Last Saturday, the partners behind VIX made their partnership truly official. Emily and Sean were married on July 12, 2008 in an intimate and joyous ceremony, followed by lunch with a few close friends and family, then an overnight getaway at the Jersey shore. It was a wonderful day and the couple look forward to sharing many, many more together.

Stop by and wish them well if you like! There’s even a party at the store Saturday night…

Please join us for our next in-store event, when two very talented artists will be featured.

Keith King’s bold jewelry designs have made quite an impact at VIX — we’ve really never seen anything like them. He sculpts wire and sheet metal into dramatic and unusual jewelry, primarily earrings, but lately he’s been branching out into bracelets and other wearable art. Meet the artist and see some of his newest one-of-a-kind creations in silver, copper and brass.

Also joining us will be songstress Birdie Busch with a solo performance of some of her original compositions. Her music is whimsical and upbeat, with clever and inventive lyrics. She is truly a refreshing voice in the local singer-songwriter scene. A West Philly resident, she has two albums under her belt, “The Ways We Try” and “Penny Arcade”, both of which are available at VIX.

We’re honored to have both of these artists join us and we hope you will, too. Refreshments will be served.

Saturday, July 19, 6-9 pm.

One of the great things about this neighborhood is the amazing architecture. It’s so nice to take leisurely walks in the evening and check out all the grand, gracious houses, ornamented in high Victorian style. That’s what inspired our new “West Philly” design.

If you live around here, chances are good that you have one of these on your house, or maybe on your fireplace. Wreaths, bows, flowers, shells, fleurs-de-lis and other fancy doo-dads abound, from a time when more was more when it came to decoration.

These are genuine West Philly exterior details, from 47th street and 49th street. Maybe you’ll spot one on your next excursion around the neighborhood, perhaps on your way to VIX to check out our new t shirts. We did these in a variety of colors, on sustainable organic cotton.

We’re working on more designs incorporating local artifacts, so stay tuned…

Tonight was the first of the Friday Night Jazz series in Cedar Park, a summer tradition here at 50th & Baltimore. Denise King is the host and this week’s star performer.

Tonight’s show is the first of six consecutive Friday night performances in Cedar Park, at the intersection of 50th and Baltimore (right across from VIX)! Bring a lawn chair or your dancing shoes and come on out!

There are still five more fabulous jazz-filled Friday nights to enjoy. And it’s FREE!! More information on the performers is available here.

We are happy to present the unique designs of Ruth Zelanski. Her “contagious” collection of jewelry is inspired by the natural world and rendered in hand-forged sterling silver.

Based in upstate New York, Ruth is inspired by the forms of plants, insects, cells, molecules and even viruses. (viri?) VIX has the distinct privilege of being the only shop in Philly where you can “catch” this artist’s work in person. We are happy to spread the germ!

Thanks to everyone who came out for the show! We had a great time.

Lauren and Nicole talk up their wares

Andrew keeps the tables turning

Nice boots!

Nice shoes! Drive safely…

Stay tuned for our next little shindig…

As our inventory grows, we need more ways to display our collection of awesome handmade items. We’ve recently scored a number of vintage fixtures and display items.

A crazy metallic fiberglass jewelry bust, bought on Ebay. The cosmetologist’s head on the floor is a find from my Dad, who is always finding the most remarkable things. She has a splotch of pink color in her chopped-off hair, and the label on the bottom says her name is Viola.

These 3 little boxes came from a thrift shop in Germantown, all on the same day.

This lamp used to be in my living room, but I think it’s great for displaying jewelry.

Another contribution from Dad, a white “Carilite” suitcase, maybe from the 60’s. It works really well for the works on paper collection.

The suitcases work for all kinds of things. The one on the left is actually a briefcase, also from the thrift in Germantown. The lovely green leather one on the right is a gift from Dad’s friend Harry Lowe, Glenside’s finest sign painter and blues guitarist extraordinaire. We visited his shop recently and Sean sat in with his band, the Limekiln Crawlers. Those guys sure know how to belt out the blues, not to mention being wonderful people.

We love the vintage stuff. It’s fun to collect the right pieces to add to the store’s charm and character, but sorry, they’re not for sale. Handmade is where it’s at.

Salesmen used to travel far and wide, peddling exotic goods out of their immense trunks, hence the name. Our next event will feature three artists of divergent styles, traversing the city to show us some wares, play music and have a little wine and cheese.

Nicole Rae Styer has an unmistakable way of embellishing the living daylights out of something. She layers tons of different fabrics together with decorative stitching techniques to create her playful designs. VIX has a collection of her handbags, neckties and panties (above, in suitcase on right) as well as some clothing and accessories.

Lauren Marsella (first in our sporadic series of VIX Picks on this blog) is a Philly artist currently specializing in hand-colored shrink plastic renditions of cultural icons. She makes jewelry out of them. 

Music of the electronic variety will be provided by Artless Living. They will bring their laptops and possibly various other gadgets with knobs and things. They probably won’t need a trunk for all of them, though. It’s all digital these days.

Join us, won’t you? You’ll have a fabtacular time.

Sorry to have trailed off with the “vix picks” feature. To those still biting their nails about it… well, the wait is over. Introducing this week’s featured artist, quilter extraordinaire and Satellite cafe owner Wendy Papadopoulos.

She made one of her “nightmare blanket” quilts just for VIX, depicting a giant alien robot in the process of destroying our civilization. It is shooting flames at a Hummer with its laser beam eyes.

The city burns in the background as more alien forces attack from the air. Meticulously hand-quilted in a variety of fabrics and decorative stitching.

We are proud to say that this is the most expensive item in the store.

Thanks to everyone who came out for our Gocco event! My Mom came to help out and take pictures (wearing her VIX shirt, of course)!

Visiting artists Amy Walsh and Kate Duncan each did a Gocco demonstration. They brought gift tag designs especially for the occasion. We got to see the whole printing process start to finish. First they burned the image into the screen with the special flash bulbs, then inked it and printed out dozens of copies. We hung them around the room to dry, adding a festive touch to the space.

Amy did a dreamy cityscape design, and Kate offered some gift baskets collaged with scientific illustrations. We had pre-printed old-fashioned “to/from” images on the back. They turned out great!

Melissa and Jim favored us with enchanting medieval/celtic music on harp and flute. Although Melissa admitted she wasn’t feeling her best, they sounded wonderful and we were happy to have them.

Later, we and many of our guests walked a few blocks down the Avenue to attend yet another party, the grand opening of Studio 34, the new yoga/wellness center. It seemed like the whole neighborhood was there! It’s a tremendous second-floor space that seems to go on forever. They host frequent art openings as well as yoga, Pilates, reiki, therapeutic massage and more. We missed the raffle (dang!) but caught the Citywide Specials, our favorite good-time bluegrass band. What a fun evening!