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Introducing... Durido

Isn't this a nice idea for brightening up a dark wall?

These colourful, graphic designs are the work of Mojca Dolinar and Marko Durini, AKA Durido, a new design company based  Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The pair explain online at their Etsy shop that "a lot of energy and positive vibe" is what goes into their work, and say that they hope it will "contribute to your happiness and joy". Nice!


The prints also come in the form of calendars (below). The prices for prints alone (minus hangers) is around £12.


Not all are the same, bold graphic style – I love Durida's illustrative work, too.

The nice wooden hanging bars are available separately in two different sizes, priced from around £15. They'd be handy for hanging all sorts of things – large wallpaper samples, pieces of fabric you love, classic second-hand silk scarves (or new ones, Abi has an incredible Grayson Perry scarf, a souvenir from an exhibition, in a big frame on a wall). There are other places that sell these bars in different sizes, or perhaps Durida can custom-make. If you're handy, you might want to make your own (there are instructions here).

Veering from interiors for a moment, they also run a fine line in these sweet t-shirts.


Bespoke orders are an option, so these drawings may well be available as prints if you'd prefer them on your wall to on your chest. Don't quote me on that, but do drop Mojca and Marko a line to find out more.

You can find them at: Etsy.com/shop/DURIDO


The Friday Edit #8: a mini missive, featuring his 'n' hers sheds, Pharrell's crib and clever clashes

Are you, like me, an Apartment Therapy addict? If so, you will no doubt love this voyeuristic nose around the freshly done-up New York flat of the blog's founder, Maxwell Ryan. Just like AP itself, Ryan's place mixes high design with the every day and a bit of clever DIY. NYMag.com

The rug company, Danskina, launches a new collection at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan next month. And I'm sharing this image from the invite purely because I was struck by the spectacular combination of colours: three shades we're taught should never been seen out with each other. The rug is by Dutch designer, Hella Jongeurius, Danskina's new Design Director, who democratically has sold pieces at both Vitra and, as Dezeen reported several years back, at Ikea.

This is Pharrell Williams' 1983-built, five-bedroom Miami penthouse. It's for sale – yours for just $10,999,000. See more at Bristoltowerpenthouse.com

Another blog I can't stop reading is Junkaholique – do you know it? Artemis and her husband Nao live in the Isle of Wight, drive a Morris Traveller, and make beautiful stuff (not least the gorgeous jewellery they sell under the name, Rust). They appear to be effortlessly stylish, endlessly resourceful and when I read their blog I fantasise about a simpler, rustic, more crafty and effortlessly stylish life. Especially when I saw they now have his 'n' hers sheds. Check em out: Junkaholique.com

Introducing... Anna Chilton

First, the bad news: you can't buy Anna Chilton's beautiful drawings – on various ceramic items – and her striking print designs – on wallpapers, t-shirts and more – today.

The good news: you're getting the inside tip-off about this fresh talent early – and one day soon, when she's left art school – I know! – if not before, her stunning work will be in demand from retailers a-plenty. (Sharpen those elbows, buyers.)



I caught up with Anna, who is south London based and studying Surface Design at UAL’s London College of Communications, to find out a bit about her and about the inspiration for her work... as well as when we'll be able to get hold of some of her beautiful designs, especially these simply drawn, characterful animal portraits.

Let's start with the most important question: any chance we'll all be able to buy your designs some time soon?
Yes, I finish my degree in June and then the plan is to develop the ceramics collections and make steps to get them manufactured. I am looking to find a buyer for my ceramics so I can start getting them out there.

And meanwhile...?
I imagine I will work towards a market stall and online shop in time for Christmas so check the blog! [Link below.]

What inspires your gorgeous animal illustrations – the drawings are so full of character...
I first started drawing animals when I designed a range of cake tins. The designs were drawings of anthropomorphic Indian animals mixed with package design of the colonial era. It sounds weird when I say it like that so I better explain!

It started off as an interest in the beauty of the British/Indian colonial aesthetic and became more satirical as I learned more about the brutality of British Empire. I drew Queen Victoria as an elephant and a plantation owner with the head of a rhino [above]. I was surprised at how much character came though in the animal’s faces.



The Tiger mug [top three images] is from a set of three called Big Lazy Animal where all the animals used, instead of being scary, are all sleepy and a bit ridiculous.










Where did the inspiration for the pattern in your wallpaper come from (I wondered if it was a graphic reinvention of this photo)?

It was from my last show called Diamonds and Cloth. I do a lot of hand drawing and the wallpaper came from some drawings I did of crumpled cloth. It’s interesting how everyone sees something different in this particular piece.

