Chez Petit Pan

A few images of the lovely Parisian home belonging to the creators of the French label Petit Pan - Pan, Myriam and their three children. I love the office space - the colourful piles of fabrics, the slick white shelves and flooring, and those gorgeous cloud lanterns.
Hmmm, its well and truly time for me to sort out the piles of fabric and magazines in my home office before Sunday is over.....

Images from Marie Claire Maison .

French decorating inspiration from Milk Magazine

I have just received my copy of the 3rd installment of Milk Deco - a great little peak into some very stylish and kid-friendly interiors from around the world including locations such as Utrecht, New York, Tangiers, London, Paris, and Stockholm. Milk Deco is available from the Milk Magazine website here.

Silke's illustrations

You are probably familiar with Austrian designer Silke Leffler's Fabler collection - a popular range of children's products designed for Ikea.
Silke's whimsical illustrations also grace an array of products including cards, calenders, ceramics and this wonderful children's book 'I Have A Little Problem' Said The Bear , written by Heinz Janisch and published in English by North South Books.

Silke's training as a textile designer shows in her mix media / collage style illustrations. I love the way she uses little snippets of traditional fabrics in these images.

To see more of Silke's lovely work, visit her website here .

Indian blooms

Today on my (messy) desk - painting an Indian chintz inspired design in summery colours. A nice little diversion before I start work on the next Hiccups range. And not even a smidge of pink to be seen....

Beautiful bugs, bees and butterflies

Knitted specimen loveliness by UK designer Kate Jenkins from her website Cardigan Ltd, presented in box frames in the traditional manner.
Via the latest issue of Anorak Magazine which just arrived in my mail box today. Happy days!

Sibella Style

Have you come across the inspiring new book on interiors Etcetera from Australian designer Sibella Court? Its a gorgeous read packed with great images and styling tips. Sibella's website The Society Inc. is also rather wonderful, and dangerously easy to while-away an hour or so looking at images grouped into colour and design themes. These images are from her 'Travellers and Magicians' theme influenced by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and the Silk Road - lots of exotic & richly coloured textiles and eclectic interior spaces.

OK, back to work.....

Animal adventures Japanese style

More Japanese loveliness, this time from the very talented printmaker and illustrator Junzo Terada. All of these charming stationery products can be found on the Chronicle Books website.

Japanese delicacies

I would love to see the Mina Perhonen range of products in real life - everything looks so textural and beautifully hand-crafted. Had better start saving my airfare to Tokyo.....

Mina Perhonen products are available online from the Japanese boutique Lili et Nene .

Inspired by Silhouettes

Silhouette - The Art of the Shadow by Emma Rutherford is a beautifully illustrated book tracing the fascinating social history and the visual charms of the silhouette.

Packed with examples of this enduringly popular art form from private, public and royal collections, this book details the origins of the silhouette, through to its hey day in the late 18th century, finishing with a chapter on contemporary practitioners of the technique including Kara Walker and Rob Ryan.

Silhouette - The Art of the Shadow is published by Rizzoli , 2009.

Wildflowers from the West

Last week I had a few days holiday from the goings-on at Hiccups, so managed a little bit of a browse around a couple of second-hand bookshops in the Victorian countryside. These images are from a West Australian Wildflower compendium, published in 1935. I love the elegant compositions and faded tones of these botanical water colours, painted by the W.A. Government botanical artist Edgar Dell.






Times have changed since this book was published - cigarettes as a still life prop!