stone & honey

well, even though the sun is glorious again today, I seem to have developed an awful cold. glenn managed to stop his last week by taking lots of echinacea but that doesn't seem to be working for me this time. I'm going to make some honey, lemon & ginger tea and hope for the best. hope you have all had a good week and haven't got a cold like me.

we came across this lovely jewellery the other day so thought we'd share it with you today. stone&honey is the latest venture from teresa robinson of smallthings studio. teresa is based in portland, oregon and has developed a beautiful collection combining agate, crystals and delicate metalwork. we really like the single point crystal rings - the clear quartz one with a little hint of rusty orange is my favourite. hope you enjoy looking at the rest of teresa's collection {info & website details below}.



top: clear quartz ring {here}
middle: alder necklace {here}
bottom: green quartz/black quartz/crystals necklace {here}

{credits}

stone&honey {website}

swami's surf company

how stunning are these boards from swami's! we love the graphics - beautifully intricate drawings of feathers, arrow heads & surreal images inspired by the oceans, landscapes and abstract renditions of surf. go to their website {here} to check out the rest of their amazing collection.

1 & 2: dream map 4 & balsa feather
3: feather gun 1 detail
4 & 5: dream map 2 & dream map 3
6: dream map 4 detail

swami's bespoke boards are made in editions of 10, signed with the owners initials set into the deck.

{credits}

swami's surf company {website}

our summer '10 mailout

our summer '10 mailout is now online - you can read it {here}

if you are on our mailing list, you will have got an email from us today with all the details of our summer events and if we only have your postal details, expect our printed mailout any day now. if you would like to be on our mailing list, just drop us an email with your details {here}.




all our events & news can be seen {here} too. we hope to see you at one of our events this summer.


{credits}

pachadesign {website}

image: pachadesign summer '10 mailout copyright © pachadesign 2010

bliss

we had such a blissful weekend and the weather is still lovely. lots of catching up to do & lots to share with you this week. hope you all had a good weekend too.




{credits}

image: bliss copyright © pachadesign 2010

insects

we can't quite believe how beautiful the weather has been here today .... and it's forecast to stay this warm & sunny for the next few days. we finished work a little early today so we could spend some time in our garden. we managed to tidy it up a little and weed around our vegetable plants. we've had a couple of misty wet days this week so the slugs were nibbling on our salad plants, beans and courgettes. we need some friendly insects, so time to think about more flowers. we need ladybirds, bees, lacewings & hoverflies.




to attract ladybirds & lacewings: plant alliums, dill, fennel, yarrow, wormwood & calendula

to attract hoverflies: plant yellow flowers such as broom, yarrow, knapweed & poached egg flower. also calendula, sage, borage & tagetes

to attract bees: plant comfrey, jasmine, lavender, vetch, borage, poached egg flower, nigella, sage & calendula


hope you have a lovely weekend.


{credits}

images: british insects {from here} top - bee & lacewing, bottom - ladybird & hoverfly

dining tables

we've been thinking about dining tables alot recently. we have been asked to take part in a couple of exhibitions - one at the end of this year & another early next year - and are really looking forward to making a new design for them. we'll probably make benches to go with the dining table. the table & benches in the image is our off-set reclaimed oak & cornish slate design which seems to work well in rustic and modern environments {details here}.

we have been working on a few new designs for the exhibitions, not involving slate this time though, and can't quite make up our minds which to make yet.
we'll keep you posted as to what we decide and give you details of both exhibitions nearer the time.




oak edge

oak & slate dining table with benches
reclaimed oak (finished with an eco hard wax oil)
cornish slate (protected with an eco sealant)
all glues used are eco

made to order - click here for more info


{credits}

pachadesign {website}

image: oak & slate dining table with benches by pachadesign copyright © pachadesign 2010

currently loving

collection 7 in our currently loving series - we seem to be inspired this week by nature, soft tones of greys and pinks and greens and, as always, beautiful handmade design.

we hope you are enjoying our currently loving series as much as we are enjoying putting them together for you.

as always, credits & links below.




