Object of the day: Hundreds & Thousands tray by Jonna Saarinen

These colourful laminated birchwood trays by Finnish designer, Jonna Saarinen, are like useful little pieces of art.

I have previously mentioned my tray shelves. They are waiting to be filled. One or two of these mini ones could boost the fledgling collection...

Aren't they cheery?

After spying these trays, I checked out Jonna's website to see what other nice stuff she'd designed. But first I discovered the story behind the designs – which also feature on trivets and tea-towels, below. I love this story.

Jonna, who completed her MA at the Royal College in 2010, grew up by the sea, near the Turku archipelago in southwest Finland.

The "long hot summers"of her childhood were spent "running around barefoot in the forest" with her late grandmother, who wore "amazing" woolly socks and aprons. Along with these memories, the region's vibrant colour palette, full of wild berries, flowers, rock moss and evergreen forests has fed into these designs.

Jonna explains: "The Hundreds & Thousands collection celebrates mis-matching styles, over printing, everything seaside, saying 'hurrah!' to way too many patterns." Like her grandmother would agree, she thinks, "you can never have too much of a good thing."

Hundreds & Thousand Breakfast Tray by Jonna Saarinen, £22 from Objets de Desir.

Post by Kate

Object of the day: Tesco round wood stripe tray

Trays can be so much more than trays. I'm currently collecting some to fill my new kitchen display shelves: I like nice things to look at, but useful nice things to look at are even better.

And this pleasingly coloured, spring-like wooden number from – gasp – Tesco, would enhance a wall as much as it would a spread of summery drinks and al fresco hors d'oeuvres. I also like the idea of a collection of trays displayed with plate wall-hangers.

Round Wood Stripe Tray, Tesco, £18

Tesco's range of homewares this season is looking pretty good – the brand has a new head of design, Steven Rowe, previously of M&S and Laura Ashley. I also really like their new dip-dye crockery.

Things to LOVE today

With no particular theme, here are some things this week that have made me smile...

Abigail Brown exhibition at the Lion Street Store I first saw Abigail's work at the London Design Festival a couple of years ago; her stand was permanently crowded with people interested in her beautiful fabric bird sculptures.

They are visibly painstakingly constructed pieces of art and, as such, rightly not cheap. Abigail also makes other creatures, as you can see, and some new ones from papier mache (like the nice bear, below the deer directly below). I love birds and I love Abigail's birds, but these are really, really special things. And good news, if you, too, can't afford them – and happen to live close enough to East Sussex to visit – because there's an exhibition just opened at the Lion Street Store, in Rye.

Failing that, you can enjoy the highlights at the store's (very nice) blog or browse the full collection at Abigail Brown's online shop.

'The Man Who Cannot Visualise a Horse Galloping on a Tomato is an Idiot' print, from The Hambledon Contributing editor Abi alerted me to the letterpress artwork of Stephen Kenny at A Two Pipe Problem a while back.

I had been going to feature this print then, but when I emailed Stephen he said it had been discontinued and directed me to his lovely new prints, but my heart had been set on this. So how marvellous to find that The Hambledon sells it. It is a quote by the father of Surrealism, Andre Breton. It is excellently and suitably absurd – and yet also an eminently sensible comment on the dullness of a limited imagination.


The print measures 32 x 46.3cm and costs £32

John Lewis bird tray My boyfriend is moving in shortly, and we've decided we must have a home bar to celebrate. Just a tray of serious bottles on the sideboard will do the trick, so he can come home wearing a sharp suit and I, in a cocktail dress and full make-up, can greet him with a whiskey.

The reality will, of course, be vastly different (I don't think  I've ever seen him wearing a suit, and I'm more likely to be wearing big socks, and buried in my office reading Jezebel.com to even hear him come home). But. It's a great idea. And the bar part is the easy bit – especially now I've seen this rather brilliant bottle-sturdy tray with suitably old-fashioned birds on it. Love the turquoise and gold edging, particularly. Now all it needs is something harder than that lemonade on it. The Brissi bird-print tray is from John Lewis and costs £22.

Love poster Oh. Go on then. A VERY SMALL concession to it being Valentine's day.

This sweet Japanese poster with Swedish text ('karlek' means love, in case the guy eating hearts didn't give it away) is also from The Hambledon.

It measures a generous 50cm x 70cm (also, handily, meaning it fits into a standard frame), and it costs but a mere £14.95.




Happy Valentine's. Cynical bugger? Go on an online shopping binge! Hope this helps...

Vintage Pat Albeck tray

Staying on the animal tip (see post below), I couldn't resist sharing this sweet vintage tiger tray, by the textile designer Pat Albeck. 

It would look beautiful mounted on a wall in child's bedroom (you'd need to use these sorts of plate hangers, rather than the hook-around ones). Or in the kitchen. or, of course, you could use it as an actual tray (but you'd have to use a tray very regularly to get the most out of it, I think...). There is just one of them, and it costs £16 (plus p&p) from Winter's Moon, a gorgeous shop that I spend far too long window shopping at.

The design is by Pat Albeck, whose career started in the 1950s and who is still going strong (she has a brilliant website with a photographic history of her work through the decades – some highlights below).

From left to right, Pat Albeck's designs from the fifties, sixties and seventies

Cool laptop trays

These colourful trays are the answer to 'hot-lap' syndrome; that
thing you get when you sit typing on the sofa for too long with
your computer. 

Their stylish skills are also transferable to breakfast in bed; a cup of tea in front of the TV – or just hanging about with nice things on them, looking good.

It's just a shame (for UK readers) that these beauties are on sale (from Etsy shop, Ej Butik) in Latvia. They are orderable from Britain – they're around £30 each (and can be hand made to order, as they come in many different colourways and you can even supply your own fabric) but the postage is pretty chunky, at around £10 a pop.

But perhaps there are people elsewhere making equally ingenious devices, or perhaps seeing these will inspire you to craft your own. Do share some pictures if so...

Three things to hang on a wall

I've been gathering new prints for the last few months, to spruce up some of my home's bare walls. So now what – I have a collection of rolled up posters and a long list of picture frames to find. Hmm.

So I do love the idea of hanging other things on the walls, such as plates... or trays. Much more instant. These three just caught my eye. What do you think?

Black is such a glamorous and cosy colour. This nature-heavy dill tray, made from birch wood by Michael Angove £38.50, would add sexy elegance to a black wall particularly. He also does appealing trays decorated with tarnished silverware, and in tiny sizes that would work well hung in a group. Check his website to see them.

Another strong coloured one. I'd love to see this red strip folk tray, £25.50, by Ary on a wall the colour of the blue that forms one of its circles, or leaping out from neutral mushroom or taupe tones.

This summertime vintage bird plate, £35, plate from Not on the High Street is in fact a Meakin that has been pimped by Smashing Chintz, which specialises in mixing charity shop treasures with contemporary mosaic or stencil. Love the unusual shape. Wall plates aren't just for kitchens; I think this one would look pretty above a bedside table.