12.12.12

I was in Paris over the weekend to celebrate my 28th (gosh!) Birthday as it was on the special 12.12.12 date everyone has been talking about. Flea markets, design hotels, cafes, restaurants, cemetries, piano bars, walks along the Seine and across the Pont des Arts, Montmartre and the metro... I loved it all! 

We stayed at the fantastically cool Mama Shelter, highly recommended for design aficionado's and very easy access to the Père Lachaise Cemetery (a whole post dedicated to the cemetery coming up). Former multi-story car park in the scruffy 20th A, given the full on Starck treatment - day glow pop-art kitsch, graffiti and chalkboard walls, cartoon character cameos and hotel-giftshop erotica.

We visited the Marche Vernaison (near Porte de Clignancourt), one of the wackiest flea markets I've been to... unfortunately (for me) and luckily (for my husband) most things were quite overpriced and so, all I walked away with are these photos and nightmarish memories of dislocated doll's bodies, bizarre taxidermy, French revolution-era military uniforms, medical dispensary paraphernalia, death masks, vintage B-movie horror posters and dwarf all-white Santas!

We ate at the Mama Shelter restaurant, Germain and Coutume Café; and drank vin chaud (hot wine) at the Piano Bar near the Sacre Couer. 

Germain is a Wallpaper guide recommended cafe/restaurant and I am so glad we trekked to see the massive yellow sculpture by artist Xavier Veilhan, the lower half of which stands on the cafe's first floor whereas the top half breaks through the ceiling and into the top lounge floor. It is designed by Iranian born interior designer India Mahdavi and worth visiting, even if for just a coffee and an entree (which are excellent, but not cheap)

Coutume is a simple stripped back cafe- canteen chairs, ceramic tiles and cast iron beams; the style of which you'd expect more in London than in Paris. It was recommended as quite simply the best Sunday brunch south of the Seine and in our (not too) expert opinion, lived up to its billing. Too busy enjoying it in fact, we forgot to take any snaps.

Rounded it all off with a quintessentially Parisian experience, midnight vin chaud and crepes in a cozy piano bar perched atop Montmartre. Touristy as hell, but marvellous all the same.

We whiled away many hours browsing the shopping icons of Merci, Galeries Lafayette and Le Bon Marche... such lovely shops, oh! It was refreshing to see an alternative view of the design concept shop with a slightly different look and feel to that which we have become so accustomed to in London - industrial, vintage, etc...

The celebrations continued today with lots of 12.12.12 love sent my way...

All in all, a very fun and memorable Birthday!

Christmas 2012 - December events

I was fortunate enough to be in India for Diwali with my family (more on that later),  but I'm super excited to be back in London for the start of the Christmas festivities, starting this weekend. 

The first one is the We Make London Christmas event at Battersea Arts Centre on Saturday, December 1st. There will be screen printing workshops (run by Mr. Wingate) and Christmas Carols and Jonna Saarinen and I will be at the Jonna X Kangan stand, selling one-off screen printed cushions and lots more.... we also have a fantastic bargain bin selling end of season stock and samples!

11am - 5pm, Free Entry

On Sunday December 2nd, I will be joining my talented friends at the lovely sewing cafe, Sew Over It in Clapham North to sell my wares along with theirs. Lisa Comfort (dressed as Santa) will be running Christmas decorations craft workshops and serving mince pies... what's not to love.

12 - 4pm, Free Entry

Nothing But Navy returns to London from December 5 - December 24 at 40 Berwick Street. Some of my exclusive navy cushions are up for grabs!

Designers/Makers will set up base at Southbank Centre from December 14 - December 16 featuring 

50 UK design and craft practitioners as well as workshops by Zombie Collective, Wrap Magazine, Mel made this, Shake the Dust, Garudio Studio and us - Jonna X Kangan. 

Make crafty elves and felt Christmas decorations with Jonna and me on Saturday, Dec 15 from 1-3pm,

and finish your Christmas shopping after at our Jonna X Kangan stall. 

12 - 8pm, Free Entry

 Our final Christmas appearance will be at Bust Christmas Craftacular on Sunday, December 16 at York Hall, Bethnal Green. 

Shop. Craft. Dance. Make Merry - they say, and we will with Rob Ryan, Jimbobart, James Brown and many more...

12 - 6pm, Admission: £2

Hope to see you there! 

If you can't make it, you can shop online here and I will lovingly post your presents out for you.... :)

Last shipping dates for the UK: Tuesday December 18th

Last shipping dates for Europe: Tuesday December 11th

Last shipping dates for ROW: Wednesday December 5th

Jonna X Kangan

Jonna x Kangan, now on sale at Supermarket Sarah

I've been working on a collaboration with my friend and textile designer, Jonna Saarinen for a while now and I'm pleased to say that we launched our first collection this week on Supermarket Sarah. Head over to Sarah's website for some of the goodies we have hand screen printed. We are selling a range of products that vary from cushions to teatowels, bunting to cocktail sticks - something for everyone!

The highlight of my recent honeymoon to Kerala was most definitely the moment I looked out of the taxi and spotted a truck park! Oh yes. (Sorry to my new husband) This wasn't any truck park, this was a mega psychedelic day-glow truck, spotted while on our way to Allapuzah having landed at Cochin airport barely 30 minutes prior. This is going to be a great holiday, I thought to myself. 

Kerala really did not disappoint and spotting a truck evoked the same enthusiasm EVERY time. Being the truck lover that I am, this was right up my alley. I asked the taxi driver to pull over for 'only 2 minutes' and jumped out with my camera, leaving Oli in charge of keeping an eye on the luggage and engaging the taxi driver in casual chit chat (i.e buying me more time, so he wouldn't realise I'd been snapping away for at least 30 minutes!)

I came across some friendly faces, others not so friendly (spying on a bunch of drivers playing cards, whilst squatting on the other side of a truck to get an interesting photo didn't go down well I have to say)

The paintwork on these trucks is markedly different from the ones I have seen up north in Punjab, Delhi and Rajasthan; specifically the motifs, text and colour sensibility. I didn't spot one painted eagle upon any truck down south whereas in Punjab they are omnipresent and the neon colours are very distinctive. 

There is great emphasis on the name in the front of the truck using very large and bold fonts. I presume most of them are the names of the truck owners, whereas others are more generic like Bright, Global, Christ. My favourite is 'Global'... universal terms these may be, but these trucks could only really be at home on the roads of Kerala. 

Floral patterns that are interspersed with phrases like 'God's own country', 'Prayer is Power', 'Time and Tide wait for no one', constantly remind you that this part of the country is predominantly Christian and has been since the first Portuguese settlers in the 15th Century. 

Oli pointed out how these trucks remind him of Martin Sharp's paintings... particularly the cover of Cream's album, Disraeli Gears. I thought this was such an excellent reference, and also quite an unusual one. I wonder if the painted trucks of India were an inspiration for his work. The scale of the motifs, the layout and the neon colours all bear resemblance to Martin's work (or vice versa) but what I love is the third dimension, the wood carved details and the simpler interiors of the cabins in which they sit (unfortunately I don't have any photos of the driver's cabin)

  

                                                             

For anyone who'd like their own Keralan style hand painted truck, I took down a number :)

PS - I forgot to mention, I got to sit in one of these.