Color by Conran - The Conran Shop London

Mr. Paradis and I rarely agree on much.  Is it the English vs. American thing and each always driving 

on "the wrong" side of the road?  Is it the male/female thing?  Is it the right brain left brain thing?

Maybe we've just been married too long?  In any case what we always DO agree on.....

is a visit to the Conran Shop* as part of our "re-entry" ritual whenever we visit London.

And yes it might be because of those sofas - that make you feel like you're at HOME away from home.  Plus, there is always something NEW going on at the Conran Shop.  

This time it's their new paint line.... what better to way to announce it than with a delicious lozenge-y wall graphic like this.  So very Conran.

Mr. Paradis and I do seem to agree that the Conran Shop offers modern minimal esthetics married to the sunny, the textured, the rustic - that allows you to fantasize when you visit there, that you could trade in your ordinary life for something kind of AMAZING somewhere between Italy, Morocco and Formentera.

You can be beguiled into thinking that even if you won't be taking home a giant stainless steel kitchen unit - 

that a woven/wrapped wine jug in folkloric/tribal colors will produce the same cheering and carefree effect in your home, with far less maintenance.  

I asked Mr. Paradis after our visit what he thought of these nifty jugs.

"What nifty jugs?"  he said.

"You know - those nifty colored plastic reed wrapped......uhhhhhhh never mind!"  (See what I mean?)

We rarely notice the same things.  Much less LOVE the same things (besides our cats).

This midnight blue chair was more his kind of thing.  I can appreciate why.  Somehow your tushy would HAVE to be happier, set atop this midnight blue velour.

But he was puzzled as to why anyone would need, or want,  to buy a bar of soap with an old dude and a cow on the paper wrapper.  (Me?  "Pretty cow, pretty brown cow.  Come home with me.")

But that's why you go to the Conran Shop, to discover what it is that is the newest "cool".  And the classically charming.  As in these Japanesey fish soaps.

Moi, I fell for these colorful French soaps.  (If you know me at all, that shouldn't surprise at all.  Couleurs!!!!!!!)  The problem was, of course, CHOOSING which couleur.  Or deux.  (Mission eventually accomplished.)

Hubby and I DO agree that we couldn't imagine a world, or a visit to London, without the Conran Shop.  It's kind of unique in the world.  I do hope it stays that way.  So we can continue our ritual unaltered.

And that there will always be a nice pub nearby for afterwards!  Priorities!  And.  ACCORD!

CHEERS!  (How was your weekend?)

  

*  I am not paid for these Conran posts.  Nor do I spend a lot of money there.  I post because I find visual and creative inspiration there as much as everywhere else.  Just a fan!

Slipping Back In........

Hey!  Hi!  Ola!?

been away......

been a bad blogger - oh!  I've said that already

been savoring my memories.  

Ever notice sometimes you only remember the pictures and not so much the holiday?  I haven't attacked all the pictures yet, cuz I want to stay wrapped in the images that remain in my mind.  I know it hasn't seemed like it, but I have always been thinking of you all.

Not sure what this Fall back will look like yet in the (my) blog world.  But if you all are still with me, I'm happy to keep tippy toe-ing along.  Can you guess where I've been?  (Don't cheat and look at the labels!!!!)

Moving Miniatures

Sometimes a theme develops.

 (Photo by Artemis at Junkaholique)

Stars align.

 (handmade by hand in the traditional Chinese way presumably, by Paris' Petit Pan)

Great minds think alike.  That sort of thing.

As Nadine at Tiny Woolf* recently pointed out to me, Artemis at Junkaholique and I covered some of the same ground in London this past month.  Artemis got to Clifton Nurseries before me.  She cadged the tin caravan at a South Bank boot sale (methinks).  Me, I have saved Clifton Nurseries pics for you for later.  And I cadged pictures only of a little boat and an emergency van.  (The originals of which I encountered at the Conran Shop and in Camden Passage in Islington.  Pics 2 and 3 respectively.)  I think though, that all three share in common a very appealing simplicity of form and refreshing graphic qualities.  SO NICE!  I JUST HAD TO SHARE!

Yes, I'm giving you just another idea of some cool things you could become an avid collector of!  No need to thank me.  I know.  I get it.  

Anybody else have samples of similar miniatures?  Send me a pic and I'll add it/them to the post!  Wouldn't that be fun?  We could make a virtual-visual-cyber-collection.  I know, I know, someone's probably doing it already on Pinterest.  But wouldn't we rather be different and a bit retrograde?

*(So nice to have lunch with her in London!  We were enjoying chattering/eating together so much we forgot to take a picture!  I promise you, it was a happy lunch.)

HAVE  A LOVELY WEEKEND ALL!

********************************

When France Came to the Conran Shop

A litte leftover from my Spring trip to Blighty......

We wandered into the Conran Shop after a game of tennis and what a nice surprise:

In celebration of the Patisserie des Reves (some of their lovely ladies, above) arriving in London

The Conran Shop was having a "French Monday Night" with goodies, free champagne

and a lot of French flavors

including these yes, CHOCOLATE vintage irons and espresso pots

splatter platters (actually they're Italian but they look very Cote Sud, don't they?)

old French cars - the Conran Shop IS housed in the old Michelin building -

stocked and stacked with French niceties.  We had our usual poke around to see what was new.

I thought this table setting had a very French vibe.  (C'est a dire bleu-blanc-rouge.)

(And in another direction entirely - who knew that Hundi lamps were back!?)

Couldn't resist these blossoms with the blue in the background.  I'm sure SOMEWHERE in France looks like this at least once a year.

The bicycles, too, are Italian I guess, but we just won't tell anybody, shall we?  I see myself toodling through the Tuileries on one of them.  In a striped top and Repetto ballet slippers.  With a ribbon in my hair......nice dream, huh?

Anyway shall we just say:  VIVE LA FRANCE!!!! and VIVE LE CONRAN SHOP!!!!!! and leave it at that?

(More Conran Shop posts here, here, here and here.)

Style Stop: The Conran Shop Again

ooooh

YES!

really so comfy

lovely!

WILD.

 

O.K., cool

and

YUMMY!

(see Archives for other Conran Shop posts) 

 The Conran Shop (click for online shop) YES?????

Oh Conran Shop, How D-o-o-o-o-o- I Love Thee?

Let me count the ways.

I love the way you've always shown me how Modern Neutral and Confident Color can play so well together.

How Comfort need not obviate Style.

How Austerity alongside Ornament needn't necessarily translate into.... Mutually Exclusive.

How Honesty need not necessarily rule out Artifice:  For more on how to fake-up encaustic tiles for your dining room, deck or kitchen, check out these links: here at the LA Times and at Jess' new house in New Jersey via The Eagle's Nest.  (Jess' kitchen floor turned out so great!  This is a great option if you're totally in love with this trend - like moi - but worried about how over-exposed it is and how quickly it will be so yesterday as soon as you've made your major investment in tiles and installation!  This Conran Shop version looks like it was made with 14x14 stenciled masonite tiles.)

I only wish it had been a sunnier day so that my photos had not come out with this yellowish cast and you could have seen how this elegant color scheme so sings!   So what projects of your own did you complete this past weekend?  Will you be sharing the details with us?