Can't afford the new Sheila Bownas sofa?

What do you think of this sofa/daybed, designed using fabric from the Sheila Bownas archive and created in collaboration with furniture-makers, Parlour? 

It's called the Edwin, and I think the shade of blue, the smooth solid walnut, 50s-ish legs and back and the classic, boxy shape make it very good indeed.

Alas, thanks to rather beautiful details like these...

...it costs £2400. But if you can't stretch to that, you might like the accessories in the same range.

The cushions, above, and prints, below, come in olive yellow, steel blue or grey. Cushions, £55 each.

The prints are limited editions and come with the official Sheila Bownas archive stamp (more of which shortly). They're 50x70cm so can fit into a standard frame, which saves a bit of money – and the prints themselves cost cost £65 each.

There are lamps in the range, too. These were designed in collaboration with English lamp designer, Zoe Darlington, and cost £125. The base is solid ash, and the shades come in two main colours: white or grey linen, with a choice of lining colours, again in the Edwin range fabric.

Check out the Edwin range at Shielabownas.com

The backstory of the Sheila Bownas range, in case you don't already know it, is an interesting one. The Yorkshirewoman and prize-winning Slade graduate exhibited five of her paintings at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1949. She then went on to turn her talents to textile design, producing fabrics for Liberty, Crown Wallpapers and Marks and Spencer. But it wasn't until her death, in 2007, that her family discovered a vast archive of other work in her studio. This archive was bought by superfan, Chelsea Cefai, a year later – she is gradually producing pieces that showcase Sheila's work.

Not a dissimilar rescue story to that of the company behind the archive of Australian mid-century designer, Florence Broadhurst. I have some of Florence's textiles in my living room; that massive monochrome canvas on the wall, above left, is one of hers – and there's more about that in this previous post about how to make expensive textiles or wallpapers go a long way. You might also like Florence Broadhurst's amazing rampaging horses fabric, which you can just see poking out (also black and white) in the cushion mountain on my sofa.

Post by Kate

Graduate art talent to fill your walls

Fenton Art & Design has a business model I admire. The young company (it launched at Tent in 2012) was started by Cherry Anderson and Steve Chapman, who are passionate about finding and supporting new artistic talent.

Each year the pair, who have a combined background in graphics and film/ TV, scour the art college graduate shows, looking for artists to help create their designs, which include these striking wall murals, below.

Once they've found artists whose work throws up the "interesting themes, shapes or forms" that will work in a collection (which, along with the murals, includes prints and fabrics) the pair get busy adapting it. The aim is always, they explain, to "retain the spirit of the original artwork, but to be distinct, separate creations with an identity of their own". The selected artists, meanwhile, get a cut from each sale to plough back into their own careers – as well, of course, as plenty of exposure outside the world of fine art.

Above, you can see the design produced from work by 30-year-old Goldsmiths MFA graduate, Haroun Haward. In this case, the original work (which you can see in its original form on the left) is called Exotic Construction With Mangoes. It's an interesting idea, adapting an artist's work in this way – but if it brings new talent to a wider audience, and pays the original creator, why not? Besides, adaptation for product design is hardly new.

In mural form, the works cost £45 per square metre (each installation is bespoke). And you can also buy a A2 giclee prints of the original work for £65.

This mural comes via 2009 Central St Martin's graduate, Charles Robinson, aged 26. The original artwork is called Problem Child and is a five foot square oil painting on canvas.

This mural has adapted the work of Korean American artist, Eun Young Choi.

Below you can see some of the other artwork-based products Fenton is selling. What do you think?

 Lampshades start at £59.

Cushions start at £39.

Fentonartdesign.co.uk

Post by Kate

Swee Mei's lovely lampshades

Hello. It's Abi posting today. Aren't these the loveliest, prettiest lampshades? They're by Swee Mei; a new venture by designer Miranda Law. 

Miranda's lampshade venture was born of a desire to move away from work as a scenic artist and specialist painter – and, more simply, because she found herself needing a lampshade but couldn't find anything she liked.

Thanks to the wonders of instructional videos on Google she put her creative talents to good use and made one herself: “My first effort wasn't bad, not perfect, but definitely good enough to put on a lamp. The pleasure of transforming a flat piece of fabric into something three dimensional and big and useful, in a relatively short space of time, I found to be quite addictive.

'Savannah' shade, £39.99

My next few efforts weren't perfect either, for various reasons, hence lots of Frankenshades around my house but once I'd mastered the craft I realised I might be on to something.”

