Showing posts with label shops. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shops. Show all posts
Sunday, March 6, 2011

Drink, shop & do

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    I was very excited to interview the inspiring and stylish pair behind the most exciting shop to hit London's King's Cross in the last year. Drink, Shop & Do is an incredible vintage homewares store – but also much much more, besides.

    There are snacks to be bought, cocktails to be shaken and silly games to be played (clay modelling in an 80s style, for starters).

    Check out lots of luscious pictures and find out more about the shop and its super cool owners, Coralie and Kristie (they even have great names!) in today's New Review magazine.

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Drink, shop & do


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http://asfers.blogspot.com/2011/03/drink-shop-do.html


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Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Secret sample sales!

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    ... and because you're very special people, I'll let you into a secret or two. There are some spectacular interiors-y sample sales going on in London in the next few weeks. Where do you hear about them? Stick with me, Kid. (In the meantime, click on the link above if you haven't already.)

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Secret sample sales!


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http://asfers.blogspot.com/2010/11/secret-sample-sales.html


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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Elphick's online art shop

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    It's a day of discovering lovely new things... Isn't this the sort of shop you want to just rush into?

    Elphick's, in east London's Columbia Road, run by the artist Sharon Elphick (you can see her flowers in a vase picture in the window) is packed with the owner's well-chosen collection of art, including her own - and at very affordable prices. I'd heard about the shop but have never been - but the online version is almost as exciting. There's so much great stuff I don't know quite where to start. Without doing an inventory of the entire catalogue, I'll attempt to self-edit and pick out a few highlights you might like the look of. But do check out the shop for yourself - there's a lot going on.

    I really like this print, called Tuba, by Helen Lang aka Madamsange. It reminds me a bit of one of my favourite children's books, Patrick, by Quentin Blake, which has equally joyous visions of flowers growing where you least expect them, and shoelaces turning into giant ribbons. But Helen's boxy figure feels much more Fifites/early Sixties than the fluid, 1969-published lines of Blake. The print measures 30x40cm and costs £55. See more of Helen's work at her Wet Paint website.
    Not sure if Russell Loughlan's work is still at Elphick's but it had its debut there last year. And I like his work so much I thought I'd include it - plus a link to his site, above, just in case. I know Russell, but hadn't seen his work until it appeared at Tales from a Park Bench, a special pop-up shop/ performance art/writer-y thingy I took part in. But back to Russell, who combines illustration, found imagery, vintage postcards, antique maps and pop culture. Elphick's were selling them in recycled frames for £145 each.


    I tried hard not to feature one of Sharon Elphick's lovely bird artworks and picked this postcard montage instead (are those John Hinde cards?). A woman after my own heart, not only does she cherish old postcards, but seems to share my love for bird ephemera. (In my house, from where I'm sitting right now: I can see one money-box - a 1970s brown owl; one lamp - one of Ed Carpenter's pigeon lights; a sticky-in-the-ground wooden garden ornament (from Brazil) and my Ikea outdoor bird fairy lights.) Wish You Were Here, at her more expensive end, is £350.


    I love Charley Harper, as old-school followers will know. But I've struggled to find prints of his work - in desperation I bought a Harper memory card game from the Saatchi Gallery shop and framed the whole pack of little squares. I like it - but I also like this print, which is one of about ten that Elphick's is selling - it's £40. And I also now know why I had struggled to find Harper prints before - Elphick's is the only place licensed to sell them.

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Elphick's online art shop


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http://asfers.blogspot.com/2010/10/elphick-online-art-shop.html


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Seamstar's fabulous fabrics

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    Seamstar is my new favourite website for window shopping. The fantastic fabric shop has such great taste - and they sell their wares in lots of handy types of package, such as this tonal bundle of small pieces of fabric, perfect for fronting cushion covers. 

    I can't believe I'd never heard of it, but it was my friend Holly's birthday the other day and her friend and sewing buddy, Deborah, gave her a bundle of of Seamstar's finest as a present. Being exceptionally stylish, she went for the Echino bundle, by the Japanese designer Etsuko Furuya - all edgy prints of things like bicycles and glasses 
    (see a few Furuya prints below or click on the link for Seamstar's selection). I was almost as excited as Holly was. Now all I need is to learn to sew. Or, rather, learn to have the patience to perfect my very basic sewing skills. Hmm. Meanwhile I'm enjoying the final suggestion on the website's tips about what to do with your chosen fabric bundle. Nice idea...

    Seamstar says
    - Perfect for making a quilt as each bundle comes colour coordinated and includes plain fabrics
    - Due to their complimentary tones, they look great made into separate items on craft stalls
    - They are great for just stocking up your fabric stash in some of your favourite colours
    - No time to make stuff? Our bundles look lovely piled high on bookshelves and in sewing rooms


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Seamstar's fabulous fabrics


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http://asfers.blogspot.com/2010/10/seamstar-fabulous-fabrics.html


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Saturday, February 19, 2000

Lovely shops

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Lovely shops


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http://asfers.blogspot.com/2000/02/lovely-shops.html


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