Design Debate

As I gaze out my window today it is very grey, cold and soggy. So instead I will gaze into my computer window and dream of long-gone summers. Danish ones to be exact, captured by photographer Sven Türck in the 1930s. It's the fashion that catches my eye, and that carefree feeling that summer holidays can bring. Plenty of fun, be that at the beach, on a bike or giggling amongst flowers. What power a photographer has when preserving history. The 1930s were overshadowed by economic hardship and an approaching war, yet here, in Türck's world, we are whisked off to a Danish idyll that I, for one, am quite happy to lose myself in today. Perhaps that sense of idyll isn't entirely accidental. Türck was an illustration photographer with a studio in Copenhagen, and his agency sold what were described as 'situation pictures' for advertising and othe...

I have always had a fondness for rugs, early memories of tracing the rings with my toy car on my Granny's circular rug in her kitchen. My simple student rag-rug that made a blank canvas feel more like home and the recycled plastic bottle Moroccan-inspired one my mum bought me for my terrace that echos the greens of the surrounding hills, linking inside and out.  Speaking of Morocco, I had the great pleasure of seeing the masters at work both here as well as India on my travels. The art of weaving really is something quite captivating.  Today I thought it might be nice to share with you some rather stunning rugs I have found recently. Some following a great tradition, others more pushing the boundaries but all with sumptuous colours or alluring tones.  Starting with something graphic, right up my street as a graphic designer! I love the comic book nature of this, as if scribbled in a cafe on a napkin. It has movement, called Agave Sketch by Florence Bamberger.  ...

Today I wanted to share some objects the are positively glowing with colour. Examples of design that look so inviting, tactile and swoon-worthy, but most of all riots of colour.  I love white spaces, the minimal look, natural wood and blank walls but when it comes to objects, colour is my weakness. At home its simple, un-costly things like my Nanny's emerald velvet-lined jewellery box which peels at the sides and has seen better days. Or my Granny's 1950s sky blue weighing scales that I use everyday to measure my morning oats. Or perhaps my collection of quirky colourful candle holders and my random pieces of coloured glass. Yep, to colour I am drawn. Today perusing ' Sight Unseen ' I came across an array of objects, and furniture, that satisfy my colour itch.  Rainbow Splash glasses created by Pierre Bowring in Beacon, New York are delightful.  Perfume bottles are often a thing of beauty, I have one we dug up from our garden in Hampshire. Frosted glass with a stopper,...

It would seem a work of the famous Dutch painter Piet Mondrian has been displayed the wrong way up for over 75 years! A founder of the De Stijl movement, Mondrian is renowned for his abstract art made from primary colours and straight intersecting  lines.  It seems one particular piece, 'New York City 1' that was created in 1941 might have been hanging the wrong way up, all this time in New York's MoMA. Hanging there since 1945, it seems the thick lines have always been at the bottom. However German art historian and curator Susanne Meyer-Büser has suggested this is indeed a mistake.  She believes the thickening of the lines represented the dark sky, as opposed to the ground. The art historian was gathering research for an exhibition marking 150 since Mondrian's birth and she uncovered a photograph showing the artist in his studio with the painting the other way up on his easel! Even though it seems the famous artwork has been displ...

Perusing Miss Moss I was reminded of a British design classic – that black sheep jumper! Miss Moss was actually featuring the wonderfully characterful dog paintings of Sally Muir, but it sent me straight back to the knitwear company she started with Joanna Osborne. The V&A has one of the sheep jumpers in its collection, which rather confirms its place in design history. Warm & Wonderful began in 1979, with Sally and Joanna selling their knitwear from a market stall in Covent Garden. Their sheep jumper in particular proved a hit: rows of little white sheep with one black sheep standing apart. A young Lady Diana Spencer wore the red version to a polo match in 1981 and it became inseparable from her image. David Bowie and Andy Warhol were amongst the other famous names who wore the design. I can see why it struck a chord. Joanna and Sally tapped into something many of us recognise – that feeling of being the odd one out ...

There is something quite captivating about this Connecticut house, and I think the allure is largely down to the dramatic painted wood. From its gothic exterior to warmly white kitchen, the texture provided gives this home a timeless appeal.  Charred timbers, wide wooden floors all contrast with smooth new golden wood. The property was a lockdown purchase, the family wanting to escape New York to a county idyll. I do feel they have successfully navigated the marriage of old and new creating, along with their designer Calla Cane , a tranquil place for the family to decompress.   Greenwich Barn uses texture and monochrome tones to create its confident take on New England style.  Originally found at Est Living .