Home Decor

NHS To Reduce Hospital Beds

2012-01-13T05:00:00.000-08:00

A new report suggests the NHS should cut more than 30,000 hospital beds to improve patient care and save money.

Thinktank Reform claims London, the North East and the North West all have a much higher number of beds and hospitals per head than other parts of the country.

The report says those regions should expect to lose over a quarter of their beds.

Reform's research shows the North East currently has 40% more beds than the south of England.

To bring every region into line with the south requires a 32,000 cut in the overall number of beds, from 160,000 to around 128,000.

The report suggests cutting these beds would save cash and create competition which would drive up standards.

The "Fewer hospitals, more competition" study also says the NHS has been right to reduce hospital beds in England by nearly a half since 1987.

Cutting beds for purely financial reasons would be immoral and catastrophic for patient care.

Mark Porter, chairman of the British Medical Association's consultants committee

In the report, Reform calls on the Government and opposition parties to stop interfering in local decision-making about ward closures and warns they must be prepared to cut the NHS budget.

"The NHS should not be immune from the drive to reduce public spending," it said.

"The structural deficit in the public sector is due to sustained over-spending and the largest part of that spending was targeted on the NHS."

The report also highlights the number of beds being taken up by elderly patients who do not need to live in hospital.

"The highest rates of occupancy are for geriatric and acute plus geriatric care, with 92% and 87% respectively.

"These high rates of occupancy could reflect the blocking of beds by patients who could be treated in the community," according to the report.

Mark Porter, chairman of the British Medical Association's consultants committee disagrees with Reform's suggestions.

He said: "Bed occupancy rates are already very high in the NHS, which is a principal cause of hospital-acquired infection.

"Cutting beds for purely financial reasons would be immoral and catastrophic for patient care."

Lighting and Light Bulbs

2012-01-13T04:46:00.000-08:00

The manufacture and importing of 60 watt light bulbs becomes illegal within the EU from today.

Businesses will still be able to sell what they have in stock but once that is gone they will have to sell the new-style energy saving bulbs.

These are halogen and compact fluorescent lamp - CLF - bulbs which, some critics say, do not give off enough light.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which is overseeing the change, disagrees.

"This changeover has been coming for some years," a Defra spokeswoman told Sky News Online. "So there has been a lot of time to work on the replacements.

"While there might have been concerns in the past, the technology has moved on and the designers have talked to a lot of people about this potential problem.

Edison's light bulb, which has produced light for more than 100 years, is simply no longer the state of the art, when it comes to lighting - they just consume too much energy for the light they produce.

Gunther Oettinger, EU Energy Commissioner

"We're confident the new bulbs will be as effective as the ones being phased out."

The RNIB charity, which represents blind and partially sighted people, says it expects people will need help finding the right bulb.

But it, too, agrees that technology has moved on since fears were first voiced.

"No-one's that keen on change, of course," an RNIB spokeswoman told Sky News Online, "but you should be able to get the right light. It's just a case of knowing what to ask in the shop."

The charity gives advice on its website and points to the Energy Saving Trust should people require further information.

Low energy need not mean low wattage

The old light bulbs are being withdrawn because they are not considered energy efficient enough for the modern day.

"Edison's light bulb, which has produced light for more than 100 years, is simply no longer the state of the art, when it comes to lighting - they just consume too much energy for the light they produce," EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger said recently.

He insists the environmental benefits within the EU if everyone changes all their light bulbs will be the equivalent of taking seven million cars off the road.

Jonathan Adler

2012-01-11T10:30:00.000-08:00

I've always believed colour is the most accessible anti-depressive available." So declares interior designer Jonathan Adler, boldly – and anyone familiar with his equally bold home furnishings won't doubt the earnest nature of that pronouncement. Adler adores colour, and it shows in his own living space. http://familyfriendlysites.com/viewcat_ws.asp?ID=589 While there are zig-zags and spirals in zingy blue on his carpets, and a spread of pink paisley for a ping-pong table top, his New York home really reveals an enduring love for eye-popping citric orange and green: "Those are perennial favourites," he concedes. "Orange is the colour of sun and happiness; lime-green is an instant palate cleanser." http://www.incrawler.com/dir/Home_and_Family/Lighting/ Not that his Greenwich Village apartment – in what he terms a "fab 1920s building" – stays looking the same for very long. Although the 45-year-old has lived here for 17 years, he says the current set-up is about its 28th iteration, and it's a statement clearly made only partly in jest. "The problem is that I make stuff for a living," sighs Adler, who started his career as a potter. "I need to road-test the products – [the apartment] is a laboratory for things I make." http://www.kahuki.com/shopping/home_and_garden/bathroom/ Adler lives with his civil partner,Simon Doonan – who he calls his "much, much, much better half". Doonan is the long-time window-dresser, now creative ambassador, for New York store Barneys, as well as an author and style writer for the website Slate. It was his memoir Beautiful People that was turned into a BBC television series of the same name in 2005. http://www.greenstalk.com/category/Shopping_and_Services/Home_and_Garden/Lighting/ But while this is evidently a couple with style on both sides, Adler gets to call the final shots when it comes to their home. "Simon's a creative person and he and I share a similar approach to life – we like things to be creative, colourful and communicative. We're on the same page; but he recognises it's my laboratory." http://www.goguides.org/topic/102289/11.html And, just like a lab, their creative space has a pristine backdrop: high ceilings, huge stretches of wall and long flowing curtains all a clinical, pure white. But, then, Adler needs a backdrop that will always work with whatever new colour schemes, mad patterns or funky products he decides to throw at it next. "Simon and I really wanted to create this dreamy white box that just feels very ethereal, then layer in as many patterns and colours that we feel like," he explains. http://www.enquira.com/home-garden/home-improvement/walls/ Though Adler was brought up in New Jersey, Doonan hails from Reading. But while an English influence can easily be spotted in their home, it isn't simply down to Doonan: "I'm also a raging Anglophile – I really am – I like to give my props to England," enthuses Adler. He's got enough Union Jacks in the house to theme a Diamond Jubilee party. "I love everything about the flag, its Mod resonance, its English resonance, I love how it looks – it makes me happy."

His own design heritage is an influence too, however, and Adler cites his parents' style and the house he grew up in as being really important. "My dad was a rigorous minimalist – the house was full of Knoll k furniture and groovy minimalist designs; and my mum was really into colour – there were Marimekko designs everywhere."

Adler credits his grandmother for inspiring his love of the surreal: "She had an incredibly groovy house and there were a few totemic items – hanging mobiles, great Danish 1960s pottery, just quirky and memorable pieces that triggered my imagination. Those over-the-top moments are the spice of life."

And he's managed to find room for a fair few spicy bits in his own apartment, from banana-shaped vases to a bust of Michael Jackson, garden gnomes to poodle lampshades, a giant foot to a collection of glass heads. Some are from his own range; others are much-loved acquisitions.

Of those multicoloured heads, which smile away along the mantelpiece, Adler explains: "When I first met Simon he had a big collection of those 1950s Italian glass heads. After a few years we were both like, 'Meh, we're kind of sick of them,' and sold them. Then, after 10 years, we missed them terribly, and I am convinced I bought the ones we had back, at 10 times the price – I should have held on to them. It's a cautionary tale!"

That huge black foot, which looks as though it's stomped down from an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, is a key piece for Adler, too. It's a remake of a work by Gaetano Pesce, the New York designer-cum-architect. "It's always a good idea to play with scale, and surrealism," suggests Adler. "It's great to have a big statement and I think that scale is one of the best tools in any designer's arsenal."

It's fair to say that Adler isn't shy about using any tool or trick in the designer's book to make a house into a cheery home. Whether it's splashing about acid colours or going a little wild with patterns and prints, installing a ping-pong table or a giant foot, Adler's home – like his work – is full of happiness-inspiring hues and witty trinkets. He's unashamed in his aim, and unabashed at peppering his conversation with words such as "groovy", "joy" and "fab". If anyone can beat the January blues through the use of soft furnishings, it's this man.
Jonathan Adler's first UK shop is open now at 60 Sloane Square, London SW3

Energy Saving Tips

2011-11-25T06:56:00.000-08:00

Suggested Topics Savings
Energy
With winter on its way, there is probably no bigger financial headache for millions of Britons than keeping a lid on energy bills.
Recent double-digit rises in the price of gas and electricity announced by most suppliers is probably just the beginning in what is likely to be a winter of discontent for households.Against this backdrop, last week we had the Government's energy summit between ministers and the big six suppliers, which most observers agree achieved little. So it seems, as consumers, we're going to have to take matters into our own hands. But, with the first frosts already here, what are the easy wins for homeowners? And which energy-saving measures work best?

Switch tariffs

Cost £0, save up to £200 per year
You should switch to the cheapest possible tariff. Switching is usually straightforward, with online switching services such as which.co.uk/ switch. But Ofgem says that, last year, only 15 per cent of households switched gas supplier and only 17 per cent switched electricity supplier.
You could save as much as £200 per year, and now that most suppliers have already upped their prices it is the ideal time to switch. Typically, you will save the most money with a duel-fuel tariff (getting gas and electricity from the same supplier), paying by monthly direct debit and managing your account online.
"You have the right to refuse price increases as long as you contact your supplier within 20 days of receiving notification of the rise," says Laurence Saffer, managing director of brokers LSI Utility. "Tell your provider that you don't want to accept the rise and wish to leave, either by email or in writing. You then have 15 days to switch to a new provider, and will stay on your existing tariff until the switch goes through, which typically takes four to six weeks."
Quick fixes
Cost from £0, save from £55 per year
Little changes can make a big difference. Just turning down the heat by 1C could cut heating bills by almost 10 per cent, or around £55 per year, according to the Energy Saving Trust (EST). If you have any unused rooms in your home, turn the radiators down to the lowest setting. Fit tin foil behind radiators to reflect heat back and reduce heat loss. Curtains can be lined with a layer of heavy material to insulate the room at night.
Turning to lighting, a single efficient compact fluorescent bulb costs around £2.50 and saves you £3 per year, but because it lasts around 10 times longer than a standard bulb, it could save you £55 over its lifetime.
"There are some cost-effective 'quick wins'," says Simon Osborn, Which?'s energy policy expert, "like fitting draught excluders and turning your heating down."
Smart meters, Cost £0, save £23 per year
The Government has plans for every home to have a smart meter by 2020, with the roll out due in mid-2012, although some suppliers have already started installing them, free. A smart meter will tell your supplier about your energy use directly, rather than based on estimates, so you benefit from more accurate bills. Crucially, these meters have displays to show you how much energy you use in real time and give you the motivation to change habits and curtail waste, which the Government estimates will cut £23 off most gas and electricity bills.
Insulate your loft
Cost from £50, save up to £175 per year...Or your walls – cost from £100, save up to £135 per year
Without insulation you could be losing a quarter of your heat through the roof. But you can insulate your loft yourself from £50 to £350. It should last for at least 40 years, paying for itself within two years if you top up to the recommended 270mm mineral wool insulation. Similarly, cavity wall insulation will fill any gaps in your external walls and keep the warmth in. From an initial cost of £100 to £350, it will save you around £135, potentially paying for itself after just one year.
"In many areas you can get these measures heavily subsidised or even free," says Rosalyn Foreman, the data services manager of EST.
Draught-proofing
Cost £120, save £55 per year
Don't overlook the importance of draught-proofing your home – this is one of the cheapest and most efficient ways to save money. You can use draught excluder strips and expanding foam fillers to block gaps around any window frames, doors, loft hatches, pipework, skirting boards and floorboards to save around £55 a year. Do remember that areas such as kitchens and bathrooms still need good ventilation. DIY draught-proofing costs around £120 for materials, but you may prefer to get a professional in at double the price if you have an old home with single glazing. Use a registered installer who will have a 10-year guarantee on their work (nationalinsulationassociation.org.uk).
Upgrade your boiler
Cost £2,300, save £300 per year you will have to dig deep for an efficient boiler but as boilers account for around 60 per cent of your annual energy bill the savings can be impressive with an A-rated high-efficiency condensing boiler. You can also cut heat loss by 70 per cent by giving your hot-water tank a cylinder jacket for only £15, to save you £40 over the year.
Double-glazing
Cost from £3,300, save £165 per year
Costs vary widely for double glazing depending on the size, material and installer you choose, but if you replace all single-glazed windows with B-rated double glazing you could cut your energy bills by around £165 per year. You can expect the double glazing to last for at least 20 years so it should just about pay for itself. but you will also benefit from fewer draughts and cold spots so you will be able to turn down the heating and save extra money that way, as well as enjoy some peace from outside noise.
Solar panels
Cost £11,700, save £1,190 per year/ cost free, save £177 per year
Photovoltaics (PV) are expensive and will take some time to pay for themselves but as well as reducing your bill, you can also make money under the Government's Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) or by selling surplus electricity back to the grid if you produce more than you need. EST estimates suggest a typical system could earn you £1,060 from the Generation Tariff, £40 from exporting, and reduce your electricity bills by £90. And "rent a roof" schemes offer free installation in exchange for that company taking your FITs.
"Even solar panels and loft and cavity wall insulation can be free," says Mr Saffer, "You can get free solar panels which can cut your bills by £177 a year – a 14 per cent saving on the average dual fuel bill."
Chantal Brown, 29
Conservation adviser

