www.channel4.com/programmes/glamour-puds/

Here are some stills that we styled from the shows…

Eric and the team filmed some parts of the show around Europe, working with some great chefs along the way including the renowned Michel Roux junior.  It was a great job to work on as Eric and the production team were lovely and the puds were delicious!

Credits: Fashion model, Mary Katrantzou for EnglishVogue; Face cushions, c/o If it’s Hip it’s Here; Chinaware, Habitat; Louis chairs, Teo Jasmin c/o Fresh Home; Lamps, Plumo; Digital wall print & chair illustration, Max55

What has influenced your flamboyant design throughout the years?
Well, flamboyance! I love the term flamboyance, it’s a word that actually weirdly means something very specific in an architectural context; it means a flaming arch, derived directly from French gothic architecture. It’s such a great word, it’s got a wonderful rhythm to it. My inspiration is feel-good design, it’s feel-good design with a good healthy dose of bump and grind to it. I like things to be grown-up, sexy, fun and exuberant. I don’t like things to be understated. I hate roundhead designs, it’s cavalier designs that make me get up in the morning.

How have you created a range that is individual to Matalan?
Every collection has a very strong identity to it. The first collection was called Black Chateaux, then we had Hollywood Rose, we’ve now got Opera and I’m working on Tsar at the moment, and I think that’s pretty critical to the fact that they work so well. It’s that I approach them as haute couture products. They are about expressing a very particular fantasy, if you like. Everything in each collection is there as part of an interior lifestyle jigsaw that’s happening in the back of my mind, that conjures up a particular association. So at the moment with the Opera collection everything is about femininity, it’s about theatricality, it’s about making big emotional statements, all to the background of extraordinarily big bad beautiful music.

Who is your favourite designer?
Nicky Haslam.

What are your tips for 2010 interior design?
Assemble your room like you assemble your outfit, so take bits from all over your experience. Buy stuff at airports, get stuff on holiday, go to car boot sales, go to the sales. Buy expensive things and put them next to very accessible affordable things from my range at Matalan. But have an overwhelming idea of identity behind it. Who do you want to be through your interior? Do you want to be an opera diva, do you want to be a Tzarina, do you want to be a Hollywood movie star? Express a personality through interior decoration.

How do you feel you have made your mark/ influence on your range for Matalan.
Everything I’ve got in the ranges has my design DNA in it and this is one of the reasons that I love working so closely with the team at Matalan – I’m encouraged to leave my mark, there’s no hint of what I do being ‘em-beiged’ by the buying or design teams, it’s intensified almost.

What is your favourite room in the home to design and why?
I love bedrooms because I think that they are a inner sanctum.

How do you gather daily inspiration?
I think that the secret of design is to be constantly aware of what surrounds you and remember it. I’m very lucky; my greatest resource is having an extremely good memory. I can remember architectural details, I can remember colours, elements that then sit around in the bouillabaisse that happens between my ears and occasionally randomly things float to the surface in the most odd and unusual combinations, that then become the basis of a new creative idea.

How do you collate new ideas?
The secret is not to control it or deliberately collate it. It’s not to see something and say right I’m going to do that, or right I’m going to be inspired by that, or indeed right I’m going to copy that. Actually the best thing you can possibly do is to be constantly inputting down loading information and just leaving it to ferment in your torpid imagination until it becomes pure grains of booze.

What has been your favourite design project?
It’s always the one I’m working on.

What was your inspiration behind the collection?
I take my inspiration for each collection from different areas of my cultural life. It’s also a lot to do with the way people are feeling about themselves. We’re about to move into a phrase for spring/summer where people are wanting to be a lot more exuberant with the way that they decorate their homes and also the way they entertain. It’s not about spending money, and this is the big joy with Matalan, that it’s not about the money – it’s the design. By the time we get to autumn/winter I’m creating this personality, this identity based around the doomed, decayed, decadent but extraordinarily beautiful world of the last Tzars in Russia. Imperial Russia with its sparkling jewel colours and heavy ornate patterns I think is perfect for autumn/winter 2010.

How are they such good value?
The economies of scale and the very intelligent clever buying principles means that these things can be created at very little cost. We use a lot of modern technology, we use a lot of modern materials to give a grand historical style, the kind of availability and accessibility that people want at out price point.

What would you say is your all time favourite design piece?
The Great bed of Ware in the Victoria & Albert Museum.

