BLANKET COVERAGE: ROAM

“WE LOVE the idea of blankets,” says Sonia Ambrosano, one half of deluxe textile outfit, Roam. “Our small terraced cottage dates back to the late 1700s and as such is a little bit draughty in the middle of winter. Come to think of it, probably summer too - we live in Scotland! And so it’s a very comforting and natural feeling to be wrapped up in a super soft and warm blanket.”

But Sonia and her partner in life and business, Lachlan Munro, hadn’t been able to find anything that “we would prefer: bold, decorative patterns that would be an easy way to add character to rooms when needed.”

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Posted 2 September 2008 in Textiles

CULT ITEM: Casalino Jnr

THE PANTON Jnr chair has a new rival. Except that the less easily recognisable, but equally iconic, Casalino Jnr chair from German design company Casala isn’t really new.

First designed in 1970 by Alexander Begge (the Casalino was his only famed creation), the award-winning stacking chair died out in the 80s due to rising costs in oil. But now it’s back. With a brand new contemporary table to accompany it - designed by Hamburg-based regular Casala collaborators, Jonas Kressel and Ivo Schelle - and in five new colours, Charcoal, White, Red, Green and Macchiato (a rather lush light coffee shade).

The palette may not be original – the 21st-century colours were chosen by Casala with the help of Kressel + Schelle - so gone is the flashy, wild orange, but the scratchproof, impact-resistant chair itself has been cast from the original mould, so it’s less a replica and more a genuine reissue, say Casala.

Officially the relaunch of the Casalino (and yes, there are adult versions too!) is to coincide with Casala’s 90th birthday. But interest in the baby Casalino has been building for some time… Vintage versions have been on the online shop, Bianca & Family, for the last year or so, and, Little Fashion Gallery’s Marie Soudre Richard, who sells the vintage numbers has been a fan for a number of years. “Paul, my son, has been using it [a vintage one] since the age of one. He loved the round design and that it wasn’t angular, and he also really likes the bright colours.” Read the rest of this article

Posted 2 September 2008 in Design + Decoration, Furniture

Wallpaper For Kids That’s Not Exactly Just For Kids

STEFAN BOUBLIL, co-director of The Apartment, the New York interior / graphic design company, doesn’t believe in saccharine, non-challenging visual habitats for children. Take his usage of Timorous Beasties’ Euro Damask paper on the walls of his five-year-old son Zoel’s New York City loft bedroom.

It couldn’t get any more challenging and adult than the edgy Scottish design duo who mix natural and Gothic influences to produce end results like Devil Damask - a traditional lace with a Devil’s face hidden in the weave - or the infamous Glasgow Toile - a print that resembles historic French toile, but hides low-life city scenes instead. And yet, explains Boublil, “In a society in which more and more is done to ‘protect’ children to a fault, they are growing up unable to view the so-called dirty side of life.”

His solution? “I thought that Rorschach [the ink blot guy] had a great way of getting around the would-be thought dictators of our time: the power of imagination. What better gift to give a child than the ability for him or her to fire off a million different thoughts every morning and night, be they scary, soothing or, why not, erotic in nature. The idea of independence can be nurtured from birth and it made all the sense in the world to start with a non-verbal method to communicate it.”

Anyway, word is his son likes it too.

* Timorous Beasties Euro Damask wallpaper, £75 a roll www.timorousbeasties.com; The Apartment, www.theapt.com

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Posted 2 September 2008 in Decor, Design + Decoration

INDIAN SUMMER: Top Five Tipis

MOVE OVER WENDYHOUSES, the Tipi (Tepee, Teepee, Wigwam, whatever) is the new mother of fantasy undercover play. It is all, says Beth Davies, the 38-year-old owner of Native Play Designs, a children’s tipi design company based in Newport, down to the fact tipis “have captured a desire to escape from modern day, gadget riddled living.” Parents, says she, “on the whole crave an escape from the technology that has infiltrated every aspect of our daily lives. The dream of living outdoors with bare necessities and no reception seems to come together in the romantic silhouette of the Tipi.”

As for the kids, the appeal is that “children love a den. And ours in 100% cotton are a refreshing antidote to garish polyester pop-ups; they’re cooler inside as well.” [ED: Ah yes, we remember with fondness the sweltering heat inside those plastic wendyhouses of yesteryear.] “Give a child an imaginative play environment and a few simple toys and watch their imagination run away with them,” concludes Davies, whose own interest in a modern play version of the tipi came from “nostalgia and childhood memories of hours spent desperately trying to tie sheets around bamboo poles.”

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Posted 2 September 2008 in Toys

EAT ME: David Mellor Design

“MY FATHER had in mind that children should start off with good design from a young age.” So says Corin Mellor - creative director of David Mellor Design, the Peak District-based tabletop design company begun by his father in the 1950s - of the cult children’s cutlery set designed in 1977. It’s still a best seller.

The design was based on one of Mellor’s first cutlery ranges, the Java - which featured an injection-moulded resin handle with stainless steel head fixed together with a single rivet. With the help of Mellor’s younger sister Clare, whom David used as a model, the Java was resized for smaller hands (the set is recommended for use between the ages of 2 and 10), ergonomically-shaped for easy grip, and re-coloured in a Modernist palette for easy identification.

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Posted 1 September 2008 in Eating / Drinking, Products