Merry Christmas23/12/2014 Just popped in to Ochre's gorgeous Clerkenwell showroom to wish the creative folk a happy Christmas. Such a wondrous place with heavenly lights and a new Divine Recline chaise longue in a red reminiscent of a child's cap in a Renaissance painting. On to Pentreath & Hall for some last minute festive bits - handmade Christmas crackers, rouge napkins and berry felt coasters. The new Ikat cushions are beautiful, but I only have one pair of hands, so a couple are already and on my New Year's wish list. Back home drafting the Paris Deco Off and Maison & Objet press releases before closing the door of my office for a few days of daft paper crown hats, family ring on a string., The Railway Children (hear that groan from the kids) and Christmas dinner cooked by others. Bliss. Have yourself a merry little Christmas Let your heart be light From now on our troubles will be out of sight 
Merry Christmas and here's to a prosperous and peaceful 2015!
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Christmas Crystal17/12/2014 From the warm density of New Zealand wool emerges a delicate winter garden hand carved with the grace of a falling snowflake. ‘Crystal’ by Michaela Schleypen is a festive gift to Interior Design this Christmas.  Michaela Schleypen is true innovator. She was the first to start rug sculpting, translating her nature-themed concepts into tactile three-dimensional designs. Her award-winning designs are exclusively handmade using a dense tufting technique with New Zealand wool and Chinese silk as well as bold and surprising materials, such as lustre cotton, neon threads and denim and moisture-resistant fibres. FRONT London is the only rug showroom in the UK to exclusively present the work of innovative designers, Jan Kath and Michaela Schleypen. Both challenge convention, developing techniques and seeking creative solution to realize their design concepts and translate these into original floor art. The collection is showcased in a contemporary 200 square metre exhibition space in the heart of Mayfair, a destination for discerning customers, interiors designers and architects. wearefront.com The Lure of Leather9/12/2014 Some things just get better with age. Yes, I actually do enjoy a malt whisky at Christmas and a wee dram transports me to the peat-scented Highland firesides. I also love the smell and feel of leather chairs. Did you know that you can combine both pleasures in a ‘Dram’ chair designed by London-based designer maker Gareth Neal for The Glenlivet distillery? No, I didn’t either. But the theme of this blog is Ochre’s new leather dining chairs that are beautifully hand crafted and clad head to toe in leather. This is the sort of leather that gets better with age.  Sable, metal frame clad in the finest Italian saddle leather with hand sewn pinched seams and scalloped corner details. The finest Italian Saddle leather is hand dyed to Ochre’s individual specification before been sent to a specialist leather workshop in the UK, where each metal-framed chair takes a whole take to finish. Each piece of the leather is cut to measure and skived to the required thickness depending where it is placed. Each piece is then hand stitched and wrapped round the metal frame. The edges are dyed if required, and burnished at the end. It is a complete manual process, resulting in a contemporary piece of craft that you can use everyday and keep for a lifetime. Ochre’s individuality is expressed through the use of luxurious complementary materials. Each design begins with understanding the possibilities and limitations of a material and the designers spend time working alongside specialist craftsmen, in their workshops, exploring traditional techniques such as glass blowing, bronze casting, leatherwork and hand weaving. This is done to create beautiful, highly crafted and highly valued pieces and in doing so bring traditional techniques into the present to serve a modern sensibility. Ochre's individual commissions allow them to explore and experiment with materials, to adjust their methods and the scale and dimensions of their work. www.ochre.net |
