I shocked even myself on friday night when, instead of throwing myself at the takaway menu drawer – surely you have one in your home? – I took myself off to Deptford for the Cockpit Arts open studios. Dissapointingly I didn’t run into Mary Portas who’s been tweeting about Cockpit lately. But, I did discover from designer Naomi Ryder that Mazza and I share the same taste in teacups.

Naomi makes her illustrations in embroidery first, ‘drawing-with-stitch’ then transposing the imagery onto bone china. I note that on the website this set costs £20 and not £200 as I thought I read on the price tag on friday night. Oh how things would have played out differently but for this error.

Onto another hightlight of the show. Designer Catarina Riccabona’s hand-woven and hand-sewn cushions. Catarina, who is almost puritanical about her sunstainable design processes, uses only natural materials such as linen, hemp and wool yarns and she only sources from Europe. She mixes unbleached and undyed yarns with second-hand coloured yarns and constructs the cushion fillings out of organic wool fleece covered in linen and vintage fabrics.

A cushion of this size actually did cost in the region of £200 – person not included – so I didn’t get one of them either, much as I wanted to.

How did you not spend money on friday night?

Drunk at the architecture festival

Well it might make it pass quicker. I’m joking. If you want a design-endorsed tipple this weekend I recommend heading to the ReUnion Public House. It may not look like much now… …but by Saturday this empty site in Southwark should be home to a pub, garden, pop-up hotel and secret (of course) cinema. It’s […]

New shop: Folklore

If I didn’t live with such a clumsy bunch of plate smashers – two are under four, maybe that’s a harsh description – I’d consider getting myself over to this new shop on Upper Street to invest in some of these: I’ve already had a nosy around the website and found a few other things that […]

High Street Honeys

I saw this story in last night’s Evening Standard, about how Leyton High Street has been transformed – to the delight of some and the consternation of others. Above is the AFTER, while below (from the Mail) is the BEFORE, a picture subheaded “Tatty”. Myself, I have mixed feelings. Am I being a reverse snob? […]

Keep your cd’s…

Never mind what I said before about my old ropey CD storage solution being dated. Last night, tasked with the job of making a compilation tape (or whatever you’re meant to call it now) for an old friend, I passed several happy hours raking through that storage system for songs from my student days. Here’s a […]