The Eco-Luxe Factor 5 November, 2009
Posted by Nicola Wilkes in mydeco guest blogger.Tags: architecture, design, Design Hotels, eco luxe, interior design, The Scarlet
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Image Credit: The Scarlet
A four hour car journey peppered with rush hour traffic and a plethora of roadworks on a Friday afternoon perhaps wouldn’t be described as my favourite way to start a short weekend away [rather preferring to cram maximum 'us' time in more locally], but when the final destination is a hotel that’s been billed as possibly the greenest in Britain (Times Online), The Scarlet, then I’m willing to forgive the arduous trip.
Not that I should have worried about whether we’d be able to make the most of our two days of supposed bliss away from the kids once we’d reached our Cornwall address – the ‘Scarlet’ seems to intuitively know that long car journeys aside, some of it’s guests may have gone to great lengths to enjoy their ‘grown up’ weekend away minus children and the stresses and strains of the daily grind; the absence of a formal ‘check in’ or reception desk cleverly enticing you to relax your shoulders the moment you step into this eco-luxe establishment. Suddenly it’s just you, him (I’ve also bookmarked this hotel as a great girly retreat) and nothing but peace, tranquility and a hotel that claims to cater to your ever need without a pretentious hotel manager, overly pushy waiter or stuffy interior in sight.
Image credit: The Scarlet
The ethos behind the Scarlet: reconnecting – whether that be with friends or spouses. It’s all about taking stock and seriously kicking back, celebrating lines, wrinkle, laughter, sand between your toes…you get the jist…
Yet this was work, or at least that was the idea of the review, and putting my journalist hat I tried very hard to focus my curiosity on how this much needed combination of hotel + eco consideration + serious luxe factor would really work in reality. I’d stayed in smaller B&B’s whose owners had successfully managed to pull the two together for a smattering of guests. But how was this modern hybrid of interior style – ‘eco luxe’ – going to work on a large scale? I was pen and paper at the ready but that was not to be.
For the Scarlet literally lulls you into a state of deep relaxation and you are powerless to stop it. This, I realised, was all part and parcel of my experience in this idyllic retreat and was key to any stories I might recount after it. If the chalk board welcome of ‘Please take a seat [on a Missoni clad sofa] and someone will be with you shortly’ doesn’t do it for you then a four hour spa journey that combines ‘Ayurvedic wisdom with the natural essence of Cornwall’ will…But I kept going back to those all important questions that I felt I was there to answer for any readers of my review: what do you get when you combine grey water and rain water harvesting with pared-back but seductive interiors? A biomass boiler and ventilation heat exchange with Ligne Roset soft seating? OR, a timber frame building constructed with an air tight seal [not to mention the thermal solar panels] with the latest collection of Missoni prints?
Image credit: The Scarlet
If you’re to believe the hype then the answer is simple. This is luxury meets eco, and owners of The Scarlet – three sisters, Emma, Debbie and Rebecca – are rather proud of it. ‘We run a hotel next door that caters for families at every level, even if that’s a bottle of milk needing warming at 4am, but at The Scarlet we wanted guest to find somewhere they could come for precious time away where you needn’t worry about what designer bag you’ve brought with you, whether you’ve had your botox or if you can connect to the internet [although there is provision for those guests that need to]. We wanted to help celebrate friendships and marriage and remember what it feels like to be ‘you’ without the pressures of work or family life, bring back all those memories of why you couldn’t wait to get married, or how wonderful life is when you take stock,’ says Emma.
Image credit: The Scarlet is now ranked in the hotel style bible, Design Hotels
I have to say I was dubious. But that was before my arrival and by a calm and sunny Sunday morning having soaked up the surrounding coastline – a pasty from Rick Stein’s deli followed by a romantic walk along the hidden gem of Constantine Bay on a Saturday afternoon, followed by afternoon tea lazing on designer day beds on a rooftop terrace, not to mention dinner at Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen only five minutes away, I could only conclude that I’d found my own special sanctuary for those times when a weekend ‘just the two of you’ is what the doctor ordered.
So, is it the UK’s greenest hotel? Well, according to the experts that might be up for debate, but if the phrase ‘home from home’ can come in the form of eco-luxe, Missoni prints and a chefs with Michelin stars [local boy, Ben Tunnicliffe'] The Scarlet, set against the rugged Cornish coastline in the bay Mawgan Porth, is just that.
Image credit: The Scarlet
Designer’s Market 13 October, 2009
Posted by Nicola Wilkes in mydeco guest blogger.Tags: community, design, designers, exhibition, new designers, news, style, Trends
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Image credit: Wonder Culture Events, 2009
Having blogged over the last few weeks about the launch of the 5th Cardiff Design Festival taking place in the Welsh capital this October, I thought it only right and fair that I follow suit this week with the low down on one such event that drew the crowds in this weekend…
…Saturday and Sunday saw the turn of Wonder Culture’s ‘Designer’s Market’ on this month’s ‘Design Trail’ (think Mini Milan) – a vibrant, farmer’s market style shopping showcase (but for interiors and gifts obviously!) with various Welsh brands selling everything from vintage clothing to Welsh themed crockery – staged in the newly refurbished and oh so fashionable, Chapter Art Centre in the heart of Cardiff city centre.
Image credit: Wonder Culture Events, 2009
Apart from the fact that Wales at Home had their very first ’stand’ at the event, we had plenty of time for some serious retail therapy of the most relaxing kind…ambling from stall to stall with a cup of coffee in hand, browsing and chatting to our favourite Welsh designers.
And my hot picks?
1. Welsh themed crockery courtesy of Keith Brymer Jones from Bodlon – if you ever need a stylish and personal gift to say ‘thanks’ to a generous host (I love the Brecon Gin hamper), or simply want to say ‘thinking of you’ to a special friend (who wouldn’t be touched by a pack of heart shaped Welsh cakes and stylish mug?) – then this is always my first port of call (see website for prices);
Image credit: Wonder Culture Events, 2009
2. Hand-printed tea towels from Peris & Corr add a quirky touch to any kitchen, £9;
Image credit: Wonder Culture Events, 2009
3. Limited edition cushions from Nomad & Nest, £45, and handy leather shoppers;
4. Vintage style, fabric covered from By Kirsty (a visit to her city centre studio where she is known for holding rather popular ‘micro beer festivals’ also adds to her appeal’;
Image credit: By Kirsty, 2009
5. Tactile alternatives to the ever growing trend for wall decals in the form of felted butterflies and flowers from Rachel Horrocks;
6. Mode provided plenty of ideas for essential Christmas presents with their Big Hand coat hook, £22, and Fridge Monkey,£4, (yes, I know it’s early but who could resist?);
7. And a ‘oh so pretty’ illustrated tea cup tea towel for £5 from Eak Design naturally found it’s way home with me!
Image credit: Eak Design, 2009
John Lewis arrives in Cardiff! 8 October, 2009
Posted by Nicola Wilkes in mydeco guest blogger.Tags: designers, Eames, furniture, interior design, John Lewis, living room, Matthew Hilton, neisha crosland, orla kiely, sir terence conran
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Image credits: John Lewis 2009
You see the thing is, although we like to think we’re just as blessed with great shops as the rest of the UK (and we’re certainly getting there), here in Cardiff we’re occasionally left out on a limb…
…So when news of the arrival of the second biggest John Lewis store in the UK (next to the Oxford Street branch) hit the press we were understandably quite excited. Not only does the advent of John Lewis in Wales mean that we’ve no longer got to make treks ‘over the bridge’ to be able to indulge in one of our favourite high street shopping experiences, but as competitors quake at the competition, the shopping standard increases. So, it’s with rather a wry smile that I now head to Cardiff city centre shopping with a newly refurbished House of Fraser and Debenhams to add to the growing list of high end retail outlets that will soon fill the St David’s 2 shopping centre, not to mention the branch of Jamie’s Italian…ooh, the excitement!
Image credit: John Lewis 2009
As one of Europe’s fastest growing capital cities, we’re rather proud of the ‘new look Wales’ image that we’re now projecting. In the same vein, my own foray into the world of interiors, online portal, Wales at Home, www.walesathome.co.uk, goes as far as to say, ‘hey, we live in Wales and we’re just as interested in design as the rest of you!’ And with a plethora of designer hotels such as the ‘oh so seductive’ Park Plaza, the famous bayside St David’s Spa, the quirky new Sleeperz, and a smattering of boutique hotels such as the highly acclaimed Holm House (seen gracing the pages of Mr & Mrs Smith hotel guides), as well as those further along down the Welsh coast – Fronlas, Llety Bodfor and Hurst House to name just a few, Wales is suddenly able to compete with the best of the rest in the style stakes.
