It would be no exaggeration to say that graphic designer Margaret Calvert has saved hundreds of lives on Britain's roads. Born in South Africa in 1936, she worked with Jock Kinneir on the design of Britain's road and motorway signage system from 1957 to 1967. Above is the picture she recently contributed to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2010, adapting one of her road signs by replacing a man at
We are delighted to announce that friend of Avocado Sweet, Jill Ireland's new venture Life is Good opens for business tomorrow, 27 August. It is a bright little gem of a shop selling a gorgeous selection of homewares, clothes and art and it enjoys an enviable location right in the heart of the boutique and cafe scene of Edinburgh's Morningside. We wish Jill the very best of luck although, with
After five years of collection and curation This is Design opened on 24 August 2011. The Design Museum is displaying highlights of its collection including the road signs designed by Margaret Calvert and Jock Kinneir in 1965, the K6 telephone kiosk 1951, a quaint and very chunky-looking Apple Mac form 1997, a Moulton bike, circa 1960 and the vacuum cleaner designed by James Dyson. The exhibition which examines the
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If you didn’t know already that Scots born singer Angela McCluskey was a colourful character, a peek inside the jewel bright home she shares with film composer husband Paul Cantelon would soon tell you. The couple live in a riot of Bloomsbury-esque colour in this lovely New York loft overlooking the Hudson which very much reflects their vibrant and creative personalities. The lady of the house, Angela. Many thanks to
It’s not all rubbish in the world of bins you know. There’s some good stuff out there. What do you think of these daft refuse sacks, £10 from Suck UK? And for some killer bin style check out these bad boys by Wesco, £166 and £213 from Only-retro-bins. Funny how often a search for the stylish and the practical ends up with the old fashioned. Here’s a great looking old
Is there anything that can’t be improved by the addition of a stripe? This hammock is £55 from Deckchair Stripes, a company with an exceptional dedication to the stripe. Everything they produce from aprons to beach tents is striped in a fantastic range of colourways. The limited edition Kenwood Mixer, £469.99 from Amazon – why can’t all kitchen apppliances be this bright and beautiful? For wall to wall stripieness: this
So T in the Park has come round again: part music festival part survivalist challenge, it’s become a rite of passage for teenagers and would be teenagers across Scotland. If you are heading to Kinross this weekend ready to rough it, how about rocking up with one of these spectacular tents? Beyonce may have one the same… The Bubble Lodge by Pierre Stephane Dumas is an inflatable, see through affair
Products are increasingly made from unlikely materials; bicycles carved from mahagony, toilets built from poo, bridges constructed with cardboard, bathmats made from moss and sun loungers made from cork. It’s quite possible that a designer is probably already working on a tea pot made from chocolate that doesn’t melt. Designers have risen to the sustainability challenge by recycling products from all sorts of materials that don’t appear fit for purpose but
Welcome to the brightly coloured and slightly off kilter world of Nathalie Lete. In her workshop in Paris Nathalie uses different techniques and media from illustration and painting to ceramics and textiles. She describes her work as ‘naive and poetic’. She produces children’s and graphic books, knitted toys, painted dishes and rugs and her work is stocked in outlets around the world including, in the UK, Anthropologie, Couverture, Lapin and