A Clean Sweep

I have friends who claim that they love to clean. They talk about the 'meditative quality' of washing dishes and the 'profound satisfaction' that they gain while thoroughly scouring the inside of their ovens.

I am not one of those people

If it's up to me, I'll take the meditative quality of watching something lowbrow on television, and the profound satisfaction of a large roast dinner. Cleaning, for me, is a necessary evil.

However, it must be done. So, In an attempt to build up my enthusiasm, my solution is to make it as aesthetically pleasing a task as possible. If I need to sweep up rubbish then I'd prefer to do it with a beautiful vintage brush, with a classic maroon/cream colourway. If I have to dust the shelves, then at least I can enjoy the look of my classic ostrich feather duster while I'm doing it.

Now if only I could find a way to make doing my tax return a more beautiful experience...

Garden Nets

My Mum always says you can judge the quality of a restaurant on the cleanliness of it's curtains, judging on the condition of these I would eat at this gardeners table any day. I spotted them on a visit to some open gardens in Hampshire a few weekends ago. These folks had the thrifty idea to use their old net curtains to protect their fruit bushes from greedy birds, I think they were blissfully unaware of the art installation they had created .

Between Art and Functionality : Corso Como

I was charmed by this collaged wall in the exhibit of Kris Rhus' work at the Galleria Carla Sozzani, situated as part of her famous shop 10 Corso Como. It displays working sketches along with black and white photos of the work in progress.





Galleria Carla Sozzani

Aspesi Window

This cardboard Milanese street scene graced the window of the Aspesi Clothing store in the world famous Via Montenapoleone, It is wonderfully naive and hand made and I wish I had made it myself !

Pallet Masks

These charming masks were exhibited at Promise Design , an exhibition of over 40 Israeli designer in the Ventura Lambrate area. They are made from bits and pieces of of packaging pallets, and are created by Yaacov Kaufman.

www.yaacovkaufman.com

Flip Flop Story

This is the first of a few posts on the exciting things I've seen this week at the Milan furniture Fair, all loosely based around craft and hand made.



This project by Diederick Schneemann of Studio Schneemann, presents designs made from from recycled Flip Flops, they have been washed up on the shores of Eastern Africa, many drifting in on currents from the far east, Diederick has them shipped over to his studio in Rotterdam where he sands, them cuts them into squared pieces and glues them together to create these bold patchwork designs



www.studioschneemann.com

Emma Newton - True Romance

Spitalfields never ceases to impress us, here at the Curious Eye.

Our latest romance is with the delightful stall of Emma Newton - and 'romance' is the key word here. There is a delicacy and femininity in Emma's offerings that is extremely romantic. Not in a soppy way - there is nothing cloying or naff about Emma's taste. It's just that her wares are always so simple, beautiful and well chosen, that you get the feeling that she finds everything she sells at dawn on a sunlit beach, as she steps out of her driftwood shack, wearing a muslin shift.

We haven't asked her if that's true, but we are almost sure that it is...

Emma's stall can be found every Thursday at Spitalfields Antiques Market.