Looking forward to some al-fresco dining

I'd hoped that this would be the weekend we'd uncover our garden table and chairs from their winter plastic cover and be able to dine outdoors, for lunch at least. The weather forecast looked great and it looked entirely possible, for a while. 

But it was not to be, not this weekend anyway. Sunday didn't quite deliver the weather they'd forecast; we did do some gardening but plans to eat al-fresco were, well quite quickly moved inside. It still meant I got the opportunity to use these new silicone lids and drinks covers from the newly launched Daisy Collection by Charles Viancin.
Al-fresco dining

I met the UK resellers at the Spring Fair back in February and they were so enthusiastic about this product and spoke with such passion that it was refreshing to see. I'd seen part of the range before but hadn't realised their full potential.

Let me tell you more about my daisies.

The Daisy Collection features silicone lids, drinks covers, bottle stoppers and magnetic hooks and are made from the best grade of silicone. I learnt at the Spring Fair that you can tell this because when you scrunch it up in your hands, it immediately springs back into shape without any creases. The silicone used by Charles Viancin is known as German food grade silicone, which is BPA free and will not tarnish or lose its colour, at all.

The drinks covers have obvious uses - I'm sure we've all had insects infiltrate our summer drinks, well no more!  They can also be used on small bowls, mugs and even yogurt pots.  

As you can see I've used the larger lid on my salad bowl and I would happily use it instead of cling film either on the table or for storing in the fridge. 

uncovered dishes

The information with the lids say they can be used instead of cling film in the microwave too and can also replace tin foil when cooking in the oven.  They also look pretty, don't they?

glass covers

There's a cheery yellow - you knew I'd like that didn't you, as well as the white, pink and blue marguerite daisies.  The smaller yellow daisies in the picture below are a magnetic hook (on the left) and a bottle stopper (on the right). The magnetic hook has a super-powerful magnet attached and it almost snaps into position as it gets close to metal, I'd have confidence of it holding things safely.

daisy silicone lids

I'm sure I haven't put them anywhere close to what they can do, but still I'm impressed with them. For me, an opportunity to use even less cling film than I do now is a good one - and if that means using something as pretty as these then it's even better.

large cover
orange juice

The silicone lid forms an airtight seal to keep food fresh - and it's a great way of keeping crisps fresh, and well crisp - and well, I thought I'd test that seal by picking up the glass using only the centre of the flower.  And because I was confident of the seal it'd made I did this over my new glass table - just don't tell MOH!

silicone drinks cover

With the glass safely lifted and returned to the table, I tried the same manoeuvre with the salad bowl. 

demonstrating the seal

Relieved that my confidence in the seal had paid off - and rather pleased that I managed to test this and take these pictures - I put on my innocent face when a hungry looking MOH walked back into the room to see why lunch was taking so long!  Clearly I wouldn't carry the bowls or glasses for any distance this way, and nor do I recommend you try that, but it was a useful demonstration of the airtight seal these make.

So, I say bring on the nicer weather, as I'm all ready to dine al-fresco and ready to keep the bugs away.

For more information, including stockists and details of the full range available see the Charles Viancin website.

* This is a collaborative post, but all views are my own

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A sculpture in paper

We're back inside the London Design Centre again today, this time on the ground floor in the South Dome and it's about something special. It's something slightly unusual for my usual "month in paper" post and it's hard to believe this is made entirely from paper, but it is. 

This sculpture in paper was commissioned by the Design Centre to celebrate London Design Week 2016 and this floral couture-inspired gown by Zoe Bradley is the result. 

sculpture in paper

Isn't it fabulous?

The theme of the London Design Week show was blue so this fits that perfectly and the shape of the skirt also mimics the domes that I showed in yesterday's post.  There's quite a bit of work in this sculpture too - and I think sculpture is the right word, don't you?

There's 400 handmade flowers on display here, and I bet you can't guess how many petals?  

floral detail
floral paper close up

The wild roses are made up of 2,500 petals, chrysanthemums with 1,188 petals and there's 3,500 leaves.  And there's 17,500 folds in the whole piece too.  If I could make one flower that looked as good as this I think I'd be happy!

floral couture-inspired gown
papercraft by Zoe Bradley

It really was something to see and something like I've not seen before, but something I'm glad I did.

Zoe Bradley London Design Week 2016

Inside the London Design Centre

On a blue-skied day in March we headed off to the London Design Centre as part of the Spring London Design Week.  I've some more to share from our visit but before that I wanted to share some shots of the building, because it was fab and it's not somewhere I'd been before.  

The main building is formed of three domes, and on the day we visited the sun was catching the decorations and they were glistening away.  

Take a look:

central dome
central staircase

The central dome was decorated with these blue pipes and hydrangea-type flowers, which gave it an almost-wedding-like feel.

decoration close up
looking up

And the central staircase was just the sort to glide down, but from a distance looked quite like a helter skelter!

staircase
helter skelter central staircase

With the sun's first showing of the year, it was quite warm under the glass but we weren't complaining. We did though take some time out at the Nespresso bar and while taking some refreshments admired our surroundings.

a place to sit
heather table decorations

The decorations in the outer domes were different and glistened beautifully in the sun, and yes they are fish hanging below the metallic spheres.

south dome
fish in the south dome

There were further places to rest, these ones a little more luxurious than before. I daren't rest here though as there was still much more to see and these looked oh so comfortable.

comfortable place to rest

Heading outside we saw a green enclosed with a white picket fence, and were able to look back at the glass domes.

from outside
a view of the dome

Back inside we headed to the temporary tented structure for what was billed as Gin O'Clock - well you would, wouldn't you?  While we sipped our G&T I was snapping away at the interiors here too, quite something for a temporary structure connecting the buildings.

tented roof
textured interiors
gin o'clock

And yes, the gin was most welcome. Well, it always is...

More soon on what else I saw, I just need to finish that G&T. Hic. 

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