THE ART OF BESPOKE

Everyday in the Clementine & Bloom studio is spent making, whether that's making a cake, making a blog post or our favourite making a bespoke lampshade.

We had recently been commissioned to make our Papilio lampshade in colours that would compliment a smoked glass lamp base. With this in mind we opted for the lovely olive green silk (used for our archive cushions) and kept the individually hand made butterflies in the aubergine and violet silk.

The best bit about working to order is that it forces us to think outside the box, look at new colour combinations that perhaps we hadn't considered and although these colours came directly from our Entomology collection we loved the final lampshade so much we are thinking of adding it to our range!

Even better still the shade was perfect for the base as you can see in these pictures sent in by our customer. If any of our readers wish to share their Clementine & Bloom products in their homes we would love to see them, why not email us at info@clementineandbloom.com

LIGHT FROM THE MIDDLE EAST

On Friday evening I travelled up to London with Collage Magazine and spent a few enjoyable hours at the V&A Museum to view the Light from the Middle East exhibition. I have never visited a museum or gallery at night and it felt childishly pleasing to roam the near empty corridors after dark ( a bit like being in your school when everyone else has gone home!)

This photographic exhibition brings together new images from various countries in the region and addresses the cultural and political perceptions which tend to go hand in hand with their society. In the early 1980's I lived in Cairo for six months and the sights, sounds and way of life there are very close to my heart. Photography is a powerful medium used to record events as they take place but many of the artists have manipulated their images requiring the viewer to consider what is reality and what is staged.

Among my favourites were the series of work by Shadi Gadirian and are based on traditional portraits from the Qajar period of 1700-1900's. The subjects are all women modestly clothed each with a trophy of modern day society - a Pepsi can, electrical equipment, a mountain bike - and addresses the challenges faced by women in that society today. Interestingly our guide pointed out that the original Qajar subjects were often dressed more freely with bare legs or arms than those of today.

image courtesy of the V&A

I also liked Watchtowers, West Bank/Palestine by Taysir Batniji which were inspired by the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher. The photographs were taken by a local photographer and not the artist as the area is out of jurisdiction to Gaza born Palestestinians. The shots were taken quickly and presumably surreptitiously which I think add to their quality - the watchers are also being watched.

image courtesy of V&A

The second part of the evening was spent at a seminar hosted by Avril Horsford called Rising Talent Pecha Kucha and Panel. Five young women creatives showcased their current work and the audience was invited to question them and suggest ways they could take their work forward. The words Pecha Kucha come from Japan and embody the concept of an exchange of ideas. There was a variety of work - film, photography, poetry and design and all the women were articulate and talented. Sadly the event was limited to one hour but I think we all would have liked to have been able to continue for longer.

The exhibition finishes on the 7th April and I definitely recommend you go and take a look.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER

Here at Clementine & Bloom it feels like we've have spent the past week making non-stop bird references. Currently Mum is 'finding her feathers' as she gets to grips with Twitter (sincere apologies in advance if anything random appears in our feed!) and as for me, I have 'flown the nest' so to speak.

This is not the first time I have lived away from home (various stints in London, Manchester and New York) but then my partner and I made the descision to batton down the hatches and save like crazy for our own slice of real estate. Fast forward a year and I am now the proud co-director of Clementine & Bloom, the only problem is running a small business is not 'mortgage friendly'. So a girl does what she has to and moves in to rented accomodation.

My new piece of rented real estate happens to be a beautiful top floor flat in a Georgian town house in Islington. As I write this I realise I may sound slightly smug (and believe me I am pleased as punch with our new home) but my intention is to give our readers a peek inside our new home 'cause lets face it everyone loves a nosey!

Starting with the "before's" today hopefully in a few weeks time I should have all my furniture sorted and of course a few well chosen accessories to bring the place to life. So stayed tuned because the best is yet to come...
 

MOTHERING SUNDAY

As Mother's Day was fast approaching, we thought last week would be the perfect opportunity to try out a tutorial we found that showed how to make your own sugar cubes.

 

These were super easy; sugar, egg and food colouring yet they look so effective. We are always oohing and aahing over the fancy sugar cubes you can buy in good food stores and now we know how to make are own. Of course in true Clementine & Bloom style we skipped the sugary pastel shades and leapt straight in to full on colour!

