Four days in Florence (Pt.1)

Posted on by
Reply

At the beginning of May we managed to get away for a long weekend. So we headed to the beautiful Tuscan city of Florence, (Firenze).

Over the years, so many people have told us that we would love it.
Well they weren’t wrong.
We were also told it never rains in Florence. That is untrue. When we arrived on the Saturday it was chucking it down. Really, really chucking it down.
It didn’t bode well for the trip, but luckily the next few days were… well, perfect really. Warm and sunny, but not too hot.
Anyway, to sum up Florence in a few words:  Architecture, culture, wine, style, great coffee, friendly waiters (on the whole), old narrow streets, museums, old shop/restaurant signage, historic pharmacies, wonderful handmade paper/stationery shops, and oh yeah, great front doors!
That last one’s a bit unusual i know but go with it.
Anyway,we’ll let the photos do (most) of the talking…
The fabulous Riva lofts, where we stayed. Lovely staff and free bikes to borrow!
Quite a treat………
Wonderful old Kodak branded gift shop…..
Abandoned cinema……….
We were really struck by the cool old signage everywhere in Florence…..
The shutters and aged patina of the walls……
Pharmacy of Santa Maria Novella, absolutely stunning skin care & toiletries packaging…
We became a little obsessed with apartment block entrances and antique brass doorknobs. I know. A bit odd…..
Stand alone photo booth…..
View from up at the Giardino Della Rose – is simply stunning. Bit of a walk though!…….
 Old entrance door buzzers are everywhere……
Most wonderful artists supply store ‘Zecchi’. Has been there for years and has supplied some of the old masters over the years…….

Brick Lane, London

Posted on by
5

Every now and again on a Sunday, for inspiration, we go up to the Brick Lane area of East London. Our usual route starts off at Columbia Rd flower market, for coffee and horticultural bargains, then down to Cheshire Street (via many quirky independent little shops) and onto the wonderful melting pot that is Brick Lane. Then, after taking in the beautiful old London architecture on the way, it’s a little further and we arrive at Old Spitalfields market. Here you’ll find pretty much any kind of cuisine, from anywhere in the world at one of the many food stalls. Really reasonable prices too. In the old market itself there are literally hundreds of stalls/shops selling anything from jewellery to clothes to vintage industrial furniture. Many of the stall holders are designer/makers on the first rungs of the ladder, so you don’t have to look too hard to find some original pieces. Anyway, during the day we’re always looking for the not so obvious photo opportunities. Here’s a few we took…..

Papillon Rouge Candles.

Posted on by
2

There’s a lot of scented candles out there these days, varying in price from £5 to £50 (also varying in quality). As far as we’re concerned a good scented candle should, most importantly, have an exquisite scent, and a nice even burn – without leaving a ‘circle’ of wax around the outside, and a wick that’s slowly disappearing down a hole! Great packaging is also vitally important these days, for a candle to stand out from the crowd, especially in the gift market…..

….so with that in mind, when we were in Paris earlier in the year, we discovered Papillon Rouge Candles. Made entirely in France, Papillon Rouge are a family run business, with a passion for home fragrance. They use exclusively 100% vegetable wax  (paraffin free) and their candles delicately scent your home with the most wonderful scents….

 We have a small selection of their scents that include: Orange Blossom, Cedar wood, Black Iris, Fig Tree Leaf, Woody Rose & Seashore. They come in handmade glass vessels in Black, white or Red (the red glass is a one off scent called ‘Love Addicted’ and Virginie at PR tells us you can only smell it if you are in love!)

Papillon Rouge are at the higher end of the candle market so consequently you will pay a little more (£35 each) but they are truly exquisite. Trust us!!

Rocks, Bullets & Spoons

Posted on by
1

So, our new stock has started trickling in over the last few weeks and now Valentine’s and Mother’s Day is behind us we can start to feature some of the more exclusive things we’ve had in. The following photos are pictures of Rosy Maddison’s new jewellery. Rosy hand makes them all individually. Every piece is unique, made from ‘found’ pieces – including antique spoons and brass bullet casings (discarded from a shooting range in L.A.)  All the stones used are semi precious stones, including Amethyst, Citrine, Clear Quartz, Pyrite and Black Tormelene.

