Tea time at the Xmas market in Truman...

Monday 30 November 2009

...There is so much going on in London right now, Xmas markets and fairs popping up in all parts of the city, all of them full of amazing designers and handmade craft. I don't really buy in hight streets shops, specially if I am looking for especial gifts or things for my home or myself, so perfect timing to go shopping!!

Yesterday I visited the Eco Design Fair and Xmas market in the 1st floor of the Truman Brewery. I was overwhelmed with the amount of stalls and nice goodies I saw, plenty to choose from, there is even a section dedicated to vintage clothing!! I am looking forward to come back to this little tea place, in the Xmas market, they had delicious cakes and tea, just what I needed after such a wet and busy weekend...I will tell you more about my Saturday mini trip to Brussels soon...By the way i will be at the Xmas market from the 10-13, so come and say hello!!


Chesterfield, still my favorite...


I keep seeing chesterfield sofas all over the place, it seems than they here to stay for a long time...Who could have predicted that this leather buttoned design, favorite of the English gentleman's clubs in the Victorian time, was going to be many many years later part of our homes, shops, pubs, bars, etc...

A couple of years ago I was on my way to the supermarket, when I spotted this cherry beauty on the street, in a secondhand shop, I sat on it and started to dream about how would I take it home and where would I put it, (at the time I was renting a room in a house)...all I knew was, that it meant to come home with me!! So I paid £75 for it and begged the shop's owner to bring it home for me. Since then, has moved to a better location, my current home, and is the pride of the living room, and even being the inspiration for one of my designs, long life to my chesterfield!!



Chocolate Creative




Via Flea market style book



This gorgeous version is from Hossack and Gray
(Sofa c. 1880 All of the fabric was antique linens; sheets, flour sacks, hand dyed remnants. Oh, and that's an antique Welsh wool blanket over it!)




SUBLIME MAGAZINE

Wednesday 25 November 2009

I want to celebrate with you all the 3rd Aniverssary of Sublime magazine, the first nternational sustainable lifestyle magazine. When my dear friends Damian and Laura started this publication 3 years ago, I knew they were on the right track, the title, the look, and best of all the content!! Every time I get a new copy in my hands, I get this sense of hope in our future and planet, as I learn about all this amazing people and organisations that, around the globe are doing their best to keep our planet going. It shows that we can make a difference and preserve our beautiful world by making compromises in our lifestyle and spreading the word of a greener and more sustainable life, so what are you waiting for??

This is just a brief example of what the magazine has to offer, definitely a publication worth to be red and look at...You won't be disappointed!!






I am so pleased to see one of my cushions in their selection of Xmas gifts!!. The photo shoot took place in the Eco-age shop in Chiswick, London.
Beauty editor: Jenny Page; styling: DS, Io Takemura, Iki Chen; photography: David Wilman


In this current issue you can find a very interesting article about Summer Rayne Oakes, and her beginning as a champion of the environment and achievements in making the ecological topics to be part of the social and media agenda.



Photography: Lindsay Adler, stylist: Anna Katsanis


Laura is very good at spotting new talents and choosing fashion pieces that set a trend and look forward into the future.





There is something in this photos that reminds me of the Pre Raphaelite...
paintings, Photographer: Diego Indraccolo; stylist: Kay Korsh

WORKSTEAD reclaimed 'maravillas'

Tuesday 24 November 2009

Yesterday, browsing one of my favorites blogs Design*sponge, (This blog was one of the first ones I came across about a year ago, and since them has became a fan of it, for its diversity, constant source of information/inspiration), learned about WORKSTEAD, a company that makes from furniture, textiles to lighting, using reclaimed materials such as old wood and steel. Their range of lighting is quite impressive, with an industrial look that I like very much!!

A give a 10!! to this design duo, Stefanie Brechbuehler and Robert Andrew Highsmith, not only for taking into account the only way forward ‘sustinability’ by recycling materials and giving them a new life, ‘Upcycle’, but for creating such a nice mix of products and styling them in this gorgeous simple way!!

