Special Issue: Celebrate!

You know, this Special Issue of ELLE DECORATION is not just special because of our 10 year anniversary, but because we're celebrating by giving away (almost) everything in this issue!

The pages are jam-packed with foody treats, holiday gifts, decor finds and great reads, all of which need winning. Here's just a small selection of what's on offer:


And that's just for starters. There's also champagne (by the bucket!), gorgeous homeware and decor, decadent cupcakes, glam weekends away, dinners out... and even a couture hat! It's pretty overwhelmingly generous, actually!

To win, you'll need to get your hands on a copy of the Celebrate Issue, and warm up your texting fingers. See page 26 of Celebrate! for more details. Good luck!

Special issue: Pure Chemistry

As a big fan of mid-century Scandi style myself, I've been drooling over pages 108 - 115 of the Celebrate issue, where we've featured the Cape Town home of pharmacist Pieter Dreyer.

Pieter spent seven years in New York, which is where his finely-tuned magpie's eye won him some real vintage classics.

Although certainly a disciple of the clean and pared down mid-century style, Pieter's playful little collections of treasures around the apartment show that he doesn't take it all too desperately seriously, and that his place is no Mid-Century style shrine, but is rather, truly a home.

Production: Laureen Rossouw
Photographs: Johannes Dreyer

Special Issue : Celebrate!

Ooh, look at what I've got. It's the new issue of ELLE DECORATION, and it's a special one, celebrating our 10th anniversary! I've been flagging all the yummy things to share with you over the next week, like extra pics and inside info, just for blog readers.

Subscribers already have their copies of this issue, and if you also want to be ahead of the pack, now's the time to do it!

One of the ways we're celebrating our 10th anniversary is to offer local readers 40% off the cover price when you take out a subscription. This means you can get 8 issues of this delectable mag in your postbox for a mere R180 (saving R116 on the cover price!)

Readers abroad can also subscribe, which will cost just R604 (about 60 US$).

Click here to chat to Resha about getting your subscription today, keep a lookout on the shelves for a copy of your own, and check back in tomorrow for more about what's on those flagged pages...

Report from NYC: Collages at Pavel Zoubok

Michael Cooper makes finely curated assemblages out of everyday objects and scraps of packaging. He arranges the small items he finds in neat rows, grouping like colours together or following a number theme. The collage above is called - you guessed it - Four.


This is One Through Ten - look closely and you'll see that each piece of collage represents a number. It was an exhibit of Cooper's candy-colour themed collages that first turned me onto Pavel Zoubok Gallery in Chelsea, Manhattan, which specializes in collage and mixed-media assemblages.

A new exhibition of collages, “Reconstruction: The Art of Salvatore Meo,” opens tomorrow. Meo was one of the first American artists to use natural objects and discarded man-made materials.

He used the most humble of elements - scraps of wood, old toys, rusted wire and other discarded objects he found on the streets. He paved the way for artists like John Evans (below), who turns other people's garbage into intricate images that look like enlarged stamps.

A couple of years ago, Evans exhibited a breathtaking series of “daily collages” created from ephemeral bits and pieces like ticket stubs, product labels and business cards that he picked up off the sidewalks in the East Village.

From 1964 until the year 2000, Evans made a new artwork every day in a spiralbound sketchpad and recorded the date with a rubber stamp in the corner. It resulted in one of the most substantial bodies of work in the history of collage.

I wanted to snap up the whole lot when I saw them displayed together at Pavel Zoubok. Alas, I couldn’t even afford one of these precious pieces! But lucky for me they are collected in a book called John Evans: Collages, available here.

Mac Premo, another artist who shows with Pavel Zoubok Gallery, pushed the limits of his collages even further - into the three-dimensional realm. He describes himself as a collagist, animator, commercial director and carpenter. Based in Brooklyn, Premo makes quirky mixed-media objects that he classifies as "handheld art", "bookheld art" and "wallheld art". In an exhibit at Pavel Zoubok earlier this year, Robert Warner (below) evoked his rural hometown of Angelica in upstate New York in assemblages made out of vintage book covers, chandelier crystals, optical lenses and all kinds of printed ephemera.

There is something about all these collages drawing from the artist's personal life and from popular culture. They've inspired me to make my own mini-assemblage of personal keepsakes. How about you?

Giveaway - Acoustic France CD

Bonjour, mes amis! Nous avons quelque chose speciale pour vous aujourd hui...

Zut alors, I was getting a bit carried away there, thanks to the gallic flavour of our latest CD giveaway from Putumayo World Music, called Acoustic France.

To win yourself a copy of this collection, featuring contemporary chansons and acoustic pop by established stars and up-and-coming artists from today’s thriving French music scene, just find the answer to this question:

French songstress, Francoise Hardy, has a son. What is his name? (clue: he features on the Acoustic France album)?

