Ronel Jordaan is a a textile designer from Gauteng in South Africa. Inspired by nature, she gives “free reign to her imagination” using felt as a preferred medium and sometimes combining it with other natural fibres like cotton and silk. Ronel has trained women in the art of felting and these women now produce the designs with her and have also begun creating their own designs.

Stunning work Ronel. My faves are the rock cushions. For more visit her
website here…

Who else receives the gift of Bob Sherman’s Daily Doses in their inbox each day (thanks to DesignDNA for leading me to him!)? Bob won me over with his Daily Doses when I read that he sends an image and a quote or two each day. HEAVEN for my obsession confession #1! And after a day of mayhem, it is the nicest email to receive.

Noticing that Bob has such a variety of images from all over the world, I thought I’d ask him if he had been to Africa and if he would allow me to borrow some images for one of my Africa In The Spotlight posts. He replied in the affirmative, and lead me to a video that his fiancé Beth Chapman had made to raise awareness for the children of South Africa. I watched the video, titled “Sometimes I feel Like A Motherless Child” which is accompanied by Beth’s magical voice, and another piece of my heart promptly fell out of its little shell and crashed to the floor. A beautifully created video from Beth and Bob, please make the time today to watch it.

World powers have been shocked and horrified by the violence in Kenya – it is or ‘was’ one of the most stable countries in Africa. Over 500 people have been killed, and there are recent reports of a massacre of about 30 people sheltering in a church near the western town of Eldoret.

But what does that have to do with you? Everything. This is happening in our world and the world is our backyard. Imagine yourself standing at your window, watching your children and neighbours playing in the backyard and then noticing that one is bashing another. And then you turn away and go and have a cup of tea.

The petition now has over 10 000 signatures from the international community. Just by signing your name you are helping to restore democracy and peace in Kenya – that is the beauty of the internet these days – it brings all of us together to be able to make a difference in the world. It empowers us to show that we care what goes on in Kenya and the rest of the world, just like it was going on in our own backyard. It gives us the means to speak to our world leaders quickly and efficiently and guide them.

So let’s say you’ve had your cup of tea, hoping that the bashing between the kids has settled itself, and you decide to take another look out your back window. Guess what you see: your entire backyard destroyed – plants ripped up, your expensive imported palms on fire, complete destruction. You didn’t think forward to consider that the bullying and bashing could actually take direct affect on you. If you acted swiftly and intervened you could have saved that child from suffering and saved your backyard, and more over been a model for all the kids in the backyard, showing them that it is possible to speak up when you know something is just not right.

So, to show support for Kenya we can sign the petition, we can support African designers and artists who support their local community which in turn will help put the power of peace for their country in their own hands, and we can advise our friends to do the same. That way, we all enjoy a cup of tea.

Thanks again Bob, for such beautiful images and for your support.

Based on Mark and Sally Bailey’s farm property in the Herefordshire countryside of the UK, Recycled Home, pour moi, is love at first sight with a staircase and an old giant’s scissors hanging on a worn out wall on the front cover. Their intro exposes perfectly their decorating philosophy: “Use what you’ve got, be true to the structure of your house and the materials it is made from… think of your home as a delicious experiment.”

The book is filled with the most delectable photographs by South African Debi Treloar: One of my favourites being a tiny copper-sailed boat resting serenely on top of an old-fashioned door knob. And if you love wood, warm whites and textures you will love this book. Be warned though – you will end up wanting to buy everything at your next antique & flea market visit as this book guides you to seeing the beauty in things you would never have looked twice at.

I love the textile section where you will find an old otherwise boring chest of drawers with wrapped handles in different wild vintage fabrics, stairs covered with a patchwork of mini persian rugs, and the fabric of an old bathing tent made into stunning curtains. But as I flick through the pages, my added tip as a stylist to make this style work in your own home is organisation. Without organisation, this look can quickly design itself into a display of useless scraps.

WHAT I LOVE:

WHAT I’M ‘OVER’:

Mark and Sally have included a fabulous resource section from across Europe at the back of their book. And what more could you want? What about a website where you can buy their awesome finds and creations? Wouldn’t that be great? Yes it would and here it is!

Enhance The Everyday rating for Recycled Home by Mark and Sally Bailey: 4 outta 5

This is one of my favourite photographs from a shoot for Gourmet Traveller. All the props were sourced from secondhand stores (hmm, and my mother’s cupboards), and I think it compliments the petit gateau well. Rodney Dunn’s recipes are so delicious – he is very creative with his recipes, combining ingredients I would not think of and coming up with masterpieces. And his Baby Spice and Rhubarb Butter Cakes are one of them! I just LOVE this combination of spices – ginger, cinnamon and cloves – I love any recipe with these spices, my favourite being chai (indian tea).
Ben Dearnley is alot of fun to shoot with and I am always happy with the end results. So without further dilly-dallying, here is Rodney’s recipe! It serves 9 but I would say it serves 8 and one extra for you!

Cakes

225 gm soft unsalted butter
¾ cup golden syrup
3 eggs
225 gm (1½ cups) plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves

Rhubarb compote
2 stalks of rhubarb, thinly sliced
55 gm (¼ cup) caster sugar

1 For rhubarb compote, combine rhubarb, sugar and 1 tbsp water in a saucepan, and bring to the boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 2 minutes or until softened, then cook, uncovered, for 8 minutes or until liquid has reduced and rhubarb is soft. Cool.

2 Using an electric mixer, cream butter and golden syrup until pale, then add eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition, until incorporated.

3 Sift over flour, baking powder and spices and stir to combine, then spoon into 9 lightly greased 2/3-cup-capacity mini loaf pans and spoon 2 tsp rhubarb down centre. Bake at 180C for 12-15 minutes or until just cooked. Allow to cool slightly, then turn out onto wire racks and cool. Cake will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

The young and extraordinarily talented artist, Dawn Okoro. Need I say more. Check out her website, she also has a very active myspace you can link to from her website, worth a look see.

I found Dawn’s link on Afropolitans, merci à vous.

Beverly from Afropolitans also keeps me regularly updated with the Kenyan crisis. This is what we have learnt and gathered thus far:

So, if you haven’t already done so, please sign the petition. A few days ago it started at 5, it is now up to over 8000 signatures. We need more signatures to show that the international community is fully aware of the crisis and will not sit back and let this happen – not in Kenya, and not ANYWHERE in the world. The fighting is already quelling, so let’s keep the pressure on so that it stops altogether, and a realistic and peaceful resolution can be achieved swiftly.