Read the full article here.
Read the full article here.
Showing posts with label interiors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interiors. Show all posts
Tuesday, 26 April 2016
Sunday, 27 March 2016
pop-up shop and selling exhibition
My first ever pop-up shop and selling exhibition opens on 7th April next door to the wonderful Pentreath & Hall in Bloomsbury. I'll be showing fabrics, cushions, throws, furniture, drawings, paintings, prints and collaborations with Drake's (a special range of silk pocket squares) and Papier (stationery). I'll be open Monday-Saturday from 11am until 6pm. Please do by pop by if you can!
Thursday, 24 March 2016
Wednesday, 9 March 2016
Tuesday, 1 March 2016
late february in amsterdam
We spent last weekend in Amsterdam, arriving in time for lunch on Friday. Excitingly, we'd booked into De Kas a few weeks earlier after reading rave reviews. De Kas, meaning greenhouse in Dutch, is housed in a huge 1926 glasshouse just outside the city: one half is for eating, the other for growing fruit and vegetables. The chefs at De Kas are all about organic, fresh produce (grown either on site or on the restaurant's nearby farm), and our lunch lived up to the reviews - kale soup, chicory tart, delicious cod and shrimp, doughnuts... Walking along a canal close by after lunch, we came across these charming swan benches. One for the balcony at home in Camden, perhaps?
We were staying at Hotel Seven One Seven, where D. had spent a weekend ten years earlier with his family. It's an old townhouse on one of Amsterdam's most beautiful canals, Prinsengracht, and the cosy rooms, named after famous writers, are stuffed full of antiques and curiosities. Dinner on Friday night was at Lion Noir - a dimly lit, lively place with deep green walls and stuffed peacocks.
Saturday was spent exploring the local area (after pancakes, of course). We quickly came across the most wonderful antiques shop in the Nine Streets and this extremely fabulous Italian dinner set, which we snapped up in an instant. I mean, that orange! We'd been looking for new plates for some time, and could not resist these... Some came home in hand luggage, the rest are on there way over in a big box. I can't wait. Afterwards we checked out the city's big modern art gallery, Stedelijk, and then the Rijksmuseum, which I loved very much. Later on we had drinks with friends from London at The Hoxton, and then supper at Balthazar's Keuken - a small place I'd read about in London, where they serve a very good set menu based around the best ingredients of the season.
D. at the Rijksmuseum, perfecting a snap.
Sunday morning was spent sleeping and watching movies at the hotel - very much needed. (I had a strange craving for 90s Hugh Grant and, in particular, Four Weddings and a Funeral). We strolled for a while in the afternoon and then popped into the Hermitage. In the evening we did cocktails at the Pulitzer hotel's bar and dinner next door at Jaansz - a gem of a place - all dusky pink velvet curtains and olive green velvet banquettes.
Above the door of this house a marvellous sign read 'It really does not matter'.
We visited a couple of lovely churches and canal house museums on Monday including the very grand Van Loon, which houses a fine collection of period furniture, porcelain and silverware from the 18th century. After lunch at The Lobby, it was time to pack up our things and head for the airport. I loved Amsterdam, I hadn't been since I was 18 and it was wonderful to walk among all those dark, beautiful rows of elegant canal houses once again...
Tuesday, 16 February 2016
in the press... house & garden 12/02/2016
House & Garden have written a piece about our Camden flat - read the lovely article in full here. Lots of new photographs to see too!
Monday, 15 February 2016
to the banqueting house!
Back in January we spent a weekend at a wonderful little building, West Banqueting House, in Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds. West Banqueting House is a Jacobean building, originally built to enjoy seventeenth century banquets within and now managed by The Landmark Trust. We'd spied the house from our car last autumn, when we were in the area for a wedding. We quickly fell in love with its extraordinary beauty (I remember the car screeching to a halt and us jumping out in awe), particularly because its equally beautiful sister, East Banqueting House, sits just yards away. We tried to find a way in at the time, not knowing what the buildings were being used for or who owned them, and then just before Christmas I discovered that, fortunately, they'd fallen into the care of The Landmark Trust. I immediately booked a weekend's stay in the smaller of the buildings and kept it as a surprise for D.'s Birthday in January... And so, to the Banqueting House! We took two friends with us, travelling up on a chilly Friday afternoon. We ate supper at an excellent little restaurant in the village (The Chef's Dozen - imaginative, seasonal food) and rose early on Saturday (above). The ground was frosty and pale but the morning sun was basking everything in soft, warm light. D. and I can never sleep in on weekends, we get too excited about breakfast. Of course, we'd arrived in absolute darkness the night before, so we had a lot of fun running around and looking at everything - the architecture of the buildings, the remains of Campden House on our doorstep (sadly destroyed by fire in 1645), the view across the hills, the church next door...
