home made

handmade crafty-ness nudged its way into the slick
Milan Salone.
lights made of seaweed by Julia Lohman
pots and stirrers by Tord Boontje.
maybe they had some time out in the Hokianga.......

introspective

as the weather cools - life is on the inside.
these are the interiors of a deco gem in Hastings.
photos by Alice Fiorilli.

Park the Homage

Park Coffee table by Ettore Sottssas for Memphis - 1983

Ok, I admit it, I bought the Barbara Radice/Memphis
book when it came out and only got round to reading it last year.
And... I'm glad I finally did! A very prescient and passionate
'manifesto-non-manifesto'. Totally twenty-first.
As for 'Park' - in a world awash with coffee table cliches - this one isn't.

ply flies

works by Stefan Saffer in my inbox today.
shape & colour are strategically and/or randomly placed.
what does it mean ? is it art just because it says it is ?
shape & colour can speak for themselves.

spontaneous

its great when friends just drop in - out of the blue.
Sue mixes East and West effortlessly.
Those classic Indian textiles and garments work the pink plastic fantastic.
Subaj treated us to his tabla sounds after dinner.
I'll look forward to a chai and a catch up when next in Pushkar.

happy hatter II

When we started making these bucket hats in crazy
fabrics I thought they'd appeal to sporty ladies but
infact its the guys who are really into them!
I love men who aren't scared of florals ( but then this guy
told me he's a gardener)
These flowers come from a sixties garden in L.A.

flutter

Young Alida came to visit last weekend.
She just grabbed this ruby & rata tee straight off the shelf,
put it on and started twirling around in it in the shop.
Fashion love ( or addiction?) obviously starts at an early
age.
The other thing is - I didn't know that organic cotton could
be so soft to touch.

black in Milano

Black as a design status colour has always offended me for
some unknown reason - but I do love this couple
immersed in the ultimate design black in Milano.

Let's hit the sack

This year is the bean bags' 40th birthday.
Known in Italian as 'il Sacco' it was designed by Piero Gatti,Cesare Paolini and Franco Teodoro in 1968 and produced by Zanotta.
Besides inhabiting many homes it went on to become a cult object of informal design making it into MOMA's hall of fame in 1972. Since then il Sacco - in its many variations has gone on display in 26 of the worlds' important desgin museums.
Definitely a case of 'been there & done that'.