Embroidered jewels, peacock blue, and chandelier earrings.

By a very strange coincidence both Saffiah and I ended up at Indian and Pakistani weddings in exactly the same banqueting hall in Manchester at the weekend. Very funny as we both live in London - we could hardly believe it!

I had never been to a Muslim wedding before, and I loved all the glittering outfits and crystals, colour and music! A perfect antidote to the miserable weather we've been having. Saffiah took much better pictures - below is her sister's outfit. Love the bright pink and piles of bangles.

Matching black and gold feathery sweeps make these girls a dramatic looking duo!

The detailing on Saffiah's sister's outfit.

Peach, silver and clear crystals combined for the bride's sumptuous wedding dress.

This lady wore a gorgeous Churidar in peacock blue with gold embroidery and clear crystals.

The gorgeous detailing on the back of the tunic.

At the wedding I went to the peacock blue continued and the beautiful bride combined it with topaz and coral and gold.

Loved this fun photo below of all the bejewelled girls.

The lucky groom!

And to continue our theme, our own Anzu Indian Peacock limited edition print, hand-decorated with Swarovski crystals, which is currently available at Harrods.

Happy 10th Anniversary InStyle!

The lovely people over at Sisley recently asked me to produce a fun congratulations painting to celebrate Instyle 10th Anniversary. Happy Birthday Instyle!

Roof gardens

I always love the idea of roof gardens, but imagine having one at work, as with this Hermes one on the top of the shop in Paris.

This quirky rooftop garden was designed by Midori no Tobira using moss.

Anzu Pick Of The Week: by Ruth

This week I'm choosing our Summery 'A day at the beach' card because I'm hoping the sunny weather will return!

The card was inspired by long lazy days at the beach, colourful bikinis, Hawaiian print towels and flip flops!

To buy, click here.

Blue pattern...

Just some random images - pattern on pattern, in lovely shades of blue...

Images: Fendi, unknown, Rodarte Ming dress, unknown

Gorgeous bags

Winter is on it's way and there has to be something to cheer us up! Here in the office, we are lusting after these gorgeous bags from Lanvin.

Also love these totes from Sophie Hulme.

We're also loving the new Phillip Lim 3.1 'Pashli' bags but there is just not enough space here - or in our wardrobes for that matter!

Anzu exhibition Harrods

We are very excited about our new Harrods limited edition print exhibition, which opened today in the Writing Room, Harrods. We hope you have a chance to visit it! Here is a little shot of part of it.

Harrods magazine

So happy to see Anzu is in the Harrods magazine this month (see the diamond necklace illustration below), and very excited about our exhibition tomorrow! Do come and visit it!

Artistic mess

Very busy at the moment so things are getting a little messy! How come some people manage to make mess look so good? When I'm untidy, it just looks messy not good!

Anzu Pick Of The Week: by Jasmine

My pick of the week is the Anzu heart locket notebook. I guess I'm a romantic at heart and this is such a magical image. Jasmine x

Disruption

There is somebody naughty but rather cute in the office. She seems to think computer keyboards are a great place to sit, pens are to be knocked on the floor and all paper must be chewed. But we struggle on nonetheless!

Hatfield House

Continuing with the long current search for antiques and bits and pieces for the new Anzu office, I happened to stop by Hatfield House. The house is a fine example of Jacobean craftmanship, and was the home of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury and the man who suppressed the gunpowder plot. The whole place is stunning with the most amazing Elizabethan portraits. Above is the famous Rainbow painting of Queen Elizabeth I.

They also have the famous Hilliard Ermine portrait of Queen Elizabeth I. Ermine is a traditional symbol of purity and chastity.

The library was beautiful and looked like a wonderfully cosy place to snuggle up and read before cocktail time!

I also liked the idea for this cover, where guests sign their names to be embroidered later. I would love to do this for a tablecloth. Aside from the Elizabethan portraits, the other highlight of the house was the Armory.

The almost modern style stone windows with the flower pattern, the chequered floor, the impressive armoured knights with their red lanterns which was then

combined with portraits of glamorous women and handsome men swathed in red and blue-grey echoing the colours throughout. It perfectly combined masculine and feminine, simplicity with decoration and was just stunning.

To find out more or to visit click here.

Anzu Pick Of The Week: by Saffiah

We thought it might be fun to pick one of our favourite Anzu goodies each week. This week I’m choosing our fabulous ‘jewelled bangles’ card decorated with colourful Swarovski crystals, because I’m attending an Indian wedding and am on the search for lots of sparkly bangles!

Image: Anzu

The romance of Valentino couture..

I think these photographs taken backstage at Valentino's Fall 2011 couture collection have such an old-fashioned romantic and ethereal quality about them. They are almost like paintings.

The one below is slightly different, but I just love the coat.

Images: Valentino

Royal crowns

Visiting the Tower of London and seeing the crown jewels as a child was definitely something that had a big impact on me as a child, so it's probably no surprise that I painted this for one of the Anzu cards! Like all our bejewelled collection we hand-decorated the card with Swarovski crystals to create an extra sumptuous look.

When I visited Moscow some time ago, I was also amazed at the incredible things in the Kremlin Armoury, particularly Catherine the Great's robes and these medieval crowns.

Catherine the Great's Imperial Crown made for her in 1762, which has a staggering 4,936 diamonds.

The Holy Roman Emperor's Crown, which is ornamented with 144 different kinds of precious stones including sapphire and emeralds. Isn't it stunning?

The German Kaiser's crown

I like the different style of this Kiani crown, from the Iranian crown jewels. It has 1800 small pearls, 300 emeralds, and 1800 rubies.

Alternatively, you could get this aluminium crown from Lassco !

Images Anzu, via lonely planet, via smart moscow, via ferrebeekeeper.wordpress.com, via asia-europe.uni, , unknown, www.lassco.co.uk

Antique finds

The decorating and antique finding commences in earnest now as we try to get the office done as quickly as possible. So of course, there had to be a visit to Kempton Antiques market. A lace tray, a silver plate holder to put all my paintbrushes in, a shantung silk travelling frame, a gold leaf and crystal sconce,and two chandelier sconces from an Edwardian hotel were our finds. I also made a sneaky purchase of a rhinestone bracelet for me. Now we just need some furniture, a bathroom and a kitchen!

London riots

This image just seemed appropriate today somehow. Unbelievable what has been happening across London - just so sad.

Guest blogger: Saffiah on Vintage style weddings

Hi, my name is Saffiah and I work for Anzu and will be doing some blog posts this month. We were delighted to see the lovely Harrods buyer, Cecilia, in this month’s edition of Brides Magazine.

We particularly liked the Victoria sponge wedding cake, she and her husband chose for their traditional wedding,which was English but with a Scandinavian touch.

The bright petals and catkins decorating the cake look lovely, as do the vintage colour flowers, the hand ties and the table decorations.

Cream and dusky pink roses, lavender, and dried hydrangeas were used along with script writing on the place cards adding a romantic touch.

This got us to thinking about vintage themed weddings. Here are some other images that we love…

Old keys used for place cards.

Another Victoria sponge served on lovely china.

Brooches and lace used to make romantic hand ties.

Images: Brides magazine, weddinggawker.com, country life, love-of-fair-events.blogspot.com,

Perfect day for this

Image: unknown