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. 

Brighton Artists Open Houses

I visited some of the Open Houses at the weekend and bought this beautiful delicate print from Monica Macdonald Ralph; Monica's work can be seen at the garage at 51 Withdean Crescent.

I'm fascinated by print at the moment and also visited the Bip Workshop in Arundel Mews, where I found these lovely prints by Jean Farrer. The Artists Open Houses are open next weekend too.

Metropol Parasol

How amazing is this! The Metropol Parasol in Seville is the world's largest wooden structure. Designed by J. Mayer H. Architects

It took 4 years to complete and was finished in April of this year -www.yatzer.com/Metropol-Parasol

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!

The Red Shoes

To compliment the Capturing Colour exhibition I mentioned last December, Brighton's Duke Of York's Picturehouse yesterday screened the digitally restored film - The Red Shoes. The Red Shoes from 1948 is widely considered to be one of the greatest films ever made - the magnificent restoration brings all the true glory of the original technicolour back to this classic dark fairy tale. A great way to spend a bleak February Sunday afternoon.