design

Ever wondered how Smythson business cards are made…?



Smythson-Factory main

I took a trip to the Smythson workshops to find out how their famous business cards are made

Shock confession: in six years of freelancing I haven’t had a business card. The shame! I’ve somehow survived on the dual methods of LinkedIn requests and pitiful scraps of Moleskine paper but that only gets you so far. Much better, I decided, to step things up and investigate the process of designing and printing bespoke business cards. Not just any business cards you understand, but the ultimate in luxury and elegance – Smythson’s copperplate printed cards. (more…)



Art meets fashion: Robert Indiana X Lisa Perry



Robert-Indiana-lisa-perry
Ohhh be still my beating pop art love heart. Lisa Perry has a collection launching in September that beautifully reimagines the graphic goodness of Robert Indiana. As much as I love Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, their aesthetics have been well and truly rinsed by the fashion world. Indiana is still relatively untouched by fashion and it looks like Perry has done a respectful job in realising his typography and targets in her clothes and accessories. (I’m hoping the high street won’t kill this too soon with their bad replicas.) (more…)



A different kind of bag for life



Buckitt-kickstarter-dineyrollergirl 3

“We were fed up of seeing people carrying their lives in these grubby tatty cotton totes and wanted to offer an alternative,” says designer Rae Jones as I surreptitiously kick my own ‘tatty tote’ under my chair legs away from view. Rae is explaining the concept of the Buckitt bag at a friends and family launch of her Kickstarter campaign. But actually the bags speak very well for themsleves. (more…)



Savelli’s women-only £76,000 luxury smartphone



Savelli-black-insane-smartphone1

One for the maximalists, this OTT £76,500 smartphone has just gone on sale in the jewellery rooms at Printemps and Harrods. Aimed at wealthy women, the Savelli ‘Black Insane’ white gold phone boasts white pave diamond buttons and a black alligator case with ringtones developed by French DJ Stéphane Pompougnac. I think I’ll stick with my Blackberry thanks… (more…)