Garden Inspiration for Summer 2013 at the Heatons Open garden day

The combination of being able to nosey round Other People’s Houses, take in some inspiration from real garden spaces, get advice from enthusiastic home gardeners and eat cake at virtually every stop was fairly hard to resist so Mr M found himself dragged along to the Heaton’s Open Garden day yesterday, though I think he secretly enjoyed it He likes a big one, Mr M, and as the gardens ranged from the back of suburban terraces to the enormous wow-we-never-expected-that surprising, neither of us were disappointed.

You rarely get to see behind those front facades so, for me as a keen gardener, it was a real treat to find out what other people are growing, plus see what works and what doesn’t. I was SO jealous of other people’s tulips, what is in the water in Heaton Moor?! Mine are piddly this year and most haven’t even flowered – the ones in the Heatons were MASSIVE!!

The Japanese Acers on display were absolutely beautiful, in all shapes, sizes and colours:

Apple trees and blossoms were everywhere and due to late blossoming this year we saw them at their prettiest. I loved the idea of tying the branches to grow the trees together as a blossom fence, definitely going to do that in my garden to separate the drive from the garden:

Lots of people were growing their own in a variety of different ways, I found myself getting very envious of lettuce!

*Somebody* fancied koi for lunch….

Lots of different way to display flowers and planting, you don’t have to just stick to pots you know! Wait til you see my upcycled drawers done for Crafty magazine in a couple of weeks – they’re LUSH!

In lots of different gardens there were chives which had been allowed to flower (left hand image) as both young and old enjoyed the open gardens

Looked like purple was a hit for 2013, lilac and aubergine hues absolutely everywhere!

I bought a jar of honey and ate cake at the most amazing garden on Princes Road where Heaton Honey is made:

But my award for the most imaginative and eclectic garden goes to the one below which, YES, is all one garden, can you believe? Absolutely stunning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Northern Contemporary Craft Fair visited Sunday 19 May 2013

Brittany Delany ceramics and Kate Bufton Book Transformations

Have thoroughly enjoyed my Sunday today – why can’t ALL Sundays be like this? First I had a lie in, then chocolate tiffin for breakfast, then we popped over to the Little Northern Contemporary Craft Fair in Cheadle Hulme, one of the @GNCCF satellite events prior to the biggie in Autumn. My passion for the immense skill and creative talent the UK produces is reinforced every time I go to an event like this, selling stunningly crafted and hand-produced items which knock spots of the tat found in shopping ‘malls’ up and down the country.

It’s no good going along and not buying either, you’ve to stick your hand in your pocket and put your money where your mouth is. Craftsmen and women don’t survive by people just passing by, smiling and saying “Ah, isn’t it lovely” but not BUYING it! I bought a gorgeous Brittany Delany tea-light holder and a beautiful glass fired bowl by Emma Wells – delighted with both of them

How amazing is this French knitted silver chain jewellery below, such skill involved:

Clockwise from top: Suzanne Claire Jewellery, then Goldfinch Jewellery by Lucy Ramsbottom

Loved the laser cut acrylic lighting by Kirsty Shaw and have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of this type of work in the future:

Clockwise from top: Kirsty Shaw Acrylic lighting, then screen printed and fired glass by Emma Wells

Neon anyone? Totally on trend contemporary craft:

Clockwise from top: Wonderhaus Jewellery, then Print Garage, then Kirsty Shaw acrylic

And of course, anyone who knows me knows why I picked this image for the blog #want

Holly Levell Textile Artist

Try and get over to one of the other satellite events in the next few months and help support British craft.

P.S. Don’t forget to sign the petition which is endeavouring to help keep Craft defined as Creative – sounds obvious doesn’t it? Take a look x

Ever wanted to pressure wash the banking system…..

Back before the big crash, I transferred some property mortgages to the Heritable Bank Plc, a 132 year old Scottish incorporated Bank which had “a long tradition of providing specialist finance solutions to companies and individuals in the UK” and which had been bought by Icelandic bank Landsbanki in 2000. You used to go with who you trusted in banking, to secure the long term success and stability of your business and Heritable seemed like a good business to trust, long history and all that. Yes, yes, we all know better now. In October 2008, Heritable went into administration, due to the massive over extension of the Icelandic banking system and collapse of parent company Landsbanki. DOH.

There’s been an in limbo period of almost five years where I’ve been paying monthly ‘as per usual’ to administrators but nothing else has happened. I’ve written to them to try and redeem the loan by funding with another lender but was ignored. Then today I get a letter telling me that there has been “a change in your mortgage account” and that the mortgage has been “assigned to Mars Capital Finance Ltd”. So I go on line to look for them and the web-site doesn’t work. So I call the Heritable Bank (in administration) number for information and Mars Capital Finance Ltd answer, but moreorless refuse to give me any information about themselves, e.g. who they are, are they a British company, how long they’ve been trading, etc.

Completely bizarre and not just a little disconcerting. What a strange world we live in where people’s lives and livelihoods get transferred willy nilly across companies and you end up dealing with a business about whom you know and are apparently allowed to know absolutely nothing. But it’s ok, because, as the boy from Mars Capital Finance Ltd said, it’s “all in the terms and conditions”……. I honestly don’t think he could comprehend why I would want to know who it was I was now going to be doing a considerable amount of business with, or more precisely paying a considerable amount of money to.

If I had my way they’d all be hosed down with a high pressure jet wash to wash the bullsh*t away and then we’d all start over again doing banking the proper, old fashioned way. Well, a girl can daydream, can’t she……

Interior Design Trend 2013: Using lace pattern in design and interiors

Bottom left light tea light by Timea Sido, bottom right ceramics by Annett Bugansky

As in fashion, so to the home – again! This time all things lacy for 2013 and a trend which has been on stylists’ radars for some time now had definitely found it’s way into the gift and homeware world as I saw on Monday at Pulse London 2013: on cards, lighting, cushions, jewellery and sometimes simply dressing stands.