Last winter, Chantal, from Stroud, Gloucestershire, decided to add more environmentally friendly insulation to her cottage roof in an attempt to keep her energy bills down. At a cost of just £300, Chantal says she will recoup the costs very soon from her £95-a-month energy bill."I have put draught tape around the windows and doors – the cottage is 250 years old and everything is a little crooked! I have double-lined curtains in most rooms and try to keep them shut to keep heat in to reduce bills," she says.
"I also run a dehumidifier to take moisture out of the air so the heating can be used less, as it obviously takes a lot less energy to heat a dry house than a damp one."
As well as tweaking her home, Chantal changed suppliers in the summer to a renewable energy company and is using switching websites to look at moving energy firm again now that prices have gone up so significantly.
She also has plans for other energy-saving measures in the future. "The double glazing on the conservatory roof is very old," she says, "so I will be obtaining quotes for reroofing, possibly with less glass, to keep the heat in."
But Chantal has no plans for solar-panels yet: "I would have to be planning to stay in the house for 12 years to see a payback. At this stage I'm thinking I will move, and there is no evidence to suggest it will increase my home's value."

top textiles

2011-07-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

l wish I could sew, as I adore browsing fabrics (Timorous Beasties' urban toiles and sanderson-uk.com's 50s range are big loves). But where to stray from the beaten track for such delights?

Magic touch

Wallpaper company tactilewonderland.com also prints its stunning designs on to fabric. Check the lush, laser-cut "Pelangi".

General pattern

Be inspired at the gorgeous printpattern.blogspot.com.

Coming of age

"Linen wears beautifully," says Beth Smith, editor of the glossy textiles magazine, Selvedge. "Try foglinenwork.com's simple Lithuanian linens." Smith also rates the expertise of elizabethbaertextiles.com.

Artbeat

Textile art? Oh yes. Discover some at the cockpitarts.com open studios, suggests Smith, or be dazzled by the master at ptolemymann.com.

All change

"I bought a maxi skirt made of vintage Welsh tapestry and made it into half-a-dozen cushions," says Heather Linnet (eclectic-chair.com), who sews insanely beautiful covers from old kimonos. "Don't just think of fabric rolls. Try curtains, blankets, tapestries and silk scarves from retro shops, eBay or fairs such as Discover Vintage."

In your face

Like Ruth McAllister's designs at Quincy Lampshades? She buys her "ballsy and bright" fabrics from amy butlerdesign.com, fabricrehab.co. uk, seamstar.co.uk and fancymoon.co.uk and name-drops designers including Alexander Henry, Dan Bennett, Heather Bailey, Kaffe Fassett, Michael Miller, Moda, Tanya Whelan and Etsuko Furuya.

Fancy creating your own?

Upload your designs at US site spoonflower.com and buy from £10 per yard, or choose from others' uploads (I love "Birdies"). Postage is reasonable.

Creating a living room

2011-07-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

Kelly has chosen Barker and Stonehouse Newcastle upon Tyne to launch her first full Kelly Hoppen furniture concept store. barkerandstonehouse.co.uk

1) ASK YOURSELF QUESTIONS: Creating a living room is not just a matter of buying a sofa and a coffee table. You must decide what you want your living room for. Look at the space, see how you want it to work and do a floorplan. Is it to be formal or informal? What colours do you want? Do you want a TV in there? Do you have particular items that you want it to work around? Think about where the main seating will be; what the view into another part of the room and beyond in to the garden, kitchen or other area will be; how many seating zones you need.

2) USE GEOMETRY FOR YOUR LAYOUT: The way I see things is linear so I look at the lines of a room. In my head, I see a 3D graph and I place things into it. I run from one axis to another. Where are the windows and how do they relate to the fireplace, the doors and the other features? This gives you the beginnings of the layout.

3) MAXIMISE NATURAL LIGHT: The most important thing in a living room is natural light. I like to keep the windows as open as possible. This is why I don’t interline curtains; you should not cover your windows. The fabric on the window is to frame it during the day and to make you feel more secure inside at night so people can’t see in. Make the most of natural light with sheer curtains, which filter the light softly while providing privacy.

4) CONSIDER WINDOW TREATMENTS: I never use blinds in a sitting room. It is usually a more formal room so I think curtains work better. Curtains can be changed according to your mood or the seasons. I love simple iron curtain poles as they are understated and elegant, and do not detract from the fabric or overpower the room.

5) ZONE YOUR SEATING: Graceful living in a large open space can be kept intimate by the placement of furniture in three zones. A seating area designed for socialising, a cosy area for relaxing in front of the fire and a reading area at the other end of the room.

4) CHOOSE COLOUR OR BLACK AND WHITE: Glamour is the chief ingredient in my own living space, where the monochromatic palette has created a serene vision of photographic perfection, fulfilling my aim to make my living room seem like a stunning black-and-white picture.

5) THINK WALL DECOR: Art is such an essential and personal ingredient. I am crazy for photography and especially love images with glamorous women, such as Jessica in Lace Dress by Louise Bobbe, from Stephanie Hoppen.

6) WHY WOOD FLOORING WORKS: Flooring must be timeless, and not a fashion statement, as it will be down for a long time and is beyond expensive to change. My personal preference is wooden floors because I suffer from allergies. I think rugs on wooden flooring look more contemporary than carpets. I use low-level lighting on floors as it creates better shadows.

7) LAYER THE LIGHTING: I spend a lot of time on lighting. You must think how your living room will look at night and at daytime. A well-lit room will always have its own wow-and-welcome factor, however modest its features or decoration, but a room where the lighting has not received due care will never sing out, whatever the decoration. The more you can vary and control the lighting the better. A critical piece of underwear to a room’s outerwear, lighting gives its own kind of structure, spirit and energy.

8) CREATE OPTICAL ILLUSIONS: I use mirrors a lot – they make small rooms feel bigger. I love oversized mirrors and accent mirrors that sit on floors. But you have to be careful when using mirrors. You’ve got to remember that they are reflecting something so make sure you like what they are facing.

9) BE MULTI-FUNCTIONAL: Living rooms can be integrated into an open-plan design just as effectively as they can be separately grand. They can be appointed as a series of places to sit, read and relax, and be as right for a party as for nights in with friends.

10) MIX TEXTURES: I like to mix fabrics that shock each other so I might make a curtain from utilitarian fabrics and border it with lace or lingerie silks.

Style in a suitcase

2011-06-21T15:24:00.000-07:00

Employing the services of top-drawer designers like Jade Jagger, Sophie Conran or Kelly Hoppen demands a trust-fund lifestyle. But if you plan your next holiday well, you can tap into the style secrets of the best interior designers for no more than the price of a weekend break.
It's a growing trend for hotels, villas, even pubs and weekend cottages to employ the services of big-name interior designers. This month it was announced that a boutique hotel will open in Hong Kong next year with interiors by celebrated Dutch designer Marcel Wanders. Closer to home, a Kelly Hoppen-designed spa opens in the Cotswolds in December, with a hotel set to follow in 2012.

And there's plenty more to choose from both here and abroad.
The Olde Bell and The Crown by Ilse Crawford
Ilse Crawford is the designer of choice for the hip, creative crowd. She's crafted interiors for Soho House and its foreign and British offshoots and works for brands such as Aesop.

Her style is quintessentially British, fusing classic and contemporary with a hint of eccentricity. At the Olde Bell and The Crown – coaching inns in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire – this means hanging an antler chandelier above a simple oak dining table and accessorising Ercol Windsor chairs with sheepskin throws. In the bedrooms, oak trestles are topped with Anglepoise lamps, soft Welsh wool blankets cover the beds and rush mat rugs under foot.

"We wanted to create a new English vernacular that picks up on the past but can also evolve and be modern and relevant today. The materials – oak, felt, rush mat, wool – are very important to the look," says Crawford.

To get the look at home, bend the rules a little and don't sacrifice comfort for style. "Keep it simple, elemental and practical. Focus on building layers and use materials that improve over time," says Crawford.

Melyn Tregwint (www.melintregwynt.co.uk) is great for wool rugs and cushions; John Lewis for Ercol chairs, (pictured right), and tables (www.johnlewis.com); and Toast (www.toast.co.uk) for sheepskin throws. The Natural Rug Store (www.naturalrugstore.co.uk) and Woven Ground (www.wovenground.com) are good for seagrass, sisal and reed rugs.

Invest in overstuffed sofas and easy chairs but choose contemporary upholstery. If budget is no problem try traditional British sofa makers George Smith (www.georgesmith.co.uk) or for more affordable versions, Scoop from Heals (www.heals.co.uk). Add personal touches: find local designers and artists; display photographs in a mix of old and new frames. And add discrete splashes of bright colour such as yellow chairs (try Ikea's new Bernhard range) around a plain oak table.