How did both collections come about? 
The white ceramic animals were a college project and the tiger mug was something I did for a Christmas stall. The wallpaper was for a competition. I am always busy on something and have sketchbooks full of ideas. I never have time to do all of them!

Where and when will we see more Anna Chilton work? 
I am working towards my final show at the moment, which involves some wall hangings. I’m hoping to bring a modern twist to this rather old-fashioned product. I’m still developing the pieces but you can expect plenty of illustrative work and a lot of narrative. This will be at London College of Communications in Elephant and Castle, London, on 19 June.

I am also hoping to show at this years’ New Designers at London’s Business design Centre on 25-28 June, so look out for the London Collage of Communications stand.

Then I’ll be living between London and the south of France where I have some cheap studio space lined up to give me the space I need to try and get some products out into the world.

Annachilton.tumblr.com


Real homes: what a difference new cushions can make

I've been charting the finishing touches to my kitchen for what seems like ages. But these things take time, decisions aren't always fast – things have to be lived with, tried out, and experimented with... 

But I'll admit that the kitchen cushions – seen in their before-ish state, below – have been an issue for several years.

And it's not like I haven't had some excellent, expert guidance along the way. The hold-up was my optimistic determination to sew my own. Not doing so, I decided, would be some kind of failure. So I got as far as dusting off the beautiful (but now, deeply archaic) Frister Rossman sewing machine I was given on my 18th birthday.

That was a few months back. It looks lovely on my never-used sewing desk though, above, doesn't it? (You'll notice it's not plugged in...).

Finally, I accepted the truth: I'm not going to be doing any sewing any time soon. So I took my own advice and went to H&M last week for a few of their cheery, spring cushions – and the transformation is quite striking, I think.

The whole area looks warmer, brighter and cosier at once. I think the addition of the jade green, particularly, has done wonders.

And what do you think of the squirrel by Reggie the dog's food and water point? I'm not huge on wall stickers (this one is by Binary Fox), but I kind of couldn't resist it: whenever you say the word "squirrel", Reggie runs around in circles excitedly looking for one.

The cushion in front is made (not by me, of course) from Florence Broadhurst fabric, a gift from my sister-in-law.

The beautiful three-colour teapot was a present to us from my sister-in-law-ish, Laura. It is by Anouk Jansen, you can find it at Howkapow.

It's funny how the new cushions have made me look afresh at all the things around them, and remember how much I like them. The display cupboard above is not finished – I like the things in it, but think they could live elsewhere more harmoniously. I was inspired by the Balcony Gardener via Twitter to fill the cupboard with plants – ferns and ivy would work well, she suggested. Another project for another day. Meanwhile, here's what's living there and nearby right now.

A brilliant papier mache pig found by our neighbours Emma & Sarah in the local charity shop. Good gift!


This sweet Jack Russell card was left for us after Jill and Terence came to stay.

On the left, a pretty bad work of art made by an 11-year-old me. It was a model of one of our neighbours – she was always standing at her gate next door, wearing a housecoat, hoisting her bosom and smoking hard. She was ace. The tin is an old present from my brother, who lives in Australia and sent this over one birthday. The other work of art, and far superior to my own efforts, is by my boyfriend's super-cute, three-year-old niece, Isabella.

The fairy lights are part of the ongoing cupboard experiment. The bar sign – which lights up very brightly – was a bargain find at a local junk shop many years ago when such things were affordable inside London, and the black and white photo is one of my favourite shots of my mum in the early 1980s (nice dungarees!) with our cantankerous old cat, Sam.

This child's wooden clock was abandoned to the garage for a while. But when Scotch the black cat moved in last year, it sort of gained new presence.

Love this 1960s US Esquire magazine cover that my boyfriend procured when he worked at the British version of the mag. Can you imagine a consumer magazine these days with just one coverline? Love here that the image and single message are allowed to shine.

And we finally covered up the bare bulbs over the kitchen table with these funny, borderline naff glass lampshades found on eBay for under a tenner.

Post by Kate


Object of the day: HAY's S&B yellow bath mat

My bathroom doesn't have much colour in it, and as there's so much colour around the rest of the house I like it that way. 

But it could remain a pale, calming space and still handle a cheer-up with one of these sunshine yellow bath mats by HAY.

£18 from Clippings

And if you're feeling yellow even more than this, these anaglypta-ish bathing brights might appeal too (and if you can't find those locally, HAY also do some lovely egg-yolk yellow and white towels available at Heal's among other shops). Or perhaps you're bold enough for an entire yellow bathroom...


The Friday Edit #7: a mad bad bathroom, Snoop's Air BnB crib and how to eat like Martin Parr

A look back at some of the week's best design (well, design-ish) links...

