Audrey Tautou

There is no-one who makes me wish I was French more than Audrey Tautou and after being enchanted by her in the Chanel No 5 advert out come the all black ensembles, nude make-up and tousled hair.

She is effortlessly and unpretentiously the epitome of class, style and French beauty.

Who could more perfectly sum up everything that is Chanel?

In my moleskin

While looking through past sketchbooks I came across this illustration that I did a few years back. Its not quite my usual style but there is something that I really like about it but never pursued. So thats my current challenge to experiment with. After playing around with coloured pens for a while I moved onto watercolours. 

Rather Schiele-esque but its breathing new life into my sketchbook.

www.humanoid.nl

I have stumbled across Humanoid on so many occasions over the past weeks and everything about their simple, elegant but unusual basics is pretty much perfection. No garment is over or under designed, but beautifully wearable, unique and the fabrics perfect.

Trawling through every page of their website leaves me with two thoughts, firstly I want everything in particular a pair of grey leather ankle boots, secondly I wish this was my company.

Latest Magpie Collection

Mystery Boots

A girl walked past me wearing these boots today. I've only ever seen them twice, but I am utterly obsessed with them. Where can I find them!?...

Bracelets To Punch With

These pieces are taken from a collection that I've been working on for Magpie London Jewellery entitled Bracelets To Punch With.

... shortly launching at www.magpie-london.co.uk 

Mario Testino

While trying to avoid appearing obsessed with Natalia Vodianova, I absolutely loved the Mario Testino shoot in British Vogue, May 09. I have always marveled at the way Testino can capture such beauty, perfection, mystery and reality in a single shot. 

... If Only I Had Designed This

When thinking about good design and what inspires me, there is one image that comes to mind, one which I will never forget and never stop being totally in awe of.

Crudely industrial, yet elegant and beautiful, each Heinz Julen Chandelier is unique and stunning, simple, yet unlike anything else ever designed.

When paired with the beautifully creative cinema/gallery/cocktail bar that is The Vernissage, Zermatt Switzerland, then you have total perfection.

Inside or out?

Following a previous conversation I have been contemplating my feeling towards plants indoors a lot this week, my verdict being that I would rather avoid living in a dusty and overgrown jungle of mismatched greens and dying flowers. However, after coming across images of Ryue Nishizawa's office in  Some Ideas on Living in London and Tokyo by Stephan Taylor I am now ready to hit the garden centre. 

This space is fresh, clean and most importantly alive. Something no furniture could quite achieve.

The Start of Magpie

This was a piece I created a few years ago from which came my jewellery line Magpie, slightly less ambiguous and rather more wearable.

Francois-Marie Banier for Diane von Furstenberg

Rarely do I see an advert that deserves a second glance, let alone one that ends up plastered on my wall.

Maybe it is the blatant avoidance of "advertising", maybe its the simple elegance of Natalia Vodianova or maybe it is just the beauty of it as an artwork. Whatever, I fell in love not only with the campaign and the artist but also with DVF despite not having seen a single image from her collection.

Now that is good advertising.