ceramic container in warm grey with sandblasted oak lid - from Vincent Van Duysen's collection of pots for "When Objects Work" {website}
garden of knowledge by Heidi Romano - beautiful photography of collected botanical specimens (image © Heidi Romano) - please check out the rest of Heidi's work on her website tales of light, it's very beautiful {website} {shop}
sushi tongs (lime) & halloumi hurlers (horse chestnut) - beautiful hand carved spoons & utensils by Nic Webb {website} photography by Michael Harvey
trail house 09 by architect Anne Holtrop - part of the exhibition Unknown Territory 2009, Museum de Paviljoens, Almere {website} photography by Bas Princen

our summer events: the contemporary craft fair

after our little joint exhibition at The Appledore Visual Arts Festival {here}, we will be at The Contemporary Craft Fair in Bovey Tracey, Devon (11th - 13th june). The show will have 165 of the uk's finest designer makers from disciplines such as furniture & wood, jewellery, textiles, glass, mixed media, silver, leather and ceramics. as well as the chance to buy direct from the makers, the show also has workshops & masterclasses you can take part in, a children's craft tent & entertainment, live music and great food.




we will be showcasing new work, so we hope you can come along to see us. work by other makers we are looking forward to seeing are Clare Goddard's beautiful wall pieces & three dimensional artworks, Emmeline Hastings stunning new range of silver, stainless steel & perspex jewellery and Claire Lowe's intriguing tea leaf jewellery. {details below}




other designer makers work not to be missed are ramp's ceramics, teresa green's textiles, paul, sam & christian's furniture and katrin moye's ceramics.

hope to see you at the show.

the contemporary craft fair, mill marsh park, bovey tracey, devon
11th - 13th june www.craftsatboveytracey.co.uk


{credits}

pachadesign {website}
clare goddard {website}
emmeline hastings {website}
claire lowe {website}


images: 1. the contemporary craft fair poster 2. pachadesign 3. clare goddard 4. emmeline hastings 5. claire lowe

our garden {part 1}

our vegetable garden seems to be coming along nicely, most of our seeds have come up - apart from peas which we have had to sow again (maybe we did them too early ?) and flowers are starting to come out too - daisies, comfrey, red campion, buttercups. we still have so much to do on the garden so we'll show you more later, but for now here's a little glimpse of some of the things we are growing.




top: climbing beans & borlotti beans
middle: comfrey, broad beans, onions, chives
bottom: rhubarb, chives

we have lots more to show you, so keep an eye out for {part 2} in a week or so's time.


{credits}

images: pachadesign garden copyright © pachadesign 2010

maniamania

yesterday we wished for sunshine and today is beautifully sunny. we've opened all the windows in our barn so there's a lovely breeze going all through the house. make the most of today (if you are in devon at least) tomorrow looks like rain again.

speaking of wishes - I don't often see jewellery I like and I kind of like to keep it to a minimum, maybe one piece - but that one piece is usually bold and sculptural and big. so I'm a bit in love with the new collection from ManiaMania. Real Life Awaits Us is the first collection from them and consists of rings, cuffs, amulets, neck pieces and earings - oxidised brass, silver metal & raw crystals. and the pieces are big - you absolutely have to see them on the model on their website to appreciate the size really (website details below)

I've picked out 3 of my favourites from their online store (and I'm going to wish really hard).

top: the initiation necklace {here}
middle: stalactite cuff {here}
bottom: the alchemy necklace {here}


{credits}

maniamania {website} {online store}

our next event: appledore visual arts festival

june is going to be a busy time for us with shows, exhibitions & open studios. we'll give you more details about all of them over the next couple of weeks and, if you are on our mailing list, you will get a newsletter soon. if you want to add yourself to our mailing list, just email us your details.




our first event is a little joint exhibition with our fellow furniture makers from love factor at this years Appledore Visual Arts Festival. the festival will take place over 4 days (3rd - 6th june) in different venues in Appledore and along the quay. we will be exhibiting one or two pieces of furniture along with Paul, Sam & Christian in the baptist hall. also exhibiting & selling their work will be 4 other artists: ethical jeweller April Doubleday, ceramicists Amy Cooper and Remon Jephcott and photographer Sarah Gallifent.




if you've never been to the festival before, we hope you will check it out. as well as various exhibitions, there will be workshops for kids and adults, demonstrations, live music, crafts for sale, open gardens, wild food stalls and much more. there will also be artists talks which this year includes one by Heather Jansch which should be really interesting.

to find out more about this years festival, you can download the brochure {here}


{credits}

pachadesign {website}
Appledore Visual Arts Festival {website}

top images: top left - pachadesign, top right - christian o'reilly, bottom left - palu anderson, bottom right - sam walsh
bottom images: top left - sarah gallifent, top right - remon jephcott, bottom left - amy cooper, bottom right - april doubleday

rain and isbells

it's raining, it's cold and we don't seem to be getting things done as quickly as we'd like today. we are hoping the sun will come out later on so we can get more done in our garden - lots of our seedlings are ready to plant out now. we promised you images of our garden a while back - we haven't forgotten. we shall do a little post about it as soon as we get time, we promise.

totally loving reunite by isbells at the moment - it's such a beautiful song. if you like fleet foxes, bon iver, bowerbirds and josé gonzález, we think you'll like this too. enjoy.





