Charlotte Gainsbourg, Clare Vivier & La Trop....

I'm having a bit of a Charlotte Gainsbourg week.....
On Monday when I was in Paris, my best friend Emmanuelle gave me Charlotte's latest album IRM and yesterday I received another great gift from Clare, the designer of La Tropezienne tote bag: 3 black and white photos of Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck and these are just going to look so rock'n roll in my home :-)
Last Summer, Clare's husband filmed Charlotte Gainsbourg (who also fell in love with la Trop) and Beck's video clip when they were recording IRM and he also took some seriously cool photos.
As Clare and I are both big fans of CG, she offered to send me some photos. How nice is this?
Clare and I never met but I adore her. I think she is incredibly talented, beautiful, has an amazing sense of style and designs bags to die for. And on top of all these things, she is a maman, she runs a business which is fast becoming an empire and she is also great fun and fearless (you should read how she cut her 900 USD Yves Saint Laurent boots to turn them into ankle boots...my admiration reached new heights).
I really enjoy working with her and seeing her designs being as successful on the side of the pond on BODIE and FOU. And I know the feeling is mutual because she wrote something here that almost made me cry.
A couple of nights ago, Clare emailed me to see if I wanted to stock her latest red bag for Valentine's. I was in bed but hey... having the blackberry next to my bed, I couldn't help getting excited by the idea of having another of her designs on BODIE and FOU...Unfortunately I think it's a bit too late for Valentine's and we are selling so many La Tropezienne and wrist wraps that I'm sure Valentine's is already taken care for and a lot of gorgeous women are going to be the proud owner of a Clare Vivier design in a couple of weeks but Clare suggested to do something exclusive for BODIE and FOU....I would LOVE this....so watch this space...we haven't worked out what it would be yet but given her sense of style, I'm sure it will be fabulous.

La Tropezienne leather tote bag is available in black here

Rosie Flo's colouring books now at BODIE and FOU

Last year or maybe the year before, I came across Rosie Flo's colouring books, a very unique collection of colouring books designed by Roz Streeten. They are different from other colouring books because children can draw faces, arms and legs and backgrounds too but also they are simply wonderful and the drawings are exquisite.
So imagine my joy two weeks ago when I went to Top Drawer (a UK trade show) and saw they had a stand there....Well after having been in the back of my mind for such a long time, I thought now was the perfect time to add them to our growing range of beautiful, creative and design things for children and they are inexpensive. Well I think so...If you think that a Barbie magazine costs about £3.50 to £4.50 and comes with a vile, plasticky toy, then £5.99 is money well-spent when you get a really nice colouring book with wonderful drawings.
So we've just added the first one of the series which is now a classic: the Rosie Flo's colouring book and the Rosie Flo's Sticky colouring book which comes with a beautiful set of stickers.

My daughter Mila (4) is obsessed with stickers. Princess stickers were even on a Christmas list...so I thought I would test them on her especially since Rosie Flo kindly gave me the sticky book to take home and gosh... it has managed to take her attention from Madagascar! Every afternoon after school, since she got her new Rosie Flo's Sticky colouring book, she has been spending some time carefully colouring her book and we now have stickers on the fridge, on her Dad's t-shirt and on the stairs leading to her bedroom.

We are starting with two but of course if you like them as much as the books from Paumes, we will a lot more to our collection.
We've also added the new Rosie Flo colouring poster which we saw framed at the stand and it looks just adorable and will look very nice framed in your girl's bedroom.

Designer Roz Streeten took great care to avoid some of the things about coloring books that frustrated her as a child: the lines are thin so the activity doesn't look dumbed down for very young children, the paper is thick so colors don't bleed through and they're sturdy and small enough to tuck in a bag for travel and outings.

So I hope you like them :-)

Now, for the sexy mamans....Valentine's Day is coming soon so if your husband still hasn't got a clue, tell him to read this or make the most of the BODIE and FOU Wishlist (you need to be registered to use it) and send him in the right direction of...umm
Maybe the new La Tropezienne tote bag in black :-) The brown was already stunning but check out the black one...A-MA-ZING!
Bon I need to do some proper work now...Have a great day
xoxo
Karine

BODIE and FOU Love Etc....

