Nureyev's house

Really into all things patterned at the moment, especially when there is layer after layer of different patterns all mixed. So I'm feeling really inspired by these photos of Nureyev's house, and particularly the combination of dark blue and red.

The man himself. Apparently he also had a large collection of oriental theatre props and costumes - would love to see that too!

Modern kimono

I blogged some time ago about how great it is to see kimono being worn in a modern way. Hair ornaments, often reflecting the seasons are a big part of Japanese traditional dress. These modern Tokyo girls take it to a new level.

Yukata, the more informal kimono and it's lovely indigo hues.

Cute!

Dior from a few years ago, with an amazing Hokusai inspired dress

Even dogs are following the trend

And if you'd like to read more, the V&A kimono book.

images: tokyo fasion tumblr, tokyofasion.com, the sartorialist, tokyofasion.com, vogue, unknown, stylecourt.blogspot.co.uk

Coral and aqua

Perhaps because it is rather grey in London at the moment, I am finding myself drawn to coral and aqua. I'm obviously dreaming of sunnier climes! This is a dragonfly painting I've just completed, and some images that inspired me.

I also love it combined with a touch of yellow.

images: anzu, hereiamloulou.com, homestyling.blogspot.com, unknown, shihom.tumblr.com, unknown

Cocktail hour

Party season is here, so you might be needing some Anzu cocktail cards, particularly the hangover cure card! Perfect as invitations, birthday cards, or thank yous.

Here's our top picks of cocktail bars. Which one would you have? My vote is for the gold one.

The Houses of Parliament

Last week Saffiah sneaked out of the Anzu studio to visit the Houses of Parliament in London for a tour.  These are some of her highlights of the tour.

It was so exciting to see the various chambers and rooms in the Houses of Parliament and to see what goes on.  St. Stephen’s hall was the original House of Commons, before it was destroyed in a fire.  It has now been renovated and decorated with statues of famous people from parliament and mosaic pieces but you can still see the brass plates on the floor marking where the speaker’s chair would have been.

One of the highlights was of course seeing the House of Commons and House of Lords.

Whilst in the House of Commons I was quite surprised how small it looks compared to how it looks on TV, and it can only sit approximately 430 MPs out of the 650 current MPs. If you look close enough during the tour you can even see slight damage caused on the table where Winston Churchill would sit and thump his hand on the wood.

The House of Lords was elaborate and luxurious in contrast to the House of Commons with deep red leather, fresco paintings, stained glass windows and a gold throne where the Queen sits to give her speech.

My favourite part of the Tour was the Princes Chamber, a room where Lords meet to have discussions.   I loved the paintings of famous figures from the Tudor Dynasty lining the gilded walls (although they are actually replicas of Holbein’s paintings).  Seeing all the paintings lined up really made me realise sheer enormity of British history.

Overall it was fascinating to see hundreds of years of history, where Kings and Queens have walked, given speeches and even been sentenced to death.  To find out more about the tour of the Houses of Parliament click here You can also take online virtual tours here

Fairytale bed

How amazing is this bed? Looks like you could go on a voyage on it. By Francois-Xavier Lalanne

Unexpected

Queen's Jewels

As mentioned in our recent post, Anzu is proud to be taking part in the Mitsukoshi Design Tide event, featuring work by designers on a Royal theme. This is our Queen's Jewels limited edition print, which is hand-decorated with lots of sparkly Swarovski crystals.

 We were inspired by particular pieces of royal jewellery from across the world. This is the Cambridge Lover's knot tiara, of neo-classical design and featuring large oriental pearl drops. The tiara was originally created in 1914 and was given by the Queen to Princess Diana as a wedding present.

Princess Soraya, a former film star, wore the emerald and diamond necklace featured in our painting on her wedding to the Shah of Iran.

Another piece from the Iranian royal jewellery collection.

The Swedish family own this pink topaz demi-parure, originally a gift from Paul I of Russia, created from the finest Russian pink topazes.

Queen Silvia of Sweden wore it to the wedding of her daughter, Crown Princess Victoria.

This cameo and ruby bracelet is the only confirmed piece of jewellery that belonged to Marie Antoinette. All the rest are missing or have been broken down and the stones re-set. Marie Antoinette brought this bracelet with her from Austria at the time of her marriage.

For the general feel of the Anzu Queen's jewels print, we were inspired by Marie Antoinette, particularly the colour palette and the femininity and delicacy as seen in portraits and her salon at Versailles. The fantastic Assouline Queen's Jewels book was also great inspiration, click here to view and buy.

The last photo was amongst a beautiful set of Versailles ones on a blog, but I can't remember which one, sorry!

Anzu at Mitsukoshi

Anzu is very proud to be taking part in the Mitsukoshi Royal Exhibition. We produced the Queen's Jewels limited edition print decorated with Swarovski crystals and seen here in the window in Tokyo.

The print we created was inspired by Royal jewellery from around the world (more to come on this in a later post).

The Royal theme 'Marie Antoinette to present' was explored by lots of designers. These faberge style eggs and encrusted jewellery boxes were created by Bijou Ayumi Fujii （ decoartiste ）, Takashima, Shin-ichi (ceramic artist), Yumi Aoyagi (ceramic artist), Reiko ogura (ceramic artist) and MuseEko (glass artist).

We love this plate by Koichiro Kimura, which is a combination of porcelain decorated with Italian fruit, lacquer, gold, diamonds and natural stones.

This beautiful piece was created by Haviland and Haute couture designer Hanae Mori. The exhibition continues until November the sixth.

Our new favourite place

Today Saffiah and I had lunch at Dishoom in Shoreditch - we love it!
The food was delicious and delicately spiced, the decor was full of interesting details, and the people were delightful. We love the patchwork sari reception desk.

Details in the design were inspired by mid century Bombay and all the different Irani cafes, famous cafes in Mumbai. These signs are replicas of ones that actually used to be in Cafe Bastani!

Many of the Irani cafes have pictures of ancestors - here is Saffiah looking at home sitting amongst them.

'The Permit Room'  or cocktail bar, serves old-fashioned Raj style cocktails including the Bombay Presidency Punch, Flips and Gimlets and the one I will be having next time called Edwina's affair. Served in a copper cup it is described as being a hush-hush love triangle of gin, rose and cardamom, in a secret garden of fresh mint, strewn with candied rose petals.

The original Irani cafe. To read more visit the Dishoom website. We like this story featured there, to read it click here

picture 6: welovefood on facebook