The principles of fine design 19 November, 2009
Posted by emilyjenkinsonmydecoblog in mydeco guest blogger.Tags: Braun, Design Museum, Dieter Rams, Emily Jenkinson, iPod, Jonathan Ive, Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams, Vitsoe
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No journey is complete without my iPod, which was firmly plugged in on my tube ride from Notting Hill Gate to Tower Hill yesterday. I thought that we had Jonathan Ive (head of design at Apple) to thank for this sleek, simple but utterly brilliant modern wonder, but a visit to London’s Design Museum, where Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams has just opened, soon proved me wrong. Turns out that Dieter Rams is the ‘designer’s designer’: a man that the likes of Jonathan Ive take ideas from, and the creator, if you like, of the first ‘iPod’.
Oh yes. Back in 1959, Rams designed the first portable record player with a detachable radio – you could plug in some earphones and walk with it. He was also the man that made German electronics manufacturer, Braun, a household name in the 50s, designing audio equipment, calculators and shavers – as well as furniture designs for Vitsœ – that are as modern and relevant today as they were 50 years ago. His design ethos was based around a refusal to pander to the whims of fashion (“I hate everything that is driven by fashion,” he said), and the timeless notion that less is always better. His designs for Braun reflected this, and were marked by simplicity, a paucity of colour and materials, and a loyalty to function and durability of product.
Rivals in the 50s might have sneered at these principles – his clean, white, minimalist Braun SK4 of 1956 (the world’s first proper hi-fi) was dubbed ‘Snow White’s Coffin’ – but it is those same principles, set out as a list of ten ‘design commandments’ by Rams himself in the 80s, that are so prized and closely adhered to by Jonathan Ive for Apple and countless other modern designers today.
Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles of Design
Good design is innovative.
Good design makes a product useful.
Good design is aesthetic.
Good design helps us to understand a product.
Good design is unobtrusive.
Good design is honest.
Good design is durable.
Good design is consequent to the last detail.
Good design is concerned with the environment.
Good design is as little as possible.
Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams is open at London’s Design Museum until 7th March 2010.
Kirstie Allsopp – Made in the U.K. 13 November, 2009
Posted by kirstieallsopp in mydeco guest blogger.Tags: cockpit arts, crafts, homemade, kirstie allsopp, kirstie's homemade homes, liz emtage, mydeco design board, relocation relocation, twitter
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Hi, I’m Kirstie Allsopp from the mydeco design board and this is my first blog for mydeco.
I’ve been on the design board for a two years, along with Sir Terence and Philippe, and I love to keep up to date on what’s going on here. Last week, I popped in for a meeting and was thrilled when they asked me to join the blog. I’m obsessed with Twitter as it’s so easy to fire off quick messages and keep checking all day for replies and answers, so hopefully this blog will be an extension of my twitter obsession. I love mydeco because it combines two of my absolute passions: beautiful interiors and property. I was invited to join the mydeco design board two years ago and am excited to be part of the website.
Image credit: mydeco
In my latest TV venture Kirstie’s Homemade Homes, I transform a derelict house in Devon using homemade furniture and accessories, along with bargains from auctions, charity shops and even skips! I want to prove that you can create something unique and wonderful using amazing artisans from the West Country and around the UK rather than going down the same old mass-produced route. Take a look at the transformed kitchen if you don’t believe me…
Image credit: Moving sense
One of the best things about making the show was meeting British craftspeople, so it is great to hear about the Cockpit Arts Maker Difference campaign. I seem to be the last to learn about the Cockpit Studios in London, but they have some great designer-makers, such as Liz Emtage. Her ceramics impressed me so much when I stopped in to have a look that I ended up coming out with a lamp!
Image credit: Cockpit arts
We must treasure crafts like quilting, and basket making, and pottery, and encourage them. When you come across something that is really pretty and special, the knowledge that it has been made locally and that you could even see it being created, gives you confidence that the UK is producing and will continue to produce wonderful work. The media would have people believe that we no longer create excellent products in the UK. Just because the focus is not on fridges and cars, it doesn’t mean that there are not hundreds of creative people working away, in studios like this,designing and making beautiful work, which is a complete joy to have.
