The featured imaged is AI. The machine computed what my blog was about and created a picture with that massive light with feathers. It made me chuckle 🤣.There is another AI generated image at the end of the blog. However, all of the images in the middle were taken by me.
This week I had some time mid week to wander around my favourite interior trade suppliers in Chelsea Design Centre. Being a West Londoner, hailing from Fulham Lots Road is very familiar to me.
Below shows more images of things that took my fancy. They show trimmings or lighting features that either conjured up excitement or a sense of cosy familiarity for me…
I’m planning on making accessories available soon to go with the main items that I make. Etsy has loosened their rules making it easier for shop owners like me to supply complimentary accessories.
In future the paintings will be available with frames, the lampshades with lampbases, and a lightbulb as well as set up instructions. There will also be super duper gift box versions for bookshelf styling.
A bookshelf styling gift basket will have storage, lighting and some faux greenery in complimentary colours and textures with guidance for displaying the shelf as the professional stylists do.
Most centrally, I’ll be curating gift boxes for housewarming parties. Housewarming Gifts
The gift boxes for housewarming parties will contain a complete set of lampbases with lampshade so that customers get the exact look that they see in my pictures.
Those gift-boxes will also contain and lightbulbs so that the kit that customers or receiver get is ready to just plug in.
Gallery wall, bring and hang fest.
I have thought of another social phenomenon (not sure if it exists but) If friends are gathering to view your new home, get them to help turn a blank wall into an eclectic gallery wall, invite them to buy you an artwork (it would probably be polite to give a ceiling on the price say from £10 to £200) and let them tell you and the other party guests why they thought of you when they got it. I imagine it might create very memorable and meaningful moments.
To help with this I’ve created another house warming gift box which will contain ready framed ready to hang or place artwork.
Thanks for reading, follow to get updates for new gift packs coming up.
The current lampshade and lighting trend is for big white empires with the gathered version emerging as being a preference.
Above is an array of white neutral lampshades for table lamps in a variety of styles and forms, seen at the Design centre Chelsea during my Wow House visit.
However, please enjoy the feast of table lighting fashions taken from my recent trip to the various rooms in Wow House at Chelsea last week.
This white lighting trend at some areas of the Chelsea design centre appears to echo what I wrote about in my previous posts, especially the one anbout high street table lighting.
As a lampshade maker, I don’t make big white lampshades.
More white drum lampshades
Instead, I specialise in creating small lighting and shade accessories so that they both fit on a shelf system or bookcase arrangement on bedside tables adding a pop of colour, to support shelf styling and staging themes.
I’m here to support those whose tastes for colour are not yet met by monotonous style trends or lackluster supplier management tactics. Did the mainstream lampshade suppliers suddenly say you can have any colour as long as it’s white (just like Henry Ford said about cars in the early 1900s)? I also understand, the plethora of white lampshades might also be down to the minimalist’s quiet assertion and retaliation against the rise of maximalism.
Despite the dominant theme of white lighting, I was pleased to notice more bold and characterful displays of table and ceiling lighting for the home. These seemed to be more fun and cheeky suggesting a personality of their own. Alas, there wasn’t many of the colourful ones to find.
They are rare find indeed. I noticed that the more colourful ones were displayed in the trade shops in the Chelsea Design centre, while a couple of select dark red, purple hand sewn table lamps with or without gathers were thoughtfully placed in the Wow house display.
This was a development from previous years as those with colour in the Wow house previously were looking a bit anemic, washed out. Might we see more colourful table lamps in the Wow house next year?
Update: 1st July. Just Seen Homes and Gardens on Instagram just posted a thought provocation, asking scrollers to consider the whimsical style featuring colourful lamps and various colour palettes Homes and Gardens on Instagram thus we live in hope of the un-bland-ing of ambient lighting pieces.
The main thing to remember when selecting your lighting or designing your lights for ambiance within a colour scheme is to not be pulled in by what is obviously available. Dog deeper for more interesting suppliers. Go for colour drenching, harmonising or coordinating until you are happy that you are making your own mark and showing your personality.
Do you prefer a colourful light for ambient lighting or white lights?
Let me know in the comments, below.
Click on the link to view the colourful lighting I have in my Etsy Shop
Since it’s the end of the month here are links to the previous four weekly posts, just in case you missed them.
