New Celia Birtwell online Shop!

As far as I'm concerned this is the stuff dreams are made of - a Celia Birtwell online shop! I've loved these extraordinary prints for decades and this shop is so well put together and has such a fantastic range of her stuff! There's everything on here from clothes, to garden trowels, to wallpaper, to face compacts. Some of the patterns are her traditional 70's Boho-Chic classics and some of the more contemporary ones are more of a Paris-pretty vibe. There is even a vintage clothes store with original Ossie Clarke dresses that she produced the patterns for (very on trend at the moment!) There's a fantastic interview with Ms Birtwell, by Annie at the ever inspiring MyDeco blog today too!

 

 

Incredible Saul Steinberg Bath

I was amazed when I saw this image by Romanian/ American illustrator Saul Steinberg. Many people will probably be familliar with the fantastic work that he did for The New Yorker magazine, but this is something very special; it really demonstrates his sureness of brushstroke. The face on the Modernist girl is so beautiful!

My Home!

Recently I've bought a really rather nice new camera. Hence I've been papping everything in sight! I thought you might like to take a peek into my home, so here's a few pics of the Pargy pad.

The first picture is of my childhood teddy Wilby (aka Wilberforce Bonthorpe Shelmerdene III)! The next couple of pics are of my beloved kitchen. The blue units were in the flat already when I moved in. I like to have bright pink accessories in there. I once saw Zhandra Rhode's kitchen in a Sunday supplement, and it wasn't too different! The bright pop art picture in the last photo was created by my other half, Paolo Pesce (or Mr Fish as he is known!) As you can see, the colours he uses are incredible!  

Jonathan Adler Ceramics

@ the utterly brilliant online shop/ blog Castor + Pollux (also a real shop on the sea-front in Brighton!) I've featured these guys a couple of times now with their Angie Lewin prints and Jackie Brazil jewellery, but now I've found a new love - Jonathan Adler! His beautiful ceramics have a very fifties feel to them if you like that period. Mr Adler is another US outfit that I hope follows the pack along with Anthropologie and Kate Spade and brings his fabulous wares to our shores! See below pics to swoon over! (all available at Castor + Pollux).

Stephen Webster - The Seven Deadly Sins!

I've admired Stephen Webster's blingtastic jewellery for some time now, but nothing prepared me for the new "Seven Deadly Sins" range. Is it sinful? Yep. Is it Deadly? Well yes on the wallet it is. But hell what do you expect from such a deliberately ostentatious brand!  I especially like Pride, not my favourite sin admittedly, but definitely the best ring out of the bunch as far as I'm concerned!

Pride comes before a fall!

Papermash!

There are some top stationery gift ideas for Christmas on Papermash. A one stop shop for cool stationery, cards, gift tape (and they also very generously do very nice free downloadble craft projects)...

...you can also check out the wonderful Tea for Joy blog, written by the lovely Lynne (owner of Papermash)

Julia Rothman

I totally j'adore the work of New-York (City Island) based illustrator Julia Rothman! She is part of design trio Also, whose style you may be already be familiar with ("Also" was commissioned by Design Sponge to create a "more feminine, craftier and elegant" redesign of their very popular blog/ design site)! How gorgeous are these beautiful Louis Chairs!

Perpetual Wall Calendar!

I've been searching around for a decent wall calendar for some time now, and now I've found it - this is a great variation on the perpetual calendar theme. You can either chalk on birthdays/ meetings etc or add post it notes! There are some great wall decals out there, but Fern Living are my favorites!

Trend Forecast 2011

...and this season we shalll be mainly adorning ourselves and our homes with, triangles! Modernist, masculine, feminine, glamorous, illuminous and 50's retro triangles. In today's post I will be looking at the three-sided from all angles!

I bought one of  these pink Alchemia chairs from Calligaris at the Ideal Home exhibition in London several years ago. Funnily they arrived from Rome 6 weeks later, when I was actually in Rome and I saw them in the showroom! The colour of these is incredible, but I also love the orange and red ones too!

...whilst lady Gaga isn't everyones' cup of tea (personally I think her image is great fun!), you have to admit that this headpiece from the utterly brillant fashion prop designer Fred Butler is a work of art. Commissioned and made for the unforgettable "Telephone" video with Beyonce earlier this year

...I really enjoy AnOther Magazine, and they have this great feature called "Another Loves", and this watch from Urban Outfitters was "loved" by Fred Butler; go take a look at her blog and you can see why - it is very much in her style!

