Sometimes we become a little bit obsessed with decorating our walls and dressing windows and kind of forget about the floor.  Maybe we will throw down a rug, but rarely is there as much excitement about the flooring as the walls or a piece of furniture. A few years ago I stumbled upon an article about a store which has evolved from the passion of Byron Bay based designer Sonya Marish. Sonya has the most amazing range of antique and reproduction tiles which have been sourced f

I love these handmade bowls by New York designer Nicole Porter.  They are the perfect way to add a little colour to your table whatever season you are entering.  Using a mixture of graphic prints, and bold bright and fun colours, they are a simple way to add a little colour to your garden salad. I also love the quirky tongue in cheek napery, after all who said the dinner table could not be fun! Whether you love your Citrus fruits….. …you are appearing on Beauty or the Geek…..

There are a couple of themes which are running through the world of interiors (and fashion come to think of it!) for 2013, one being the colour of emerald green which was crowned Pantone colour of the year for 2013.  Another being pastels with a modern geometric twist …oh …and a little bit of floral!!  We could be forgiven for thinking it has all gone back to the eighties…fortunately not!! One of the other trends for the year has to be the perfect compliment to these, being t

One of my favourite periods with respect to artistic movements, was that of the Cubist era.  Artists such as George Braque and Picasso.  Never having been one for a Landscape oil, or painting of the Mona Lisa, I loved the idea of Cubism which argued that painting in the two dimensional does not show you the whole aspect of the object, so bringing you verious angles to the front of the canvas…but that is enough of my very very rusty art history lesson….and I will hand over to

When asked what she always bought home from her travels, the answer was an illustrated children’s book.  And where would she most like to travel… Vienna to dress up in full costume and take part in “The Sound of Music Singalong Tour”.  With answers like that it is easy to see where the whimsical comes in to Californian designer and blogger, Brittany Watson Jepson’s, creations. I also love her mums favourite quote…”a creative mess is better than tidy idleness”….. I must try th

The grey palette is ever increasing in popularity as the colour scheme of the moment, however it is tricky to make greys, which can be quite “cold”, invite you with warmth.  I am loving the Danish restaurant “Host” which was designed by Danish interior design company Norm.  They describe their style so eloquently “Norm was responsible for the interior design of Höst. [Norm] has created an organic environment in an urban setting. Guests enter into a warm and inviting space and

The season of interior trade fairs has hit Sydney with a vengeance, and ever eager that my achy feet will find a couple of gems upon my travels between the cushions and the curtains, this year I stumbled upon the ultimate in upcycling.  To be honest I hate the idea of waste and love it when something is repurposed, but it isn’t very often the word upcycle and beauty fall into the same sentence.  That is until I saw these fab rugs which have been made from recycled sari silks,

Those in the design world would be pretty familiar with the recognised system for matching colours, predominantly in the world of print. A Paris based creative force “Chic & Artistic” have used the famous system to mix with the musical palette to come up with some simple but statement pieces. Entitled Panto’N’Roll, the creative team have used swatches in place of wording on classic songs like Brown Sugar and Yellow Submarine.  They are also producing a set of posters, and to

Sydney is pretty famous for the lavish New Years spectacular of fire works exploding from the bridge and various vantage points in the famous Harbour itself.  Perhaps with this still in my thoughts I was drawn to a mural from the new “Expressions” range called “Fireworks”.  I think their is because it was full of colour, a little unusual and also has the capacity to sit well with the old as well as modern furniture. Certainly more interesting than a plain wall. The “Expressio

What, where and/or who inspires you? “Imperfection, the beauty in things that are irregular and not perfect. Inspiration is all around you.” Where did your love of Shibori work come from and what makes your style unique to you?  Pepa and I both discovered shibori when we were textile students, but it was during trips to Japan that our love for this ancient art really bloomed. We like to take traditional shibori and modernize it by focusing on little sections, before oversizin

