At my impromptu booksigning in Sydney at the beginning of the year, the lovely Stef from newspaper taxi brought me a sweet little parcel. One sniff and I knew it was delicious soap so I kept it wrapped up, brought it in my suitcase and have not opened it until this morning. Why, you might ask? Because I like to savour things. I’ve been like this since I was a little girl – while friends and family around me wondered in june how it was possible I still had christmas candy to devour, or hadn’t yet spent my pocket money, or why I hadn’t already tossed away an old, tattered dress, the answer was always the same – I like everything to last as long as possible.

And even more so when I am faraway. Here in my little boat I have a collection of treats that I brought with me from Australia that are yet to be opened – Stef’s soap being one of them. This morning, we were out of soap and so it became the perfect time to open this special parcel. While I watched the swans clean themselves in the canal outside my window, I unwrapped the package and was delighted when I saw that the soap was handmade & handcut… it is the colour of the sea and in the shape of a beautiful rolling ocean wave, about to break onto shore –  it was a little piece of sydney. Thank you Stef! I will enjoy it immensely and think about the beautiful sydney seaside each time it lathers up.

xx

Ever since the lovely Cass from Haven Workroom told me about The Papered Parlour (just take a look at their website home page for starters), I’ve been smitten with this new independent craft venue for London – everything from the concept, to the artisans involved, and of course, the space.

This fabulous venture, founded by 2 young visual artists Clare and Louise, is based in Clapham and is inhabited by artists, designers, musicians and theatre practitioners. They have set up the space like a parlour, running workshops, hosting performances and displaying exhibitions while the artist studio is arranged in a communal way  – shared work benches are placed in the centre of the space and individual work stations around the outside…

Clare says that when artists have a big project on and need a little more room they can book the workshop space during the week to complete projects.

“The studio was always intended as an antidote to art school where departments were kept separate and designers didn’t talk to fine artists” writes Clare, “It is now flourishing with activity and has a lovely atmosphere that’s made up from a mix of painters, illustrators, photographers, animators, milliners, textile artists, musicians and theatre designers all working alongside one another. ”

This year The Papered Parlour will be taking part in the London Design Festival as well as the Lambeth open studios in October. Check out their classes for upcoming workshops, parties and hires &  booking terms for info on booking this fab space,  and the artist studio to see who’s in there now, working away.

Congrats Clare and Louise for creating such a wonderful business and creative space. The Papered Parlour looks like just the type of place I’d love to find myself in, and I have no doubt your beautiful space will continue to flourish over the coming years, meanwhile I’ll be sure to come and visit soon.

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Have a wonderful weekend, mes amis! I hope you enjoyed this mini series on new creative ventures. I hope these posts inspire you to visit these special places if you are in their vicinity, and also maybe to think about branching out on your own, making something with your own two hands – there is nothing more encouraging than visiting other people’s magical places to help you along the way.

The sun is shining here in Amsterdam and although I have no weekend to speak of with the book launch month approaching and my other lovely book to continue writing and photographing (I’m “flat out like a lizard drinking” as we say in Oz language), I won’t get to enjoy the sunshine. But, it has found it’s way into my little boat home studio via the dancing, sparkly water reflections on the ceiling and walls. So pretty! It’s enough to keep me inspired the whole weekend through.

xx

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all images courtesy of The Papered Parlour.

Today in the (blog)house I am going to take you to two new creative ventures in two completely different parts of the world. Both of them inspire, excite, and entice, and in turn I believe they have each captured a little bit of magic. I hope you enjoy this impromptu Friday mini series…

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Last month while I was in isolation-writing-retreat mode, (blog)house visitor Charlie – a.k.a the lion tamer – emailed me to let me know about the launch of her super exciting new venture in Bali. I was completely captivated by it and have been dying to share her news with you ever since. With the help of a number of creative souls including a few australian + parisian designers, the lovely Charlie & gang have set up an ultra cool new restaurant and bar in seminyak, bali called The Sea Circus.

