Step into my office....

Agonisingly, series four of Mad Men has started in the US and will not be reaching our shores until next year. In the meantime, here are a few moody shots of Don Draper's former office to keep that Mad Men habit at bay. Personally, I can't wait to see how Stirling, Cooper, Draper, Pryce decorate their new office (or to see what happens within it's walls).

Vintage Academe "Summer of Love (and brownies)"

For one night only on Thursday night, the clock went back to 1970 for Vintage Academe's Summer of Love themed party. I was commissioned to dress the window and provide hash cakes for the guests (fairly last minute might I add, so please don't judge me)! All we were missing were a few joss sticks.....

Sunday best on Columbia Road

Wallpaper lust

I recently discovered unbelieveable vintage wallpaper boutique Second Hand Rose online; thank god it's across the pond in NY,or I'd be in serious trouble. The cutest conversational prints are to be found in their kid's section, so much more interesting than a chintzy floral.

Seeing red

The Serpentine Pavilion has arrived, and this year's offering designed by the renowned bad boy of architecture Jean Nouvel is a vision in red. Everything is rouge, rouge, rouge, down to the smallest detail (even the fridges are red). Oh, and the ping-pong tables, naturellament.It's a futuristic temple of worship for colour lovers, J'adore.

New blood

Another year, another fresh crop of young design talent. This years New Designers proved to be eye-wateringly good and made this ex-surface designer hanker after a screen printing bench once more.One of my favourite graduates to emerge from week one was Anna Jensen from Bath Spa University who's Scandinavian-meets-jungle prints reminded me of Josef Frank's designs for Svenskt Tenn. (The judges clearly liked her too, as she won the Harlequin award for her designs, picking up an internship with the interior design giant as well as prize dosh and a bottle of mother's ruin from the show's drinks sponsor Bombay Sapphire-bottoms up!)

Time for twee..

It was Hampton Court Flower Show press day Yesterday, and the sheer immensity of the place knocked my socks off! Regarded Chelsea's middle of the road, slightly more twee sister, it boasts over 40 show gardens and has hundreds, thousands probably, of commercial stands trying to flog (some very naf) stuff. That said, there are some really lovely things to be found once you've separated the wheat from the chaff, and some quirky gardening ideas too. Finding myself in the vintage tent, there was a really pretty outdoor dining table set up with vintage china and blooms that would make even the most minimalist stylista squeal with delight, and perfect for alfresco summer weddings/parties ( I don't think the picture above does it justice actually).

Another thing that caught my eye (I must have been a magpie in a former life) was this installation, part of a series dotted around the show designed by Girlguiding UK. Encorporating typical girl guiding activites such as camping, cooking and general good deeds, I loved the improvised look of planting herbs and fruit plants in cooking pots and pans. Girl Guides, I salute you!

Go forth and multiply

Last week whilst wading through the world wide web I stumbled across this extremely cool designer from the Netherlands, Jetske De Groot..... Her 'Multiple Family' chairs are a sort of Frankenstein's monster mish-mash of different chair components, seamlessly blended together to create pieces that are many times more interesting and beautiful than in their original form. Not only pleasing to the eye, De Groot's approach ticks the up-cycling boxes too, gives a nod to the furniture designers of the past ( without whom we wouldn't have these iconic shapes to play with in the first place),and asks questions about the designer's role in a time when so many products already exist. If these offerings are anything to go by, it just goes to show when it comes to designers, too many is never enough!

Up, Up and Away...

Summer officially starts with the arrival of graduate shows all over the city. Last week was the RCA sculpture and painting show in Battersea, and although you may not be able to get most of the pieces exhibited through your front door- let alone on your mantle piece- sculptures like these deserve a mention. The stand out piece of the show was this beautiflly glossy aqua balloon (untitled) by Markus Foster (this blogger is tipping him as the name to watch) and rumour has it that a certain Mr Saatchi snapped it up. I can just see it sitting nicely in my imaginary roof-top garden....ready to float away.