#shanannabellevalla

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Missing Making // PRODUCTS

Every now and then I stumble across a picture of my products either on a blog, a feature in some editorial press (which amazingly I’m still getting after having not done anything for a year), or in a style shoot by one of my previous stockists.

This picture is a shoot by Folklore Store in Islington, London, featuring some of my precious gold topped milk bottles, in amongst a selection of their other lovely products.

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Fort Street Studio / INTERIORS

Last night we were lucky enough to co-host an event with the fabulous Fort Street Studio. Their beautiful showroom based in Wong Chuk Hang was the venue for the event, celebrating the launch of the second edition of Design Anthology, a high end interiors journal by designer Suzy Annetta. 

I was looking forwards to visiting their showroom, and it certainly didn't disappoint. Fort Street Studio make the worlds most luxurious hand knotted silk carpets. Founders Brad and Janice from New York are both painters by background, and a journey into China 20 years ago led them to translating their beautiful paintings into these silk rugs. I felt that they should be recognised as works of art in their own right, but chatting to Janice she was insistent that they didn't want people to be scared to use them for what they were made for- as rugs. The showroom felt more like an apartment or gallery- the rugs hanging like delicate, textural paintings on the walls, the luxurious beauty being off-set perfectly with the industrial style exposed concrete ceilings, and limed wood floors.

The delicacy of colour and tone in their rugs is breathtaking- achieved by using wild Dandong silk, from northern China, each individual thread being hand tufted. Brad told me it takes about 4 months of solid work to physically make each rug. Harvested from the wild oak forests in Northern China, the harsher climate results in a silk fiber thicker, stronger, and heavier than most. 

With showrooms in New York, Los Angeles, and now Hong Kong, their collection is extensive, and they sell to a very exclusive clientele- you will find these beauties in the most fabulous homes around the world. 

Truly the most beautiful carpets I've ever seen, I can only dream of one day being lucky enough to own one. 

www.fortstreetstudio.com

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Ponsonby / SHOP/ INTERIORS

If I lived in Auckland, I’d want to live in Ponsonby. We spent about three days there earlier this year, and fell in love with the cool vibe, the lifestyle/interior/fashion stores, and the amazing and delicious cafes and bars all dotted down one street.

Ponsonby Central had recently opened, an open plan, newly renovated complex with a very industrial feel. Its home to a gourmet green grocer, several super cool bar/restaurants and a well chosen selection of lifestyle stores.

Weekend Trader was a great little shop, one of our favorites, they curate and collect crafted pieces for the modern world.

Pieces inspired by yesteryear, yet designed for today. Their concept is to hunt and collect. To uncover oddities and curiosities from around the world. Discarded treasures, handcrafted lighting, furniture and accessories. Objects of design and desire.... and then display them for us to explore and re discover.  www.weekendtrader.net 

Duck Tape Workshop, is a phone store with a difference. A super well styled set up, with a carefully chosen set of merchandise, work benches with phone technicians wearing classy workmans aprons. Along side the second hand repaired phones that were for sale, were exquisite leather accessories such as IPAD cases, phone covers, lap top slips. One of my favorite touches was the custom wallpaper they had designed for the space with a selection of work tools as illustrations. It made a nice change from walking into the phone shops that I'm used to in the UK.