Let’s Play! An exhibition by The Art Group

Not to be missed – an exciting new art exhibition in London’s thriving East End, courtesy of The Art Group – one of the world’s leading art publshers!! Let’s Play will be featuring originals and limited edition prints by the following fantastic artists, photographers, illustrators and designers..make sure you pop along if you can!!!!!

Trudy Good  /  Angela Smyth  /  Sam Toft  /  Megan Hess  /  Colin Ruffell  /  Richard Barrett  /  Shyama Ruffell  /  Jane Foster  /  Lov Li Design  /  John Murphy  /  Blanca Gomez  /  Moose Allain  /  Claire Rollet  /  Julene Harrison  /  Marianne Groennow  / Jon Burgerman  /  Ian Winstanley  /  Howard Shooter  /  Kareem Rizk  /  Anthony Peters  /  Deborah Azzopardi  /  Phil Sheffield  /  James Brown  /  Ben Allen  /  Terratag  /  Ruth Green  /  Sarah Beetson  /  Jeremy Dickinson  /  Lara Bowen  /  Lisa De John  / Helen Musselwhite  /  Kate Jenkins  /  Angie Crowe  /  Tate Sisters  /  Jen Judd-McGee  /  Helen Lang  /  Nick Boyce  /  Susanne Josephson  /  Amy Wicks  /  Jess & George  /Karin Akesson  /  Hanna Melin  /  Maria Dahlgren  /  Graham Rawle  /  Christopher Lane  /  Chris Farrell  /  All Kinds Of New

The Maverik Showroom, 68 – 72 Redchurch Street, London, E2 7DP (http://www.maverikshowroom.com)

Open 2nd – 5th Dec, 2009 (late opening on Thurs 3rd Dec until 9pm!)

http://www.artgroup.com/lets-play/

Fleux, Paris

This has to be one of my FAVOURITE shops in the world… I stumbled across Fleux the first time I went to Paris..and then every time I have visited the beautiful city since, I have always forgotten where it is exactly! And so end up running around like a crazed woman until it appears before me like a gift from the gods!! (FYI – 39 rue Sainte Croix de la Bretonnerie, 75004 Paris!!)

If you are ever visiting the city, please please please pay this shop a visit. It’s brilliant! It houses a vast combination of ceramics, mirrors, tableware, scuplture, wall stickers, furniture..the works! It really is fab! Some really cool products.

Check out the ceramic tableware pieces below… I don’t know who these are by as the website doesn’t provide designers’ names (alas!)…but i have fallen in love with this set for sure! I’ve just booked a trip to Paris for a pre-Christmas treat, and so i’ll be able to take a closer look for myself then! CAN’T WAIT! But check these babies out in the meantime… Mmmmmmm….

yii Collection

As a soon to be first-time home owner (fingers crossed!), I cannot help but keep my eyes open for interesting pieces of furniture or household objects! (It’s already my obsession anyway, so i’m not sure why i’m blaming house-hunting as a reason!) But these pieces below have certainly caught my eye…These wall lights are by Taiwanese company yii…and aren’t they fantastic! yii was conceived by the National Taiwan Craft Research Institute and Taiwan Design Center, and aims to transform traditional craft in the contemporary context through design. They bring extraordinary objects to our immensely impersonal environment…and how pleased are we that they do! I love this light…beautiful and amusing!

Lightly : ceramic butterflies

Cindy-Lee Davies is the designer behind Melbourne-based design house Lightly. The company was born in 2005, and as a homage to her grandmother Rosemary Estelle Lightly, Cindy works with her design house to create beautiful, delicate homeware collections which are reminiscent of daily rituals and domesticity in the home..

Lightly have some really lovely products, ranging from lighting to tableware to accessories and ceramics. Here is a personal favourite; their ceramic butterfly collection..so delicate and pretty, with a contemporary twist. For me, it reminds me of the ‘three ducks on a wall’ so iconic of the 1950’s, and a classic symbol of the English working-class house..but this takes it to another level, and I can imagine how fab these would look on my wall!

The hardest part will be to choose which ones to buy.. But please note: these pieces are made from recycled saucers, and so no two are the same..Specific designs cannot be ordered but instead you can let Lightly know what your preferences might be..and they’ll do their best to match! Orders can be made online (whoop whoop!) and prices are approx $45 pre-postage..

moooi

love it. love it. love it. love it.love it. love it. love it. love it. love it. love it.love it. love it.love it. love it!!!!!! This moooi rabbit lamp is just gorgeous…Soooooo nice. And the horse lamp too! I have managed to souce a list of UK suppliers for the rabbit lamp, and so if you would like to purchase one for yourself, just send me an email and i’ll give you the list! The cheapest price I have found is £270 from The French Bedroom Company..but if anyone out there happends to find cheaper, purrrllleeeeaasseee let me know!

