Arancia

When designing the Arancia candle for Harrods, we were inspired by a journey in Sicily, of courtyards overflowing with orange blossom, warm hazy days, Sicilian tiled interiors and delicious orange desserts.

With notes of warm orange, tangy mandarin, and orange blossom this is a delicious, sunny and uplifting scent.

The Anzu bespoke for Harrods Arancia candle, is currently exclusively available in Harrods Bed and Bath department.

Kimono flowers

Love the new trend for kimonos, haoris and draped silk coveralls covered with flowers for Summer - so pretty! Above Mystylenotes makes this Zara kimono look great.

How stunning is this? Song of style blogspot in this gorgeous Athena Procopiou piece - I want it!!

Pretty pink vintage haori from Theasvintage

 They look great in interiors too. Above in the Holister Hovey apartment.

Hollywood inspiration

I am painting a lot at the moment, and whilst painting I love to put a classic film on in the background. There are some I just never tire of.

Notorious. Cary Grant (Devlin) and Ingrid Bergman (Alicia) make for a sensual pairing. Great spy story with one of the best kisses on film (along with North by Northwest).

Devlin: Don't you need a coat?

Alicia: You'll do

Top Hat. Fred Astaire in top hat and tails, and Ginger Rogers in that ostrich feather dress dancing to the strains of Irving Berlin. Say no more.

'All is fair in love and war and this is revolution'.

It Happened One Night. Well the lead character is called Ellen (Claudette Colbert), so it had to be good!

'We'll get on a merry-go-round and never get off. Promise me we'll never get off'. 

Roman Holiday. Just so innocent and sweet with the loveliest of actors. Unfortunately my Grandad called halfway through me watching this for the first time, and told me the ending but it still didn't spoil my enjoyment!

Hepburn: May I have a silk nightgown with ROSEbuds on it?

Peck: I'm afraid you'll have to rough it tonight... in these..

Hepburn: Pajaaaamas!!

The 39 steps. Just unbeatable perfect 1930s style.

Hannay: Beautiful mysterious woman pursued by gunmen. Sounds like a spy story.
Smith: That's exactly what it is.

Cluttered..

Do you prefer a cluttered or a slicker interior? Right now, I'm drawn to interiors full of mess, clashing patterns and just stuff!

Designer Diane von Furstenberg's place

Quartier 206 catalogue.

Just some colourful jewel Anzu butterflies for a sunny day!
We also wanted to ask if you are a talented crafts person in the UK or know someone who is, we would love to hear from you! We are looking to create some one off beautiful pieces in collaboration and would love to hear from all you skilled, talented people out there. Do drop us a line at info@anzu.co.uk or share this with someone that you feel fits the bill! We look forward to hearing from you.

A little bling..

Love these bling necklaces over plain white shirts/tees - the perfect way to get some daytime sparkle.

The Anzu Sun chains birthday card would be perfect for this look!

Images: unknown, diva malaysia, Anzu, ivannascloset blog, therightfits.com

Teddy boys

Working on some concepts for a new Men's range and loving these images of Teddy boys. Some are original 60s ones, some are new. Lolling around on street corners,

or in Italian cafes,

or in dodgy nightclubs in Edwardian suits 

with an attitude of rebellious insouciance.

Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys makes a pretty convincing modern teddy boy.

I like this logo, and the video below features some modern day Teddy boys doing some pretty interesting dancing!

Preparing for summer

As the weather gets warmer, if you're anything like us thoughts inevitably turn to Mojitos (above Anzu Mojitos card), hammocks and lazing in the garden. Being a London dweller, I personally love to see roof gardens; spots of greenery amidst the grey, sky high oases with views and creativity stretched from limited small spaces.

Roof garden at the top of Hermes, Paris!

The incredible Biba roofgarden on top of their Kensington store, which although still exists, must have been incredible in it's prime complete as it was with penguins and flamingos.

Whatever the size, and whatever your gardening skills there is always something that can be created!

Images: Anzu card, Hermes, unknown, Alwoch via fancy, Eastside Bride, Unknown, Biba, Unknown

Madame Butterfly

Each product that Anzu creates starts with a thoughtful hand-illustration. When painting this design, I was thinking of a cartoon idea of Japan and of Madame Butterfly.

However cliche it might be, I still love Japanoise and western images of an imagined Japan fairytale world.

One of ladies in kimonos, lacquered screens, fans,

cherry blossoms,

and of fairytale landscapes. So the charms I added to the bracelet were a butterfly, fan, cherry blossom and a palm to represent the tropical landscape of Kyushu, Japan's most southerly point.