Keith McNally London Home

This Month's House and Garden is a cracker.

Is it me or is this publication getting better and better

I was both surprised and delighted to find amongst it's pages photograph's

of the Home of Keith McNally

I have never seen press on any of his homes before

If you don't know who Keith McNally is then you are certainly not a New Yorker 

and if you have ever visited NYC then you have certainly eaten in one of his Restaurants

Balthazar

Pastisse

Schiller's

The list is extensive 

(for a full list and an interesting article on Keith you can go HERE)

And now he has returned to his place of birth, London and opened up a London Balthazar

Keith just gets it right every time

One of things that is mentioned in the H&G article and that I have always felt 

"it is key to his restaurants that while they are stylish they are never elite"

I think Keith changed the way we eat, the way we socialise.

He levelled the playing field in a way 

His restaurants are not inaccessible 

Ok, they may be pricey for some pockets and we're not eating there every day 

but what I mean is 

Prior to the Reign of Keith 

hip restaurants were stiff, extortionately  expensive and elite 

His restaurants changed that

 and his house is just as stylish as you would expect 

all images are from the pages of House and Garden 
Photographer Simon Upton

Also IN H&G this month is a beautiful home in London belonging to the founder of

Made.com

and a beautiful award winning home belonging to Sebastien and Lucy Fenwick

I highly recommend you hit your news stands and purchase it

just in case you are wondering 

this is my opinion and NOT at all, in any way paid for or endorsed by anyone 

as is everything I post on my blog

Tory Burch S/S13

I can't say I have been a huge fan of Tory Burch

BUT 

her spring/summer 2013 collection 

has me all hot and bothered

Uptown Ethnic

is what I would refer to it as

and I loved it

I am particularly swooning over the accessories

Incredible..........

I am putting my pennies aside immediately

Ellsworth Kelly Plant drawings

Love the simplicity of line of the 

Ellsworth Kelly plant drawings

exhibition currently at The Metropolitan Musuem NY

They remind me of some prints I did a few years ago 

Being incedibly bad at archiving my work I do not have a reference to show you

I will see if i can rummage something out...

The eye of the storm

During the week, as I am sure you heard, we had a minor Earthquake here in NYC

I was on the 9th floor of a building in midtown 

and apparently the lights were swinging

I was in a lightbox approving color lab dips

and didn't notice a thing.

Many people evacuated our building

For 20 mins we decided what to do 

should we leave the office and try to get home

as maybe transit would be an issue if an aftershock came 

In the end we stayed where we were and there was really no disruption.

Now as we sit and wait for Irene to arrive 

I have to say it is all a little surreal!

I am not accustomed to natural disasters

Ireland has a lot of rain but no hurricanes or earthquakes.

This evening I went to the supermarket on the way home

and it was pretty crazy, 

empty shelves, crowds of people

It actually made me more anxious.

I am staying informed but trying not to plug in to the hype too much

Praying for a safe weekend for all

see you on the other side

x

Roman and Williams

I have been hearing so much about The ACE Hotel

and have yet to get there

....it's on my to do list

When Abigail Ahern of ATELIER Abigail Ahern

mentioned the designers 

Roman and Williams

 the other day on her blog

It needed some further investigation

Which led me to this video on  

The Scout

Roman & Williams from The Scout on Vimeo.

definitely worth the watch

"It's a shame to only have dreams at night, you should have opportunities during the day"

says Stephen Alesch

What they create are timeless interiors

drawing on influences from Classical Architecture,

Asia, India and all with a heavy emphasis on texture

I love when they talk in the video about texture and how important it is to them, 

how the Arts have such a heavy focus on visual stimulus and how how limiting that seems to them.

Their interiors also have a touch of whimsy and humour so nothing feels really precious
but like somewhere you could really live
eat
work
create
which is what a modern home should be 

You can also read 

this blog post on Rose Callahan's blog

about her studio visit to Roman and Williams.

Kinfolk

KINFOLK

This is the most interesting thing to happen in 

the world of online magazines

since LONNY first published

 

There have been many debates in the blogosphere about 

online magazines

This NY Times article 

sparked a flurry of debate

LONNY

whether you like it or not,

was groundbreaking

There are many more that followed some worthy of a mention some 

.....well lacking 

BUT

as the debate was raging 

I was thinking how quick we are to dismiss

In this culture of online fast fixes 

something is hardly given a chance

A chance to find it's feet 

find it's voice 

it's place 

Because there is room for everyone 

and everyone should be given the space to explore and learn 

and discover

If only the things that were most popular survived,

 what a boring and 

dull world THAT

would be!

That is like only having network television

or only being able to shop

at H&M or TOPSHOP 

 

One of the things that I enjoy about working in HOME 

as opposed to Fashion 

is that the pace is a little more civilized

Things can be developed and nurtured without the fear of doing 8 collections a year 

and the constant pressure to move on

drop what you have been working on because it belongs to last season.

 

It has struck me living in New York 

One of the fastest paced cities 

That what is new and cool 

what is peaking interest and trending

is to slow down

simplify

look back.

drink from a mason jar

make bread

 

It's like the Internet has given a big voice to a smalltown 

and

KINFOLK

are right on the button

Pure dkny

As previously mentioned

Here are the first beds that I worked on in my new position.

They launched at Bloomingdales last week

Savage beauty by Alexander McQueen

The Alexander McQueen exhibition 

opens at the Met May 4th

I will get there this week

If it kills me

All images from Met Blog

Interestingly I was in the McQueen store last week
and was struck by how beautiful it was and how it reminded me of a museum
Each piece felt Museum worthy.... exquisite

Tonight is the Costume Institute Ball

My ticket must have gotten lost in the mail

Image from Barneys

But Daphne Guinness had hers

and was getting dressed in the window of 

Barneys at 5pm today

You can watch the video HERE

Fashion Performance Art

New York 

you gotta love it!

Holler & Squall

So The first Shop I visited on Atlantic was
Holler and Squall
Amazing eclectic mix of curiosities and interesting and unusual lighting
Also really good price points!

Holler and Squall has a beautifully curated collection of old and new items, most with very reasonable price tags

I would love this as an Island in my Kitchen......... with the rug included


All above images are from the Holler and Squall blog
As I did forgot my camera
Do check it out for the latest additions to the store