Here are a few Valentine's Day gifts to make her feel sexy...to show her how much you love her and that you know what she likes...A little something just to make her happy. It does not have to be expensive just thoughtful.

And for something a bit more romantic, you may even want to write her a note in French. Something like "Je t'aime...beaucoup...passionnement...a la folie".
Flowers are great ...as well as the gift :-)
Let us know how it goes....
Leather wrist wrap by Clare Vivier: £45
Love art print: £38
La Tropezienne leather tote bag: £169.99
Endless love print: £38
Paris Love Apartments - Edition Paumes: £20
Deeply, Madly in Love print: £25.50
Leather notebook: £20
French body care and scented candles: from £8.50

Beautiful sketchbook by Giddy Giddy

Look at these gorgeous images of a little girl's bedroom found here. So cute!
I'm loving the old sewing machine and the Fischer Price little characters. I'm going to start Mila's bedroom this weekend and it will be a bit more modern with a grey feature wall. Yes I know...grey for a child bedroom.... but I'm French and trust me, it will look fab!
However, if you love the retro vibe, you will love the 70s collection of posters and bed linens ByGraziela. They were initially designed by German designer Graziela Preiser and were HUGE in the 1970s but recently Graziela's daughter: the lovely Nina, re-launched these iconic designs which are flying off our shelves.
But back to Giddy Giddy...so I was looking at these lovely, feel-good images and I could not help admiring the header of this page.

So I explored her lovely blog a bit further, check her shop to see if she was selling prints...nothing and then I saw these beautiful sketchbooks!

I think they are gorgeous and I hope the designer behind Giddy Giddy explores this avenue further and comes up with some beautiful prints for everyone to enjoy!

Inspiring London cafes to escape from the office....

I have been spending the last four days in Paris, working, shopping (more of this later) and talking with my two best friends (kind of the best part) about being mothers, being entrepreneur/managing a team of 35 people or 3 children under 8, being women. You can imagine how long our conversations were but amongst other things, here is one thing I'm going to do this year......

One day a month, I will just spend the day in a nice and inspiring cafe
to watch the world goes by and think.

One day a month, I will treat myself to some 'business me-time' to reflect,
imagine and envision where and how I want to take our company forward.

One day a month, I will give myself the time to think and plan
without being interrupted by emails, phone calls, or queries from the team.

So here are some of my favourite, inspiring places to be one day a month....

Story Deli in Bricklane (read more here)

Petersham Nurseries in Richmond (read more here)
Petersham Nurseries Café Church Lane, off Petersham Road, Petersham, Surrey, tel: 020 8940 5230.

Monmouth Coffee house in Borough Market, 2 Park Street London SE1 9AB

Chez Kristoff Deli, 111 Hammersmith Grove, London, W6 ONQ

The Covent Garden hotel, 10 Monmouth Street London WC2H 9HB

If you know any nice, inspiring places in London, please let me know...I would love to check them out!

My inside life...at The Beat that My Heart Skipped

I've just came back from the day at Maison & Objet and just saw that the interview I had with Rohini over the weekend (you should follow her on Twitter...she has a great sense of humour and is obsessed by food like me) was live on her fabulous blog: The Beat That My Heart Skipped
Here it is....

If you haven’t heard of French sisters Elodie and Karine Kong, you will certainly have heard of their chic and inspiring online boutique BODIE and FOU, which regularly features in all the big interior magazines and counts top models Helena Christensen and Claudia Schiffer, actress Helena Bonham-Carter, Author and Journalist India Knight as some of their customers and fans.

With a great eye for design, the girls regularly spotlight the work of young European designers in their collection, which is full of amazing and beautiful things for the home and gifts. I spoke to Karine, the creative force behind BODIE and FOU and its sister site WhereDidYouBuyThat.com while she was attending Maison & Objet in Paris.

I collect… vintage toys [mostly cars] and vintage French sheets that I dye because they have a very unique texture, which almost look like linen sheets.

