FISHY BUSINESS

Earlier this summer, I found myself briefly washed ashore a sultry coral island with powder white sand and limpid blue water.  To entertain myself all day long, all I had to do was dip my head below the sea's surface to slip effortlessly into another underwater universe alive with vivid tropical fish, darting and rippling, all different, all a thousand electric hues.   

Home again on another, more concrete, side of the world, I think about that watery underworld a lot.  And in commemoration of my brief swim with the fishes, I've searched for some fishy fabrics which I present below:

Lewis and Wood's unique underwater toile is called Lamorna Cove, after a beautiful hidden part of Cornwall.  I love this diver's eye view of fish, crabs, seals and seaweed.

Designer, Alice Thompson's Imperial Goldfish from Mitas and Co

captures the undulating motion of fish perfectly - 

Thornback and Peel's Goldfish and Coral on ivory linen has sadly been discontinued...

But their witty Sardine Tins belongs to a new design category I like to think of as Abstract Realism!

Scion's lino cut fish print Samaki in Ink is just pleasingly simple.  

THIS WEEKS THEME: PRINTED VELVET

I made two lightning strikes on design shows this week: first at the strangely deserted May Design Series and the second at a more vibrant and eclectic Clerkenwell Design Week. At both I made a bee-line to the smattering of textile offerings amongst the furniture, lighting and architectural displays, and the highlight was definitely the to-drool-for printed velvets at Lewis and Woods stunning stand in the hidden gem that is Clerkenwell's historic St John's Church:





There were more printed velvets at the May Design Series, at Ian Sanderson's:



and the fabulous Timorous Beasties: