Wallpaper magazine

I have been selected to be a part of Wallpaper magazine's gradutes directory now online As the press release says "Wallpaper*, the iconic international design, fashion and lifestyle magazine, is unveiling this year’s 110 best young designers in a new online directory on www.wallpaper.com." Made me very happy!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

Two days of over-loading on the mince pies and turkey. Bring it on!!!!

The Lead-Up to Christmas

What a busy week! Spent Sunday to Wednesday in the back room of Vibe Bar painting a load of 1940s props that we (Anna, Jess, Lucy and I) had collected the week before. I copletely lost track of time as the dark marquee-like, red room has no natural light whatsoever. Every night when we left there was just spotlight on the white pieces of furniture, objects and general bits and bobs that made it look very cold and spooky. The props were part of a catwalk show that Lucy Butler asked us to help her with. We had to come up with something for the theme 1940s/futuristic so we decided to make all the collected stuff look like it had been destroyed in a war but maybe more of a nuclear war. The catwalk show was part of a night called Rapture, run by Sense Magazine and got chosen as a Pick of the Week in the Guardian Guide. It was absolutely packed and Vibe Bar did their best ever Tuesday night on record. There is now talk of bigger and better work to come after the success of the night. I will post some photos of the catwalk when I get them off Jess.

Following that night Anna and I had an early meeting at Plastique Magazine and have a really interesting project to do with them for January...Christmas is going to be work-filled! Straight after we headed to Dalston and sourced some of the most tack Christmas decorations going to do a last-minute Christmas window display based on the theme 'The Way Christmas Used to Be'. It is definitely how Christmas would be if I had my way!

On Thursday we had all the white props shipped down to Vauxhall and did a shoot for Sense Magazine. We spent the whole day arranging and styling props and basically freezing our tits off, on the roof. To add a new dimension we had a 10 metre piece of gold lamé featuring alongside the white props. I have had it since I did a window display about 7 years ago and knew it would come in handy at some point! More photos from the shoot to be uploaded soon but there is a tiny preview from a higher rooftop that I took. It was Anna's 25th (welcome to the crew!). In the photo you can see her rocking her fresh new Filas courtesy of Ruairi- he knows her too well already! Wwe ended the night with an AMAZING meal at Chapter 20 in Blackheath. Perfect. I recommend it to everyone. Merry Christmas people xx

The things we do for money...

I needed some cash. Fast. What with Christmas coming up etc. So I did a job that involved visiting 42 Wetherspoons pubs along the South Coast. I NEVER want to see one again. I drove solidly for four days, went to some peculiar places and met some peculiar people. I was however, pleasantly surprised at the interior design of a couple of the Wetherspoons toilets. There was something quite quirky and cool about it. The real bonus though was that I got to listen to so much good music and even invested in a couple of new cds for the trip. The newest Burial album is definitely worth a listen and same goes for the new 4Hero album. I also went to some fantastic charity shops and bought Anna three more Top of the Pops vinyls to add to her collection. I will get her to post some pics up on here. The long car journey left me brimming with ideas for new projects. Shame you can't write or draw whilst you are driving...Thank GOD for sat-nav though. Lifesaver.

Early Morning Hampstead Heath...

A little sneak preview of a project we helped Jess Bonham with a few weeks ago, early one morning. The art work is for Duologue, An experimental two-person ensemble who fuse electronic and accoustic music.

Saturday Morning Fun and Frolics

An eventful, inspiring and fun-filled weekend. I had a lovely morning in Islington with Lucie before driving up to Leeds yestrday. We bought our friend Michelle a book called 'Something to Do' from a cute vintage shop in Camden Passage. It was the original edition from 1966 and lists recipes, games, activities for rainy days, facts, tips for gardening, beach combing and a whole lot more. Our favourite was the April activity of making clothes out of newspaper (?!?). Apparently, a fun thing to do on a rainy afternoon.

I bought a beautiful vintage chandelier from a random street vendor for the ridiculous price of £15...The bare lightbulb in my bedroom will now be happy. We also saw the strangest but possibly the best Christmas window display ever: A taxidermy Christmas dinner feast...The ferret's teeth were very viscious.

I had forgotten just how lovely some of the shops in Islington are. Past Caring on Essex Road has always been one of my favourites- lovely vintage stock and a furniture section now too which is not over-priced. There is also a crazy taxidermy shop oppostie called Get Stuffed and a cool shop called Handmade and Found. However, our newest discovery was an AMAZING shop opposite Preposterous Presents on Upper Street called Labour of Love. Lucie and I wanted one of everything in the shop. They have the sparkliest shoes, the best chocolate-shaped brooches, the coolest origami skirt, the finest leather belts and the most stylish hats. They stock a lot of the Tatty Devine colection including their new Dark Stages Collection which is amusing and beautiful. The dress in the window was the best AND it had a matching parasol. Buy me the shop NOW (Please).

Preview

Watch out Southhampton... Jiggery Pokery are hitting very soon!!! Big love to Raz and Suki xxx

Dear Dierdre,

Should I be worried? I was walking back from Tescos with my bag full of tomatoes and tomato-based products earlier today and this was taped to the floor right at my feet...

If I were the Queen...

...and I could choose my throne:

IF YOU CAN'T STAND THE BASS.....

Sit on the stairs, cover your ears and pretend you're not there. Bet these little chaps were wishing they had enjoyed the rave a bit more, after it got locked off at 3am. I was only just getting started at that early hour. Better luck next time/weekend. Take me to a proper party any day of the week....

