Avocado Sweet is delighted to be giving away this Celia Birtwell book as a competition prize. The book was published by Quadrille this week (3 October 2011) and is worth £30. As you might expect from a textile designer, the hardback book is a piece of beautiful design in itself filled with colourful sketches and designs from throughout her career. The book charts her life, from working with husband and
Just to add to the seasonal confusion that has arisen with record high temperatures at the start of October 2011 here are some beach huts. At the end of September Coast magazine announced the winners of their national beach hut competition. Beach hut owners are evangelical about their little sheds of paradise. Such is their popularity that there are over 23,000 beach huts in the UK and the figure is increasing
If interiors voyeurism is your thing then there's loads of private houses as well as public buildings to nosey around on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 September as part of Open House London Weekend. Fashion designers Antoni & Alison's Georgian home (pictured above and left) in Southwark is open on the Saturday. Pictured below is the show-stopping staircase from a Victorian house in Battersea. Designed by Alex Haw of atmosstudio.com,
Not sure whether to describe the Long Beach Free Store as a new idea or an old one but when it opened for business on 14 August it certainly attracted an eager crowd of customers. The concept behind the Californian, volunteer-run project is that customers can simply take what they need from the store, which stocks clothing, household goods, books, games and media. They can donate items in exchange, as
In the face of the increasingly bland, samey look of our high streets, an interesting new website – Look Above! – is issuing a call to action: a call for us all to take a look around our towns’ and cities’ centres to recognise the beauty and structural marvels that often survive above generic shop fronts. They are looking for contributions from anyone, whether you are a budding photographer, an
by Nicki Slater, The Imagination Workshop *** It’s been an amazing month and I am astounded by how things have changed after a sunny spell. Everything looks so much happier for some warm sun, rain and my organic liquid feeding: all leaves are now a healthy green and everything is flowering. We have started harvesting in earnest and are eating courgettes, beetroots (both roots and leaves), potatoes, broad beans, lettuce,
Tilda Swinton in I AM LOVE, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. Described by Xan Brooks for The Guardian as ‘being a bit too tasteful’, the movie I Am Love, starring Tilda Swinton is still an opulent and sumptious visual feast if you are interested in design, interiors and fashion. Some found the measured pace of the plot frustrating but the styling of the house and the
Well I’m not sure where to start this month. Things are looking bleak on our patch and I’m feeling very despondent. I read somewhere recently that allotmenting is a marathon and not a sprint, if that is true then I have reached the wobbly legged stage when you think all is lost. All the green bean, courgette and pumpkin plants that I was so pleased with in my spare room
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According to Amy Sedaris, it’s often said that ugly people craft and attractive people have sex. But in her new book Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People she does for crafting what she did so successfully for entertaining in her bestseller I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence. Described as a subversive take on the made-by-hand movement, Sedaris shows that anyone with a couple of hours to kill and access