Our old friends Trophy Cupcakes here in Seattle have been showing off their Halloween cupcake range.
They are fabulous and I’m particularly liking their couture outfits from Bella Cupcake Couture. Truly fashion at its finest.
Bella Cupcake Couture makes textile inspired cupcake wrappers which are fabulous for weddings, parties and other special occasions. Utterly sublime.
So, this black steel fireplace by French company Focus has apparently been voted the World’s Most Beautiful Object by the Pulchra design competition in Italy.
Thoughts? It’s impressive, but definitely not my most beautiful object (still trying to think what would be though). And this room is utterly spectacular, though that has more to do with room’s bones than the so-so decor.
What objects would you nominate?
One of the main things that really drew my eye to the Lulu Guinness spread was the magnificent Pearly Queen of Dalston wallhanging above the banquette. I love everything about it – its wit, the fact that it’s made of buttons, its quintessential Englishness, the colours – and it seemed like just that sort of thing an expat Londoner would hang over her Seattle sofa.
I even vaguely thought about commissioning one, but it soon became clear from sculptor Ann Carrington’s website that it would be way out of my league – it’s apparently a fairly important piece, purchased by the Rothschild collection in honour of the Queen’s 80th birthday, and doesn’t belong to Lulu Guinness at all, it merely served as the inspiration for her limited edition ‘Stamp Jayne’ handbag (shown to the left of the banquette picture and seemingly no longer available through her shop).
Here it is in more detail
And here are some other works by the artist, both made using thousands of tiny pearl buttons.
I wonder, though, if American readers are getting the cultural reference?
Pearly Kings and Queens are the heads of certain families in London’s East End, descended I think from Victorian costermongers (street sellers?) who decorate their black clothes with thousands of tiny buttons and do tons of work for charity.
If you like the look then these cushions here are pretty special.
What I like about art is that sometimes it teaches you to look at things with a different perspective.
In my life I must have spent thousands upon thousands of hours commuting backwards and forwards on the Tube in London, but never once did I think to look for these surreal juxtapositions of Tube trains/passengers and the huge ad posters which are posted on the other side of tunnels from the platforms.
Genius stuff. By Yusuf Ozkizil.
And now these pictures have got me all nostalgic for the Tube. Who knew that I would think of those days of being crammed in like sardines with one’s nose stuck in someone’s smelly armpit with such fondness?
Feeling inspired to create but can’t afford the materials?
Yes, paints and stuff are expensive, so go and rescue that sad and lonely reel of packing tape you’ve got stuffed in a drawer, pick off the bits of fluff and get to work.
Here’s the sort of thing you could be making.
The above are made from layers of tape stuck to plexiglass with light shining through.
All images by Mark Khaisman.
I came across this fabulous art via Flavorpill’s Daily Dose, where my post on Charlotte Mann’s wall art was also featured {via a mention on Fashioncopious.com). As a result my blog stats have gone through the roof and it’s been fascinating to watch my post go slightly viral, with people blogging about it, linking to it on Facebook, Tweeting it and posting it on other social networking sites.
Such things don’t normally happen round these parts, though I suspect it has slightly more to do with Charlotte Mann’s fabulous art than my sparkling prose. Anyway, thanks all for the mentions and I do hope Charlotte is getting some nice juicy commissions as result.
This post is for all Project Runway contestants (and judges) past and present, who have struggled with the concept of ‘avant garde’. Viktor & Rolf took saws to densely packed layers of tulle to create walking sculpture and the result is both strangely gorgeous and absolutely riveting.
Wouldn’t you just love to see some super brave starlet walking down the red carpet in one of these? (And she could always sweep the carpet at the same time.)
{via Project Rungay – run there to see more pictures, the runway videos are worth watching}
For the longest time I avoided wooden accessories in the home – they always seemed a bit too rustic and ‘knit your own yogurt’ and you know that I’m really not that sort of a girl.
But recently wood seems to have become a little more sleek, sophisticated and playful, while still retaining that delightful tactile smoothness and warmth.
Check out this gorgeous coffee table from Habitat in the UK
These cute owls (here we go again) from UK designer Matt Pugh
This beautiful walnut cheese board/server from SavedFromAFire (made from offcuts of wood saved from furniture making, which would otherwise be thrown away or burnt).
These stacking rings from Little Sapling Toys who make the most fantastic wooden kids accessories
These wooden iPhone cases from Vers (though I’m not sure how practical pulling your phone in and out would be).
and finally, the wooden accessory that revived wood for me, my Jean Pelle candleholder
How on earth did I live before I had my iPhone? It seems impossible to even contemplate now, though I still find the touch screen infuriating at times.
Here’s one of my current favourite iPhone apps.
Developed by Seattle photographer Chase Jarvis, The Best Camera allows you to add some cool effects to your iPhone photos and also upload them easily to social networking sites such as Facebook etc.
Here’s an untweaked iPhone photo
and here is the same image tweaked using four different filters – Jewel, Paris, Slate and Candy (there are some more standard filters such as B&W and warm up filters as well). You can also combine several different filters together. Jarvis has set up a website www.thebestcamera.com where you can upload the images you’ve taken – loads of great pics up there already.
These cute (I have no idea why they’re cute and not scary or ugly, but they are) mama and baby owls come courtesy of a blog reader Bushra who – after our recent owl discussion – emailed me the link for these owls on Etsy. Which was splendidly timed to arrive just when the Husband was casting about for a birthday present that his baby could give to her mama…
We’ve talked about British furniture company Deadgood before and I’m completely smitten by the cute little ‘Capsule’ sofa and chair they unveiled at 100% Design.
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Who are the good independent furniture designers in the US? I’d love to find stuff like this here, but don’t seem to be able to track it down. (Check out more from 100% Design – oh how I miss it – here)
Update: Just editing to show the comments that have been appearing on my Facebook page….maybe I’m liking this chair a little less now…
So, if I were 20 years younger, 20cms taller and er, a heck of a lot thinner, I would SO be buying this dress (and not just for Halloween either)
Made to order by Nicole Lindner. Available here.
