![]() |
| I would love the opportunity to incorporate a Warren Platner table in a transitional setting. |
Inspired - Warren Platner
of note: at the MFA
The Modern Farmhouse

Resolutions!

Images: Andrea Wyner
Image: Tom Palumbo, Martha Stewart Blog, CecilyLowe
SEVEN. To continue to grow and develop SHELTER - The Blog and The Design Firm!!{I can't wait to share my new website - it's set to launch at the end of the month}
EIGHT. To lose the "grass is always greener" syndrome and live for the here and now!
Peace and Happy New Year wishes to you!
Cheers to your best year yet!
Julie
Neals Yard Remedies Head Office
A couple of years ago, I mentioned Urban Outfitters' Hip office space in Philadelphia and if you remember it was a fantastic inspiring spaces. The place was bursting with colours, mood boards and I was aching with envy just looking at the photos...
Today it is a complete different design but as beautiful and of course in tunes with the brand it embodies...here are Neals Yard Remedies Head Office designed by Feilden Clegg in Dorset (Feilden Clegg also designed Greenpeace HQ, The Woodland Trust offices). The building is stunning, there is no question about it. I love how Feilden Clegg made use of wood and blend the company within the beautiful landscape of Dorset but what caught my attention was the work of Pinch which were asked by Neals Yard Remedies to design the interior and furniture for their new head office and manufacturing facility.
Pinch is an Award-winning company set up by husband and wife team Russell Pinch and Oona Bannon in 2004. Before Pinch, Russell had co-founded The Nest, a multi-disciplinary brand design agency with clients including British Airways, MFI, WHSmith, Rip Curl and Selfridges while Oona worked first at The Nest then at branding agency Bloom.
They now design furniture for some of the best UK furniture brands such as Conran, SCP and Benchmark Furniture (another company established by Sir Terence Conran).
As you will see from the pictures below, the interior combines bespoke Pinch furniture with customised basics to create a positive working environment that works to refect both the NYR brand and the exterior architecture and I think a lot of their gorgeous ideas could also be applied to your home.



Blackboard storage (clever & stylish idea for the home)

Reception signage

Office and coat hook


the restaurant and its gorgeous lighting


House in Ibiza
I love spending time there but frankly giving the longing I have for the sun, heat and white houses of Ibiza, I wonder some times why we didn't buy a house there instead (oh I know....spur of the moment purchase....near my family....the beaches of my childhood.....bike rides through pine forests....). Anyway, last night, Elodie and I skyped each other and we agreed to go to Ibiza together for a week so if you know any nice villas to rent in Ibiza or Formentera (my favourite), let me know. In the meantime, let's dream about Ibiza's beautiful fincas looking at this one that belongs to a parisian TV producer. Michel bought this finca a few years ago. At the time of his purchase, it had no water, no electricity and it was really in a sorry state but it was on top of a hill and it reminded Michel of the little houses that Marcel Pagnol described in his novels...The house looked like an old, wrinkly and tired, little turtle...but Michel was seduced and bought it.

If divorcing, moving, losing its job are on top of the most stressful things to experience (beside illness of course), disagreements with builders, architects or anyone involved in a renovation project can't be far from the top of the list. When we renovated our house in France, we had the builder from hell. Each time, I was discussing an idea with him and asking him to quote before going ahead, I would come back the day after and he would have started banging into the walls, knocking down the fireplace without my approval and then would tell me that it would cost $$$$. The first time, I lost it, the second time we fired him. I found out later on that he was making an habit of it and drove our lovely local baker to tears when she asked him to work on the bakery's oven. Thanks god, it's all behind now.
However, I'm not implying that Pascal Cheik Djavadi was the architect from hell. On the contrary, Pascal is a very talented architect and it is not the first time I come across his name but at some point, they misunderstood each other. Although now looking at it, I think this house in Ibiza has benefited from the owner and architect's differences in style and expectations and is now a wonderful and unique blend of traditional architecture with simple, beautiful contemporary lines. The kitchen for instance is fitted with state-of-the-art appliances from Gaggeneau while the sink is made of a very old stone imported from Portugal and the kitchen island from a local black stone, fitted with stainless-steel cupboards.




(C) photos: Marie-Claire Maison/Cote Maison/PERE PLANELLS
Auroville, Pondicherry
First, a big thanks to Masala Chai for the "You make my day" Award. I really appreciate it and also the post on 'The Dune' which kind of brought back lovely memories from our Pondicherry trip a couple of years back & inspired this post on Auroville:-))
My door obssession in Pondicherry, when I didn't have a digital camera, scanned from old photographs:-) 
The history of Pondicherry can be traced back to 1672 when the French bought this port town from an India King. The French connection grew when Sri Aurobindo an Indian scholar & mystic set up an ashram here in 1926. Mira Alfassa his French-born spiritual companion, also known as 'The Mother' established Auroville in the sixties.
Image of Matrimandir in Auroville.
Auroville is a series of self-supporting communities in villages which are very close to Pondicherry. Auroville's New Age ideal drew many Indians & Westerners including French architect Roger Anger who was the chief architect of the township of Auroville.
Featured here are a couple of homes from Auroville.
A fusion of natural & modern home of Frenchman Jean Legrand & wife Joy.
Natural light streaming in through the circular shapes on the ceiling and that is echoed by the natural rocks & granite slabs in Legrand's bathroom.
Love the angular and circular shapes of the kitchen & dining area, which has been designed keeping the light in mind.
Home of designer William Netter, an American Spiritualist and Sri Aurobindo follower.
The white-tiled kitchen with simple modern lines and ample natural light.
The design here is Minimalist with areas designated for different purposes. Here is the space for praying with 'The Mother's' and Sri Aurobindo's photographs with a votive candle burning in the centre and his work space.
A house designed by French architect Roger Anger for Christine Devin & her husband in 1976 in a design resembling toadstool shapes.
Beautifully designed circular bedroom with movable slats to adjust light & air flow. Love the red-oxide smooth flooring and a simple portrait of the Mother on the wall.
Locally made paper lantern and couple of floor cushions & wooden chest adorn the dining area. I absolutely love the shape of the windows ( reminds me of railway train windows:-)The township at Auroville is heaven for architects from India & abroad trying to create something different, something new. You can read more about the various styles of architecture in Auroville here.
(images from Indian Interiors- Taschen & Auroville.org)
Webbhotell Nyheter
blog directory
Add blog to our directory.




