We used the smallest cookie cutter we had to hand, which luckily was a heart, to make these but maybe next time we would try and find an even smaller cutter as our sugar cubes are the equivalent of two teaspoons. And they have of course been tried and tested, but be warned your tea will turn an interesting colour! It's worth it though when you see how pretty they look on a plate and it's definitely something we will be making again when we want to impress our guests.

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day

BCTF

What do the letters B C T F mean?

Bold Colourful Tactile and Fun, a wonderful description of our current Entomology collection or in fact British Craft Trade Fair.

Or maybe both because we are going to be attending the British Craft Trade Fair in the lovely town of Harrogate in Yorkshire from 7th to 9th April with all our cushions and lampshades in tow. We haven't attended this event before (or visited this part of Yorkshire) so we are very excited to be able to combine two 'firsts'.

The show is attended by trade buyers and gallery owners from around the globe and hopefully will prove to be a great opportunity to open up some new avenues for Clementine & Bloom. As an added bonus we will get to meet up with some of the other exhibitors who we have met along the way and as we are showing in the designGAP area I'm certain we will make lots of new friends.

Not that we can yet call ourselves seasoned professionals but behind the scenes in Clementine & Bloom's studio things appear to be quite calm. Our hotel is booked, our rental van is organised, all that's left to do is run up a few new samples and plan our display. If your exhibiting or coming to the event as a buyer why not say hello now, we very much look forward to meeting you all!

We would love to hear from you if you have any suggestions on places for us to visit...

BLOG OF THE MONTH

We are very pleased to announce our inclusion in March's edition of the wonderful magazine Sew.

We have been selected as their Blog of the Month and they have done us proud with their images of our work. Featured in the article are our silk Archive cushions and burnt orange Papilio lampshade plus the olive green Papilio cushion and Polka Dot Beetle cotton cushion.

It's always great to be able to reach out to a new audience and this is a great opportunity for us.

(We would like to point out to any of our readers that have met us at past shows and exhibitions that we have not recently had a makeover. We're not sure who the two lovely ladies in the picture are but we do know it isn't us! We've been assured that there will be a correction for this in the April issue of Sew magazine so regular readers stay tuned.)

THE OFFICE

We're in February and the days are definitely getting longer which means that Spring is certainly on its way. With this in mind some organising and sorting was required and with an interview including studio shots in our schedule the studio was the place to start.

We thought it might be interesting to share a few of the shots with you and let you see where some of our creativity takes place.

This is where the messy stuff happens - some of the artwork and all of the screen printing. It's great in the Summer when we can throw open the double doors and let all of the light and fresh air flood in.

One of our favourite 'toys' - the heat press which we use to set the designs on fabric for the Archive cushions and tea towels. We love this gadget as it saves time, before this we used to spend hours ironing!  

And this is the clean area. Most of the sewing takes place here, as well as making up the orders, sending emails and plenty of coffee drinking! As our first proper studio (we are not counting the kitchen table) we feel we have been able to indulge ourselves with beautiful pieces like the desk and mirror below. After all, when we get up in the morning we want to look forward to going to work.

(Oh, and by the way, it doesn't always look this tidy!)

THE ENTOMOLOGY TREND

To write this post we need to take you all back to a time before Clementine & Bloom existed, back to a time when one of us worked for the infamous Alexander McQueen. 

With a background in Embroidery, and a particular interest in fabric manipulation and hand embroidery, it was my goal to work in couture. I achieved this in 2009 when I was chosen to work in the Alexander McQueen studio as a Hand Embroidery Assistant - I shall skip the gory details (long hours and tight deadlines) but what I will tell you is that I loved it! All day sewing beautiful, intricate designs for the most amazing garments, really what's not to love? The highlight of the whole time I spent working there was going to Paris Fashion week with the Plato Atlantis Spring/Summer 2010 collection, not just to finish the garments but to work backstage and see the final vision and all that hard work brought together in one fantastic show.

It still gives me a buzz to see the dresses that I embroidered on Lady Gaga in the Bad Romance video, or Daphne Guinness gracing the red carpet in the collar I worked exclusively on.

Now I can no longer claim any involvement in the McQueen studios but just the other day I was browsing Pinterest when I came across a fabulous dragonfly pattern (straight away I pinned it to our Entomology board) and I was delighted to discover it was a McQueen design. Little ol' Clementine & Bloom must be bang on trend then!

