Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, who mentored Zaha Hadid for many years, described the late, great “Queen of the Curve” like this: “She was somebody with a rare kind of courage. It was not a constructed courage, but an inevitable courage; she was just made that way. It was an almost physical thing.”
Last year, on Luma’s first birthday we were in London and my Mum ordered a very grand Victoria Sponge Cake with four tiers and heaps of fancy berries on top. It was delicious. Next week, for her second birthday my plan is to make one! We’ll stack up as many sponge cakes as possible, and slather layers of whipped cream and chunks of strawberries in between. I’m sure it would be tastier with mascarpone cream, but I can’t get too fussy. I may decide to add layers of jam, but I certainly won’t be making that from scratch. Ours will probably end up as an Eton Mess cake, but as long as there is cake, cream, berries and sugar, who cares?
As much as I enjoy a good clash of colour and print, I also appreciate a space with deliberate links between a fabric, flower and wall colour. This bedroom, in a vibrantly decorated cottage in Tulsa, is pure joy. I love the leafy wallpaper and corresponding cushion, and I love the pop of pink against the bright green. The clean white sheet highlights the white space in the leafy textile. The bed looks narrow, so I can only assume that these colourful people are also very small.
If I ever walked into this room, I’d quite possible stay forever. I might need to change the chandelier to something like this or this and I’d want to see a vase stuffed full of watermelon pink peonies on that little end table, but what a beautiful room this is. The question is what would I wear to sit in such a room?
I don’t believe that you can go out wearing polka dots and not have fun. There’s something childlike and whimsical about a polka dot print, even if the cut of the dress is demure and sleek. In fact, I rather like that juxtaposition. But then there is this, this, this and this, that assuming you have the humour and chutzpah to wear, will guarantee a good time.
It wasn’t the ocean, but it felt like it. The waves were big on North Beach in Prince Edward County when we visited yesterday. Antimo was the first to charge in and karate chop the waves. I forget that Lake Ontario is so huge, and that in some areas, it really does look and feel like miles and miles of wild and restless ocean.
Chic, chic, chic is what I have to say about the Stockholm home fashion star Giovanna Battaglia shares with her real estate heavyweight husband, Oscar Engelbert. I expected more of Battaglia’s signature whimsy and playfulness, but to see her in the space, it all makes sense. The apartment is sophisticated, sleek and serious –– Battaglia brings the whimsy. Playing a great supporting role, is a George Condo painting that adds massive colour to the otherwise neutral tones of their living room. A Lars Holmström chandelier provides an audacious pop to an understated dining room. Take a look. You’ll want to be her BFF.
I’m a big fan of stripes. One can never go wrong with a chic breton stripe –– but wide stripes, mismatched stripes and stripes in bold colours –– are so much more fun. And unless you work in an ultra conservative office, (whereby your undergarments should be as silly, frilly and sexy as possible) I say choose the stripe with the greatest sense of humour. Because really, the world is filled with enough straight lines as it is.
Into the Wild tells the true story of Chris McCandless, a 22-year-old disillusioned college graduate who trades in $27,000 of savings (he donates it to Oxfam) and a shot at Harvard Law School for life in the Alaskan wilderness. The film was directed by Sean Penn and was based on an American bestseller by Jon Krakaue. The landscape is stunning, with scenes on a beach in Beard’s Hollow, on the wheat fields of South Dakota, on the rapids of the Colorado River, and from a mountain overlooking the Salton Sea. The soulful soundtrack by Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder tells as much of the story as the script does, and the protagonist, played by Emile Hirsch has an air of a young DiCaprio. It’s not a new film, but if you haven’t seen it, do. At the very least, it will leave you lusting for the dunes of the Arizona desert.
I came across the work of Brazilian artist, Willian Santiago today. His instagram feed is delightful, with a mix of illustrations, succulents and splashes of red (tomatoes, a typewriter and his sneakers). It’s the portraits that I really love, this one, this one, and this one . The lady in her candy striped sunnies and giant headscarf is pretty fabulous, too.
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