{credits}

isbells {website}

press, ect

it's been a busy week for us (hence the lack of posts) and probably going to get busier, as we have shows coming up soon. over the next few weeks we'll give you more details about the shows & open studios and hopefully see some of you there. we've been working on some new pieces, so we'll tell you about them too.




a couple of little changes on our website: we have just updated the events & news page {here} and we have added a press page {here} - we might work on this a little bit more when we have more time but for the moment it gives you an idea.

a little bit of recent press we've had is our leaf lanterns have been featured in the US magazine Get Married - you can view the magazine online {here}. a big thankyou to Kelly from the magazine for contacting us about our leaf lanterns. at the moment you can only click and buy from our website for posting to the UK but we do post to the rest of europe and internationally, so just drop us an email for p&p prices.


{credits}

pachadesign {website}

images: pachadesign website press page copyright © pachadesign 2010

salad leaves

we have been separating salad seedlings: red & green salad bowl lettuces, paris island cos, ice queen, lollo rossa, lollo bionda and corn salad. we are running out of windowsill space.




hope you are enjoying your weekend. what are you growing at the moment ?


{credits}

images: salad seedlings & seeds copyright © pachadesign 2010

currently loving

our currently loving collection this week is all about one shop - Analogue Life. I'm sure it's no surprise to you that we love japanese design - our own aesthetic is based on simplicity and paring down a design to its essence. the japanese pieces that we are drawn to seem to strip away all pretence, leaving humble but elegant designs.

I'm sure we will touch on this subject again and feature more from Analogue Life's beautiful collection - it was difficult enought to choose just 4 to show you here. Do take a look at the rest of their collection and let us know your favourites, if you'd like. We also really love the metal plates, knifes & spoons by Kanehen {here}.

details & links below. enjoy.




cara series - egg cups, milk pitcher & drinking cups designed by Rina Ono and handcrafted by Hidetoshi Takahashi.
small cup - Jurgen Lehl's Babaghuri pottery, moulded & shaped from gourds and coconuts.
perna tea cup & saucer - semiporcelain tableware from 4th-market's Perna line.
ironware ash boxes & trivets - designed by Sゝゝ and created at the Morihisa Suzuki Workshop.

Analogue Life {website}

plenty

hope you had a nice weekend. it was a 3 day one for us because of the may day bank holiday so we got some extra work done in our vegetable garden. we have been trying to get as much done as possible on the weekends and in the evenings because this is the time of year where we start to get really busy with summer shows, exhibitions and open studios and so gardening has to wait. we'll tell you what events we have coming up very soon and keep an eye on our events & news page too.

in the meantime, we thought we'd tell you about this lovely cookbook we bought the other day - Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi. we haven't stopped looking at it all week and can't decide what we want to cook from it first. the cover got us instantly - beautiful simple graphics on white by two associates. Yotam has put together a collection of 120 vegetarian recipes for his book with beautiful photography by Jonathan Lovekin. we took a few pictures of our copy to show you.




a few of our favourite recipes include:
watercress, pistachio & orange blossom salad (image 2)
coconut rice with sambal & okra
bittersweet salad (image 4)
black pepper tofu
hot yoghurt & broad bean soup (image 6)
cucumber salad with smashed garlic & ginger

Yotam writes the new vegetarian column in the guardian newspaper which you can view online - there are some stunning recipes there, this one sounds especially nice.

you can buy Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi from the publishers Ebury Press {here} and visit Yotam's website & blog {here}


{credits}

Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi from Ebury Press {website}
Yotam Ottolenghi {website}
book design by two associates {website}
book photography by Jonathan Lovekin {can't find his website - if anyone knows, please let us know}

images: our copy of plenty taken by pachadesign copyright © pachadesign 2010