West Banqueting House's bathroom is incredibly charming. Total perfection. The house really only consists of one main room with a big farmhouse table and basic kitchen at one end, squishy sofas and armchairs and a huge fireplace at the other. Up a spiral staircase to the fab bathroom and a cosy bedroom. What else could you possibly need?
Our two friends, Charlotte and Niels, slept next door in the Almonry, a smaller version of our abode but just as magical. After dinner on Friday evening I slipped over on the wet grass and fell into a ditch. The wine's fault.
We spent Saturday down the road at Soho Farmhouse, eating, drinking, and even rowing in a small boat at one point, if I remember correctly. Later on we prepared a banquet worthy of the house - champagne, roast chicken and apple and blackberry crumble. We talked and played games by the fire late into the night, the cold Cotswold wind whipping around the building's old stone walls.
I came across a battered copy of Follies and Grottoes by Barbara Jones in the Almonry, a favourite book of mine. I hadn't noticed this hilarious paragraph before however. It delighted me very much and made me realise that I need a giant party boat shaped like a swan, pronto.
Our bedroom... Welsh rugs, warm blankets and lovely old furniture. Sunday was spent at the fabulous Wheatsheaf Inn in nearby Northleach. I had a very good cheese soufflé. As I mentioned in a recent post, I'd not seen a soufflé on a restaurant menu in ages and now suddenly I feel like I can't move for the things, which is obviously excellent. Anyway, we lounged about in the pub for quite some time afterwards because it was raining (but mostly because of the huge lunch), before dropping Niels off at a train station up the road. Charlotte, D. and I spent one more night at the house and then, back it was to London on Monday. It was a dreamy weekend... We're already planning our next Landmark Trust adventure!
Wednesday, 10 February 2016
in the press... the sunday times home 31/01/2016
Our bathroom makes an appearance in a lovely article about the revival of Georgian and Victorian furniture. Read it in full here.
Sunday, 10 January 2016
in the press... vogue.com 05/01/2016
An exciting start to the year! Thanks to Aimee Farrell and Vogue.com for the wonderful write-up. Read the full article here.
Wednesday, 9 December 2015
in the press... homes & gardens january 2016
Yes that's right! It's a dachshund driving a custard yellow convertible. Talking bread sauce and other Christmas wishes in the January issue of Homes & Gardens.
Friday, 4 December 2015
from venice to the kent coast
We spent a couple of nights in Venice a few weekends ago - it was a flying visit - we wanted to escape London and even though we've been to Venice a few times in the past couple of years, we couldn't think of a nicer place to enjoy a few days of good food and quiet rest.
We visited a few places we hadn't had the chance to see before - the Palazzo Fortuny was a highlight, as was the Olivetti Showroom designed by Carlo Scarpa on Piazza San Marco. (I loved the colourful mosaic floors.)
Venice comes alive in the evenings - we drank cocktails at several of our favourite hotel bars. I love the interiors of the Bauer - all dark wood, brass and marble.
Venetian typography - it cannot be beaten!
Ideal colours.
And then, a costal holiday of a different kind. Last weekend we headed east from London, out to the Kent coast. I loved these rows of beach huts lining the grassy shore near Whitstable. (In fact I spent several hours deciding what my own colour scheme would want to be.)
We stayed overnight in nearby Ramsgate, but spent most of our time in Whitstable - exploring and eating (very good calamari and superb sea bass with brown shrimp). I fell in love with the exterior of this charming restaurant. Too perfect!
Tuesday, 17 November 2015
newsflash!
