All Things Considered

Tinsmiths

Friday night saw the opening of a new exhibition in Ledbury. Hosted by our friends at Tinsmiths, it was a bit of a first for us - combining the printed work of Angie and Mark Hearld with the fabrics they've designed.

Phoebe and everyone at Tinsmiths had done a fantastic job of hanging the work in what is an almost domestic setting - all housed in a thoroughly modern showroom designed and built by Alex Clive.

We've always had an instinctive sense of exactly what St. Jude's is all about and why we set it up in the first place - but it was great to walk in another space and seeing how our work has been interpreted. Inspirational.

The exhibition runs until 12th April 2008 and you can view the work online. In addition, any personal callers to Tinsmiths can enjoy a 10% discount on our St. Jude's printed fabrics when purchased by the metre.

Knockando Woolmill - The Movie

It's been great working with Hugh Jones at the Knockando Woolmill who produces our woollen throws.

The Mill is mainland Scotland's last surviving small district spinning and weaving mill and was a finalist in the BBC's Restoration series in 2004.

It's an exciting time for Knockando Woolmill Trust as they are hoping to secure funding for a £3 million restoration project. Find our more about the Trust

This short film gives a great overview of the Mill as it stands and the plans for the future.

If you're not seeing a movie above, you can view direct at YouTube.

You Only Live Twice...

Perhaps you need to be a Bond obsessive to have the real desire to stay the night afloat Dutch waters in a bright orange capsule decked out with sheepskin, sleeping bags, disco ball, champagne, DVD player and movies and a chemical loo.

The converted lifeboat, the Capsule Hotel is currently docked in The Hague, a short walk from the city centre.

There may not be a helipad or parking for an Aston Martin, but a bicycle with luggage stand and lock on is available on application.

Le cool

Le cool is cool.

If you live in one of these busy, energy bursting, cosmopolitan cities, or are perhaps planning on visiting Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Amsterdam, London, Istanbul, Milan, and Roma in the future, then I highly suggest you click here now. 

Once you have signed up, you will receive a weekly, graphical email informing you of some select exhibitions, gigs, clubs, films, restaurants and bars that are going on in your chosen city.

If you would like to see what the Le cool team have sourced for this weeks cultural activities in London, click here.

Also available to buy, is a linen covered red book devoted to each of the above cities.

Flotsam

We took a walk from just outside Stiffkey to Wells Next The Sea and back yesterday. It was a perfect January day - a clear blue sky and a lazy winter sun just taking a edge off the chill.

I guess that in common with lots of people who have fallen in love with a part of a world and then relocated, as work life etc. takes over it's easy to forget exactly why you made the move in the first place.

Yesterday was a perfect reminder. Although we live closer to Norwich now, I'll always have a soft spot for Wells where I spent lots of time as a child.

Along Well's East Quay we found this stack of brightly coloured boxes discarded from fishing boats in the North Sea. I'm assuming they're flotsam (items that haven't purposely been thrown into the sea) as opposed to jetsam (which have).

Martin Puryear

We visited New York in November, arriving with the genuine intention that we’d be blogging on a daily basis. That didn’t quite work out, and this is the first of a handful of retrospective blogs.

Whilst we were there, the first large-scale exhibition of Martin Puryear’s work opened at The Museum of Modern Art.

Born in 1941, Puryear came to prominence in the 1970’s as a gifted member of the post-Minimalist generation. Whilst his sculpture draws upon many varied sources of imagery, you’re always aware of the personal and handcrafted nature of the work - widely celebrated for its mystery and allusiveness.

The sculptures, created with traditional materials - red cedar, willow, tar, wire mesh, hemp rope and rawhide - display wonderful craftsmanship and many have the qualities of agricultural tools.

In the central 1st floor gallery space (which is the full height of the building) a beautifully crafted  wooden ladder stretches with exaggerated perspective to the highest point alongside a piece incorporating found cartwheels.

The exhibition runs until January 14th 2008. The catalogue is great too.

Bygone Holidays

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I received a link to Feather Down Farm Days website; duvets and wellington boots instantly sprung to mind, but on further investigation, the Feather Down Farms concept has proved to be the quite possibly, my dream holiday.

Feather Down Farms are small scale farms, where farmers care intrinsically about the rural land that surrounds them.

"A Feather Down Farm is always established on or in the vicinity of a nature reserve or country estate ,or one of the other organisations in the field of nature conservation & preservation."

So we already know that the surroundings are going to be special, and having farm animals, beautiful walks,'find your own' fresh eggs and a home-produce farm shop close to hand, makes it even better.

The accommodation is also so appealing, (I do realise that it is not everyone's cup of tea) but the large old- fashioned tent with its wooden floor, cooking range, solid furniture and no plug sockets, makes me want some hob nailed boots and a petticoat - NOW!

There is also one other facility that makes me rub my hands with glee - all farms have a traditional bread oven, so at least I could get my baking fix, if others can't get their electricity fuelled ones.

You can choose between twelve farms in England, Scotland and Wales and you can book a holiday from Easter through to Autumn half-term.

Squat lobsters

On our our trip to the beautiful Applecross peninsula on the West coast of Scotland we finally got a chance to eat at the Kishorn Seafood Bar - close to the Loch Kishorn.

We watched the spectacular landscape pictured here disappear under a thick blanket of cloud as we sat down to a bowl of squat lobster tails freshly caught in the loch.

Related to hermit crabs they apparently aren’t in demand for export but I can’t think why as I think they were better than any prawn or langoustine I’ve tasted.

A cup of tea seemed  to go very well though there is a wine list. If you're ever anywhere in the north west of Scotland, this is a place that's well worth the detour.

Yurts

We're off to Devon and Cornwall next month. One week will be spent with extended family in Torquay and the other, somewhere of our choice. We always thought we would camp but having taken two cars piled high with tents, equipment and sundry items last week for just 3 days camping, fitting all our gear into one vehicle will be problematic and quite possibly, a little tense.

Searching the web, we've been lured by Yurt holidays. A cross between camping and not camping - the best of both worlds. We would have a wood burning stove, space and hopefully no packing issues.

These nomadic round shelters, originally made of tree saplings, leather and felt were built to withstand harsh and extreme weather conditions in central Asian countries. The modern yurt is made of timber, canvas and felt and by all accounts from what I have seen, look perfectly luxurious and highly appealing. If you like the idea of yurting without the vagaries of an English summer then how about this Andalusian Yurt Hotel although Cornish Yurtworks and Plan-it Earth look pretty comfortable too.

Norwood

A conversation with our friends Robert & Julia of (West) Norwood who have been enjoying this blog reminded me that Mark Hearld has been busy on a commission for  Norwood - a new arts club in New York.

With this out the way, Mark's now working on the follow up to Doveflight. Born in 1974, Mark studied illustration at Glasgow College of Art and then completed an MA in Natural History Illustration at the Royal College of Art.

Taking his inspiration from the flora and fauna of the British countryside, Mark works across a number of mediums, producing limited edition lithographic and linocut prints, unique paintings, collages and hand-painted ceramics.

We'll also be exhibiting a range of Mark's varied work at the gallery in the run up to Christmas - but we always exhibit his prints at St. Jude's.