25% of the retail price of this mother of pearl necklace will go to Nest. If you’re interested in purchasing this necklace and supporting the Nest mission, please contact me.

Aiko Designs is booked for another event in Tokyo! I’ll be participating in a two week exhibit with Rukus at Cafe Bossa from Sat., May 24th through Fri., June 6th.

Roselle Ellison was the artist next to me at the Appel & Frank show in San Diego this weekend — how lucky am I? Her adorable crocheted angora and wool bunnies and chicks are the perfect pets for my busy, urban life — I got three of them!

These creatures need to find their way to Japan where people would go nuts for them.

You can find LA BÊTE Handmade products at the LA BÊTE etsy shop, Atomic Garden in Oakland, CA and Soul Shine in Del Mar, CA.

I got these two:

and a little wool bunny.

Sunday, Mar. 9th :: Appel & Frank’s Spring into Style at the ABBEY in San Diego! (2825 Fifth Ave. @ Olive) from 12:00PM – 4:00PM.

Please visit www.appelandfrank.com to purchase tickets at the special pre-event price of just $5 (tickets are $10 at the door). Enter the discount code DESIGNER on the ticket purchase page at www.appelandfrank.com and get in FREE! This code is only good for pre-event ticket sales up to Saturday night.

Shop from 50 emerging, West Coast designers! Treat yourself to make-overs from Sweet Cosmo Cosmetics, brow waxes from Anastasia, and refreshing beverages from Honest Tea!

A sample of beautiful new images from my photographer, Sarah Thomas. More to come soon…

Mission Open Studios 2008
April 26th & 27th 11am – 6pm
Opening receptions Fri. evening April 25th

The 2nd annual Mission Open Studios is happening this April in San Francisco’s Mission district. Mission Open Studios is a collaboration between the artists and art studios in the Mission district to have a free open studios art show the weekend of April 26th and 27th with opening receptions at some of the studios the evening of April 25th. The Art Explosion, 1890 Bryant St, CellSpace, LiveArt, Developing Environments and Workspace Ltd along with individual artists will open their studios giving visitors an opportunity to view and purchase beautiful, challenging and affordable art.

Aiko Designs will be participating — find me at The Art Explosion @ 744 Alabama St. between 19th and 20th streets in San Francisco. <map>