I’m heading in to a second series of Homemade Homes as well as the Christmas Special which will be on soon! I will be updating my blog with information about British crafts regularly, so make sure you keep checking mydeco!
Highly recommended 11 November, 2009
Posted by emilyjenkinsonmydecoblog in mydeco guest blogger.Tags: Creatively Different Blinds, Emily Jenkinson, Not on the High Street, SimonSeeks.com, The Good Web Guide Website of the Year Award, The House Directory, Website of the Year 2009, Yourfloors.co.uk
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Last week, alongside a panel of judges, The Good Web Guide picked its Website of the Year 2009, choosing new concept travel site Simonseeks.com as the winner out of a shortlist of twenty-five. Simonseeks.com is an excellent site and will no doubt fulfill its ambition of becoming one of the top ten travel sites by next year, but in the context of homes and interiors, I thought it worth mentioning the four excellent homes-related sites that also made it on to the shortlist.
Quick Step Linesse LUF1245, Dark Varnished Walnut Laminate, yourfloors.co.uk
FOR YOUR FLOORS… yourfloors.co.uk is a fantastically intuitive and clearly designed site, bringing together an extensive collection of flooring. Research, plan and buy your flooring online, choosing from all sorts of different options, colours and style, and have it delivered free to your door via a nationwide network of Independent Flooring Retailers.
FOR YOUR WINDOWS… creativelydifferentblinds.com offers a choice of high quality, waterproof blinds, which can be printed up in a variety of digital images. For a personal touch, you can upload your own photos and select your size and options online, after which CDB will take care of the rest. An extremely easy to use site, which makes choosing fun, personalised blinds a breeze.
Porcelain Milk Jug, Handmade by Hanne Rysgaard Ceramics, £45, notonthehighstreet.com
FOR ORIGINAL HOME ACCESSORIES & GIFTS… notonthehighstreet.com supports over 1300 British small businesses, providing them with an attractive platform on which to market and sell their wares. There’s a huge spectrum of categories across this site and if you despair at the run-of-the-mill and the mass produced, then this is the place to come for something genuinely original and creative.
FOR THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK… thehousedirectory.com is an extremely comprehensive online directory for interior and garden design and decoration. Companies and categories are listed A-Z to make everything easy to find and you can store notes and details about the products and services you find along the way.
To view the full list of The Good Web Guide 2009 Website of the Year Award’s shortlisted sites, click here.
Room Rescue: Sitting room with a view 6 November, 2009
Posted by kellyhoppen in 3D room design, mydeco guest blogger.Tags: canopy, cliff-top, dining, mirror, sitting room, sofa
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Hi, I’m Kelly Hoppen and welcome to week five of room rescue!
This week’s room has been sent in by Tracey Mayell, who wants to redecorate the sitting room of her cliff-top house in New Zealand to make it relate better to its surroundings.
Image credit: mydeco
Below is the winning design created by the mydeco 3d tool:
Image credit: mydeco
I like this room, the seating area works well although I do not like the canopy over the sofa, it’s far too fussy and would look much better without it. The dining area is great although the detailed lamp detracts away from the beautiful chairs. The mirrored wall is not working, it reminds me of some kind of dance studio! An extra large mirror could still be used but perhaps framed and leaning against the wall. The main light also needs to be hung much lower.
Think you can do better? Put your design skills to the test and redesign next week’s room. Or to enter a room in your house for a redesign, email a high resolution photograph to roomrescue@mydeco.com.
The Telegraph Week 5: See winning room designer! 6 November, 2009
Posted by cleberry in 3D room design, mydeco guest blogger.Tags: 3d rooms, beach house, canopy bed, contemporary, contemporary living room, kelly hoppen, large windows, modern, modern living room, new zealand, open plan room, sofa, the telegraph
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Week 5’s winner of the Room Rescue competition which we are running with The Telegraph newspaper has been chosen by the room owner, and it’s Sudasal! Sudasal’s design will be featured in The Telegraph tomorrow, 07.11.09 in the Property section.
