Culinary Inspired Paints

Eco-friendly paints from de le Cuona.

Rich raspberry, bold glistening marigold, delicious smoked chocolate hues and calming unassuming greys, sounds like paint on a plate. What more does a designer need?

Children's Spaces

As much as our environment shapes who we are and how we act (and as we all know have a great affect on how we feel in general), children's spaces normally need to be far more multi-functional than that of our adult environments.

Sleeping, studying, playing are all everyday occurrences within their space but most importantly it is widely documented that the environment has a direct impact on their development in general. Textures, colours, patterns, shapes are just a few 'tools' which can be used to aid this.

In my advertising career I worked with many children's brands and one thing that was consistently at the forefront of any research and thinking was the importance of 'play'. Many parents put play into a box which is seen as 'time out' and some even see it as time wasting, for example they feel their children should be reading a book or learning a new subject.  An unfortunate and sad reflection on our competitive world. However, play stimulates many development factors of a child; creative thinking, interactivity, self-esteem and general social skills such as sharing etc. It's their one chance in life where they can be in charge and by doing this allows them to develop as a person, learning their boundaries as they go. The role of play therefore should never be underestimated.

Putting the play theory together with design 'tools' means you are able to develop the perfect children's space be that a simple or elaborate interior/exterior environment.

And my parting thought.  Many times, when we are designing a child's bedroom, we forget to tap into one of the key inspirations, the child themselves.  After all their minds are at times far more creative than ours.

Now for the first board in the series is Harry's Room. A vibrant space for a young lad using a combination of shapes, patterns and colour. A repeat pattern penguin wallpaper is complimented by a colour range of off blues brightened by striped blinds with an indigo denim trim and a height chart wall sticker. The playful feel is finished with a large mushroom lamp, antique style 1920's race car and unique yet practical ways to display their belongings.



Suppliers:
Isak Penguin Wallpaper Turquoise
All paint colours Farrow and Ball, Great White, Skylight, Blue Ground, Drawing Room Blue
Ian Mankin Worthing Stripe
Ian Mankin Indigo Denim
Shelving via Pininterest (sorry lost original link)
Punkin Patch Thomas Bed
Baby Face Striped Rug
Baby Face Gingham Bedding
Harry's Toy Box
Egmont Large Mushroom Lamp
Marquant Vintage Toy Car
Boudie and Fou Wall Chart

On Yer Bike

Douglas and Gordon have for years struggled to express their personality within the muddled estate agent market. Therefore when 'i am' associates re-branded and designed the interiors of their offices D&G were at last able to run with the big boys. One of their values D&G hold dear is their ability to be innovative and caring within a profession rarely associated with these qualities. But caring and innovate they are and to highlight this back in April they announced a new addition to the fleet, a vintage style bike.

This is a brilliant idea for this brand, highlighting their values perfectly and at last someone is jumping off the 'branded mini' wagon and into a unique branded transport area. I am just wondering if they have male and female versions? If not I feel they may have missed a trick - using old butcher's bikes for the men in the office would allow them to leave their property newspapers onboard for people to help themselves when they are left in the streets.



I just do hope no one has uttered the 'office bike' gag.

http://www.i-amonline.com

Getting Away From It All

We all have dreams, some of us are lucky enough to live them, some of us tiptoe around them and others just continue to dream.

Mr S and I have been dreaming and talking for a long time about what we would like to do if we were ever to get out of the big smoke. I guess we are still at tiptoe stage, however, we do have a small list:

• A boutique B&B,
• A Delicatessen with a vintage tea room,
• An interior business we could combine with the B&B,
• A goat farm or
• A combination of all of the above!

And, it is with this dream that I gleefully stumbled upon this wonderful small boutique B&B in Hastings, right near the coast. It's not totally what we dream to have, but there are beautiful snippets of the building and interiors that can't do anything but make you smile.

So if you like what you see in this post why not pour yourself a steaming cup of tea, click on here and plan that long deserved weekend away. We can all dream.

Lucienne Day - 1 January 1917 to 30 January 2010
Thank you for your inspiration.

Spring has sprung

This weekend brought us two inspirational events - firstly spring, which seems to have rapidly disappeared as the week has developed, but also the 40th anniversary of Eric Carle's much-loved classic The Hungary Caterpillar, which was originally published in 1969 and every time I see the book or illustration I can't help but smile.

Eric's original idea came to him while he was working in his studio.

"One day I was punching holes with a hole puncher into a stack of paper and I thought of a bookworm and so I created a story called 'A Week with Willi the Worm'. Then my editor suggested a caterpillar instead and I said 'Butterfly!' That's how it began."

Eric, who turns 80 this year, is still very young at heart and receives some 10,000 letters a year from children who have read the book and as testament to great work has sold more than 29 million copies around the world and has been translated into 47 languages. It still sells on average one copy every 30 seconds. Which just goes to show whilst many fads come and go simple and inspirational work lives forever.

It's been a long long time

I have been a very bad, bad, bad blogger. Can't believe how long I have ignored you for - sorry won't really cut it will it? Time has flown by many projects finished, postponed, cancelled and some we are trying to revive now - it's tough out there, the interiors industry is taking a battering most of my work is coming from the commercial side of things as residential is hibernating. I am now also trying to get some interior styling work e.g. photo shoots, theatre/tv sets, window displays, house styling etc so if you know of anyone who needs help with their style then please let me know :0

Also in an attempt to get the RedFish name out there have been working on my website (along with my trusty art director!) and man it's hard promoting yourself - it's not one of my strong points - for 14 years or so I promoted some major brands world-wide but when it's so close to home it's a bit personal! (sorry picture of my art director keeps placing itself up the top of the blog and now HERE am frustrated now so am going to leave it where it is! why does it do that?)

So in search of inspiration I have come back to blogging and it's been lovely catching up with all my old blog haunts which I have not frequented for a while - glad to hear you are all well and happy :0

Anyone else on twitter? I have just joined today so am very new to it but it seems quite fun - have just voted on which jacket richard bacon should wear on sftw tomorrow - loads of people involved in it so should be a bit of fun -come and look me up I'm under redfishdesigns.

Also before I run any of you seen this over at polariod? It's great - drag your image onto the polariod camera icon which will be on your desktop and it turns your modern image into a nostalgic polariod shot with all it's colour vignetting and flaws - the camera even makes the sound it used to when it was ejecting your print - mmm memories! Pop over and have a go and don't forget that if you are in a hurry you can give it a virtual shake - think I'll be spending some time on converting my pictures...

Happy snapping!