Just back from Ron Arad at the Barbican. The Israel-born designer (architect, artist etc) started his career in the 80’s in London’s Covent Garden and was hailed back then by Blueprint magazine as one of the most exciting designers of the time. His unconventional work, which includes many shiny, colourful, ribbed or just darned unusual chairs, […]
I return from the only seaside town that has served as muse to both TS Eliot and Chas and Dave. Yes, it was tea from polystyrene cups and a turn along the prom for me in Margate, and the exciting news is, there’s a retro-home revolution going on in the town. Forget Siralun’s recent attempts […]
I want to go to the Grand Daddy. Words I never expected to say, but get a load of this. A hotel in Cape Town with a gussied up trailer park on its roof overlooking table mountain. Wow. There are seven Airstream suites, each one interior decorated by different local artists (in a slightly crazy fashion, but […]
A quick report from the weekend’s Midcentury Modern show, at Dulwich college. Full of lovely stuff, but also somehow a bit depressing if you prefer to discover your own treasures in charity shops, junk stores and skips. Or if you’re skint. Here’s a random set of pics of things I liked, snatched in the fleeting […]
So, while you’re swanning around Copenhagen at high speed (2pm, really?) I am dissecting the shopping potentials in… Glasgow. Yes, Glasgow. There are no mermans on the buildings in Glasgow, but there are my parents, a lot of chatty folk (on the streets, in the shops, at the cinema, next to your car…), and a few […]