I knew that illustrator and self named drawist Galia Durrant had it going on when she burst into the shop with her slightly crazy enthusiasm for all things weird and wonderful. With a dynamic individual streak she is better known as one half of critically acclaimed duo Psapp who put toytronica on the map with their multi award theme tune to Grey’s Anatomy, a music for whole host of TV shoes and commericials.
Soon Galia created a parallel universe for Psapp filled with irreverent cats, imaginary keyboards and friendly monsters that graced their album covers, T-shirts and animated videos.It’s not difficult to see the brilliance of everything she creates.
Come and have a look at Galia’s hand finished bespoke name screen prints. Prices for framed prints range from £100 TO £125 with a week lead time for the final naming process. To order or to request more details just email info@olivelovesalfie.co.uk
Our home has made it onto the pages of another new Japanese interior book, A Girly Interior in London, published by Editions de Paris. Just inside the front cover there is a beautifully illustrated map that puts Stoke Newington right up there where it belongs as an exciting and diverse London neighbourhood. We have already been asked if we can get hold of some prints of the London map for friends and customers in Stoke Newington so I will see what I can do.
When stylist Emma Cassi came to visited us in East London she was stunned by the cherry blossom mural in Olives bedroom. A mural as grand as this is a big statement but we really pulled it off. I think that there is a fine line between a mural that really works and one that is too twee or too contrived or quite frankly just not painted very well. I consider myself to be incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to work with a wonderful scenic artist Susanna Burton who bought my ideas to life quite beautifully. If you would like to discuss ideas for your children’s room with us please get in touch with us info@olivelovesalfie.co.uk
The new delivery from Rice has just arrived and I could take most of it home with me. We have delicious new things arriving every 6 weeks so if you are looking for homewares or presents don’t forget to check out what new exciting Rice products have arrived.
Their new oil cloths are fantasic and featured in Living etc this month. Both of these brilliantly bold print designs feature on a new range of melamine cups and plates that make gorgeous picnic or party ware. The oil cloth makes wipe clean table cloths or if you are feeling creative it makes fantastic bags. We made a hillarious oversized shopper out of the mixed vegetable print that is perfect for carrying newspapers and french sticks home for lazy breakfasts or summer picnics. Available in 2 designs the oil cloth costs £22.99 and is available by the meter and is already available from our online shop. Next month we will have 2 new designs arriving to add to our collection.
I have always had a love of typography and particularly a love of retro circus fonts. These hand printed tiles were made by our friend Bianca from ‘Kiss Her’.
I wanted to spell out the alphabet in alternate coral and black tiles and ‘Olive Loves Alfie’ in the space between our pigeon hole shelving. Not only do the tiles look great but they were miraculously a perfect fit and have been selling like hot cakes.
The tiles make a lovely keep sake or contemporary naming day present. Each ceramic tile is individually packaged in a funky metallic bubble wrap envelope to keep it safe.
You can spell out a name, word or initials. The tiles can be mounted on a wall or used as coasters.
Each hand printed tile costs £6 and measures 10.2cm square.
The tiles will be available via our online shop soon but in the meantime to order please email the letters and colours you need to info@olivelovesalfie.co.uk and we will deliver them to you within a week.
We found our Christmas spirit by making strings and strings of different sized paper chains last week to hang in the window of our boutique in Stoke Newington. Our colour theme was influenced by creating a back drop for the long awaited arrival of a new collection from a newly launched designer in Denmark called Size Small. The most directional pieces of their collection have been made in grey marl with a touch of silver lame and are the coolest contemporary party wear for kids this Christmas. You will be able to check their new collection out on-line later this week. I sent a sneaky preview to one of our most loved customers and stylists as soon as the collection arrived. Sophie snapped up an ice dance jumpsuit for her daughter..
The collection looks great in our window displayed amongst our paper chains made from our signature blk and white stripped candy paper bags that we use for gift wrapping, retro inspired printed wrapping paper from Rice and recycled bubble wrap that takes on a vibrant pink hue from our pink fluroscent tube window lighting.
Just in case you have forgotten how easy it is all you need are strips of paper that you wrap around into bracelets and staple them together. Mix lots together for dramatic effect and experiment with combining different sizes, textures and colours together. The links of our biggest paper chains are almost 30 cm. Its a really fun thing to do with kids especially if everyone gets to pick their own paper and then mix in some recycled materials too.
