Famille Summerbelle at work...mind-blowing!

When we added the London map prints and Paris maps prints by Famille Summerbelle to BODIE and FOU last June, they sold out on pre-orders alone in a couple of hours! It was mental and it hasn't stopped since then! We also got some fabulous press coverage in featured in The Times, You magazine, Easy Living which is great and a testimony to Julie's talent, the adorable French designer behind them.
So I really wanted to share with you how Julie created these beautiful cutout maps from London, Paris and NYC in this video....
It's amazing and almost seriously insane to watch but at the same time, it's fascinating to see how these gorgeous map prints are made....there is some serious talent here!
The NYC map print took 20 hours to make but don’t worry, the video lasts only 2 minutes...
Hope you enjoy it!

Click here to find out more about Famille Summerbelle

Leaving you with inspiring Mother's Day gifts

I'm flying to Barcelona in a couple of hours to join Bodie on our ski holidays. It will be the first time for our girls Mila (5) and Lily (6) so that should be a lot of fun. In the meantime, I leave you with some inspiring gifts from Mother's Day....
Nest art print in duck egg blue: £38 (available in sheer slate here) - one of my favourites...I find it very calming and it just looks amazing on a plain wall.
Gingko art print: £38
Cote Bastide Rose & Shower gel: £24.50 (Roses Eau de toilette here)
Silver plated beaker: £29.50
Wallflower scented candles (box of 25): £26. Click here to see our full range of scented candles made in France
Round metal tray: £42.50
And for mums who LOVE pottering around in the kitchen or garden...the Herb stand,
Linen apron (not many left unfortunately but really great quality) and the very popular ceramic grass vases would work wonder.
I'm off now. Have a fabulous week, I will be back early March.

PS:
Don't forget to send us pictures with your La Trop to enter La Trop Style Competition (if you are concerned having your face on the Blog, don't! I'm happy to cut your head off if you wish...in a nice way...Bye

Une fille, un style...Jessica de Ruiter

Bon...I'll translate this for you because it was in the French Vogue...
"Jessica de Ruiter is a girl from L.A., blond hair, blue eyes, big smile and with a great fashion style sense, she looks like an actress from the seventies. She seems to have the same energy than the city she adopted seven years ago. She welcomed me (Garance Dore) with a green tea whereas I had brought a bottle of wine...LA Vs Paris? We still managed to get on very well. Fashion stylist, Jessica has a very healthy life a la mode californienne. She does yoga every day, loves essential oils and perfumes herself with Roses eau de toilette. Wearing jeans, men shirt, basic & designer pieces, she rarely goes shopping and goes through her wardrobe regularly to keep essential pieces. For her, style is a mix of elegance and comfort..so smart."
Great, inspiring piece from Garance as usual from great, inspiring women.

January Monthly competition winner

We are pleased to announce Russell Turner as the winner of our January monthly competition. Russell has won a beautiful Clare Vivier leather wrist wrap.

Russell wrote to us: "My stepdaughter is thrilled by my win as she adores the cool Clare Vivier leather wrist strap !" How nice!
If you haven't entered our February competition, there is still time..just go here and you may win the LOVE art print....a beautiful design that bursts out of happiness and joy.
And don't forget that we have another competition running on the Blog this time: La Trop Style competition!
Good luck with everything!

Happy Mother's Day from BODIE and Fou

Click here to see our beautiful and inspiring gifts for Mother's Day

Perfect Valentine's Day WE & a sneak peek of our house

The perfect Valentine's Day can have many shapes or forms...for us this year, it was a friends and family affair and in the 12 years Steve and I had been together, it was probably the most heart-warming, relaxing and loving Valentine's weekend we ever had.

It all started Friday evening when my stylish friend Mandy and Mila's Godmother - arrived to our home with her husband Acland....
On Saturday morning, we went for breakfast at one of my favourite delis: Chez Kristoff where we had an amazing, yummy breakfast. I highly recommend this place. It has a very long communal table located right in the middle of the deli and stacks of shelves with beautiful, exotic food packaging from each side of the room. You feel you're eating in a grocery and I love the atmosphere. It's very friendly, relax and visually inspiring and refreshing. The staff is also very nice...a lot of young Franco/English and personally I love their eggs benedict...sigh

So the plan for the day was that more of Steve's friends would come around to watch the rugby while Mandy & I would escape to Anthropologie for a bit of retail therapy.
Well it didn't quite worked out like that.....We started drinking some gorgeous tea I had brought back from my trip in Paris (see my little improvisation..using a French school blackboard as a tea tray) and chatting. While the boys went to get beers, wine, roast for the evening, we made space in the lounge and since for once since we moved, the lounge didn't look like Mila's playroom, I took a few photos...