...Modernist and masculine - Tamasyn Gambell notebooks. A real Bauhaus feel to this design!

...sadly, on a final note, Britain lost two of its' finest designers this year- Lucienne and Robin Day. I've had a lifelong love of Lucienne's fabrics. The top fabric is the one which started it all off, "Calyx", designed in 1951 for the Festival of Britain, and eventually produced by Heals (the rest is history)! You can see the design at the V&A Museum in London. Here it is again used to furnish some incredible chairs!

For other great trend forecasts, check out Design Refuge!

Presents for Film Geeks...

...save or splurge options below. First up (splurge), rather fantastic set of Almodóvar, esspresso cups for Illy Art Collection. These are very faithful to the bold artwork that you see in the film credits of Almodóvar's colourful films. The Penelope Cruz one is esp cute! Next up, is slightly cheaper super Moleskin film journal. Can be dutifully filled in over the Christmas holidays (after the turkey's been demolished, the mulled wine's been fully slurped and all the reles have decamped back to home quarters!)

Charlotte Mann

Charlotte Mann takes doodling to a new level. Her fantastic drawings with marker pen on walls are staggering in their detail. Former Central St Martins student Mann has done some great work with fashion Designer Peter Jensen and exhibited many times in Milan. I especially love the below dining room - a modern take on Rococo opulence. Definitely one to watch!!

Beautiful Mini Lockets

These tiny little lockets from Verabel would make incredible presents for birthdays, Xmas etc. If you want to get them for Chrimbo, I'd get in there quickly as it’s an Etsy job and they are being delivered from Portland in the States. This interview in the Etsy blog is very inspiring for anyone wanting to make a living out of something they love!

Birthday Buttons!

My lovely friend Cata (aka The Smudge), recently bought me a great retro button brooch from Marie Finlay for my birthday. I've been checking out her website this evening and I have to say there is some really cute stuff on there which would make ideal Christmas pressies! My birthday is on remembrance day and I always buy a poppy, but as I'm a bit scatty, I've usually lost it by the end of the day. Now I have found a solution - buy a Marie Finlay Poppy brooch, and £1.00 of proceeds go towards the Poppy appeal fund, and I can put some money in the tin each year too!

Donna Wilson

Congratulations go to the amazingly talented Donna Wilson for winning "Designer of the Year" at Elle Decoration's British Design Awards 2010. I love the quirkiness of style, and the confident use of colour that she uses in her wonderful textiles, ceramics and stationery. The below vase is new to her online collection and I think it will soon become a firm favourite!

Bird Jug

The very colourfully attired, Ms Wilson!

Mad Girls!

OK, I can't resist it anymore, I'm starting my Christmas gift-ideas count down. To start off with, how about these great Joan and Betty Mad Men paper dolls - a great stocking filler for a mere 7 quid! At Culture Label

Grayson Perry Scarf

How amazing is this silk scarf from former Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry? It is a reference to scarves that were distributed during the second world war to help escaped pilots find their way around alien territory, and is a "social and cultural map to help aspiring artists navigate the hostile territory on their way to being accepted by the establishment". Super Chic and available from the always brilliant Tate Online shop!

Womble Chic!

For those readers that are are not from our shores (or are too young to remember), the Wombles, were a pretty funky bunch of animals that spent most of the seventies picking up litter from Wimbledon Common and "upcycling" it for their fantastic underground home! Hopefully the below Womble Chic inspired pics might help you with some interior ideas of your own; living in a burrow on Wimbledon Common is optional.

Please note that no Wombles were harmed during the writing of this post.

SuperGroup!

... is a supergroup of artists that are "a creative A-Team that comes together whenever they are called upon"! This is a fantastically designed website and a great concept for a collective. I particularly like the stuff that Morag posts (from the award-winning Studio Myerscough) Here's some colourful pics of her furniture and art installations.

Triangles!

If you like tetris/ triangular type shapes in your design than you will love the Los Angeles based J1Studio, which wonderfully describes itself as doing thus: "producing simple, functional, unique, modular and systematic objects that function as furniture". The T.Shelf, the M.Stool and the V.stand have now arrived!

T.Shelf

Various Past Projects

M.Stool

V.Stand