I only went in to return some micro shorts! (I bought them thinking I’d regret it if I didn’t buy small enough. I’ve got more pairs of too-big shorts than Christopher Biggins. But this time the pendulum swung too far the other way.) I thought I’d just peep into H&M’s homes department for a second.

These images are what I expected – fun prints and lots of French ‘script’ on grain-sack cushions, ideal for teenage girls. And certainly there is plenty of that…

But look a little closer. These tablecloths, underneath the printed runners, are either 100% cotton or linen. Available in tasteful neutral colours and at an amazing price too. A plain linen tablecloth? That’s the sort of thing you can pass on to your grandchildren. And look at the copper candlesticks. I bought one and it’s looking charmingly Dickensian on my new black slate hearth. TREND.

They are also one of the few high street homes stores to have 100% cotton bedlinen as standard, rather than luxury. How…. right. Again, there are lots of prints (and nice too, if you want an Orla Kiely vibe) but you can get the pink-and-grey linen sheet look for a fraction of what it’d cost you at Toast.

And while I was shopping for £30 per meter velvet in Soho, they already had this going on. 50cm x 50cm velvet cushion covers in multiple shades of pinks, greens, blues and greys, all mixing perfectly. Do the two pictures above remind you of anything?

Velvet cushion covers £7.99, linen ones likewise, cotton ones for even less. Those grain-sack cushions may be the backdrop to a thousand teenage Snapchat boob shots, but for the more mature among us this is a great place for beautiful basics. Christmas is coming… someone get me a gift voucher. Given the prices, £10 should do it.

The name game

It’s not unusual to see products named after neighbourhoods or streets, but today we’re heralding a particular version of the phenomena: South London prints. Ahhh South London, a place inspiring a host of descriptions from ‘Dalston without the cunts’ (Vice) to ‘Oh lovely hills of Camberwell, we shall behold you no more in beauty and […]

Who are Infant Art Club?

Educationalists? Situationists? Community design workers? Kelly Hoppen letting her hair down? They came to our attention as they are taking part in Committee of Taste’s Christmas Fair. Taking place on Sunday 8th December at the shop in Stoke Newington, the fair is all about supporting local designer/makers, including our friend Jo Waterhouse and her super […]

Raf Simons’ expensive ceramics sale

Doesn’t Raf Simons look dapper under a Serge Mouille lamp in this Vogue shoot? News that he’s auctioning off his 99-piece collection of mid century French ceramics on the 17 Dec, prompted a sudden desire to get behind the  man, as it were. First, here’s an image of some of the pieces he’ll be selling. […]

Design intervention

Sorry we’re a little late reporting on Vienna Design Week. You must be feeling dreadfully out of the loop. Fear not, we’ve got a highlight for you now. This is a building dating back to 1808 in Vienna, built as a banker’s summerhouse. Missing a home cinema and mega-basement, of course, but I’d still like […]