My current mood board

Normally by February I start dreaming of pastels and this coming spring's colours are beautiful. However the mood board in my studio is still reflecting the weather outside due to the relentless rain and howling wind. Since December I've removed the black and introduced greys to work back with my navy and indigo palette - so the mood is lifting a bit. But there are some lovely things on my board......

My friend Kate just gave me this gorgeous hot water bottle, as I have no heating yet in my new flat. It's so lovely though, that I'm keeping it at my studio until my building work stops. By Jules Hogan, she got it from Not On The High Street and it'll look fabulous with my crumpled grey, linen sheets from H&M 

The other fabrics on my board that I'm hoping to introduce into my interior scheme are from Eleanor Pritchard - I love this whole mix of pattern and texture......

So until spring arrives and my building works complete, this is my inspiration.

Merchant & Mills - a maker's paradise

During the week I am a designer, but on the weekend I'm a maker. So it was wonderful to visit the Merchant and Mills shop in Rye - this really is a maker's paradise.

An emporium of everything to do with sewing from patterns and fabrics, through to all sorts of notions. Merchant and Mills is the creation of Carolyn Denham and Roderick Field. Carolyn is the maker, responsible for the patterns and sewing side, while Roderick is the graphic designer responsible for the  packaging and stationary.

As you can see from the photographs the store is beautifully considered, as is the Merchant and Mills website and online store. On the website they also have a great video about their enterprise see here.

So what did I buy? …. all sorts of hardware for my bag making, a super sharp awl, more tailor's chalk…. but best of all their Maker's Journal. This is fabulous, it's a note book that concertinas out. The beauty of this is that you can add fabrics and things without it bulging to one side. Also you can view all of the contents at once. I'll be using my Journal for my next big personal project - designing my new flat!

London Design Week

 Things I loved at last week's design shows.......

Louise Wilkinson's exquisitely naive fine bone china at Tent

these wonderfully considered utility products from Turner and Harper at Design Junction

and the beautiful upholstery fabrics from Eleanor Pritchard, also at Design Junction

Wabi Sabi

I really love this summer's trend for all things Wabi Sabi, from the beautiful Miu Miu coat above, styled and photographed by Damian Foxe, to my favourite scarf of the moment below -

the fabric for this came from The Cloth House in Soho. The term Wabi Sabi refers to the Japanese aesthetic of finding beauty in imperfection, but to me the rawness and simplicity of these print effects are perfect. The trend is as strong in interior design as fashion, with these great wallpapers from Harlequin

Deceptively modern wallpapers

I've been sourcing wallpapers for a regency property in Brighton and came accross the Little Greene wallpapers reproduced from historical archives. A lot of their papers originate from actual London addresses as with the one above from St James Place. 

This 18th Century design looks surprisingly contempory when reworked into Little Greene's colours. However property I'm working on dates from 1825, so this design is a little early.
According to Little Greene the 1800's was a key period in the evolution of wallpaper production. During this century the introduction of continuous paper reels (from France), and subsequently roller-printing in 1840, replaced the widespread, artisan technique by which individual rolls (called 'pieces' measuring 12 yards x 23 inches) were printed by hand.

Little Greenes 19th Century designs include patterns from Japan, where printing methods had evolved in a similar way to those in the west. I love this design 'Pines' - the wonderful ombre effect of the folliage seems so right for now.

Little Green suggest coordinating this design with the following colours from their paint range -    Normandy Grey, Stone - mid cool, and Fray

                                              

Faded Glamour; this season's colours.

Harpers Bazaar's "A Moment In Time" photographed by Yelena Yemchuk, styled by Leith Clark

I subscribe to various fashion and interior magazines, and I find it very interesting how each one covers a trend, and how this crosses from clothing to lifestyle. This month there is a feeling of romantic nostalgia; of faded glamour. The fashion story above, in Harpers Bazaar is very English country home with a decadent nonchalance.

Vogue's "Heartbreak Hotel", styled by Lucinda Chambers, photographed by Jervier Vallhonrat 

 Whereas Vogue have focused on this season's sharper, mid-century influenced silhouette, but still softened in the same wonderful faded shades, with a beautiful backdrop of De Gournay wallpaper.

Elle Decoration's "Beyond the Pale" photo Sean Myers, Stylinh Hannah Bort

These gorgeous sepia tinted tones are crossing over into interior trends, as the move away from minimalism continues. The overall effect reminds me of hand tinted photos.

Louis Vuitton Autumn Winter 2013/14

This soft and sensuous colour story is very current, but also set to run through to next autumn, as shown at the Louis Vuitton catwalk show last week. A fabulous mix of colour, pattern and texture - dreamy!

