Typeface candle holders by Studio Yra

Last time I went to Pulse (a UK trade show), I came across these superb alphabet candle holders. I'm a sucker for anything using typeface like this gorgeous Type map print by Bold & Noble so I got really excited when I came across these wooden candle holders and I was quite keen to add them to our shop.
After reflection, there is such a large selection of size and models (of course there is 26 letters in the Alphabet + the Ampersand symbol) that from a logistic point of view, I think it would be a nightmare for us to stock these....
However, I still think they are great and that you would be interested in knowing about them.
Each letter is made of birch plywood (very eco-friendly) and as they have all different fonts and sizes, they can be used in different ways: standing, lying flat, upside down and they can also be used with both candles and tea lights. You can even paint them for a more personal touch but I love them just the way they are.

Studio Yra is a collaboration between product designer Lina Meier and graphic designer Sara Keranen-Gramner who met while studying at London College of Communication in 2004. Lina went on to do a BA in Product design at Central Saint Martins while Sara stayed at LCC finishing a BA in Typography.
Their online shop is not ready yet but if you call them, you can get yours letters within a couple of days...and I forgot to say...a small letter is £25 and a large one £29.50 + P&P
I hope you like them.....

Rockmafia

I think if Elodie and I hadn't had the mad idea to launch a cool website selling beautiful home accessories, we would have loved to have launched a cool website with beautiful children clothes and gifts....Besides the fact that clothing is a lot easier to pack and dispatch (waayyy eaasier...take my word for it), children brands are incredibly fun and creative to work with.
My latest love is Rock Mafia....

Rock Mafia is a French label set up by Elise Durand Wallon and Charlotte Desmullier, two childhood cops (short for copines in French and nothing to do with the police) who bumped into each other after years apart....
Elise, who had trained as a Lawyer had 3 children and Charlotte, fashion stylist, had a boy...The copines fall into each other's arms, shared fond childhood memories and decided to follow their dream: create a fashion label for 2-12 years old...Et voila!
Rock Mafia has a lovely Liberty dress which I know Mila would LOVE.
Personally, I'm loving this leather US army bag (for me) and this Sweat Franky which are a bit more rock'n roll but I have to wait for a few years now for Mila to wear this kind of things. When she was 3/4 years old, I could get away with dressing her up with skinny jeans now and rock t-shirts but now that she is 5, she has a very strong opinion about what she loves and Liberty it is...it could have been worse :-)

And I'm loving what they put on their site....

"When we are little, we want to be grown-up and
when we are grown-up, we would like to have stayed little..."

so true and so cute...

Rock Mafia....c'est ici

Creative mum

Last month, I hang up Mila's drawings using cute Bird clothes pegs but I'm very fond of what Carmella managed to do with these vintage wooden spools and the blackboards she put together so that each of her three boys would know exactly what his day job was...

I asked Carmella how she fixed the spools to the wall...Here are her explanations:

'We just used wall anchors in the sheetrock wall and affixed the wooden spools using long strews through the spools and into the wall anchors. Then, tied jute twine tightly between the spools, and there - done!'

Images from Assortment Via Bloesem kids

Rob Ryan" "You can still do a lot with a small brain" b

I haven't been very active on the Blog side this week but the shop has been so busy with the sale of these on top of everything else that I'm totally dead. We sold 5 of these gorgeous lights this month, along with 10 of this beautiful Ball chair, and god knows how many prints and angel babygros...blablabla
So here is one last post before the weekend because I have been waiting for this book to arrive for a long time and I'm SO NOT disappointed by its content!!
I'm sure (creative as you are) you all know who Rob Ryan is but if you don't, you must check out his wonderful blog or even better, pay a visit this Sunday to his fabulous shop on Columbia Road (if you've never been to Columbia Road, gosh you must, you must, you must!!). Rob Ryan's intricate paper cuts often reveals whimsical stories and poetic expressions, creating a universe that is delicate in both form and theme.
I've always been a fan of Mr Rob's talent, patience and skills and this new book called "You can still do a lot with a small brain" is a great celebration of his work, imaginative paper cuts ad screen prints. The book has been published to accompany Rob Ryan's exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park that sadly ended last February but if you've missed the exhibition and loves his work, then you will love this book. I have taken a few pics of the inside to show you what it looks like but it has many wonderful examples of his screen prints and paper cuts.

