Non. Je ne regette rien

After spending a few hours sat in a beautiful sunny garden perusing the internet I stumbled across Sarah & Bendrix & this gorgeous gold foil Edith Piaf print.

I definitely think this could be one to add to my ever growing collection - although it's occurred to me that perhaps I should get some of my previously purchased prints framed before I start buying more! 

There are a number of other gorgeous items available on the site, & after a quick flick through their blog I think I will be sat in the garden for a few hours longer than I intended! 

Kristjana S. Williams

I spotted this print in the Evening Standard on the way home from work & it instantly made me think of the Chloe Croft cushion I blogged about here and bought from here the other week. I love graphic style and the vibrant colours ... and of course the fact that it's basically 4 brightly CMYK coloured flamingos, whats not to love?!

This particular print is part of her exclusive new collection for London Design Festival 2012 which features a variety of shockingly bright exotic birds. Inspired by nature, the tapestry rooms in the V&A and Victorian Engravings, Kristjana is well known for her large scale "brilliant and daring Victorian engraving mash-ups" which interweave Victorian inspired engravings with contemporary illustration & colour.

I think they're mega beautiful! They're available to buy at Outline Editions from £95-£530 & she'll be featuring at Designjunction from 20-23rd September for London Design Festival. It seems everything I'd LOVE to go to in London is happening on that one weekend when of course, i'll be out of the country (check out the cake and bake show, literally breaking my heart to miss this!) I may have to send someone in my place!

Rob Ryan

On my little jaunt to Columbia Road a few weeks ago I visited Rob Ryan's studio Ryantown. I've had a slight fixation with his quirky cut out designs for a while now & visiting his cute little East End shop/studio was a right treat.

You'll no doubt have come across something by Rob Ryan, his designs seem to be popping up everywhere, in particular I keep walking into shops to be greeted by his kitchenware, mugs/plates etc.

Rob Ryan's lovely plates - set of 4 for £26.99... BARGAIN!

His whimsical illustrations usually come along side cute little quotes or poems that just make you go all warm & fuzzy inside. My fave of his laser cut artworks is his "Can we? Shall we?" design -

 

Isn't it adorable? I would very much like to have one of these hanging on my wall encouraging me to run away for a day of fun. You can pick up his limited edition laser cuts on his Etsy shop from about £80 (prices go up quite considerably though, depending on the edition size!)

I myself, decided to purchase a Rob Ryan vase whilst out on our day of fun, to house my beautiful Columbia Road peonies :) isn't it gorgeous!

Blanca Gomez super cute prints

I discovered Blanca Gomez whilst browsing through Elphicks on Columbia Road last weekend & instantly fell in love. They're just so cute! I love the playful illustrative style & the use of colour, don't they totally make you smile?

You can purchase prints from her Etsy shop, although she's disappeared until the end of June I discovered today when I went to buy some!


These are a few of my favourites:

This is my absolute favourite.
Love it!

Sunday morning on Columbia Road

I had the loveliest day with the Boyfriend this weekend. We don't get many days just me & him so when the opportunity arises we try & run away for the day and do lovely things.

This Sunday we popped into London bright and early to visit Columbia Road, i've wanted to go for ages & it didn't disappoint. It is one of the few streets in London thats made up solely of independent shops, cafe's & galleries & on a Sunday morning it is transformed into a sea of flowers & foliage as the Columbia Road flower market takes over.

It's definitely the place to go to get a taste of real old East London as you wander around to the tune of dozens of London accents calling out "3 for a fiver!" (that or... "My wife's expecting a take away & a bottle of Pinot Noir tonight, if you don't stop taking photos & start buying something it'll be a tin of beans & an appletiser!" HA! he was deff my favourite) The flowers are stunning & such better quality and price than anything you'll find in Asda on a Sunday morning, you can pick up anything from flowering cacti (which I had actually bought in Asda the night before - sans flowers & regretted instantly!), herb plants & bulbs to huge bunches of cut flowers.

The boyfriend bought me the
loveliest bunch of Peonies :) 

After we'd finished strolling up & down the market we squeezed
our way behind the stalls to pop into a few of the shops, where it
took all my mortal strength to stop myself spending a total fortune!
The galleries were my favourite & I've fallen in love with so many things, in particular some prints by Blanca Gomez that I found in Elphicks (cute little gallery), I love them so much that they will be getting their very own post. There are a tonne of little quirky vintage shops as well, full of gorgeous tea sets, glass wear & paintings, one of them - Vintage Heaven, had a teeny little cafe set in the back of it thats
meant to be really nice, deff going to have to go back & try it out.




As if the flowers, the shops and the galleries weren't enough, a bunch of buskers turned up & started entertaining the crowds (they were really good!) which totally topped off the whole atmosphere. It was just the loveliest way to spend the morning!

<3

Emma Cowlam Illustrations

Last night I came across Emma Cowlam who does hand drawn and hand stitched illustrations. They're super cool, especially the stitched ones... so clever! You can get them commissioned as well which I think would be a beautiful gift for someone.

Hand drawn illustrations

Hand stitched illustration

My fave is the girl & the boy on the bike. How cute? 

Pretty Prints

A lot of you probably have the same problem as me, you settle down to read a blog, and 3 hours later you find yourself somewhere completely unrelated after a chain of link clicking. This has taken me to some weird and wonderful places and has also left me with a wish list of about a gazillion things that I want to buy some day.

One thing i'm sure of is when I FINALLY have my own home, I want it's walls to be filled with lots of lovely artwork and prints, and my wish list is ever growing.

Here's but a few of my favourites:

London Map Print - Famille Summerbelle 

I love this London map print by Famille Summerbelle with its cute little illustrations, It comes in 3 different colours and can also be bought as a laser cut piece which is amazing but about 3x the price! 

Birds of sadness - Studio On Fire

This is a print by US based letterpress print firm - Studio on fire. I bought a book of theirs a few years ago and it's FULL of beautiful designs. I'm not really sure what it is about this poster but I just kept getting drawn back to it. The quote is a Chinese proverb that reads "You cannot prevent the birds of sadness from passing over your head, but you can prevent their making a nest in your hair" Deep huh?!

Peter Pan - Spineless Classics

I'm a huge fan of the Spineless Classics posters. They take a classic book (Peter Pan's my fave) and create beautifully designed typographic posters which feature the WHOLE book. Every last word. Amazing no?

Manners Maketh Man - Chase and Wonder

This cute little monkey print is by design group Chase & Wonder. They create prints, greetings cards and accessories all featuring beautiful illustrative designs. I like to think that if I hang this around the house it'll be a nice little bit of motivation for the boyfriend, if not i've got a picture of a monkey wearing a bowler hat on my wall and I can see nothing bad about that!

Paris Vs New York 

And finally... Paris Vs New York, a comparison of the two cities by French graphic designer Vahram Maratyan. Whilst visiting NY he started an online travel journal, showcasing his observations of the city in the form of these gorgeous graphics. Have a flick through, they're super clever.