Wednesday 27 June 2012

And now for something completely different...

For the more sophisticated Twilight fan (although that's rather a contradiction), no dinner would be complete without Liviana Osti's 'Cuore'. There are actually two decanters that sit next to each other to form a human heart.

Divine dinner design...

Australian art director Sonia Rentsch does striking compositions. Her character themed prints are particularly stylish, and I have been planning to adapt the idea for dinner parties, making the place settings reminiscent of the diners themselves. Beats the old place card and should be amusing to see who has trouble identifying themselves.

 The Butler
 Great Gatsby
 Mad Men
 Pan Am
 The Dandy
 Beau

Her food arrangements are also great for party inspiration

Mountains of unread material...

The curious book art of Canadian artist Guy Laramee





Cool carpets...

 Anyone following this blog will be aware of my love of all things trompe l'oeil, and this carpet is my new obsession. I think I'll get the floorboard one for my new London pad. I'm not sure their photos do them justice, in the showroom they look really realistic. They aren't the softest underfoot, but they are really sturdy and look and feel good quality. They are the work of Ege Carpets, and they have an extensive range.


The Scandinavians are also getting in on the trendy carpet action, these are the work of NK interior and Therese Sennerholt, presented as a collection for A Carpet, and sold exclusively at NK Stockholm.


Google Earth and traditional Persian carpet designs were used by Munich based David Hanauer to create these bemusing and intriguing rugs

And some others that caught my eye...



Flat envy...

Back to Paris for another seriously desirable residence. Bright coloured furniture and art against nude wall tones makes the apartment really pop, and is fairly easy to replicate. If anyone knows of any great London flats, please get in touch, I'm concerned I'm letting the side down by featuring too many from across the pond and channel. 




Thursday 21 June 2012

Street gems...

The wonderful thing about art and the internet is that Street Art no longer only inspires and is acknowledged by the people on the actual street. The virtual alleyways are alive with creativity, from subversive Banksy...


...to the whimsical crystals of Paige Smith


People have been doing similar things with Lego


Books do furnish a room...

As it's raining rather profusely today, instead of being productive I have decided to curl up with a book, Joel Robison style.


And then I thought I might as well unleash my collection of super shelves, as books really do furnish a room. Literally, in some cases, like the Michelberger Hotel in Berlin.



So now a selection of the quirkier pieces on the market today:

Saturday 2 June 2012

And now for something completely different...

The amazing, melting, rotting, oozing, sprouting, morphing, burning, eating work of Valerie Hegarty. Her art lies in the destroying,  not the making, and usually the attacking force is associated with the subject's historical significance. 




Friday 1 June 2012

Flat envy...

Today's coveted dwelling belongs to my old bosses, Preen duo Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi. They have amazing taste, but do own a few yappy dogs that would no doubt spoil any design related serenity. But as the dogs are always at the studio, their house is probably really quiet.



Concrete Cathedrals...

I'm just middle class enough to really enjoy a good stroll around a sculpture park (not yet posh enough to own one), and whilst I'm not an avid camper, I think pilgrimage around these fascinating structures may well be in order. 
       *I've put up the photos of the standing ones, I find the remnants of those that have smashed a 
little too bleak. 

"These structures were commissioned by former Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito in the 1960s and 70s to commemorate sites where WWII battles took place, or where concentration camps stood. They were designed by different sculptors (Dušan Džamonja, Vojin Bakić, Miodrag Živković, Jordan and Iskra Grabul, to name a few) and architects (Bogdan Bogdanović, Gradimir Medaković...). In the 1980s, these monuments attracted millions of visitors per year. After the Republic dissolved in early 1990s, they were completely abandoned, and their symbolic meanings were forever lost.        

From 2006 to 2009, Kempenaers toured around the ex-Yugoslavia region (now Croatia, Serbia, 
Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.) with the help of a 1975 map of memorials, bringing before our eyes a series of melancholy yet striking images. His photos raise a question: can these former monuments continue to exist as pure sculptures? On one hand, their physical dilapidated condition and institutional neglect reflect a more general social historical fracturing. And on the other hand, they are still of stunning beauty without any symbolic significances."


Trompe l'oeil wall...

The antithesis of secret gardens: highly visible magical spaces that don't exist. Which is a real shame.
Wallpaper by Maison Martin Margiela 

Koziel's door series.


No 'impressive wallpaper list' would be complete without Young and Battaglia. Their all-white collection is particularly exquisite.



Their other products are pretty special too


Artist Deborah Bowness does witty 2D interiors