The Olde Bell, Hurley, Berkshire (www.theoldebell.co.uk). The Crown, Amersham, Buckinghamshire (www.thecrownamersham.com). Double rooms from £139.

The Barn at Temple Guiting by Sophie Conran

When your dad is Terence Conran there's a good chance that an eye for design is in your genes. Sophie Conran's interiors for the Barn at country house Temple Guiting illustrate her heritage: a combination of sophistication and luxury with just a hint of romance.

The Barn, a centuries-old building with exposed beams and honey-coloured Cotswold stone walls, is worth a visit if you're looking for ideas on making the most of traditional architectural styles.

"The bedrooms are quite rustic so I wanted to bring a sense of elegance and glamour to them," says Conran. In one room she chose a luxurious French-style bed with drapes of gold brocade; another has a soft pink day bed beneath an antique chandelier. And all are dotted with an eclectic mix of antiques ranging from an African chest to Baronial-style pieces and furniture from the 1940s.

In contrast, the kitchen and dining room are open, clean and modern with a long oak dining table and a pale colour scheme. "I like things quite simple," says Conran. "You don't need much in a kitchen or dining space; people are what happens here, they bring the colour."

To get the look at home, Conran suggests "having a squirrel around antique fairs and choose things that are beautiful and in good condition. Things you really love," she adds.
combine these with pared-back modern designs. Try the French Bedroom Company (www.thefrenchbedroomcompany.co.uk) for a selection of French-style beds, pictured below; the Conran Shop (www.conranshop.co.uk) for Eames dining chairs; and Heal's (www.heals.co.uk) for dining tables.

Temple Guiting, near Stow-on-the-Wold, is let for house parties. You can rent the Barn, which sleeps 10, for £2,200 per night (www.sophieconrantg.com).

The Lakes by Yoo by Kelly Hoppen
One of Britain's best-known designers, Kelly Hoppen, is the probable cause of our ongoing love of neutral tones such as taupe, mushroom and cream. If you like her calm and elegant style and want to try life à la Hoppen, rent a home at Yoo Lakes in the Cotswolds for a week.

The controversial homes – not popular with all locals – are set around a network of six lakes spread over 650 rural acres, The Lakes is a development of weekend homes combining water views and the tranquil countryside with urbane luxury. "I've gone for a chic look featuring vintage pieces, loose linen throws and gorgeous textures, finished off with modern features," says Hoppen.
To get the look at home stick with a neutral palette – creams, whites, warm grey and mushroom brown (try Farrow and Ball, www.farrow-ball.com, for a selection of neutral shades) and add accents in navy blue and red. Combine with natural materials such as linen, cotton, wool, rattan and wood. Plump cushions are a must – on sofas, chairs and even outdoors. The White Company's Santorini bed linen and Meribel bedspread in smoke makes for a soothing combination in the bedroom (www.thewhitecompany.com). The Natural Curtain Company (www.naturalcurtaincompany.co.uk) has a selection of linen blinds and curtains that will work for this look too. The Lakes by Yoo, Cotswolds, rent a 4-bed home from £2,250 – £3,500 per week (www.thelakesbyyoo.com).

Finding inspiration further afield

If all this restrained Britishness just isn't your thing and you're after the glamour and sexiness of the international jet set, then head for Morocco and the Jade Jagger-designed Baglioni Marrakech, (pictured below). It's a mix of downright luxury, with four-poster beds for sunbathing beside the infinity pool and subtle ethnic touches: Moroccan lights, coloured ceramic tiles, bronzed metalwork and bronze glazed doors. Add a touch of navy blue and burnt orange for drama and you've got the look nailed.

Or maybe quirky Dutch is more your thing, in which case you'll have to wait until 2012, when the Marcel Wanders-designed Jaffe Road hotel opens in Hong Kong. Details are still under wraps but Wanders says interiors will combine "fantasy, wonder and a sense of humour". Colour, distortion of scale and visual surprises are all on the cards. "It will be modern and magic," says Wanders.

For a more French flavour, Le Beauvallon Sur Mer Beach Club (www.lebeauvallon.com) opens on the bay of St Tropez this summer with a pavilion by Japanese architect Toyo Ito. The hotel, Le Beauvallon Prive, opens next spring. Details of the interior design are being kept confidential but expect classically French, seaside-inspired interiors.

... or just a day's work

Can't spare a full week away? Interior designer Susan Llewellyn this month launches a series of day tours in London. Day trips include Leighton House and William Morris's workshop – the latter will let you into the Arts and Crafts master's design and interiors secrets (www.thesusanllewellynacademy.co.uk).

Rope-supported benches

2011-05-31T02:10:00.000-07:00

Pop-up shops, guerilla window displays and temporary installations are quite today’s norm in the design industry, particularly in the creative corner that is London's Brompton Design District. This week, and for four days only, is the graduate display RCA Design Products which is currently camping out (until 30 May) in The Garage, 1 North Terrace, London. Expect suitably experimental designs from tables made from tree trunks, benches supported by ropes and papier-mâché tables.

The proximity of the Brompton Design District (around the South Kensington area) to the Victoria and Albert Museum and Royal College of Art makes it a natural destination for design followers. Hence, the frequent shows by highly acclaimed designers including Ron Arad, Vessell Gallery, Rabih Hage and Skandium. This week's pop-up shop is a little more youthful in that the designers, all graduates from the RCA Design Products course 2010, are mostly unknown. ‘We were approached by Brompton Design District to do this pop-up show as they had seen our exhibition in Milan,’ says Sue Bradburn, RCA spokesperson. ‘The exhibition is part of the District's regular promotion of design in the South Kensington area. The exhibition gives the graduates an opportunity to promote their work to the general public in a new and interesting venue.'

Possibly the most hyped of the objects for sale is Seongyong Lee's Plytube stools; they were recently nominated for the Brit Insurance Design of the Year award. The Korean student has been credited for his radical re-thinking of traditional material use. He constructed lightweight stools from innovative tubes of wood veneer created in a process similar to that of making paper tubes.

Lee isn't alone in turning traditional manufacturing on its head. His RCA peer, Iain Howlett turned to the children's activity of papier-mâché when he wanted to create durable furniture. ‘The papier-mâché industry fell victim to the introduction and popularization of plastics,’ says Howlett. ‘As a design I am interested in the idea that paper products offer a natural and tactile experience that plastics lack.’ Howlett will be showing his colourful tables (£450) and floor lights (£1,600) made from paper pulp at this week's RCA pop-up shop. To ensure that the tables are robust enough, he looked into the structures of the industrial paper pulp packaging used to ship eggs and electronics. Typical of a RCA student, his design is not all about practicalities; aesthetics play an important role in the project. Howlett’s imprinted patterns on his paper pulp surfaces are not solely ornamental; they improve stability.

While the stability of Howlett’s tables relied on paper, his fellow graduate designer Yoav Reches created an ingenious bench reliant on rope in order to stand tall. ‘With passion for both craft and production processes, I have challenged my personal boundaries of design making, re-questioning work methodologies and exploring intuitive responses to design. Rope Bench is a plywood bench constructed and assembled using rope in tension.’ Reches’ Tensile Furniture, on display at this week's RCA Design Products shop, requires no tools to assemble; it instead relies on rope tension. His rope stools sell from £370. The rope is guided through a pattern of overlapping grooves that lock the elements into a fixed structure. Only when the rope is pulled taut can the plywood bench be constructed.

Buy art without breaking the bank

2011-05-31T02:08:00.001-07:00

Buying art can give a person the jitters. Especially when the price tops a few hundred – and the idea of "investment" threatens to hamper things. So how can you avoid throwing cash down the drain – and is that painting really any good?

From the heart

"It is hard to strike gold without attuned antennae," says the architectural designer/art collector Ben Pentreath. "So I buy things I love, and find their value takes care of itself."

Money, money, money

Ownart.org.uk provides interest-free loans to buy contemporary art.

Home is where the art is

How to pick the right art for your décor? Look for a hint of a room's dominant colours in a painting. But, contrast works: light-filled images brighten dark rooms, warm hues soften a starker interior and balance modern with old for panache.

Deal or no deal

"Build a relationship with a reputable dealer," says Pentreath. "I use abbottandholder.co.uk. And with serious artists, engravings, lithographs and drawings are a fraction of the price of oils and watercolours."

Print it

For prints, try elphicks.big cartel.com (nice birds – "Caribbean Cruisers" by Charley Harper); keepcalmgallery.com (top typography); alboart.co.uk (from £25); surfaceview. co.uk (non-naff reproductions).

Museum piece

Gallery shops are great – but particularly rich is saatchistore.com.

In the beginning

The art-school degree shows kick off around now: check out degreeart.com/degree-shows-2011. Near London? Try also free-range.org.uk (starts 31 May) and artistic hub Vyner Street, E2, first Thursdays of the month.

Back to basics

2011-05-31T02:05:00.000-07:00

When Rachel Whyte-Moran and Simon Watkins first met around 15 years ago, they bonded immediately over the subject of string. "Mutual friends had always said we'd get on," says Rachel. A shared love of hardware has now seen them through 10 years of successful trading under the name of Labour and Wait, first from a minuscule shop in Cheshire Street, just off the north end of Brick Lane in east London. More recently they moved to the former Dolphin pub in the freshly rehabilitated Redchurch Street, where neighbours include Australian beauty brand Aesop and utilitarian French clothes label APC.

The store's windows are currently filled with an intriguing display of black rubber work gloves, brushes and buckets, like an S&M take on the world of homeware. "Well, we don't like things with a lot of decoration," says Simon. "It's a bit more civilised here," he says of the new premises. "Higher ceilings, less frenetic." Where weekend-only customers used to fill the Cheshire Street store to bursting on Saturdays and Sundays, nicking a fair few small items along the way, the pair now trade all week long.

Labour and Wait's stock consists of functional tools, linen towels, trowels and kitchenware, brushes, buckets and, of course, many types of string. They sell heavy cotton canvas aprons, bundles of pencils, and the sorts of leather school satchels that Janet and John swung from their shoulders. Their traditional Welsh blankets in garish pink/purple colourways are sought after; it's also the place to come for a Sussex trug. In its early days, some considered this fetishisation of slightly retro, day-to-day objects as nothing more than fashionistas gone mad (both Rachel and Simon had been menswear designers), but east London's burgeoning band of trend-setting residents soon formed a waiting list for the lilac enamel milk saucepan the pair had unearthed at Austrian company Reiss (established more than 200 years ago).

In 2006, they set up a concession in Dover Street Market, Mayfair's Comme des Garçons-run fashion emporium, and they now have 11 concessions in Japan, too. "We were quite reluctant at first, we've always only wanted one really great shop," says Rachel. "But the Japanese were quite persistent, and very charming." The pair recently created a pop-up store in a Tokyo art gallery, and celebrated its opening with an English-style tea ceremony that included PG Tips, Tunnock's tea cakes and digestive biscuits. World domination, however, is not on the cards. "We want to keep it special," says Rachel. "Everything's become so global and every city has the same shops. It's disappointing. We wouldn't mind expanding to include a teashop, a book shop and a great haberdashery, but not to have a store in every city."