Chinoiserie: not a look I've ever thought of dabbling with. Until I saw this fabulous image – that green! With that pink! Wow. It looks gooooood. There's also a great tip for wallpapering if you're renting. Read the full post at Thedecorista.com 

The images of this light, beautifully floored flat – and the slightly disturbing giant image of the girl in the poster – had me longing for a super spring clean. More of a clear-out really. In fact, a bit of a change of style. Uh-oh... See more at Vosgesparis.com

Photograph: Martin Parr

You've got until the rest of the month to catch The Art of Dining, a visually fantastic but gastronomically dubious-sounding pop-up restaurant, inspired by the photography of Martin Parr. If you're feeling flush, get yourself a copy of his valuable 1995 book, British Food – and check out some of Parr's favourite British photography here. Book at the restaurant at Theartofdining.co.uk

If you're prone to crying at stupidly lovely images of people who've been in love for, like, ever – be warned of the emotional wonderfulness of this set of images. American photographer, Lauren Fleishman's Love Ever After depicts New York couples who've been together for 50+ years. Sob. See more at Itsnicethat.com

Photograph: Vivien Killilea / Getty Images for AirBnB

You can stay in an Air BnB designed by Snoop Dog. Yup. F'real. Among other delights, it features gold walls with a marijauna leaf motif and a sign above the that reads ‘BO$$’. Class. Check it out at Designboom.com

Plywood is a much underexposed material – I wrote about using it a flooring a while back, and this amazing Berlin holiday apartment makes beautiful use of the stuff. And I loved this ply-heavy home, featured on Riazzoli.blogspot.co.uk


I've been having wobbles that painting the downstairs loo entirely black a few weeks ago was a terrible, sweaty teenager-y, dungeon-y idea. So I was very happy to see this mad, bad and brilliant (though, admittedly, not at all black) bathroom. Isn't it sexy? That's not to say the black loo will be, but once lampshade, splashback and pictures are in situ, it could just be excellent too. See more brill bathrooms at Swoonworthy.co.uk (can't wait to see author, Kimberly Hughes', own when it's done either).

Thanks to Vaneetha aka @Mrs_Wino, for this tip-off too: a Tumblr dedicated entirely to colour palettes picked up from different scenes in Wes Anderson films. Don't you just love the internet? If you saw enjoyed this recent post, you'll love it too. Above: Moonrise Kingdom and The Royal Tenenbaums. Wesandersonpalettes.tumblr.com

Have good weekends!

Exhibition: legendary 1980s Berlin Wall artist, Thierry Noir

The Berlin Wall fell a quarter of a century ago this year, after standing for 28 years. 

By coincidence, this year I've also recently watched two excellent German films set in the Wall era, Lives of Others and Barbara, which was on TV the other week. Loved both, Lives of Others in particular, if you haven't ever seen it, is one of those films that stays with you for a long time.

And they've made me extra keen to go and see an upcoming London exhibition of the work of Thierry Noir, a French artist whose important 1980s graffiti-style paintings along the Berlin Wall have featured in the 1987 Wim Wenders' film, Wings of Desire, and on the cover of U2's album, Acthung Baby.

Above: the view from the bathroom window of Noir's squat 

Above: GDR soldiers remove an iron door from the Berlin Wall and take it back to East Berlin after Noir had stuck it to the Wall

Above: Noir at work in the 1980s

Noir was one of the artistic free-thinkers who moved to West Berlin in the 1980s, alongside David Bowie and Iggy Pop. He lived in a squat just a few metres away from the wall, and his large-scale, brightly colourful work was partly a reaction against the oppressive nature of having this structure looming behind his home.


He was the first artist, in 1984, to paint illegally on the wall, and he did so for five years until his work – created using scavenged paint – covered several miles of it.

When the Wall fell, pieces of it – featuring Noir's artwork – were auctioned off by Sotheby's for millions... by the East German government. At the time, Noir didn't see a cent.

Above: Noir paints the back of the Berlin Wall as it starts to come down

The exhibition, a retrospective, is Noir's first solo show and will feature old and new work including original painting on a resurrected Berlin Wall alongside, photographs, interviews and films. The artist's aim was to "demystify" the Wall: "I did nothing but react to its sadness," Noir says.

Check out this incredible video Noir made in 1985 to give you a better flavour of the work in situ.


Thierry Noir. Berlin Wall Travelling July 1985 from Thierry Noir on Vimeo.

Thierry Noir: A Retrospective opens on 3 April and runs until 9 May at the Howard Griffin Gallery189 Shoreditch High Street, E1.