The grand opening party last month looked like an absolute riot – a circus-clad crowd of people filled the restaurant, overflowing into the street and performing all sorts of circus tricks amidst, the atmosphere looks palpable…

In her email, Charlie told me that after visiting the (blog)house she was inspired to search for new art and has created a dedicated ‘wall of art’ in the restaurant. How cool is that? Charlie also authors a great blog, full of fun details about her new venture but it’s also packed with inspiration, illustrations, and bali info (so if you’re planning to visit bali at some point, it’s well worth bookmarking her blog with posts like this one, and this one.)

This dining table was set up for a special Australia Day supper before the restaurant was actually finished, it’s so beautiful, I love the tins of flowers and the gorgeous colour combo of the chairs and table.

love the business cards!

The chef on board at The Sea Circus used to work at the famous sydney restaurant longrain. His tapas style menu sounds scrumptious – yellowfin tuna & watermelon tartare with whitlof & citrus; mahi-mahi & tofu fritters with chilli jam & spring onions; and tart citron with clotted cream & lemoncello, par exemple.

Charlie, Josh and their team also commissioned 23 year old  spanish artist Manuel Rebollo to make a couple of ‘sea circus’ illustrations, how gorgeous is this one below…

Spectacular, non? I love all the little touches, it looks like a little slice of magic in the heart seminyak. A big congrats to Charlie, Josh and all the sea circus gang for creating a place so wonder-filled, I look forward to visiting one day and I wish you all the best!

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all image courtesy of sea circus bali.

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Last month Hazel Pfeifer, a lovely journalist from Ireland’s Image Interiors magazine came to Amsterdam and interviewed me.  We chatted over tea at Chocolaterie Pompadour, and then wandered to a couple of the little boutiques nearby that are featured in the book. The other week I received a copy of the magazine and was wrapped to see 2 whole pages dedicated to me and my little book! It’s a great article and it’s in this month’s (may/june) issue of Image Interiors, out now in Ireland. Above is a sneak peek of one of the pages from the article but as always, it’s much better to get your hands on the printed version so if you can, please do.

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Thank you Hazel, and thank you Image Interiors!

There are a number of lovely readers who have subscribed to my rss feed these days (thank you!) who I wanted to remind about the blogs in the spotlight feature in the right side bar.  This is updated every couple of weeks, it’s my way of trying to be ‘time management savvy’ – instead of writing complete posts (like this one you’re reading right now) about some of the blogs I’ve recently discovered and am loving as well as oldies but goodies, I just pop them in the sidebar so you can click on them whenever you like. It’s also my way of highlighting some of the blogs in my blogroll (which is another important feature of this blog). But I’m realising you may have forgotten about this feature which can only be accessed by visiting my blog directly so this post is a reminder but also, I’m about to change the list so be sure to check out these spotlighted blogs before I do so.

Above is a peek at my scandanavian retreat – filled with luscious Scandavian interiors. Pippi is the author of the blog and she has her very own scandanavian summer cabin – it’s beautiful, click here to see it.

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Then there is Kristina Klarin’s blog color stripes which is full of Kristina’s latest creations (like the one above) as well as colour inspirations she gets from various sources, it’s really interesting – a visual feast for those of us who love getting creative with colour.

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And missed connections which I’ve been reading for a while now (with thanks to my dear friend Liz who introduced me to sophie’s work – thanks Liz!). Sophie’s illustrative interpretations of missed connections are so so gorgeous, I can’t get enough of them and if you haven’t already read about her work, I’m sure you’ll become as addicted to them as I am. Also, here is a neat video about sophie and how she makes her illustrations.

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Next up is a thing for – stunning mosaics of gathered inspiration, complete with image links and original source information (something I’m a stickler for in the blogosphere)…

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And last up is of paper and things – a blog full of all things paper related, and some. Beautifully curated by it’s author, monica.

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I do hope you enjoy this collection of blogs in the spotlight – tomorrow I will be changing the list so don’t forget about this feature of the (blog)house. If you’re reading my posts daily through the rss feed only, then make sure you visit the blog once a week or so to see what else is new that you might be missing out on (you know I like to play around with my nice clean blog page often). I’ll try to remind you by adding a little mention of the blogs in the spotlight at the bottom of upcoming posts.