The AA

A little birdy told me that the website for Atelier Abigail Ahern, interior stylist-turned designer, shopkeeper, soon-to-be author and all-round interiors guru, has just been relaunched - so naturally it'd be rude not to take a peek. Abigail's bijou store resides in Islington's Upper Street and, thanks to the dramatically dark colour scheme that fully wraps around its petite proportions, provides a welcome contrast to the bright white showrooms of norm. Showcasing furniture, art, textiles and accessories all curated with a gallery-level eye, this deeply, darkly whimsical space is oh-so-stylishly full of the macabre and the unexpected. Take a look for yourself to get the full picture, or for my Craft Hacker-inspired favourite bits, read on (sadly I can't grab any images off the site so you'll have to link over for these too, but anyhoo...:)

Figurine Collection: These little beauties, cast out of concrete, manage to combine dainty and dangerous in one fell swoop. Love the way a simple colour change gives these usually gilt-laden kitsch ladies a completely different vibe. How about conjuring up your own version by giving a charity-shop figurine a new lease of life courtesy of a can of black spraypaint?

Bus Scroll Wingback Chair: You may have seen vintage wonderland Pedlar's re-use of old bus signs turned into light boxes, art prints and even deckchairs (see below) - now witness the same technique applied to the classic wingback. The sort of hack that requires degree-level upholstery skills so not for the faint-hearted, but inspirational nonetheless.


(picture from www.pedlars.com)

Rejste Side Table: Celebrating our British love of doily/tabletop action, this table cleverly nods to doily heritage in a 21st-Century, laser-cut metal type way. For more doily action, check out my earlier post on Ghost Furniture. I've recently become obsessed with the idea of setting some old doileys into a recessed tabletop with resin. Has anybody seen/tried this? Project being mentally added to the 'to-hack' list now...

Cruelty Free Rugs: Combining witty with pretty, these ingenious rugs by Mancunian designer Jon Male involve craft hacking traditional ruggage into a cowhide outline - subversive and cheeky. Do take a peek at Jon's own website for other inspired hacking, such as these 'A Soupcon of Light' lamps:


(pictures both taken from www.jonmale.com)

Bernard Pye Paintings: If Warhol had cast his eye back a further 200 years, we might now be able to go to Snappy Snaps and have our face recreated in print like this rather than the much-imitated Marilyn Monroe style pop art we all know and love. Yet another fab example of a familiar style we all know and love being reworked to look truly fresh and 'now'. Why not raid the history books yourself and go crazy in photoshop - or keep it old-skool and go to town with a photocopier and some florescent markers?

I for one am rather excited at the prospect of a whole entire book on such matters, and eagerly await the launch of A Girl's Guide to Decorating, out in May.

Bedcrumbs and Tea Parties

Perhaps not the most helpful of notes to self whilst trying to embark on a post-Christmas detox, but the cheery encouragement ‘eat cake in bed’, appliquéd onto a handmade silk dupion cushion, is perhaps one of the best excuses to indulge that I can think of. When it comes to cute Brit company Bedcrumb, though, and their sugar-sweet website boasting itself to be full of ‘self indulgent home accessories’, it would be almost rude not to partake. As well as anti-dietary slogans, their cushion cover range also includes rather delightful, spider-ey scrawled fashion illustrations with characters named Josie and Betsie amongst others (craft hacker kudos for mixing vintage brooches and fabrics in with each original piece). Also of note is the hand-picked mismatched crockery sets, available for singletons (tea for one) to full-on tea party proportions. I’d like to claim the drool patch developing around my chin area was caused purely by the lovelies on this site, though sadly I fear the images of ‘food porn’ (cupcakes) are somewhat responsible too…






Thanks to Decor8 for the tip-off!

If that's whet your appetite for more vintage crockery without the food-based distractions, however, then make your way over to Katie Potts Tea for Two. The aptly-named Potts scours the land to find the most delectable forgotten vintage British china from the 1920's to 1950's, pairing pieces together to make whole new teasets presented in beautiful, reusable hat boxes specially designed for the job. There, forgotten about the cupcakes now? Errrr, no, thought not.