I can’t live without… Steve, my New-Zealander partner and Mila, our 4 years old…our little freewi [French/Kiwi].
My guilty pleasure is… Steve’s pancakes at weekends and just being in our new home, sitting by the fireplace watching my favourite TV series [House, Gossip Girl, Nurse Jacky, Spooks and Hustle].

Our house is filled with… family photos, vintage finds, books on design and interior decoration and children/fashion/interior magazines.

I treasure… the first pair of pink converse Mila wore when she was one year old and her doudous – her favourite soft toys, which are now falling apart but I’m trying to salvage to frame them.

Right now I can’t stop thinking about… beautiful, cute things for children to add to BODIE and FOU and what to do to celebrate WhereDidYouBuyThat.com’s 10th Anniversary!

Currently I am reading… or rather going through all my Japanese books from Paumes to get inspiring ideas for our new home.

My favourite item of clothing is… a blue scarf with white stars that Steve bought for me in France.

At the top of my furniture wish list is… a bed from Parma Lilac and the Airport sofa by Paola Navone for Poliform. Having recently moved into a 4-bedroom family house in West London, my mind is very high in the decoration clouds…

The last thing that really inspired me was… Vanessa Paradis’ Best Of [I have always been a fan and always will be] and our last trip to Columbia Road [East London]. Like a lot of people I guess, I have been struggling being back at work after Christmas and spending the day on Columbia Road and discovering new, beautiful and inspiring places really lifted up my spirits.

My comfort food is… A spicy salad prawns with bulgur. It’s a recipe from Michele Cranston…A-MA-ZING and ready in 10 mins

On my desk are… a MacBook Pro, an orange robot, my blackberry, piles of design catalogues from suppliers and right now, far too much paperwork to sort out.

This weekend I will… start decorating Mila’s bedroom. I have seen a lot of beautiful things at Maison & Objet and I need to get cracking with DIY because from mid-Feb, we’re going to have guests pretty much every weekend.

Tonight I must take it easy… It’s my last night in Paris and I want to make the most of my time with my best friend Emmanuelle who I hadn’t seen in three years.

New-York style table lamp

Finding nice, contemporary table lamps that work for our home is not as easy as one thinks....
I mean I love the oversized Dwarf Wired Lamp by Something from Nothing but it would not work in my home but yesterday when I was at Top Drawer, a trade show for interiors/gift businesses, I fell in love with this beautiful Tribeca table lamp and bought two white ones for one of our bedrooms and more stock to put them on our sister site which is soon we will have more gorgeous home accessories.

It is a really stunning lamp which I think will give a bit of a 'boutique feel' to our bedroom and will work perfectly simply put on our white wooden floors.
My inspiration behind the theme of our bedroom is a mix between the bedroom of Paul Massey (see below)

and of course the house of my favourite interior designer Jaqueline Morabito which beautifully blends vintage furniture with simple, timeless, contemporary pieces like the Tribeca lamp.
The lamps will be available at the beginning of March and of course, I will post some pictures of our new bedroom once I get cracking with DIY - which wont be this weekend as I'm off to Paris tomorrow to another trade show AND catching up with my best friends from Uni, with the minx in toe...

Happy Sunday in Columbia Road

I love it when weekends are as chilled out, inspiring and full of great news as ours was. On saturday, we enjoyed a long, delicious lunch with some friends and had - in a typical French way - a delicious meal that kept us around the table until 4pm. By then we were so full that the only thing we could think of was going home for a nap. This morning, we got up bright and early to take the same friends to one of my favourite places in London: Columbia Road which once again was inspiring as ever.
I found an absolutely gorgeous set of 6 wooden bowls (photo to follow) in Vintage Heaven, a shop I always make a point to visit each time we go there and which is also featured in London Vintage by Paumes (a book full of fabulous addresses for vintage treasures). That really made my day because I'm planning to eventually give a minimalist, organic feel to our kitchen (something like this gorgeous kitchen in Amsterdam) and they were just perfect!! Last year, in the same shop, I had found a vintage French garden chair painted in grey blue which I absolutely adore and if I managed to convince Steve to take off the carpet of the old wooden stairs and paint them in white, this blue chair is just going to look magical on the landing stairs!
There was also a beautiful, small ceramic Tajine dish for only £8 in white. I hesitated but it was for one person only and I felt I ought to get a large one like the one I saw in Muji which is gorgeous. But these wooden bowls are just going to make me feel very happy and content each time I look at them.
Steve also got a great winter hat as a gift for my brother from Laird of Glencairn which Mila wore and then later one they were both asked by a photographer if father & daughter could pose for him. I should have asked him what it was for....duuh.
Unfortunately some shops have closed down but others have opened up and discovering Campania Gastronomica really made my day. Campania Gastronomica is at no 95 Columbia Road and is like an Italian version of an English greasy cafe.

