Jonathan Adler Needlepoint Pillows - Number 23

Every time I walk into the Jonathan Adler store on Fillmore Street, I want to move in. The sleek, whimsical style mixes modern lines with a 1970s-home craft aesthetic that is organic, but still tasteful, and always fun. The hearty fabrics, silver accents, and pops of color make me think of the living room in my parents' old house - all grey and glass, with my mother's cigarettes standing upright in a silver julep cup on the coffee table.

Another thing tying Jonathan Adler to memories of home: needlepoint pillows. My mother is one mean needlepointer. I can knit, sew, design, make patterns, and do any other type of handcraft, but needlepointing is mom's domain. She's a master. One year, after completing an entire set of Kaffe Fassett's pillows, she used the yarn remnants to design her own bargello seat cushions. Since I cannot simply whip up bargello pillows with a few quick slips of the needle, I look to the colorful creations at Jonathan Adler.

The "Happy" pillow is definitely my favorite - listing life's good things in a melange of different fonts. Counterpoint to this of course, is the "Sins" pillow, listing the seven deadlies the same way. I'll take happy over sins any time - no matter how many I've committed myself. Who knew that a pillow could actually make you smile? But this is the whole of the Jonathan Adler aesthetic: everything he designs is from a happy heart...and who doesn't need a little bit of that gracing their home?