I hope we all become more aware of the need to be responsible for what we consume and how we treat our planet and ourselves!!






Workstead Table - Composed of 100% reclaimed materials, the table is built from two steel stands formerly used to support the structure of a ship’s hull.



Images via Workstead

Chocolate Creative at MUMSROCK website

Monday 23 November 2009

I am very pleased to see Chocolate Creative in the Mums Rock website, Gigi, one of the driving forces behind this clever website contacted me a while ago about my products, and that is how I got to know about Mums Rock. As the name suggests is a website run by parents who have put their thoughts into good use and have created this online space, full of shopping ideas, forums, blogs, reviews, ideas and much more...I strongly recommend a visit to their site specially if you are a mum. I love how Internet is bringing together different communities of people and how we are connecting and learning about each other...

Thanks Gigi for mentioning Chocolate Creative!! 

{Lyn Gardener's house} Rural inspiration from Australia

Sunday 22 November 2009

The current issue of Living Etc magazine is showing this cute rustic cottage, home of stylist Lyn Gardener and owner of the australian Empire Vintage shop. I have been a fan of her style and houses for quite a while...so was very happy to see this article of her new house in the magazine. Photographer Tim James, has captured very well in this photos the romantic feel and abundance of light of this space. By the way there is a very good article about him and his work on thedesignfiles blog.

I really like the different tones of grey, mixed with touches of red, black and green, and of course the very nice selection of vintage lamps, furniture and linens…






Photos via blog: dailyimprint

DIY COUTURE

Saturday 21 November 2009

I came across an article about this new clothing label set up by Rosie Martin in this weeks Big Issue magazine (#873) She has been working with the homeless at Crisis for years and still gives sewing workshops, but her latest venture is a re-working of cloth-kit style clothing patterns, showing enthusiastic novices how to tackle sewing patterns of unique designs that you would actually want to wear!!

The designs are great and the instructions simplified into visual guides rather than being jargon filled and confusing. the first one is available free through the Big Issue website.





all location shots by Luka Yang and studio shots by Gina Amama

"London-based label DIYcouture launches its debut collection DIYC in December 2009.

DIYC is an unusual clothing collection: rather than purchasing a garment, the DIYcouture customer purchases a book containing a set of simple, visual instructions, providing them with the means to make that garment themselves. The whole collection can be created using DIYcouture’s books. Simple language, diagrams and pictures take the maker through the creation process. The outcome is personally tailored, one-off garments that fit each individual body.

DIYcouture removes the need for complex sewing patterns, so that learning to make clothes is easy and accessible to all.

The pieces of clothing in the collection are possibilities that live in the imagination, on paper, in potential. They are ghosts that come into being as each person begins to build them himself with his own interpretations.

Inspired by the thousands of invisible pairs of hands around the globe that make the clothes we buy, DIYcouture hopes to inspire people to turn off their screens and get up to their elbows in the 3-dimensional world of creation. It supports the slow revolution. Helping people to produce garments that are precious, rather than disposable, this is the antithesis of fast-fashion.

From December, DIYcouture will publish one instruction book a month. One book = one garment. Each book also prints a series of previously unpublished work by artists from around the world."

Jamesplumb studio

Thursday 19 November 2009

I met the lovely Hanna and James, the duo behind the creative studio JamesPlumb back in September at the TENT event. It has taken me a few month to post about their work and others that I will be showing here on the next few weeks. I have to say that they blow my mind with their work, and stand. This photos are good but don't do justice to their work, seeing it in person is quite an experience. JamesPlumb, is about working with the overlooked and discarded, taking time worn antiques and cast-offs to produce on-off assemblages, luminaires, and interiors.

Their most recent work can be viewed by appointment at their studio!! I share with them my passion for old things, recycling and bringing to life old loved object and giving them a new meaning and place in this contemporary world we live in...

{Enjoy this magnificent work of imagination}

Sampson: This light can not get any cuter, different elements brought together to create
a completely new product...



How clever this is?? Mr Fletcher, discarded old dolls legs
resting inside an old lace lampshade...



I really like the new use they have given to this silk screens...