Tracey, from New Zealand, wanted to give her already beautiful apartment a bit of a revamp:
She says although she loved all of the designs, she picked Sudasal’s modern design, Room rescue template2/1.She says she picked this 3D room because it was, ‘More conservative and realistic for living on a day to day basis. The smart grey colour sheme does not clash with the ever-changing view either. It is practical as well as sophisticated and the canopy daybed looks like a cunning way to escape the Kiwi sun – because even inside I have to wear sunglasses sometimes!’
Kelly Hoppen says of this 3D room redesign: ‘I like this room, the seating area works well although I do not like the canopy over the sofa, it’s far too fussy and would look much better without it. The dining area is great although the detailed lamp detracts away from the beautiful chairs. The mirrored wall is not working, it reminds me of some kind of dance studio! An extra large mirror could still be used but perhaps framed and leaning against the wall. The main light also needs to be hung much lower.’
Do you agree with Kelly and like Sudasal’s room makeover? Let us know below!
Interestingly, Tracey wanted to pick a second choice (as she loved all of the designs!) and she also really loved the look of Cool hangout by AngieBaby!
Tracey said of this striking design, ‘This room has got balls. Big ones! It is sexy, cool and breezy and reminds me of the shed from the old children’s TV series The Double Deckers. There is lots of casual seating which is vital for the drinks parties we hold during the summer. The neutral colours do not clash with the view which is the main focus of the house, and changes its colour and light every day. But with a cost of 76 grand for the overhaul, we would have to start charging an entry fee!’
Tracey also says, she would, ‘love to know what Kelly would do to a beach house. I’ve seen her fabulous ski chalet, but never a beach house by her. Thanks for the fun I had with this!’ Kelly Hoppen should try and have a go with the 3D room planner too, we think..
Thanks to everyone who took part in Week 5 of Room Rescue. If you think you can do better, have a go at redesigning a room from a photo in Week 8, which is now running. But hurry, you only have one week to enter!
Good luck!
Cleberry x
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
Out of Africa, into Chiswick 4 November, 2009
Posted by kellyhoppen in 3D room design, mydeco guest blogger.Tags: fireplace, kelly hoppen, living room, moroccan, room rescue
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Hi, I’m Kelly Hoppen, welcome to week 4 of Room Rescue!
This week’s room is Jo Greenwood’s sitting room in Chiswick. She moved in recently and is eager to start decorating: “We want to stamp some personality onto the blank canvas.”.
Image credit: The Telegraph
Take a look at the redesign created by the mydeco 3d tool…
Image credit: The Telegraph
My goodness where do I start! The idea of using Moroccan influence does not give you a license to use every colour in the palette, colours should be considered carefully. The fireplace has to go, it’s just wrong for Moroccan theme, it’s the wrong period and it’s too tall. I would have removed it leaving a recess in the wall which could then have been accessorised. The seating needs to be much rounder and naturally textured and the lighting should be within the bay window and hung much lower.
Think you can do better? Put your design skills to the test and redesign next week’s room. Or to enter a room in your house for a redesign, email a high resolution photograph to roomrescue@mydeco.com.
Room Rescue: A funky Fulham redesign 26 October, 2009
Posted by kellyhoppen in 3D room design, mydeco guest blogger.Tags: 3d room, kelly hoppen, redesign, room rescue, the telegraph
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Hi I’m Kelly Hoppen and welcome to week three of the Room Rescue Campaign!
Each week Telegraph readers put forward a room in their house for a 3D makeover by mydeco.com users. I then take the opportunity to assess their favourite design.
This week’s Room Rescue is Emma North’s spare bedroom in Fulham. She has not looked at it since moving in several months ago. “I want friends to fight over staying with me,” she says.