What is the most expensive item you’ve bought?
That’ll be a 17th Century manor house.

Have you ever made any major design faux pas
Yes but I’m not owning up to any of them!

Interview by Elizabeth Danon

-We were asked to style an advertorial for Marie Claire but passed the job over to a good friend of mine as it’s a bit too soon after the baby.
-We are hoping to interview Jamie Oliver for the blog about his new homeware collection – I’ll keep you posted on this one…
-We now have 8 weeks to go until the pub renovation is due to be completed.  I am going to be pass the job over to a stylist friend as sadly with my little one being poorly, I don’t have time to work on it.  Luckily the whole design is planned and all that needs doing is the propping and styling (the best bits!).
-We had an exciting meeting with Gloss Media who will now be looking after all the advertising for Pippa Jameson Interiors

When I think of eco, I think of recycled materials, second hand things, the outdoors, growing your own food and saving energy, It makes for innovative, fun and interesting ideas and I think it brings out the best in people. We are born into a consumerist world which pushes us to buy new products all the time, wasting resources and damaging the planet, so at a time like this making the shift to recycled products or eco friendly products and really thinking about our purchases will help improve quality of life. Interiors have become the focus as we spend more time at home, using our dining rooms having friends to dinner, making our bedrooms luxurious and concentrating on the enjoyment and reward we can get from this. We want sustainable and reliable products that will last and be functional. I have searched around for the best interior products that go with these values.

The innovative sky planter from Eco Centric, is not only a space saver but an unusual and fun way of holding plants and herbs which also holds it’s on water reservoir meaning it “self waters”.

I’m an avid cheese fan and love this board from Love Eco, which is made from the shelves reclaimed from the Old Library at Selwyn College, interesting bit of history and useful!

My previous post talked about large light bulbs making a comeback and here we have the eco friendly version from Eco Centric.

I’m loving this statement cushion made from 100% recycled plastic bottles!This “charming” Chiwawa is filled with wheat and lavender. You put it in the microwave and the heat can last for two hours.

http://www.love-eco.co.uk/products/prince-the-hot-dog

Very cool recycled tyres to use as garden planters or inside for wood or maybe magazines; available from Eco Outlet

Out to the garden we go and a couple of snazzy products to keep your garden in perfect order; a garden planner and recycled plant labels, both from Eco Outlet.

Lilly & Lime compost bucket

Garden Milk bottles from Pure Design Company

Eco paint from Ecotopia

Recycling bin from Eco Centric

Solar Fairy lights from Nigels Eco Store

Feature by Liz Danon

I came across the company after the birth of my second daughter when I was on the hunt for a stylish baby changing bag.  They have a wide collection of bags including cosmetic bags, handbags, baby changing bags, weekend bag and travel wash bags.  All the designs are modern and bright with a slight retro feel.

London Bag

Traveller wash bag

Enter the competition

To get your hands on one of the stylish designs, all you have to do is answer the following question and complete your details.

(* Required)

How many designs does the washbag come in?	One Two Three Four
First name*
Surname*
Your email*
D.O.B (DD/MM/YY)*
Address*
Town*
County*
Postcode*
Telephone number*
Please enter the folowing characters:

Full competition terms and conditions apply:

1. No purchase necessary – free prize draw.

2. Closing date for free prize draw 01/04/10.

3. Winners will be picked at random from all entries received.

4. Winners will be notified 7 seven days after the closing date by either email or phone.

5. One entry per household. Duplicate entries will be removed.

6. There are no cash alternatives.

7. These prizes are non transferable and non refundable.

8. Offer open to residents of UK mainland only aged 18 years and over.

9. Allow 30 days for postage.

10. In the event that any prizes become unavailable, they may be replaced by a suitable alternative.

12. Promoter’s decision is final and in the event of a dispute, no correspondence will be entered into.

13. Prize draw not open to employees of Alfonso de Nicola or Pippa jameson Interiors

14. Note, in entering this competition you are agreeing to subscribe to our newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time but must receive a newsletter in order to do this.

