Poupée love

I really don't know whether I'll be able to part with these wonderful old dolls I found at a flea market in Nîmes a few weeks ago. I bought them for my shop but I'm starting to get attached... We'll see.

James Plumb

Sampson

Mrs Fletcher

The Hare and the Tortoise

James Plumb's interesting, ingenious work caught my eye at the Tent London exhibition last week. Hannah Plumb and James Russel make beautiful and unusual one-off assemblages, luminaires and interiors from the overlooked and discarded. Their objects created from antiques and cast-offs steeped in history take on a new identity, a new name and have a new story to tell. Beautiful! A suivre...

Ojni

Lots of sweet, original and very affordable cards, memory games, decorations, flip books, prints and original paintings in Hungarian illustrator Hajnalka Cserháti Ojni's shops. Visit her blog (French/Hungarian) here and her two French/Hungarian shops and English etsy store. More wonderful ideas for Christmas!

De Beaux Souvenirs

I know that I've already shown you a couple of Claire Rougerie's pieces of wirework here and here but I just keep going back for more! How can I resist?
Claire is working on a new personal project at the moment inspired by a great, great uncle. Her early 20th century fairground comes complete with gypsy caravan, strong man and swinging boat attraction. A magical scene right down to the very last detail!





Claire is understandably keeping this beauty for herself BUT she has introduced a new range of personalised children's wall hangings that I love, and for once, there are some nice models for boys. Take a look for yourself

Model #1: 20 EUR + pp

Model # 2 : 15 EUR + pp

Model # 3 : 15 EUR + pp

Model #4 : 20 EUR + pp

Claire's affordable wire hangings would make a wonderful present for a newborn baby, a nursery or a child's bedroom. You can contact her here to place an order.

De Beaux Souvenirs website
De Beaux Souvenirs etsy store

My kinda monkeys

More beautiful Matreshkas from the incredibly talented Irina Troitskaya.

My First Dictionary

This just has to be one of the funniest blogs I know. Leeds library assistant Ross Horsley describes himself as "a timid librarian by day....Frenzied fan of gory slasher movies by night!" His unique combination of cute original 1950s' pictures of children and dark, twisted "tongue-in-cheek" British humour have me in stitches almost everyday. Take a look at another of his blogs Musty Moments, "an online scrapbook of the strange and amusing snippets" he unearths at work at a local history library. Excellent!

The Piano

Just because I love it.

Alicia Varela

Lady Fall

Just found Spanish illustrator Alicia Varela's blog thanks to La Cassettiera. Some really beautiful work.

Menagerie

Remember Anke Weckmann's inspiring work? Well, she designed two of the postcards in this brand new Menagerie book by Girls Who Draw, along with the covers. Menagerie is a limited edition collection (800 copies) of 24 beautiful postcards by Gemma Correll, Sarah Ray, Mary Kilvert, Yee Tin Kuit, Currentstate, Michelle Turton, Karoline Rerrie, Amy Timms, Ruth Green and Kate Hindley. You can buy it from Anke's etsy or Dwanda shop.
Hurry, hurry, this would make a great stocking filler (7.5 EUR).

Bold Bruna

If you recall my earlier post on Dick Bruna and original artwork for kids, you'll understand how excited I was when I came across this address.

Dick Bruna is perhaps most well known for Miffy , but prior to the creation of his adorable, ubiquitous bunny, the Dutch illustrator worked for over twenty years (1957-1970) designing book covers for his father's publishing house Bruna & Son in Utrecht. Bruna developed his unique, clean, minimalist style during these years of working on the "little black bear" series (Zwarte Beertjes), experimenting with collage in the manner of Matisse, and influenced by the Dutch De Stijl movement.





Retrobook sell an impressive collection of vintage book covers and posters by Bruna. Books cost 5 EUR each (a few exceptions) making them excellent presents for Bruna design collectors and vintage book lovers. If you take a peek at the gallery section on the site, you will see just how striking these covers can be when grouped together and framed (the cats, ghosts, black bear, James Bond, Maigret, Havank, the Saint collection... have a look at them all, the nicest ones are on the site. ) Retrobook also sell a few hard-to-come-by vintage posters and mini-poster portfolios. Definitely worth a nosey!

Can we dance?

I love Camilla Engman's "Can We Dance?" screenprint in teatowel form. Available from Australian company Third Drawer Down and found via Little Glowing Lights.

Sweet Monday

Happy Sunny Monday!

A small selection of beautiful, affordable art prints from one of my favourite etsy stores, Sweet William, run by three sisters from New Zealand and Australia. Check out their blog and shop for adorable Camille dolls, Alphabet posters, cards, gift tags and paper packs. They really don't come much sweeter than this!

Going back to their roots

Traditional Polish paper-cut and contemporary folkart-inspired rooster carpet from MOHO design

I love paper and I love patterns. I can remember being given bright white paper doilies to colour, paint, cut up or use as stencils when I was younger. Paper doilies always seemed to come in handy for Christmas decorations too, adorning Angel frocks and wings year after year. I think my love of paper-cuts comes from early crafting with this intricate, wafer-thin material.

The first paper-cuts I discovered were these colourful Wycinanki from Poland, originally made with a pair of sheep-shearing scissors!

I'm very much drawn to Eastern Europe at the moment, and I'm really enjoying the Polish adventures of Lou et Tom on a daily basis. Isabelle has impeccable taste and posts some very inspiring photos. My favourites so far have to be of her flea market finds - vintage heaven!



Isabelle is celebrating her first year in blogland and is offering a beautiful selection of traditional Polish treasures. Her giveaway ends on Sunday though, so hurry, hurry!

It's been Design Week in London and I've had my eye on one event in particular, Polska Folk, part of the Tent London exhibition showing until Sunday at the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane. "Polska Folk is an exhibition of new work from young Polish designers who have reached back to traditional folk designs, materials and manufacturing processes in making their work."

At a time of globalisation and mass-media, Polish and other European designers are going back to their roots and rediscovering traditional production techniques according to Curator Agnieska Jacobson-Cielecka.

All of the artists exhibiting at Polska Folk are fascinated by decorative rural motifs (flowers, the omnipresent Rooster...) – laces, stripes, paper-cuts, aprons, traditional forms and natural materials, but their work also displays a sense of humour and irony. See for yourself - here's my selection of contemporary Polish designers to look out for.

Log clock and Log radio - just saw off what you need, by the surprising design company GOGO


Quirky and clever porcelain work by Bogdan Kosak



Nodus carpet and Mazzy kids' wallpaper from the excellent AZE design



The Wreath project - wreath lampshades inspired by Polish folk custom by Agniezka Lasota


Car and Rooster carpet puzzles designed by the excellent Joanna Rusin and Agnieska Czop


Beautiful folk art-inspired carpets by MOHO Design
(Thank you Justyna!)

Polska Folk catalogue available here