Lark

 

Old fashioned English style and vintage nostalgia at Lark

Bright coloured melamine and party ware 

Cute stationery, books, stickers, tins and baking goodies 

Fab door covered in old Ladybird children's book jackets (I recognise a lot of these as I used to read them as a child!) 

 The Lark Christmas catalogue - featuring my vintage tea themed melamine plates!

A few weekends ago I was in Daylesford to visit the super-cute shop Lark.  Lark is brimming with old fashioned English style, vintage nostalgia, brightly coloured party ware and all things seriously cute!

Lark stocks a mix of hand selected children's designs, adorable homewares and accessories, designer products such as the Cath Kidston range, as well as a range of products from local designers (including me!)  It's a gorgeous shop perfect for buying gifts, with any presents expertly wrapped in pretty papers, coloured ribbons and sweet patterned tape. 

The Lark Christmas catalogue is out now and I'm very thrilled that it includes two of my vintage tea-themed melamine plates!

You can visit the Lark online shop here, pop over to the blog, or browse the Christmas catalogue - or you could be really retro and actually visit the shop in person!

Lark - 4A Duke Street, Daylesford, Victoria.

Olle Eksell

This is a fabulous book featuring the work of Swedish graphic designer Olle Eksell - and I've been meaning to blog about the book for a while.  Olle Eksell was an influential graphic designer working in the 1950's and worked across diverse design disciplines including illustration, packaging design, branding, fabric and textile designs.

I love the naiive and quirky style of Olle's work, with many of his designs having a sense of humour and whimsy to them.  As with many of the designers I admire, he was working at a time of pre-computerisation so his illustrations and designs posess all the quirks and flair of his hand created artwork.  

Olle Eksell Swedish Graphic Designer is available from the rather fabulous Pie Books.

100 years of East London style

Following on from the previous London themed post, I spotted this video on by b and e and thought it was worth sharing!

The video celebrates 100 years of East London fashion in 100 seconds, from 1911 - 2011. I love all the fabulous vintage clothing and the gorgeous hats! It makes me want to change out of my boring jeans and converse shoes, and put on a cute 1940's dress for the afternoon.

Watch it with the sound on....again...and again... it's quite addictive!

I Love London

I bought this wrapping paper from Lark the other day as I just loved the quirky illustrations depicting London with classic black cabs, the big red bus and snooty business people!

 

The illustrations on the wrapping paper reminded me of the 'London Collection' hand screen printed wallpaper designs by British designer Lizzie Allen. 

Lizzie has a fabulous quirky illustrative style, and I love these designs with their sketchy collage images of iconic London scenes and business people going about their busy daily lives.  I love the 'London City Gents' reading the newspaper, the 'red buses and black cabs' - and also the classic black umbrella which is a necessity when living in England!