On search for design inspiration, I went to the Wow house, down the road from me at Chelsea Design centre. The exhibition is in its third year, which means that I was there at the first Wow house see blog link. But then I had used visiting the Wow house as a tactic to get me out of the house after my pandemic imposed social anxieties.
Now that those wowes are behind me I had a bit more pep in my step as I visited this time. Now, in 2924, I was purposefully looking out for the latest thinking about home office design and where the field is on shelf styling and lampshade trends. This post is about examples of home office styling and accessorising I saw. I have pulled together my top five to comment on.
Study One: Conceptualising Studio Spaces
Subscribers will remember that I love the fantastical in art and this studio by Fosbury Architecture has done it in room design, furnishings and finishings. They have ensured that all work surfaces receive the maximum levels of cosy because every office artefact, tool and piece of equipment is covered by the fabric of the sponsor Dedar. I loved the sumptuous nature of it. It certainly is an answer to the current calling for cosy office or cozy office decor as they say in USA. I later sat in this room with 20 other people when we were on the guided tour.
Conceptual Studio workspace created by Fosbury Architecture for Dedar Nicola Campri and Claudia Mainardi at Wow House 2024
Sitting there in the corner gave me a real sense of belonging and feelings of affinity with the others on the tour. It felt safe, cocoon like. It has given me some ideas about the future of training room design, that I have long complained to my colleagues about. Perhaps training room studios could be like this and the cocooning is the butterflies that will emerge from their day of corporate training.
Study Two: Functional Reality.
There were also office and study displays to be found in the showroom windows adjacent to the exhibition. The example below from Ligne Roset. This shows the reality of what people tend to buy. I do love the warmth of a dark walnut wood. It might be the new burled wood style that is coming in.
Study Three: Global Style Influences
East meets west. Japan has an influence in the room set up below. By Anahita Rigby’s cool office with a strange zen yet industrious feel. It was one of the rooms that enjoyed sitting in for a long time just absorbing all the textures.
Below are videos of lighter versions of studies.
Study four: How to elegantly place your desk in your bedroom
The exquisite desk arrangement in the Courtyard bedroom of Veere Grenney showing restrained elegance for Schumacher.
Veere Grennay’s elegant desk creating a study area in the Courtyard Bedroom
I think you can hear other viewers giggling about another room, they were hinting at how one of the rooms reminded them of a cosy country cottage. I left the sound on as the music seemed to find to fit the calm feel of this desk arrangement.
Study Five: Library Decor on Stage
And lastly putting on a grand appearance (his background explains why) is the Library by Andrea Benedettini. He used to be a Ballet Dancer and the Library was inspired Swan Lake and theatre curtains. I love the ballet and have seen many productions and this library setting was significant for me as it including floor to ceiling curtains to cover the walls. Andrea Benedetti is said (by the tour guide) to have been inspired by stage curtains for the wall draping. It was beautiful. I love that the overall look acknowledges the importance of presenting those bookshelves. And this room is a great exemplar for shelf styling cabinetry integrated into a room.
Andrea Benedettini Library
Overall I found I was full of wonder at the wow house. I was struck by how every study room appeared to use fabric as a wall covering. There was also deeply considered treatment of the ceilings as a feature or complement the room
Metal tended to feature in the lighting for all office desks and shelves so this might influence what I do with future lighting collections too.
Art was another big feature for shelf and desk displays, with nearly every room acknowledgeing the important role that art plays for personalising the space and conveying the inhabitant’s unique personality. I particularly loved how in the Martin Moore kitchen with Studio Vero (Romanov Brihi and Venetia Rudebeck) they purposefully curated and displayed green and organic themed art for shelves in their kitchen. It complimented the beautiful green and black marble surfaces they used, to make the space feel like a place to spend time and truly enjoy.
As a bonus i have added the Colefax and Fowler Morning Room by Lucy Hammond Giles. For some reason this was the room where everyone seemed to just want to sit in and rest and take in the decor.
Colefax and Fowler, Morning Room by Lucy Hammond Giles
What are the best office set ups or studies you have seen? What did you like about the five studies I’ve looked at?
I was watching BBC news while away from home and noticed my eye drawn to what the presenter was saying. It was a psychology Professor in Sheffield interview on BBC.