'Cockateel' shade, in pink, £34.99; 'Paperweight' shade, £29.99

Miranda is of Chinese heritage and her asian roots helped to inspire this range of pendant, table and stand lampshades. She hunts down the fabulous fabrics from designers such as Kaffe Fasset (above right) and Nobu Fujiyama for Kona Bay in Japan: “I find myself drawn to Eastern designs, both traditional and contemporary. That said, it tends to be Japanese designers who catch my eye. "I'm using some wonderful fabrics by Etsuko Furuya (above left), one of Japan's foremost textile designers. She has an amazing way with colour and her designs have a magical quality to them, all woodland creatures and dewdrops on cobwebs.

"I tend to buy my fabrics in quite small quantities so there will never be too many lampshades of that design available. I scour the Internet looking for fabrics and if I find something that I love will go to almost any lengths to get it”

The name Swee Mei comes from her daughter Sadie's Chinese name: “My mother is Chinese and her middle name is Swee Ching, meaning Pretty Teacup (!). I'm Swee Kim, Pretty Gold and my daughter Sadie is Swee Mei, meaning Jasmine.”

'Paradise' lampshade, £39.99

"My favourites are the bird prints – the cockatiel fabric in pink (see the Furuya, further up) is just so bright and adorable, while this classic hibiscus and chrysanthemum shade would cast a fabulously moody light in any corner."

Prices range from £29.99 to £89.99 depending on size and Miranda is happy to make shades to a specific size. See more at her Folksy shop.

T-shirt lampshades from Belle & Videre

I love this unusual approach to lampshade design: the T-light, from new company on the block, Belle & Videre: they'll take a beloved old t-shirt and turn it into a beautifully made lampshade for you.

You can see some examples of shades already made, below. It's such an unusual idea, I think they look great. They are not cheap: £250 but maybe that's an investment if you have a very special old t-shirt  to preserve, or someone close with a big birthday coming up and a beloved Bruce Springsteen t-shirt lurking at the bottom of their cupboard. For something no one else would have, that's totally personalised and tells a good story, well, maybe a luxury purchase is OK. ( But Belle & Videre also sell other beautiful lampshades, with ready-made designs starting at £55.)

Which t-shirt would you turn into a lampshade? I think of the ones above, I like the bottom one the most (I don't know if it is a band t-shirt or something else – anyone recognise it?). I think graphic designs would generally look good... So if I was lampshading up a t-shirt, I'd wish I still had my amazing World of Twist t-shirt, where the design was made to look like a packet of Consulate menthol cigarettes (anyone remember those – I couldn't find a picture anywhere online?). Or another graphic design, The Sugarcubes' Life's Too Good logo, would be great. Or, going for evocative images from classic albums, maybe St Etienne's Foxbase Alpha or The Smiths' The Queen is Dead... but I should stop: I'm showing my age now.

And, finally, for any ageing newly-weds with a shoe-gazing past, I also think the t-shirt below – lampshaded-up – would make a totally excellent gift... no?

Introducing... Pen & Gravy

At the weekend I walked through my local market, to-do list in pocket and not intending to stop – but then I got drawn into a little stall selling the most beautiful, colourful graphic patterned plates – and also striking hand-drawn fabric lampshades with the same repetitive designs. 

Turns out the seller, also the designer and maker, is Jamie – aka Pen & Gravy (pictured at his stall, below) – and, in his own words, he "draws on lampshades and plates", as well as selling screen-printed versions of his designs as wall art.

The patterns remind me a little of the West African wax prints I'm often found banging on about enthusiastically here, or those geometric colouring books you used to be able to get – anyone remember what those were called?* Many a rainy childhood Sunday was eased with one of those and some felt-tips.


Visit the Pen & Gravy blog to see more of Jamie's work, and you can buy some of it via his Etsy shop, though, as Jamie warned me on Saturday, there isn't much stock online. Best thing is if you like any of the things in the pictures on his blog, just email him and he'll either dig one out or knock you one up bespoke styles. Plates start at £20 and A3 prints start at £10. 


* A helpful reader knows exactly the ones - see comments section to find out if you're interested

Alessi's bird lamp

I'm not generally a big fan of Alessi stuff – all those put-upon little plastic people toiling their ways out of jars and propping up books distress me somewhat. As do their hi-end gadgets that I can't imagine ever mustering enough pretension to use (I point you briefly towards the Cork Presenter, for example). 

But yesterday I came across a new lamp the Italian accessories company is selling.
I really like it:

These little birds – well, quite large birds, actually, as they measure 40 x 18 x 23cm – are part of the I Love Animals range designed by Pier Paolo Pitacco to resemble "oversized sparrows". They cost £125 each, are made of fabric stretched over a wire frame, and come in four different colourways, with a plain white cover thrown in with each sale. The colours are maximised further still, as the lamps come fitted with programmable, colour-changing LED bulbs.

There are a couple of other nice lamps in their new Spring/Summer 2012 collection too, part of Alessi's first foray into lighting. What do you think?