Love This #66: Original BTC British Lighting Manufacturers

April 6, 2016

When I was at the London Design Centre recently there was one shop that I was always going to visit, and that was Original BTC. I have some of their Beadlight wall lights in the Conservatory - and while they're not cheap - they are, I think a timeless classic. And I love this photo I captured of the range in the showroom.

But let's see more of their lights, because there's plenty more to see. These grouped pendants looked great. I like that their light is directed down but have yet to find where I could put them in our house.

These wall lights were slightly more unusual as they were displayed in what you could only call uplights, they are in fact portable lights.

The Chester spotlights reminded me of spotlights from my youth so I think it's fair to say they have a retro feel. The copper trend is still big in home furnishings - it was evident too at the Ideal Home Show, which I went along to at the weekend - but I'm still not sure. The Walter table lamp was close to convincing me though, with its smoky glass.

I spent a while in the bulkhead section because we're tempted to change our dining room light, and if we do something like this is high on our list. The problem is we still like the light we have above our table, it still works perfectly well and even though it's not as modern as these with its brushed chrome finish it's not old-fashioned either. The other concern we have is the amount of light we'd get out of one of these kinds of light, I think when we get closer to a decision we'd need to do some research and take advice on this.

But in the meantime I can still admire them!

The other lights that caught my eye were these pastel green table lamps. I'm not usually one for pastel colours but I could quite happily find a home for these - well, if we weren't already maxxed out on table lamps, that is!

They matched perfectly the display of Branksome China, another UK manufacturer based in Stoke-on-Trent. They're not a brand I've seen before but they're one I'll be looking at again I'm sure.

Gorgeous aren't they?

Looking forward to some al-fresco dining

April 5, 2016

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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!

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

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

A sculpture in paper

March 30, 2016

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.

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?

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!

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