Click here to send us an email with the answer, as well as your name and postal address. Bon chance!

Time for a riddle

Q: What is large, round and woolly, with two arms, and goes "tick tock"?

A: Why, it's the Gomitolo Knit Clock, of course!

The knitted clock by Carlo and Benedetta Tamborini is available from the Conran shop, and you'll be glad to know that the hands of time will be kind to this designer accessory, as the cover may be removed for washing.


Via Dwell

LittleBig magazine

When Jenny Dalton, previously features editor on ELLE DECORATION UK, made her fairly recent venture into motherhood, she accompanied it with a new editorship - that of online magazine LittleBig, dedicated to "big designs for little people".

LittleBig magazine is not all about just being a stylish parent with stylish kids, but focuses on exploring what good Design is all about: good looking things that do the job right. And, as Jenny Dalton puts it, "We don't believe good design is good design unless it works. Life with kids is complicated enough."

I found some great reads and inspiration at LittleBig, like this charming story of the room belonging to the four-year-old son of stylist Emma Cassi.


A great high chair review (to suit all budgets and space constraints)

I also saw some great tips on where to find cool things for the kids, and also interviews with designers who share the LittleBig interest in finding great design for little ones.
And alongside the magazine, there's also the LittleBig shop where cool (and well-designed) stuff is to be had, such as adorable plywood Enzo Animals by Momoll, and exquisite lambswool blankets by Melin Tregwynt.

Report from NYC: Kitchen gardens

Now that he really can begin measuring for new drapes in the White House, I wonder what style Barack Obama would choose to redecorate his new home for the next four years? Federalist hip? Mid-century modern?

There might be a more realistic chance of the exterior of the White House being overhauled. Michael Pollan recently wrote an open letter to the next president in an article for the Sunday New York Times’ Magazine advising him to plant a kitchen garden on the front lawn of the White House. Roger Doiron (below), founder of Kitchen Gardeners International, has strongly advocated for this as well.

Kitchen gardens are a growing trend in gardening. As Pollan says, a presidential vegetable garden would set a wonderful example of sustainable living and help wean America off an agricultural industry that is dependent on oil. Lucky for us design freaks, a kitchen garden is also an aesthetic statement.

Photo by Richard Felber for Domino

The haute veggie patch of none other than Oscar de la Renta was featured in Domino magazine in September last year. Take a look at a beautiful slide show of this Connecticut garden here.

Photo by Richard Felber for Domino

According to Domino, de la Renta's garden applies the principles of a formal flower garden: strong structure, strict geometry and colour-blocking of plants.

Photo by Richard Felber for Domino

And it's not all about what the stars can achieve either. The magazine also offers vegetable garden designs, such as the one below, to enable you to transform your humble backyard into a patch of designer dirt, as well as a guide to planting a potted vegetable garden.

A slightly more haphazard approach is taken by artist-turned-garden historian, Leslie Rose Close, the wife of artist Chuck Close. She has a thriving kitchen garden (below) at her home in Bridgehampton, New York, where she applies an artist's eye but leaves room for happy accidents.

Photo by Gordon M. Grant for the NYTimes

There is a memorable article about her garden in the New York Times. "I can't imagine anything more wonderful to do," she says . "It's spiritual, physical, intellectual, aesthetic, sensual. I feel tied to the basic process of life."

I know what she means. Although I'm a garden-less city-dweller, I recently spent a day harvesting spinach, lettuce and carrots in the greenhouse at the Stone Barns Farm (above) in Tarrytown, NY. There was something very novel and satisfying about gently pulling a carrot out of the silty earth, dusting off the soil and eating it right away. The farm supplies the on-site restaurant, Blue Hill Stone Barns, with fresh produce for its highly crafted cuisine.

Maybe Blue Hill chef Dan Barber should start thinking about a new gig as White House chef?

Short, but so, so sweet

News just in from Three Potato Four is that they have an adorable collection of vintage kids' chairs available for sale.

Other unmissables for kids at this fantastic online store include this stitch-it-yourself Raccoon called Clauss...

And the little blue eyed bunny from Shinzi Katoh, which makes my knees feel fair weak!

Semigood Design

Seattle based design company Semigood Design makes beautiful things, and I'm particularly taken by their Rian Collection of cantilevered stools, desks and tables.

Semigood is run on ethical and environmental principals, using sustainably-grown wood source in nearby states, so that transportation costs are reduced.

Their furniture is handmade, using the best materials, and it's built to last, which is pretty unusual these days. This is what the guys at Semigood Design say about it: "Heirloom quality products with multi-generational lifespans are the best way to save resources and reduce environmental footprints."

Sounds to me like they should think of changing their name to Whollygood!