Grasshoppers and Orchids in Exquisite Stone Art

Stopping dead in my tracks, I thought I saw a tiny green grasshopper sitting on one of the soapstone boxes in Trove. Waiting for it to hop to its neighboring box, I realized it was an amazing carved replica of a real insect. It sat regally on a blade of grass and even wore life-like antennae!

I was told that these soapstone items are crafted by Le Van Anh whose family has been carving stone for generations. He is inspired by his natural surroundings and recreates the leaves, flowers, insects, and frogs from his own garden in Vietnam.

Vietnamese carved stone art has existed for more than 3000 years where intricate techniques of carving, sanding and painting are passed from master to apprentice. Soapstone, occurring naturally in Asia provides an exquisite canvas for the creation of decorative boxes. All the carving is done free-hand resulting in three-dimensional pieces with timeless organic flow. 

Join me at Trove to catch the grasshoppers and frogs and admire the pink and purple orchids. Grasshopper tea boxes, originally priced at $98 are available for $52.

Summer Amour

I have to say, I'm loving all the French themed stuff we've got in stock right now. Something about it says summer to me - maybe that's because the majority of it is light glassware or ceramics in bright colors that I could picture myself using at a dinner party on my deck (if, that is, I actually had a deck on which I could host dinner parties...).


This is one of our newest arrivals and possibly one of the coolest things we've gotten of late... The tumbler flips to fit perfectly over the top of the decanter to keep out dust and such. I like to think of it as a stylish alternative to the typical carafe or water jug. I can imagine several of them set all along the table of my theoretical dinner party.

Now all I need is that perfect deck...

*Lauren