On the water

Finally made time to upload a few photos from my holiday on the Shropshire/Welsh canal...more to follow.

Ace of spades propeller, crochet doilies, pegged washing, yellow strapping, firewood and painted jugs, a spot of fishing, lazy days, jug of Pimms, coordinated socks, solar powered boats.

Fabric in the wind

It makes you feel all summery just looking at it!

Quartz and minerals

With technical problems at work today, I decided to get some inspiration and headed down to South Kensington, first to the V&A to see Telling Tales: fantasy and fear in contemporary design. A beautiful exhibition that looks at fairy tales and storytelling within design, through the use of materials, illusions, decorative details and historical influences.

Then I couldn't resist popping into my favourite section of the Natural History Museum to see the minerals, quartz and stones - fantastic inspiration for colour, pattern and form.

Sing London

Sing London is one of the many reasons I love living in London. 30 painted pianos with the words 'Play me, I'm yours' have been installed across the city with the aim that people just wander over and start playing.

The other day I came across one for the first time, outside Liberty on Carnaby Street. The guy playing was amazing and even though it was raining, he managed to stop people in their tracks. He also picked up quite a lot of loose change (although I'm not entirely sure this is the point of it all!)

Wedding bells

Some photos from a beautiful family wedding we went to last weekend in the North-East...rose petal confetti, diamante highlights, lace trims, sugared almonds in ceramic boxes, ornate chandeliers and milk chocolate squares to celebrate the married couple.....not to mention the belly dancing and fireworks surprise!

Midsummer Dream

I saw this beautiful exhibition yesterday at the ROVE gallery in Hoxton Square called Midsummer Dream which aimed to be 'an antidote to economic gloom by bringing a sense of magic to a neglected space'. Huge site-specific paintings by Jessica Zoob of dreamy landscapes used an interesting technique that almost looked like woven ribbons, while mini gardens of wildflowers (complete with a few daddy longlegs!) placed in front of the paintings made you feel like you were immersed in the countryside.

It reminded me of my canal boat holiday a couple of weeks ago (photos to follow soon) where you feel like you have become part of the lush vegetation as your eye level is almost at the ground. I am off to a family wedding this weekend so will try and get some more posts up next week.

Colour flash*

A laundry rainbow!!

Inspirations from Frankfurt

Here are some of my most inspiring finds from my Frankfurt trip a couple of weeks ago. Lots of pattern, layers of ribbon, bold geometrics and quirky shop windows - the top two images were taken from the outside of a gorgeous little shop that was unfortuately closed for the day (I can't remember its name but it might be Ketchup&Majo). Another lovely shop is Designe, Kleine! which has lots of quirky products from young designers, both of them are on Wallstrasse in Sachsenhausen. 

Tokyo gardens

Some photos I took from Tokyo last year of mini urban gardens using recycled packaging and found objects. Beautifully designed and sitting perfectly alongside manmade structures.