I spent today in London doing two things: eating and shopping. I was mortifyingly late to a brunch with my friend through Nest, Anju, who graciously let me infiltrate her weekend only to have me nearly sleep through brunch due to a Blackberry that decided it had not switched timezones. After a brief recovery and BIG breakfast we walked up and down King’s Road in Chelsea [I think] looking at, mostly, interior design shops as, it turns out, it’s a common interest. One of the shops, Designers Guild, was totally jaw dropping – beautiful linens, tiny trinkets for the home, rugs, fabric, you name it. In their basement level they had a small case of the prettiest ceramics – especially given my love of The Stripe. I jotted down the artist’s name in my trusty phone and looked Sue Binns up the moment I got back to the flat.
Even though I generally lean towards porcelain I am really into Sue’s stoneware. She gets it still quite thin and it’s matte glazed, which is unique and elegant. I’ve seen some stuff like this before at ABC Carpet & Home in NYC [Designers Guild reminded me a lot of ABC in fact – only whitewashed if that makes sense] but not with such great stripes and patterns.
In her artist statement she explains that she is, “fascinated by the way stripes create different visual impressions, positive or negative, depending on their thickness and density.” In her work that’s very true, some of the works like the above look like pinstripes with the white being the dominant hue, whereas others are blue with white stripes.
I think being attracted to these pieces is an indication of another nautical summer for me…not unlike the last two. I should note that the only clothes I’ve bought myself in months involve watercolor-esque stripes thanks to Loft and the new Forever21 in Boston.
How cute are these? I think I just want a beach house or a lake house to put handmade, stripey, earthy things in. Some body of water has to be near by and these seem to precious for the speed of everyday life, these are mugs to enjoy when you’ve nothing else to do but sit on the porch.
See, clearly blue with white stripes! Or rather they look like white and blue stripes of something just jammed up next to each other – not as though they’re one whole piece of work. Anyway, this was the first of many things I saw today. I could write for a month on Designers Guild alone. Bottom line I wouldn’t have learned about it at all but for Anju’s patience!