When I am buying I love seeing how different people present their collections. Justine from Cotton and Milk told a lovely story with vintage props, black and white vintage photographs, metal coat hangers wrapped in ribbon and a huge vintage tin that she kept her stationery in. And the collection?…vintage inspired, beautifully styled and perfectly made merino wool pieces to treasure.
My Grandma had dozens of old biscuit tins and toffee tins that she kept her treasures in. I used to love looking through them every summer when I went to visit her in Lancashire. I still have some of them now with her button collection as it was probably 50 years ago. They have become memory boxes with hand written notes, cuttings from local newspaper, old watches and spectacle frames that all paint a picture of her life. At the age of 6 Olive is starting to be as interested in their contents as I remember being.
We had a lovely feature in the Sunday Times Style last weekend that featured our house in Hackney. Lots of the things we have at home are from our shop or from friends shops, others are vintage treasures and hand me downs that I have collected along the way, and others are things I collected during my days as a shoe designer when I used to travel regularly to the Far East.
Some people wanted to know more about the fantastic wall vinyl that I commissioned Ivy Bespoke to design for me; the Love and Peace posters from Dandy Star and Olives ark. What was a little more difficult was to tell people where I got the original vintage Miss Selfridges sign, carousel horse in Olives room or 30’s shop fittings because I started things in my late teens.
Contrary to the article I don’t buy things from Vintage Heaven but funnily enough I do Margaret know the lovely lady behind it all who always has time to chat. Vintage Heaven is just as it says and is in Columbia road one of my favourite streets in London. Margaret has an uncanny nack for finding midcentury crockery and kitchenware that seems to elude most of us. She also sells kitchen and bake ware that reminds me of my Grandma Oddies kitchen where we used to bake cakes and make toffee during our summer holidays in Lancashire. At the back of the shop you will find Cake Hole the aptly named east London tea room. A quiet haven away from the hustle and bustle of the Sunday flower market outside you will be spoilt for choice with scrumptious home-made cakes and cream teas.
- Vintage Heaven, 82 Columbia Road, London, open Friday and Saturday 12-6, Sunday 9-6.
- Cake Hole, 82 Columbia Road, London, open Saturday 12-6, Sunday 9-6.
Last week Bubble, a relatively new children’s trade show, came to town. I was thrilled to be invited as the to join Doria Mancon from Milk Magazine and Laura Kirkpatrick from CWB magazine to judge the “Stand Out Award” for the most inspiring designers stand.
I love the DIY, lo fi, low budget but imaginative approach to most things and clearly share a love of blackboards (more of that later!!!) with Poppy a quintessential British children’s wear label. When I saw their stand and their collection I loved it. Low budget brilliance was at its best with a tin of black board paint and a piece of chalk. Their imaginative design is something that could inspire some really creative interior spaces.
Just before I started to decorate Olive’s new bedroom I had spent a week in Japan researching for a new collection during my time as a footwear designer at Red or Dead. I have never quite managed to be in Tokyo to experience the beginning of the cherry blossom season but it is way up there on my list of things to do. I recently read a fantastic book called Hokkaido Highway Blues that talks about just that. If you are like reading travel stories or have an interest in Japan I would recommend it. It really is a hillarious and illuminating account of a hitchhiker’s trip through Japan. As I unpacked bright pink lanterns and a vintage kimono for Olive I wanted her bedroom to be inspired by one of my favourite places. I began thinking about painting a cherry blossom tree on the wall above Olive’s bed. The next day I ran into my friend Susanna Burton who is a scenic painter and as much as I would have loved to have had a go at painting it myself Susanna was looking for a kids room to paint and I knew she would do a fantastic job. We talked about the idea, the colours, the mood, we looked through some reference books together and this is what Susanna came up with. It has been on the wall for 3 years and Olive and I never tire of looking at it. I didn’t want it to be too pink so asked Susanna to incorporate some really dark shades and some black outlines to give it some depth and some character. We added a huge oversized moon that has a dreamy pearlised finish to it. Towards the top of the wall the pink gets progressively darker and the colour runs into a black line that runs around the top of the wall.
Susanna’s mural features in the 2008/2009 issue of the beautiful French book MILK – Styles of inspiration for contemporary families as well as the May 2009 issue of Junior Magazine.
http://www.milkmagazine.net
www.muralsoncanvas.co.uk
