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

Well the link between football and accessories may seem like a long shot but this is how the Melbourne based accessories label came about it’s name Nancybird….. are you sitting comfortably. “The name “nancybird” comes from the work Emily was doing at university – her main focus was the way AFL [Australian Football] footballers looked when photographed while taking a mark – it looks almost like a ballet dance. The word “nancyboy” was bandied around for this uni work, but for t

A little bit of fun for Friday. With October being the month for breast cancer awareness, pink seems to be everywhere, which is a good thing.  Perhaps it is the pink coupled together with watching an old Greece movie (and knowing all the words to “Beauty School Drop Out” the other day that made this place catch my attention.  The Powder Room in East London is a time machine which transports you back to the glamour of the 50’s, although I think that their techniques and tools

Imagine a place where you can shop furniture, make up, clothes….when you need to rest those feet you can enjoy the surrounds of a fairy tale garden or a coffee and bite to eat…. or if it all gets too much you can even get a bed for the night….. Well, albeit that you may need to go to the Netherlands to enjoy, Dutch store and furniture curators Droog have recently opened a new experience in the world of hotels, Hotel Droog, with the emphasis on making your stay more of an expe

Ming Vase – source http://www.graphic-exchange.com Designers Rachel & Benoît Convers together with business manager Carine Jannin are the creative force behind the French design studio ibride. The word ibride is french for hybrid, which is a reflection of their furniture and accessories designs which aims to alter the usual perception of the objects that they design.  The results are fun and functional, and certainly create a talking piece. Their most recent design is the Chi

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

As you will have seen from an earlier post, one of the images that caught my attention during my exploration of the Vatican Crypts was the image of the bee (pictured above).   A bee is a symbol of many things it would seem, but one theory I particularly like is that, by virtue of the fact that they are ruled by a Queen, they are the Symbol of the Goddess…..So maybe my inner goddess is drawn to these little creatures!!! (Just humour me OK!) So to add a little subtle Goddess to

The trend for Ikat is nothing new, both in terms of it’s origins, and in terms of it’s resurgence in the designs of current fashion and styles. It’s longevity and continual appearance in interior and fashion magazines is possibly due to the fact that, whilst it is distinctive in it’s style and bold patterns, it will sit alongside most styles and fashions quite comfortably.  Whether you are looking for a bohemian, tribal, or clean modern feel you can generally find something t

There is something very rustic about warm bread fresh from the bakery served in a paper bag, but alas that paper bag ends up in the bin as it never holds out for the journey. Tuscan company Le Sorelle  have come up with the perfect solution, made up of four sisters (below), La Sorelle entrusted their idea to local artisans and have created the Uash Mama (Pronounced Wash Mama) paper bag. Created originally as a paper bread bag, they feel like leather and yet wash like fabric m

In a world that is increasingly being over taken by “tweeting” and virtual discussion it is fitting that there is an increasing trend for decorating interiors with words, it is equally perfect for those who have a penchant for language over art, or indeed have a love for both. Typographic decor can cover a variety of styles and as such create a great variety of different looks, whether your style be industrial, a little shabby chic, simple and clean, or full-out bling and gla

For many of us over 30 ( I am not saying how far over 30), but way before the invention of the computer game and Justin Bieber, you may recall playing with paper dolls.  A very simple idea where you had a modestly dressed two dimensional doll with a collection of cut out outfits to suit all occasions.  The outfits were held together by a small tab of paper that subtly folded over the doll itself (that was until it ripped, or of course you got a little over zealous with the sc