2012 INSPIRED

Inspiration for 2012.  Folkloric, the hand-mark, humour, games of scale, mystical, typographic... plus a sublime contrast of military drab and Schiaparelli pink backstage at Erdem.

JEUX D'OMBRES | STEPHANE ROLLAND

Snapped at the Stéphane Rolland Haute Couture show during our lighting test. One of the models photographing herself in shadow play on her mobile - thrown onto the back of the set.  The inimitable Old-Hollywood allure of the followspot and a shot we couldn't resist.

MANHATTAN | SOVIET

Sidewalk | Soho | the hammer and sickle of Soviet Russia artfully stencilled onto the paving outside the Barney's Co-op - fine purveyors of Alexander Wang, Helmut Lang, Edun et al. Amused.

CISEAUX

2010 was all about chairs (albeit the lack of posts thereof)... from high design to scrap. Efforts were made: sanding and painting a decrepit old footstool and unholstering it in vintage japanese kimono cotton; sourcing a 1940s Italian loveseat now bedecked with felted wool cushions from Donna Wilson; designing stools and chairs for London Fashion Week; scouring eBay for the perfect Ercol pebbles to sit alongside these designs. Form and function - and a rather obvious choice of subject matter. 2011 is the year of he scissors. Unheralded, unsung, uncelebrated.  And deeply beautiful.  So much so that a number of vintage pairs are now hung on my walls. Herewith Victoria needle-nose embroidery scissors and early C20 pruning shears. Currently in search of vintage pinking shears, ornate Chatelaine scissors and 1920s hairdressers scissors.

KENZO | MARRAS | V&A

A few of Uzo Oleh's beautiful behind-the-scenes photographs from the recent 40th Anniversary KENZO show at the V&A.  Antonio Marras reworked the sublime SS11 collection into an extravagant homage to the KENZO archives.  A perfect blend of talent, exquisite clothes, perfect set design, stunning lighting, amazing styling, fantastic casting, wonderful music and goodwill on all sides.  Kudos and gratitude to the venerable Antonio Marras, Paolo Bazzani, Sylviane Rudier, Oriole Cullen, Shelley Durkan, Nick Gray, Jeii Hong, Pamela Chapman, Andrew Lamb, Adam Cripps, the teams at L'Oréal, Toni & Guy and MAC, and my superlative compatriots at Bacchus Studio (Carmen, Lucy, Spencer, Martha, Daize +++ our scores of brilliant, interns, dressers and runners) for helping make it happen.

PAPER

An amazing collection created entirely in paper by Polish Artist Bea Szenfeld, a part of her "Sur La Plage" exhibition at Stockholm's Design Galleriet earlier this year. Fell on this whilst playing with origami and researching traditional paper-manufacture techniques (and obsessing about freckles).

S/S 2011 | P/E 2011

A stellar-season of beautiful design.  We found ourselves captivated by the designs of some extraordinary talent whose shows we felt very fortunate to produce.

MARK FAST | EMILIO DE LA MORENA | DAVID KOMA | HANNAH MARSHALL | HOLLY FULTON | FELDER FELDER | JW ANDERSON | CHRISTOPHER SHANNON | JAMES LONG | BASSO & BROOKE | ISSA LONDON

KEY

To say we had limited time to turn around this original montage-work would be understating things. Always amuses us how crazy pressure can produce some excellent results. The finished product measured 24m x 4.5m and graced the main front hoarding at London Fashion Week.  We particularly love the frame... a scan of a striped, knitted jumper casually thrown-down and squished on the scanner glass.

DIRECTIONAL

Saturday 18 September 2010. A '50s car park in Soho. Emilio de la Morena's already much fêted SS'11 show. And an uncanny double-set of directionals. We heartily thank Jérôme Puch for the silver metal tape he brought with him from Paris. So chic.

HEAVEN

Oh won't someone please buy me Simon Costin's amazingly perfect huge fibreglass and resin cherry from the SHOWStudio shop? I could happily spend days positioning this around my house and studio just to see what wild reflections I could conjure up.