A couple of weeks ago I was reading Life & Leisure magazine – don’t recommend it (boring).  However one photo did catch my eye – the one above.  So on Saturday we went to Newmarket (something else I don’t recommend – no parking and overcrowded footpaths) to visit the Rose and Heather store and look at the Bailey24 dining table from the Christopher Elliot collection.  

At the store we met Martin Bell (Design Director) who was lyrical in his description of the yachting inspiration for the table and it’s boat-like construction.  He was equally lyrical/knowledgeable about the age of the kauri being used, sourced mainly from Northland.  Rose and Heather is not a store I’m drawn to, but I do love this beautiful piece of furniture – it’s sculptural and quite exquisite.  I’ll let you decide if you think it’s worth $7,000.

I’m not a personal fan of the current design of this exhale fan, but:

• I’m a fan of Nik Hiner creating a new design – brilliantly simple
• I’m a fan of his homage to Nikola Tesla- stealing like an artist in action
• I’m a huge fan of crowd funding – the way it engages/creates a community (and raises money).  Have you connected with the NZ Pledge Me site (I’ve just found it)
• I’m a fan of patriotism – unashamedly made in USA, or made in NZ

A week ago I was worrying about not having uploaded anything for a while – now I’ve got a backlog :-)

It’s absolutely gorgeous.  Description taken directly from Humans since 1982 (I couldn’t write it any better):

Re-contextualizes time in a mix of old and new, analogue and digital. The clock is made of 24 two-handed analogue clocks. Six clocks make up a number, each of them displaying either one of its corners or one of its sides. All 24 clocks create one giant display similar to that of a digital watch. This work is notable for its digital/analogue format and the choreography that takes place between the minutes.

I’ve sent an email asking how much – love ‘price on request’ – don’t tell Nat.

UPDATE – had a prompt response – the price is 22,000 Euro – damn!

I can’t remember why, but some months ago I landed on Fiftylimited – no idea what that means.  But something that caught my eye was this piece on the About page:

“There’s an economic theory out there that if you take the incomes of your five closest friends and average them, the resulting number will be pretty close to your own income. I think the same thing is true of idea incomes. You’re only going to be as good as the stuff you surround yourself with.” Austin Kleon’s from his book 10 Things Every Creator Should Remember But We Often Forget

Damn – I’m going to have to get some new friends- or maybe I’m about to get dumped by some friends :-)

I hadn’t heard of Austin Kleon before, but two clicks later, I’m on his site and reading Steal like an Artist – which I’ve since bought – and love – creativity is for everyone – and I’m a great thief!

This is just what our family needs;  a  four-storey London mansion hidden almost entirely underground: 15 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, 20 toilets, a ballroom, and a pool.  I love the sheer audacity of it!  I hope he gets consent, but of course I’m not one of the neighbours going to be inconvenienced for four years while they build this.  I can’t even begin to imagine how much this would cost, nor the idea that when finished it could be worth up to £90million…..  Want to read more?

Hopefully when finished they’ll run a nice little B&B and Nat and I can go and stay :-)