All images courtesy of Alexander Mcqueen

I've included a few of my favourites of the dragonfly designs and as we can't afford Alexander McQueen prices we shall be content instead with these cushions and lampshades from our Entomology collection to give our home that designer treatment.

LOVE LETTERS

Just to send a little love out to all our readers on this special day

Happy Valentine's Day!

ARABIAN NIGHTS

It has been a little while since Clementine & Bloom took a holiday- June to be precise for our Parisian Dash. So we booked a last minute deal to Marrakech to catch ourselves some rays. Truth be told we bought back more than just a suntan, having visited this wonderful city five years ago we knew in advance to pack light so that we had plenty of room for all the treasure we intended to buy.

When you step off the plane it's not just a change in temperature that awaits you, Morocco is a wonderful concoction of bold colours and pattern - Clementine & Bloom's mantra! I've included a few examples as there are just too many to share; turn the corner in the souk and you are greeted with another fantastic and intricate doorway. Sit down to dinner and be surrounded by vibrant colourful interiors. What's not to love?

For anyone who is thinking of going the first 'must' is to stay in a riad inside the Medina, traditional Moroccan homes built around a courtyard. We stayed in Riad Lorsya, just a stones throw away from our second 'must' the souk. The Medina of Marrakech is a maze of alleyways (the souk) where you can spend hours browsing, and in our case buying, wonderful artisan products. And when you emerge from these you should find yourself in our third 'must' the Jmaa el Fna - the heart of the Medina where by day you will see snake charmers, tooth pullers and henna tattooists. But at night the square really comes alive, locals and tourists flock here to see musicians and eat at the food stalls. The noise, sounds and smells give it an exciting carnival atmosphere.

There are several places of interest to visit whilst you're in Marrakech, my best advice would be to buy a guide book, not only useful for its maps but they list some great restaurants where you can eat traditional Moroccan cuisine. On this visit we ventured outside of the Medina walls to the Majorelle gardens, lush greenery against the most beautiful vivid blue that made me want to rush home and repaint the house! It was like stepping into an oasis where we could relax away from the hustle and bustle of the souks.

And finally, perhaps most importantly, I know you are all dying to know what we bought. I've included a few of my favourite pieces: these beautiful patterned bowls are a welcome addition to THE kitchen,

jazzy new slippers (babouches), making us the most stylish ladies in loungewear,

and best of all this brass lampshade; now all that's left to do is find the perfect spot in my home for it...

MANET, MORI & MARTINIS

Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets
courtesy of Musee d'Orsay

Last week as the snow had finally melted and the temperatures had crept up respectably I travelled into London to see the Manet: Portraying Life exhibition at the RA. The gallery was really busy, too busy in fact, to the point that it was difficult to see many of the paintings and impossible to read most of the information plaques. Many of the works appeared to be incomplete and having read some of the reviews that have discussed his techniques I'm not sure this worked well for me; there seemed to be an odd conflict of finished, detailed areas alongside what appeared to be unworked areas. Some of the works are exceptional; the contrast of black clothing with the luminosity of skin in Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets is stunning and it's impossible not to be provoked by Dejeuner sur l'herbe if only for the composition. As a whole though I have to admit that I found the exhibition a little bit disappointing and difficult to engage with and whether the volume of people present hampered it I'm not sure.

Dejeuner su l'herbe courtesy of The Courtauld Gallery

The next stop was a short stroll round the corner to Burlington Gardens and the Mariko Mori: Rebirth exhibition. This was completely different from the first one being much smaller and emptier which allowed the viewer to contemplate the work; I particularly liked the contrasting textures, the smoothness of ceramic with the ornate and scrolled opaque glass. The use of soft lighting to reflect and highlight some of the sculptural elements was interesting and reinforced the theme by making the spaces feel intimate and at times womb-like.

Flat Stone - image courtesy of artnet

So after the cultural excursion it was time for some food and a visit to Brasserie Zedel near Piccadilly Circus. You walk off the street and down into a gorgeous art deco interior with fabulous murals and mirrored walls until you enter the restaurant and are transported to Paris. I can recommend the escargot and beouf bourguignon and the wonderful French martinis are a must-have.

Oh and do visit the ladies toilets while you're there and enjoy the lovely tiles in the cubicles!