I noticed how it seemed like he had carefully arranged how his office set up would appear on screen.
When it comes to home office decor themes I discovered that have my preferences.
I don’t like the cold, stark, hard surfaces office look. It might seem futuristic (very 21st century to us Baby-boomers). But those images used to be the standard result of search for office decor or desk style as far back into the early 2000’s. It felt boyish, channeling teenage son lone woolf, building code and gaming in their bedroom and I just couldn’t relate.
To the other extreme I do not like the overtly feminine big frilly country kitchen table, make shift office desk and ramshackle bookshelf disorganised recipe books; propped up iPad against tiny metal pots of lavender look. That was a trend for a while, fitting in with a cottage core or rustic chic.
There is also the girl boss look, I see with some YouTubers which is less chintzy but has neon name signs on white walls and lots of fluffy textures incorporated whether the a macrame wall hanging or stringy plants dangling from shelves or wall (for the backdrop). These are combined with sheepskin covered chairs or armrests. It does give off a dreamy fantasy of what a girl’s world of business could be like (pink fluffy and pretty). It seems to be playing at being in business and those of us women working in corporate or refugees from freelancing know that, it sure ain’t no game. However I get the need to convey the light ethereal fantastical vision contrasting the hard realities of our capitalist system.
Instead, I like a style that that emanates wisdom, elegance and being grounded. The moody and cozy home office style is indeed a theme on Pinterest. When you look at those images you see a bold cohesive comfortable and elegant look.
The cozy home office
Be mindful, though. This look isn’t that shining high polished look that you might find in Dubai, Knightsbridge or Belgravia show houses where our top interior professionals produce. Perhaps akin to what you see in TV show Buying London (Netflix 2024). No, this cozy home office look is somewhere that you and I will feel comfortable doing everyday business because it is as if our friend down the road was the cabinet maker and our interior design pal (old friend from local comprehensive/ grammar school) helped with sourcing of fabrics for the wall and space planning of our furniture.
My work as a corporate trainer/ instructor and coach this week took me for an onsite to our client in their new home in an amazing building. The Arbor Building is in Blackfriars Road in London, UK and it boasts that it is carbon neutral. There are neighbouring buildings and I’m told it is a fossil free development called Bankside Yards which is a major architectural, construction and interiors project feat. I was especially impressed at how beautifully the interiors echoed the sustainability ethos too. See the photos I took below
I realised how much I appreciate some classical English stately home decor from my trip to Ashridge House in Hertfordshire recently. I was surprised as I thought a lot of my style comes from my Caribbean heritage and London urban living and my immersion in corporate training.
But I discovered how much I love the juxtaposition of earthy stone tones with the bling of gold frames that can be found in some English Stately homes like Ashridge.
The amazing thing about Ashridge house is that it used to be where Henry the VIII and Elizabeth 1st lived. It is also famous for various films like Beauty and the Beast, Malificent, killing Eve and More.
My return to and finding new uses for the small drum lampshades have sparked fresh creativity and renewed interest.
Currently the empire and coolie (more correctly conical) style of lampshade is all the rage. This created my dilemma, as fewer people were buying the drum shades, especially in the small sizes that I make. And I had made a lot to experiment and sharpen my practice of adding more decorative elements to them like the metal upholstery studs as I’ve always loved that classic look.
But, this week I set on a spree to rediscover what the styling options were for the plethora of small 15cm drum lampshades that I have in store (not all are in the online shop).
Welcome to this months’s edition of the newsletter. The cultured complexities series is being released and listed on Etsy this week. Artwork is ready to purchase.
The Cultured Complexities series is of about 30 mixed media painting made small enough for shelf display. It is a series that took me one year to complete as I started April 2023. Below are images that show the processes.
I’ve always loved those American films that feature a beautiful house by the lake. Films like, On Golden Pond, What about Bob, The Lake House and Cape Fear. I was recently reminded of my fantasy of experiencing a break by the lake and log cabin living last week, because my 9 to 5 took me to the lake region of New Hampshire USA, for a conference.
Drive by image of lake Winnipesaukee New Hampshire
But it wasn’t until I came back that I had an epiphany about my aesthetic values when doing the final tweaks of the photographs.
