Bridal cards

I am just beginning work on lots of new bridal cards, am drowning in wedding pictures and so just had to post this. I thought it was funny, original and touching.

I'm sure all my American readers have seen it already, but if you haven't seen it be sure to watch it!

Poetic Home

I love this idea from Poetic Home www.poetichome.com An anniversary gift for her husband, each library card has a different memory typed on it and is kept in an old catalogue box. This would be a great way to write down all your goals or wishes too, then with the date added once you have achieved it/made it come true.

Grace also sells re-conditioned typewriters in her etsy shop. I want one!

A corner of Grace's home, which features yet another library feature - a vintage card catalogue which Grace now uses for books. I love the way she's added orchids too - gorgeous.

Karl...

courtesy of Elle magazine

Over the weekend I watched Lagerfeld Confidential. I found it really inspiring - the perfectionism at Chanel is always a joy to watch. I think my favourite programme on Lagerfeld and Chanel though is the French series that the BBC broadcast, and I was happy to find the whole thing on Youtube. See the taster below, then go over to Youtube to watch the whole series - you won't be disappointed!

Grass roofs

via absolutelybeautifulthings blog

I love this photo of this house that the absolutelybeautiful blog featured. It has almost something fairytale about it. I saw quite a number of grass roofed houses or torvtak (!) in Norway at the Norskfolkemuseum (see below) and I thought they were amazing not least beacause they look like Hobbit houses!

Norskfolkemuseum via Wikipedia

Above are the Hobbit houses as seen in Lord of the Rings. The real life grass roofs have lots of advantages - they reduce heating, filter pollutants out of the air, could cut your tax bill, increase wildlife in urban areas and just simply look beautiful.

The company www.wildflowerturf.co.uk that laid this roof above, sells wildflower turf especially for grass roofs. Imagine the bumble bees and butterflies flitting around your roof,

via ecogeek.org

or even the goats that might end up there!

via Wikipedia

Grass roofs stand out even more in an urban setting, as this Manhattan rooftop demonstrates.

but often seem to be found in more Alpine settings. www.grassroofcompany.co.uk has a diy guide that you can buy if you fancy doing this on your home - if I didn't live in a flat and actually had a roof I would definitely be tempted!

Hollywood homes

I have been spending a little too much time on the Architectural Digest website just recently. I love classic Hollywood and their section on Hollywood Homes is really interesting. Have a look at www.architecturaldigest.com I like to see whether the star fits their home.

Above is Marilyn Monroe in her Spanish style-house. It surprised me that she went for such a homely, rustic look with lots of Mexican furniture and accessories and not the more glamorous Deco look house you would expect her to have.

As Architectural digest says Marilyn 'owned no jewellery and counted books, records, and a picture of legendary actress Eleanor Duse among her most cherished possessions'.

This is Greta Garbo's 'closet room'. Decorated with African inspired fabric, a Russian antique tea table and her collection of hats.

James Dean moved from hotel room to hotel room before finally settling in a cheap flat in New York. There was only room for a daybed, no kitchen and a shared bathroom down the hallway. He was also very messy and guests would always find his room littered with a trail of empty beer bottles, unsleeved records and well- worn books.

A really elegant picture of Bette Davis I think, with her looking remarkably diffident and not at all the dragon. Bette Davis was quite nomadic and lived in more than 75 houses, as Bette put it "Favourite cigarette boxes and ashtrays have followed me around the world".

Cannot believe how big this bed is!

Anjelica Huston in the California house designed for her by her sculptor husband Robert Graham. It fits her perfectly I think.

Indian gardens to Urban grafitti

Last week I went to a couple of really interesting exhibitions: the Garden and Cosmos exhibition at the British Museum, and the opening night of the Banksy exhibition at the Flower Cellars gallery in Covent garden, run by the Hospital club. I loved the space of the Flower Cellars gallery and was rather enviously looking at it. I mean really, why have it as a cool gallery when it could be an Anzu office?!

The exhibition had prints, caravan doors and metal signs

The painting they are selling in this one says on it "I can't believe you morons actually buy this shit"

I have no comment on this one as I hate clowns. A clown tried to entertain me in a department store the other week. I tried to hide it but a look of disgust was clearly apparent on my face because he actually gave up mid act and turned his back on me!

Garden & Cosmos is an amazing exhibition currently on at the British Museum. The paintings are stunning - the intricacy and detail of each one, and the volume of paintings actually makes it a pretty intensive, almost overwhelming exhibition.

The compositions are really different and interesting, and the colours are astounding. They are all painted in gouache, but I wonder whether they mixed their own pigments because the colours are extremely vivid and certainly unlike any paints on the market now.

A number of the paintings are also surprisingly modern and different from the usual Indian miniatures we are used to seeing over here. I would highly recommend both exhibitions - see www.britishmuseum.org or www.thehospitalclub.com/the_flower_cellars/ for more information.

Anzu on the Brides website!

A big thank you to Brides magazine for featuring us on their website this month! You can read the article at this link http://www.bridesmagazine.co.uk/brides-loves/feature/090702-say-thank-you-in-style.aspx The cards featured are our bridal cards, which are all based on iconic brides.

This is our Carolyn Bridal card featuring an illustration of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy's dress - a simple silk sheath designed by Narciso Rodriguez, which she accessorised with a sheer silk veil and gloves, beaded satin Manolos and a lily-of-the-valley bouquet.

Carolyn Bessette married John F. Kennedy Jr in 1996 in a secret ceremony in a simple but historic Baptist church on Cumberland Island, Georgia. The church had no electricity so was lit simply with candles and kerosene lamps, with an altar adorned with greenery arranged by Jackie Kennedy's longtime butler.

Penguin

Penguin books always manage to come up with such original ideas. I love their recent letterpressed editions, but I think this latest range of classic books with blank covers for you to draw on yourself is daring and a clever idea. A book is always judged by its cover and as Penguin says this 'might be the stupidest thing we've ever done'.I think it's great. There are six titles ranging from Great Gatsby to The Waves, and the books are designed to hold ink, paint and glue.

You can see more information on the Penguin website. They are featuring submissions from the public as well as designs done by Bands. The above one was done by singer Beck and the one below by band Razorlight.

I like the two submissions below by Joanne Lee, and Heather Royston Webb.

What would you put on yours?

And once you've finished them how about housing them in this infinity bookcase (found via The design for mankind blog).

Heatwave

I think that maybe it is a little bit too sunny to be writing blogs right now...