Nom Nom Ombre

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you would have noticed that Ombre is without a doubt the buzz trend of this year. It has captured our hairstyles, high street, bakeries and, of most interest to me, our interiors.

Ombre is the french term for ‘shaded’ or ‘graduated in tone’ and is the perfect blend of using light and dark as reflected in nature.

I first observed the trend in our office when DG launched their Saraille fabrics in their last Spring Summer collection. It was without a doubt the design that received the most ‘oooh’s’ and ‘ahhh’s’ from everyone and it is with no surprise as it is an incredibly striking effect of which we should all embrace (while it lasts!).

Your homework this week is to go out and bring some Ombre to your lives…(not to be mistaken with hombres). Here is some inspiration….

(Images : Saraille Fabric by Designers Guild, Ombre Pendant Lampshade by Martha Stewart, Ombre Desk Natty by Design, Ombre Cake by Apt2B Baking CO, Undecorate: The No-Rules Approach to Interior Design – Christiane Lemieux.)

Inspired by India

Hello again! Its been far too long. I’ve just returned from my first ever behind the scenes photo shoot in Sintra with the team. It was hard work but the results were stunning…I shall post the shots as soon as they are ready for public viewing.

After a day of rest, the new week began with preparations for the new Inspired by India exhibition at Sotheby’s A Selling Exhibition of Contemporary Design – Curated by Janice Blackburn and styled by Trisha Guild (with my colleague and I assisting).

“The show features textiles, ceramics, jewellery, furniture and photography by established designers, such as Alice Cicolini, Rahul Kumar and Sabyasachi Mukherjee and up-and-coming artists such as Els Woldhek and Pia Wustenberg, all of whom have been inspired by the culture, colours and crafts of India.

Commenting on “Inspired by India” Janice Blackburn said: “Crafts we associate with India – weaving, embroidery, metal work and enamelling – are sadly disappearing. The way to preserve these wonderful techniques is to move them forward with well-designed products, which combine traditional skills in a contemporary way without sacrificing their historical context. All the designers I have selected share a passion for India and have produced work which is a successful marriage between the best of fine, original design without compromising the rich tradition of India’s hand-making processes. I am delighted to introduce their work and offer it to collectors through Inspired by India.” – Sotheby’s

It was felt that the scheme of the show should be very organic and rough- luxe so we procured old pallets and crates from the Sotheby’s warehouse, which btw, was amazing in itself! One of our crates had even contained a Francis Bacon work of art- excited much!

On site we set about stacking the pallets and crates for the exhibitors to display their work on. We hung Designers Guilds banners of fabric, weaved in India, to add colour, give form and balance the room. One of my favourite touches was stenciling on the exhibitors name with a typewriter font onto the wood which had been spray painted in either a neon orange or pink beforehand to add a little funk factor!

The results looked fabulous, if I do say so myself. It was so lovely to collaborate with the artists also who all turned up throughout the day to help display their work, not to mention being given the opportunity to help style an exhibiton in one of Londons most prestigious galleries. I really hope the show goes well for the whole team.

Inspired by India is running from 8-15 May 2012 (closed 12th of May) opening times on the website.

(Images by Design88)

Deck the Halls…with LEGO!

LEGO has always been a favourite pastime for me, especially during Christmas. That is why, as I passed through St Pancras one night last week, I had a the largest grin on my face staring up at all 33-foot of a Lego Christmas tree standing on the concourse at St Pancras Station, London for all to enjoy!

 

I defy any grumpy Bah-humbug, or, miserable commuter traveling through to not be in awe of the world’s largest ever LEGO Christmas tree- all 600,000 LEGO bricks, 172 Lego branches and 1,200 LEGO Christmas baubles! This three-tonne marvel took 2 months to build by UK LEGO professional, Duncan Titchmarsh and his team at Bright Bricks– a company which specialises  in creating LEGO commissions (sounds like THE BEST job ever!). According to the Bright Bricks Blog, due to how busy the station gets during the day the team of builders had to pull a stint of long nights during the haunting hours to complete the project on site.

If you fancy something like this for your office or party, then it seems Bright Bricks will manage just about anything. Check out their website and see for yourself even if it’s just to see a very concerning portrait of James May!?

You have until the 4th of January 2012 to go and see this work of art for yourself. As it’s so tall you can see it from practically anywhere in the station, but, you might as well enjoy it form the Champagne bar to do it proper justice.

 I think what I loved most about the idea is that Lego is all about play and creativity and this tree is a shining example of many christmas values. So, if you’re stuck on any gift ideas this year, remember, Lego really is the gift that keeps on giving! 🙂