It is very small but has bag of character...The things that I really adore decoration wise were the gorgeous vintage and whitewashed country table, the montage on the wall of B&W photos from the 50s, the gorgeous menu with retro photos in sepia and the food was nice....nothing pretentious but tasty and simple. It's tiny, you have to queue to get a table but I absolutely love it and I really encourage you to check it out. It's a really shame I hadn't taken my camera but hey I will be back...

So given how inspiring my retro day was today, I couldn't think of a better home to show you than this beautiful flat in Paris. Rather than refurbishing it all, the owner made a point to emphasize the parts of this small flat (only 25m2) which hadn't been touched for the past 20 years. The result is very charming and unique.

The owner sourced all the old portraits on Ebay and I love how he displayed old paintings that one usually sees in a castle in his small flat. It's atypical and charming at the same time but it definitively works because the ancestors look at home next to Ferrucio Laviani's lamp Bourgie (edited by Kartell). I loved how he sanded the floorboards and whitened them with bleach which gives them a natural, distressed look. I also really like how the walls are half painted in grey and white. It's a very common look in old French houses but at the same time, it can look tremendously modern and it allows you to add intense hues of grey like the Downpipe from Farrow & Ball I used in one of the bedroom in our house in France without making the room too dark.

And the things that end this weekend beautifully was booking my train ticket to go to Maison & Objet next week and spend the weekend in Paris with my best friends from Uni. Book our ski holidays to Andorra with Elodie and her little family and finding out that there were also coming to stay with us in London for a week at the end of March.
I don't know about you but I have been really struggling being back at work after having a wonderful Christmas with my family and just having these few holidays to look forward with people I love really helped to lift the mood :-)
Have a great evening and I hope you had a wonderful weekend too. xoxo

(C) photos from Marie-claire Maison

Vintage pendant light by Katheen Hills

Yesterday, I was saying how much I love Kathleen Hills' work so here is another reason why I think she is very talented....She sourced vintage lamp shades and gave them a contemporary twist by adding her trademarks style ....beautiful parts in bone china and twisted flex.
I think the result is a beautiful almost romantic pendant light that will add lightness and style to a bedroom or bathroom.

So stunning....I'm aching

I have always been very admirative of the beauty and simplicity of Kathleen Hills' lights. Last Summer, before a photoshoot for a New-Zealander magazine, we added three of her pendant lights in our open plan kitchen in France (see below and me with my prawns salad. Coffee maker is from Bugatti here !).
I will eventually get rid of the Ikea one in stainless-steel but since we added Kathleen's lights 2 days before the photoshoot, we really did not have time for anything else.
The result was better than expected and I'm so glad for once I went out of my comfort zone and mixed the designs rather than going for three of the same designs like on the second picture which looks nice but a bit too clinical....

Gorgeous Fashion shop Whistles in London also mixed the designs....Well to be fair, they actually did it first and then I copied it but the result is fab and I really think mixing the designs work better....What do you think???

If you want to replicate the look of the Whistles shop, they've used the star light, the large pendant light and the cone pendant light.
And now, we have added the beautiful Cluster Light in black to our ever-growing lighting collection. Frankly..... I find it so stunning that I'm aching. I'm trying to think if it would work in our new house where we need to pendant lights in the lounge or if the staircase is high enough to afford such a striking pendant light but oh gosh, I do love it and I think regardless of the fact that it may give less light than the white Cluster light, the black one looks more luxurious and striking than ever!

