Furoshiki magic

I'd never come across these before, but furoshiki scarves (pronounced fu-ro-shki, the 'i' is silent) are big in Japan. Or, at least they were, now they're seen as a bit old fashioned so an enterprising Japanese woman, Kyoko Bowskill, is collaborating with Western designers to bring them over here. Through her company Link Collective she's hooked up with American illustrator Leah Duncan who has designed two new prints: the geometric 'Angles' and the more natualistic 'Mountain Blossom', pictured above.

So what is a furoshiki exactly? Well, it's a scarf, it's a bag, it's a wine carrier... wrap it, fold it, wear it... it's an accessory that more than earns its keep by serving multiple purposes is what it is. We all feel better when we can re-use something - and these would beat 'bags for life' hands down in a beauty contest - so I can see the trend for these screen-printed in Tokyo cotton/silk scarves taking off here. I think they're fab. They are available in the UK from Quill London.

 ps - here are some folding tips.

Bethan Gray: Inside Design

Bethan Gray is a designer we should all know about for her beautiful, functional, thoughtful, well-crafted and warm designs. You may well be familiar with some of them already as her Noah range for John Lewis is a best seller, pictured top left and bottom right. Also pictured is her celebrated Brogue Table for G&T (Gray, and Thomas Turner) which has a leather top and signature punched pattern. She's fond of using luxurious natural materials such as leather, marble and wood to create her covetable designs. What I love about her is that she designs things you could easily see yourself living with and this talent has made her one of the UK's most commercially successful designers. While browsing her website I had a peek at her Instagram account which is public, I hasten to add, and is full of stunning pictures, lots of detail shots, texture, shapes, colour. Very inspiring. She's showcasing her new work at an exhibition called Inside Design which opens tomorrow (26th April - 9th May) at Great Western Studios in London.

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Indie of the Week #19: A Vida Portuguesa

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On my recent trip to Lisbon I visited this hip shop in the Chiado district. A Vida Portuguesa is an old fashioned goods store selling traditional wares (soap, stationery... sardines) in a very stylish way. It has a lovely feel to it with ceiling-high vintage glass cabinets full of items wrapped in beautifully illustrated paper packaging and the most chic display of tinned fish I’ve ever seen. Founder Catarina Portas set up the shop in 2007 when she realised some of the traditional products she grew up with were disappearing. It began almost as a way to save the packaging, but it has become more about building relationships with the producers. It's interesting to see that the grass roots movement of supporting and promoting and celebrating "local" is going on outside the UK as well. 
Who are you? Catarina Portas, founder and owner of A Vida Portuguesa (The Portuguese Life).
Where can we find you? Rua Anchieta 11, 1200-657 Lisbon, Portugal www.avidaportuguesa.com; online shop http://loja.avidaportuguesa.com/en/
Describe your store in five words: Old-style, charming, delicious, genuine, Portuguese.
What makes you different? I believe objects can tell extraordinary and revealing stories about a people and its taste, about a society and its context, about a history that is, after all, a common identity. I realized it is also possible to tell the story of a country through its consumption habits. I also love to tell stories and reveal the history behind a brand or a product. And this became a part of our attitude: we believe it is possible to do business with respect for the traded goods, those who buy and those who sell. And we call it “delicate commerce”.
How you decide what makes the cut? A Vida Portuguesa was born out of the will to create an inventory of the brands that survived the passage of time, to highlight the quality of Portuguese manufacturing and to showcase Portugal in a surprising light. Therefore, we mainly choose products that stand out for their quality and charming packaging, including: toiletries, stationery, books, jewellery, food, handicrafts, toys, utilities. We have also started (re)creating exclusive products with some brands and developing our own range. 
What were you doing before you did this? I was a journalist, having worked for magazines, newspapers, radio and TV. While doing research for an article I came across many of these products and realized they were vanishing from the market. I loved and used many of them and felt an urge to bring them together, first in gift boxes, and then under the same roof in a shop.
If you were starting again what advice would you give yourself? Always face the future with the eyes set on the past.
What are you most proud of? Mostly, I am proud of the dedicated producers I find all over the country. I consider some of them to be true heroes. They manage old factories that have been around for several generations. These people refuse to give up, even in the most difficult situations, and continue to make things and make them well.
Do you have a favourite thing in the store right now? I have a special fondness for the swallow, a traditional symbol, that we recreated as a sticker. And there is an interesting story behind it too. In 1891, the genius artist Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro shaped a few swallows in ceramics to hang from the ceiling of “Tabacaria Mónaco” (an Art Nouveau tobacco shop) where they have remained to this day. He then got carried away and released them on to tiles and other decorative pieces. And it didn’t take long before the swallows were common in Portuguese homes, both inside and out, becoming a true national icon – the most beautiful and perfect of them all.
What's hot for 2013? We have launched recently a delightful box of chocolates together with the brand Regina, that bring back old style 1930s holiday packaging. 
Every Wednesday 'Indie of the week' celebrates the best independent stores around. These places sell interesting and varied collections of design-related things you don't see everywhere else. They may support young or local designers or be great at finding unique things from around the world. By thinking a little more creatively about what they stock they are fighting the bland homogenisation of so much of the high street. And since I'm down with the realities of modern life, online only stores count too, because a beautiful and easy to use website is just as delightful an encounter in cyberspace.
Do you you have a favourite store?  I'd love to hear from you.

