I've been meaning to share this for a while. Henrietta Swift is a London-based designer who graduated from Brighton Uni in 2009 with 1st class Honours in Illustration. Not bad, eh? Her website is packed with fun, thoughtful and quirky projects. She certainly has been busy since she left uni! A few stand-out pieces, which I think would do well commercially, are the Light Up Your Mood stickers which have a Kawaii vibe with a refreshing edge. They're available to buy online at YCN.
My love of books makes the A Perfect Book project a firm favourite. It's definitely something I'd buy and would be a perfect addition to my little collection of ingenious little books from talented illustrators and artists.
Finally, the Serendipitea Cup shows Henrietta's credentials as a designer. I've never seen anything like it before and it is a fun reimagination of the simple tea cup. I like how it swirls together the historic mysticism of tea leaves, the allure of the crystal ball reveal, and the nation's love of tea all in the bottom of an aesthetically pleasing cup and saucer set.
Go have a look and let me know what you think!
Friday, 18 June 2010
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Mysterious Letters
Mysterious Letters is a project by Lenka Clayton and Michael Crowe. Mysterious Letters is the perfect thing to get you out of the grumps. When I'm reading the letters on their blog I wonder what the recipients must be thinking. Plus I giggle and smirk, and read out my favourite bits to my mister. Their goal is to write to everyone in the world. So far they've written to all of the households of a small Irish town and a bit bigger (bit still small) American town. They also deserve points for spreading the word about Slough.
Their next project is promised to be bigger and better however they need a bit of help to get it off the ground. Just imagine how much all those stamps must cost! Below are some of my favourite letters featured on their blog. Check out Mysterious Letters for much more cleverly inane joy. If you like what you see then head on over to Kickstarter to see how you can help with Mysterious Letters take 3.
Their next project is promised to be bigger and better however they need a bit of help to get it off the ground. Just imagine how much all those stamps must cost! Below are some of my favourite letters featured on their blog. Check out Mysterious Letters for much more cleverly inane joy. If you like what you see then head on over to Kickstarter to see how you can help with Mysterious Letters take 3.
What do you think?
All images reproduced by the kind permission of Mysterious Letters
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
London Life
I'm thinking of moving to London in a couple of months but, the question is, where-oh-where?
I love the vibe in Brighton but there just aren't enough jobs in the field I want to go into, so the smoke is a-calling. I was in London yesterday and was wandering around Kensington. I liked it but think it's a bit too money-centred for me. Excessive mass consumerism and flashing the cash galore give me the hives.
In the evening I went to one of the Public Lectures at LSE hosted by the LSE Cities Centre. I found the lecture interesting, especially because the topic (urbanisation and technological geo-politics) is something that I've not studied before. It was a lovely summer evening; cool and fresh and bright. The drizzle didn't matter. I left LSE's New Academic Building and walked past chains of upmarket Bars, small pubs and interesting shops. Before I knew it I was outside the BBC's Broadcasting House in Portland Place. I hadn't realised how close everything was and fondly remembered some of the radio show programmes that I had attended at Broadcasting House when I briefly lived in London a few summers ago. It's worth checking out their listings for shows if you live in London or close by and tickets are free. A short time later and I was right outside Covent Garden tube station. The evening was topped off by dinner at Wahaca, which definitely made up for a disappointing lunch. Perhaps the dodgy lunch serves me right for eating out twice in one day. Far too extravagant for my frugal budget. However, months of academic incaraceration has meant that my average weekly spending was about £30 for a good few months so a few days of extravagance is not quite so sinful. And aren't the devilish things always a bit more exciting?!
The problem with this is that I've now set my heart on living in the Bloomsbury/ Holborn/ Covent Garden area. I'm unsure at the moment how I'm going to be able to manage this but I'm pretty sure that it's going to involve a lot of careful financial planning. I may have been lulled by the nice evening that I spent there with my family, or perhaps I have some romantic picture of London life, but some dreams do see fruition, right? I hope so!
If any of you have any ideas of any areas in London to have a look at please let me know. Comments will be greatly appreciated!
I love the vibe in Brighton but there just aren't enough jobs in the field I want to go into, so the smoke is a-calling. I was in London yesterday and was wandering around Kensington. I liked it but think it's a bit too money-centred for me. Excessive mass consumerism and flashing the cash galore give me the hives.
In the evening I went to one of the Public Lectures at LSE hosted by the LSE Cities Centre. I found the lecture interesting, especially because the topic (urbanisation and technological geo-politics) is something that I've not studied before. It was a lovely summer evening; cool and fresh and bright. The drizzle didn't matter. I left LSE's New Academic Building and walked past chains of upmarket Bars, small pubs and interesting shops. Before I knew it I was outside the BBC's Broadcasting House in Portland Place. I hadn't realised how close everything was and fondly remembered some of the radio show programmes that I had attended at Broadcasting House when I briefly lived in London a few summers ago. It's worth checking out their listings for shows if you live in London or close by and tickets are free. A short time later and I was right outside Covent Garden tube station. The evening was topped off by dinner at Wahaca, which definitely made up for a disappointing lunch. Perhaps the dodgy lunch serves me right for eating out twice in one day. Far too extravagant for my frugal budget. However, months of academic incaraceration has meant that my average weekly spending was about £30 for a good few months so a few days of extravagance is not quite so sinful. And aren't the devilish things always a bit more exciting?!
The problem with this is that I've now set my heart on living in the Bloomsbury/ Holborn/ Covent Garden area. I'm unsure at the moment how I'm going to be able to manage this but I'm pretty sure that it's going to involve a lot of careful financial planning. I may have been lulled by the nice evening that I spent there with my family, or perhaps I have some romantic picture of London life, but some dreams do see fruition, right? I hope so!
If any of you have any ideas of any areas in London to have a look at please let me know. Comments will be greatly appreciated!
Thursday, 3 June 2010
Holidays
So, I've finally finished uni....what now?! A month of regrouping, cycling, chilling out and taking it easy. I've not been anywhere for months so the bank balance is remarkably healthy for this time of year. There's time for work later, right?
I've just got back from visiting my Nana in South Wales. The weather was beautiful and there was lots of cake. Yum! I'm going cycling with my brother tomorrow so hopefully the cake won't stick around too long on my butt-butt.
Still sans laptop. I think that's going to be the status quo from now on. I can't really justify spending that much money on one thing. But I think someone I know might be getting rid of one so perhaps opportunism will push luck my way once more.
I've just got back from visiting my Nana in South Wales. The weather was beautiful and there was lots of cake. Yum! I'm going cycling with my brother tomorrow so hopefully the cake won't stick around too long on my butt-butt.
Still sans laptop. I think that's going to be the status quo from now on. I can't really justify spending that much money on one thing. But I think someone I know might be getting rid of one so perhaps opportunism will push luck my way once more.
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