Category Archives: Design Crushes

Design Crush #8

January 19, 2016

Bethan Gray G&T brogue table

Now, I have design crushes and design crushes, this one, the brogue table, definitely falls under the category of capital letters DESIGN CRUSH. I could not shout my love for this table more strongly. It is perfect. It comes in many colours and is a wonderful design, but this design in this one colour,  I may just sell my own nanny for it (and would probably have to given the price). It is by multi-award-winning British designer Bethan Gray who has designed products and lines for Habitat, John Lewis and The Conran Store. It is the quality and detail of this piece that is so stunning, that cut work edging which is hand tooled on leather is exquisite. The cut work, which is perforated and stitched as on a brogue would be (hence the name!) also looks, to me, almost like a doilly, mirroring something of past, a celebrational trim in a totally modern way, it is incredibly beautiful whilst being, dare I say, almost a little kitsch.Read More

Share

Design Crush #7

November 21, 2015

Freud teaball cafetiere

 

Now that the winter chill has really started to bite I have developed habits for hot drinks and croissants. Maybe winter should be a time for bowls of granola and nutritious bulk but it’s also the time one feel most like cosy-ing decadently with something far less worthy. And is there anything more timelessly decadent than well made English tea-sets? This one is sleek and may owe more than a nod to French or modern Italian design, but it’s actually made by a British company that formed to bring the interwar cafe-bar culture of Vienna to London.   Freud have a reputation for doing a mean line in cocktails entirely in keeping with these decadent wares.Read More

Share

Design Crush #6

September 19, 2015

brass-flower-ceiling-light-lotus-rockett-st-george (2)Image: Rockett St George

 

I love to find a bargain version of an expensive piece and no-where is this more true than with this recent discovery above.  I tend to have disgustingly expensive taste in lights and find sourcing things within budget really challenging, but also hold to the design adage that spending on certain things is a necessity for overall look.  Almost 2 years ago I featured a vintage light I have been in love with ever since. Read More

Share

Design Crush #5 Magic Lantern Slides

April 3, 2014

Magic Lantern Slides

I have absolutely adored magic lantern shows and all old forms of Victorian street entertainment and Georgian optical illusions for years. From camera obscura’s to zoetropes, magic lantern shows to witches mirrors, punch & Judy, death vanitas and thaumatropes, the whole carnival of spectacle is joyful. I sometimes wonder if I would like to have a room in the apartment that’s crammed with these kinds of objects but alas we just don’t have the space for such spectacle.Read More

Share

Design Crush #4

February 17, 2014

Coral & Tusk Emroidery Cushion Five Arrows Fox Headress feather Native American

I am not a massive fan of cutesy crafts, however, I am a big fan of folksy items with charm. Nowhere do I find folksy more charming than in Coral & Tusk‘s simply darling embroidered homewares. Created by textile designer Stephanie Housley, Coral & Tusks designs start life as drawings, by Stephanie, of nature, travels and things that spark her imagination which are then laboriously redrawn stitch by stitch to be machined in her Brooklyn workshop. Her designs are just magical, bringing out the spirit of adventure and a multi-layered representation of the touchstones of nature. I could not love these whimsically charming items any more than I do.Read More

Share