Fashion isn’t just about clothes- it is an expression of everything in your life and this season it’s all about adapting those winter blues and putting a ’spring’ into your walls. Our moto is forget property investment - think home style. Invest in you. The attached article was written for “The Carnaby” - a great central London Newspaper all about fashion and lifestyle.

what do you think - we like these products
 

Having just begun the whirl of spring shows - you start to realise how many ideas and products there are and how competitive the market place is for would-be designers. I suppose the same goes for retailing and I guess that’s why it’s harder to be an independent. My point though is this - as an example - the Pantone mug is a great design idea - and people buy it so they must like it, but does that make it an exceptional design product or just a good design idea? In terms of pure commercialism, I guess it does because the success of it is more than just ‘an’ idea or ‘concept’ as such - but more than that, it is an interesting and amusing product that people appear to enjoy. (In the design world - are we all really followers of fashion? I guess we must be because if it was not Pantone, but just a colour would it have the same appeal?)

Take the new fruit bowl by Black+Blum - it’s a good design, because it’s a simple yet complex product. It’s amusing because it’s tactile and does what you expect it to do and some things you don’t. On the other hand the all new planter/salad servers mix good design with practicality and fun because there’s an element of humour. So I suppose we should not be too precise about why we like something nor be too scientific about whether it’s good or exceptional. Anyway well done to W2 Products and to Black+Blum for giving us these and many more ideas. And to the rest - please let them keep coming!

With the start of yet another new year - and with all the doomie gloomies writing in the press, there’s probably never been a better time to look where you live AND how you live your life. Make your house your home! That’s the message at the start of this year. Banish reality and dematerialise your space - from creating a fusion of white colours and textures with added colour (bright yellow - yellow-green - azur blue for example) to more moody darker schemes - update though the baroque heavy prints and black chandeliers by adding flashes of glossy gold or bronze. (even blue iris - the colour chosen by Pantone as colour of the year 2008)

2008 should be about making your fantasies a reality - keep a look out for those things on the high street that are as individual as you are!
Thanks for reading our blog - resolution number 1, write weekly about the things we’re passionate about - good design - individuality and affordability!

shoplondonad.pdfUnveiled at last - the new lifestylebazaar London Flagship store…..OPENING NOVEMBER 2007
….watch this space…..

It’s very true - there are design shops; and there are DESIGN shops. Combine the best of British and European designers in home interiors & accessories, furniture, lighting, art books, gifts, toys, menswear and accessories - you have the magic ingredients of what a true “concept store” should really be. (Google search ‘concept stores’ and see what you get) Why am I saying this? Well apart from promoting Lifestylebazaar’s new London flag-ship store! - I also want to challenge the myth that there are less and less independant retailers especially here in the UK. It’s true, since the 1950’s numbers have dropped from over 500,000 to a mere 30,000+, but we do exist and we sit side by side with major high street brands - no doubt on a high street near to you. Why support us? - simple, we’re able to offer customers, individuality, a diverse and highly creative and eclectic range of products. And we offer young creative talent an opportunity to put their creations into retail stores - where we don’t have to squeeze (too hard) on price and volumn alone. Watch this space - because we want to feature more of the best of young talent and their products. What do you think?……

September this year is going to be a great month for new, young, talented British designers! “Tent London” looks like it’s going to be an amazing showcase - and we’re really looking forward to visiting the shows; to see the products of course BUT more importantly meet the designers. We’d welcome contact from any designers who think their product has what it takes and as retailers in our new London flagship store - we’re really looking for the best. So do get in touch - and soon!

If you know the american photographer Willliam Wegman - you’ll know about his amazing photography of his Weimareiner dogs. He has an extra ordinary level of creativity, capturing his versatile subjects in a variety of poses.

A tattoo always used to raise questions about it’s meaning and purpose and, more recently (and sadly.. ) as a fashion statement. BUT a tattoo is an art form - it’s like a cave painting, a sculpture or an architectural work that spans different world cultures. This one is by an amazingly talented guy called Yann. Check him out on www.yourmeatismine.com

tell me what do you think?……why?…
well maybe we should feature this amazing art form in some way in the future……

On a recent visit to the atlantic coast, just outside Bordeaux, I came across theses amazing collections of sinister looking constructions obviously from a less peaceful time and when France was under german occupation. My reaction at first was ‘why don’t they just get rid of them’ and then I started to see them as an art peice in itself or rather a blank (concrete) canvas for grafiti. Are these iconic structures ugly or are they an art form in this rather sureal environment washed over by the tide until one day they will be no more….

(To visit these - go to Cap Feret on the atlantic coast - half hours drive from Bordeaux)