Interior Lighting, Edgy Fabric, Curiousa & Curiousa

Right who is up next in the roll call of people and companies that stood out on my recent trip to the London Design Festival. Quirky lights edgy fabric prints. curiousaandcuriousa is the work of Esther Patterson who works in Derbyshire. The aspects of her work that stood out were the coloured blown glass shades and the edgy fabric and paper prints. A dolls head moth or a girls head finch. There is room for these designs with me. 

London Design Festival

I'm just back  from the London Design Festival and I managed to get through quite a lot while I was over . We ( I had the fine company of Mrs Seven ) started on Friday at 100% Design in Earls Court. Then on to Tent at the old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane. Saturday morning was set aside for visiting Tramshed in Shoreditch. The One Room Hotel was the highlight of the remainder of Saturday. On Friday night we had dinner at Les Trois Garcons and drinks at Lounge Lover and finally home to The Hoxton Hotel. I will get through the highlights of the trip but first up its the work of Zoe Murphy who exhibited at Tent. She Upcycles pieces of furniture she comes across using screen printed designs based on her home town of Margate. The work had a lovely crisp printed and lacquered finish to it. Mid Century Modern brought back to vibrant life.

Upcycled Furniture by Zoe Murphy at Tent.


Pictures Via Zoe Murphy

A Ribbon of White

The design of a shoe shop in Rome the home of the worlds finest crafted footwear. The design of a shoe shop on the Via dei Condotti one of the worlds top retail streets. The design of this shop could only be entrusted to a man answering to the name of Fabio Novembre. 


The shop is not particularly new but it caught my eye being a bright winding ribbon of white Corian that forms shelving and crosses ceilings. The shop is Stuart Weitzman. The last time I was on the Via dei Condotti I had my dehydrated family with me and this shop and others like it were off the agenda for a visit. Fabio Novembre what a fantastic name he puts me in mind of Pericles Liatsos  who featured in my very first post. I'm thinking of starting a collection of designers with fantastic names. Send me any you know. We could even run a competition for best name and feature their work to see if it lived up to their name.

Photos via Mimomoss

New Old Lobby

Keeping it short on Monday.

The Waterhouse at South Bund Shanghai

Now this is a different hotel lobby. Put something new in and leave the old.

It's part of a new hotel in Shanghai a great transition from exterior to interior.

Hotel Maison Moschino Milan

The images I have collected here are from the Milan Hotel Maison Moschino. More Buns or is it Cup Cakes don't get me started. Buns on the bed it is. This 65 room hotel is the work of Rossella Jardini and the rest of the Moschino team and this is what the Moschino design team have to say about their work.

“The common thread connecting the rooms is a fairy tale theme because to sleep is perchance to dream, and dreams are fairy tales that we are allowed to experience first hand, the fables of a fantasy world that we have created. This is an alternate life in which we direct and stage the scripts of our very own play. The hotel interior reflects Moschino’s distinctive style where the ordinary world is painted with a brush of surrealism.” 

Its all very playful with some great lighting. My personal favourites are the standard lamps. 
if only because featuring them allows me to use the word 'whimsy'.


It's Friday and if you're reading this today or over the weekend, have a great weekend.

James Plumb

These installation interiors are the work of London Designers James Russel and Hannah Plumb. They collectively call themselves James Plumb. I've written about their work before. I like its dark and slightly dusty feel. The low level lights reflected on the floor are something I haven't seen before. This type of design is at a fantastic remove from some modern commercial and manufactured feel interiors. It's less cellulose varnish on timber veneered MDF and more about the veneer of age. Proper wide board flooring too and a unique ceiling rose. Love the chandelier.
James Plumb will be part of the London Design Festival. I'll be heading over to the festival at the end of the month and will let you know about the best bits. Meanwhile enjoy the photos but don't look at the price on the lamp.

Images James Plumb via Apartment Therapy

40 Winks

Interior Designer David Carter lives in a four storey 1717 Queen Anne town house in he east end of London. As you do. He hires the place out for photo shoots. You can also stay there if your looking for something a little bit different as I am. He markets the whole project as 40 Winks. 

Game Set and Sekt

From clothes in Dublin to clothes in Basel. The Set and Sekt shop in Basel. Good space with room to breathe. It has an art gallery feel. Note the little blue shopping trolley, mixing high end fashion retailing with the chosen grocery conveyor of the little old lady on Moore Street Dublin. In not a fan of the chairs although I've never sat in one of these. They would have to be very comfortable for me to be convinced. But what I like is the bar at the end or more importantly the spirits bottles suspended from the roof. I wonder if they pour you a stiff drink as they give you the total on your clothes spend. The bottom photo was taken on opening night rather than on a sale day.

Dolls with great Buns

On Sunday morning a little bit older and not proportionately  wiser after a night out on Dublin's North Great Georges Street I headed across the city for breakfast. This journey was taken on the suggestion of Mrs Seven. She has been trying to get me over to Dolls clothes shop and its immediately adjacent Cafe Bibis for some time but I know the meaning of the word ulterior . This double venture clothes and cake is the work of Petria and Maisha Lenehan and Mrs Seven has been a frequenter of the original Dolls shop on Clarendon Street for some time. I've found the bags hidden at the bottom of the wardrobe.

The shop set behind a smart grey shop front is light and uncluttered with the all important sofa for rest while she has a rummage on the racks. There are some old original victorian shop display cases that contrast really well with frameless structural glass balustrade to the basement stairs. White walls and a parquet floor ad to make up a crisp feel and perfect backdrop to display some lovely clothes. Good to see Petria has some men's lines in stock too.

The cafe takes up less room and there is a glass door link between the two. The seats here are Hans Wegners Y chairs. There is also an option to sit under the canopies outside. I had a very good Eggs Benedict variation chosen from the chalked up back of door menu. All of the food is made by Maisha and they do great coffee. Its great to see this new cafe and shop development located on a corner amongst the red brick terraces of Dublin 8.  

You will find Dolls and BiBis on  Emorville Avenue Dublin 8.

Images via Dirtyfabulous Irish Times Nickysragtales