I'm going to send one to Mila's Godmother who LOVES Rob Ryan so she can find it when she is back from her camping weekend...
I wish you a wonderful weekend. Bises

25% OFF Love is 'roller' blind

Click here to see our whole range of roller blinds, now at 25% OFF until stock lasts

Update:

This has been quite a day!

We sold over 80 blinds today so lots of packing but that's good because we need the space in our warehouse so keep orders coming through...25% OFF won't last forever!

We had several people asking us if they were blackout blinds. Unfortunately they are not but the way I would use it it to get a cheap blackout blind from Ikea and add this one above for style or combine one of this gorgeous blind with black-out curtains like some customer have done it. That is if you want to use them in a bedroom but if you're planning to use them in a bathroom, kitchen or home office, they will give you plenty of privacy while letting the light through...

Right I'm off, it has been a long day. I wish you all a very good evening

Our Hippie (happy) weekend on the Isle of Wight

We had the most wonderful weekend at Vintage Vacations and I'm hoping these few photos will give a feel of how wonderful, free and relax our weekend was on the Isle of Wight and will also inspire you to spend a fabulous weekend there with friends and family....
For us, the experience was AWESOME, incredibly chilled out and has given us lots of happy memories to take back to London!
I loved how Helen leaves scones, cream and jam for her guests in each Airstream. I also really loved that you can buy local products (jams with delightful, old-fashioned labels, Apple juices, fresh loafs of bread, eggs and bacon) and leave the money in a Honesty box .
I was totally seduced by the little 'shop in a hut' Helen put together to sell vintage knick-knack and clothes and the wonderful, creative comments and drawings previous guests left in each Airstream....
This weekend was truly wonderful.....

To book a stay at Vintage Vacations and see more photos of the various Airstreams, click here

Have a nice weekend

The week has been busy...we moved the office around to welcome new members of staff, added lots of beautiful things here and today was not better as we are about to go on a road trip for a wonderful weekend on the Isle of Wight there with some friends. Can't wait, bags aren't ready, we're leaving in 30 min and Steve is going to kill me if he sees that I'm blogging instead of packing so have a wonderful weekend!

Bises

The World is yours by Famille Summerbelle

The World map by Famille Summerbelle is out and as usual, like anything Famille Summerbelle has done so far, it is beautiful, vibrant and stunning.

Like the London, Paris and NYC city maps, the World map is based on an original cut out and this one comes in a bigger format which will fit perfectly in the 50 x 70cm RIBBA frame from Ikea...

Click here to see how Julie, the designer did this beautiful piece of artwork....More than 20 hours of meticulous paper-cutting squashed into a 2 min film....Amazing!

ABC poster by Kayatine

Now that Mila is off to a French school next September, I'm feeling in a very French mood....hence a post on this adorable ABC poster by Kayatine.
We already have a few of Kayatine's Doudous & Star cushion at home and this Alphabet poster would just complete the look...I offered it recently to a couple of friends who just had babies along with this and it went down a storm.
It's really adorable and great to learn a few French words while having fun with the Doudous....

Cote Bastide New collection

It's out, it's beautiful, it's exclusively online ici

Aire de Bardenas...stunning design hotel

Last week, Elodie, Christophe and Lily spent the weekend in Aire de Bardenas, a fabulous 4**** design hotel with 22 rooms and four deluxe suites in Spain...
It just looked absolutely amazing....the perfect place to chill out for a few days...
And I'm laughing thinking that they probably needed it because this week, Thelma & Louise (aka my mum and my aunt Dany) are in Barcelona visiting them and apparently the two have been practising their Spanish over tinto vino these past few weeks so they will probably need another weekend away after the departure of the two tornados..

Designed by Emiliano Lopez and Mónica Rivera, Hotel Aire de Bardenas looks like a lunar colony. Named after the wind that rolls in over the Bardenas desert, the hotel is a cluster of eight pale boxes around a main hall. They sit a little eerily, like the relic from 2001: A Space Odyssey, in the middle of a wheat field between Bardenas Reales National Park and the town of Tudela."

In a totally different genre mais alors totally different...
Steve, Mila and I are off to Vintage Vacations on the Isle of Wright to sleep in a 1950s Airstream and I'm dead excited by it!!
(C) Credit photos: top 1 to 7 Jose Hevia, from B&W: Christophe Latrille