Image credit: Emma North
Emma selected a design by mydeco.com user Chloe Macintosh.
Image credit: Chloe Macintosh
This is a very different and inviting design. I especially love the use of the tall shutters, they make the room.
Think you can do better? Put your design skills to the test and redesign next week’s room. Or to enter a room in your house for a redesign, email a high resolution photograph to roomrescue@mydeco.com.
The history of Interior Design – free! 26 October, 2009
Posted by kiadesigns in mydeco guest blogger.Tags: design, Eco, exhibition, furniture, interior design, news
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The Geffrye museum is a hidden gem in London’s East End: if you have a passion for Interior Design it is simply a must … The museum takes you on a journey stopping off at various points throughout the past 400 years of Interior Design – one visit to the Geffrye museum will allow you to stand back and watch how Interior Design has grown and evolved from the 1600s parlour to the modern open plan living spaces of the 20th Century!
Image credit: The Geffrye Museum
Image credit: The Geffrye Museum
Image credit: The Geffrye Museum
What’s on right now?
Image credit: The Geffrye Museum
Eco Home (Tuesday 13 October 2009 – Sunday 7 February 2010) is a fantastic exhibition that highlights some of the most wonderful eco-friendly designs currently available. Such items range from new floorings to fabric made from milk fibres (with ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ as its mantra) – it truly is a must see for anyone looking to revamp their home whilst simultaneously aiding the environment. On the theme of environment I decided to take the bus to the museum – although it wasn’t the hardest decision seeing as I do not drive…
Image credit: The Geffrye Museum
So, what did I get out of my visit? I left with the sense that everything in life is in transit – what was ‘in’ in 1960 was considered hideous in 1990 and is considered retro and daring today. Therefore, my visit consolidated my pre-existing idea that design must be daring – if you see it and you like it, go for it and, if you keep it for long enough, it will eventually draw a compliment!
Also worth mentioning for the mothers and fathers amongst you, the Geffrye is extremely child friendly with a wonderful cafe and a specially designed children’s area ideal for any budding interior designers! The shop has very cute selection of ceramics, books, postcards and even a ‘learn to weave’ kit for the kids – definitely something to keep them busy over the half term!
Address: 136 Kingsland Road, Shoreditch, London E2 8EA
Tel No: 020 7739 9893 Web: www.geffrye-museum.org.uk
Opening Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday and Bank Holiday Mons 12noon – 5pm
Travel: Buses: 149, 242, 243, 67 or 394
Tube: Liverpool St, then bus 149 or 242/Old St (exit 2), then bus 243
October art fest 23 October, 2009
Posted by emilyjenkinsonmydecoblog in mydeco guest blogger.add a comment
October is a busy month in the art world. Out West, in Regent’s Park, the whirlwind that is Frieze Art Fair took place, gathering 150 of the world’s most exciting and established contemporary art galleries in a mecca for the rich and eye-wateringly trendy. At the same time, we had Zoo Art Fair, the East End’s answer to Frieze, but on a smaller scale – it’s pesky younger cousin you might say, showcasing more than 50 of the best young international and British galleries and upcoming artists. This weekend, those of us with shallower pockets will be heading to Battersea Park, to The Affordable Art Fair, where we might snap up a print or painting or a sculpture for under £3,000, the ceiling price of art exhibited at this event.
Cool Coast Fabric by Simon Hart for Liberty, £19.95
But these days, you don’t have to fork out thousands of pounds to bring the work of top contemporary artists into your home. Recently, I updated a review for Liberty Department Store on thegoodwebguide.co.uk and couldn’t help being seduced by its newly launched range of fabrics, which fuse the work of six established British artists with creations from the much famed Liberty Design Studio. The contributing artists include Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry, Paul Morrison, Mike McInnerney, Michael Angove, Anj Smith, and Simon Hart. I’ve got my eye on the Cool Coast fabric (£19.95) by Simon Hart, based upon the brightly coloured fishing boats and houses of Cornwall’s harbours and villages. It would look fabulous on a bathroom blind.