Newsflash from LEH HQ! After a wonderful two years I stopped working as an interior designer for Ben Pentreath at the end of October, which was sad in many ways. Excitingly however, I am currently in the process of setting up my own studio not far from my home in North London.
This new opportunity will allow me to concentrate on creating artwork for both commercial and private clients.
At the moment I am working on a bunch of drawings and paintings for the Parker Palm Springs hotel in California.
I will also be offering interior design services. Recently I've been working on the interiors of this handsome Georgian house in the Kent countryside.
The plan is to collaborate with the lovely owners on sourcing furniture, choosing paint colours and so on, room by room. We started in the Drawing Room by painting the walls a deep greeny blue, before having a big new sofa made. It's covered in a heavy mustard corduroy. I absolutely love corduroy. The colours of the antique striped kilim rug we found are just perfect - that burnt orange next to that mint green next to that pale pink. Heaven.
In the near future I will be building upon my small existing homewares collection and launching new fabric and ceramic designs. More about those soon. On another note, my shop with 1stdibs went live yesterday. Do take a look! I'll be making some special one-off pieces for 1stdibs - plates and platters, drawings and prints... Watch this space!
Tuesday, 3 November 2015
autumn diaries
At the very beginning of October, we spent a night at Cliveden House. I didn't think too much of the hotel interiors, but the grounds are beautiful. The views from the terraces are sublime because the Italianate mansion sits so high above the Thames. Also: impressive borders.
Post-Cliveden Sunday afternoon at home. Homemade Bloody Marys and a good read.
Dinner was enjoyed one drizzly October evening at Otto's - classic French food on Gray's Inn Road, of all places. The lobster soufflé was, I believe, one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten. Go if you haven't been, and do your best to ignore the awful signage and questionable branding - the cooking is top-notch.
Ancient Triptych - new work destined for a hotel opening this winter in Dorset.
Early Drawings, an exhibition of fifty five works on paper by David Hockney dating from the 1960s and 70s, was held recently at the Offer Waterman gallery in Mayfair. It was wonderful - I love Hockney's early work and to see so many of his famous sketches together in one place was a real treat.
My murals for the new flagship Murdock shop on Brewer Street in Soho were unveiled. Take a look if you're in the neighbourhood! I created six giant works for the space - they tell the story of a man's day as he makes his way around the city. (Dogs, tennis and cocktails included.)
Halloween arrived on Saturday and D. and I realised suddenly that we hadn't made any party plans, which in the end turned out to be for the best. I'd been feeling a little under the weather and wanted a rest. On Saturday morning we woke early. The weather was beautiful, so we headed down to Spa Terminus in Bermondsey - a favourite weekend early morning spot. I love all of the food producers who gather down there to sell their excellent produce. We bought coffee, flowers and jars of honey and wandered over to Maltby Street. After a browse in Lassco and a doughnut from St John, we settled down at 40 Maltby Street with glasses of wine, a few plates of ham and cheese and the newspapers. The rest of the day was spent at home, watching films and sleeping. Later on we made a good supper for a cold autumn day - crab linguine, rice pudding with jam.
On Sunday, the first day of November, the weather was spectacular again. We hotfooted it over to Hampstead Heath and blew away the cobwebs with a long walk and a stroll around Kenwood House. It was heavenly - grey mist rising from the ground, shafts of early morning light - clear and pale gold.
Lunch was brown shrimp on toast and pork chops at The Horseshoe on Heath Street. Next door to The Horseshoe sits Louis Hungarian Patisserie - I hadn't really noticed the place before but its pink and red cake boxes, lined up on shelves in the windows, caught my eye as we left the pub. Of course, I immediately had to run in and buy an éclair. Louis is a tea room as well as a shop and the 1960s interior is quite brilliant - my heart glowed at the sight of faded panelling, olive leather banquettes and patterned carpets. This, combined with those perfect pink and red cake boxes and the Hungarian owner (he likes to park his blue Rolls Royce out the front), brought only one thing to mind: Mendl's! I reckon this place is about as close as you're going to get to Wes Anderson's fictional bakery.
Monday, 2 November 2015
in the press... house & garden november 2015 and domino magazine 14/10/2015
Thursday, 24 September 2015
in the press... town & country autumn 2015 and the wall street journal 16/09/2015
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