Category: Bohemian
7 Hammersmith Terrace
There’s a new place ripe to visit: No. 7 Hammersmith Terrace, once the home of printer Emery Walker has just been re-opened to the pubic and proudly boasts the most complete and authentic Arts & Crafts interiors in the UK. Delights include hand blocked Morris & Co Wallpaper, a veritable smorgasbord of textiles and authentic Philip Webb furniture. Deep sigh..few houses in the world have original Morris & Co wallpaper on every floor in nearly every room…but this one does.
Walker was a key member of many of the organisations that embraced the ideals of the Arts and Crafts Movement and as such was a close friend and mentor to William Morris.
His house has just undergone an eighteen month renovation – during the process all sorts of delicious discoveries were made like letters from Rudyard Kipling used as book marks and spectacles belonging to Morris with cuttings of his hair in a desk drawer. It is a living and breathing time capsule.
Could be my new favourite place in London…
Laters, Kate x
Twinkle, twinkle x
T
Somethings are meant to go together – bread and butter, Kate and John, gloves..earrings. So what do you do if one goes missing?
If you’re artists Lauren Sagar and Sharon Campbell you turn them into a work of art – The Chandelier of Lost Earrings.
It’s a concept of multiple layers – the power of many, making something out of nothing, the transformative power of change. More than 3,000 earrings were donated by people who wanted to be part of the project originally linked to St Mary’s maternity hospital in Manchester.
Along with earrings, letters and stories were attached from each donation.
Collectively it’s a jewel of a piece.
I’m just glad they never considered socks.
Laters, Kate x
Street style x
Underworld x
Our urban weekend, with many of the pictures taken by Bella.
Laters, Kate x
Wood Craft x
It’s half term so we’ve been busy doing very little. One thing we have achieved is a bit of stick weaving…a strangely satisfying art form…first you need to find a good selection on Y-shaped sticks = outside jaunt.
Then wrap each side of the Y.
To do this you tie the string on, then create a loop at the back.
Then bring the other end through the loop and pull tight.
Continue till both sides are done.
We measured two arm lengths of string for the next bit. (This is Bella doing her Christ the Redeemer impression)
Using a large darning needle (new it would come in useful) weave between the two sides to create the horizontal lines.
Ta-dah!
Finally weave wool in V shapes vertically from one side to the next. This is Bella’s finished creation.
Being an adult, I wanted mine tighter…therefore it’s still a work in progress…
Surprisingly satisfying.
Laters, Kate x
Alice Cicolini x
Alice Cicolini’s jewellery fluidly mixes a rich tapestry of eastern traditions with cool modern sensibilities.
It’s a keen eye, passion and superbly talented craftsmen that bring her jewellery together.
Together with a total love of colour.
Each piece proudly nods to its heritage roots whilst still being totally unique.
Not an easy gulf to cross.
(All pictures Alice Cicolini)
But Cicolini’s work is a third retro 80s, a third Indian, a third British…and totally fabulous.
Laters, Kate x
An Education x
Who needs words?
Laters, Kate x
Brainstop..
So the husband asked me what sort of doorstop I’d like for the new crittall doors – I said a round one of course!
He looked at me like I’d suddenly grown donkey ears but it’s not such a stupid idea…the inspiration came from cannon ball doorstop at my parent’s house in Greece: heavy enough for purpose but round enough for cheeky aesthetic pleasure. So he searched the internet and found this, a cannonball doorstop handmade in Dorset by Sam at Millin Metalcraft and I couldn’t be more delighted!
Sam makes them in three sizes – from heavy (£25), to even heavier (£35)…to very heavy (£45) (which is strong enough to hold back a barn door..)
And they are all that you could want: resonance, authenticity and practicality.
But Sam’s talents don’t stop there – he does a beautiful line in metal sculptures like these alliums…
And is up to be challenged for anything metal related. Minion stove anyone?
Ours in situ. Made by hand by a proper, loving, skilled craftsman – it’s simple, effective joy.
Laters, Kate x
The New Art Piece x
The nostalgia of vintage is that magic of re-discovery, the knowledge that with a tiny twist, anything can be re-invented so it doesn’t lose character but effortlessly slips into something more avant garde.
That veil-lifting moment when something previously scorned suddenly turns into a fully fledged, royal owning swan.
I’m having that rush with live edge coffee tables: What once was regarded as seventies back of the throat kitsch is now looking the wobblies du chien.
Naturally (no pun intended) the biggest, gnarliest trees produce the best slabs and if colour and size are what you want then purchasing from the States is your best bet. But this isn’t a cheap option – the cream sell for thousands of pounds because these are natures own works of art, cultivated at the pace of a snail over centuries of toil.
But there are other ways.
(All pics from Pinterest)
The creative alternative is to make one yourself, like this blogger did: A large cut of native wood carefully chosen, combined with hairpins legs readily picked up from Ebay and a bit of elbow grease.
How hard can it be?
Laters, Kate x
Make a point x
This post gained life from the previous one – those upcycled chairs from Refound? A gateway to delicious that warranted further exploration. Who thought needlepoint could be so now?
Yet on the face of it, it’s probably the worst granny chic ever.
But that’s what makes it comic, sad, happy, complicated and rather wonderful.
And it’s that nibble of lust which keeps the world forever moving.
Laters, Kate x
Maison Bentley Style 