Tuesday 31 May 2011

Clerkenwell Design Week 2011


I visited Clerkenwell Design Week the other day and an entertaining show it was too! In fact it was two shows – one at the Farmiloe Building on St John St and the other at the House of Detention, just behind Exmouth Market. The House of Detention was rather an odd venue, as most of the designers had to sit in tiny dank cells, presenting their wares in the swampy gloom. One of the guys I spoke to from Vitamin Living said they’d had an interesting time with the electrics and walls dripping with damp…


Overall, quirky details on upholstery were a big trend - multi-coloured buttons or studs on sofas and armchairs were everywhere. deadgood had a fantastic armchair which featured heart-shaped upholstery buttons. In fact the deadgood stand was probably my 'best in show'...


Mid-century design still rules the roost, with a distinctly 60’s flair. There was also lots of wood mixed with matt lacquers and discreet upholstery. Everything was very pared back, stripped down and simple.


Yellow was the key colour and it featured on pretty much everything from lighting to picnic benches in every possible shade between super napalm bright to subdued mustard gas.


Eccentricity is still all the rage. Foldable origami style seats, gothic dining chairs re-imagined in plastic, desk lamps seemingly fashioned from super-sized knitting needles, complete with cord flexes that look like wool. Quirky is king!




Pinch was in attendance and looked as subtly stylish as you’d expect. Lots of white and wood – very 'Refined Puritan'. They were showcasing a number of new designs including the beautiful Brody armchair. I want one!



Boat drinks CDW!

Wednesday 25 May 2011

Foxgloves and Foxes...


My chief recommendation to any visitor to my fair and feckless city (or resident for that matter) is to visit that tiny stretch of street in East London that blooms into one of the world's great flower markets every Sunday. Columbia Road is literally one of my favourite places to be - not only in the capital, but the entire planet. As a child, we used to make a pilgrimage there every December to purchase our Christmas tree. It wasn't quite the tourist attraction then that it is these days, but I don't love it any the less for its increasing popularity.


My most recent sojourn to E2 coincided with one of the most beautiful days of the year so far (as well as the London Marathon). Enthused with the joys of a warm spring, me and half of the city decided to head to Columbia Road and get some greenery on. It was gloriously sunny and the crowd was heaving. Yet everyone was in good spirits and the flora and fauna was resplendent!


Although there has been a degree of Disneyfication, there is still a pleasingly eccentric feel to the entire enterprise. This may be due to the Dickensian cobbled-streets and Victorian street lamps. Or the old-school bagel bakeries that manage to cling on despite the influx of ‘quaint’ boutiques (read hideously expensive and painfully aspirational...).The market stalls themselves are passed down through families for generations and the waiting list for a plot is pretty much eternity. The Traders certainly contribute greatly to the atmosphere – hawking their wares in an almost indecipherable series of shouts and bellows. But they seriously know their blooms, so are more than happy to impart some sage words of gardening advice (if you can cut through the accent). There are bargains to be had, but you need to hold your nerve and wait it out until the bitter end when the stalls are broken down. I personally prefer to go early doors – it may not be as cheap, but that’s when everything is at its plentiful best.


Plus there are the visitors, who certainly add their own colour to the occasion. And yes, that is a man with a parrot on his shoulder...


Probably my favourite spot of the day was the individual below. It deliciously sums up that quintessential East London eccentricity to a tee. He (I’m going to name him Marcos in honour of the shop he sat above) was perching comfortably on a window ledge. Embroidering. In an enormous and elaborate fox mask. No explanation supplied, but I guess that’s half the fun.



Boat drinks Columbia Road!

Wednesday 11 May 2011

A funny thing happened on the way to work...


A musical soundtrack is a must-have on the morning commute. In fact it's nigh on crucial kit for any mode of London public transport. Be it to drown out the inane ramblings of the rabble that occupy the ‘backseat empire’ on the buses. Or to nullify the horrendous drone and suffocating atmosphere of the tube. After all, you may be in the process of being transported to your particular coalface of choice/necessity, but it’s also paramount that you have music to transport you elsewhere whilst on your (not so) merry way... 

General rule of thumb is that no one ever talks on the tube during weekdays (a true Londoner wouldn't even utter so much as a "bloody tourists" at weekends either). A savage silence reigns supreme. That is, unless you get some out-of-towner that doesn't understand the rules and fails to register the glares from their fellow passengers. It amazes me that these jabber jaws merrily pipe on; totally oblivious of the carriage full of people doing their best impression of a furious librarian! The hardened masses simply want hush…or their very own soundtrack to slip away into.

Which (finally!) brings me round to the odd episode that occurred this morning. On arriving in Brixton (my glamorous embarkation point), Amy Winehouse's 'Me and Mr Jones' commenced, name checking the very place I was currently striding through (“Rulers one thing but come Brixton” ). And then what should come on immediately after Ms Wino’, but Pulp's 'Sorted for E's & Wizz', which features the immortal line "a f*cked up bloke in Camden Town", which just happens to be my final destination (although hopefully not my 'Final Destination' in the ropey US horror franchise sense!). 

So this all begs the question; is my iPod HAL from 2001? Is it monitoring my every movement? Or is it simply so familiar with the well-worn path that we both tread with depressing regularity, that it too has had our various ports of call seared into it’s memory?!?

Personally I like the idea that my iPod is just as bored as I am by the daily travel torment, so is trying to make things a little more entertaining…

Boat drinks iPod of mine!