News from Rörstrand

I saw an ad for these new Rörstrand candle holders recently. Being a fan of retro leaf patterns, I just had to have a closer look. It is called Aurora and is designed by Hanna Werning. I want that matchbox in particular!

Rubrik meets Pantone

I'd love to have one of these. It's called the Rubitone. Not for sale anywhere, apparently. Yet, anyway - I wouldn't be surprised if someone put it into production. Meanwhile you could make your own with the help of an ordinary Rubrik's cube, a Pantone book and some glue...

More silly music videos

I love Flight of the Conchords, so I thought I'd share two of their music videos. Have a fa-fa-fun weekend!

My French is just about on this level (I remember repeating the ingredients for salade niçoise for a whole year at school).


Apart from the lyrics, I dig the moves and pictures in this one. And I always wanted a pair of those old school roller skates...

Aha video. Literally.

«Ever wish songs just sang what was happening in the music video? Well now they do.» Thanks to Happy Mundane for sharing this.

Shake it like a Polaroid picture

Being a lover of most things retro, this is just up my alley: convert your digital photographs into (virtual) polaroids! Or Poladroids, as the case might be. Get your free application download here, drag and drop and shake, shake, shake it. Or just sit back and watch your image develop.

PS. You can grab versions of your poladroid at any stage during development. Cool, ha?

There's also a Poladroid flickr group.

David Shelley, fab house follow-up

Back in spring I posted some fab houses that I had found in various magazines. One of the responses I got was from a Julian Shelley who could inform me that his dad had designed one of them! His dad is architect David Shelley and apparently he was more than happy to provide me with more samples of his work, if I was interested. Wow... Was I interested? You bet. Father and son Shelley most kindly photocopied and sent me magazine articles, plans and pictures of 3 different houses. (I have to apologize for the quality of my scans, and for the delay in posting this - I haven't been able to borrow a better scanner).


The first house was called 'House of a hundred curves' when it was featured in Ideal Home Magazine in the 1970s. Here is a quote about it from a local historian:
The present Stainsby House was completed in 1974. The architect was David Shelley, of Nottingham, and it was built for Robert Morley, then owner of Alida Packaging of Heanor Gate.
A most unusual design, which attracted both praise and criticism at the time, the house had a helicopter landing pad, an indoor swimming pool, marble floors, solar panels, and gold-plate fittings. The living area was 15,000 square feet (about the size of 15 three-bedroom terraced houses!), and there were 18 acres of land to accompany it. It is often described as being "Spanish style," but I'm not sure that that is correct - the aim of the architect was to do away with straight lines, with the rooms being round or oval - curves everywhere. It won at least one award.
By 1975, Mr Morley had moved to Guernsey, and the house was put on the market at £425,000 (remember - this is 30 years ago!). The property did not sell until 1977, by which time the price had dropped to a mere £150,000. It was on the market again in 1986, for £350,000.
It has been used as a TV set. In BBC's "The Life and Loves of a She-Devil," it was meant to be an affluent clinic in California.

The second house is the Coward House which I posted in April. You can read more about it here.

The final house is called Monchen House and is from 1978. It's interesting to see the great span in expression of these houses although they are all designed in the same decade. By the same man.

HUGE thanks to Julian and David Shelley for going to all the trouble of sending me this info.

Small shop update

This cushion (Blue Rose) is now available in my web shop jb design. I do sell Internationally - just e-mail me for quotes and info.

Fin Costello rock photos

I'm thinking I should go and see this exhibition/concert 'Pictures in Rock' (at Månefisken, Oslo) tomorrow night. The photos on photographer Fin Costello’s site look amazing. The concert is by singer Tom Roger which I know nothing about. Could be interesting.

Jenny Holzer of the day

Apropos of nothing, really. I just love her work.

PS. As I was about to post this, the dog just vomited big time on the floor next to me. How's that for an omen?

Cushion preview

I have been preparing a set of cushions for some time now, using vintage cross-stitch embroideries/tapestries. It has taken me a long time collecting them and even longer to assemble any of them into actual cushion covers (floor cushions, that is). I need to step it up a gear or five, and thought maybe it would help if I blog about it...