HOT SHOP: Gudrun Sjödén comes to London

If you’re not yet familiar with Gudrun Sjödén she is a Swedish designer who has a bit of a thing for colour and pattern. She loves to layer it up in contrasting, clashing and clever creative ways. She’s also a bit of an eco do-gooder with a lot of organic cottons and a strong green ethos. Her fashion and homeware range has actually been going for 35 years with stores all over Scandinavia and Germany where she has a cult following. She’s now come to London and last night I went to the store opening on Monmouth Street, Covent Garden.

It was a colourful affair that felt more like a garden party than a store opening. It was full of typically darn beautiful Scandi’s dressed head to toe in her collections, handsome men in floral aprons handing out canapés and summery drinks, fresh flowers in buckets and an enslaught of dedicated fans (where did they all come from!?) whom Gudrun greeted, one by one, on the door.

Think Anthropologie crossed with Designers Guild…

I’m not sure I could pull off the bold, statement attire but the homeware I could happily live with. I loved the folky style rugs, ziz zag towels and gorgeous textiles and bedlinen inspired by meadows, wild flowers and sunshine…

I love the zingy citrus shades that feel so fresh and countrified. My bathroom needs a bit of colour and these bath mats would do the job nicely…

You’ll also find shower curtains with trailing floral prints, table linen, cushions, curtains and rolls of fabrics that can be bought by the metre. If, unlike me, you’re not trapped in the capital, then fret thee not as you can also buy on-line. Hoorah and happy weekend! – Alice

NEW Anorak towels

Laurie Robertson and Co. are a busy bunch and their Anorak collection just keeps on growing. Following on from their fab Spring prints, Binoculars and Canoes, they’ve just launched this week a rather nice range of cheery bath towels. If you can’t get enough of their cute animal prints then check them out now!

1. Kissing Robins 2. Kissing Rabbits 3. Kissing Horses 4. Kissing Stags!

I’m hoping they might add a bath mat to the range and a dressing gown please. Priced from £4 for a face cloth to £35 for a bath sheet. Another something to add to your wishlist. – Alice

Tempting buys from Rowen & Wren

If only my house had the same look as the lovely new online lifestyle shop Rowen & Wren. Everything is wonderfully co-ordinated, beautifully styled and quite frankly all items are (annoyingly) utterly LOVELY. Obviously, there is an awful lot I ‘need’ to make my life more complete. So, in sharing with you a selection of their wares I found the editing process a tricky task in itself, as it’s all so darn delightful, but here are a few of my favourites from their new Spring collection…

I love this sunny hand printed bird cushion and the rustic glass houses below with handsome leather straps would be perfect for the alfalfa sprouts I’m encouraging to germinate on my kitchen window sill!

I love the denim blues mixed with natural textures, the Swedish teapot with wooden saucer and the tactile earthenware jars/bowls with wooden lids/plates are such a good design, if not a little pricey (£108 each!). Eeeek, wouldn’t want to drop one of those.

Elsewhere, there are cosy Welsh blankets and note the sweet little Trook Hooks (made from wood wastage), now they’re only £9 each!

I’m a big fan of metal trunks and love this bottle green colour that I’ve not seen anywhere else…

They have a really good range of furniture and lighting too.  Their collection is split into three different looks depending on your style. Happy browsing folks. Let me know what catches your eye and tempts you to buy. Have a sunny weekend and don’t forget the clocks go forward on Sunday. British Summertime here we come! – Alice

Eco-friendly cards from The Green Gables

Gabrielle is a designer who lives with her husband and little dog in a rural cottage in Surrey. She makes cards, cute notebooks and plantable bunting (!) amongst other things. Her business is called The Green Gables. She only uses FSC certified paper, works with local printers and suppliers, uses recycled packaging and all orders are shipped from her local village Post Office. Her cheery post card designs landed in my inbox this week and I love the simple illustrations that feature some of my favourite vintage objects…

They’re a mere £3.50 for a mixed set of 6 and if you don’t feel like giving them away then why not use as a mini piece of wall art? Lovely. – Alice

SNEAKY PEEK: New Fired Earth paint colours

The paint charts are being printed as I blog but in the meantime I wanted to give you lucky folk a sneaky preview of Fired Earth’s beautiful photography showcasing their new paint range. It’s been a year since Kevin McCloud’s Mid-Century capsule collection and so we’re all a little bit excited about The Paint Collection that is available at the end of the month. This time the inspiration is taken from colours, products and styles that the Fired Earth buying team have absorbed from their expeditions around the world. Made up of 36 colours the collection includes 24 accent shades and 12 new neutrals. The idea is you can create your own unique style by layering up the neutrals with bold statement colours. Express yourself…!

– Alice.

More lovely buys from RE

It’s not everyday you can walk into a shop and come out with a vintage jelly mould reinvented as a pendant lamp, a Mexican bingo set, moose shaped firelighters and a deckchair. But if you’re lucky enough to live near the market town, Corbridge in Northumberland, you can! (For those that don’t, you can of course buy online, phew!), Simon Young and Jenny Vaughan’s converted workshop (round the back of an old filling station) is a treasure trove of totally unique finds for the home. They named their shop RE after two giant metal red letters they bought in a Parisian flea market…

People, step inside and feast your eyes on these wonderful buys..

I would very much like these jolly, jelly mould pendant lamps. How lovely to hang a row of these above a kitchen table…

Planning fodder for your Jubilee street party yet? Make sure you get yourself a set of these British Isles cookie cutters..

Keep your teapot cosy with this cute pom-pom number, hand knitted in Northumberland..

This red, white and blue twine will come in handy for any Jubilee/Olympic crafty projects…

Elsewhere there are gorgeous linen cushions, inspired by American flour sacks…

original 50’s and 60’s mixing bowls in pretty on-trend pastel shades..

and this ‘waste not want not’ fabric is sold off the roll, for £16 a metre. It’s 44cm wide perfect for a table runner. GREAT idea..

Thank goodness it’s March! Spring had sprung and I’ve just bought 4 bunches of daffodils for £1 in my lunch break – hurrah! They’re currently bunged in a vase and just about surviving in our air conditioned office but what I’d really like to display them in is this…

A test tube for each single stem. Ah Joy! Thank you RE. Delightful finds and next time I’m even vaguely heading oop north I’m going to take a detour and pop by. – Alice