images taken from Daniel Egnéus‘ website
How nice it must be to put pen to paper and for the line to flow so seemingly effortlessly.
May 312011
May 302011
Whilst I was at Skandium on Thursday for their AW11 press show, I stopped by the greeting card rack. I’ve learnt with age that my statistics for sending out cards for any event are far better if I just buy a card or two every time I pass them in a nice shop rather than trying to remember on the run up to each specific occasion. It doesn’t matter to me how far in advance it is, it’s just best if I have it. There was a collection of cards that really caught my eye and with a couple of weddings coming up in the next couple of weeks, they were perfect.
They are made by a company called Archivist Gallery which have 4 different ranges; Letterpress, Natural History Museum, Wild Cards and Archivist Cards. Drawing on the traditional skills of print craftsmen, the designs are funny, wise and contemporary in super colours. They’re lovely cards that are witty and beautifully executed. Not a trite sentiment in sight. Just how I like them.
Here is a selection from the Letterpress and the Archivist ranges.
images taken from the Archivist Gallery website
May 282011
images taken from The Old Hubbard
There’s a new vintage up-cycling kid on the block and they’ve got some lovely things in stock, they’re called The Old Hubbard. Very clean and simple, The Old Hubbard maintains a no-frills approach to their layout and photography which feels like a well-deserved break for the old eyes after viewing some of the websites that are out there. I recommend that you keep your eyes peeled and stay snappy, due to the vintage nature of the products the majority of items are one-offs, but fear not, I have it on good authority that there will be a regular flow of stock coming in.
images taken from The Old Hubbard
1.) water jug and set of 5 tumblers, £25, 2.) set of 4 pear dessert bowls, £12.50, 3.) yellow patterned glass bowl, £15 (sale price), 4.) peach butterdish, £9.50, 5.) Decorative lady dinner plate, £11, 6.) set of 6 rose patterned sherry glasses, £15
May 272011
1.) Ampersand bag, £10, Alphabet Bags 2.) alphabet tile by Rory Dobner, £39, Roost Living 3.) initial necklace in red, £15, Tatty Devine 4.) Letters are Letters, £25, Hand & Eye Letterpress 5.) Zinc letters, £16, Anthropologie 6.) Seletti set of 6 map dinner plates, £135, Conran Shop 7.) Cavallini set of 3 alphabet mini notebooks, £7, Papernation 8.) alphabet badges, £1, Suck and Chew 9.) Elsie Dodds alphabet cushion, £55, The Letteroom
P.S Since posting, I have realised that I included the Seletti Map plates by mistake, they aren’t strictly alphabetical! What can I say, it’s been a hectic week and my brain has shrunk…
May 262011
I spent the afternoon at Clerkenwell Design Week yesterday. There is so much good stuff to see. A lot of time was taken up by wandering around the Farmiloe Building which is showcasing some of the most exciting names in design; Moooi, James, Material Lab, Ella Doran, Anglepoise, Darestudio, to name just a few. The building is spectacular and the festival is spread over three floors and the outdoor areas. But keep some energy back because the House of Detention is also worth checking out.
Hidden away in all the underground vaults of the House of Detention are all sorts of goodies including; Timorous Beasties collaborating with Graphic Relief to produce some staggering beautiful and detailed ceramic tiles, Duffy London, Young & Norgate and Vitamin (with their lovely new lighting range). The House of Detention is an eery building with a basement that’s atmosphere is so thick with history it’s almost tangible. Lots of very old exposed brick work, curved archways and rusty metal work. It’s worth a look if only for the building!
On your journey between the two exhibition sites, there are two exhibits that are definitely to be seen and they are Lulu Guinness’ Pin-up which is a ‘human-size pin art machine’ underneath the Clerkenwell Gate and the other is the London Fieldworks’ Spontaneous City which is a little city of wooden bird and bug houses up in one of the trees in the grounds of St James Clerkenwell Church. Very nice.
Today is the last day so get moving.
May 242011
I was invited to the UK launch of a new interiors show this morning as part of Clerkenwell Design Week (24-26 May 2011). Inside: World Festival of Interiors is the sister event to Barcelona’s World Architecture Festival and promises to be an exciting new interiors event.
The launch was held at the unused former petrol garage on Clerkenwell Road, EC1M and has been transformed into an ‘exploded room’ bar with an installation of a pale-gray, skeletal steel structure by Chetwoods Architects forming the sides and the ceiling from which various interior products hung. A lovely selection of pendant light shades, tables and chairs, all from the designers featuring in Clerkenwell Design Week, swayed gently in the breeze whilst Claire Barrett, former editor of Grand Designs Magazine now Inside’s programme director, took to the stage to introduce the new festival. An impressive breakfast was adorning the top of the bar designed by the sublime Giles Miller Studio with glorious sunshine-yellow tiles and other materials from Materials Lab and Cosentino.
Go and have a well-deserved summer’s evening drink at Step Inside Bar. It looks great and is just perfect for watching the world go by once all conversations regarding the furniture-hanging-from-the-ceiling conversations are done! The bar is now open to all from midday until 10pm daily, 24- 26th May.
I certainly know where I’m hoping to be going this November!
May 222011
Its unforgiving brutalist style punctures the skyline with 3 towers of hard-lined grey concrete. Love it or hate, everyone knows it. One of London’s many iconic buildings, The Barbican is recognisable and visible from any high vantage point across London and certainly always one of the first landmarks I look for.
One of the restaurants in the complex has recently undergone an overhaul and The Barbican Foodhall (previously Waterside) has been redesigned and rebranded by architectural practise and design consultants, SHH. They have stripped it back of all the ‘modernising’ to its original concrete-ceilinged glory. There is both restaurant and deli style food-market facilities, with a choice in seating; outdoor, counter-top, booths or long canteen-esque tables. The flooring mimics the outside paving tiles and the 600 old olive jars imported from the middle-east make for impressive lighting ‘walls’ which sucessfully divide up the space.
I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to go and try it out and I got it a couple of weeks ago. The perfect place for a cup of the best coffee in London (Monmouth Coffee), a piece of their shortcake which must be the biggest slab of shortcake in London, good conversation in beautiful surroundings. To be honest, I love everything about The Barbican anyway so I’m going to be pretty biased. I went a lot with my mum when I was younger (she taught students at the Guildhall) and so I have fond memories and associations of it, therefore I’m hard pushed to find a bad word about it. But I am genuinely liking the Foodhall a lot.
May 202011
1.) purple peacock door mat by Rice, £38.25 , Nettle Green 2.) aubergine metal desk lamp, £104, Heal’s 3.) Overleaf rug by Marni, £3,010, The Rug Co. 4.) Radiance cutlery, £34, Anthropologie 5.) Idea wine glass, £3.99, Zara Home 6.) Stella sofa, £1,040, sofa.com 7.) Tiny alarm clock, £4.50, Habitat 8.) Polka Polka fabric, £42 per metre, Abigail Borg 9.) Roberts Radio Revival RD60 in cassis, £152.95, John Lewis
May 172011
Put down that Chinese takeaway menu. The only takeaway worth getting is from Heal’s. A collection of normal everyday throw-away items have been given a new guise. Cast in porcelain this trash from Seletti has never looked so pretty.
1.) Milk Carton Jug, £10.50 2.) Takeaway Tub, £7.75 3.) Sugar Pot, £11 4.) Bucket, £42 5.) Ashtray, £6.50 6.) Egg Carton 7.) Salt & Pepper Pots 8.) Mug, £10 9.) Cake stand, £36
May 162011
These piles of books look so good. Such a simple idea, executed beautifully. They are by the talented Chicago-based photographer Paul Octavious.