Nowadays, Watkins and Whyte-Moran are serving more of a cross-section of the population than you might imagine, a demographic defined by a love of beautifully crafted things that actually have a use; it includes a high percentage of men: "They seem to be interested in details, history, authenticity," says Simon. "With all the technology, all the activities that happen in the virtual world, you can lose contact with real things. I think that's where we come in. Things that aren't mass-produced have a character of their own, and the imperfections are part of it."

Indeed, out there in the retail world, others are catching up. In March, the Conran Shop launched its Utility range, a collection including wholesome storage jars, carpet-beaters, vegetable brushes, dusters and basketware that refer to a bygone era when kitchens were the domain of home-baking and preserving, rather than Nespresso machines and ready meals, and houses smelt of furniture polish not Diptyque candles. "We'd started taking a fresh look at our kitchen department over a year ago," explains group buyer David Perez, "and we found that what was really selling were traditional and utilitarian products. Stepladders are in our top-five sellers in every store where we sell kitchenware [London, Paris and Tokyo], and feather dusters are always strong."

Elsewhere across the store, Perez says you can see a softening of lines and looks. "A few years ago, kitchens were still really clinical. Now there's a vogue for the liveable. Even sofas are looking less 'taut'. Craft is coming through, too. People seem to like things that look like they've been made by a person rather than a machine."

While some might put this longing for homeliness and tradition down to a search for comfort in the cold chill of recession, the Conran Shop puts it down to a new enthusiasm for olde-worlde kitchen values brought on by the success of television series Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs. Others might just see it as nothing more complicated than an inevitable cyclical change in taste, replacing stainless steel and bright plastics with neutral colours and good honest materials such as wood and linen.

Certainly, when it comes to furniture, plain wood is once again high on the style list. "We do seem to be having quite a good run," says Edward Tadros, the self-effacing chairman of family-run British furniture-makers Ercol. "The Originals range, which goes back to 1943 and 1944 is attracting a lot of attention. And the Chiltern range, which we designed last year for John Lewis seems to be working. We've just made 300 stacking chairs for Margaret Howell." (The London fashion designer has been stocking re-editions of Ercol's sensible furniture since 2000).

What are now called Ercol Originals started life in response to a request from the British Board of Trade in 1944 to produce 100,000 low-cost wooden Windsor chairs. The company, which dates back to the 1920s, worked out a way to steam-bend elm in quantity and created easy-assembly furniture in a pared-down aesthetic, fulfilling the country's need for so-called utility furniture, to refurnish its thousands of bombed-out houses. "I know I'm biased," says Tadros, "but I'd put their enduring appeal down to the fact that these designs are timeless, well-made, solid, not demanding when it comes to taste. And they do say that when money is tight, you spend it on something that lasts." For those for whom cash is less of an issue, vintage Ercol pieces now change hands for ever increasing prices in the flourishing market for mid-century modern design.

Back in Redchurch Street, Rachel and Simon have just taken delivery of their first order of grey felt German slippers. "We'd been looking for exactly the right ones for five years," says Rachel. "It's taken a lot of trawling." The right ones, it seems, have a dainty green detailing. They've also finally tracked down authentic Brown Betty teapots made in Staffordshire through an American website (there were plenty of wannabes around, made in China, in far-from-authentic white porcelain with a brown glaze).

But the very first product to arrive in their store – painted brushes, from Lord Roberts Workshop in Edinburgh – is about to disappear. The non-profit set-up, which employed ex-servicemen, has just closed down. "That's the thing about products from another era," says Simon. "There is an in-built possibility that they'll cease to exist." Even in the world of traditional, retro objects, then, change is always around the corner.

Clerkenwell Design Festival

2011-05-28T03:43:00.001-07:00

Who needs to fly to Milan? Returning after its 2010 debut, next week’s Clerkenwell Design Festival (CDF) promises to give the Italians a run for their money. To celebrate its status as London’s creative centre, Clerkenwell will host a plethora of design workshops, furniture launches, city tours, pop-up shops and auctions for three days next week (24-26 May).

Last year, CDF had over 150 events with 18,000 registered visitors bringing with it real excitement to this old part of London. This year, it is expected to be bigger. ‘Clerkenwell is without doubt the most important design hub in London. There are more architects here per square metre than anywhere else in the world,’ said Peter Murray, London Festival of Architecture. ‘It’s got fantastic environment, fantastic history, great restaurants and great bars. It’s just the place where designers like to work. Clerkenwell Design Week brings together all those people in a celebration of good design, good quality design, new furniture, creativity, all those things that London prides itself on and brings it here in one place.’

Among CDF events planned next week is the hotly anticipated Knoll debate ‘Are there too many designers?’ on 24 May. The panel (including architect Rab Bennetts, designer Asif Kahn and RSA Director of Design Emily Campbell) will be battling out the contentious subject – does the sheer number of architects and designers make them easy to exploit? Are low salaries and fees for architects a result of the supply of architects and designers outweighing the demand? Is it healthy competition or does the oversupply of trained designers make the profession more vulnerable to exploitation? Judging by Knoll’s Fakes Debate last year, visitors can expect a heated ‘discussion’. Other talks worth a visit include ‘Birth of a new designer’ presented on 24 May by Dr Lynn Jones, Head of the new National School of Furniture and former student Tortie Hoare, now an award-winning new designer. Elsewhere on 24 May, hospitality design specialist Inge Moore of HBA (Hirsch Bedner Associates) will present ‘New hotel design trends and beautiful bathing spaces.’

From the weird and wonderful (a huge pin art installation by Lulu Guinness) to worthy charity events (TOTO's LOVE JAPAN auction), the festival is covering all bases. And it makes sense that such a creative gathering takes place in this particular borough. 'It has a real air of industrial activity about it,' Says Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud about Clerkenwell. 'You feel as though you are stepping back a century into a world of 19th century engineering workshops. It’s about making things and ideas. That is what Clerkenwell has always been about as opposed to Westminster which has always been about politics.’

Headquarters of the festival is the wonderfully Dickensian Farmiloe Building on St John Street where international designers will launch new products. Major names like Anglepoise, Cappellini, Hitch Mylius, Ligne Roset, Jasper Morrison and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec will showcase their latest designs. Look out for the future alternative to textile carpet as showcased by Bolon's new Artisan collection, manufactured using a new proprietary-developed fibre (as pictured). Also in the Farmiloe Building will be a Pop-Up shop run by the Design Museum selling Wim Crouwel merchandise with wallpapers, prints and Tai Ping’s limited edition Alphabet rug. On nearby side street Sans Walk is an underground Victorian prison, usually closed to the public, which will host the House of Detention exhibition of artist installations. Keep an eye out for Timorous Beasties new lace material patterns and Lizzie Mary Cullen’s drawing workshops.

Crucially, the Clerkenwell Design Festival will be the first opportunity for many companies to see products that were launched at the Milan Furniture Fair in April. So there you have it, there is no need to fly to Milan, just wait for it to come to us.

How to pimp your stairs

2011-05-04T04:41:00.000-07:00

Stairs often get neglected when preening the home. And where do you start, anyway – there's too much wall space, no furniture that fits, weird angles, and carpet ain't cheap. So what are the shortcuts to a chic staircase?

Come together

Use stairs to unify your home's colour scheme. Pick a small palette of paints to reflect other rooms, and do risers (the vertical element of the step) – or whole steps – in alternating tones. (So you can still use them, do every other step then, when dry, swap.)

Get pasted

The textile designer Ruth Singer suggests papering risers with a collage of vintage dress patterns, maps and wallpaper instead.

Bring dead space to life

A chunky MDF shelf makes a desk under my stairs, while inspiring book Small Spaces (Quadrille) piles in mis-matched cabinets for a cheap-as-chips industrial look.

Wall of me

I'm a bit over "feature" walls – but a stairs-side version? Instead of wallpaper, a fabulous dreamwalls.com stone-effect panel is very now (and, at £71.75 per 12sq m, very do-able too).

Adorn me

"Use landing space to create a focal point with a console or small chest of drawers," says belleinteriors.co.uk's Sonia Murton. I found a slim, 1970s tallboy for mine; it holds loads of bedding.

All light long

"Staircases can feel dull," says James Mackenzie, B&Q's director of building. For visual excitement, he suggests illuminating them "with small recess lights, set at low level to cast light on every other tread". Or hang a dramatic wall-light for pizzazz without filling floor space.

Brave decorators are embracing a more dramatic look

2011-04-26T02:30:00.000-07:00

On Sunday mornings, in DIY stores across the land, a familiar scene is being played out: couples wandering groggily up and down the aisles, clutching sheaves of colour charts, and trying to discern what is the earthly difference between sandstone cream and ivory pearl.

White, and all the seemingly endless permutations of off-white, has been king of our bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens and bathrooms for the last ten years – but there are distinct signs of darkness ahead.

Take Louisa Richwhite, a jewellery designer, who works under the very appropriate name of Violet Darkling (www.violetdarkling.com). Having remodelled her house, and faced with choosing a colour for her new open-plan living room, she turned her back on all those subtle shades of dove, wicker and linen and went straight for a shiny, uncompromising black.

"People thought I was crazy," she says. "I know it doesn't sound very nice but it is amazing. Because the room has a lot of light coming in and the walls have a shine and really reflect the light, it's not dark at all. People come round and always say: 'Wow, your house is so cool' – although I'm not sure how many of them would do it themselves."

Black last had a fashion moment, interiors-wise, in the 1980s when teenage goths begged their parents to be allowed to paint their bedroom walls a murky shade of raven, almost certainly accessorised with a Southern Death Cult poster and a shaky pentagram painted on the ceiling. Today's fans of the dark side take an altogether more sophisticated approach.

Richwhite, 27, a New Zealander who has been living in the Britain for the past nine years, moved into a two-bedroomed period terrace in Westbourne Grove, west London, with her sister three years ago.

The house was "a bit of a shambles" and the sisters set about knocking down walls to create an open-plan living space. As well as painting its walls black they opted for dark-stained wood floors, although the ceilings are a traditional white.

Richwhite feels that a room not blessed with good natural light might feel rather depressing if painted black, and furnishing it proved more challenging than if she had opted for a classically neutral palette.

A fan of vintage furniture, Richwhite regularly scours the Ardingly International Antiques and Collectors Fair in East Sussex (www.iacf.co.uk/ardingly – the next sales are 19 and 20 April, and 19 and 20 July) for inspiration and picked up her vintage dining room table and chairs – black, of course – there.

Her yellow and orange sofas, pure 1970s style, were a bargain from Golborne Road Market, the grittier sister-market to Portobello Road. However, they are shortly to be traded for a more sophisticated (and comfortable) charcoal number which she will accessorise with brightly coloured cushions.

It would be easy to dismiss Richwhite as a quirky exception to the white-on-white rule, but leading interior designers are increasingly ditching the endless symphony of neutrals for something a little more theatrical.

