I’ve always found a red and blue combination to be a little bit “obvious”, bringing to mind things like cowboys, Stars & Stripes, Union Jacks – you know what I mean. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Look at this room, photographed for Italian furniture manufacturer Battistella for their children’s range Nidi. It’s that surprising addition …
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Inspired by: Red & Blue & More
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Best Things: Tile inspiration
Ever since we started looking for tiles for our bathroom renovation, and came across these wild and trippy handpainted cement tiles at Moroccan Warehouse, I’ve found my head turning towards tiles quite compulsively. What I find so exciting about tile is the way that pattern gets built up so compellingly, and often in ways that surprise, …
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Best things: Chris Turnham
This is a post somewhat tinged with regret, because while in Los Angeles, I very, very nearly brought home one of Chris Turnham‘s silkscreened prints perfectly depicting that city’s long, low buildings, soaring palms and clean, sharp LA light. So while I am very happy to share with you the beautiful work of this talented illustrator …
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Best Things: Studio Ilse for IKEA
Some of the readers of this blog will recall that I used to ardently wish that we had IKEA in South Africa. In fact, I was so desperate that in 2009, I even made a tea towel about it! I’ve since had the IKEA experience for myself (reality seldom lives up to dreams, sadly), but …
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Inspired By: Mint & liquorice
I spotted this photo by Tom Leighton on Remodelista, and it made me think of the Liquorice Mint colour group I put together for our Colour Book. Simple Stripe, in mint Find lots more colour combination inspiration in our 2015/16 Colour Book.
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Contemporary Design Africa
I coudn’t be more delighted to see that Skinny laMinx has been included in this fabulous book called Contemporary Design Africa, by Tapiwa Matsinde and published by Thames & Hudson, and celebrating the contemporary in African design. The book shows how African’s craft traditions are being preserved and revived with an exciting contemporary twist, developing an African identity …
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Studio visit: Kat & Roger
Before we headed to LA in June, I’d made myself a ‘To Do’ list of places to go and people to see. Right near the top of that list was “Meet Kat & Roger“, because I am a huge fan of their work. Roger Lee has a fine arts ceramics background, while his wife Kat …
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Making Friday: CMYK lino printing
I’ve had a really extended Making Friday in July, spending every Saturday at Warren Editions learning the art of CMYK lino printing from master printmaker Zhané Warren and head of relief prints, Morné Visagie. Because I’m a completely self taught designer (thanks, Google!), I’ve got a lot to learn about the ‘proper’ way to do things. …
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Inspired by: Lemon & Fog & Sage
I’ve had this little cluster of objects on the meeting table this week, and it made me wonder which of our table runners these things might work best as a centrepiece. Take a look at a bit of fun I had with these props and three of our table runners: a sunny yellow Abacus, the fresh, …
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