Object of the day: sale special

I'm still smiling about the cushions I bagged in the Habitat sale for £4.50 each last week.

To capitalise on the high, here are some more sale goodies worth checking out.

These handsome pheasants by Exmoor- based Brit designer, Sam Pickard, feature on Swedish Åry trays in two different sizes.

Medium tray: £18.15, reduced from  £ 25.95 and small tray £11.85, down from £16.95, Theo-Theo.com

One of my favourite places to window shop – and the owners have a very nice home, too. Bergere dining chair £40, reduced from £50, from Thepeanutvendor.co.uk

A sale is the perfect excuse to buy something a little bit daft, like a 16-piece gold cutlery set, by Lisbeth Dahl. £39 down from £69. And this dinky little mirror, well, why not? It's only £19, down from £39. Both from Rockettst george.co.uk

The little home Dinotastic ceiling pendant for kids is super cute and now half price at £11 down from £22. Find it at Johnlewis.com

Perk up a wall with one of these bright beauties, a lesser-spotted number by ubiquitous Swedish designer, Maria Dahlgren. Harlekin birch tray £12 reduced from £18 at the ever lovely Howkapow.com

Happy shopping and merry weekends.

Post by Kate

Friday fig

I came across this graphic on Pinterest, thanks to Howkapow (do follow them, very good taste). 

I thought it must be a print they were selling in their nice shop. It wasn't.

So then I thought it must be a print some other nice shop was selling. Can't find it anywhere.

These figs make are good and happy. And they need to be nurtured and put onto paper and made available to the public so we can hang them on our walls. Don't they? If you know where such a print exists, do share. Time for a screen-printing course, perhaps...

Have good weekends!

Penguins!

I've written about the excellent shop Howkapow before and Kat and Roger, who run it (online and at its Bristol real-life version) have great taste and a fondness for colour and quirk that I love.

This print, Pinguinos, by the illustrator Abi Pickett, also based in Bristol, is another of Howkapow's great finds. Isn't it brilliant? It is signed and editioned and measures 28cm x 35cm and costs £45. (The shop also sells a rather marvellous penguin necklace, too.)

Abi is an illustrator, based in Bristol and describes her work as exhibiting her "own brand of humour, a love of pattern and an unhealthy obsession with her dog".

'Own brand', for sure. Prints on her own website include drawings called 'Koala Farts' and 'Smell Foot'.

But, being in charge of a four-legged pal, I like this...

This week's favourite things

October is the time of the year when everyone starts pulling together their new collections, in time for (sigh) Christmas. But it does mean my inbox has been heaving with very beautiful things that I've collected to share today.

No theme, apart from they're things I think are GREAT.

This beautiful monochrome cup and saucer, £12 each, from Shelf, is very Marimekko, don't you think?  Not cheap, but a beautiful present and comes in a good-looking box. That apple is like a work of art on top of the saucer.

People have, in the past, laughed at my extensive wooden fruit collection. I inherited a full, colourfully painted set from a clear-out at my parents' house years ago (having grown up with people picking up rock-hard apples and looking at them, confused). Then a few years ago when I went to Brazil, I found another – slightly different-looking – set. It really was a very "no, you DON'T need that" purchase, but I love them. And I love these unpainted wooden pears, £26 each and made from Laburnum in Scotland, also from Shelf. Pointless, but so aesthetically satisfying.
Frida Kahlo print, £16.95 (A4), by Barcelona-based illustrator Judy Kaufman, available from Pretty Dandy, which is a lovely shop. Check out this image in situ in Judy's own home, which featured on Design*Sponge. It's part of a series of four, see below.

Each one is printed with a quote from the person depicted beneath the image. I particularly love the Andy Warhol one: "I have social disease. I have to go out every night.If I stay home one night I start spreading rumors to my dogs."

Teal, mustard and grey is one of my favourite colour combinations. It's very 1950s. And this gorgeous mini plaid blanket, £140, by Fine Little Day – or baby play rug, or cot cover, or thing that makes the sofa look prettier – puts them together beautifully.

These stove-top coffee makers always look great. And this one is excellently extra large, and comes in orange and dark blue. The six-cup coffee maker, £35.95 (with free UK delivery!) from Howkapow is designed by San Ignacio, a family-run company founded in 1944 in the hills of the Basque country in Spain.

Emily Pickle tea-towel, £8.50, digitally printed from one of her own designs and for sale in her Etsy shop.

Love this hand-painted teapot from Lena Hanzel in Berlin, too. It's just £16.57 plus postage. Check out her beautiful blog, too, Room for Emptiness.

Today I'm loving... Howkapow's new stuff

I've mentioned Howkapow a few times here already. And when I got their latest newsletter, packed with fresh-in-store goodies, I thought I'd do a little spotlight on the company. 

Run by Cat and Rog How (see what they've done there?), a young and very cool looking pair whose aim is to bring colourful designs and fresh young talent with "smile inducing style" (nice!) to a wider audience through their shop. Here are some of my current favourite Howkapow things...

Tea-towel, £9
Love the word order of this 100% linen tea-towel – because it's correct. Those pedantic about tea-making (like me) will either be raging at their screens or quietly cheering. The rest of of you will, hopefully, just be thinking, "That's a nice tea-towel".

But back to pedantsville, briefly: milk-in-first is often argued to be correct. But unless you're doing things properly with a teapot, in which case the rule is reversed it should be the other way around. Why? Cold milk + boiling water = not-quite-boiling-water-temperature. And tea needs water to be boiling to brew beautifully. When that's done, as the tea-towel says, you can put in your milk (and sugar). In fact, the tea-towel is inspired by Indian chai, which clearly has its own gloriously pedantic rituals...

Set of four mugs, £35
These bold, geometrically patterned mugs are perfect for a splash of colour in an understated kitchen. Equally good for indecisive types who change the colour of their walls as often as I'd like to (if only someone would come and paint them for me every six months). And if you like these, you might just love the striking Katy Binks pop print also on offer (I'm slightly obsessed with its mesmerising colour co-ordination).

Leaning Man side table, £175
I love the simplicity of design in this handsome little side table/cupboard – it needs no fixing as the wall holds it in place just by being there. It's by up and coming young company, &Then Design, which consists of 20-somethings, Jamie Bowler and Samuel Wright. They have all sorts of other goodies for sale on their own website (the 'Thought Jar' light is totally fantastic) as well as a coming-soon gifts and accessories range.

Desk print, £50
The clean lines and air of functionality expressed in this print through the shape of the uncluttered desk and unfussy colours inspires me to finish off my own office. A project that started with a bang, and then turned into a damp squib as work and life took over my grand plans for a serene place to sit every day. Soon... soon... And meanwhile, I can look at this.

The limited edition print is by designer and illustrator, Tom Rowe, who loves a bit of obsolete machinery. See more of his work here.

Four-pack of cards, £12
It's the expressions on the faces of these fishy fancy dress costumes I particularly love – they just look so endearingly baffled.

They're far too good to send: a foursome, framed, in the bathroom would look lovely.

Pop art print by Katy Binks at HowKapow

LOVE these colours together. This, and a little bit of sunshine in the air – and it feels all springlike.

The name behind this pop art-y print is Katy Binks, a 26-year-old London-based artist to watch. Her geometric art is influenced – explain Cat and Rog at Howkapow, where the print is exclusively for sale in a limited edition – by architecture, pattern and a fascination with traditional craft techniques and digital technologies.

The 98cm x 76cm screenprint costs £95 – but hurry, there are just 30 available.

But Howkapow promise to treat us to more of Katy very soon. Hurrah!