Chinese New Year and Valentines

Chinese New Year and Valentines fall on the same day this year. Celebrate by sending one of our Valentines or Chinoiserie cards, eating some lucky noodles (said to represent long life - I especially like the lobster noodles in Mandarin Kitchen, London), sending fragrant bouquets of plum blossom,

and wearing red (this Roland Mouret Chimaera dress is available at brownsfashion.com). For more ideas on how to celebrate Chinese New Year, click here!

Plum blossoms image photographed by Carol Gilbert

Gloves

Love these antique gloves from the Field Museum that have a map of London on them, so you need never get lost.

Found via musie.wordpress

Topiary

I love topiary and if I had a garden I would definitely have a lot of it.

This is Levens Hall in Cumbria, which apparently has one of the best topiary gardens in England and dates from the seventeenth century. I'd have a peacock, a crown like above

and perhaps even some elephants! This modern topiary art was created by Steve Manning

and Owlpen Manor in Gloucestershire. For a more complete list of where to visit in England click here

Birmingham Spring Fair

We are busy preparing for the spring Fair. We have so many new things!

So if you are a trade customer, please visit us at Hall 3 Stand T45 at the Birmingham NEC. We look forward to seeing you there!

Bombay Electric

Bombay Electric is a great store that I visited some time ago in Mumbai and I just noticed that they now have an online store too, see here Choose from these Ravi Varma antique lithographs (above is Lakshmi the goddess of wealth and good fortune)

this Rakhi clutch,

this anupaama block printed pashmina scarf,

and this Royal Peacock Peti box

Or pay a visit to the shop itself. Above is Priya Kashore the owner of Bombay Electric who is as cool as the shop!

Very much looking forward to..

this changing

to this! Photographs by Myoung Ho Lee, see more here

18th century hair

I love these 18th century illustrations of hairstyles, most of which are by M Darly in a book from 1777, except for the one above by J Lockington. Most of them are funny exaggerations, but real life versions not least those favoured by Marie Antoinette would often be 3 feet high and adorned with numerous objects including model ships or pineapples.

Anyway must dash, I have an appointment at the hairdressers...

Carlos

We now have a man working in the office! His name is Carlos Domeque - please be kind to him girls!

A chanel life

Wow it seems that, much like Hello Kitty, there isn't anything Chanel doesn't turn their hands to. You could practically live a Chanel life if you wanted. You can spend Chanel Euros,

ride a Chanel bicycle and now even brand your skin with Chanel with their new range of transfer tattoos.

Roses

So nice to have these roses, tulips and hyacinths from the tradeshow on my desk whilst I paint today.

Paul Costello

Love these photos from Paul Costello. See more here

Anzu trade show

Apologies for the radio silence, but we have been very busy with another trade show - Top Drawer. I am pleased (and relieved!) that my new designs went down as well as they did and can't wait to post a few on this blog soon.

It was certainly busy, and really nice to be able to have a little 10th Anniversary celebration and raffle (for the painting below). Celebrating with a glass of champagne with all the buyers who have helped us on our way was very special.

Thank you to everyone that could make it. Next stop - Birmingham!

It is possible!

Look how much work you can fit in a little suitcase? This practically looks like a mini office!

And this certainly does (the Mayfair steamer secretary trunk from Restoration Hardware).

Meaning that you can ditch the cold and work from here after all!!

If anyone knows where the top image is from, please let me know.

How lovely is this?

Following on from my hothouse post, I discovered these images of Heather Cameron's greenhouse via mondemateriel (and as featured in Country Living). I love it!

Colour wheel

Imagine having a colour wheel of Ferragamo shoes! We are busy here preparing for a trade show this weekend, and have lots of new things coming in including some additions to our Patent range of cards (a rainbow of high gloss cards with embossed text).

These are from the current range, and I can't wait to see (and show you) the new ones which are due in this week!

The idea came from traditional colour wheels and the association of colours and emotions. Below is a colour wheel based on Jung's personality types - which colour are you?

City guides

I hope you like our new look blog! An addition we're excited about is our City guides. Each guide is written by people who know that city inside out and we will be adding many more. Start by checking out our Istanbul guide.

Thank you to Refik for giving the recommendations and also for pointing me to these stunning pictures of Istanbul in the 1950s by Ara Guler (click here for more information).

Images courtesy of Ara Guler, lens culture

Gorgeous cars

I don't even have a driving license, but it doesn't stop me wishing I was driving into work in one of these...