Abigail Ahern, of Atelier Abigail Ahern (www.atelierabigailahern.com), is proud to have championed an inky aesthetic: "Dark rooms are my idea of heaven, I love inky, sludgy, dark colours – you get a tantalising, sophisticated effect and things pop out in a way that you don't get if you go pale. It just ups the style rating."

Ahern concedes that her clients sometimes take some convincing to paint their walls, floors, and often ceilings, dark grey. "I embraced the dark side six or seven years ago and at first people just thought that I was bonkers. You do need a big dose of confidence to go dark, but it is one of the most transformative things you can do and it is just a tin of paint – so it is the easiest thing to change if you don't like it. People are now embracing it more and more, because you do get just a phenomenal effect."

Crucial to the success of a dark scheme, according to Ahern, is the liberal use of bright colours. "You need high-voltage hues, whether it be flowers, accessories or art," she says. "You need a pop of colour and not neutral colours – otherwise it will become just depressing. You need to have lots of little subtle shots of colour.

"Lighting is also crucial to create atmosphere and pools of light – I have seven different lights surrounding me at the moment," says Ahern. "It just adds glow and pools of light. I prefer very low voltage light, not anything too bright."

Ahern often paints the ceiling in a dark colour, as well as the walls. "That way you get fewer boundaries," she says. "If you do the floor, then the furniture just floats, and it limits the horizontals." For dark-hued paints Ahern rates Farrow & Ball (www.farrow-ball.com), for its depth of colour, as well as the French paint firm Ressource (www.ressource-decoration.com), which has a dark palette with a wonderful velvety effect.

She is less keen on wallpaper in general, but makes an exception for the Parakeet design by Nina Campbell for Osbourne & Little (www.osborneandlittle.com), which is bedecked with zingy blue birds on a black background.

Farrow & Ball has four shades of black on its 132-strong colour card plus an increasingly popularcharcoal grey shade – the slightly unappealingly named Downpipe – which recently moved from "small batch" production and into the firm's mainstream production line. A spokeswoman says the company had noticed customers were growing more adventurous in their colour choices, and seeking out dark colours – including deep, deep browns, greens and blues – in order to create "drama and intimacy".

At the very top end of design, Matthew Carlisle, creative director of Candy & Candy, says dark interiors are popular with male clients keen to make a statement.

"Some of our clients are wealthy bachelors and they want more masculine, powerful interiors," he says, "although, saying that, we have had some success with female customers. When you add light and sparkle – some beading and crystal and contrasting light trim it becomes very glamorous. People like the dark background with a shinier element."

Carlisle says the key to success is layering: black walls need artwork to add contrast. "Or you could put up a cabinet which gives an extra layer, plus the items in the cabinet add detail to that."

He advises steering clear of matt black in favour of more reflective surfaces, think polished plastered walls or lacquer paint effects. "Light bounces off it and you really notice the light on a dark surface," he says.

WC that's really a throne

2011-04-21T04:38:00.000-07:00

Think of it more as a throne than a lavatory.

Only then, perhaps, can the thought of spending almost £4,000 on the thing be justified. The American manufacturer Kohler has begun marketing its newly developed Numi, a lavatory costing $6,390 (£3,900). The company clearly feels there is a gap in the market for loos that do more than just flush, because for that sum buyers are treated to a heated seat, foot-warming hot air vents, a deodoriser, motion-activated seat and lid, illuminated side panels, a bidet and a bottom dryer.

Also included are a touch-screen computer panel and a built-in sound system with speakers playing either pre-programmed music or FM radio.

The company has not scrimped on its advertising budget either. Its website does everything possible to make the toilet look like a glamorous home accessory, depicting a stylish young couple posing with the loo, which is discreetly tucked into the corner of their modernist glass-walled Hollywood Hills penthouse. This is a lavatory, it suggests, good enough to deserve a place not just in the bathrooms of the rich and famous, but in their living rooms.

The Numi does have some competition. Even on eBay, customers can splash out on the Geberit AquaClean 8000plus Care Automatic, available for £2,699.99.

Although the Numi exceeds that figure by quite some distance, it remains a long way from being the most expensive lavatory in the world. That title belongs to the one produced by Hang Fung Gold Technology in Japan, which is made from 24-carat gold. Made at a time when gold was worth much less than today, its original value was $5m, but the spike in the metal's price means it is now worth approximately $37m.

The founder of Hang Fung, the Hong Kong jewellery entrepreneur Lam Sai-wing, originally said the toilet would be melted down when gold reached $1,000 an ounce. That occurred some time ago now – its price is currently $1,477 – but his affection for the glittering loo means that he can no longer contemplate destroying it.

"I don't care if gold hits $10,000 an ounce," Mr Lam said in 2008. "I'm not melting it down."

He held less of an attachment to the rest of the bathroom fittings, however – the golden sink that originally stood alongside the lavatory was sold off when the price of gold hit $800 an ounce.

The golden toilet's $37m tag dwarfs even the figure quoted for the convenience on board the International Space Station, which is able to recycle urine and turn it into drinking water but is worth a mere $19m. This was a considerable development from the previous system, which stored waste in tanks before launching them into space to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.

Jim Lewis, Kohler's vice-president of marketing, believes that there is no match for the Numi. "It's truly an innovative product that makes a bold design statement," he said. "We envisioned a toilet that creates a category in a calibre of its own. Numi packs technology into a compact toilet and is controlled by an advanced and intuitive interface. It's an astounding example of modern industrial design where form and function go hand in hand."

Trendy tea parties

2011-04-18T06:19:00.000-07:00

‘Without a doubt, there is a tea party trend at the moment,’ asserts award-winning homewares designer Ella Doran. ‘It’s been rumbling for some time and has now hit a prevalent moment what with the lead-up to 2012 and the Royal Wedding. Everything that is going on in England and London seems ripe for a tea party.’

Doran was so confident that tea parties were on the cusp of becoming big that she designed two new collections for Habitat. ‘Tea is definitely a trend right now but ‘the trick’ was to re-interpret the idea in a fresh, modern way for Spring/ Summer 2011,’ say Doran. To achieve this, she looked to her own vintage plates and her children’s colourful storybooks.

‘Inspired by my burgeoning collection of tea plates both from family heirlooms and charity shops, I wanted to create a collection that is playful and creative, and one that I hope inspires lots of tea parties and home baking,’ says Doran. Drawn to the interesting patterns and shapes, she has been collecting old plates for twenty years. The result is the Joanie collection for Habitat, named after her paternal grandmother and decorated with images of her vintage plates.

‘My grandmother, who is still very active at 93, inspires me with her stoic carry on attitude. To her, the simple rituals – one of them being tea and cake – are so special.’ Doran hopes to recreate this nostalgic sense of continuity through the Joanie range comprising mugs, aprons, cotton napkins and cushions. ‘Tea and cake with my granny is a kind of life-affirming event.’ Philippa Prinsloo, Senior Design Manager at Habitat said: ‘We were excited to see the Joanie design as it worked really well with the summer feeling we were hoping to evoke through out our collection. Ella's search for beautiful plates has been a passion for years and it’s a wonderful way to enjoy them.’?

Her second tea party collection Indian Tale is brighter and puerile, perhaps more Habitat in nature. It sold out much faster than anticipated. ‘Colourful books and stories from my childhood inspired this collection – the background tapestry also reminds me of my bedspread when I was young.’ She says of the tiger and bird themed melamine ware, ‘I wanted to create images that are bold and simple and imply a narrative for the child to interpret however they wish.’ The name Indian Tale is a pun on the story telling potential and the animal’s tails. ‘I’d like to think the designs encourage the child to think creatively and interpret a story.’

Collaborations such as this one with Habitat enable Doran – who has her own shop on Cheshire Street - to become a regular feature on the UK high street. Now a sought after designer, Doran has garnered numerous prestigious awards. A previous partnership with John Lewis resulted in her winning The Laurent Perrier Eureka 2006 award and being shortlisted for the Walpole Awards for Creative Talent in 2007. Last year, she won twice at the Grand Designs Award 2010, scooping Best Wallpaper/ Fabric and the Evening Standard Product of the Year award.

Time will tell whether her new tea party ranges bring in such success. ‘The tea trend has meant people like Emma Bridgewater are doing really well,’ observes Doran optimistically. ‘I ponder whether in a bigger way, we are getting more community based. Tea, coffee and the sense of bringing people together socially, rather than just for business, is growing. There is a real sense for nostalgia, things that hold memories or take us to a different place or time.’

What would Doran’s perfect tea party consist of? ‘Lemon polenta cake (using a recipe from Rose's Bakery book Breakfast, Lunch, Tea) and a no wheat chocolate cake.' And to drink? ‘A selection of teas; When I'm having cake, I rather like a Lapsang Suchong. Most importantly, all the tea must be served in proper teapots with strainers. No tea bags, thank you.'

DIY chic interior

2011-04-18T06:17:00.000-07:00

Chrissie Abbott is a freelance illustrator - as well as designing artwork for electro-pop star Little Boots, her images have enlivened the pages of The New York Times and Wallpaper magazine, been used in ad campaigns for Virgin, Orange and MTV, and adorned T-shirts for Urban Outfitters, Vans and Jaguar Shoes.

Her work often collages different images: vintage-feel snapshots of birds or teapots are twined together with psychedelic swirls, mushrooms and curling locks of hair. She’s also got a fondness for unusual typefaces, bright colours, and 1970s poster and sleeve art. This pick’n’mix work ethic can also be seen in her home, a Victorian semi-detached house in Hackney, which Abbott and her housemates enliven with retro trinkets.

“The house is divided into two flats, and there are four of us in mine, plus two friends upstairs,” says 27-year-old Abbott. “We’ve all got really similar tastes, and so everyone adds bits in. Everything is from charity shops, vintage shops – there’s nothing new and spangly! It just seems less sterile that way.”

As well as providing a certain DIY chic that you’d only expect of an artist’s shared house in East London, their thrifty ways also make a virtue of a necessity. As Abbott explains "it’s a bit of challenge to buy nice things for nothing.”

Many of her decorations also have a personal element to them. The throws she and her housemates chuck around to make the flat feel homely include a green tartan blanket that belonged to her granddad, while the cheesy drawing of Cliff Richard is an in-joke with her brother writ large. “When we were growing up, we had this postcard of Cliff Richard, and we’d hide it in weird places. It would crop up every few months – you’d find it in the fusebox, or the bathroom cupboard. We haven’t lived with each other for six years now, but Cliff has come back – my brother bought me that picture last Christmas.”

Many of Abbott’s illustrations feature animals, and it’s a fascination that’s reflected in her home, including the new cat-adorned crockery she’s made for Jaguar Shoes. “I do like using animals, it brings in a bit of personality, and Persian cats just look so ridiculous.” Abbott has no desire for a real pet however; sticking their furry faces on a plate is the closest she’ll get to having a cat in her home.

But she does have her collections of animal figurines. “I like collecting things, like my ceramic owls and horses. Me and my friend Fran used to buy each other owls all the time and then we’d paint them – and now other people get them for me too. I do like an owl.”

