A sculptor's home

I recently visited the Watts gallery, home of Victorian sculptor and painter George Frederic Watts

He worked on this trolley, which he fitted onto railway lines so that he could work outside too! The completed bronze of the horse sculpture can be viewed in Hyde Park.

Watt's wife, Mary, also created this chapel in Art Nouveau style nearby to the Watts' home.

It is particularly inspiring as she gathered together the whole community, training many novices in new skills to create this highly decorative Art nouveau style chapel.

Happy Pineapples!

'When life gives you lemons, sell them and buy a pineapple' Davin Turney

Pineapples are one of the most perfect examples in nature of the mathematical phenomenon known as the Divine Proportion.

This pineapple might be disco, but what it should really be listening to is Scott Joplin's Pineapple Rag. Click here to listen to it!

Love these. Check out this delicious recipe for a Pineapple Caipirinha here

Pineapples look great as decoration and are the symbol of hospitality. In fact, pineapples were once so valuable that they were actually rented out to homeowners, before being sold to more affluent clients who could actually afford to eat them!

 Pineapples make a great theme for a dinner. In Brazil, rotisserie pineapple is popular. Check out this recipe here

Pineapples have also provided inspiration for architecture, as with this fountain in South Carolina.

You can read more about this amazing building in Scotland here

As Francesca Beauman says in her book 'The Pineapple : King of Fruits, all about the pineapple, "The pineapple has become a kind of shorthand: Paradise this way!"

Magical

Wishing you all rainbows and unicorns!

 

"Life would be simpler if only we were all unicorns"

Olley White

"Wanton stars galloped neighing like unicorns in blue meadows"

William Faulkner

"Do you know I always thought unicorns were fabulous monsters too? I never saw one alive before?

Well now that we have seen each other," said the unicorn, "if you'll believe in me I'll believe in you"

Lewis Carroll, Alice Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

Sara: Tegan just  recently discovered that unicorns don't exist.

Tegan: I just thought they were extinct.

Tegan Quin

"Always be yourself. Unless you can be a unicorn. Then always be a unicorn"

Scott Hildreth, Unstoppable

Lazing under a palm tree

 

 Dreaming of lazing under a palm tree with our new Anzu jewelled palm card, photos from a recent trip to Kew and more..

Happy Easter everyone!

Hope you have a lovely weekend, Anzu x

Here are just some images from our mood board. Above our jewelled Easter design,

Victorian inspired lace cut Easter eggs,

pansies in a Victorian egg cruet,

Ukrainian folk batik eggs,

and this incredible tree with 9,000 Easter eggs

The colours of Peru

Whilst in Peru, I visited this amazing market. The colours and patterns were just stunning. I loved all the traditional embroidery.

The little girls were in these beautiful traditional outfits.

How chic is this little girl?

Whilst there, I bought some pigment. The pink and turquoise were incredibly vivid. Far more than you can see in the photo.

Even the colours of the vegetable stands looked great!

Rural idyll

Always find agricultural shows such fun and inspiring too. Here's some little snapshots of one I went to recently. Meadow flowers,

innovative flower arrangements (loved this mock picnic box),

giant cabbages

prize winning dahlias,

and snuggling pigs.

African prints

I was really inspired by the African festival in Shoreditch recently. Really great to see African prints styled and used in such a modern way.

Loved these streamers that were strung across the avenue.

So many inspiringly dressed people too! The clothes designer Soboye pictured above left also has a shop click here to see more