Category Archives: retail interior design

SPOTTED – screenprinted vintage mirrors of asintended

Posted on by
Reply

We adore finding beautiful, handcrafted pieces to feature here on The Ecospot, or for the projects we work on with our clients. We are particularly in love with anything letterpress inspired, and this traditional way of printing often crops up in our projects in some way or another.

she stood in the storm

So we were delighted when we spotted these gorgeous letterpress inspired screenprinted vintage mirrors by graphic studio asintended, who we discovered on an Artists Open House trail in Brighton.

Using vintage mirrors  the studio prints inspirational quotes over the top to create a beautiful decorative, reflective piece with stacks of depth.

she stood in the storm

Perhaps not the mirror you would choose for a bathroom  but we are thinking about this for a hallway, or even a kitchen diner space to add a bit of extra character and to bounce the light about.

Stunning – and one we will be specifying without doubt. Contact asintended for further information on the mirrors or the other great letterpress prints in the studios collection.

(image via asintended)

Wednesday Walls – beautiful Pythagoras wallpaper

Posted on by
Reply

Today on Wednesday Walls we are looking at a brilliant wallpaper which would be perfect for an eclectic interior. The pick was also inspired by a particular scene we witnessed this week whilst at the University of Sussex marking the Product Design 2013 Show…

Wandering along a corridor, we happened to pass through a corridor which formed part of the Physics department. Instead of the desks of people working quietly, there was a scene of a group of students frantically scribbling equations over a wall wide chalk board. Laughing, joking, doing physics. What they were actually doing totally escaped us, but the image of the wall was beautiful.

So when we spotted this aptly named ’Pythagoras‘ Wallpaper over at Rockett St George we knew we had to feature it on Wednesday Walls. A little bit eclectic, a little bit Victorian Steam Punk, it was the closest we would ever get to a wall of physics.

Navigator Collection Pythagoras Wallpaper available in Charcoal, Stone and Taupe

And along with the taupe and stone colourways, it is also available in our favourite shade of charcoal, as pictured above, for only £39 per 10m roll.

A bargain for a nice and unusual wallpaper and much cheaper than having an in house physics professor. A perfect addition to an eclectic interior.

(image via Rockett St George)

weekend colour inspiration – grey and mustard yellow colour scheme

Posted on by
Reply

There are a few pairs of colours that are just perfect together. Dark grey and mustard yellow in a colour scheme is one of those parings - demonstrated beautifully by this image we spotted on Pinterest.

This has to be one of our favourite images at the moment. The dark grey wall has a great depth and almost warmth, making it the perfect foil for the rest of the pieces. Textural interest is brought into the mix with the varieties of timber, in pale to deep and the grey is able to hold all the colours together in a harmonious way.

But the true stars of the shot are the dark grey and the mustard yellow. They are just a perfect pairing.

Highlighted with a little pop of pink and turquoise blues, in essence you have got an almost 50′s inspired colour scheme, but interpreted in a very modern way. The Hare print brings all the colours together and ties each piece neatly into one.

A wonderful eclectic interior design image - and one of our all time favourite colour scheme images featured here on weekend colour inspiration.

Yet another colour scheme that shows just why dark grey is one of our favourite colours.

(image by Armille Habib for Fenton and Fenton Rugs)

Weekend Colour Inspiration – accidental combinations

Posted on by
Reply

Colour is a very personal thing. Colours that I love together, you could absolutely hate. Colour links into the deepest of our memories – just like a scent can transport us to a particular point in our lives, colours can take us back there too.

But sometimes we think just a little too hard about colour – and colour combinations and what ‘goes’ well together. There is a great deal to be said for the accidental and the slight clashing nature of some pairings when you are just not thinking about it. And this can be really exciting.

This image we found illustrates this perfectly – when you look at each of the colours as they sit together, there are a few really odd sections, but overall? The colours sort of blend and work as a whole, because they are all part of a similar palette – in this case, almost autumnal.

