Good Night, Day 13/14

I haven't been feeling so great the start of this week, so skipped my French class yesterday and spent most of the day curled up on the sofa at home with a hot water bottle. I blame the change in weather. We went from 25 degrees - Wednesday and Thursday last week - to around 10. So I went from feeling all summery, to freezing, again! When I spotted these cosy knits by Canada-based label, Good Night, Day, it felt very appropriate to post, as I'd love to be snuggled up in one of them right now (I'm all about spring knits at the moment). I also love how designer Tara-Lynn Morrison has styled her collection - sitting the girls nonchalantly on a little blue chair, next to a plant on a beautiful artisan rug - notice they are mimicking the painting in the background too. Check out the rest of the collection below:

Photographer: Arden Wray and models: Kate Campbell & Elspeth Hudson.

BODIE and FOU SS13

I've been following online concept store, BODIE and FOU for while now - I love the simplicity of owner, Karine Candice's styling and the natural materials she champions. Karine's French but lives in London (although she does have a summer home in the south of France), which is probably one of the reasons her site originally caught my eye. I've spent a lot of time since I moved to Paris, checking out interiors sites for tips, and although I have a very clear idea in my mind what I like, it's always good to get some inspiration. I particularly like the grey linen bedding below and the wicker basket, perfect for storing bits and bobs in the living room or bedroom.

BODIE and FOU's gorgeous new Spring/Summer 2013 catalogue is out now - see a few images below.

Cereal Magazine Issue II

Bath-based Cereal is quite possibly the most beautifully put together magazine out there on the market. I wrote about the launch issue back in February [here], so nothing could stop me posting some of the images from issue two. It encompasses everything I love about magazines - great photography, gorgeous styling, good typography, and it even smells good - it's the whole package and what's more, it's calming to look at. Just look at the front cover - who wouldn't want to curl up on a sofa with it and sail off to sea? This issue looks at the history of pepper, Korean condiment, the fiery red paste Gochujang and the Jewish Museum in Berlin.

You can buy a copy [here]

ROOMS

A friend recently introduced me to furniture brand, ROOMS, run by Tbilisi-based design duo, Nati and Keti, and I instantly fell in love with their quirky, clever and colourful creations - I'm currently lusting over the Knitted Armchair (below), which would slot very nicely into my living room. Nati and Keti were born in the same year (1981) and experienced a mixture of Asian, European and Soviet cultures in their upbringing that still influence their designs today. They studied Interior Design together at Tbilisi Academy of Arts and set up ROOMS after they graduated. Their first product was The Dressed Chair - literally a chair dressed in a jacket. Check out the rest of their products below from their new 2013 collection. Which one do you like? 

Blossom Chair

Knitted Armchair 

Collector's Box

Ironic Chair

Invisible Table

Embroider Blue

London to Paris

Every Day Beautiful by Anthony Burrill

I just had a very productive week in London, hence no posts all week as I was flat out running around, but in a good way.

+ Wednesday I popped into the Pick Me Up private view at Somerset House, which was brilliant - full of colour and energy - the Print Club London in particular is doing great things and it was good to see some more of Anthony Burrill's work. I've loved his work for a while now - need to get my mitts on the work above.
+ I met a stylist friend at Shoreditch House, Silvia Bergomi, who was over from Milan for a couple of shoots, along with founder of Not Just A Label, Stefan Siegel.
+ Thursday night I went to the launch of Uniqlo's UT Pop-up! Lon at Hoxton Gallery, here I am on the left.
+ And then on the weekend I went down to Canterbury to see my parents.

COS x Bonsoir Paris

I was hoping to get over to Salone in Milan this week, but it just wasn't feasible. I particularly wanted to check out Swedish' brand COS' offering, as it's one of my favourite go-to labels. They commissioned French design duo Bonsoir Paris - founded by Remy Clemente and Morgan Maccari to create an installation that reflected the brand's DNA. See photo above and check out the video below - it's a geometrical structure utilising a mixture of wood and white wires - very COS. They created a geometric ball with numerous points of entry so they could connect poles and play around with the structure. It's very childlike in a way, versatile and practical and yet at the same time a piece of art. Brilliant. 

Paris neighbourhoods by type

Havas Worlwide Paris / Carte de Vœux (Best Wishes) 2013 - Flying V - Wizzdesign (QUAD) from QUAD on Vimeo.

This is very clever - have a watch. I especially love the Canal Saint Martin one as it's so true. The 10th is Paris' equivalent to London's Dalston. This also reminded of Megan Gilger's (of The Fresh Exchange - one of my favourite blogs) post about her and her husband's trip to Paris and how she set herself the challenge of creating a different type each of the 16 days they were there. Read the post here.

Lauren Manoogian AW13 Lookbook

I spotted a knit by Brooklyn-based jewellery and knitwear designer Lauren Manoogian yesterday on Tumblr and had to investigate a little more as I would happily wear all of these look this spring, especially as there's no guarantee that it's going to get warm! I love her super soft luxury knits that look like they'd just as happily be worn around the house as they would on an evening out, especially teamed with those brass-gold bangles. And what's most interesting about them is that they're made from organic Peruvian yarns - in the winter Lauren heads down south and knits most of her collection there.

Here's a great interview with her on LN-CC. Now I just need to figure out where I can buy them.

Morning Monday

I thought this image was rather fitting for this Monday morning as we bought some plants for the flat over the weekend. I've been meaning to add a bit more life to the place and we popped down to perhaps my favourite DIY shop in Paris, Leroy Merlin. It's like the Paris equivalent to B&Q, but a bit cooler - it's just across the street from the Pompidou. We bought a little coffee plant for the bathroom, as apparently it will withstand the humidity, which I planted in a little beige pot my mum made (she's a keen potter) and a Zeezee for the living room as it's very hard to kill them!

We had a good weekend, we went to an interesting exhibition by French photographer Antoine d'Agata at le Galerie Filles du Calvaire - his images are quite disturbing, Francis Bacon-esque as every subject seems to be writhing around in either pleasure or pain. We booked our flights to Beirut and Istanbul - we're going for two weeks in May, and I cooked a big English brunch yesterday and made Shepherds Pie last night for dinner.

C'est le weekend

I've had a good week, I went to a BMW car launch at the Palais de Tokyo on Wednesday night and the French lessons are going well and I've finally ordered a dictionary and grammar book (something I should have done at the beginning of the course), but I need to spend some time this weekend getting my head around various ideas that are currently whirring around my mind. I also need to update my blog's template and purchase a decent camera so I can post my own photos. So lots to do.

Anyway have good weekends!

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Love Lock Bridge

I had a lovely Easter weekend strolling in the sun. It's still bitterly cold out, but we've had some beautiful blue skies. We celebrated Easter with a huge feast at a friend's who just so happens to be a professional chef. Lucky for us. He make 7hr slow-cooked lamb that fell off the bone like melted butter, fois gras, homemade bread and guests contributed various puddings - cheesecake, chocolate truffles and I made Easter nests. It was a lovely day. We walked off our lunch with an evening stroll through the Marais and past the Notre Dame to the cinema to watch The Place Beyond the Pines. Which is a brilliant film by the way. It's long and I didn't quite know how it was going to end, but it's worth a watch. Even just to see Ryan Gosling's toned, tattooed torso at the beginning.

On Monday the Portuguese and I took a stroll from the 9th down to the river and crossed the love lock bridge, which offered a colourful backdrop against the river and the blue sky.

Hope you had lovely Easter weekends too.