A little bit of fun today… I bet you cannot look at these images with at least a little smile on your face!! Dutch textile designer Anne-Claire Petit began her career as a designer for the clothing label Esprit, before taking the plunge and setting up on her own. Soon, Anne-Claire Petit Accessories, became well-known for its shawls and other fashion accessories. But her creative talents have not just stopped there.  Feeling a little constrained by the seasonal cycle that come

I posted on Sydney based wallpaper company Quercus & Co a couple of months ago on their range of Australian flora and fauna designed wallpaper.  Well in time for those looking to do a spring / summer make over Quercus & Co have just launched their bohemian inspired “Caravan” Collection.  The collection is based on vintage fabrics and embroideries from Europe and the Middle East, and the colours and tones are disigned to make the paper look like it is melded like paint to your

UK based “Beware the Moon” is a wallpaper company with a difference.  It is a collaboration made up of father and daughter John and Louise Wakefield, who have combined their skills of design, renovation and photography, with a dash of their experiences from vast travel and sprinkled this with their, perhaps more obscure, interests from atomic energy, lucite guitars and microlights, to sharks, perfumery and herbal medicine. Beware the Moon is an expression of their creative co

Inspired by the fantastic Japanese cherry blossom (which admittedly is not quite in season yet!) I have put together a couple of images for some fun ways to add a little taste of the orient in your home, whether it be wallpaper, murals, furniture or something a little less permanent there is are a few ideas to cover all bases. Based in Surrey Hills here in Sydney, Rock’oco Australia are an interiors company who have incorporated the Japanese influence into a couple of their f

German born, London based (with a little bit of Finland in between) designer Pia Wustenberg has just been nominated for the 2012 Elle Decoration British Design Awards for her Stacking Vessel designs which bring in her study of disciplines including glass, ceramics to name but a few.  The vases pictured above are from her India range which was produced for the Sotheby’s “Inspired by India” selling exhibition of contemporary design back in May. The stacking vessels are designed

With summer just around the corner here in the southern hemisphere, it is the perfect time to add a little bit of fun and colour into your home.  Melbourne based duo Bonnie Ashley and Neil Downie, creators of the interior product company bonnie and neil have launched their summer 2012 collection which is full of colour and fun and is the perfect way to inspire a little change to your home. Catagorising themselves as “compulsive hoarders” of vintage fabrics and timber, Bonnie

Parisian Manon Gignoux is cited as one of the many influences of my interviewee tomorrow. My curiosity got the better of me and I decided to investigate… and I am glad I did! Gignoux describes her work as the meeting between clothes, body and decor, and as such creates unique hand made fabric sculptures, clothes dressed objects and accessories.   The result lies between art and fashion….. not a bad place to be!!! I love the inspirational photo’s as much as the finished pieces

German born Maarten Baas grew up and studied in The Netherlands.  Baas graduated “in a blaze of glory” quite literally  when he graduated at the top of his year with a project simply named “Smoke”. The project was quite simply dedicated to furniture which was set ablaze to a certain point to create a charred look. I have to say I know a few people who may have cried at the Steinway going up in flames, but I do love the texture of the charcoal. You can see a video of the proce

I may have had my head under a ball of wool for a while, but it seems that there is a new form of Graffiti on the streets called yarn bombing.  A little like the Guerrilla Gardeners, it is an aim to cheer up public places with a little knitting needle creativity…. I thought it would be a fun way to start a Monday morning with some colourful images from this creative and colourful movement.  Although I should caveat at this point, for those who wish to hit the streets armed wi

Gordon Harrison Hull is no ordinary rug designer,  working with a mix of clients from ad campaigns, brand strategy, copywriting, art direction and even… as his biography states…. relationship advice! The quirkiness behind Hulls work is evident in his statement stating that a… “Full Guru service is available.  Everything is totally possible” (this put a smile on my face!) In a recent collaboration with Anthropologie, Hull was commissioned to design and exhibit a series of gian