Image credit: John Lewis 2009
So, how long did it take me to hot foot it into Wales’ largest department store with four floors of fashion, interiors and technology at the ready? Quite a few days if I’m being brutally honest – my mid week schedule packed with trips to 100% Design and TENT LONDON – but I could twitch no longer come Sunday lunchtime and that was it! Husband enrolled to look after children on the third floor toy department (they even enjoyed the experience and I’d go as far as to say we had tantrums when I peeled my two girls away from gadgets and dolls after my interiors fix), I was left to my own devices to browse the extensive homewares department and fashion floor.
Longingly lusting after a rather gorgeous Matthew Hilton dining table, a white Kartell Bourgie Lamp, sofas from the Content by Conran range and my favourite, iconic designer chair – Eames DSR…not forgetting the Orla Kiely and Neisha Crosland labels found on the home accessories shelves; Khiels, Liz Earle and Triology beauty ranges in the rather bright and airy beauty hall; Odd Molly and Avoca clothing brands, I left feeling like shopping harmony had finally arrived, knowing that Cardiff now really could offer it all.
Flying the Welsh Flag 5 October, 2009
Posted by Nicola Wilkes in mydeco guest blogger.Tags: melin tregwynt, 100% Design, tent london, Welsh Design, Freshwest, Laura Thomas, Angela Gidden, Attic 2, Nomad and Nest, design news, Cardiff Design Festival
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So just who was flying the flag for Welsh design at TENT LONDON and 100% Design this year I hear you ask?
Having held a number of rather influential titles in the interiors magazine industry such as Livingetc’s News Editor, Editor of Real Homes and most recently having been made Homes Editor for none other than the interior design aficionado’s bible, Elle Decoration, Ben Spriggs, who hails from from the Vale of Glamorgan, talked to us about the hot Welsh design talent that is now emerging on the international design scene in an exclusive film made by Fflic to mark the 5th Cardiff Design Festival.
Ben Spriggs of Elle Decoration talks to the Cardiff Design Festival team
As director of Attic 2, founder of brand new brand Nomad & Nest, and designer of Habitat’s best ever selling sofa – the Pacino, Angela Gidden’s studio located in stylish Cardiff Bay is a design hub for all things creative in Wales. See both websites, www.attic2.co.uk and www.nomadandnest.co.uk for more information on both brands.
The fashion brand, Nomad & Nest, founded by Angela Gidden MBE
Laura Thomas, renowned weaver and designer of this year’s Cardiff Design Festival awards, is enjoying success in Wales and further afield. Visit her website www.laurathomas.co.uk for more information and her long biography of success so far!
Ceramicist Lowri Davies takes taxidermy as the inspiration for her exquisite range of vessels, plates, bowls and cups. Find all the information you need on where her products are stocked on www.lowridavies.com.
Lowri Davies exhibited at this year’s 100% Design
Freshwest – design duo, Simon Macro and Marcus Beck, hail from Tenby, Pembrokeshire – are now well known on the international design scene. To view their range of beautifully crafted products and their latest news visit www.freshwest.co.uk.
Ashley Hall of design duo, Diplomat, www.diplomat.org has supported the Cardiff Design Festival on several occasions and has produced award winning furniture under the Diplomat name. Ashley was born in Barry and although now living in London, champions Welsh design talent and nurtures the future of good design in his MA lecturing role at the Royal College of Art.
Rebecca Ellen, textile and wallpaper designer, who lives in Mid Wales. ‘I like to blend cityscapes with the countryside,’ she says when describing her delicately feminine new range of wallpaper now sold in Paris and London. Rebecca will be partaking in two Welsh exhibitions this year so visit her website, www.rebeccaellen.co.uk to keep up to date with these events.
Melin Tregwynt are of course one of our favourite Welsh exports, and with recent international collaborations with the likes of Muji and Birkenstocks, as well as a range made for SCP under Donna Wilson’s name (Nos Da – ‘Goodnight’) and their stand at 100% Design lived up to the highest of expectations with some gorgeous new weaves and colourways. Log on to www.melintregwynt.co.uk to see their new online catalogue and cosy up ready for Winter.