Rock & Bullets Necklaces £32

Antique spoon necklaces,  £32

Stone Earrings £12

Stone Necklaces with vintage details. £32

New, old things.

Posted on by
Reply

Just updated the website with a few new vintage pieces we’ve given a new lease of life to and now in store. Particularly like the French steel desk with the shutter front, and the ‘Milners’ deed box with original keys. Check out our website for prices etc. Here’s a taster….

Paris – New York (Pt2)

Posted on by
Reply

It’s gotta be said, normally when we visit Nyc, one of the down sides is, it’s usually freezing. I mean really freezing. However for this trip, the weather couldn’t have been better.  Blue skies, bright sunshine and really mild temperatures. Like spring time in England. Perfect really. Little did we know however, what was waiting for us when we got back….. Anyway, we kind of thought after Paris it would be hard to beat, but no, it was as good. Better in many ways. The reasons being in no particular order:  (1) The hotel was fantastic; Soho Trump, a new hotel that borders Soho, West Village & Tribeca. It made getting around to the parts of the city that we love, easy. (2) The weather, the light was amazing for taking photos. (3) The flea market finds we bought and filled our suitcases with. (4) The food/new restaurants. If you’re ever anywhere near The Ace Hotel, stop by The Breslin and have lamb burgers. Awesome. Very cool place indeed.(5) Lastly, the trade show was fantastic too. We weren’t expecting to buy much, but we found such great stuff this time we couldn’t help ourselves! We’ll let you know more about that over the next few months. Meanwhile here’s some snaps we took…….

The hotel…

The view from the hotel….

Flea markets…

Walking back from the Javitz centre…..

View from inside ‘Restoration Hardware’….. Possibly my favourite store in NY.

‘ABC’ Always worth a visit when in NY….

Nolita….

Meatpacking district (Chelsea)…

Midtown….

9/11 Memorial. Breathtaking…….

Radio City Music Hall. Can’t walk past without taking at least a dozen photos…..

Cab ride back to JFK….

We’ll be posting more photos from these trips on our tumblr pages over the next few weeks.

Paris – New York (Pt 1)

Posted on by
2

Well, we’re half way through our buying trips now. We’ve had shows/fairs in & around London and recently returned from Paris. Without sounding cliched, we discover something new about this wonderful city every time we go there. I guess it’s the same with every great city. Anyway, here’s a few photos we took that will be going on our mood board for the coming season. We took a fair few pics in the Louvre – If you’re even slightly interested in art, architecture, or history, it really is stunning, well worth checking out. And absolutely huge! You really need a whole day to explore it properly. So here’s some things that inspired us………..

New In…..

Posted on by
Reply

Hopefully everyone is fully refreshed after Christmas! It’s already the middle of January and we’re pretty much back in the swing of it now and getting ready for the buying season ahead. Over the next few weeks we have trips/trade shows in New York, Paris & London (only up the road i know, but still, it is London!) Birmingham for a couple of days too….. So, loads of goodies to tempt you with over the next few months. Keep checking in here, we’ll keep you posted about new collections as we get them in! In the meantime, here’s a few new vintage pieces we’ve just finished & ready for sale!

Thank You

Posted on by
3

These last couple of months have turned out to be possibly our busiest & best Christmas shopping season ever! Hard to believe, in these hard economic times!

We have had such a great reaction and so many lovely comments over the last few weeks about what we’ve done with the shops. We are so grateful to you all!
It seems only fitting, that the last words this year should go to our small team of folks who have been quite wonderful these last few months. So to Deb M, Rebecca, Susan and Mr Alex Foley (the other Al!) Thanks for keeping us going…..We salute you.
See you in the New Year.
Al & Deb x
*By the way, we’ll be closed over the Christmas break until 10am, Wednesday 4th January 2012

Cote Bastide.

Posted on by
Reply

For those familiar with ‘Cote Bastide’ luxury scents, toiletries and candles, no words are needed. For those unfamiliar, all you really need to know about Cote Bastide products is that they are handmade in South of France (Provence), they are all made with natural ingredients, they are sold by some of the finest retailers around the world…….but most importantly, they are divine. We’ve recently had our Christmas delivery, so go on, spoil somebody!