Kitbag Packed

Apologies for being a bit lax with posts the past few days but I have been scrambling to get lots done before I head to India for 2 weeks.  Crazy excited as it will be my first time!  Will come back with tons of pictures to post!  In the meantime, here are a few of the items that will be in our online store shortly.  Enjoy!

Stella in the Country

Tea, family, animals and a lovely garden.  Photos taken at Stella McCartney's beautiful country home.  Via Vogue.

Bear Thoughts

So what do you think this lovely bear made by Renate Muller is thinking?  If it was channeling me this morning it would be contemplating how to get the turtles and seals to help get through some of the items on a very long to do list!   Via lenacorwin

Knitted Stools

There is a lot of knitted stuff around and some of it works better than others.  Love these stools by Claire-Anne O'Brien!  They would be a great addition of a beautiful tactile texture to any space.  Via thestylefiles.

Meandering

Pulled a few pictures I liked while I was meandering my way through the ether.  I see a theme of escape here.... Happy Monday!

Beach group via SizetooSmall;
Isaac Julien's Red Dreaming via eflux;
Italian shoreline by Tec Petaja via lanaloustyle;
Road to Marfa via simplyphoto

Takashi Murakami

Japanese artist, Takashi Murakami has a wonderful exhibit at Versailles.  I love the playful juxtaposition of new against old.  I think it makes both more interesting. 

Loving Maps

What's not to love about old maps and globes?  They add a wonderful vintage aged element to any space full of memories and tales of far off places -- not to mention being educational!

Images via House Beautiful;  Livingetc; and chez my living room:)

Friday's Fabulous Woman: Mika Ninagawa

Delighted, amazed and in bliss to have discovered the photographs of Mika Ninagawa through her latest book.   Given that her website says she is one of the most popular photographers in Japan I am very late to the party but happy to have finally arrived.   I ordered her self titled book from the Rizzoli catalog a few months ago because it looked like my kind of book.  It was just published and arrived in the store yesterday.  Her work is a wonderful unabashed celebration of color, sophisticated kitsch and storytelling.  Can't wait to curl up on the sofa with the book and the latest issue of Vogue Living which also arrived this week -- I see a color explosion theme here!  A great way to end the week!

Living Rooms

I am a big fan of printed interiors magazines but I do like that most of them have pretty good galleries on their websites now.  Flicked through House Beautiful's living rooms yesterday which has a wide range of styles.  Of the 47 pictures, these are the three rooms I liked for one reason or another.....mostly the punches of color, interesting blend of objects and styles, and the great artwork.

Peter Riedel: Balancing Rocks

A wonderful series of photographs of the temporary sculptures created by Canadian artist, Peter Riedel.  It is so interesting that something as solid as a rock becomes vulnerable when it's balancing. Images via Daiily Telegraph

Bike Wall

Guess what this shop sells?  Great wall at a bike shop in Germany. Via SupermarketSarah.

Lampshades

Black and white Gloria lampshade in our store window:
Paper lampshade via Sweet Paul;
Lampshade by Johan Carpner. Via Whipup:;

Fall Accents in Red

We are having perfect Fall weather in LA at the moment which is quite wonderful as more often than not it goes from Summer to Winter (such as it is) here.   Inspired by these textural and emotional accents in red!

Images via PaperPhine, Rus Anson; MarieClaireMaison. 

Bag Envy

Great photo, great bag...

Invitation: Book Party

Remember the wonderful book by Meg Mateo Ilasco called Crafting a Meaningful Home that features me and my close pal, my fridge:)   Meg is having a book party at Rare Device in San Francisco this Thursday to celebrate so if you are in the area, this would be a great way to spend an evening and meet some of the talented folks featured.

A side room at Rare Device is being transformed into an all cardboard room displaying many of the projects in the book; and anybody who spends more than $60 in the store will receive a free copy of the book.  Best of all the fun: there will be cupcakes from Mission Minis at the event!  I won't be able to make it so if you do get there, have a cupcake for me!

Friday's Fabulous Woman: Coco Chanel

With Paris week just been and gone there has been lots of beautiful images of creative masterpieces all over the blog world, and then I just read a post about a new book called Coco Chanel The Legend and the Life by Justine Picardie, published last month by HarperCollins.  So voila -- this week it's all about Coco!

I don't know much about Coco Chanel except that she created wonderful clothes and built an instantly recognizable brand.   This new book by all accounts takes a look at the woman behind the name and is now on my reading list.  There is a great interview with Justine Picardie, the author here.

One of the more interesting responses was "By the end I felt that she was really heroic, that she had a capacity to go on working when most people would give up, that in the face of heartbreak and adversity, and intense criticism she kept going. I think when I started all I knew really was the surface image of Coco Chanel." 

Image via New York Times.

Chris Gilmour

Crazy wonderful creativity with cardboard by Chris Gilmour.   Via AnthologyMag.

Pattern

Came across Pattern Observer last week when Michelle posted on us!   Loving the pattern and color in these images of the McQueen Collection, shoes from Prada and a gorgeous butterfly! 

African Fabric Celebration

Thousand apologies for being missing in action for a few days....got a bit swamped.   But I'm back:)

Lovely post celebrating African fabric and featuring the new LAMB collection and the French armchair we covered in a combination of Grande Fleur in crimson and some block print fabric I bought in Cape Town eons ago.  Thanks Pattern Observer for including us!