Underwater hotels

I was amazed to see this hotel in Dubai which is due to open later this year. The Hydropolis Underwater Hotel and Resort, www.hyrdopolis.com , is 66 feet below the surface of the sea and stretches over 27 acres. This could be the view from your room!

To get to the hotel you have to take a transparent train down into the ocean. Previously, the only underwater hotel was Jules Undersea Lodge and to reach that you had to scuba dive.

Originally a research lab, this hotel was way ahead of it's time when it opened in the 1970s. It looks rather more basic, but has a certain Jacques Cousteau style charm to it! See www.jul.com

Another more luxurious option is the Poseidon Fuji, www.poseidonresorts.com , which is due to open early next year.

Another amazing view awaits you. The hotel is 40 feet underwater in a Fujian lagoon.

It's all quite amazing to me, and the stuff of childhood dreams. So until these open, why not read some Tintin

or watch Wes Anderson's Life Aquatic (one of my favourite films).

The Bowie

Somebody in our office seems to think they are David Bowie, and could happily spend hours impersonating him.

So Jasmine this post is for you and your inspiration. I think we have some gold leaf lying around somewhere....

Thank you

A belated thank you to everyone that came to Top Drawer this year!

We were happy that everyone loved the Patent cards as they are a new direction for us. My Mum took these pictures on her phone - funny how our logo sign came out like a rising sun.

Black lace

I think this season's Valentino lace dresses are absolutely stunning.


I love lace and it has appeared in quite a few Anzu paintings.


This is the bestselling Anzu lace dress card, which we released a few months ago.


Dresses from Marchesa's Spring/Summer 2010 collection,


and I just had to finish on this iconic image from photographer Jeanloup Sieff.

Orange

House Beautiful

Intertwined with my love for Hermes has been my recent love of orange. I'm clearly not the only one. I love the way orange is a thread through this interior above.

Somebody loves Hermes more than me!

via Parishotelboutique

via travelorg.blog

Orange is also the colour of Buddhism and contented happiness, which is why we chose it for the colour to represent Happy on one of our Patent cards.

Hermes Pop-up store at Liberty

As you no doubt know, I am a big fan of Hermes so it was a bit of a treat to go to their temporary shop in Libertys. Love the window above.



and the adapted logo that they have done.

I didn't get a picture of the till, but I think they had taken inspiration from the cover of this 1980s catalogue with piles of boxes. The Hermes boxes looked great all piled up.

With grey padded velvet and orange ropes to hold the scarves, seats covered in silk scarves it was an indulgent and fun shop to visit

If you can be sure to take a look before it goes in October!

Top Drawer 2009

Visit Anzu at Top Drawer

Stand J109

13-15 September 2009

Olympia, London

We look forward to seeing you there!

The creative mind

Last weekend I went to the Walking in my mind exhibition at the Hayward gallery, where they had asked contemporary artists to create art/installations revealing their creative mind. I thought this one by Chiharu Shiota was quite beautiful and evocative.

If only the inside of a creative mind was as simple as this! Yayoi Kusuma's polka dots spilled outside too. But my favourite was Yoshimoto Nara's, which although slightly disturbing had a very contained creative feel. Peering through the windows at all the piles of sketches, artistic influences, and childhood memorabilia was interesting.

All in all I thought it was a really interesting idea for an exhibition. What would the inside of your mind look like?

On a separate note, if you'd like to find out how male/female your mind is, have a go at the fun quiz, which is currently on the BBC website. www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sex/add_user.shtml

An Indian summer

The weather was so hot here yesterday, that I'm actually getting hopes for an Indian Summer and I love these beautifully colourful images of Indian/European decor which I found via http://anindiansummer-design.blogspot.com

These are photographs of Lisa Corti's line of Indian furnishing which she sells in Milan, Florence, Rome and Madrid

I love the look of the shop too. See more online at www.lisacorti.com

Celebrity bookplates

I really like this post they had over on the Princeton graphic arts blog about celebrity bookplates and it lead me to google a few more.

I think this bookplate of author Anita Loos is my favourite.

The stylish 1920s simplicity you would expect of filmstar Gloria Swanson

What would you have for yours?

The anzu office/store cupboard

Yesterday we went to Ikea to get some supplies for the spare Anzu office. At the moment it is really a store cupboard packed to the brim with boxes, but we are hoping that soon it will be a rather more tranquil space. I would love that it be as calm and orderly as Lee Radziwill's (Jackie O's sister) office,

or this

but in the end as we have to stick with the hideous blue carpet in there and do have to store a lot of things, I'll probably just be happy if it doesn't end up like this. I don't know whose office this is, but how can they get any work done in there?

In particular I'm liking these images from Domino - white with colourful accents, tranquil and uncluttered.

I'll keep you posted!

Notting Hill Carnival

It was Notting Hill Carnival over the weekend, and it's just so funny to see ordinary streets that you see every day transported into craziness. You can see some great pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/olenkaolja/sets/72157622143191882/



There was also a surprise at work today as this giant skull figure awaited us at the end of the street!