I’ve got lots to tell you. But let’s start small. I went furniture shopping in Margate the other day, and came back with this.

You can never have too many pink jugs right? But when I turned it over in the shop I saw this.

My beau’s family are partly from Govan, a district of Glasgow famous for Sir Alex Ferguson and Rab C Nesbitt. It was also the place where women organised a successful rent strike during World War 1 – read about it here. It’s fascinating. I would not presume to say much about the area myself, but check out this summary of the historical and cultural strands knotted up there on the Get Into Govan website.

The gent laughed that there were no crofts in Govan, but the Govancroft brand produced cheerful stoneware for ginger beer, jam, ink and stout from 1911 until the ’90s. Read more about it here. I feel a new collection coming on…

I need a new house…

…only because I’ve run out of rooms to redecorate with these tiles. If I’d known about Made a Mano when I was doing up this place, I’d have blown the budget several times over. The colours, the shapes, the patterns. I know nothing of the prices, but can guess. See them in the flesh at Tom […]

Architecture of necessity

A great phrase, used by artist and designer Ernesto Oroza to describe the homespun design solutions of his native Havana. He has a tumblr devoted to his images of these objects and buildings, and many of them consist of chairs mended with bits of other chairs. They’re creative, honest solutions made using what is to […]

Ikea monkey

What do I have in common with Joey Essex? Yes, that, but also a love of monkeys. Do you remember Ikea monkey, the sartorially smart but bewildered looking chap who caused a stir in his car coat? His touching plight spawned a million internet memes, but did you know it has also become a subject […]

Hipster cats

Yes, this is two cat posts in a row… deal with it. My friend sent me a link to an American site that sells tipis, yeah, for like, cats, right? Sounds awful? The thing is I really like them, and I’m sorely tempted. Check it. There is never anything aesthetically nice to buy for your […]