Top left pendant by Timea Sido; Drum shades by Lucentia

Clockwise: Top left Gary Birks mugs; Patterns Apart print; Ginta Siceva laser cut leather jewellery

Clockwise from top: Abby Monroe fabrics & homeware, bottom left Patterns Apart

Seeing this trend ‘in the flesh’ reminded my of a very ethereal collage of images I’d seen on Patternbank back in March:

So, you see, lace doesn’t always have to tweely remind you of your Great Auntie Nellie!

Here are some super cool uses of lace in interior design:

Clockwise: Top left: Unknown concrete lace divider design; EijffingerContempo wallpaper; Mr Perswall wall covering; Schumacher Lace wallpaper

The concrete tiles with embossed lace facing below were designed by Jethro Macey (now at Decode) in 2006, which does go to show that either 1) some ‘trends’ take longer to catch on or 2) some ‘trends’ aren’t actually trends, but rather are timeless designs which come around every so often as ‘fashionable’. I prefer the latter theory myself.

Jethro Macey concrete embossed tiles

On that note and stepping away from the whole obsession with trends, it’s really just about development in design and technique isn’t it? Advances in technology have allowed such intricate laser cutting to all sorts of materials – concrete, metal, timber – that this love of lace and it’s effect was almost inevitable. You only have to look at the image below of iron lace work in New Orleans to see a hands-on, labour intensive and ‘dirty’ but beautiful skill which is now, sadly, widely lost but is becoming in the design world superseded by ‘clean’ laser cutting.

Clockwise: Top left: Iron lace work in New Orleans; Unknown fence panel; metal pendant at Rockett St George; Iron staircase by Gestion René Desjardins

You can’t get really much cleaner than a digitally printed metal lace effect, definitely no mucky metal work involved here:

Young & Battaglia trope l’oeil wallpaper

There is, of course, absolutely no reason to stick to monochrome… why not try a little neon lace in your life

Annie Little neon lace homeware

Liking the lace look, or loathing it?

The typography trend in design continues at Pulse 2013

The trend for the written word in design and interiors was very much apparent at PULSE 2013, but with a not so subtle variation – it was all quite in-yer-face with a definite move away from Keep Calm and Eat etc….

As typified by Soddit and Blimey above, many young designers had opted for typographic shock value with prints which were both witty and to the point. Here are the ones which made me giggle:

And here are some slightly less cheeky ones:

The master of the poetic written word Rob Ryan was featured on one of the stands:

As did the condensation of whole books into one page and at least a recognisable part of a book into a brooch!:

And I couldn’t very well NOT post this one, could I?

Featured above from the top: McLaggen Smith Mugs, Karin Akesson, One Must Dash, Live In Print, Sarah Ray, Ros Shiers, More Than Words, Heather Alstead, Rob Ryan, House of Ismay, Spineless Classics and Susan Taylor

PULSE 2013: A homeware trend for neon lights and brights

Are you ready for a POP of neon brights in your home and giftware for 2013 & 14, ’cause that’s what’s coming!

Spotted at Pulse 2013, here are my favourite products which captured the trend for eye-wateringly bright splashes of colour. They do say interior design follows fashion and as the 80′s have definitely been on radar on the fashion front, it was only a matter of time before they leapt into our homes

Featured: Urban Bird, La Cerise Sur Le Gateau, Beulah Home, Quirk and Rescue, Under Cover, This Is A Limited Edition

PULSE 2013: Moregeous visit a very design focused gift show

I had a great time at PULSE 2013 yesterday, how could I fail to when surrounded by stand after stand of creative, design led gifts and homeware?!

Each time I visit a trade or design show certain themes stand out, sometimes ones which have been slowly growing over a couple of years and sometimes new surprises. I love spotting the fresh trends and seeing how they’ve been translated into products, giving me inspiration for the design schemes Team Moregeous are asked to create for clients. There’s a very real side to my visiting the shows, it’s not just about blogging for blogging’s sake, I often specify and use the products seen.

Talking of blogging however and for your delectation, I’ll be featuring some lovely images for the main trends spotted which are highlighted in the image above:

• Don’t Mince Your Words
• Noah’s Ark
• Buzzy Sunshine
• Neon Brights
• Lovely Lace

My two favourite visual impact stands were the ones below by La Cerise Sur Le Gateau, a funky yet pared back blackboard paint and timber stand where the eye-popping neon fabric products did all the talking, and the bottom one…. which I lost the card to!! I’m sure someone will tell me which stand it is as it was so very clever, all graphic drawings and Paddington Bearesque backdrops to the lovely gifts for sale.

There were some beautiful ceramics on show of which my favs were the copper belted bottles and marbled effect vases by Carolina Peraca and Nazli Pehlivan, and the pottery take on Gaultier’s perfume by Annette Bugansky:

I ordered myself a necklace from Maqaroon, opting for summery pistachio:

I found some interesting lighting: recycled lacy delights by Manchester based Lucentia, some very cool wicker work by Louise Tucker on the St Martin’s stand, ethereal ceramic pendants by Timea Sido and finally the felt ‘Honey’ shades by Desinature.
There was a whole lot of fun to be had with pom poms

As well as some things which don’t fall into ANY category, like writeable wine glasses by Cami Raben, ceramic doorstops, a solid marble iPad stand by Costas Bisas, and got-my-eye-on-you notepads. Excellent stuff

More later x