This kind of treatment is perfect for a charity shop find, or to rejuvenate a cabinet that has seen better days and is very fitting for the eclectic interior design aesthetic that we tend to work with. If the cabinet is nicely battered too and has lovely cup handles like the example above, then it sort of gets a little industrial too, which is only a good thing in our books.

(image via 16 house)

Weekend Colour Inspiration – vintage book graphic colour schemes

Posted on by
Reply

We have lots of sayings that we like to use in the studio. From ’work hard and be nice to people’ to ‘why fit in when you were born to stand out?’, but my personal favourite has to be a quote from the wonderful Paul Smith.

‘You can find inspiration in everything. And if you can’t, look again’

Which is how I explain our obsession with taking photos of everything. Everything. Things, textures, fonts. Natural or man made. Design, fashion, architecture. Because you never know where your next spurt of inspiration will come from.

And whilst on our recent trip to Amsterdam we filled our phones with lots and lots and lots of stuff - many of which have featured here on the Ecospot in various forms.

IMG_1835

So today we are looking at another three images from the Dutch collection – three books which we spotted in an antique book fair in Amsterdam and just loved. We are suckers for nice colour combinations and nice fonts, so these were real winners and out came the phone…

IMG_1832

Despite their age, the colours were remarkably vibrant and were quite beautiful. The pale blue, greys and whites on the Texel book really appealed to me (lovely grey again…), but the rich oranges, reds and greens were stunning. The juxtaposition between the colours was inspiring and illustrations, well, you could have easily framed them.

IMG_1833

So this week we are not really showcasing a particular colour scheme  but a process – look at everything around you – explore, take photos, cut images from magazines  And not just of a finished design – stuff.

It is that ‘stuff’ that you will look back on one day and discover the germ of a new idea. Because you really can find inspiration in everything. And if you can’t, look again.

(images by claire potter design)

Weekend Colour Inspiration – 50 shades of grey

Posted on by
2

Well, not quite 50 shades of grey, but still a hell of a lot. This week on Weekend Colour Inspiration we are looking at the colour grey and the incredible variations we spotted whilst on our Amsterdam trip.

IMG_2042

We adore the colour grey – despite the banded about 50 shades, the human eye can actually see and differentiate between around 500 shades of grey. It is a wonderful, alternative neutral colour, which can be a perfect foil for brights in both interior and exterior spaces.

IMG_1944

Whilst on our trip, I noticed just how many shades of grey adorned the Dutch houses, shop fronts and in the landscaping. Plus, just how these lovely grey junctions sat, side by side and so I began to document a few.

IMG_1984

Junctions between houses. Walls and floors. Signage. Grey was everywhere. And we loved it.

IMG_1986

Perhaps because our skies in the UK are so often grey, we generally associate grey with being flat and dull, which is unfair. It is celebrated in the Netherlands (whose light is not that dissimilar to ours) - and it looks sophisticated and rich.

IMG_1941

So, instead of using just one shade of grey, why not look at bringing different shades together, light grey with dark, textured grey with smooth.

IMG_2041

(images by claire potter)

 

Wednesday Walls – the Flax Lamp

Posted on by
Reply

This week on Wednesday Walls we are featuring a beautiful light we spotted at Hotel Droog whilst on a recent trip to Amsterdam. We are calling this a wall light, but really, it is so much more and could hang just a happily from the centre of the room.

The Flax Lamp by designer Christien Meindertsma is quite simply, a light with a flex contained within the core of a large rope. It looks very utilitarian and industrial. And we loved it.

IMG_2015

What is also lovely about this light is that the flax which makes up the rope is grown, processed and constructed into the rope in the Netherlands itself.

Flax was a very important material for the Dutch in previous years, with the fibres being a real backbone to the native textile industry, but now it is farmed on a smaller scale with the majority of the product being shipped to China.

The Flax Lamp uses a traditional process, a traditional rope maker and traditional material in a way which is relevant to 21st century design and way of living, just like the Godogan Table we featured yesterday.