Melin Tregwynt’s new collection
Welsh designers ‘talk shop’ at TENT LONDON and 100% Design 5 October, 2009
Posted by Nicola Wilkes in mydeco guest blogger.1 comment so far
Freshwest at TENT LONDON being filmed by the team from Fflic
Let’s face it. The world wide design media tend to think we’re out on a limb here in Wales, and perhaps rightly so until now. So, how do you engage with interiors aficionados from ‘The Big Smoke’ and shout about Welsh design? Simple. You take it right to them. Which is exactly what one Welsh interiors journalist (i.e. me!), two Cardiff Design Festival organisers and one production team courtesy of Fflic, did during September’s London Design Festival…
Every year innovation design is championed at the London Design Festival and this year, Leah Hughes, co-presenter on S4C’s highly acclaimed ”04 Wal’ and ‘04 Wal: Hotels of the World‘, showed that Welsh design is very much a part of it. In a unique film showcasing outstanding Welsh design talent that can now be viewed on You Tube as well as on the official Cardiff Design Festival website, Welsh designer’s ‘talk shop’ and tell us what it’s like to create, design and produce in Wales as well as on an international level.
Ashley Hall, one half of design partnership Diplomat, is proud of his Welsh heritage.
From appliquéd wallpaper and an ‘iron man stool’, to taxidermy inspired ceramics and ‘lazy chairs’ that literally fall over when touched, slowly returning to their original form in a slow and measured uncurling motion, Welsh designer’s are proving that the Celtic strong-hold on craftsmanship is still very much alive and kicking…it’s just quietly but surely being reinvented this side of the Severn Bridge with a rather modern twist.
‘Being in Wales [Pembrokeshire] where we’re from is a constant inspiration,’ say internationally acclaimed design duo, Simon Macro and Marcus Beck of Freshwest. ‘Wales seems to have quite a history of crafts, and this is slowly developing into more contemporary design along with the Cardiff Design Festival which is starting to help raise the profile internationally.’ Ben Spriggs, Homes Editor of Elle Decoration, who also hails from the South Wales neck of the woods, also tends to agree. ‘It’s great to see Welsh designers on a more international setting competing with the best in the business. I think [it] has an important role to play in the British design scene, and globally; and moving forward it can only get stronger and stronger.’
Marcus Beck and Simon Macro of Freshwest, being filmed at TENT LONDON
With the likes of Freshwest enjoying recent success with Dutch brand Moooi after the label licensed their ‘Brave New World Lamp’ around the world following last year’s exhibition at TENT LONDON; and Ashley Hall, one half of design team Diplomat, knowing only too well what it’s like to hit the big time in Italy and the Far East with a plethora of internationally recognised products now on the market, bringing Welsh design home has never mattered so much. ‘We should care about design in Wales as it’s a great way of building the creative industries,’ he says, and as no stranger to the design circuit, director of Welsh furniture brand, Attic 2 and founder of fashion label, Nomad & Nest, Angela Gidden MBE, is also excited about the future of design in Wales. ‘We’re seeing a real wealth and depth to the design talent that exists in Wales,’ she says. ‘We’re still quite shy in Wales about what we do, but there are some fantastic, well established designers and creatives in Wales, and to see a very small handful of them here in Tent and 100% – it’s great to see them flying the flag for Wales.’
Back to school anyone? 25 August, 2009
Posted by Nicola Wilkes in mydeco guest blogger.Tags: back to school, muji, recycled accessories, sustainable design, thonet
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School nostalgia with stylish stationnery from Muji
Ooh…who remembers the excitement of a new school term? The anticipation of yet another teacher, fresh text books, promises that this year your writing really would be the neatest ever and homework would be done on time [the moment you got in from school in fact] only for old habits to speedily return once the familiarity of the daily routine sets in after just a few weeks back?
Who also remembers the excitement at the superficial need for a new school bag and pencil case to mark the start of the new academic term, even though last year’s was still perfectly functional? I certainly do. In fact, I think I remember having multiple pencil cases stacked on my school desk – one with coloured pencils, another with felts – the list goes on.