Modern Mosaics

The other week I visited the Surface Design Show in London, and several companies were showing mosaic style tiles in neutral shades. Here are my favourites - above is Estrela Nero and Cubo Nero from Vicalvi. And below is Frame by Refin

To me they are reminiscent of Victorian tiles, refined for modern tastes. I like this re-introduction of patterning for floors especially after years of plain surfaces.

This is the Frame flooring in a retail environment but I think it would look equally fabulous in an open plan living area.

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.

Saigon Markets

It seems this year has been all about travel, I've just returned from Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon as most locals still call it. Fast, exciting, chaotic - an amasing 10 million people live here and 6 million ride scooters and motorbikes, as a result there is a massive market for crash helmets - they come in every colour and design.

In fact there is a massive choice of everything in the amazing markets....from food to flowers to more hats!

Cuban shirts - Guayabera

During our stay in Miami we had a Cuban day - we headed over to Little Havana and the marvellous La Casa de Las Guayaberas on 8th Street. This is the store if you wish to buy a retro-hip Cuban shirt known as the guayabera -- a loose-fitting, pleated, four pocket button-down shirt.

Founded by Ramon Puig, who emigrated to Miami over 40 years ago, the store stocks every imaginable variation, Ramon still uses the same scissors that he arrived with. No one in the store speaks any English but they have produced a short history of the guayabera in this little booklet – I love the graphics. Afterwards we lunched at Versailes, a hugh mirror-lined restaurant, full of Cuban families having a great time. 

Coventry City Centre Health Facility - Digital Artwork Project

The main palette

One of my current work projects, is as colour consultant and arts coordinator for the new City Centre Health Facility in Coventry. Working with the architect Cressida Toon's vision, I have developed a colour palette based on Coventry's urban landscape, it's ever changing society and industrial heritage. This main palette is a mix of brick, slate, lead and copper in different states of erosion.Further subsidiary palettes have been developed for each floor, each based on a metal: Iron, Bronze, Brass, Copper and Steel. These palettes are for wayfinding, interior design and as inspiration for the artworks.

Third Floor - Copper, by Kelly MacPhee

As part of the arts programme, I set up a competition with Coventry University to design digital artworks for each floor of the centre; these large scale artworks are to be digitally printed onto wallcoverings and positioned to aid orientation around the building. Kelly MacPhee's designs were selected for all floors, her brilliant use of the colour palettes and the metallic themes, produced beautiful images that work from a distance and close up. I can't wait for the artworks to be installed!

First Floor - Bronze, by Kelly MacPhee

   

Clerkenwell Design Week

It was Clerkenwell Design Week this week and what really interested me is how designer/makers are relooking at tradition, taking the best of it and producing something knew and thought provoking in reponse.

The House Of Hackney have 'reworked traditional homewares for a new generation'; their Dalston Rose range of soft furnishings, wallpaper and home accessories have mixed ombre effects with an antique rose print to recreate a contempory antidote to the years of minimalism we've seen in home interiors. Just devine!

Brighton based Sean Dare of Dare Studio has designed this trully modern winged chair, Sean's clean lines have updated this furnishing classic into a wonderfully contemporary piece. The return of the winged chair seems just right now; the acoustic qualities gained through the design are brilliantly for blocking out mobile phones and other annoying modern day noises. 

Vintage fabric prints

I bought several metres of this fabric as I loved the colour mix; the salmon base and pale blue petals mixed with the more definite navy and red are a nostalgic mix for me. It reminded me of some real vintage fabric I had bought many years ago....

Again it's the mix of pastel levels and primary colours, the initial impression is naive and childlike, but in reality I think it's more sophisticated than that. To get the levels right is a skill; the choice of colours lifts these prints above the sickly sweet. The strength of the primary colours with the other hues fading out adds to the vintage feel, as if some of the colours have faded through washing and the passing of time.

Sludgy Colours

Illustration by Alexander Wells / theartworksinc.com 

It's unusual for me to be drawn to muddy or sludgy colours but I saw this illustration by Alexander Wells in the FT last weekend; it's a fabulous illustration that worked especially well with the pink newsprint paper. I kept the illustration on my desk and it's influenced my colour choices this week.

On Wednesday, while taking a break from giving a seminar on Colour at The Fashion Retail Academy, I popped into Paperchase as I love stationary...dissaster! I ended up buying these beautiful little boxes of stationery from East Of India all in natural taupe shades. I'll never use them - they're too beautiful!

The People's Prints

I finished the week being fascinated by this great menwear fashion spread, styled and photographed by Damian Foxe in How To Spend It. I love this magazine, it's so far from everyday reality, it's style on another level.

Porcelain by Paola Navone

 I often look at the Cos Stores website, I love their clothes, but also the 'Things' section, where I found these really beautiful porcelain plates.

Designed by Paola Navone, the full collection can be found here Reichenbach . I adore these!