While the flat features a couple of pieces of her work – mostly to fill gaps, she insists with a hint of embarrassment – Abbott prefers to put up personal photos and old pictures. “It seems a bit weird, looking at my own stuff.”

Abbott does most of her work in her nearby studio, and says she likes to keep her work and home separate. “I used to work from home, and became a weird recluse – I would do my work from my bed and not go out, like some kind of social outcast!”

However, the working from bed hasn’t entirely ceased; Abbott explains she gets a lot of her ideas in the wee small hours: “I do do a lot of work on my laptop, so if I need to I can get up and do things at home in the middle of the night.” Under the watchful eyes of Sir Cliff and the owls, inspiration is surely never too far away?.

Milan’s Design Week

2011-04-18T06:14:00.000-07:00

Next week, the Italians will do what they do best. They will show us how they lead the design world as they transform Milan into a platform for innovative style. This time, furniture and not fashion will be taking centre stage. Milan’s Design Week – also known as The Salone Internazionale del Mobile (12-17 April) – is the largest international showcase for contemporary furniture. This year, the show celebrates its 50th birthday giving the organizers good reason to ramp up the events.

Recognized as the epicenter of the global design world, Milan’s annual show is becoming more and more popular. It allows people the chance to see, touch and try the best and newest products in the world of domestic furnishings. From beds to wardrobes and chairs, lighting and office furniture, the trendsetting designs of tomorrow will be there. Fifty years on and the spiraling numbers speak for themselves. In the Sixties, there were 328 exhibitors and 12,100 visitors over 11,000 square meters. At this year’s fair, the entire city surrenders itself to interior design. Last year, 2,500 companies exhibited, there were more than 250,000 visitors over a space of 200,000 square meters. Last year’s show created a boost of at least 7 million Euros to the area according to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

So what is there to see? In addition to product launches from international design legends like Tom Dixon, Philippe Starck and Arik Levy, there will be a great many special events to celebrate the show’s milestone 50th birthday. Moooi will officially unveil a Gothic Chair by Studio Job (pictured) using brightly coloured plastic replacing the traditional solid wood of medieval chairs while French designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec will present the Baguette chair for Magis.

This year’s show is ironically named ‘Fifty Years Young’, a tongue-in-cheek reference to its youthful and lively spirit. The iSalone encompasses the International Furniture Fair, the International Furnishing Accessories Exhibition, the Biennial Workspace Exhibition and Salone Satellite. Elsewhere there are hundreds of independent initiatives making up the Fringe 2011.

Among the attractions will be The Arbour, a magical forest created with sound and light at the Piazza San Fedele; listen out for the birdsong music. Milan's design week has long focused on the balance between tradition and innovation. One such exhibition is Unexpected Guests: Yesterday's Homes, Today's Design hosted by Milan’s Culture Council and four historic house museums. To show how old mixes with new, contemporary furniture and accessories will reside in classical settings. For example, a Maarten Baas Smoke Chair can be found in the Stucco Room of Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli’s 1881 house.

In a bid to commemorate the fifty years since the first fair, product designer Alberto Alessi has curated a retrospective exhibition of post-war Italian design called Dream Factories at Milan’s design museum, Triennale. Significant pieces from Italy’s design history will be intertwined with dream-like imagery from various artists including Lewis Carroll and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Meanwhile, over at Piazza Duomo, Denis Santachiara has designed an eight-room installation that highlights ‘creative potential channeled through scientific principles.’ In the city centre, a special pavilion beside a Gothic cathedral will play host to a show called Principia – Forward Arts (12 April – 1 May). It promises to showcase modern design, art, architecture, music and fashion. Elsewhere, the industrial area of Zons Tortona in the south-west of Milan is worth a visit because the sheer space of old warehouses and workshops allows the established names to experiment. Here, the high end Italian furniture maker Capellini will unveil the ‘design village’ and launch the much-hyped Tron armchair.

Particular hype again goes to the vast Euroluce biennial lighting show, now in its 26th year, with 450 exhibitors. Hosted in the Milan Fairgrounds in Rho, the exhibition covers everything from outdoor, indoor and industrial lighting to equipment for entertainment and the latest lighting innovations. British designer Tom Dixon will be launching a new energy-saving light bulb which is a lowly CFL brightened by an 8.5 inch mirrored glass reflector. Dixon will also unveil a live interactive Milan design news service through the new Blackberry Playbook bringing the fair into new technologies.

In an effort to prove that Milan Design Week is all about the future, it has gone digital. Organisers Comit have launched its first I Saloni smartphone app showing visitors everything from traffic information to virtual tours. Bravo Milano.

Milan Furniture Fair turns 50

2011-04-08T03:55:00.000-07:00

I'd rather talk about food than chairs," says the British designer Tom Dixon, sitting in his Ladbroke Grove studio a couple of weeks before he sets off to the Milan Furniture Fair, the world's biggest design event, which runs from 12 to 17 April. This is partly because he opened his own London restaurant, The Dock Kitchen, to the public last September (meaning his studio next door benefits from the most stylish works canteen in town). But also because he is taking a temporary version of it to Italy in a fortnight. "I want to make the set-up more active than your usual furniture exhibition. And to underline the fact that we're showing real stuff, that this furniture works."

Taking food to the Italians might seem a bit of a coals-to-Newcastle type of mission. But Dixon knows what he's doing. The 50-year-old has been showing his work in Milan every April for seven years and has seen the Furniture Fair grow to an event of enormous proportions. His pop-up restaurant, currently code-named Earnest and with London's latest culinary wunderkind, Stevie Parle, at its helm, should certainly get him noticed. Once lured in by the fine vegetarian fare, visitors won't be able to avoid his new cast iron-legged chairs (called Cast) or his new tables (Roll) – they'll be sitting on and at them. "It's the direct benefit of owning a restaurant," says Dixon. "The chair developed because I saw how many hard knocks a restaurant chair takes. And the table has a wheel built into it, so it's really easy to move around."

This year, as the fair celebrates its 50th year, the competition for attention is going to be fiercer than ever. When the event started in 1961, it was a local affair for local people – the whole of the Italian furniture industry is based in the north of Italy. By 1968, it had gone international. Now the fair itself, which takes place in a vast sequence of purpose-built exhibition halls to the north-west of the city, covers 1.5 million square feet, hosts around 1,300 exhibitors and attracts more than 300,000 visitors, with 6,000 or so journalists among them. Elsewhere in the city are hundreds of further shows (including Dixon's). And although you'd be surprised by how many of those 1,300 at the main fair are hawking the sort of bow-fronted wardrobes, elaborately decorated sleigh beds and onyx-topped tables that one would deem deeply out of fashion (but that clearly still have a thriving market somewhere), this is the place to see the very latest trends by the very hottest designers.

"Everything reached the height of flashiness a few years ago," says Sean Sutcliffe, the co-founder, with Sir Terence Conran, of the British furniture company Benchmark. "It was all shiny lacquer finishes, strong colours and huge sofas. We stopped seeing that a couple of years ago. Matt finishes and muted tones are back in. Wood is popular. Pieces are generally slimmer. Austerity is too strong a word, but design is definitely looking more discreet."

In the last few years, lighting has definitely been the thing to watch – totally transformed by the disappearance of the incandescent light bulb and its replacement by innovative LEDs. Even Anglepoise, the stalwart British company famous for its no-nonsense task lights, is joining in this year with a new model by the veteran designer Kenneth Grange. The Anglepoise Type C LED with its spindly stainless steel structure has a 1980s feel, but its technology – the state-of-the-art Cree LED – is far from retro. At the Italian lighting specialists Flos, the celebrated pearl-wearing Dutch designer Marcel Wanders has taken a very different approach, with a towering floorlamp called Chrysalis that he describes as "a magic vase [...] an evergreen flower fountain". It's a glowing polycarbonate chrysalis that is as far from Grange's pragmatism as you can imagine – lighting as objet for a well-appointed home. But expect to see something similar in Ikea sometime next year: where Wanders goes, others tend to follow.

Milan can also be the launch pad for young talent, and two young English designers are set for maximum exposure. The 26-year old Benjamin Hubert, who works a 12-hour day in his Highbury studio, is bringing 12 new products, from a lamp that looks like a car headlight for the Swedish company Orsjo to a laptop bag for the Italian company Nava that can expand into a holdall. Bethan Wood, a 27-year old graduate of the Royal College of Art, is showing a series of tables in Nilufar, one of Milan's most prestigious design galleries. Wood, despite her name, works with laminates, cut into minute pieces which are then inlaid like traditional marquetry to form patterns that look like candy-coloured agate. The timing couldn't be better. In September this year, a big retrospective of the Postmodernism movement (in which surface decoration, especially created with highly decorative laminates, figured large) will open at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Wood's work is a clever contemporary update of this movement, proving that pattern, properly applied, will always have a place.

If Wood is working at the exclusive end of the design market (her pieces are limited edition, meaning there will only be around eight of each one), even the classy, contemporary British producer Established and Sons has decided to limit its launches for 2011. Its director, Sebastian Wrong, says: "We've put our time and energy into creating fewer things, but [ones] that are completely resolved. This isn't the moment to show off, but to be realistic." Among his launches are the Soft Rocker chair by the design duo Committee – a big, squashy armchair with a rocking mechanism that's about all-embracing comfort for hard times.

Benchmark, on the other hand, though now 25 years old, is taking its wares to Milan for the first time. "It's long overdue," says Sean Sutcliffe. "For years London was enough, and we were just too busy to consider other markets. But now times are tighter at home, we need to lift our eyes to other horizons, and Milan's the place to do that." In line with his observations about quieter design, Sutcliffe will be showing new pieces that include the cute little Puck table – a circular side table by the young Norwegian Simen Aarseth – and a simple oak bench and console by Russel Pinch that are exercises in pure discretion.

Buyers, trend forecasters, students and journalists from all over the world will be flocking to Milan next week. If the product is right, the customers will be there. So what if London is in the doldrums and Portugal on the edge of a bailout? Latin American is vibrant, Asia is opening up to design and the Russians are among the newer consumers thronging the halls and cutting the deals. "Brazil is where it's happening for us," says Sebastian Wrong of the new markets. "You used to be suspicious of people from China with cameras," laughs Dixon, recalling a time when the Chinese would come looking for ideas to be recreated back home. "But now they're likely to be your best buyers."

The Chicken Brick

2011-04-08T03:50:00.000-07:00

They can be found in many kitchens up and down the land. Most of them are probably lying forgotten at the back of hardly opened cupboards. A few are proudly out on the work top – filled with paper clips and rubber bands and that bit of Blu-Tack that you thought might be useful one day.
Rarely, it seems, is the chicken brick used for its original purpose. But hold on. Habitat, which discontinued the chicken brick in 2008, has apparently realised its mistake and reintroduced it "due to popular demand". Colin Rose, who runs Weston Mill Pottery says it's his most popular product after the wine rack. So clearly some people somewhere are using theirs.

