Attention Shoppers

It's a good thing that the new ShopAD does not have a "buy it now" button, or I would be in trouble.


The same goes for ShopAD Fabrics. (All of the printed linens above are from George Smith).

Great idea brought to you by the creators of 1st Dibs.

Peaks and Valleys

The way up and the way down are one and the same.
-Heraclitus

Schumacher's Zimba has really been growing on me lately. Perhaps I am finding beauty in a familiar pattern...

Miss Pettigrew, Chapter Two

It appears the connection between Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and interior design continues. While I would not pass up the opportunity to see such a thoughtfully decorated movie as the aforementioned title, there is another option for the bibliophile.

Clockwise from left: The classic Persephone Book jacket, a collection of works with their corresponding end papers, the "fabric" lining for Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.

Persephone Books, known for republishing forgotten books by mostly women authors, has released their stylishly bound version of Winifred Watson's 1938 work, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. Lined inside the signature gray jacket is a pattern originally used as a linen print for interiors by textile designer Marion Dorn.

Marion Dorn in 1947 with her fabric patterns. She was also well-known for her rug designs with high profile commissions for Claridges, the Queen Mary ocean liner and Syrie Maugham's famous all-white drawing room. Photograph by Horst P. Horst.

"Fabrics are as much a part of our daily lives as furnishing and dress materials, yet we rarely see them used in any other context. However, fabric design should be celebrated for its own sake; and because it is a field in which women designers have been particularly prominent we would like to use their work whenever possible." -Persephone Books

Like the seventy-five titles in the Persephone library, the fabric patterns chosen as end-papers are largely rediscovered works from the early to mid-20th century, which coordinate with the style and year of the story.

Kudos to Persephone for keeping female artists from fading into obscurity!

Sex, Drugs and Textile Design

Fashion designer Ossie Clark and wife Celia Birtwell photographed in London, 1971.

Celia Birtwell first became famous in late 60's London after her lending her hand-printed fabrics to husband Ossie Clark's fashion designs. What resulted was the birth of the modern catwalk show and an impressive rock star following. Clients of the partnership included the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Mick and Bianca Jagger, Paloma Picasso and David Hockney, to whom she would serve as a muse for years following.

The swinging, hedonistic lifestyle eventually caught up with pair and they divorced in the mid-seventies. After the tumultuous marriage ended, Birtwell turned away from fashion and focused on the "less manic" world of interior fabrics, opening her home design shop in Notting Hill in 1984. This past fall, the Celia Birtwell's line of 60's inspired textiles and home furnishings became available at the L.A. showroom of Suzan Fellman.

An older and wiser Celia Birtwell at the the Suzan Fellman Showroom in Los Angeles. Wingback chairs upholstered in Birtwell's "Howard" linen. (Photographed for Vanity Fair).

Pillows in Celia Birtwell's "Imagine" pattern

David Hockney poses with his muse in front of his 1971 painting, "Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy", a portrait of Celia Birtwell with her former husband Ossie Clark. The painting, rich with symbolism, is one of the most visited at the Tate Gallery in London.

As Beach Bungalow 8 posted back in September, Birtwell designed a line of vintage garments for Topshop. The collection of roughly 1,000 pieces sold out of the English chain store in a record 6 minutes.

To view Celia Birtwell's complete home textile collection, visit her website.