duette design

Two fabnulous Parisian designers,Helene Georget and Rachel Peloquin have teamed up to form "Duette Design", an illustration and textile design studio. I just love the elegance of their creations. Making t-shirts, bags, cushions and other decorative items, they have a smart, modern eye, that combines snappy colour with natural mtoifs. Check them out at the Atelier Beau Travail in Paris!

Retro furniture for tots!

One of my favourite types of furniture these days, are old pieces that have been revived, restored and re-invented. Avid readers will have noticed posts about Zoe Murphy , Bulle and Casamento , who all recycle forgotten treasures to make funky new things. The newest add to this list, is France's Sophie Emilie, who re-work children's chairs and desks producing hardwearing, good-looking items with an ecological and social ethic.

New designs by Celine Saby

Celebrating the autumn - the time of falling leaves and mushrooming, Celine Saby's New Collection of lamps are light and airy, reminding us of life's simpler pleasures.

My favourite has to be the series of  "I can think everything" designs:  

"I can't do everything, I can't say everything, but I can think everything".

 Don't we all feel a bit like that from time time?

Murakami at Versailles

Finally got chance to see the Murakami exhibition at the Château of Versailles this weekend and thought I'd share a couple of his palace furnishings : happy happy lamps and a carpet that would have the French kings spinning!

Pigeons and Jelly : A happy combination

Thornback & Peel don't shy away from much. Combining the often-hated urban pigeon for example, with much-loved childhood jelly , they put together unusual designs for the home and garden that raise eyebrows and  liven-up a living-space. Who would think of a cabbage as a suitable napkin design? Or cuddling up to fusha pink beetles on the sofa? The appeal of these great creations lie in the whacky choice of motif portrayed in an out-of-context colour. I love it!

The belle of the ball

I came across Belma Kapetanovic Kapetanovic over at Print and Pattern. She's a postgraduate student in textile design, who uses natural, organic forms as inspiration for her fabrics and wallpapers. The results are abstract yet retain the vitality of living organisms to great effect!

Domestic Design

Regular visitors to the South Bank Centre shop will probably recognize the work of Alice Mara, perhaps best known for her fabulous "hanging people" range (for fellow Parisians, there's a little shop on the Rue de Turenne in the Marais that also stocks it). I was taking a look at her site recently and discovered her kitchen appliance plates, which feature images of dishwashers, hot plates and washing machines. Quite a novel way to celebrate domesticity!

Right honourable wall tiles

Wall tiles are one of the things I find hardest to decide upon. My kitchen has been waiting for ages for me to commit but I can't quite manage to take the plunge. My latest find are these designs by Munchausen, sold by Saint Honoré  in France. They reproduce the style of 18th century Toile de Jouy fabrics, using hot contemporary colours that are dastardly striking. They are what I would term "saucily debonair": refined and elegant, with a touch of the Marquis de Sade - or am I getting carried away?