This reinvention of craft is how we can ensure that skills are not lost, but reinterpreted with modern design.

(image by claire potter design)

delicate connections at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

Posted on by
1

When a museum needs to extend its footprint there are a great deal of decisions which are critical to the success of the project. We are not personal fans of the ‘pastiche’ style extension, preferring a piece of modern architecture which is sensitive to the original building. So for our first post from our recent trip to Amsterdam, we are looking at the fantastic extension to the Stedelijk museum.

IMG_1869

Built in 1895, the Stedelijk forms part of the green and open museum quarter, sitting alongside the soon to be open, newly updated Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum, which is also currently undergoing large renovations.

Housing an extremely comprehensive collection of contemporary art and design, the Stedelijk was in dire need of a new extension, which doubled the size of the museum and was completed in 2012.

Whilst the new extension raised a few eyebrows, with some people likening it to the underside of a bathtub, the internal space is quite stunning.

IMG_1919

We were very taken with the quality of the space inside the extension, but were particularly taken with the connection details between the original 1895 building and the new, white and glass extension.

IMG_1867

The external detail around the top of the extension allows a lovely ‘breathing space’ between the roof detail of the original building, with a glimpse of sky reinforcing the gap.
Stedelijk

Inside, looking upward, there is a flexible rubber edged glazed detail which runs around the junction between both buildings – acting as both a metaphorical and practical ‘cushion’. The separation is sensitive and the rubber allows the buildings to move independently from one another.

IMG_1921

This sensitivity extends into the internal refurbishments  where both spaces flow beautifully with no visual jarring. They feel as one.

Even though the external appearance of the new section of the Stedelijk might not be to everyone’s taste, we think this extension is a wonderful example of how extensions should be done. With delicacy, sensitivity and with respect for the original building.

(images by claire potter design)

Wednesday Walls – wooden peg board wall

Posted on by
Reply

Utility styled design has to be a real studio favourite (right down to the new ‘utility’ fashion trend), with industrial, clean lined and organised interiors pushing our buttons. Great materials are key - timber, metal, exposed brickwork, peg board – and function is at the heart of all those selected.

And whilst at Ecobuild last week we found that this styling was being used for quite a few of the exhibition stands, with bare timber and steel fixings being employed very nicely indeed.

thread 1

There was another stand that caught our eye for it’s simplicity and effectiveness using just two materials - perforated birch faced plywood as a peg board and coloured thread.

thread 2

Using nails and thread, the signage had been stitched 3D onto the surface of the board, creating a very tactile section which contrasted well with the smooth birch.

But these perforated boards are also really great additions to areas in need of organising – think kitchens, offices and workspaces – where they can have hooks, storage boxes and even adjustable shelves added. These have the beauty of being adjustable, so your space can alter to your exact needs.

plain plastic cups - drill 2 holes in them and use zip ties through the peg board to keep them in place...

And with any open display, you have to ensure that you are organised and tidy, so even though this type of peg board system is on show, you are far more likely to keep things where they live…

(images by claire potter and via associated links)

Weekend Colour Inspiration – a wall of coloured tiles

Posted on by
1

This week on Weekend colour inspiration we are going all out with one image we found on Pinterest. It is a complete riot of colour, and we think it would be a fantastic scheme to utilise perhaps a whole range of coloured tiles which are end of lines, left over from other projects, or possibly even factory seconds?

Peyton & ByrneLondon

The most important thing with this type of colour scheme is to choose only coloured tiles in exactly the same size – the colours themselves are something which is far less important.

You could take all the colours you have, arrange them carefully to ensure that there are no strange colour clashes, then apply then to the wall, but unfortunately this can create a really contrived look.

Do not worry about which coloured tile goes where. Grab one, apply one. There will be happy accidents of great combinations and some really odd ones. This is the magic of such a scheme.

This is also a perfect way to fill one wall to create a really impactful surface as it could get a little bit too kaleidoscope for a whole room.

So, take a look at your tiles and mix it up a bit.

(image via Coloriz)