70s flavour
Loved this wall mural in York’s Zizzi restaurant. It’s by illustrator and pattern designer Abigail Borg, she of fabulous floral cushion and wallpaper collections.
The mural immediately took me back to my childhood kitchen table and the plates we ate every meal from – Midwinter’s Stonehenge Flower Song by Jessie Tate.
Aren’t the fabulous? I just found out Mum still has them, which is interesting.
Polish flea
A weekend in Warsaw, and my school best friend knows what I like – a flea market.
A surprisingly similar display of wares to, say, a French flea market, but there was one stall I couldn’t tear myself away from: the vintage tablecloth stall, featuring beautifully detailed, bright traditional needlework.
I didn’t buy anything in the end, but my friend was tempted by a hand-embroidered, monogrammed pillowcase, once owned by a Countess.
Holy Cavalli
I don’t know how this passed me by, but it seems Roberto Cavalli unveiled a homewares collection at Milan in April. Lets go on this journey together.
That friends, is one rotating bed. The mattress size is probably the least of our worries. How about that colour palette – mark my words, everyone’s going to be talking about skin and silver – and those er, ornaments next to the bed? Time to hone in on the cushions.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Animaly with weird colours. Actually, is that every colour? Sure, grouping like with like can be an effective way to create a big visual impact, but this seems like an aggressive version of that.
I’m going to leave you with a couch wearing an ill-fitting belted dress next to an intriguing ball installation.
Trend or…
oh never mind.
The bus stops here
OK so the ‘Dink coming 25th at Eurovision wasn’t an ideal result, but by coincidence it’s a mini-Europe week at MFH, with a Polish textile report coming up later in the week. First though, it’s the art of the Estonian bus stop.
I found the majority of these pictures on Present and Correct’s blog. Why Estonia is such a world leader in bus shelter design I don’t know, but if these photos have whetted your appetite for more then the good news is there’s a whole book about it. Eve Kask and Signe Kivi spent three years photographing the 1545 bus shelters in Estonia so you don’t have to. If you’ve got any sense you’ll buy a copy from here.
We need to talk about Helena
There’s plenty to like about Prada’s short film A Therapy and director Roman Polanski always gives good interior. See Romsemary’s Baby and The Ghost Writer for more examples. In this one, walls are deep green, fine lamps are in abundance and – jings – the padded door has its moment. But, the real show stopper is, no not Ben Kingsley cuddling up to some fur, but HBC in her power combo of lilac and red.
Coming to an interiors shoot near you soon. Trend.
Trend or travesty: Beverly Hills edition
Obviously, it’s not an option. There are mildew issues, you couldn’t put a damp towel down and so on. But go on, if you were Jayne Mansfield decorating a mansion, might you not be just a bit tempted to carpet the bathroom?
And I do mean carpeting the walls and ceiling as well. Get a full tour of Ms Mansfield’s amazing home here.
Trend or travesty: Topiary?
Laid up with a ghastly bug yesterday, I spent the day moaning, encouraging my 10-month-old to entertain herself, and watching the Chelsea Flower Show on tv. I perked up when talk turned to topiary – here are the large chess pieces in Cleve West’s Brewin Dolphin Garden, which won Best Show Garden.
To be honest, if I was going to do it in my postage-stamp-sized garden I’d want something to make a bigger impact, maybe cause some car swerving. Like a peacock…
Or a flamingo.
And yes, why not a couple of pineapples?
But, I definitely draw the line at initials.
How do you feel about topiary when one doesn’t have grounds? Too much?
