Workstead

Photos via Workstead

Brooklyn-based design team Workstead design responsible works that create a sense of place for both the objects they contain and the people that experience them.  Their palette is strong and rich, yet simple and efficient.  And it gets better … Workstead are bringing their industrial lighting to the UK via Another Country.  So don't hang around here, go see more of their simply stunning creations here.

Strips

Home of Louise & Julian Thomson | Photos by Sharyn Cairns

I don't really do baggy.  Or slouchy.  Much preferring sharp lines and angles … or so I thought.  This Strips sofa designed by Cini Boeri in 1972 for Arflex has taken me by surprise.   Doesn't it look comfy?   Doesn't it make you want to run up to it and jump on it, snuggle up on it?  And those giant cushions are just screaming 'pillow flight'.  The perfect sofa to bring out the big kid in me!

texture

Photos by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen

I recently stumbled upon these images and immediately had to find out more about this stunning villa in São Paulo designed by architect Marcio Koganclick.  All. That. Texture.  And the interior of the property is equally stunning ... click here to see more.  And when can I move in?

standard issue

I have recently started to scrutinise every inch of my home.  Generally, all that stuff that falls into the 'fixtures and fittings' category simply doesn't get a considered look in when it comes to the form versus function debate - except to say they serve a function.  End of.  When the house needs re-wiring, one calls an electrician.  And one's options end right about there.  OK, so you may be asked 'Where'd ya want yer sockets love?' but standard issue dictates that wherever you want your sockets, they'll be white.  And plastic.  Same goes with the lighting.  A white plastic ceiling rose, white plastic cable, white plastic bulb holder.  White.  Plastic.  I'm not sure at what point it was decided to replace fabric covered lighting cables of old or unassuming ceiling roses and ceramic bulb holders with the white plastic variety … but really, what a great shame.  As a nation we've been forced to express our individuality by the only means we know how ... a light shade. 

Add to my white/plastic procrastination of late the fuckwittedness on the part of an electrician I'd hired to do the most simplest of jobs, I decided to take matters into my own hands.  I'm not sure what it is about this country - possibly an overbearing health and safety executive - but do-it-yourself electrics just isn't the done thing.  Why?  I have both Google and a mains tester screwdriver.  And I'm smart enough to know I shouldn't perform any electrical work while standing in a bucket of water, or something.

Half an hour after flipping the mains switch to OFF, I'd made a small but significant change to the bedroom.  No more white plastic, no more standard issue dangling from the ceiling.  Now the room has as its centrepiece lighting components which I had chosen, which I had worked out how to fit and which I had successfully hooked up to the lighting circuit without blowing myself up.  OK, so I still need to figure out how to casually loop the cord and do away with the bulldog clip, but that aside, I'm pretty pleased with the overall effect.

edit

EDIT : a place for objects that have caught my eye, ideas I'd like to explore, inspiration I'd like to capture …

I'm quite taken with this over-scaled print by Laure Joilet entitled Saint-Jean

The Botan vase by Kristina Stark is definitely on my wish list … the shape is so intriguing

The modern quilting technique used in the Grid cushion by Anderson & Voll for Muuto 

The idea of bunching up these garland lights from Granit to form an eye-catching display
The black candle holder with its loop handle by French design house ENO

I really want to get my hands on a cats cradle, or two (ph. Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia, January 1999)