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).