Ingo Maurer

Last Friday I had the pleasure of visiting the Munich showroom of German lighting designer Ingo Maurer and I wanted to share a few images of my day with you. If you are unaware of Maurer then read on as his work is not only beautiful and inspiring, but also functional and used by design lovers all over the world. Maurer began his career by studying graphic design in Munich. In 1960 he moved to America and worked as a freelance graphic designer in both New York and San Francisco. Eventually Maurer returned to Munich and in 1963 founded the company 'Design M', which would later become 'Ingo Maurer GmbH', which developed and manufactured lamps. His career took off when one of his first designs, 'Bulb' (1966), was included in the design collection of the Museum of Modern Art. The 'Bulb' design is still very iconic today and many lights have been produced since that emulate Maurer's original design - largely due to a renewed popularity of the exposed bulb in interior design. As well as creating lighting products for us to buy, Maurer also creates light installations for both public and private spaces and also takes commissions. If you've been to Munich before then you've probably been to Münchner Freiheit tube station and have seen the blue illuminated columns - this was one of Maurer's projects in 2009.

Maurer has two showrooms worldwide, one in Munich and one in New York. His showroom in Munich holds his entire lighting collection. There are over 100 products on show including prototypes and one-offs. It's set in a pretty ivy-covered building just off the busy street of Kaiserstrasse and is well worth a visit if you are planning a trip to the area. While I was there I took a few snaps of some of my favourite pieces, I hope you like them too!

If you are interested in any of these designs they are, from top to bottom: Johnny B. Butterfly, L'Eclat Joyeux, Seven Off The Wall, Bang Boom Zettel'z, Canned Light, Exit, the hologram light Wo Bist Du, Edison...?, Ingo Maurer's signature Zettel'z chandelier, two close-ups of the Zettel'z chandelier. To find out more about Maurer's work and designs, head over to his website where all his designs are catalogued.

{Images: Laura Blanksby}

ON-TREND: Pink Ombré

Pink ombré is everywhere at the minute. The lovely design can be found on tablecloths, curtains, furniture, cushions, crockery and even cake! Yes, the graduated colour design has taken us by storm. Despite the intensity of the shocking-pink colour, this trend is actually very user-friendly and can be used quite subtly in a living space. I love this trend and can see it sticking around for a long time. A look that I really love, and one that is really simple to do yourself, is this wall hanging below.

I love how the simply dyed sheet looks like a piece of art. It's a very cheap to create and is easily changeable too. If you were after something a little subtler though, how about these accessories?

The storage container is from Varpunen, the wooden kitchen utensils are from Shelter Black, the cushion and curtains are from Esprit and the wicker planter is from Ikea.

What a gorgeous trend! The pretty pastel styling above is by Charlotte Love and you can see more images from this shoot on her blog. Her theme for the shoot was Pastel and Ice Cream and I think the images are LOVELY.

{Images: image one via my Pinterest boards; image three via Charlotte Love}

Feature Staircases

Morning! This week's interior inspiration comes in the form of some colourful staircases. Not currently having my own set of stairs has meant I haven't given them, or how I'd decorate them, much thought. But having seen a few images on Pinterest, and having done a bit of research, I'm now prepared and inspired for when I do finally have a set to decorate myself. My favourite design has to be the rainbow colour-blocked stairs, they're so bright and cheerful!

Colour-blocked, stencilled or carpeted: which style do you like the most?

{Images: Design Traveller; SF Girl by Bay; Pinterest}

Preparation for Autumn

Autumn, my favourite season, is finally here. For me this means windswept walks in the park, warming foods and cosy nights in, but it also means it's time for some new things. Below is my autumn wardrobe wish-list for the new season, including a gorgeous cape from the new Alice Temperley collection at John Lewis. I posted about a similar cape back in August so I'm really pleased I've managed to find one just like it on the high street. 

Also on my list: this pretty tea dress from Topshop, which I'll wear with thick black tights, a handy black satchel, some sparkly nail polishes and some new boots. If I manage to get all of these then I think that'll be me sorted for the new season. What about you? Have you got your eye on anything?

{Images: John Lewis, Topshop}

Fun Art

I've posted before about how much I like photographer Cassia Beck's work and these new prints only second that. There are lots of different art prints in her Society6 store, but the range that has caught my eye this time are these retro-style images with bright colour pops. 

Her work never fails to bring me joy in one way or another. Whether it be from humour (I mean, there's a bear in a party hat!) or on a more visually aesthetic level, with pretty pastel flowers swaying in the wind, I love it all.

Make sure to check out her Society6 page where you can get these prints, as well as many others, framed or on iphone cases, laptop cases and greeting cards.

{Images: Cassia Beck via Society6}

Rosie Brown Styling

Morning! Hope you are all well? What did you get up to over the weekend? We had plans to go to Munich's largest flea market at Riem on Saturday and then visit Neuschwanstein castle on Sunday, but unfortunately the weather had other ideas. It poured it down for two days solid so I suppose they will have to wait until next week! I hope you had more fun wherever you were? But pressing on with the day at hand and I've got some lovely images to share with you of stylist Rosie Brown's work. Rosie Brown is an art director and stylist who has worked for many interiors and lifestyle publications such as Homes & Gardens and Elle Deco. She also set up the on-line boutique Papa Stour in 2005. Here are a few images of her interior styling work.

I especially like this last image as it makes me think of lazy Sundays drinking tea and reading the paper.

{Images: Rosie Brown via Papa Stour}

Up The Wooden Hills

Hello friends and happy Friday! Today I want to introduce you to handmade clothes specialists Up The Wooden Hills. Based in Sweden, Up The Wooden Hills create beautiful hand-made clothing that has a "dreamy, pretty and playful" quality. All garments are made with cotton fabric from Liberty of London and are made-to-order.

The focus is on simple, pretty day dresses in pastel hues and delicate patterns. Although there are some smock tops and skirts too.

I love the simplicity of these well-cut dresses. I can see myself literally living in one of these if I owned one - so easy to wear.

My personal favourite design has to be the CAITLIN dress below in Liberty's classic 'Poppy and Daisy' print. It has a beautifully simple design with two front pockets and self-tie waistband. I literally wouldn't need another dress again!

If you like what you see head over to their website to see more or to buy. Also, Up The Wooden Hills have a great blog, so make sure you check that out too! Have a great weekend and see you here Monday!

{Images: Up The Wooden Hills; Image one: Beata Rydén}

Owls by Matt Pugh

I'm a big fan of 'lived-in' homes with lots of personality and character. For me, accessories go a long way to achieve this homely look, so when I discovered designer Matt Pugh and his colourful wooden owls, I knew I wanted one for my own space. They're lovely pieces of design and also add a bit of fun to a room. The cute wooden owls are available in either oak or walnut, and the colour detailing comes in either white, pink, gold, brown, red, blue or green.

Aren't they sweet? They would look lovely perched on a bookshelf. These owls below are made from oak.

And these ones are made from the slightly darker wood, walnut.

They're £30 each, which I think is very reasonable for a piece of design made here in the UK. If you like these you can find out more about Matt and his other designs over on his website.

{Images: Matt Pugh}