91 Magazine

The sixth issue of online-only vintage/crafty/interiors mag 91 Magazine came out today. It's full of beautiful photography and fresh spring colours and is a cheerful read. And it's FREE, you can leisurely flick through the pages on your laptop or tablet with no charge whatsoever. I wrote about 91 Magazine on my blog last year.

Inside this issue on p106 is an interview I did with Lucy Edmonds of stationery website Quill London (which you may recall was Indie of the Week #2) where she talks about setting up her online shop. We had a great chat and she impressed me with how thoroughly she had undertaken her research: from trade shows and Mintel reports, to actually camping out opposite Paperchase with a notebook.

Indie of the Week #18: Folklore

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Danielle Reid is making ecology and ethics sexy through her chic shop in Islington. Folklore is a business built on design principles (craftsmanship, simplicity, durability and quality in all the items they sell) but it wears them lightly. The shop has a distinctly pared down aesthetic of bare boards and rough edges, but rather than preach it sort of gently nudges you think a bit more deeply about what you buy . . where it came from . . how it was made. The ethos here is: "good design is mindful design" and I'm inclined to agree.
Who are you? My name is Danielle Reid and our shop is called Folklore.
Where can we find you? Our website is www.shopfolklore.com and our bricks and mortar store is located at: 193 Upper Street, Islington, London, N1 1RQ.
Describe your store in five words: Simple, clean, calm, modern and natural.
What makes you different? We have a strong ethos and distinct aesthetic that informs all of our buying choices. We focus on the idea that better living is possible through design and stock an edited selection of homewares, furniture, lighting and lifestyle goods.
How you decide what makes the cut? Our focus is on mindful design for home and life – items that are created with care and made to last. We look for craftsmanship, quality, simplicity and durability in all of our products. This means many are handmade, antique or made from recycled or found materials. For products that don't tick these boxes, we choose items made from materials that are at least easily recyclable at the end of their life. 
What were you doing before you did this? I’m an interior designer and stylist so previous to Folklore I had been working in this field for about 10 years.
If you were starting again what advice would you give yourself? Don’t try to do everything at once! We opened our store and launched our website at the same time. It was a huge challenge as both are equally huge projects and at times quite stressful. We got there in the end but next time I would be more inclined to do things one at a time.
What are you most proud of? I’m very proud of the lovely old sign we have above our door, it reads ‘Berwick’ and was the name of an old traditional ‘bra and knicker’ shop that was there for almost 50 years. At first lots of people couldn’t find us as it doesn’t say ‘Folklore’ above our door, but now people associate the sign with us as much as anything. It’s very striking and almost a landmark of the area.
Do you have a favourite thing in the store right now? That’s a difficult question, there are many. I love our Nicolle range of metal chairs and stools. Created in 1933 they were designed by Frenchman Jerome Lepert for use in factories and workshops. The design hasn’t changed since. Made entirely from metal parts they are incredibly durable but also beautiful and they come in any RAL colour meaning they are very versatile. You can still find the odd vintage Nicolle chair in France but they’re much more rare in the UK. To me they are a relatively undiscovered design classic and definitely an investment into a piece that will last forever.
What's hot for 2013? We have a new pendant lamp in called Egg Of Columbus. It’s fun and made from 100% recycled paper waste meaning it’s an innovative use of materials too. I’m also very excited about a new range of furniture we have on the way from Slowwood who are based in The Netherlands and focus on timeless pieces that have a raw natural elegance. Everything is hand made in their workshop and they use 100% natural finishes and mineral paint; we’ll have the Grut 4 table on display in our shop from mid-May.