I’d been noticing how my eye has been drawn to organic and natural materials recently. Then later discovered that this is not a recent phenomenon. Natural and organic has been the core of my decision making around decor and product design but it sometimes got hidden. This is the story of the uncovering.
Recently I’d been playing with the idea of natural trimmings, naming it, my natural calling while trying to figure out what this means for future designs products and art.
Some of my recent inspirational pieces were the Samuel and Sons jute trimming collection. There is something quite ironic around having the basic and most ancient of materials used in contemporary and extravagantly decorative ways.
Last week I visited Tennessee USA, to carryout business for my employer. On my rest and travel day I was taken on a tour of Nashville and naturally sought out the art and culture areas. I’m not such a fan of music venues, being from London we get a lot of those around here. Instead I was more intrigued by Belmont and Vanderbilt campus area and the lovely community around there. I went to the Parthenon where they had an artist on show that I have begun to admire because I feel a sense of affinity.
This blog is about six years old. Since 2018 this space has been the anchor to me keeping my artistic practice going as if some form of curious web based accountability buddy that is silently coaching me along.
I was reading what I originally wrote in the About section. It’s what PR folk would say is ‘the origin story’ and how my blog and art practice started with a couple of tubes of WH Smith paint in a used Charlie Bingham box. Looking back at the images I think my practice has grown and developed.
Below are more photos of artefacts portraying the growth in my art practice. You will see how I have graduated from storing things in a used Charlie Bingham tray to now using seven Haeckles Innovation boxes to store my paints and all kinds of other artistic bits and bobs.
When people think about their dream home, they often think about the broad architecture. They might also dream about the interior space, structure and design. But their imaginings often miss considering the tiny decor details like the composition and likely colours needed in styling their shelves, open storage and library bookcases. Instead those finer details are left to chance. Then what we see at best their shelf display is about arranging things neatly. And at worst the shelf seems to curiously be like an exposed front draw with tens (or 100s) of items drowning in layers of sticky dust.
This post gives a few ideas for styling your shelf. It especially shows you how to use pieces of shelf art to anchor the colour scheme and inspire what items should go on the shelf and how to artfully display them so the scene is an amplification of the art.
This week I was doing the final varnish and layering on of skins for my artwork while making sense of what the series should be called and the concept behind it.
This first series has taken me over a year to make and there are over 30 mixed media 7” x 5” (178 x 127cm) pieces in the series. I thought of all kinds of names to acknowledge that the pieces express the underlying complexity and tensions I see in organisational life, as I’ve gone about helping workers with changing the corporate landscape. There is an overall name for the series which is abstract botanicals. But..that would be the more appealing acceptable name.
I was encouraged to hear another artist speak of her work conveying the horror and disgust that she experiences with another phenomena. And I realised that this is what my art is conveying too. Thus although this first series shows bright and colourful, botanical patterns of barely recognisable trees, plants and flowers (apparently I’m good at transubstantiation, necessary for abstract work), it sure ain’t pretty.
I’m an obvious urbanite and was nervous about travelling to England’s South West Countryside for work, this week. I had to visit Somerset in particular Chard for my 9 to 5. But my journey was helped because I stayed at a lovely little local guesthouse. And while the Chard guesthouse did not exhibit all the slick, minimalist, post modern or contemporary industrial style I have been accustomed to seeing on my usual business travels, this place really did emit some helpful old world charm
This bloganuary prompt (what makes a good leader?) made me chip in mid week and roll over to Sunday. We are seeing more reports on successful leaders being able to follow a variety of elements within the organisation. Some of the elements include what their followers say is of concern. Leaders today also must follow guidance and advice from a range of stakeholders. Later you will read how important it is that leaders get the very soft and aesthetic elements right too.
Following rules for shelf styling. Clumping elements in threes, fives or sevens, Maximising the layers, using lighting, botanicals, colour and painting tactically to get an inspired feminine industrious vibe.
Zone into wellbeing elements like designer iconic candles and image on a brochure i liked.
This week I was telling colleagues, clients and friends about the trends in senior leader training, I’d been hearing about. Especially those deep soft elements that help presenters with engagement in hybrid, virtual or online meetings. There has been a lot discussed about the importance of backgrounds when you are doing an online meeting, especially if you are a senior in the organisation. Interestingly in the middle of one of the meetings I was asked about my own bookshelf and they pointed to one of my lights and it started a nice ice breaking warming conversation.
