Apologies for the recent radio silence – we’ve been having some tricky construction work done here at Avocado Sweet and it’s taken a bit longer than we expected. Hope you didn’t think we’d eaten and drunk ourselves into actual comas over the holidays! Should be all sorted soon though and we’ll be right back to daily posting.
Managing expectations is a good idea when it comes to present giving. This wrapping paper apologises in advance for the present inside. Available to download free from The Guardian this this week are wrapping papers designed by well-known artists. ‘Sorry’ is by Jeremy Deller. Below, Tacita Dean’s design is based on an image of a woman looking very uncomfortable on a sledge from a 100 year old German postcard, and below,
Most of us consider ourselves rather bold to have a brightly coloured ‘feature’ wall in our homes: Carnovsky, a Milan based artist/designer duo, invite you to go a whole lot further with these wild, wraparound 3D effect wallpapers. The papers are created using a technique in which three images overlap, each one in a primary colour. Together they create a deliberately disorientating and stimulating environment. Viewed through a filtered light
'Less mass, more data' is the slogan of Unto This Last, a Brick Lane furniture maker set to change the way we buy items for our homes. The company's aim is to provide the quality and originality of the craftsman's workshop at mass production prices. The 'D' chair above is just £90 and the 'LP' shelves below start at £60. Pieces are made on site using a special ply composite
Heartbroken at the the thought of the thick, richly fragranced oak of old whisky barrels being sold for firewood or, worse, sent to landfill, Jackie Dunsmuir and her team at Recycle Fife have created Barrel Crafted, a unique range of furniture and home accessories which includes cabinets, candleholders, benches, wine racks, stools and even birdhouses. The idiosyncratic collection, handcrafted to last in Lochgelly, is inspired by the contours and hues
There may have been times in your life when you have felt the need for a website with a name like Ikeahackers for venting your flat pack fury. Instead this website leaves you in awe at the skill and saintly levels of patience of the contributors who seem to find the Swedish instructions too easy – they go beyond the instructions …and then some to repurpose or 'upcycle' those Lack
Fun and happiness are noticeable by their absence in the world of design. Designers talk of clean lines, simplicity and functionalism but the other 'f' word and the 'h' word are usually missing from their lexicon. American designer Jonathan Adler spotted this gap in the design market and recently brought his brand of 'happy chic' to Britain with his first shop opening in London. His maximalist interiors take inspiration from
Husband and wife design team, John and Linda Meyers took inspiration from the 1970s for their home in Portland, Maine. Their sophisticated mining of the decade for the more stylish and often underated trends is featured here. John Meyers explained 'If everything was 70s it would be overwhelming. It's a more bohemian look – one of our biggest influences is Terence Conran's 1974 classic, The House Book. It shows the
Debunking Jon Savage's 'The decade that taste forgot,' (The Face, February 1988) is a book by Dominic Lutyens and Kirsty Hislop, 70s Style & Design. This book has rescued the decade from parody and presents it as a vitally important period in the creative arts. So forget the cliches of avocado suites for the bathroom and crimplene flares, this book argues that today's design owes a great debt to the
Swedish interiors store, Svenskt Tenn must have missed the Ikea campaign telling us to 'Chuck out the Chintz' because they have been busy importing floral fabrics from Britain since the 1930s. Above left, is Magnolia Black Linen from British company, GP&J Barker. The colourful pattern on the right with illustrations of wine, hops and tobacco plants is called 'Poisons'! Not an import from the UK, this was designed by the