Perhaps that’s why I can’t resist a sneaky trip around the stationery section of any Muji store I happen to be passing, and why, when the new collection of innovative books, binders, folders and mesh laptop cases popped into my inbox earlier today in the form of a Muji newsletter, that I stopped what I was doing for a cursory glance at all those stationery ’sweeties’ that would instantly make my work desk a more positive, ordered and functional place to be. A bit like being back at school isn’t it?
Take note: Muji fabric covered notebooks are perfect for adults and kids alike!
After all, what journalist couldn’t find a use for traditional fabric covered notebooks, £6.95 (Japanese high school style), smooth writing gel ink pens, £1.50; illustration marker pens, £2.50; a double ended highlighter, £1.25; or a tub of recycled graphite pencils for the bargain price of £4.95?
Essential for note taking of course. Oh, and perhaps I need that signature Muji washed canvas pen case, £2.95, for carrying my new collection of pens and pencils around with me…
‘Plate up’ with good old interiors fashion 12 August, 2009
Posted by Nicola Wilkes in mydeco guest blogger.Tags: bone china, designer plates, graffiti designs, interiors magazines, interiors trends, plate effect, welsh interiors
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Soho Plate from the Graffiti plate range
Is there any interiors fashion from bygone days that isn’t to be resurrected to the highest ranks of 21st Century style with a fabulous modern makeover?
Think knitted tea cosies (yes, they do actually contribute to a better cuppa!) and the revived Lladro brand (even I have to admit to having a soft spot for Jamie Hayon’s whimsical designs after being dragged around Lladro shops as a child on holiday in Spain); the quirky and practical, useless but beautiful are now finding valid places in our interiors hearts.
Gracing the pages of top interiors magazines this year, plates are big news. Whether it’s hanging them on the wall as our Grannies did or sitting down to dinner with a table laid fit for a queen. Love ´em or hate ´em, plates are back and they’re big news this season…
…Which was why I was utterly delighted to discover Rebecca Clarkson, designer behind the Donegan Designs brand, who was right on trend (well, ahead of it actually) when she set about blending traditional bone china tablewear with alternative, contemporary designs.
One of 250 limited edition designs, Staten Island Graffiti Plate from Donegan Designs
Not in the habit of missing a design trend, these alternative Graffiti plates available in seven different designs, seemed to provide the perfect blend between the old and new with a completely fresh take on this homely practice of displaying prized possessions on our walls, picture rails or dining tables.
Each plate, £75, forms part of a limited collection of 250 made, and are available to buy online via Momentum Store. What better talking point could your modern home have than a wall clad in designer graffiti plates?
Some interiors trends are good, others are bad – but with plates this good it looks this one is here to stay.
Welsh Ironman 31 July, 2009
Posted by Nicola Wilkes in mydeco guest blogger.Tags: Diplomat, Welsh, Ashley Hall
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With an obvious soft spot for Welsh designers I was rather excited when news of a brand new product launch by one of my favourite Welsh exports, Ashley Hall – Royal College of Art lecturer and one half of acclaimed design duo, Diplomat – landed in my inbox today…’Perfect for the mydeco blog this week!’ I thought, and another example that us ‘Welshies’ really do make some valid contributions to the international design scene…
Image credit: Diplomat Design
Not that it was ever in doubt, but we do, as a nation, have a tendency to shout about our rugby players, opera singers, pop bands, actors and actresses, so as the editor of online interiors magazine, Wales at Home, I take my duty of spreading the word about Welsh interiors and product design seriously, making sure the design sector is never knowingly undersold.
So when I first clapped eyes on Ironman which celebrates Diplomat’s experiments with unconventional making processes and surface finishes, I thought I’d be the first to share with you this unique stool inspired by traditional West African tribal furniture.
Replacing millennia of ad-hoc wood carving with an equally ancient blend of hand carving and metal casting, the result is a uniquely expressive object capturing iron age technology. Like it’s African forebears, Ironman is robust and functional despite its diminutive scale; the sitter has to adopt a crouching posture that is culturally unusual in the west and therefore demands a more conscious engagement with the product.
Manufactured in East London from CS cast Iron, the range of 10 Ironmen are entirely hand carved so each one is individual in appearance, the legs deliberately left with a rough texture while the seating surface and top edge are finished to a high polish. If you want to see if for yourself, Diplomat designers, Ashley Hall and Matthew Kavanagh will be launching ‘Ironman’ at Tent London this September on stand F32, Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London, E1 6QL.
