Look What I Found

Today I saw some photo's that I submitted to National Geographic years ago on their website. I have no idea where the originals of these are any more, but I do love these photo's. They all remind me of various travel adventures. So I decided they may as well be on my own blog if they are on National Geographic!


This first one is of my Dad in the Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul. That truly is an amazing building. It is so enormous, but this little corner really captured my imagination with its worn stone floor and the glowing lamps.

Seeing the Trans America building in San Francisco looming through the mornig mist was quite breathtaking.

Gold! Nuff said!



Leaving Hagia Sophia mosque

Space Mountain in Disney Land, CA, after an ama

zing day

I took this from the crew bus window in Dehli. A truly intriguing city of shocking sights and vibrant beauty - definately on the list of places to explore further.

Chelsea Flower Show, Darling!

I've been wanting to visit the Chelsea flower show for years but never quite manage to get my act together and buy tickets in time. Well this year a very thoughtful person - thanks Mum, did it for me. So yesterday I travelled over the border from Fulham to go to the Chelsea flower show.

Luckily we went in the evening as it was the hottest day of the year. To be honest we were slightly underwhelmed with a lot of the larger gardens. I'm sure there real merit lies in the amazing planting rather than the layout so they were probably a bit of my head.

My favourites were definately the small city gardens, which really were tiny but looked like they had been there forever. So much thought and imagination had gone into them. They really were fantastic.

In the large tents, there were amazing flower displays. The orchids were real show stoppers but my favourites are the carnivorous plants which I just think are so elegant and beautiful - they are the perfect chic house plant. I can see them against dark grass cloth wallpaper - heaven!

A client today recommended that Jonathan Adler should do a show garden for Chelsea! I think this is a great idea. Might do some sketches for it myself. The larger gardens really could do with an injection of imagination and fun so watch this space!

Ciao from Chelsea.

Turning Green

I've got some serious colour crushes at the moment. Maybe it's working with colour all day but I just can't get enough. Today it's all about going green. There is something so rich and fresh about deep emerald green. The glade bar at Sketch in London has recently used this colour to magical effect. Those huge curtains are so theatrical, I adore the drama of this space. Other inspirations are malachite in all it's forms. I bought two small malachite bowls from a charity shop last year and they are one of my favourite possessions - they look so great with everything.
The famous banana leaf wallpaper from the Beverly hills hotel is possibly the best wallpaper ever. It was used to great effect in the 'Golden Girls' and if it's good enough for the girls it's good enough for me.
It's never quite enough just to love something at home so I now have some fabulous green jeans, as seen in a shoot from Monocle magazine to spread the green envy across town!

Art/Porn

Well, it turns out that Al Parker is more than just a seventies porn star and former playboy mansion butler. There is also another Al Parker who was an illustrator for American magazines in the 50's and 60's.

I hadn't seen his work before, but I am really taken with it. It's so evocative of the time. I love some of the apparently random subject matter too.

He worked most prolifically for American home journal which was a women's lifestyle magazine and is largely credited with creating this type of illustration in the 40's, so his work was hugely influential. The style of work changes throughout his career as he continues to define himself from his imitators.

Many thanks google image search for introducing me to this most interesting other Al Parker!

Shakespeare in India

After being rather uninspired for ages, I'm suddenly seeing great things all over the place - often in pretty random places too!

Case in point, I was watching Felicity Kendall in India presenting a programme about Shakespeare which was mildly interesting. However I found myself enchanted by this hotel that she visits which she used to go to as a child. It is such a great, unusual space with so much character. If I'm ever in Calcutta I will definitely try and stay there!

A Creative Drought

London is a funny place to be at the moment. We are officially in a drought and yet it is pouring with rain every day! This seems quite an appropriate metaphor for my situation; I find myself very much in the middle of a creative drought and yet the deluge of art, ideas and new products in London is never ending.
Maybe it's just the same as the water companies continued justification - this isn't the right kind of rain to relieve the drought. Equally I think that just because you can always have new things and a billion images on pinterest and hipstermatic on your phone it doesn't mean you are creating anything of real interest or value. Bit harsh I know, but it's my thought for now.