Sneaking into people's offices

photographed by Heidi Slimane

I always think it's interesting to see people's offices/creative spaces and I thought I'd post a few of the ones that had intrigued me the most.

Above is Yves Saint Laurent's desk

A detail of Yves' desk in his bedroom

c). the selby

Model and designer Ines de la Fressange in her pink office in Paris

c). Carl Purcell

Ernest Hemingway's desk in Key West, Florida

c). Domino

Actress Drew Barrymore's inspiration board in her production company 'Flower Films' office

Writer Daphne du Maurier at her desk in Cornwall

c). Vogue

Film director Sophia Coppola's hectic office

Cosy

It's been such miserable weather recently and exactly the kind of weather we had in mind when we worked on designing the Anzu Cosy candle.

Inspired by rainy days when you might snuggle under a patchwork quilt (this one was done by the talented Jane Brocket over at yarnstorm.blogs.com),

curl up on a sofa with a good book (this one is by Squint),

and laze in front of a roaring log fire. The Anzu Cosy candle has warm woody and floral heart notes on a bed of sweet amber and musk lightened with citrus notes of lemon.

We wanted the candle to echo classic English style, and think it would fit perfectly in these cosy English interiors - Chatsworth Library above and the studio in Charleston below.

ANZU IS 10 YEARS OLD !!!!

Yesterday not much work was done in the Anzu office as we had a very small celebration of the 10 year anniversary of Anzu. I can hardly believe it was 10 years ago that I set Anzu up. It was literally in the last century!

I think you can see how happy I am! What started off with me in the sitting room doing every bit of it including packing all the cards myself has ended up being a company with a great team of people and our cards and candles being sold across the world. Thank you to everyone that has made Anzu a success, especially our customers.

It has amazed me over the years how many people have treated me with such affection simply because they like my work. All this, stunning flowers, a delicious lunch, champagne, and Jasmine's home-baked chocolate cake made for a happy, memorable day.

We kept the celebration small as we know that so many of you are busy with the lead up to Christmas, so we decided to celebrate it properly in the New Year at the upcoming trade shows. So keep your eyes open - treats and celebrations ahead! We are excited about the future and have so many new great things planned already that I think the next ten years promise to be truly special.

What happens when the Anzu team tries to set the camera on self-timer mode!

I look forward to continuing the celebration with the rest of the Anzu team shortly, and with our customers in the New Year!

Repurposed suitcases

As you might be able to tell, I am doing a couple of jobs sketching suitcases at the moment and I came across these images.

You could turn your suitcases into a bathroom cabinet or a drinks cabinet (these are from the Vanitycase store on Etsy)

Alifes design

or a sewing case.

The Anzu suitcases card.

Inspiration boards

I love creating inspiration boards and find them so useful when I work. I had these special screens made and I use them all the time. Above are the inspiration boards I used when developing the Anzu range of candles.

A section of the inspiration board for the Anzu Cosy candle - more coming on that next week!

Wes Anderson style

I have been busy painting the last few days, but took some time to re-watch Darjeeling Limited the other night. As you probably know I love Wes Anderson films. I love the eccentricity and humour of his films but most of all I find the style so inspiring. I think these bespoke Louis Vuitton suitcases that they had especially made for the film are fantastic.

So whether it's the clothes and style of the characters (Anjelica Huston is so cool in Life Aquatic),

the quirky and witty illustrations (mostly done by Wes' brother Eric Chase Anderson),

the details in the interiors (such as these butterfly cases in Hotel Chevalier),

the wallpapers in 'The Royal Tenenbaums',

or the signature Futura font that Wes uses in all his films, I just love it all!

New York Times also did a style profile of Wes Anderson in India (see below) or visit here to see it bigger.

Frida Kahlo's suitcases

I just received this book in the post and am really enjoying looking through it. The book is about some chests and boxes which were found packed full of paintings, clothing, a diary, drawings etc and some airmail letters inscribed with the words "personal archive of Frida K. and personal archive of my private life".

There have been rumours that the objects are fakes, but fake or not it is certainly a beautiful book full of photographs of all different things be it recipes, dolls, receipts. Can you imagine how exciting it must have been to find all this?

The pink and blue project

To follow on from my Shocking pink blog, I wanted to post about Korean artist JeongMee Yoon's Pink and blue project. I think these photos are hilarious.

Above is Seowoo and all her pink things

Jimin and his blue things

Jeeyoo and her pink things

and Jeonghoon and his blue things! Read and see more here

Shocking pink

The days are so dull at the moment, I thought I'd add a colourful post and brighten a grey day with some shocking pink. You could buy a vintage Schiaperelli dress (the designer famous for making hot pink so fashionable),

send our Anzu fifties style dress card or hot pink Patent card,

add touches to your house, as in this interior with the signature Schiaperelli pink hat boxes,

lounge on a Salvador Dali sofa (based on the lips of Mae West),

step out on the town in this Lanvin dress

or join India's Pink gang. As Diana Vreeland said 'Shocking pink is the navy blue of India'. The Pink gang, or Gulabi gang have hijacked trucks laden with food for the poor which were being waylaid by corrupt officials and stopped child marriages. In India they have become folk heroes! Read more on www.worldproutassembly.org

Designers block

I'd like to say a big thank you to Di over at designersblock for featuring our cards on her blog and for such a nice write up. I always like reading Di's blog so it was great to actually be on it. Di features interiors she likes (love this above),

favourite photographs(such as this very Avengers one above),

cool places to go in Paris, which she visits regularly,

shops she likes (this is Liscious in Jericho, Oxford),

her own range of original furniture,

and objects ranging from giant teacups (we have one of these in the office too) to gadgets. Click here to see more.