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Every Wednesday 'Indie of the week' celebrates the best independent stores around. These places sell interesting and varied collections of design-related things you don't see everywhere else. They may support young or local designers or be great at finding unique things from around the world. By thinking a little more creatively about what they stock they are fighting the bland homogenisation of so much of the high street. And since I'm down with the realities of modern life, online only stores count too, because a beautiful and easy to use website is just as delightful an encounter in cyberspace.
Do you you have a favourite store?  I'd love to hear from you.

Lisboa Vida

​I was in Lisbon, Portugal, recently for a long weekend with my husband and I can heartily recommend it as a short break from the UK. We stayed in the fab Baixa House serviced apartments and wandered about the city on foot, taking the odd tram, climbing up and down the hills, visiting a castle, a monastery, a market, drinking espressos and eating custard tarts, stumbling upon gorgeous indie shop A Vida Portuguesa and taking loads of pictures.

It was great to get so much visual input: the beautiful, majestic, crumbling buildings, the stunning tiles (seriously, if you like tiles you need to come here they are everywhere), the yellow trams against the blue sky, the crazy structure built by an apprentice of Gustave Eiffel. It felt way more fun than lazing on a beach; my brain felt satisfyingly sated by the end of it. 

I wasn't joking, I went mad for tiles. Obviously the shapes and patterns appealed to me, as they would to anyone who is a fan of geometric prints, but it was the way they'd been incorporated into the fabric of the city, the way they were crumbling with it, and occasionally where they'd fallen off the wall and someone had drawn them back on - I loved that. And the graffiti, there's loads of it.

There is even a National Tile Museum which turned out to be way more interesting than it sounded (check out these positive reviews on Trip Advisor) and was one of the highlights of the trip. It was not what we were expecting at all (see below) and as it was a tiny bit off the beaten track there was hardly anyone there. I'd say Lisbon is probably just outside the top 10 European cities everyone wants to visit (I'm thinking Paris, Barcelona, Rome...) and is all the better for it. There's all the stunning architecture, but fewer crowds. 

Pick Me Up

Graphic designer Malika Favre is one of the rising stars chosen by a panel of industry experts for Pick Me Up Selects 2013. [Image from Outline Editions]

Graphic designer Malika Favre is one of the rising stars chosen by a panel of industry experts for Pick Me Up Selects 2013. [Image from Outline Editions]

I'm looking forward to this . . . Contemporary graphic arts festival Pick Me Up returns to Somerset House ​on 18th April for 11 days of graphic art, design and illustration. 

"In addition to showcasing and selling original artworks and limited-edition prints from the industry’s elite and emerging talent, each day the festival will be running an exciting and eclectic mix of quirky family workshops, lively evening events and creative forums.  Some of the artists contributing to this year’s programme include Guardian regulars Modern Toss and the award-winning animation studio Aardman, who will host a Shaun the Sheep model-making workshop".

