LOST AND FOUND

Friend and fellow textiles lover Becky Oldfield has recently opened a fantastical new shop and studio space at 77 Tower Bridge Road. I popped in a couple of Saturdays ago and was blown away by the intricate and very charming world she has created. 

The wall tiles were discovered in the restoration of the shop, covered up by previous owners, and lovingly restored by her team of fellow creatives. Antique finds, design classics and vintage treasures are adorned with Becky's textile designs, quilts and London signage inspired objects and light boxes. It's a huge success and a brilliant sign of the times when independent designer are creating their own work and retail spaces to deliver their vision. Also very happy that she's chosen to stay in South East London!! Home of unaffected style and creativity!

Becky we salute you and your textile adventures! 
Lost and Found website: www.lostandfounddesign.co.uk

I heart Lucien Day

Textile designer Lucien Day makes me proud to be a British textile designer today.Her prolific career and imaginative, inventive and personal designs are an inspiration. If you're quick you can see a great collection of her work at the beautiful PM Gallery and House in Ealing, the exhibition shows work from her and her husband Robin Day's long careers in putting great British design on the map. The exhibition closes on the 4th of Sept, so be quick.

Towards the end of her career, Lucien stopped producing designs for printed textiles and tried out a new image making technique she called 'silk mosaics' using tiny squares of silk, tightly wrapped around cardboard and hand stitched together to create large, almost pixelated modern images. I have been lucky enough to sit and enjoy a coffee with some of these pieces, as they are hanging in the John Lewis Cafe in Kingston! A great reflection for the notoriety, popularity and accessibility of the Days work. Their connections with nature at the same time as industrial production, and total philosophy of good design are an inspiration and good blue print for any contemporary designer.

Hand Made in Britain

It's the Southbank centres anniversary of the festival of Britain this summer, the original festival was 60 years ago this year, it is also the anniversary of my mothers birth, also 60 years ago this summer, and also Made in Britain! 1951 was obviously a very good year.

I saw these signs that stood out to me, as how important making in Britain was in 1951, and how we have somewhat lost this today. I do feel a shift though, we have mass unemployment and a new appreciation for goods made within the UK, add those together and you get, perhaps a somewhat naive dream of a solution! I want us to become an island of makers again! We need to teach our children the value of making, we need to support our factories, mills and production sites, and we need makers to communicate the joys and rewards of making, and the value in products that have had a human if local touch.

There's lots of great things going on down there, I missed the Honey Festival last weekend, but am heading down there now to see what I can find.

Peckham Peace Wall

There was a fleeting moment last Monday when I wanted to just leave London and run for the hills, I though the community and creativity and strength of the people that I believe in had evaporated. Sitting in my flat watching the riots on TV with all of my local shops boarded up, waiting to see if we were next.... I didn't want to stay here any more.

But now I go around my area and community and I see things like this Peace wall in Peckham and I see kids on school holidays making films about their area on their phones, and now I know I don't want to leave. I want to help get things better. To 'be the change I want to see in the world'. 

This shop on Rye Lane in Peckham had it's windows smashed in by rioters last Monday, the local public reacted by covering the then boarded up windows in reasons that they love Peckham. Now this board and these people have become one of the reasons that I love Peckham! And FYI I wont be leaving London!!