But when the boys came back, Ackland, impressed by his earlier breakfast, had also gone back to Chez Kristoff and came home with lots of food goodies......to die for fresh bread, amazing cheeses, delicious honey-ham and...

arrgh.....the most amazing brownies so instead of going shopping, Mandy and I spent the whole afternoon chatting, munching and looking at websites like the two geeks that we are.

This incredibly chilled-out afternoon ended up with Steve's amazing roast and more food the day after on Valentine's Day and frankly I'm glad we didn't end up in a restaurant like most year and instead had the most fabulous weekend with our friends...plus I got the most gorgeous dress from Steve as a present which he got from Mandy's boutique...can't really get better than this!

La Tropezienne tote bag: Style competition

This is how are ideas get into motion at BODIE and FOU.....So many of you purchased La Tropezienne tote bag that I decided to put a little style gallery together but then, Elodie & I love this bag so much that we thought we should take it to the next level and turn this into La Trop Style Competition and YOU will decide via this blog, Facebook and Twitter which stylish woman should win the stunning Clare Vivier wrist wrap.
So if you are the proud owner of La Trop (the original in tan leather) or the black one (NEW!) or if you have a friend who owns La Trop, just borrow it and send us the most stylish, fashionable pictures ever!
We've shipped La Trop to Ireland, France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Spain and of course England so we want to see how you wear your La Tropezienne tote bag in all these cities.

A few examples below (not valid for entries): La Trop in L.A. (so you know, the lovely girl wearing the striped t-shirt has La Trop with the 8" straps on her shoulder), La Trop at the farmer's market, La Trop in Belgium, La Trop in London

To Enter La Tropezienne tote bag Style competition:
Please send high-res images to contact(at)bodieandfou(dot)com with subject title: La Trop style competition
Closing date for entry submissions: 31/03/2010
Good luck!

The legal bits because even if we have fun, we do things properly....
Terms and Conditions
1. No purchase necessary.
2. Closing date for submitting high-res style photos will be on 31/03/2010. Closing date to cast votes on the blog will be on 15/04/2010.
3. Only one entry per person & email address per month permitted (when sending high-res)
4. Entry is open to everybody who are at least 18 years of age at the time of entry.
5. Incomplete or unreadable entries are disqualified (i.e. low-res pictures). Responsibility cannot be accepted (and the Promoter shall not be liable) for lost or delayed entries.
6. No cash alternative.
7. The winner will be the ones receiving the most votes from our blog readers and will be informed immediately via e-mail address provided. A proof of ID will be required.
8. In the event the winner fails to provide a valid postal address for prizes to be mailed to within 3 weeks of notification or for any reasons under these terms and conditions any participant (including the winner) was ineligible to enter, the prize will be withdrawn and the winning entry will be void.
11. All entries become and remain the property of the Promoter. By submitting an entry, entrants acknowledge and accept these terms and conditions.
9. BODIE and FOU reserves the right to change these terms and conditions at any time for reasons that are outside its control or where it is reasonably necessary to do so.
10. The promoter of this competition is BODIE and FOU Ltd, registered at Unit 3A Electral House, 58 Neasden Lane, London NW10 2UJ.

Deborah Turbeville's Casa No Name

In the tradition of Kahlo and Allende, Turbeville’s brilliantly stylish portrait of her Mexican house evokes both her vivid imagination and the mystique of Mexico. High-ceiling rooms surround a central courtyard that is lined with faded frescoes of biblical scenes. The glimmer and shafts of diffused light that stream into the courtyards and curtained rooms add to the romantic atmosphere—one feels as though they have entered into a quintessential Turbeville photograph.
Deborah Turbeville has captured the spiritual nature of Mexican culture by incorporating into candlelit interiors such traditional religious artifacts as colorful painted tin retablos, hand-carved saints, wooden tableau boxes, and a central wooden figure of the local Virgin Saint Maria Candelaria: aged objets that are handmade, tell stories, and are arranged in artful vignettes. Casa No Name speaks of magic realism and beckons the reader into the private world of this visionary artist. Turbeville’s diaristic presentation of her home in the central highlands of Mexico is a welcome addition to her rich oeuvre and an inspiration for anyone interested in the soul and style of Mexico.

Beautiful photos....the book is now available from TOAST here

Wishlist from Country & Town House magazine

I've just been emailed this great piece of coverage from Country Town & House magazine where they featured two products from our sister site WhereDidYouBuyThat.com The 'Just Do It towel' which I love because it's a fun tea towel to offer to guys who need a bit of incentive in the kitchen department and the Fatboy bean bag which I don't need to introduce...

Talking of Town House, I had two meetings and a lunch meeting this morning at Dean Street Townhouse in Soho meeting 2 PR agencies and the author of this great business book.

