A recent photo shoot

 

I've just done a photo shoot of some of my recent interiors, with photographer Leigh Simpson. I love working with Leigh because I have an excuse to play around with the styling, as he likes to shoot the detail as much as the overall interior.

These pictures are from two kitchens I've worked on for male clients. I find that men like very functional kitchens with lots of clean lines; my female clients prefer a softer look; so plenty of scope for styling these photos. With this grey kitchen I thought the deep mauves of figs, aubergines and beetroot would work well.

The client for this white kitchen, wanted an uncluttered look with no visible electrical sockets or appliances, with the exception of the minimal hob and oven - so here I've added textural leaves.

But this is my favourite; I like the earthiness of these potatoes and mushrooms against the sleekness of the straight clinical lines.

A life less ordinary

One of my favourite shops in Brighton is the i gigi General Store. So when the owner's Zoe Ellison and Alex Legendre bought out their book, a life less ordinary, I just had to get a copy.

It is full of beautiful images from their store, homes and personal inspiration. The store opened 10 years ago, and it's interior and products have always concentrated on an intense neutral colour palette. There is always a wonderful mix of old and new, lots of layering of texture and colour levels.

As Zoe and Alex say in the book "We love to reclaim old things and put them in a modern space. Such places offer a story and a history, and bring a sense of individuality." It is interesting to see how this has translated through into their own homes. Very inspirational!

Brighton Festival

All this week I've been watching as Brighton's Clocktower gets shrouded in mens shirts. To begin with I wasn't convinced! However as it neared completion, I started to see the graduation of colours from dark to light, with some sections depicting seascapes.

Then I poped into Fabrica to see The Blue Route, and saw this incredible instalation, now I understand what's going on. Kaarina Kaikkonen, the artist, has been commissioned as part of Brighton Festival 2013 to create these artworks. The installations are assembled from second-hand shirts, donated by Brighton & Hove residents, which will in turn be donated to Oxfam when the exhibition finishes.

  Kaarina uses simple everyday objects to create large scale installations that articulate the architectural or open spaces in which her work is sited - 'A shirt is the closest to the heart, so that is why I use shirts. The person is there'. Well I think this is magical!

Light Show at The Hayward

I visited the Light Show at the Hayward Gallery yesterday. It's not the sort of show that I would have put at the top of my to do list, although I had seen the good reviews. But a friend of mine suggested it, so off we went. There are too many installations that I could rave about, so I'm just going to concentrate on Carlos Cruz Diez's Chromasaturation. 

Here's an explanation -“The Chromosaturation is an artificial environment composed of three color chambers, one red, one green and one blue that immerse the visitor in a completely monochrome situation. This experience creates disturbances in the retina, accustomed to receive wide range of colors simultaneously. The Chromosaturation can act as a trigger, activating in the viewer the notion of color as a material or physical situation, going into space without the aid of any form or even without any support, regardless of cultural beliefs”

It's almost impossible to describe the effect the coloured light has on your visual perception, as you move from one chamber to the next. It so disturbs the retina that at one stage we thought we were devoid of colour, visible in sepia or almost black and white. Quite extraordinary, disturbing and breath-taking all at once. Brilliant!

City of Coventry Health Centre - Award winner!

 Last week City of Coventry Health Centre won the Building Better Healthcare "Clinicians Choice" award. This is fabulous recognition for a project I was involved with, and for the team at Coventry Care Partnership and architect Cressida Toon of Sonnemann Toon Architects.

The Brass palette for the 2nd Floor - Dentistry, Physiotherapy and Podiatry

Dr Roy MacGregor led the judging panel who selected City of Coventry Health Centre from 220 entries. Dr MacGregor was the driving force behind the acclaimed Kentish Town Health Centre development, so I was really pleased when he mentioned the use of colour in his decision.

The Copper palette for the 3rd Floor - Sexual Health

The colour palette I developed for the centre was inspired by Coventry's industrial heritage. We focused on a different metal for each floor and used this starting point to create palettes for the interior design scheme and the Arts - the murals shown here are digital artworks by Kelly MacPhee who won a competition we set with Coventry University.

The Bronze palette for the 1st Floor - GP Services

What I'm really pleased about with this scheme was everyones willingness to work with the colour palettes to make this building a very special health centre. As you can see from the photos we even managed to get the colour to work from the inside out and the outside in.

London Design Shows

The recent London design shows were the best I've seen in a long time - here are some of my favourite finds.

 Julie Kouamo's hauntingly romantic wallpaper - Exotic Vine from her new Bangou Collection at 100% Design.

Bethan Gray's elegant and beautifully crafted 'Brogue' leather -topped, solid wood tables at Design Junction.

Flaster  concrete tiles at SuperBrands, I adore how traditional tile designs have been reinterpreted in a truly modern way. I had seen these tiles previously in Liberty's - gorgeous.

And finally, this completely brilliant concrete design from The Sculpture House at Design Junction

  formed of cut concrete paving blocks, the reassembled textured pieces resemble a stunning luxury carpet.

Exquisite Exhibitions

I've visited two exquisite fashion exhibition's recently, the Christian Louboutin retrospective at  the Design Museum and the Hermes Leather Forever exhibition at The Royal Academy's 6 Burlington Gardens.

In both exhibitions the curation is as exciting as the exhibits; at the  Christian Louboutin, curated by Donna Loveday, the special effects included projected images and films as well as fairground carousels.

But the hologram of Dita Von Teese was completely mesmerising.

At the Hermes exhibition the effects included red sand, leather strap curtains and beautiful exhibition cabinets.Curation - Alexandra Plat, Scenography

The two exhibitions brilliantly draw the visitor into the world of these luxury brands and their breathtaking accessories - taking you on a journey into their world. 

With both brands the colour red is indelible; for Louboutin it is the signature lipstick red soles to all his shoes, and with Hermes its the intense orange red for its packaging and branding. These powerful reds both elude to luxury, but to me Louboutin's red is about sexual danger and the Hermes red is about the richness of heritage.  

Clerkenwell Design Week

Here are some of my highlights from Clerkenwell Design Week

 I love these mirrors from Haidee Drew they would look great in a dressing room or hall.

And I found these Chool seats ingenious - when you sit on the seat, the body of the chair slowly drops down and the back moves up. A neat cube shape when not in use, but really comfortable to sit in - great for a reception area.

Finally how marvelous to see the BarberOsgerby Olympic Torch prototype and developments at Vitra - Stunning!

Bighton's Big Wheel

 I love this new addition to Brighton's seafront. Hopefully we'll get Marks Barfield's proposed i360 soon!