In the kitchen

When I'm not out at college in the studio one of my favourite places to spend time is in the kitchen of our house in Ealing. Over the summer we managed to grow a little of our own produce despite being away much of it, the cabbages in particular were delicious fried in olive oil and garlic. I've also been able to try my hand at pasta thanks to Dulcie buying me my own Imperia Pasta Maker for my birthday back in September, using Tipo 00 flour from the amazing Lina Stores on Brewer Street in Soho. Of course, Fred the cat is never far away, demanding his dinner or more often a little attention!

Midcentury Days

Polypropylene Chair

Royal Festival Hall Lounge Chair

Calyx print

Yesterday Dulcie and I visited the Robin and Lucienne Day exhibition at PM Gallery in Ealing. The Days, a husband and wife duo, could be regarded as the British Eames, with their furniture and fabric designs propelling Britain towards modernity in the 1950s and 60s. The exhibition displayed some truly exquisite design work, featuring famous example of Robin Day's chairs designed for the Royal Festival Hall and a vast range of fabric designs by Lucienne Day, including the famous Calyx print commissioned for the Festival of Britain in 1951 (pictured above). The whole midcentury modern thing is having a bit of a revival currently and with the recent recreation of the Festival of Britain on the Southbank, yet it was nice to see this understated exhibition focusing purely on the merits of the design, highlighting that, whilst it may be a nostalgic trend for some, this was not simply about riding the wave of popularity but showcasing timeless, quality design.

Modern living

All images from The 1960s Home by Paul Evans.

Walking the high line

On the Guardian's homepage today was a story about the opening of the second phase of New York's High Line park. I'd read about this project a couple of months ago in Frieze magazine, in which the New York authorities have turned the disused High Line railway which runs down the west side of Manhattan into a public space, transforming the once overgrown rail tracks into a kind of faux-overgrown leisure space. It's quite interesting how they've created this artificial sense of nature reclaiming an urban space that had become long forgotten, essentially mimicking what the High Line had become - captured in a series of images by Joel Sternfield at the turn of the century - but with nice clean walkways to stroll down.

Modern life

Today Dulcie and I visited the Midcentury.Modern Fair at Dulwich College and proceeded to spend most of our morning lusting after amazing furniture with price tags that were ever slightly out of our reach...

There was so much to take in, not least the setting itself, the aptly chosen midcentury modernist building one of the most beautiful examples of British Brutalism I've seen.

With so many amazing things to look at it was hard to walk away empty handed, and tempted as we were to splash we were content in the knowledge that our thrifty ways will see us seek out some equally exquisite pieces but for a tenth of the price...

Fresh is best

I love a good coffee, so I was pretty happy when I came across Climpson & Sons' stall on Broadway Market yesterday (despite living in London for nearly three years now it was my first visit to the market, and now I'm desperate to make up for lost time!). Their coffee is roasted by hand 'a stone's throw away' as the guy on the stall dutifully informed me, and is then served and sold on their stall and also at their cafe on Broadway Market. I was recommended their Guatemala blend (best for 'plunger' cafetieres), which he ground and bagged for me there on the stall. Their website has some great tips for aspiring baristas, and they even offer a coffee subscription, with a different variety delivered to your door each month!

Glass

I spent the day wandering around East London today to check out the Sheela Gowda exhibition at Rivington Place and also the John Stezaker show at the Whitechapel. Somewhere inbetween the two (Redchurch Street to be precise) I found this really great home ware shop called Labour and Wait. If you're in the area or are looking for something nice for your home it's definitely worth checking out, they have an array of products for all rooms of your house, and even a few breton shirts too! It's a really nicely laid out store with products that are all about functionality and classic design. I bought these two 'school' glasses for a mere £2.50 each, they're identical to the ones we used to drink milk from in nursery.

Good living

Yesterday I picked up a copy of Apartamento magazine, which I'd been lusting after for a while. Describing itself as 'an everyday life interiors magazine', it features numerous interviews with designers, architects and others about their lives and their homes, with an ethos centred around good design and living solutions. Beautifully printed on various paper stock it is a really nice publication full of great photography and inspiring abodes. Issue 06 even contains activities for kids drawn up by LA artist Miranda July.

Coleocephalocereus fluminensis

The latest addition to my budding plant collection...

(Ignore the rather dead one in the corner, it didn't manage to survive the harsh winter alone in London...)

Eames