Chocolate is your scribe's Achilles heel. Never ever ubiquitous cheap chocolate, but always luxury dark chocolate requiring a mindful journey to the byways of Chelsea and Artisan du Chocolat. Founded by artisan chocolatier Gerard Coleman (famous for his creation of...
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Stomp all night on Limited Edition’s “brick wall” rug
Banksy is an urban legend; a famous (and infamous) graff artist, immortalised (amongst other output) for his opening sequence for The Simpsons. But he might might want to take a break from banging heads against brick walls, and instead Stomp! all night across an...
Pantone Color of the Year 2013 is Emerald Green
The winning pony in the 2013 Pantone Color of the Year horse race was not bookie favourite blue, but Emerald Green. On the surface a soothing, optimistic colour, did the jury not realise Lucifer first popularised the green gemstone? The red horned, van Dyck bearded...
Mermaids, cherubs & cheer: Lana MacKinnon’s mid-century designs
"Victory in Europe" day was celebrated 8 May 1945 to mark the end of World War II. A flow of celebratory imagery appeared on ceramics, furnishing and dress fabrics, textiles and rugs. Mermaids and dolphins; putti and roses; swags and urns. Villas and houses were...
Tobacco may be “filthie” but the colour creates an American classic by Rose Tarlow Melrose House
The ascetic aftermath that follows Thanksgiving feasting inspired your scribe to riffle her Colonial American literature and read contemporary accounts of hardship and survival before the New World's fortunes waxed with tobacco. James I of England blasted tobacco as...
Carpetalogue exhibition at Gallery Libby Sellers: final fortnight & special late night invitation
The portmanteau word "carpetalogue" is the delightful moniker created to describe the ‘pages’ – i.e. carpets - in the current exhibition at Gallery Libby Sellers, London. Celebrating art and design studio M/M (Paris), the singular exhibition title is interpreted by...
Rumble in the rhombus: TEX Tile weave inspired ceramic tiles
Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay are the Raw-Edges Design Studio. Their TEX Tile ceramic tile collection for Mutina is inspired by the texture of textiles. “Almost every object has its own particular texture, whether it’s a natural or a handmade material", the duo declare....
Happy Thanksgiving: upcycle those leftovers
Today is Thanksgiving in the United States of America (also known as the "Magnited States of America" to a former customer of the no talkin', no textin' Alamo Drafthouse cinema in Austin, Texas.) A national holiday, it's a day to give thanks, tuck into a Bacchanalian...
COVER Exclusive: Marguerite Zorach’s tapestry “Ipcar Family in Robinhood Farm, Maine”, 1944
Grayson Perry, Royal Academician, Turner Prize winner and fêted contemporary British artist? Meet Marguerite Zorach. Several years ago your scribe hit pay dirt in a charity shop. Ann Wiseman's 1969 book Rag Tapestries and Wool Mosaics introduced your scribe to...