​I went along to this a few years ago when Rob Ryan was in residence in a brilliantly chaotic pop-up makeshift studio where you could walk around (bit zoo-like, yes) and actually watch him and his team busily drawing and painstakingly cutting out his signature papercut works. Talk about concentration. He reminded me a bit of my old art teacher at school, Mr Johnson, who when I think back now gave us a pretty free rein to do what we wanted - and made it fun. Walking into the art department felt like going into a different world where normal school rules didn't apply, like when he let us turn half the floorspace into a floor to ceiling paper jungle. Completely impractical, completely brilliant. Anyway, I'll be at Pick Me Up, sighing with nostalgia.

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Indie of the Week #17: Oswell's

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We head north east this week to County Durham where sisters Lisa and Julie run their fab shop Oswell's from an 18th century building in the pretty town of Barnard Castle. The town is famous for two things: the castle and The Bowes Museum which looks like a giant French chateau and is home to an impressive collection of decorative arts. With three decades of major league retail experience behind them the sisters initially focused on their online shop, but soon realised they needed a physical presence on the high street. The result is a chic rural indie with a metropolitan edge.
Who are you? We are Oswell's - Lisa, Julie, Mark and Bob (the dog). I [Lisa] do the buying whilst Julie looks after finances and marketing, and Mark takes care of the website.
Where can we find you? 10 The Bank, Barnard Castle, County Durham, DL12 8PQ; www.oswells.co.uk; Facebook; Twitter. 
Describe your store in five words: Beautiful, curious, useful, grounded, attentive.
What makes you different? There seems to be a trend at the moment for virtually cloned high street home and gift shops, and we consciously set out to buck this. We have a strict buying policy and spend a great deal of time ensuring that each and every product is different, beautiful, useful and, most importantly, has the right quality and feel to work in our shop. We also pride ourselves on bringing a feel-good factor to shopping and strive to provide top-notch customer service both in-store and online. 
How you decide what makes the cut? I decide! (with input from Mark and Julie). We are quite strict and stick to our philosophy when buying: products have to be of great design and quality, useful (the form over function debate is one that Mark and I have frequently), and inspired by nature, either in form or material; you won't find any plastic in Oswell's.
What were you doing before you did this? I have worked in retail for 30 years. I started out at Liberty and went on to Borders and Books etc before completing a stint at Harvey Nichols. Julie has a background in marketing, whilst Mark has 22 years of experience in military intelligence. All in all a useful and eclectic mix of skills.
If you were starting again what advice would you give yourself? Go straight to the high street. When we started out a year ago our emphasis was on the website and so we took premises in a lovely old converted stable block with stunning views across the Tees Valley. But I quickly realised this location was no substitute for face to face customer interaction, and the hustle and bustle of the high street, so within four months we moved to our current location in the heart of Barnard Castle. I believe passionately that it is the small independent retailers that are the lifeblood of our town centres and am very proud of the, albeit small, role we play in making Barnard Castle the lovely shopping destination it is.
What are you most proud of? Standing out in a very crowded market place.
Do you have a favourite thing in the store right now? Hobnail pitcher. Handmade in Bohemia, there is nothing nicer to serve your Pimm's in.
What's hot for 2013? Eleanor Pritchard blankets, handmade in Wales with beautiful, subtle colours and urban, almost architectural, designs. The quality and workmanship shine through.
Every Wednesday 'Indie of the week' celebrates the best independent stores around. These places sell interesting and varied collections of design-related things you don't see everywhere else. They may support young or local designers or be great at finding unique things from around the world. By thinking a little more creatively about what they stock they are fighting the bland homogenisation of so much of the high street. And since I'm down with the realities of modern life, online only stores count too, because a beautiful and easy to use website is just as delightful an encounter in cyberspace.
Do you you have a favourite store?  I'd love to hear from you.

