You are all probably well aware now that I am a nature girl. I am drawn to all things natural, and I gain all my styling inspiration from nature. And so while I am on my Sunday sloth fest, instead of getting out there amongst nature, I am going to bring the nature to us today. And all in the name of fabulous design. Let’s start with these beauties…

Hans Silvester is the photographer of this incredible book called Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa. My fabo friend Beve from the wonderful blog Afropolitans sent me this link knowing full well that it would make me jump up and down with girlish excitement. She also sent me the link to this great article about the book which is described as a tribal fashion show inspired by the wild trees, exotic flowers and lush vegetation of the area bordering Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan… “these tribal people have created looks that put the most outlandish creations of Western catwalk couturiers to shame.” I have already ordered my copy from Amazon, as even though this article is so full of awesome images from the book, I cannot get enough of them. I need this book. now. Plus, who doesn’t love having their face-painted? Oh I am sooooooo inspired…

Next up on our nature walk through the blogosphere, I am taking you all with me here:

I found this treasure on what I believe to be my personal secret source of life’s most interesting and incredible things, a blog authored by a mysterious and extraordinarily talented chick. So who and what am I raving about? Cherry Coloured. And the author I must reveal, is more than just a pretty blogger, she answers by the name of Nyla, and she made this documentary about Jeff Buckley, which I only just realised (GASP!!!); she takes these beautiful photographs; and she finds and shares these treasures with us. Nyla’s blog is a must on your daily blogroll, that’s if you want to find such a place as this:

Yep, we are talking the ULTIMATE in fine nature backyards here. I am completely enraptured – a totally sustainable rainforest community nestled into the tree tops of a 6,000 foot rainforest mountain on the South Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. The residence is called Finca Bellavista, and they even have high-speed Internet and WIFI. That means we could all live there and STILL blog away. Can’t you imagine us coo-ing each other from across the tree tops? You would all be invited to dinner on my treehouse terrace, where we can have a bloggers meeting right here…

So who is coming with me?

Oh I almost can’t keep up with this post, my imagination is running wild now. I am thinking of how we could dress our treehouses, with all the incredible finds we have been sharing on our blogs, including these French creations which I want vite…

These are called Living Stones, floor cushions in the shape of oversized pebbles that are made from 100% wool and are environmentally friendly with no use of chemical dyes. They also have an outdoor range:

Don’t the French just know what we want? But so do Kim and Jo, because they started me on the wander that lead me to these delightful pieces. As it goes, I was perusing their WINK post as I always do on my free weekends and as you know they introduce new bloggers, and this one called Shift caught my eye. So over I went and that is where I found the rocks for my new treehouse accomodation. This new blog has loads more inspiration, so go check it out. While you do that, I am just going to stick a flower in my hair, leaf through the pages of my new book, and sit on my treetop terrace on my new furniture. Hope to see you there…

After a long and very busy week, yesterday’s outing was a real treat: It started around 10am when friends Hayley and Gavin invited us on a day trip to the National Park Hoge Veluwe. This park is a real gem of The Netherlands as it consists of 5500 hectares of unspoilt woodlands, grassy plains, sand drifts and is the natural habitat of deer, mouflans (goats) and wild boars. The best way to see the park is by bike of which there are hundreds of free ones at your service, especially for park visitors. We all hopped on one each and set off to explore our surroundings. The air was so beautiful and reminded me very much of the fresh air of the West Coast of Canada. I was in heaven as I rode past moss-covered rocks, baby pine trees and thousands of lofty conifers. The most bizarre and beautiful of all was the sand field which just appeared before our eyes after riding through a few kilometres of thick forest, it was as if we had ridden on through a travel machine which had taken us right into the sahara…

As if that wasn’t enough to captivate us, right in the heart of the parkland is the Kröller-Müller Museum which houses an extensive collection of works by living and long gone artists, including some 200 paintings by Vincent van Gogh.

Two artists who tantalised my artist taste buds were Tom Claassen …

and Anselm Kiefer…

images from White Cube.

Although things got a little obscure with Anselm when we all discovered that he had used his sperm in one of his sculpture creations. Needless to say before we walked away in shock we all took a look at this masterpiece.

There is also a world famous sculpture garden within the museum grounds that we did not get time to visit but we are all keen to go back in warmer weather, take a picnic and spend a long lazy afternoon amongst the forest surroundings. Thanks again Hayley and Gav for a fab day out!

all other images courtesy of the Kröller-Müller Museum

Before I completely wind down to becoming a sloth for a day (that’s my idea of a glorious Sunday), I would like to tell you a little about one of my favourite suppliers…

I speak of the fabulous Iittala, one of the major driving forces of Scandanvian design: “Iittala objects are design essentials stripped to their core; the pure union of function, form and quality that demonstrates our core philosophy of lasting everyday design against throwawayism.”

Where ever I am working in the world I have always used Iittala amongst my props when I am in need of fine glassware – their work is classic & contemporary, elegant and refined, and whatever we are shooting be it an aperitif or a platter of petits fours look ravishing held within an Iittala piece. This week I had the pleasure of visiting the Amsterdam store to pick up some supplies. It’s a beautiful store and the service is impeccable. For last week’s shoot I decided on their Tapio and Aarne glassware range…

I was so pleased with the results. And I love their philosophy – very inspiring for aspiring designers…

You know I talk of a wandering heart often. Because that is what my heart does: It wanders away from me and I find myself breathless trying to catch up to it. When I finally do catch it I look about to find this wandering heart of mine has taken me somewhere magical. Juste comme ça…

Snow and mountains for me are like the sea and sand – ever changing, ever inspiring and ever pure. I was born by the sea on that big island down under, but I adore the wintry mountain life just as much. And I have been dreaming to have my feet in the snow again for some time, 15 years to be precise. And it has not been that easy to realise that dream. Life happens. And my little dreams remain floating in the clouds. But not last weekend. My dream came true…

I love the feeling of the snow in my bare fingers. How it melts to my touch. And how it changes but remains constant. And that I can eat it. Can I? I did actually, because I was a little parched at the time. So are you wondering where my heart wandered this weekend? Take my hand and I will take you with me…

(Click here to read more…)

…that I would be posting about my secret snowy retreat today but…

…it will have to wait until tomorrow evening. Instead I leave you with this photograph: Legs in Paris. With my favourite summer shoes. That’s right, for those of you who know me all too well, I’ve progressed from thongs (flips flops). I took this photo in a beautiful atelier off Rue Oberkampf. Of which I will be sure to show & tell you about all in good time. All in good time.