Above, the Porsche 356. I love the leather straps.

A 1938 Bugatti

A 1936 Mercedes 50K

A Ferrari California

and our Anzu Convertible card.

Just painting today

Hope you had some good New Year celebrations. I'm back in the office and am painting away today - lots of new things in the pipeline!

Image via simplyseductiveblogspot.com

Say goodbye to 2009!

2010 awaits -

burst some balloons,

dance for hours,

make numerous toasts,

but just don't end the evening like this! Hope you all have a lovely time.

Images via boudoirqueen.typepad.com, a scene from Gold diggers of 1933, Fred Astaire in Life magazine, High Society via photobucket, Clara Bow in Call her savage via drx typepad.com

Hothouse flowers

In the middle of a long, grey London winter I always find myself longing for some colour and it's got me dreaming of having a hothouse Victorian style. I'd fill it with Vanda orchids, hibiscus flowers,

and lots of palms.

I'd grow tropical fruits,

perhaps even some giant waterlily pads for people to stand on,

and space to have tea

I'm off to Petersham Nurseries now!

Images courtesy of www.bohol.ph, hibiscus unknown, corbisimages.com, Augusta Innes Withers pineapple engraving 1799, moplants.com, phipps conservatory 1899, 1878 painting source unknown, and doyoumindifiknit.typepad.com

Winter wonderlands

I have come across so many wonderful snowy pictures on the Internet recently, I thought I'd post a few of them. A magical Russian forest,

chalets nestled in the Alps,

Japanese temples and pines covered in snow,

a snowy English park,

Christmas lights,

and horses and dogs in the snow (via the lovely spaceforinspiration.blogspot.com which is full of Christmas inspirations).

Images courtesy of: Mikhailtkachev.com, rosylittlethings via Englishmuse.blogspot.com, Koitsu temple from newandfinearts.com, weheartit via English muse, bbc news, bottom two via spaceforinspiration.blogspot.com

Merry Christmas for tomorrow!

Hope the turkey is stuffed, the presents are wrapped and you're all relaxing in front of a roaring log fire before tomorrow. Have a lovely day!

Al fresco dining

It's so cold at the moment that the thought of actually being able to sit outside and be warm is like heaven to me, which is perhaps why this picture grabbed me so much in Vogue.

The company Outstanding in the field specialises in alfresco dining in the USA. For more information see here

I love this

The new apartment at the Connaught (designed by David Collins) is absolutely gorgeous. I especially love everything about the sitting room above. Imagine this for some post-Christmas pampering.

The new bar is pretty nice too. See more about the newly refurbished Connaught here

Not had chance to organise a tree?

via Manolohome.jpg

Just in case you were feeling inadequate from my post on designer Christmas trees and have run out of time I thought I'd add this - I'm just going to re-arrange my bookshelves now.

Jasmine and I drive to work

Only kidding! But we have been laughing in the office at this classic clip from Absolutely Fabulous.

Designer Christmas trees

Now you might be a bit overwhelmed with the sheer number of logos by the end of this, but I thought following on from the Galliano tree I'd do a post on some designer Christmas trees - above is Louis Vuitton's elegant tree

Architect Zaha Hadid's Christmas tree

It doesn't look it but this is the most expensive Christmas tree in the world and it is on display in Japan. Decorated with 240 jewels including diamond baubles and strings of pearls it is worth 150 million yen or 1.5 million dollars

via moodboard.typepad.com

Ok not exactly a Christmas tree, but it looks a bit like one. The angel is ex Lanvin Christmas display and tops a display in the apartment of creative director for Carolina Herrera, Herve Pierre.

Valentino

via denny_jr on flickr.jpg

Hermes

Looks like Gucci had the same idea

Chanel in Taipei

via dianepernet.typepad.com

and Harvey Nichols in Istanbul.

Living walls

Quite fancy getting one of these for the office! You can buy here

Chanel, Bonnard and Lartigue

The lovely Mlle Paradis from Passage Paradis blog left a comment on my blog yesterday saying how the Chanel dress I posted yesterday reminded her of a Bonnard lithograph (see above and below). They do me too.

courtesy of metmuseum.org

And the lithographs then in turn remind me of these stunning Lartigue photos of Belle epoque ladies.

Silhouette

Just love the silhouette on this Chanel dress - simple and stunning