 

Indie of the Week #16: Vessel Gallery

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There’s something uniquely captivating about glass and ceramics; I’m not sure whether it’s the appealing colours, the inherent fragility of the materials, or the winning combination of utility and beauty, but whatever it is I’m a fan. Since 1999, Vessel Gallery has been the place to go to in London for the world’s finest contemporary glass and ceramic art. Forget glitzy department stores filled with miniature crystal animals, this part shop/part gallery space has cutting-edge collections which range from functional Scandinavian pieces to flamboyant Italian art glass, and regularly holds exhibitions open to the public. 
Who are you? Angel Monzon, co-founder and creative director of Vessel Gallery.
Where can we find you? 114 Kensington Park Road, Notting Hill Gate, London W112PW. www.vesselgallery.com
Describe your store in five words: Exquisite, Quality, Handmade, Collectable, Bespoke.
What makes you different? We offer the best in contemporary art glass and decorative lighting from British and International artists. Our recent Vessel lighting editions have just been presented in Dubai and now we are off to Milan. 
How you decide what makes the cut? First all of all there must be quality in the choice of materials and the highest craftsmanship involved in the making process. We are also looking for products that tell a story, that are innovative or push the boundaries of the material. We work with both established artists and newly graduated ones.
What were you doing before you did this? My first career was in fashion. Then I relocated to the UK  (from Sweden via Spain) for furniture and product design studies at Kingston University and at the Royal College of Art. I made my own furniture collections for some time and designed for companies in Japan.
If you were starting again what advice would you give yourself? Set up business with a finance partner who can advise you about the ups and downs of the game.
What are you most proud of? I am proud of projects where Vessel has acted as catalyst between talents and industry, like our Salviati Meets London exhibition a decade ago where we worked with Tom Dixon, Anish Kapoor, Nigel Coates and Thomas Heatherwick among others.
Do you have a favourite thing in the store right now? I love everything but recently we started showing wonderful glass centre pieces by Danish artist Tavs Jorgensen, they are very large so you need a BIG coffee table. I also love the work by French/American glass artist Jeremy Maxwell Wintrebert and we recently sold an installation to the Mudac museum in Switzerland.
What's hot for 2013? Our new Balustrade collection of lighting and object d'art by Simon Moore. 
Every Wednesday 'Indie of the week' celebrates the best independent stores around. These places sell interesting and varied collections of design-related things you don't see everywhere else. They may support young or local designers or be great at finding unique things from around the world. By thinking a little more creatively about what they stock they are fighting the bland homogenisation of so much of the high street. And since I'm down with the realities of modern life, online only stores count too, because a beautiful and easy to use website is just as delightful an encounter in cyberspace.
Do you you have a favourite store?  I'd love to hear from you.

Whole World Water

Bottled water is such an incendiary environmental topic that this new design by Yves Behar's agency fuseproject is an exciting one. Behar's team has designed the identity for the Whole World Water project (note the wave-like linked 'w's) which encourages hotels to use on-site filtered water in re-usable glass bottles. So it's bye bye expensive, imported bottled water from the other side of the world. 

Whole World Water is a social enterprise to unite the hospitality and tourism industries in an effort to tackle the problem of unsafe water worldwide. Ten percent of the proceeds go to water programmes for the staggering 1 billion people without access to clean water. 

“Good design accelerates the adoption of new important ideas, and this is one of these ideas where everybody wins”, says fuseproject.

Designs of the Year 2013

A non-stick ketchup bottle has been nominated in the Product category for the Design Museum's sixth annual Designs of the Year. How does it work? The inside is sprayed with an edible lubricant which repels the sauce and out it slides. Which immediately makes me think: Heinz are going to need a new ad campaign.

But headline-grabbers aside, here's the shortlist of the 90+ designs nominated which include big hitters: the Olympic Cauldron and The Shard, but also practical solutions for the developing world such as: Child Vision self-adjustable glasses for children with no access to opticians, and life-saving medicines from Cola-Life that are distributed to the furthest corners of Africa by jumping on the Coca-Cola distribution network. GENIUS.

The breadth and scale of the creations is mind-boggling. The exhibition runs until 7th July. 

Light Show at Hayward Gallery

I've heard only good things about Light Show at the Hayward Gallery and really want to go, it's on until 6th May. The exhibition features sculptures and installations that you can move around, and through, to experience light in all of its spatial, …

I've heard only good things about Light Show at the Hayward Gallery and really want to go, it's on until 6th May. The exhibition features sculptures and installations that you can move around, and through, to experience light in all of its spatial, sensory and mind-altering brilliance. Some of the artworks date from the 1960s and have been re-created specially for this show. Have you been? How was it?