I understand why this is happening. I often get asked about my bookshelf style in wonder. Some think its one of those generic backgrounds or that I am in a very swanky part of the HQ that no one has ever seen. Little so they know that it is through using my old film studies scholar hat, I made the connection of how we still turn to the dramatic arts and cinematography in organisation life. And how this part of the cultural sphere can help us to understand how best to convey the identities that we want with clever use of props (our own home office decor). A WebEx, Zoom, Go To Meeting screen is no different to the big silver screen. It’s just smaller and because you are the central actor the mise-en-scene should convey more about who you are.
This new year allowed me to reflect on how important our home office decor is. I was encouraged about its importance from recently watching the Jay Shetty conversation with Kelly Wearstler (famous interior designer) on You Tube 2nd October 2023. The messages about decor from their talk (Your space can affect your Mood) that I took away were:
The decor of your home needs to stand out and be distinctive to everyone else’s as so much of our interiors looks the same these days
Beautiful interior decor and careful styling can help to uplift your spirit as well as bring peace and calm
Everyone is looking at our backgrounds in online meetings and trying to make sense of who we are
Picture is of my backdrop in the midst of a shelfie makeover. I was trying to get the books and outline aligned to the obligatory smile shape. Lighting of the bookshelf is also vital several reasons which I shall explain in other postings
Some of the other reading I have done say more. Since doing my interior styling course and reading more about shelfies and office decor, I note they all tend to stress the connections that people make about your decor and your identity. Our office decor then is an important piece of personal branding.
I even stumbled across a couple of old organisation behaviour papers that I shall share later in other blogs with you. These research papers point to the important role of artefacts like office decor on shaping and sending messages about organisation culture.
So this year some of my content will provide helpful hints and tips about home office styling that converts your online meeting attendees into people that start icebreaking conversations that are more meaningful.
Drop me a line. If there is anything particular you would like me to cover in my future posts about home office styling, shelfies, backdrops, cultural artefacts in organisations, then please let me know.
My last post of 2023. This balances out the product showcase post on Sunday 17th.
I went on an interior styling intensive course at Chelsea College of Art and Design. It strangely felt like revisiting my old employer twice. Once because I was previously course director of a MA programme at UAL and second because I worked for the Tate one summer in the membership department at the Tate Britain (Millbank) site in the 1990’s. My work at Tate Britain meant that I then went on to do my arts management dissertation comparing Tate and Art institute of Chicago’s membership strategies. Ahh, those were the days. Sorry I digress.
Anyway, last week, the tutor for my interior styling was the amazing Emma who took us through the practical steps of being one of those people who set up the shots for glossy interiors magazines as well as the communication collateral for big brands.
I live in West London. These are photos of the wintery views this week. I was mesmerised by the ghostly set of buildings arising from the Olympia vicinity. I was transfixed on the building cluster in the distance that seemed to appear and sometime not appear, as if a mirage.
Looking at photos of houses that were once my home I noticed a common theme. The commonality might be about the London Building vernacular. But I’m beginning to think 🤔 more about my home style choices and preferences and how that is expressed in my artwork and making.
I was thinking 🧐 of contrasts and reducing my colour palette recently. Below are a couple of images where I played with new forms and hues. This week I was struck by the work of Mexican artist Sandra del Pilar and British artist Sahara Longe. Both seem to assert figures of humanity in subtle ways. I like how their figures seem to give way to the paint and colour form.
Here is is one picture series for the product showcase, ideally. But these images of new pieces of work are placed here for now until I get my new laptop and can access the product showcase part of my blog again. I’ve already asked WordPress about such a strange anomaly, they said they’re working on it.
Blogging via phone 🤳🏽 the last few months has been interesting but it has its limitations. Nevertheless it’s a short one this week to give my thumbs a rest.
Main message is that I love plants and it shows up as if by magic in my art.
I visited Wales this week and happened to drive by Cardiff castle 🏯.
Cardiff Castle
I first noticed all the Japanese business people walking past and admiring the different gargoyles and statues on the castle as they walked hurriedly in their smart business dress. I too thought about the makers of the stone and metal castings and carvings. But I wondered about their daily toil. I imagined the working conditions of those aged artisans who made their creative marks luckily lasting 100s of years.
Home Office Charm 
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