i'll be needing to introduce myself a few times over the weeks and months to come as we discover the Kingdom of Bahrain and new faces that come with a new country and home, eager to give out my business card in the hope that projects will soon come my way. with that will be the inevitable perplexed look and repetitive pronouncing of E N V I E {usually said with best effort french accent 'onvee' and looking pleased with oneself til i correct it with 'envy', it's pronounced 'en

ethnic pattern always catches my eye and is consistently present within my design. a recent trip to the middle eastern island of bahrain further instilled this love of islamic graphic detail, engraved in many guises throughout this small arab kingdom. i was especially enchanted by the bahraini commitment to marry their ancient culture with the fast growing modern facelift the island is undergoing, poignantly captured in the cover title of the recent bahrain museum guide 'A Pi

i wonder how you read the title of this musing and what connotations each individual takes from the phrase 'life styling'? do we immediately associate it with 'lifestyle' which as defined by dictionary.com is: noun - the habits, attitudes, tastes, moral standards, economic level, etc., that together constitute the mode of living of an individual or group. Or have you tried to apply a reasoned meaning of the bringing together of the two separate words, life: noun - the animat

i've grown up with a soft spot for monkeys and their devious ways as they lived amongst us in barbados, tormenting the dogs by throwing their finished mango seeds at them from the safety of the trees. appropriately 'singerie' meaning 'monkey trick' in french and is also a decorative art attributed to the 18th century decorator and designer Jean Berain who animated his wall decorations with dressed figures of monkeys aping human behavior of a cheeky nature. during the chinoise

a maj change in this 'back to work' period is the fact that i am now working from home. no longer an uncommon practice and therefore no need for me to wax lyrical about the pro vs. con aspect, nor share pearls of wisdom on how to be extra efficient with this freedom, you are all aware of this and some of you are sure to have started your very own empires from your own {cliche} kitchen table. so over the past few days i have been organising myself onto the {cliche} kitchen tab

you may have noticed my penchant for the oriental accessory particularly of the vase sort... perhaps... if not let me bestow upon you my adoration for these oriental vessels and the exotic flutter they bring to my soul chinoiserie, a french born, long standing decorative aesthetic remains today a well-loved style usually for the well-heeled wanting to make a poised statement of whimsicality. i did some very lazy research on how the term is described and was delighted by this

it is desperately difficult to not spend my entire time wanting everything new (and old for that matter) that we are enticingly subjugated to everywhere we look, especially as the vast majority of my everyday is looking for lovely things. but i often have a strange reaction to 'too much', i start to actually feel physically sick, a sense of repulsion i guess to my own overindulgence. it's as if i am subconciously trying to regain the balance of some morality with a view to ma