(Things we're doing and stuff we like)
This was my second visit to Tokyo Design Week and the container show just gets better and better. The concept is simple, customise a large freight container into a showcase for you brand. This year’s show had a strong British presence, with containers from designers Block and five from a competition run by Icon Magazine. The theme was love and my two favourites have to be the fabulous Viable pink flamingos and the Hulger Prison, where prisoner and visitor conversed via telephone. Big brands have begun to cotton on to the kudos of this edgy show and Nike and Kenzo perfume where both represented this year with great experiential container shows.
The new Louise T Blouin Institute opening last month and we went to have a look at the first exhibition which is James Turrell – A Life in Light. It is a stunning space with a lovely courtyard café and an extraordinary space inside. The installation reminded me of the fantatic Dan Flavin show at The Hayward earlier in the year and is a good start for the Institute which is well worth a visit. The address is 3 Olaf Street, W11 and it opens during the week and at weekends from 12.00.
This shop is a little gem of gifts and design products on the South Bank – that has just opened. The whole area is getting a facelift, but as the official relaunch of the Royal Festival Hall isn’t until next year, they are keeping quiet about this little shop until then. It’s full of products that I haven’t seen before in this country – adorable cards, children’s gifts, divine notepads, funky jewellery, chic tableware all displayed in a lovely space. This is a wonderful place for Christmas gifts that you won’t find anywhere else – I challenge anyone to go in and not leave with something very special.
We made many wonderful retail discoveries in New York, some made an immediate impact and then evaporated, others linger with us long after our return. Le Labo is one of those places that has stayed front of mind. Most importantly this precious fragrance shop in Soho evokes emotion the moment you walk through the door. There is of course the gorgeous smell, the Victorian laboratory meets New York loft styling and the to-die-for Parisian staff. Choose a fragrance you like, decide how much you want and they mix it in front of you, label it with your name and the date, then package it in a understated, chic box and bag. A simple interactive concept presented in a beautiful way, using gorgeous fragrances you want and that won’t find anywhere else.
Design guru Murray Moss recently opened Centovini, a small Italian wine bar, restaurant and wine shop on West Houston Street in Soho, New York. He cleverly fuses the best in design (there is a Swarovski chandelier by Solange Azagury Partridge in the wine shop, and hand blown Murano glass lights and white leather bar stools in the bar), with simple Italian food, and a carefully edited collection of 100 Italian wines. It was the experience that we remember most. Restauranteur Nicola Marzovilla, who has collaborated with Murray Moss on the project, treated us to his favourite red wines and Italian antipasti, whist talking to us about the wines he had chosen, the background behind Centovini and his favourite places to visit in New York.
Archive
AprilAugust
April
May
June
July
August
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
October
November
December
January
Moblog
Cocoon guest house in milan
albion at terrence conran's latest venture - boundary
Seasons Greetings
Fontainbleu miami
Vanity fair party design miami