I shall leave and ponder where I could fit it in the house......Click here to see more pictures of the Cluster Lights in situ.
Have a great Friday evening.
Bises xoxo

Funky Little Darlings wall stickers now at BODIE and FOU

I'm really excited today because we've just added the fabulous range of stickers from Funky Little Darlings to our collection and they all look fab!
Wall Stickers are a blessing when it comes to decorating a room. I mean all it takes is 2 min to open and peel the stickers and then you have a fabulous artwork on the wall in no time. I love the Funky Little Darlings collection because they really capture the world of children while being contemporary.
I'm pretty sure the Dinosaurus Rock wall stickers are going to be a hit with boys. We've received some fantastic feedback on the Dya-Think-E-Saurus wallpaper but if you are renting, wall stickers are easier to handle than wallpaper.

Click here to see the whole range of wall stickers.

Easy & stylish DIY project in the kitchen

This is the kitchen of Charlotte Sunden-Barbotin in Paris who happened to be a stylist but is also very lucky to grace the cover of Paris Kitchens 2 by Editions Paumes, one of the first books I bought from their fabulous series!

I've always loved how this pink wallpaper gave such a dynamic, convivial look to her kitchen and as yesterday someone bought two rolls of the Cotton Bud wallpaper by Selina Rose, I just thought, the Cotton Bud wallpaper would just be perfect to do something similar!

Using wallpaper is a fabulous and affordable way to update a room because you only need to do a feature wall or even just a counter like this kitchen to get a great result. Personally, I often think that a whole room wallpapered is either too classic for my tastes or overpowering but a feature wall is just perfect.
In our house in France, I did a feature wall with the True Blue wallpaper in turquoise by Camilla Diedrich in one of the bedrooms and although I probably used the only wallpaper glue on earth that actually stains!, the effect is fabulous and I only had compliments since I did it.

For more inspiration, see the wonderful books from Paumes here. We're getting new stock in a week or so as we've been cleaned out at Christmas!

It's a rug day today!

We've just added 4 more striking rugs to our rug collection and my favourite is the Spine rug designed by fashion designer Camilla Staek for Normann Copenhagen. For those, who never heard of Staek, she is a danish designer who is now mostly based in New-York and who has been awarded Top Shop’s New Generation Award three times!
She was called “a future fashion star,” by British Vogue, and has nabbed great reviews in such publications as Women’s Wear Daily, New York magazine and Elle Paris.
Darkly romantic in mood, and notable for her distinctive use of leather, Stærk’s collections also quickly earned her a devoted celebrity following, with fans including Sarah Jessica Parker, Liv Tyler and Julianne Moore and our favourite model and photographer Helena Christensen who proved to be so devoted to Stærk’s designs that she stocked them at her shop, Butik (on my list of places to visit next time I'm off to NY!) and hosted Stærk’s debut presentation in New York at the store, and threw an A-list Fashion Week party for the designer to celebrate her first catwalk show in the city.
Check Helena's NY home here...it's fabulous and very inspiring!
With the Spine rug, it is the first time that Camilla enters the world of design for the home. Her inspiration was Karen Blixen, her travels to Africa and her Danish roots. After designed Africa inspired prints for her fashion line, she felt the need to see this gorgeous print in a big size et Voila! The result is a striking and elegant Spine rug!
The other beautiful rug we've added is the Dahlia rug by Claydies, the talented designers behind our best-selling Grass Vase series.
Inspired by the Dahlia flower, the Dahlia rug is both decorative and adds colour and dynamism to a room. Armed only with a mirror, a compass and coloured pencils, the girls from Claydies toyed with geometric forms and created a pattern that is modern in form, colour and expression.

How to make an entrance...the soothing way

I couldn't resist showing you these beautiful shots of entrances I spotted on an Aussie blog. The weather in the UK is so grim and cold, I'm really struggling and although I should be starting with our DIY to turn our house into a home, I'm seriously lacking of energy and inspiration but I really really love how warm, welcoming and cosy these entrances make me feel.

These simple art prints on the wall look very soothing and calming and I love how the wooden floor on the last photo gives the house such a beachy feel.....