More from Frances!

I haven’t updated All Kinds Of New in quite a while, and I hang my head in shame! The summer months (and a busy work schedule!) have held me back far toooooo much from the old blog-front..and so please accept my sincere apologies! I feel like I have been torn away from a dear friend!

But i’m back!… and wanted to kick-start my blogging with just a few more pics from the lovely work of Frances Priest. Man..i love her work!!! Here are just a few more examples of her fine collection.. What lovely patterns and textures and shapes and colours…It’s all so darn beautiful.

You can see some of Frances’ pieces at the British Ceramic Biennial Award, at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke on Trent. The exhibition displays a collection of work selected from over 300 international applications from artists, designers and crafts people working in clay, and so should be a fantastic visit! The show runs from Oct 3rd -  Dec 13th 2009.

Frances Priest

How beautiful are the pieces below…? By Edinburgh-based sculpturist Frances Priest. I think I have fallen in love! This work is so gorgeous..I want to pick them up and turn them over in my hands..over and over..(I wouldn’t let anyone else do this of course..should I own one!!!! ha!..no way Jose!)

Frances exhibits her work internationally and has won many awards – surprise surprise!!! Her most recent awards are from The Scottish Arts Council for Professional development and The Benno Shotts Award for Promising Young Scottish Sculptor at The Royal Scottish Academy. She was also selected to represent Britain with five other ceramicists at the European Ceramic Context 2006 and at Talente in 2001. So definitely one to watch!!! 

Frances’ website is under construction at the mo, but be sure to keep checking – to see more of her wonderful work! Frances is represented by The Scottish Gallery, and her work is included in the collections of The Victoria and Albert Museum, London,  The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and The National Museum of Scotland.

Lucy Renshaw

I have only just discovered the work of Lucy Renshaw for myself (though I am convinced I have come across some of her pieces in style magazines etc…?) and really wanted to share this find with you!

British designer-maker Lucy Renshaw creates some really fun and wonderful products..the focus being a re-work and rejuvenation of discarded furniture. The results are gorgeous and quirky and fun…and functional too! Lucy rebuilds reclaimed chairs and lamp stands, creating original hybrids, mixed with other fabric ideas and reinventing them into new products. She combines techniques of surface embellishment, embroidery and screen printing to produce imaginative and inspired interior products! Lush! Have a look at just some of her pieces below….They’re stunning..

You can source several items from Lucy’s collection on http://www.glimpseonline.com, but for more info on stockists and prices, it is best to contact Lucy direct on her website…Lucy receives commissions too…which would be particularly exciting I think!!!!!! Mmmmmmm….

Silhouetted Wood Coasters

If you haven’t yet paid a visit to Velocity Art + Design, then you have one big treat awaiting you. Velocity is an online store (but with a showroom in Seattle..should you be in the area!) committed to enriching lives through the life-enhancing elements of art and design. Their products are rich and diverse, but gorgeous in every way..selling original art and prints by the likes of Lorena Siminovich, Amy Ruppel, Tim Groen, Matte Stephens and Alexander Girard – to mention but a brilliant few! But on top of this, Velocity sell a whole host of homewares – accessories, textiles, ceramics, tableware… Plus stationary and wallpaper…the works! It really is a feast for the eyes, and I cannot recommend it enough.

To give you a little taster, have a look at these babies..silhouetted wood coasters by Ponoko, but which you can purchase online at Velocity. The coasters have been laser cut from Colour Rimu wood, that has been hand rubbed with tung oil to protect them…and for a set of 4, you pay a mere $34.00 (pre-p&p). How deelish are these? Very on trend…though a first for coasters i’m sure! Gorgeous!

If you have a spare moment..check out Ponoko too, on their own website…Ponoko is an online store where you can shop for and make things that are completely original, and in the greenest way possible! You can shop the marketplace for designer crafted goods, request a designer to make something especially for you, or create something yourself…and they have some really lovely things! Take a look…soooo nice!

Ochigo cushions!

If you’re on the hunt for some cool new cushions for the sofa or the bed, etc..then have a snoop at these gorgeous numbers! These are courtesy of the people at Ochigo, who after 10 years of experience in homeware and gifts, have set up Ochigo online, selling all kinds of home-ware items direct to you and me!

These cushions are my fave…priced at £44.95 for the large square designs (40cm x 40cm) and £49.95 for the long thin designs (30cm x 60cm) – before p&p. Price includes cushion inner (as sometimes you don’t always get these when purchasing online..which is always tres annoying…and something I tend to forget to check beforehand!!) and all of these have a faux leather on the reverse. Oooh nice….

Think i’d like the polka-dot one on my settee…Yes-sireee…he’d look very nice there…