Happy Birthday to Matt, it was nice to see all the crew out, just missing the girls working hard in brighton. Roll on the xmas party season so we can do it drunken girly style!!

Mika- Lollipop Girl

Anna just rang to tell me about this little gem as it was on T4. Might be an idea to turn the volume off but check it out- proper psychedelic. It is rare to see videos these days that look really authentically like they were made in the 60s/70s. Often these days they are influenced by this era but ruined by being made into super-clean, vectorised graphics. It is quite hard to see the detail in the video I have posted as it isn't amazing quality but if you catch it on TV you will see what I mean. When I bought the Yellow Submarine on video last year, I am a bit embarassed to say I watched it nearly every day for a couple of weeks. Obsessed.

Theatre.

I was really excited about the stage production of Desperately Seeking Susan as it has been one of my favourite films for years. Unfortunately the production has had really bad reviews and reflecting this, it is one of the only shows you can still book tickets for right near Christmas. Instead we are going to see 'Loft' at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm. 'The Seven Fingers' is the name of the French- Canadian collective that put on the circus/theatre performance. They all trained and toured with Cirque du Soleil before forming their own group, They are only in London town for two weeks in December and I think they will put on an amazing show. (We're going to) make it a proper night out and go to Cottons or Belgo(Noord) for dinner too, both restaurants have really good Christmas set-menus. The Lock Tavern is a wicked pub to drink in too...always stocked up with Brothers Festival Strength Cider and plays really good music.

The Abattoir

I was looking at Giulio Miglietta's website yesterday. His beautiful photographs of an abandoned hotel near Florence, in Italy reminded me a day in Brighton a few years ago where Laura Snell and I went up the derelict abattoir. It was a peculiar place and there had obviously been some parties in there since it had been abandoned. If only you could portray smell through photographs because the stench of dead flesh was extreme. Someone had also bizarrely made a heart shape out of dead flies near the entrance but unfortunately it had blown away before we had the chance to photograph it. The abattoir became a bit of a local graffiti hall of fame before it was finally condemned. It was a beautifully eerie collection of buildings that have a very different feeling to the hotel Giulio photographed. They are both intriguing in their own way. Check his lovely black and white photographs here. He helped Anna and I massively with our piñata project for YCN and made us laugh so much. He is a very inspiring, driven person and all this comes through on his website.

Best Cards EVER!

Never be my boyfriend or I WILL send you fabulous tat to junk-up your life. I found THESE little wonders today in my new favourite shop, which Anna and I seem to be visiting on an average of three times a week. The dusty archives have just got a new lease of life. You just wait for the lovely little Christmas treats we have in store. How could we resist when we have discovered a shop full of forgotten bygones, which will not be bygones because we have bought them all.

ermmm.....

Anyone wanna come dress up cutlets with me?

Comeclose and Sleepnow

it is afterwards
and you talk on tiptoe
happy to be part
of the darkness
lips becoming limp
a prelude to tiredness.
Comeclose and Sleepnow
for in the morning
when a policeman
disguised as the sun
creeps into the room
and your mother
disguised as birds
calls from the trees
you will put on a dress of guilt
and shoes with broken ideals
and refusing coffee
run
alltheway
home

Roger McGough

Batty Irish

& What???????

Party Time

What a ridiculous(ly amazing) print for a jumper. A weekend of wedding celebrations and a jumper to fit it, found in a supermarket in Killarney. Yes mate.

Bargain Basement Meets Art Deco

Another day, another project. Tomorrow will see the installation of our next piece, an opticians window display. Gold, black and fluoro, a slight Christmas tease but holding off until a more suitable time to put the actual Christmas display in (Christmas is still over a month away for those already packing stockings?!?!).

The photo shoots at the weekend were top banana. I wish I could display the results but they are strictly secret until the first issue of Disclosure Magazine comes out in December. I was in the BIGGEST mood ever because after setting everything up on Saturday afternoon for the front-cover shoot, a sky-full of moody clouds reared their ugly heads. Luckily for us (and everyone/thing in my war path at this point) we were thinking of packing up and sacking it all off, when we decided to do a couple of face and compositional shots anyway. Much to our disbelief, the sun started seeping through the grey and we were flooded by the most beautiful golden light you have ever seen. Ask Will Robson-Scott how bloody hard it is to try and make gliter sparkle on demand...not easy and extremely frustrating. As if by magic, the sky cleared completely to a vivid blue colour and we were bathing in crisp, winter light. The glitter sparkled its little toes off and our (very patient) models (thanks Lucy and Becky!) hung in there and sorted us right out with some well nice shots. Top wicked. Chip-Shop whoppin'.

SALE!!!!

Grab a bargain. Chilli and a jacket spud - £2.99. Great hat - £1.99. Sweet.

Oh Lovely Clouds, Please Do Not Rain On Us this Weekend.

Onto the Next Job.

No more Piñatas for a while. Now we are making props for the next photo shoot and buying colourful ribbon and loving some of the vintage finds in our magic shop of wonders (thanks Ruairi). Oh Yes. Nothing shall be disclosed (?!) as of yet but watch this space later in the year.

More of this (sneeze...sniffle...cough...)





and less of this for now (...ahem) Work to be done and winter to be survived. Isn't it all lovely and crunchy-leaved now eh?

Fascinating Fireworks.

Why do they never cease to impress? These photographs are from the Thames Festival Finalé last month. Anna wondered whether Ken Livingstone had something on his mind when he oversaw the choreographing of the fireworks in the last photograph...ooooohhh, aaaaaahhhh, ooooooohh. Hmmmmm.