Gorgeous couture!

My favourite pieces from the Paris Couture shows by Giorgio Armani Prive and Anne Valerie Hash - amazing fabrics and liquid visuals

Almost a cute vintage breakfast set!

I was very excited when reading a recent post on one of favourite blogs the other day, as I spied some ceramics that looked very familiar! Nina from Ninainvorm had bought a bowl, cup and saucer at different times from the same charity shop, but has since found out that they all actually fit together as a cute vintage breakfast set (see bottom image).

Unfortunately, I seem to be missing the body for my pigtailed girl and my saucer also doesn't have any feet.....but surely it must be from the same collection? I must keep trawling Battersea car boot now to find the missing cup! See the rest of Nina's post and the story of her breakfast set here

Found reflections

Beautiful reflections+mirrors+multiples+surface+materials seen at Stuart Haygarth's exhibition Found at the Haunch of Venison. I love his use of unexpected materials and the way multiple objects create a whole new aesthetic. Here are some of the mirrored and spectacle pieces, and I'll post his ceramic and plastic work in the next few days.

"Haygarth has spent many years gathering seemingly insignificant items such as ceramic figurines, spectacles, glassware and plastic objects whilst beachcombing, cycling and on excursions to markets and car boot sales. These found materials are then painstakingly organised and inspire the final work through their form, use, tactile qualities and their relationship to light" - Haunch of Venison.

Cigarette album

One of my most recent car boot finds.....the last of 2009 I think. The album is complete with all 52 cards of beautifully illustrated South African flowers. No idea how old it is, but still a treasure to me! I love the type on the front cover and the simplicity of the binding.

Collaboration

A sneak preview of a creative collaboration I am taking part in with a digital printed textiles tutor and a dressmaker. You may recognise the print from the vintage hand-block printed wallpaper I bought last year (see my post here) but that's all I'm saying for now!

Pop-up patchwork

I have spent the afternoon learning how to make patchwork quilts in a workshop by Katherine May as part of textile collective Bricolage's pop-up shop in Brixton market. Instructions, templates, needle and thread in individually wrapped fabric parcels. A group of girls sharing fabrics, stories and homemade flapjacks. A solution to all the fabric off-cuts I keep hoarding from work.

I'm very proud of my first 4-square patchwork, and hope I can make something as beautiful as Ellie Evans' patchwork book as seen in my earlier post.

The Book Club

I love the use of multiples at recently opened The Book Club in Shoreditch.

The Poetics of Glaze

Another ceramics student from the RCA, Emmanuel Boos is exploring ceramic surfaces and the perception of depth through her project 'The Poetics of Glaze'. I love the way objects look like they have been dipped in thick wax with shiny or dull, buffed surfaces, with softened outlines and dripping edges.

Work in progress

I loved the work of ceramics student Amy Hughes at the recent RCA work in progress show - revealing her thoughts and experiments, things that have worked or not been so successful, her quirky line drawings that translate into wonky vessels splashed with coloured glazes.

I am hoping to visit the second exhibition in the next couple of days to see the fashion and textiles work, and be inspired by new and exciting materials, processes, techniques.

Frozen ceramics

The south-east has definitely got more snow than us. A trip to the weekend collectors market at Crystal Palace with tables of ceramics hidden in snow or full of frozen ice. Thick, soft, lightweight blankets of snow contrast against translucent, expanding masses of ice. Fragility in the big freeze.

I love Marimekko!

Some of my favourite prints from the Marimekko newsletter I picked up in Stockholm last year. Inspiration for my hand-painted ceramics.

Gorgeous blog!

I constantly want to upload beautiful images that I find or interesting exhibitions and designers I come across to share with you all, but I am trying to keep this blog just about my photography and what is seen through my own eyes.

However, I just can't keep this gorgeous new blog to myself as it is about everything I love, in particular COLLECTIONS and MULTIPLES. So check out collectionaday2010 and see for yourself! (Image taken from day 1: vintage erasers)

Roadside veggies

Cabbages and rhubarb, seen on Clapham North Side. I love the purple and pink tones against the grey concrete.....the organic curves against the linear slabs and kerb.

Whitened colour

Walking in the Yorkshire Dales in 10" snow on New Year's Day with a flask of tea and bag of wine gums....tingly feet and rosy cheeks and snow-flecked clothes, while the off-white sky blends in to the off-white land with a fuzzy horizon.