Swiss Miss at SXSW

The great Swiss Miss did one of the keynote talks at SXSW Interactive last week which I've been told was so popular there were queues of people going round the convention centre. For those of us not in Austin, Texas, last week she's put it up on her blog so if you click on the pic above you can see it. It's a really inspiring talk from a brilliant woman who is balancing her work life and her family life while doing something she loves. It's well worth putting an hour aside to watch it. Be inspired! 

Here are her 11 rules to live by:​

1. Invest your life in what you love

2. Embrace enthusiasm

3. Don’t complain; make things better

4. You have got to trust and you have got to empower

5. Surround yourself with like minded people

6. Experience is more important than money

7. Collaborate

8. Ignore haters

9. Make time to think and relax

10. If an opportunity scares you take it

11.Be someone’s crazy aunt

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Indie of the Week #14: FAO Shop

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I first saw the FAO Shop pop-up at Design Junction back in September where it had an excellent spot near the entrance and opposite the Artek bar. And, as you can see from the pictures below (top left and bottom right are of their stand at the show) they also had some pretty slick presentation skills, in the form of artist and set designer Andy MacGregor. FAO Shop is a real passion project, and a true indie: run by two friends who source and edit all the products on the site, they run a quarterly online magazine which tells the stories behind the artists/designers, and they organise pop-ups to ensure the brand has a physical presence and isn't solely online. They're doing all the work, so you don't have to.
Who are you?  Gemma Fabbri, Creative Director of FAO 
Where can we find you? www.fao-shop.com
Describe your store in five words: Curated, Contemporary, Fashion, Art, Objects
What makes you different? Our collection is a carefully curated selection of the best in independent design from across the globe. We are passionate about design and promote the talent we represent. Our quarterly online lifestyle magazine features interviews with selected designers and art directed photo shoots. We also do regular pop-up shops and designer launches. 
How do you decide what makes the cut? We look for beautiful innovative pieces by independent designers that fit the FAO style. 
What were you doing before you did this? I was busy running Scene my design studio. We design furniture, interiors and curate design shows.
If you were starting again what advice would you give yourself? Don't be so hard on yourself and trust your instinct.
What are you most proud of? I'm really proud of our achievements at FAO. The team are really passionate about the brand and work so hard. All the incredibly talented designers on board have been really supportive of us too and have helped create an amazing collection to be proud of.
Do you have a favourite thing in the store right now? Of course I love it all but what particularly stands out for me right now is the graphic collection of products from CUSTHOM. I also love the Brogue Table by Bethan Gray.
What's hot for 2013? Bright, bold and colourful pieces are hot. I love the geometric scarves by Clare Gaudion and colourful works of art by Emma Lawrenson.

 

Every Wednesday 'Indie of the week' celebrates the best independent stores around. These places sell interesting and varied collections of design-related things you don't see everywhere else. They may support young or local designers or be great at finding unique things from around the world. By thinking a little more creatively about what they stock they are fighting the bland homogenisation of so much of the high street. And since I'm down with the realities of modern life, online only stores count too, because a beautiful and easy to use website is just as delightful an encounter in cyberspace.
Do you you have a favourite store?  I'd love to hear from you.

 

& Other Stories

A new fashion venture from H&M.​

Sadly, shopping did not look like this when I was growing up. It wasn't presented in a beautiful, easy to digest, sparkly, let's be friends kind of way where you could join the party at the click of a mouse. It was much more polarised; there was stuff on the high street which was generally quite ordinary and affordable, and there was Fashion which was elitist and other-worldly. 

But we're much savvier consumers in 2013 and this new venture feels like a natural response that blurring of fashion and affordability. & Other Stories is the smart new boutique from high street stalwart H&M which has a very active website and a brand spanking new shop on Regent Street. If Grazia magazine had a retail wing it would probably look like this.