I accidentally went to a fashion press show at Anthropologie on Wednesday, thinking they were showing their new homewares. The nice lady let no indication pass across her face that I clearly didn’t look like a fashion journalist. Instead she kindly told me about the only bit of homeware on show, these chairs.

They’re the work of designer Leslie Oschmann, who moved from the US to Holland after eight years as Anthropologie’s Visual Director. There she began collecting paintings, tapestry and art in markets, upcycling and adapting them into furniture, bags and slightly altered art, under the company name Swarm.

I really like the canvas cushions, above, and if the set of prints below weren’t sold already, I’d have them.

They are antique Rorschach Inkblot Test cards from 1948. What that says about me I don’t know…

Modernist buildings of Frinton Park Estate

Still on coast watch, I thought I’d flag up the Frinton Park Estate, in Frinton-on-sea, Essex, which is the biggest group of modernist houses in the UK. The only way really is Essex! They were built in 1934 by architect Oliver Hill – who also designed the Midland Hotel in Morecambe. Hill came up with […]

Wednesday bits & bobs

Did we mention we now have a Facebook page? It’s somewhere we can post the bits, bobs, out-takes and curiosities that we haven’t found time to blog about. Think of it like The Xtra Factor or I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here… Now. And if you don’t get those references, well done. You’ve […]

Margate blog

Margate week. Completely by accident, but anyway. Here’s a recent blog discovery, The Curio in Margate, by photographer, art director and stylist Jo Willis, who quit London for the seaside with her film maker husband Dom. Jo’s blog is a series of nicely shot shop and house tours. Including her own place…  Designer Jenny Duff’s […]

Welcome to Dreamland

I went for a quick visit to Margate at the weekend, my first in two years. I saw the finished Turner gallery for the first time, and took a turn along the beach, before picking up the daily local newspaper. On the cover was a story about Wayne Hemingway, who had been in the town […]