Rare as hen's teeth

The Egg sofa was designed by Arne Jacobsen for the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen. Available now only by special order. The standards of production and sourcing of leather (here a huge, flawless hide is required) are of the highest quality. The sofa, like the Egg and Swan chair, is hand stitched along the sides so only a very limited number can be produced. The Egg sofa is also available in fabric.


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Ettore Sottsass

A conversation with architect and designer Ettore Sottsass about his curation of the exhibition of Cartier design at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. He also discusses the influence of postmodernism on his work and his designs in Italy.

Charlie Rose 29/11/2004

Jansen Furniture

A fantastic catalogue of the furniture favoured by the decorators of Maison Jansen. This is a decorator's dream come true. Though, one can not help but feel that archival records must be lacking as there are noticeable gaps. That said, this is still a vital record. Not only of the legendary firm, but also of the components necessary to a type of decorating that is virtually nonexistent today.

As an added bonus Acanthus Press is offering a 10% percent holiday discount on their titles with a further 10% percent being donated to selected charitable organisations.

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Mystery solved

Here we have two very similar fabrics.

The top image is of Fauve by Clarence House, which is printed on a smooth upholstery weight cotton with a soft hand.

The bottom two images are of Arbre de Matisse by China Seas. Printed on a linen ground with a slightly stiffer hand, and which is also available in the reverse.
The reverse is the original print that Billy Baldwin used in Woodson Taulbee's living room, not the very similar Fauve which is more flowing in its design.

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Paint by numbers

World of Interiors (December 2007) has spotlighted one of my favourite books, Colour and Interior Decoration by Basil Ionides published in 1926 by Country Life. I think part of my love of this book was due to its obscurity. Say poof to obscurity! I first discovered it about seven years ago because of an odd little book called The New Mauve, by Simon Grennan and Val Williams. Among the highlighted designers of yesteryear, such as Constance Spry and Syrie Maugham, were these bizarre color recipes for rooms. What made them bizarre was not their combinations (which are in fact quite fabulous) but their preciseness. Everything was detailed, even down to the type of art one would need to finish the room. These recipes were credited to Derek Patmore's Colour Schemes for the Modern Home, published by Studio, New York 1933. In my search for the Patmore book I came across the earlier work by Ionides which was delightful from start to finish. Content with my find, needless to say, I ceased my search for what I can only presume was a take on the original.

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Caught In Time

Images © National Museum & Gallery, Cardiff

The father and son collaboration of Leopold (1822-1895) and Rudolph Blaschka (1857-1929) produced some of the most beautiful examples of natural history specimens ever created. The Blaschkas not only supplied the Harvard Botanical Museum with some 4,400 replica flowers, but over a period of 50 years they created thousands more of their remarkably realistic glass flowers and sea creatures for both private collections and natural history museums as far afield as India.

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Miss Daisy, I presume

For my sixteenth birthday I received a fully restored black 1964 T-Bird (identical to the one below); a huge style statement for one so young, to be sure. Thankfully, I appreciated it as much then as I do now. I have owned five cars in my life and have managed to total four of them; not always my fault, I hasten to add. Car number three is not included on the wreckage list because I lost it in LA. For the life of me I could not remember where I had parked it. I'm sure that car was stolen; some might say rescued.


Despite my dismal record and the fact I am a terrible driver, I do love an old car. I love the 1964 T-Bird because it was the car from the old Perry Mason television drama; so unashamedly American. If we lived in the states I would have another one in a heartbeat.


The Citroen DS is one of the chicest cars ever made. Both of my Grandparents had one when we lived in Paris. My Grandfather's was black with a black interior and my Grandmother's was black with a red interior. So recherche. I do think, though, they are best suited to the Continent. Even with a driver, conducting one of those down the rat runs that pass for streets here in London would be just too harrowing.


The Morris Traveler, so English and so perfectly suited to life here. I love them.



And finally the Nissan Pao, just perfect in its retro styling. Though, I would only have a cream one. Not terribly butch, but far better than any new car out there. New cars are now just too vulgar, period.
Cars are like dogs they should be chosen because they match your nature and character. Some will be harder work than others, but ultimately your life will be far richer for having had them.
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