Great Danes! (An oldy but a goody)

I really like the colour thing going on here - I've not really been a fan of blue and yellow in the past (think Ryanair), but then I suppose this is more teal and mustard. Whatever it is, undoubtedly we'll all be saying 'yuk!' in 15 years time. But for now, well done Ferm Living, lovely stuff, beautifully presented.

I think the bottom wallpaper is an aerial view of Paris by the way, ooh la la! Would we like it as much if it was of Wigan? Possibly not...

Vintage paper delights

A lovely photographer friend, Jan Baldwin,  gave me a copy of Sophie Dahl's new cook book 'Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights' which she photographed.  The pictures she's taken are very beautiful, I haven't tried any of the food yet... but it looks like very cosy, uncomplicated and unintimidating cooking. Every so often, a section is separated by a page of very pretty pattern - one of them (just below) really stood out, so I was very excited to find it credited to a company in New York called Second Hand Rose.  They have a mega collection of beautiful vintage wallpapers.  Check them out.  I particularly like the small designs which make a welcome change from all that pesky, Domino magazine infested trellis.

Random 1950's toile, it reminds me of illustrations in an old children's book I had, I think it might have been about the comings and goings of King Arthur...

In other news, I got to see a preview of the new Spring Designers Guild collection.  There is one design in particular that really sent my heart-a-flutter.  As soon as it's legal, I'll post a picture or two.

Anthropologie London.

I'm surprised it's taken me 2 days to post these... but Anthropologie has finally opened in London and it is every bit as exciting and beautiful as expected. Also, the beauty of a press preview meant no frantic wrestling over the last butter dish-that-looks-like-a-lady (I bought this - it's truly a thing of beauty - see below). Anyway, here are some photos - look at all those cakes! I was too over-excited to eat unfortunately...

Just your average tea-time spread.

The prettiest little lady butter dish in the ENTIRE WORLD.

Hello Autumn!

Image via Pink Wallpaper                      Day Birger & Mikkelson

Tom Dixon for Asplund                       Day Birger & Mikkelson

Jens Fager at Libby Sellers                    Photograph by Sharyn Cairns

Caravane                                            More Day Birger...

Kirsten Hecktermann

This was meant to be a woody post, I even had a fun woody title for it.  Anyway, it's all gone down the dumpers because I couldn't find the things I wanted... most of them were here on the brilliant website of Bensimon's Autour du Monde shop in Paris... but the images are too small to grab....   It rolls a little like the backstage section of Kate Spade's site.  So, not much wood, apart from these beautiful spoons, all commissioned by Kirsten and made by craftsmen in Kenya where she is from.  But lots of other autumnal things, muted tones and scrubbed walls.  It's good, it's getting chilly and I'm already on 6 scotch pancakes a day.  (Shop bought of course - I am most certainly not a baker).

All the trimmings

I need to pull my finger out. What a lazy creature! No blogs for days. Work has just been too busy. Anyway, I was just going through a few photos from London Design Week, and remembered these simply gorgeous trimmings from Jessica Light. She makes them all by hand, out of silk, leather and cotton, and her workshop is just around the corner from where I live! She used a children's French Knitting bobbin for one of her designs - it took hours apparantly. One of her clients is the Sultan of Brunei, but that's not her look at all. She doesn't have a website, so

email me if you'd like her contact details!

Toogood to be true...

As promised below, here are a few pictures of Studio Toogood's 'Hatch' installation which I saw last week at The Dock,  Tom Dixon's new London studio. The landscape of pattern was created by Formica covered surfaces and painted canvas on the walls. Primed canvas by the metre is pretty cheap and painted up with big patterns, or a simple silouette would make a great graphic backdrop for a party.  Someone do it and send me a picture.  Imagine the glory and life-long pride you will feel when I post it up here.

Still more pictures to come of other lovely things spotted last week... 

London Design Week 1

Benjamin Hubert's 'Heavy' lights.

It's the middle of London Design Week and I'm just preparing to hit the streets of the East after yesterdays tour of the West.  This morning we're off to see Ilse Crawford in her Shoreditch Pop-up-Cafe/Shop, launching her new range, 'Seating for Eating'; New Designers, International design and Mid-Century antique dealers at Tent London, Gallery Fumi and Ceramics at Somerset House.

'Seating for Eating'  Studio Ilse.

Highlights of yesterday were Faye Toogood's Hockney inspired installation 'The Hatch' at The Dock, where Tom Dixon also introduced his new studio space (while clutching a small white poodle for support), and his new collection for The Rug Company.  Photos to follow... but for now.  I really enjoyed catching up with young designer Benjamin Hubert, who has been designing like crazy since I interviewed him 3 years ago.  I love his new work, and his wonderful concrete pendent shades are up for an Elle Deco award this year.  Good Luck Ben!

Not quite the end of summer...

Hot on the heels of one of my favourite textile designers, Genevieve Levy, is this brand new lovely Scottish company Bluebell Gray, who hand paint and then digitally print all their work, producing beautiful cushions and wall-hangings.  I love the painterly quality of their designs and all in such pretty colours.

Beautiful things...

I've just had one of those frenzied blog discovery moments when you find something really cool .. and then follow some links... and discover something else really amazing! and then realise that it's old news and everyone's already been there- a bit like Fraser Island. Anyway - to chart the links.. first of all, I was looking at the blog of illustrator Kate Forrester... She's does wonderful hand-lettering, look at these envelopes she hand-wrote for her wedding..

From Kate's blog, I popped over to the epic blog of paper-artist Elsa Mora, I don't know how she has the patience, but pretty amazing results... This main blog links to Elsita's other blogs. I love her one on personal style...she's taken these really sweet pictures of herself in her favourite outfits in front of different backgrounds. It's made me want to dosomething similar with the 3000 pairs of coloured tights I bought after looking at Kate Spade's new AW collection... If I carry on spending like this I'll soon be living in a cave... bet it would be a lovely chic cave though!

Second chance ceramics

Happy Monday morning. Yesterday in London was blustery and autumny, so I put the heating on, baked some little almond cakes and watched a Danielle Steele drama called 'Changes' - rugged heart-surgeon with just the right amount of arm-hair meets successful anchor-woman for 2 hours of lusty gazes in front of a log fire. It was brilliant! I also read about this interesting sale at the wonderful Merci in Paris. Merci is a quirky interiors and fashion, non-profit department store in the Marais. I went over for the grand-opening last April which gave me a good chance to explore that area of Paris... v cool little shops, it's like London's East end equivalent. Merci is set up in a lofty industrial space, the interiors section dominated by vintage pieces and new designs, mostly by muse-of-the-moment, Paola Navone. She curated a wonderful show with Italian porcelain Manufacturer Richard Ginori in Milan this year, which along with Rosanna Orlandi was one of the most memorable installations. Anyway, she has taken this liason one step further and working with Richard and his designers, has created a range of decorated seconds exclusively for Merci, to be sold off (by weight) until the end of the month. Hyper-cool quoi?