Interiors inspiration at Margo & Plum

We were lucky with the weather for our short trip away last week and it was great to spend time outside feeling the sun on our skin. It also helped to get us out and about and one of those stop offs was at The Engine Yard which is right next to Belvoir Castle. We’d stopped there before and remembered a vibrant, thriving space and it still has that potential. We last visited in August, and on this sunny March weekday morning it was much quieter, understandably so. But it was nice to enjoy the space, pretty much unhindered.

Also not surprisingly some of the shops had changed, and some chalet-style huts had popped up for weekend pop-up market stalls, which seems a great idea. We had a nose around all of the shops, but by far my favourite was the interiors shop of Margo & Plum who, as their website says, offer the most glamorous decorative pieces for your home.

And here, I have some snaps to prove it.

The relatively small space is full of the most sumptuous things for your home. While they look great together and the displays are full of inspiration, most of us won’t need quite so much, but together it’s quite a statement!

MOH was very taken with the neon signs, and I’m not sure he could quite decide which. Maybe at some point we’ll get to the stage where a decision is needed, who knows?

I had a couple of favourites, and definitely more than a couple of things I could have quite happily brought home. The first is this aqua jungle decorated vase, it’s quite unlike any vase I already own which have much wider openings, though I suspect this one probably doesn’t need anything more to improve it.

The other thing that I was really quite taken with was the sunburst mirror above - the ‘squareness’ of the sun’s rays really appealed and this feels a much more modern take on the more usual sunburst mirror design. We don’t have much, for want of a better word ‘bling’ in our house, but this shop tested my mettle (pun intended).

The final thing on my list was this flamingo plate - the vibrant colours and the design were the attraction for me.

One thing I’m sure of, we’ll be back here again at some point for more mooching around, and maybe even a purchase or two.

Embroidered Rooms A><B

I saw these pieces by Manuela Caniato at the 2021 Knitting & Stitching Show held at Alexandra Palace, and was keen to get a closer look.

They are cotton canvas worked with stranded cotton, each just 27.5 by 20 cm. Manuela took pictures of her rooms on the iPad and drew them digitally before printing on canvas and embroidering.

She also says that she likes this as it is “the making of a new fabric” and is a combination of digital and manual skills, and that she likes to imagine that she’s “throwing a thread that unites past and present”.

Looking more closely, I was drawn to the herringbone effect and texture that the rows of stitches brought while also clearly showing the scene, and the plant in the image above is also effective agains the straight lines of the background. Though while it’s good to see the detail, I actually think standing back and taking them in from a short distance shows so much more.

What do you think?

Love This #96: Pencil art

We’re heading to the Derwent Pencil Museum in Kendal for today’s post, and yes, a museum for pencils. It was the most fascinating place, but it turns out that I’d been there before, many years before though I had no recollection of it. When our cottage host told us there was a pencil museum, it definitely piqued my interest and while it was a little further away from the trips we had planned, it was a great one to add into our itinerary.

I’ll share more about the museum, its stories and the vintage pencil sets on show another day but first something else that you’re probably not expecting - and that’s miniature sculptures on the tip of a pencil.

Yes.

They’re by sculptor and artist Jasenko Dordevic from Bosnia and Herzegovina. He’s self taught and tried many pencils before finding the right one - if you’re interested it’s the pencil with the highest ‘H’ grade. It definitely requires way more patience, and skill, than I have - but I’m very happy to admire them. The short stubs of the pencils below have the letters DERWENT on their tips, aren’t they amazing?

And if letters weren’t enough, there are miniature sculptures too - I can’t quite work out the middle one though (I’m no good at those picture puzzles either), but the acorn and the weightlifter on the first and third pencils respectively, are more than amazing.

I can’t even imagine how he came up with the idea, let alone had the patience to perfect these. Truly a skill.

These alone would make a great ‘Love This’ post, but there’s more. I’ve decided that I must be a bit of a pencil geek, as I could have spent much longer in the museum and I already left with many photos - and it took me a fair while to choose which set I’d purchase too. It’s a shame that the cafe wasn’t open (because of Covid restrictions) as I think MOH would have happily have sat there with a coffee waiting for me!

I think he’s worried that I might try and replicate the display below - and he’s right, I like it, but I have no plans to do so (yet) - but I can admire it. I think I’d prefer to use my pencils, though I’ve not used the ones I bought a huge amount, but I’m hoping to make more time for that soon.

The final pencil art I’m sharing is also from the museum, and this has an older feel to it - but is no less beautiful. While I like the rainbow circle above, this one really captured my imagination. To me it has a more prairie feel, and reminds me of many patchwork star designs too. Though to be honest I’m happy just looking and enjoying and not giving it much more thought.

But then again, when I peered closer and saw the detail of the pencils pinned int its place I was smitten all over again.