Design Mart at The Baltic

We were delighted to take part in the Design Mart event at the Baltic in Gatehead last month. There were lots of great design pieces to see and buy from some great Northern designers, and the exhibition “Cut It Out” by Noma Bar with his fab dog shaped art making machine! (that was also at the London Design Festival in September).

Here are some pics:

1.My Shelf Life shelves and British Icons bookends, 2. Noma Bars work, 3. David Irwins Miners Lights (my fave design at the show), 4. the presentations.

There a link to the Guardian website:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/house-and-homes-blog/2011/oct/14/design-event-festival-newcastle-gateshead

Twist opened by Sir Andrew Motion

Twist at Alford Manor House was formally opened on 22nd September by Sir Andrew Motion, former poet laureate and current chair of the MLA.

It was a glorious English sunny day with afternoon tea on the lawn, live music and corn dolly making under a tree! Sir Andrew read a wonderful and perfectly appropriate poem by Seamus Heaney - The Harvest Bow.

Visit this unique contemporary Summerhouse inspired by the museums collection of local rural artifacts, in particular the corn dollies, at Alford Manor House, Alford, Lincolnshire, LN13 9HT.

Twist is part of the national Museumaker project, connecting museums and their collections with artists, designers and craftspeople. Find out more at http://www.museumaker.com/

Alford Manor House - contempoary heritage souvenirs

Alford Wallpaper brooch (above)
Alford Landmark Bookends (above)

We have designed and produced some new contemporary souvenirs for the heritage sector for Alford Manor House in Lincolnshire, who we have also been working with on Twist a large outdoor commission through the Museumaker scheme. See the blog post on Twist, a contemporary summerhouse opened by Sir Andrew Motion in September 2010.

The Alford Landmark Bookends take the towns most celebrated buildings (the Manor House and 5-sailed windmill) and translate them into functional bookends.

The Wallpaper brooch translates a small motif from the restored bedroom wallpaper into a contemporary brooch design.

The bookends and the brooch are available directly from Alford Manor House, Alford, Lincolnshire. http://www.alfordmanorhouse.com/

Contempoary Souvenirs at The Geffrye Museum

Alford Landmark Bookends above

We are part of Museumaker’s Contemporary Souvenirs Showcase at the Geffrye Museum in London which displays a selection of the products that talented designers are developing with museums across the country. The goal is to create an alternative to the conventional souvenir. With products by myself and other designers such as Timorous Beasties and Rebecca Chitty, this is a fresh approach to shopping in museums.

The exhibition runs from 21 September to 21 November 2010. Geffrye Museum, 136 Kingsland Road,London E2 8EA.

As seen on TV!

I was very excited to appear on national television on Friday 12th February, on the daily ITV programme House Gift. The fab interior designer and presenter Danielle Proud (below centre) came and purchased some of my Outdoor Wallpaper for a local Oxfordshire couple for the show. The red Damask design looked stunning on their dining room wall as an interior decorative wall feature.

Its still on the itvplayer if you missed it here is the link - HouseGift on the itv player.

Thanks Danielle!