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!

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.

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!

My pink crush.

Hawkins Brown Biochemistry Building, University of Oxford      WAN photos Tim Crocker 

I've never really liked pink, even as a child, I found it a bit too sweet. But things started to change when I fell in love with the Hawkins Brown Biochemistry Building in Oxford, a couple of years ago. The Beautiful tones of rose pink, apricot and honey used for the bris soleil, work so well with the surrounding sandstone brickwork.

Raf Simmonds for Jill Sander A/W 2012 / The Sartorialist Milan 20.4.2012    

Then last spring Raf Simmonds showed this stunning camel and pink coat for the Jill Sander A/W 2012 collection. By coincidence at the same time I saw this fabulous picture from The Sartorialist - the pink of those shoes mixed with the strong neutral palette of chocolate, cream and caramel - gorgeous.

So the trend for the neutral and pink mix just grew on me. I started to see versions of this palette everywhere; form Farrow and Ball's promotional pictures above, to these palettes below from the ever inspiring La Boheme blog

I particularly like the way orange and ginger tones are being added here.
But the level of pink that completely swung it for me, is this subtle shade of blush.....

The Independent magazine 29.12.2012

This picture, styled by Magda Bryk and photographed by Rory Payne, captures spring's tone on tone colour look perfectly. The strong clean lines of the burgundy Prada coat, softened by the 'hint of pink' silk top from COS - I'm won over!

Happy Christmas

Yosemite - New Year 2002