Category: Creative

Design Classic x

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Camilla Lundsten is a former designer for Ikea who then published a highly successful series of childrens books’ based around a little red elephant called Littlephant.

 

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Demands from friends and family persuaded her to launch of her own homeware/toybrand…and the making of this drool house and  future design classic.

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Her philosophy presses many happy polka dot buttons: ‘To simplify everyday life with long-lasting objects that are practical and as eco-friendly as possible’.

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Combine that with the alchemy of faultless design, iconic textiles, hours of play, rampant imagination and the urge to make more yourself just to add to the ongoing joy…and it’s product made in heaven.

 

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(All pics from Littlephant.com)

Bella doesn’t get a look in. I want.

Laters, Kate x

The New Art Piece x

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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.

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That veil-lifting moment when something previously scorned suddenly turns into a fully fledged, royal owning swan.

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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.

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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.bb5a2f8d8d517fb629d7c74a49f393b3 411b4c7ccd86471d797dcbcc50005053 9feb6d9c18326ca568087f7b11d92fcd 81b062d4947c48ffa6dedb67eee41bd4

But there are other ways.

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(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

Christmas x

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The chandelier is decorated. Tick.

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New mirror inserted. Tick.

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Large star in kitchen? Tick.

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Christmas tree? Done. Finally got the damn lights to work.

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Elves? Here. Every day. When we remember..normally in bed at midnight..

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Christmas to do list? Still long – buy presents, wrap presents, hunt holly, find mistletoe, find stockings, clean chimneys, make gingerbread houses, ice cake, plant carrots.  It’s still reading like something the sorcerer would leave for his apprentice except without the hope of any magic.  So what am I going to do today?  I’m going to add a bright pink trim to the side of our kilim stair carpet.

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Just because I can.

Laters, Kate x

Minakani x

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Minakani is a Paris based textile design studio and brand created by Figuette and Frederic Bonnin in 2005.  Their work is unerringly recognisable – I’ve long lusted over this picture – yet travels below the obvious radar.

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Theirs is a taste for the different – natural, spatial, rich and expressive.

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Yet surprisingly simple.

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Pared back to just enough.

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A name to add to the scrapbook of my future lottery win..

Laters, Kate x

Make a point x

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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?

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Yet on the face of it, it’s probably the worst granny chic ever.

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But that’s what makes it comic, sad, happy, complicated and rather wonderful.

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And it’s that nibble of lust which keeps the world forever moving.

Laters, Kate x

A Christmas Tale x

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Not into rubbish? How about re-cycled? – It’s the present that keeps on giving.

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All these joys are from Re-found Objects, the royalty of quirky finds.

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(All pics from Re-found Objects)

Just make sure you’re buying presents for others hey.

Laters, Kate x

The alternative Christmas x

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Good intentions be damned, the only thing I’ve learnt since writing this post is that they never last and the only way to go is big, bad and ballistic..

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With that in mind I will be fully embracing the anti-commercialism at Pencil Agency’s Rubbish Shop.…and buying all my presents there.

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Who could resist Beyonce as an angel?

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A set of fine minatures?

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Or four handmade napkins?

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A multi-purpose iphone case for that person who always has little accidents?

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Or a naivly crafted nativity scene?

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(All pictures The Rubbish Shop)

Just pure elfing genius.

Laters, Kate x

Christmas Fair x

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It sort of reached peak Christmas in the Bentley household at the end of last week – a festive mishmash of hosting meals for many, nights out and the culmination of 4 weeks of creative playdates with Bella and 4 friends to help produce stock to sell at the School Christmas Fair. The idea was simple – to show them the cost and effort it takes to turn raw ingerdients into real money.

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But it played into my love as well – to me, sitting around a table making is what Christmas is all about.

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We had an amazing amount and variety of stock. Spot the pompom Christmas puds? An excellent seller!

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And we virtualy sold out – before costs, the girls made £395 on the day! Not to be sniffed at.

Damn. They might want to do it again…

Laters, Kate x

The Blues x

Smoking x

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Remember Granby? They haven’t stopped evolving since winning the Turner Prize last year.  Even better, much of what they do totally feeds into the Future Candy trend – that perfect sweet spot of imperfection.

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These are their unique ceramic tiles created by smoking in a BBQ for 12 hours with sawdust, newspaper and banana skins.

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The effect is tantalising, like you’ve taken something light and let it go daaaaaark.

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Thank goodness for moral depravity.

Laters, Kate x