"I have never ever met anyone who has anything bad to say about a chicken brick once they have used one," Colin says. "They probably had their heyday in the 1970s and we supplied them to Habitat until the early 1990s when demand seemed to wane. But they're back now and we sell loads of them."
The origin of the actual chicken brick is unclear, although terracotta pots have been used for cooking since before Roman times.

It was introduced to Britain in 1964 by Sir Terence Conran, who was also responsible for the duvet, the wok and the paper lantern, as he searched the world for products for his trendy new store on the Kings Road. It was immediately popular as a wedding gift.
So just what is so great about this pot then? Well, for the health fanatics among you, the first point is that you don't need to add any fat to the bird. A chicken brick acts like a mini-oven and will steam cook the food in its own moisture. The terracotta stores, then distributes the heat without causing the fat to burn while the dry walls mean that the meat browns as it would in a normal oven.

Rose says: "We advise that you soak the brick first but it doesn't really matter if you don't. You do need to put it into a cold oven though so the cooking time is longer than in the traditional way.
"The meat is just so succulent and moist and the skin will be crispy. The other good point is that if you are late, you can just leave it in the oven and it won't dry out."

As the brick ages it will absorb the flavours and turn darker in colour, which is totally normal. But for the same reason, you should never wash it in detergent and don't use it for fish or curries.
So go on, fetch it out of the cupboard, find a new home for the paper clips – let's face it, you don't use that juicer – and try the brick for your chick.

Lighting

2011-04-01T08:53:00.001-07:00

Nosing at other people's homes from the top of the bus after dark, I always marvel at so many rooms robbed of atmosphere by dependence on stark central ceiling lights. A lamp or two is a start – but what else can you do with lighting to transform a space?

Three's the magic number

Create three layers of light – base (main lighting source), middle (lamps/mood lighting) and high (task; say for cooking/reading) advises interiors expert Cassandra Ellis. She also swears by dimmer switches.

On the wire

"Forget burying cables into ceilings to move an overhead light," says Stanley Wilson, founder of historiclighting.co.uk. "Use a coloured fabric cable and simply loop over a hook in the new position." Find antique hooks and textile wiring on his site.

How do you feel?

"If in doubt," says Lucy Martin in The Lighting Bible (Apple Press, £12.99), "think about how you want people to feel in a room." A living-room lamp, for example, can make you feel cosy, while bright kitchen lighting stimulates.

It's dark out

"Outside, differentiate," says Peter Bowles of Davey Lighting. "Use spots to highlight architectural detail or trees, bracket lights for eating areas, and lines of recessed step lights on lawns and decking to create the illusion of space."

To the max

"Where natural light is scarce," says Emily Chalmers in Modern Vintage Style (Ryland Peters & Small, £19.99), "a wall of mirrors – mis-matching shapes and eras – harnesses what you have."

Light your fire

A clever friend draped a live bulb over the back of a glass bowl in her fireplace, then piled (dead) clear bulbs on top so the light glowed through. Simple but striking.

Candles

2011-03-28T02:22:00.000-07:00

Nothing says "I love you" like flowers. But nothing says "romantic" like candles. In the finest restaurants and hotels, at the smartest weddings – wherever, in fact, you wish to create an atmosphere conducive to gazing into the eyes of someone special – stick a few tea-lights in holders and voilà, the flicker of the flame a shorthand for instant intimacy.

Which is weird, because the history of wax-based lighting is littered with people who merely needed something to help them see once the sun had gone down. Some of our wiser ancestors even devised ways of telling the time by observing how the wax burned. Never mind such practicalities, though. Over the centuries, the candle found its way into the holy realm from festivals of light to flames of remembrance and, somewhere along the way, acquired an air of mysticism.

And that was before they made the things smell like those dried piles of pot pourri that were rapidly collecting dust on our coffee-tables. Now we are to believe that if we fill our houses with candles made with the careful addition of aromatherapy oils, our homes and our health will benefit. Cinnamon, apparently, eases the symptoms of colds and flu; lavender relieves stress; ylang ylang settles nervous problems; patchouli soothes the spirit. And so on.

Something to soothe the spirit is needed if you are still attempting to live the kind of lifestyle prescribed by a certain type of glossy magazine. If these are to be believed, the only candles worth buying are those that come in little glass tumblers and cost the best part of a day's salary for those on the minimum wage. You know the ones. They do look and smell delightful. They do last longer than the ones you buy for a quid or two in Ikea. And they do tell the world that you are the kind of person with money to burn.

In fact, such candles are fast becoming a sort of Glade air freshener for the footballers' wife classes. Someone should tell them about the Ultimate Luxury Candle, which smells of champagne, is encrusted with diamonds and costs $5,000. Or you could just install a dimmer switch.

Neutrals be damned

2011-03-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

But how do you dust it?" That's the question every woman who comes in here always asks," says John Brinklow, laughing. "Men, they just, well, they accept it."

A decorative artist, Brinklow lives with his wife, Sarah Skelton, a garment technologist at Karen Millen, in a stylish, four-bedroomed Victorian terrace in south London awash with colour – inspired partly by Skelton's love of India – and unusual painted details, thanks to Brinklow's skills.

But, right now, in what used to be a guest-room, you wouldn't know it. In the corner by the door there are glimpses of the terracotta tones in which the room was once painted ("It was rather nice – like a Paul Klee painting," Brinklow reminisces). Now the walls are roughly covered in coarse black emulsion, and there are light-blocking blinds at the window. Which is a shame, as the room has a sweet little balcony now obscured from view. Yet it is Brinklow's favourite place in the house, and the transformation is strangely compelling, as the entire space is filled with more than £10,000 worth of the ultimate boy-toy – albeit with a bit of a twist: a fully functioning miniature German city.

"Sarah calls it 'Johnnyville'," he says, diving enthusiastically underneath the MDF stage upon which his 1:87-scale empire sits, to turn on a set of tiny fairground lights and a working merry-go-round (sadly the drive-in cinema – with portable DVD player for a screen – is not working). Trains and cars run along tracks between pretty 19th-century townhouses, there are fireworks made from fibre optics, there's a zoo, and a street-festival scene complete with tiny revellers in folded paper headdresses made by Brinklow. The "city" is home to 3,500 architects' figures (and there will be 20,000-odd more when the football stadium he's building is installed). Naturally, there's also a rocket launcher with matching German rocket. ("Why not?" he reasons, "it's not a real city.")

It is extraordinary, and so incongruous that it is hard to see how it fits within a house that is otherwise so well put together – by two people with great taste (though, not very surprisingly, Brinklow says, Skelton "hates" his special room).

"I think what it comes down to is the intricacy," he continues. "I'm not naturally a patient person but I do it for the discipline." Which is interesting, given that his career as a decorative artist largely involves painting highly detailed trompe l'oeil scenes on to walls, floors and ceilings.

In the hallway, there is a prime example of Brinklow's talent, if not temperamental leaning, for painstaking work. On its high moulded ceiling, designed to reflect the original Victorian encaustic tiles on the floor, is what looks like a complex mosaic made from tiny tiles in blues, reds and golds. In fact, it is one of Brinklow's paintings – which he did on a large piece of stretched canvas, before stapling it into the plaster. "It's a bit wonky," he says. "The house is old and on a crescent, so nothing's square."

The fan-light above the front door is also one of his designs. Look closely and you can see the couple's initials – though the effect is subtle. "It's a bit runic," he explains. "We did think that if we ever sell the place, you can't really have your initials above the door, can you?"

The house is refreshingly unaffected by passing trends – it was last painted more than a decade ago, bypassing the period's obsession with minimalist white and slick Scandinavian furniture. Now the style magazines are back in love with colour, and the house's fashionability has come full circle. Though Brinklow is cheerfully oblivious: "I never realise I'm part of a trend, even when I am."

As such, the atmosphere is relaxed and bright, with Skelton's office a good showcase for their typical palette. It's easy to think that white, or pale colours are what make a room bright – but even on a dull day, the room's Indian spice-stall colours bring sunshine.

Pistachio shelves set against walls the colour of smoked paprika, with a flash of turmeric yellow above the picture rail are packed with colourful goodies – mainly gathered by Skelton from Indian street markets during her previous job, working for Monsoon. There are funny-faced puppets – decorations for Diwali – Jaipur woodblocks, hand-painted papier mâché pots and spice tins, as well as an ancient trinket box passed down from her great-great grandmother, and some vintage sewing boxes picked up in junk shops.

Hanging on the adjacent wall is a colourful painting of blonde, red-lipsticked girls in polka-dot bikinis, almost bursting out of their red frame. "'Girls on Blackpool Beach'," says Brinklow. "One of Sarah's – she had it hidden in her college folder and I took it out and said, 'We're framing that – it's beautiful.' Sometimes I can feel a bit restricted and tight when I paint, focusing on tiny, precise details, whereas Sarah just gets on and does it. I love that.

"Every room in this house tells a story," he adds. And Brinklow has a few good stories of his own. Like the ones about how his career began. His final show at the Royal College, where he did his MA in the 1980s, featured a lavishly painted wardrobe decorated to look like Napoleon's torso, while inside, the trompe l'oeil effect imagined Josephine's boudoir. "The show was two weeks of worry, as I didn't know what I was going to do when I left," he says.

On the final day, Bob Geldof walked in and he and Paula Yates bought the wardrobe. "A few weeks later, he called and asked: 'Do you do murals?' 'Yes!' I said, not having ever done one."

The next thing Brinklow knew, he was at the couple's house in Faversham painting theatrical Romanesque columns on to the dining-room walls and a mad-looking Planetarium-style astro-themed ceiling in the library. "The whole house was cranked up to number 11." He says he was paid "diddly-squat" but the timing was right: it was the year of Live Aid and Geldof was about to become a ubiquitous media personality. "So suddenly I was flavour of the month." Brinklow was commissioned to decorate the homes of many of the 1980s and 1990s glitterati, including Annie Lennox, Gary Kemp and Dave Stewart. "It was terrifying. I was fresh out of college with an open brief and practically limitless budget. It all came too soon, really."

Nevertheless, he pulled it off, and remained the celebrity muralist of choice through the 1990s with jobs, among others, including the children's rooms at the home of then-couple Jude Law and Sadie Frost. Then the enemy arrived – in the form of the television programme Changing Rooms and its flamboyant presenter Laurence Llewelyn Bowen: "Everything was to excess; rag-rolling, sponging and paint effects generally – but with Changing Rooms it developed this real naff tag, and I suffered for that."

But in recent years, Brinklow's art has had a renaissance: "In this digital age, everything is so slick that there is a renewed interest in hand-done things." Though he is bemused at how out of touch we've become with old-fashioned techniques. "People come up to me in the street when I'm painting outside and ask: "Do you actually do that by hand?"

Surprisingly, he puts part of his return to vogue down to Banksy and other street artists who create, like Brinklow, large-scale, realist artworks. Though, as you may expect, Brinklow is happier about being busy than being fashionable.