Was I impressed? Yes, the venue had been refurbished last November and it has a great feel, one of these places that looks quintessentially British with a modern twist. I felt it was a bit like Soho House but then I looked at the website when I got home and realized that it was part of Soho House and therefore another stylish place to add to Nick Jones' growing empire - the man behind Soho House in NYC, Babington Hotel and High Road House in Chiswick where our little family goes for brunch at weekends pretty regularly.

Egg benedicts were to die for and lunch was very nice. I had a very tasty pumpkin soap and an onions tart (2 starters instead of a main course as none of the main courses inspired me) but the food was delicious.
The only thing I would say is that if you have a meeting there, get a table in the parlour (right hand side of the venue) which is where we were. First the chairs are pretty comfy and make a meeting informal but the area is also tucked away from the main room where everybody was having lunch and which was incredibly noisy. Other than that, thumb up!

Charlotte Gainsbourg in Flaunt magazine - seriously cool

Last week I was contacted by the press department of the seriously cool Flaunt magazine and if you've never heard of Flaunt, you are only forgiven if you live outside the US because Flaunt is so cool, it aches.
It captures amazing and timeless pictures of fashion, arts and lifestyle culture at its highest levels and I think the magazine's photography is real quality and it has a real knack at capturing both the strengths and vulnerabilities of celebrity.

I've just watched their video of Rachel Bilson and I can't believe how gorgeous she looks but I'm totally in love with how it was filmed, it has such a cool Peter Lindbergh feel to it.
Anyway, Flaunt was writing to me because they had heard through the grapevine that I'm a big fan of Charlotte Gainsbourg (see previous post here and here and here and here again) and they kindly asked me to pass on something...errmmm....you're gonna kill me and I'm really sorry. They asked me to pass on their invitation to the Flaunt Art Issue Release party...yeah I know...pretty cool uhh....but I was so busy last week that I didn't have time to post it on the blog straight away and the party was last week...sorry :-(
Now if it makes you feel any better, the party was in Santa Monica so not everybody included me could have attended unfortunately but I have a few friends in L.A. who would have love to go...
Anyway on top of the invit', Flaunt kindly sent me some amazing photos of Charlotte Gainsbourg shot by Kurt Iswarienko to share with you (check out his site, his shots of Viggo Mortensen, Juliette Binoche and Julianne Moore are stunning!).
These shots of Charlotte are featured in the Art issue of Flaunt (out now) which also features an article about Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld, son of Carine Roitfel, Editor of the French Vogue, Tracy Emin and many more and I think they are superb!

So here we go, I hope you like them and don't worry Flaunt has plenty of exciting stuff coming up this year and they will let me know about it, although a bit more notice would be fab :-)
I personally want to thank Ken who contacted me and then who kindly sent me high-res pictures of these shots for personal use. I'm taking the top one to the photo shop tomorrow to get it enlarged and hang it in our guest room.

Ming Oil & Vinegar set by Jansen + Co

You better watch this space....Our team is currently adding new designs to WhereDidYouBuyThat.com and some of them are just stunning (especially the ones from a famous French company that works with a lot of talented designers including Rob Ryan...yes the famous Rob Ryan who makes cut out prints to die for) but more of this later.
Today, I wanted to focus on this gorgeous Ming Oil and Vinegar set by Dutch design company Jansen + Co because I think it's a very clever, functional and beautiful piece of design.

So this uber cool Oil and Vinegar set can easily be mistaken for wine glasses but they are not! The whole thing is upside down, making this oil and vinegar set a fantastic salad dressing kit. Each vessel can hold a decent amount of oil or vinegar, but the long, tapered stem of the glass reduces the flow to a manageable amount.
I think like the rocking glasses by Normann Copenhagen, this oil and vinegar set will be a great talking point when you have friends around but also it's a great way of making sure that butter-fingered guests don't slosh olive oil all over your table!
What do you think? You like it?

Sally Pring's illustrations

Last time I went to the flower market in Columbia road, I picked up some pretty cards from various illustrators in the Fleapit cafe at the corner of the street. I really liked the ones by Sally Pring, an illustrator and print-maker who graduated from Edinburgh College of Arts with a BA Hons in Visual Communication.
If you live in Scotland, you may be able to see some of her works but if not you can easily order prints directly from her website if you have a Paypal account. The illustration she did for Time Out's Paris Supplement (below) is really pretty and I love how simple the drawing she did for one of my favourite authors J.D. Salinger (although not my favourite book).It has the lightness of the Winnie the Pooh's drawings (hope Sally wont be offended by that because I think they are very pretty) but with a stroppy strike to it.

However my favourite are Pam (below) which looks cheeky and youthful and Deneuve (far below) which I assume is named after French icon Catherine Deneuve.

You can buy Sally Pring's illustrations here