Getting ready for Christmas with LOVEThESIGN

This year Christmas seems to be well and truly underway already. It's only December today and already I've seen Christmas decorations up both in real life and pictures of my friend's trees. And while my decorations won't be out of the box until much nearer Christmas, somehow it seems that there's an excitement this year which I don't remember seeing last year. 

Even though I'm not quite in Christmas decoration mode yet, like many of you I'm starting to plan our Christmas. I've recently discovered the LOVEThESIGN website and have been really impressed with the range of goods they have on their site. I thought it would be fun to share some of their Christmas items.

LOVEThESIGN was founded in 2012 and sells "Italian style" furniture and homewares, with 15,000 products in its catalogue including designer brands such as Alessi. 

    So for my Christmas table, I'd choose these - and yes you're right the tree wouldn't be on the table, but at 30cm high it could be a stunning centrepiece before the food arrived!

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    1. Felt Table Runner £19, 2. Sarjaton Tray £22, 3. Christmas Tree (30cm high) with red baubles £55,4. Merry Christmas Plate £18, 5. Four Christmas Mini Plates £44, 6. Two Christmas Mugs £12.51  Photo credit: Lovethesign

     

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    7. Set of Four Pantone (R) Baubles in Grey £23, 8. Two Reindeer Baubles £10  Photo credit: Lovethesign

    Every year I like to buy some new ornaments for our full sized tree, these caught my eye and would be a fun and fab addition to my ever-growing collection of baubles. And the plate below would be perfect for serving mince pies, wouldn't it?

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    9. Scia Natalino Cake Plate £38  Photo credit: Lovethesign

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    10. Six Luxe Cards Knitted Reindeer cards £10, 11. Six Luxe Santa's Coming cards £8.75  Photo credit: Lovethesign

    I also liked the simplicity of the cards above, and while I'm still planning to make mine I think I could be tempted to have some of these in reserve, just in case.  The one item that I'd love to put on my wishlist though is the candlestick below. I love it's swirly but unfussy and simple design. And while I love it, sadly I think that with its price tag it would stay just there, on my wishlist. But what a wonderful piece full of fantastic craftsmanship.

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    12. T8 Silver Candle Holder £2052  Photo credit: Lovethesign

     

    So there's my picks from the site, what would you choose?

     

    This is a collaborative post with LOVEThESIGN but all opinions are my own.

    Love This #63: Coin jewellery by Rachel Eardley

    Shortly after stepping through the doors at MADE London I found myself in front of some of the most exquisite jewellery I've ever seen. I know that's a big statement, but just look:

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    The more I looked, the more I saw. And I started to wonder...

    And yes, each of the pendants above are made from cutting the design from a coin. Rachel uses real coins and turns them into the most stunning jewellery. I wanted to dig out my purse and check just what designs were on the coins I had, but I resisted well, until later anyway.

    I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before and I love how an everyday object - and one that's so functional - becomes so beautiful with Rachel's craftsmanship. I've since looked on her website and she says

    "I am inspired by the simple day to day objects in our homes..."

    Truly stunning work Rachel.

     

    Disclaimer: I was given free entry to MADE London, but all words and opinions are my own

    Screen printing with Daniel Heath

    Well where to start? You may have already seen the screen printed peacock which I shared on my social channels last week - a fantastically detailed design, and one that last week I tried for myself after a quick masterclass with Dan. 

    I'll share more on that in a moment, but first have a look at the fab venue - Blackhorse Studios in Walthamstow. What a fab place, it was quite a dash to get there after work but having looked at Daniel Heath's work beforehand I knew I didn't want to miss this event.

    An easy place to be inspired, I'm sure you'll agree.

    In The Window who organised the event had made sure there were cakes and some soft drinks ready for us when we arrived. And you know how much I like a cake, well somehow I ended up posing with these


    These soft drinks were great too - they have a kick to them which is the cayenne, and I know it sounds odd. But trust me these are good. I'm reliably informed that the cucumber and mint variety is good with gin. As I was hoping to try out the screen printing, I opted for the mango and ginger version and drank that straight.  I liked it and would choose it again, it was a cold drink with a warming feeling. They're definitely worth a try, trust me.

    Then we went up to the studio. Talk about overload for the senses. And for a magpie like me, I wasn't sure where to look first.

    Daniel showed us how to screen print, all the while explaining the process and answering our many questions. In the photo below you can see the screen for the peacock design we would use. And yes, the screens have small holes in them to allow for the paint to go through and onto the surface - in our case wallpaper. 

    With the screen positioned and weighed down with lead to stop it moving, Daniel added the gold paint and demonstrated how to print the design by moving the paddle across the screen. With a couple of taps he brought the paddle back the other way and repeated this once more.

    I have to admit that the reveal of the gold layer was a bit of an anti-climax.

    It seems you have to have lots of patience for this, and rightly so - the detail in Daniel's designs are incredible. He creates the designs, transfers them onto the screens and prints his designs by hand. That's a lot of precision.

    Soon though the gold paint was dry and it was time for the teal layer. Just look at that colour.

    It was also time for me to try my hand at screen printing - and just look at that concentration!

    And this is our finished design - isn't it great?

    This peacock design is 1.5 metres long which is quite large which means only two patterns can be printed in one go. So it'll take a while to print a ten metre roll of wallpaper, although Daniel says he can usually do that in an afternoon or so. Daniel doesn't only print his designs on wallpaper or as prints, he also screen prints them onto fabric (there's some fabulous examples on his website) and etches them onto wood. These were just stunning, delicate but still very stunning.

    In the gallery below there's a few more examples of Daniel's work. Not only is he a clever and talented man, he's also very nice and deserves every success. Thanks to Daniel and to In The Window for a fascinating evening and definitely one that gave a real insight into the work that goes into hand printed wallpaper.

    This is a collaborative post with In The Window but all words are my own.