The Tolix Chair

2011-03-22T06:01:00.000-07:00

Xavier Pauchard was born in 1880 in Le Morvan, known as the green heart of France. Unsurprisingly wood was the most important construction material but despite that, he and his father and grandfather before him were zinc roofers.
In 1907, Pauchard discovered that he could protect sheet metal from rusting by dipping it in molten zinc, or galvanising it. Ten years later, he set up a factory making steel household items and eventually registered his trademark symbol as Tolix, by which name the company is still known.

That classic chair, a favourite of cafés and retro kitchens all over the world, was designed in 1934. It was meant to be outside in all weathers, which is why there are holes in the seats – to allow the rain to drain off. But café owners were quick to complain that the chairs wouldn't stack properly and Pauchard had to tweak his design. By 1956, the classic Tolix was finally created. With its slimmer frame, you could now stack 25 chairs to a height of 2.3 metres.

They were immediately popular, not just in cafés, where right up until the 1970s they were often given out by breweries in return for the owner stocking their brand, but also in factories, offices and hospitals.

By the end of the 1950s, the factory had about 80 workers and produced some 60,000 units annually. The company remained in the family until 2004. Now, the chair is part of the collections of the MoMA in New York, the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Vitra design collection in Weil am Rhein in Germany.

You can buy them new from the Conran shop for £195 or you can hunt about for a vintage one and prices will vary. The modern ones come in around 50 colours, while the vintage are more classically red or their natural steel colour.
Sir Terence Conran is one of several influential fans of this simple-looking chair, which, nevertheless, takes around 100 manual operations to create. "Over the years, this chair has come to symbolise what I like to term democratic excellence, meaning that it's mass-produced and universally acceptable," he says.

And just as the Panton S chair was famously featured on the cover of Vogue magazine (with Kate Moss wrapped around it, admittedly. Oh, and she was naked), so the Tolix has just reached the dizzy heights of fame featuring in Agent Provocateur's spring-summer 2011 campaign, though it's just possible that some of you might not be looking at the chair.

The New DIY Boom

2011-03-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

Our love affair with craft started small. Around five years ago, there was the new wave of knitting, with Stitch '* Bitch, the hip, underground needle-clicking movement that inspired many similar groups. Then the Women's Institute got an edgy makeover (see east London's cool Shoreditch Sisters for evidence) and lots of us got excited about making jam, or embroidering things. Hen parties stopped being about stripograms, and began happening at "make your own fascinator" workshops. There are sewing cafés (where tea and cake comes with a Singer for hire), even "guerrilla" craft nights in pubs. And to help it all along: the recession, reviving a "make do and mend" mentality (and a staggering rise in British sales of sewing machines to match – in 2009, we bought up to 500 per cent more than ever before).

However, much of all this craft-mania has been focused on fashion – crocheting hats, revamping vintage dresses, darning socks – but now the trend is hitting the world of interiors.
"Before the recession, the interior-design industry was at its peak and people had cash to spend on designer products," says Claire Heafford, co-proprietor, with business partner Louise Hall, of the Papered Parlour, which started hosting craft classes in south London in May 2009. "We never set out to offer interiors-themed craft workshops," she continues, "but since we began our make-your-own-wallpaper classes in September, demand has outstripped supply and we saw there was a real market for people wanting to make things for the home."

Economics are an obvious driver: the Papered Parlour's screen-printing tutor is the acclaimed designer Lizzie Allen, whose own wallpapers can sell for £350 per roll. This way, you get her expertise, and take home your own roll for a fraction of the cost. And if the striking black-on-lining-paper DIY version on one wall of the Parlour's studio is anything to go by, the end product looks anything but amateur.

They also run contemporary quilting classes taught by Cassandra Ellis, one of the country's best-known quilters. "We encourage people to bring fabric that has a sentimental value – by making something with your hands, you're really connecting with your heritage and will also have something to pass on."

More homesy topics are in the pipeline and Heafford and Hall have been approached by a publisher and a television commissioning agent; "There's a real demand for 'a new Kirstie Allsopp'," Heafford says. "With the popularity of Kirstie's Homemade Home I think people have realised what a huge appetite there is for craft."

Ah yes, the Allsopp factor. The mainstreaming of interiors crafts really hit the big time with the arrival of the television presenter's Channel 4 show last year. In case you missed it, the show focused on Allsopp, previously associated with buying and selling other people's houses, and the craft-heavy transformation of her own country pad.
"Putting craft on TV has definitely helped to raise awareness," says Angie Boyer, editor and director at craft&design magazine, which is launching the first ever Craft and Design Month in May. "People start to see how they can make their homes lovely by creating things no one else has got, something personal and unique to them." Accordingly, hits on her magazine's "courses" pages have risen, she says, by 20 per cent in the past few months.

"We all look longingly at the glossy interiors magazines and would probably love a bigger or more stylish space. But that's not necessarily attainable," says Jennifer Pirtle of The Make Lounge, a venue and shop that has been offering contemporary craft workshops since 2007. "Current property values have had a big impact – but you can still change or brighten up your home without buying expensive stuff or moving," she says. Pirtle recently added four lampshade-making sessions to the Make Lounge repertoire. "They all sold out within six minutes of appearing on the website," she says.

Even designer-rich Elle Decor ran a big feature on "upcycling" a few issues back (revamping old furniture, essentially). Not only has the recession got many of us appreciating the simpler things in life, there's also a broader backdrop of valuing provenance and rejecting mindless consumerism – whether it's Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's horror at the fishing industry, fashion-chain sweatshop exposés or the popularity of growing your own vegetables.
Zoe Hamilton-Peters, who just over a year ago co-launched Crafty Bitches, which specialises in recycling in its creations, and offers workshops in south-east London, agrees. The whole ethos behind her organisation is "to stop people throwing more stuff into landfill," she says. "It's all to do with recycling and reinvigoration. Also, you can create something beautiful and quirky and not just be part of the homogeneous high street – instead you can fill your home with history and stories behind the objects in it."

Craft is booming online, too. Etsy, the biggest marketplace for entrepreneurial crafters, now has 7.2 million members and has seen its total sales jump from $166,000·(around £100,000) in 2005 to $314.3 million (around £195m) last year. In its "homewares" section, there are more than 300,000 items (which, when you consider there are just 400,000 registered sellers among the members, suggests quite a high percentage). And in blogworld, one of the most popular interiors and design sites, Design*Sponge, (220,000-plus Twitter followers) has a heavy emphasis on achievable make-it-yourself projects and features one a week, from shell chandeliers and embroidered napkins to jewellery hangers made of cotton reels.

It all sounds quite girlie – but those who run workshops say that, especially lately, more men are keen. Jo Thorpe teaches a monthly mosaic-making class from her home in London, and recalls the woman who brought her husband, who "loved it – and turned out to be better than his wife". Many come "unashamedly" with specific projects – decorative insets for the patio, a panel for a wall, a piece of furniture to clad. "The great thing," Thorpe says, "is that most people can make great mosaics – you don't need to be a great draughtsman or be able to draw very well. It's time-consuming but people love the pace. We all lead such busy lives these days and many say they find it therapeutic and calming."

Holly Atkins, an actress in her thirties, discovered the joy of making things for the home a couple of years ago. "I've always loved decorating, but never used to think I had skills beyond that – until I got a lot poorer very quickly two years ago and started looking at things in shops in a manner reminiscent of my grandparents. As in, 'That's a beautiful cushion/curtain/doorstop/ light – but it's HOW MUCH? It can't even be that hard to make.'"

At that point, she didn't even have a sewing machine, but got talking to a friend who'd been having similar thoughts. "Christmas was looming," she continues, "and we both had a lot of presents to find but not much cash so we decided to do a weekly 'Kraftnite'. Doing it together kept us focused – and my friend also taught me how to use a sewing machine.

"Now, it is ridiculously exciting going into posh interiors shops and seeing a cushion for 60 quid, then planning how I can make something just as cool for a tenner. However often I walk into a room and see something I've made in it," she concludes, "it never fails to make me feel a little warm burst of pride."

Trend Forecaster

2011-03-22T05:59:00.000-07:00

‘Trend forecasting is very important,’ says Susan Llewellyn, veteran of the interiors industry. ‘If people are spending money on an interior designer, they want to know that the creative schemes will last and won’t quickly date. It’s not a very good advertisement if something looks 2000 and it’s the year 2011. Designs need longevity.’
Llewellyn, who hosts workshops on trend forecasting and the psychology of design at the Susan Llewellyn Academy, was speaking on the subject at the Ideal Home Show. What prompts a trend forecaster to predict tomorrow's beige? The national mood, economic state and high profile issues all play their part. ‘I’ve taken nature as part of my trend forecasting. To me, one of the most important things to look around is the natural world and the natural colours. We’ve exploited our world for so long and people now want ecological friendly designs. We need to give back to our earth that has done us so proud for so many millenniums.'
How will this preoccupation with our earth affect what is in our own homes? Natural materials like concrete, different textures like linens and khaki colours will stand the test of time. ‘Instead of a completely smooth surface, there should be a slight roughness about it.' According to Llewellyn, bathrooms with cement walls and floors will continue to be popular for a long time. 'They have an ecological sustainability about them. A harsh background softened by angora throws, lush bath mats and scented candles is the sort of feeling that will stay around for a while.'

Future trends are a judgement of society, of its financial situation as much as its catwalks. The current resurgence in curtains, Llewellyn explains, is a post credit crunch desire for indulgence. Skirt hemlines may fall lower during hard times but the opposite happens to curtains. 'I think people are going to use curtains more and more again. During a recession, curtains go out because, due to the amount of fabric needed, they’re not cheap to make. I believe that there is now more hope and optimism. People are going to want to go back to glamour, and as a result, buy curtains.'

Earthy colours like blues and yellows are, according to Llewellyn, the ones to choose for a lasting interior. 'There are several schools of thought,' says Llewellyn. 'Many people are now thinking minimalism is a little boring and not exciting enough.' It all comes back to the world around us; 'Our earth is very dry. Water is now a commodity because it is very scarce. Blues have become very important to us now because of its rarity.' Llewellyn, who describes herself as a 'colour purist', advises choosing indigo blues, like lapis lazuli, which will remain on trend for years to come. 'If you have a bland room, have the courage to introduce luminosity with an indigo blue, purple or bright mandarin orange. Take it further than just cushions, go bigger. Upholster a chair in a strong colour.'

Llewellyn's colour schemes for the next decade are not for the faint-hearted; 'Purple has started to be popular and will continue to be so. Pink is still very much in existence but if we’re predicting forward, I’d say yellow is the new pink. A lot of people don’t like yellow but the right tone can be very inspiring and invigorating. I’ve used E&O mandarin yellow for curtains trimmed with jet black for a client’s drawing room. It’s very dramatic; I really like it.'
As for lighting, Llewellyn envisages a future of chandeliers and crystal decorations. 'No matter how humble your bedsit or terraced house, crystals make you feel good about yourself. The main thing now is that people want to be uplifted in their homes. When they get back from work, they want to feel glamorous. There is nothing more beautiful than a crystal trim on a curtain. When the sun shines through, it creates a prism which dances on the floor or the walls giving a very spiritual and uplifting feeling.'