15. Entries must supply a valid email address.

Anyone with an interest in textiles will love this exhibition, below is a little bit more information about the event:

Handmade Interiors (in association with Handmade in Britain) is very excited to announce the forthcoming exhibition – IPEK (which means silk in Turkish) as part of their initiative to promote and support Contemporary Designer-makers. Handmade Interiors will host the exhibition in their Cheshire Street store, showcasing ‘one off’ or limited edition pieces designed by British and Turkish textiles and fashion artists. The pieces will be available for purchase during the exhibition.  As the name suggests the designers will draw inspiration from eastern influences and the products on show will range from fashion accessories to soft furnishings and interiors products made in silk. The exhibition will run alongside our permanent product ranges of contemporary design art ceramics, exclusive home textiles and interior accessories.  The exhibition opens on 11th March with a private view from 6.00 – 9.00pm. The exhibition runs until 28th March (opening hours 11.00 – 6.00pm).

Handmade Interiors
Established by Indian textile designer, Piyush Suri and Turkish interior designer, Burcu Akin in October 2008, Handmade Interiors is an exciting new collaboration between “Handmade in Britain” and “Orientum” which offers natural, handmade and contemporary ethical home and personal accessories and new and vintage lifestyle products.

Following the successful launch of its gallery on Cheshire Street, Handmade Interiors has recently introduced an eco-friendly, contemporary interior design service ranging from “Room Styling and Consultancy” to “Total Interior Design and Project Management”.  Handmade Interiors brings together indigenous handcrafts and contemporary design in unique and affordable way with a focus on fair trade practices in the field of interior design.

IPEK – THE STORY OF SILK
Dates: 11th – 28th March 2010
Venue: Handmade Interiors, 10 Cheshire Street, London E2 6EH

I’m a sucker for fairy lights as they are not only pretty in a gollum like “precious” way, but also versatile and very subtle. They are flattering and create the sort of glamorous effect you might get from a theatrical mirror. These orchid lights would look beautiful above the bed or around a mirror.

Something that I have noticed recently is the back to basics of interior design and in lighting, the simple use of large light bulbs on dimmers. We often shade and disguise light but with simple design elements being pushed to the forefront, the light bulb seems to have come out of the shadows.

The laser bulb, previously featured in the Christmas gift guide is still a firm favourite of mine which you can get from click shop.

The floor lamps that seem to be very i for 2010 are the brightly coloured variety, which I think you need a lot of guts to place in a room and you certainly cannot be colour shy.

And now, going slightly off track, I came across this series of unique crystal lamps by Pieke Bergmans, with Royal Leerdam Crystal and Solid Lighting.

These light bulbs have been “Infected by the dreaded Design Virus“, creating all kinds of shapes and sizes through blown glass. I love the way they seem to have naturally blobbed and formed according to their surroundings.

And finally a quick peek at another exciting designer who also sees light in a different way – Victor Bodea has created these unique cases for lights to provide a  solution to the problem of light dimmers through the sleekly designed Cache Cache lamp, which in French stands for “hidden”. It uses a zipper to control the amount and direction of light.

Feature by Elizabeth Danon

]]> http://www.pippajamesoninteriors.co.uk/2010/lighting/lighting-to-suit-all-tastes-and-budgets/feed/ 0 http://www.pippajamesoninteriors.co.uk/2010/events/exhibition-of-emerging-talent/ http://www.pippajamesoninteriors.co.uk/2010/events/exhibition-of-emerging-talent/#comments Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:13:16 +0000 pippa http://www.pippajamesoninteriors.co.uk/?p=3241

Craft London
Exhibition of Emerging Talent 8-19 March 2010
Venue: Craft Central, 33-35 St John’s Square, London EC1M 4DS

This is definitely an exhibition worth visiting; amongst many other designers, Laura Felicity will be exhibiting at Craft London’s ‘Emerging New Talent’ Exhibition.  There will be twelve up and coming designer-makers presenting their work, all of whom cover a variety of disciplines.

Laura Felicity will be exhibiting her bespoke modern elegant wallpapers.  All papers are hand screen printed combining the layering of subtle colours and glittering foils.  To compliment the wallpapers, Laura will be showing a range of plaster designs for the wall, which have embedded stitch and imprinted lace onto each of the plaster pieces’ surface.

The exhibition is on for two weeks, from 8th March (Private View) – 19th March.  There will be an informal chat with the designers called ‘Meet The Maker Artist Talk’ on the 18th March, where each designer talks about and answers any questions regarding their work.  Any one is welcome!

There is an online catalogue for the ‘Emerging New Talent’ Exhibition, where a few of the designer-makers have answered a few questions about what inspires them to produce their work, as well as images.  To view Laura Felicity’s article online please visit Craft Central

I hope you all enjoy it!