Letterpress Gorgeousness

With 2011 nearly upon us (or you may already be toasting the new year depending on where you're reading this) it seems like a good time to tell you about a gorgeous calendar. I'm normally a great one for dithering about spending a lot of money on any item I can get more cheaply, but this year I happily paid close to £30 for a little desk calendar. What, I can hear you all asking - you can get them from the supermarket for a fiver come February?! I know, but let me explain. I have something of an obsession with letterpress stationery that began a year or two ago; and when early in 2010 I spotted a beautiful little calendar produced by the Minneapolis-based Studio on Fire I just couldn't get it out of my head. After the usual shilly-shallying I ordered one and when it arrived a few weeks later I knew I'd made the right choice: small, perfectly formed, and most importantly gorgeous - I loved it.

So a couple of weeks ago, when it came time to think about a new calendar, I did the usual thing of researching other letterpress options online but it didn't take long for me to put in an order for Studio on Fire's new offering. Where last year's calendar was predominantly orange, red and a kind of eau de nil green, this year's is in more subdued shades of copper and grey. Normally I'm a sucker for anything brightly coloured but actually my current grey obsession shows no signs of abating so the new one suits me just fine. As with last year's calendar the 2011 edition features work from six different designers all tied in with the same colour scheme. It's basically fab.

It's only a little calendar, perfect for a desk-top, but I keep mine on my kitchen work-surface as that's where I get to look at it the most. And if that wasn't enough letterpress joy for one December, Coffee Boy bought me a one-day letterpress workshop as my Christmas present. I'm so excited I almost don't want to book my place - it's just so much fun looking forward to it! So if you're looking for a small but beautiful desk/work-top calendar, I'd be amazed if you can find anything more adorable than the Studio on Fire one. And if you've got any late Christmas presents owing to a lover of beautifully-designed things, get yourself over to the Studio on Fire shop right now; but don't be surprised if you end up wanting to keep anything you order for yourself once it arrives.

All images Studio on Fire

1001 prints | Celia Birtwell

Ossie Clarke and Celia Birtwell are synonymous with the spirit of Swinging London in the sixties. The then husband and wife team's floaty diaphanous clothes - the cut designed by Ossie, the whimsical print and pattern by Celia - had Twiggy, Bianca et al banging on their King's Road door demanding to wear them. Although I wasn't around in the sixties, I have a real fondness for Celia Birtwell's romantic prints and her signature colour palette of red, cream, charcoal, soft pink, green and blue - inspired, she says, by the paintings of Matisse and Picasso, the costumes of the Ballets Russes and the gardens of Vita Sackville-West.

Forty years on, the woman sometimes referred to as 'the face that launched a thousand prints' has just created her own website, offering all manner of homewares and accessories all adorned with her designs. I particularly love the vintage clothing section where you can buy and sell Ossie Clark/Celia Birtwell originals - each with a certificate of authentication and sketch of the garment by Celia herself. I also like that you can buy her prints in the form of fabric or wallpaper. All in all, I think the homewares and accessories on offer - ranging from notebooks and greetings cards through to mugs, plates and gardening paraphernalia including a cute pair of gardening gloves - are pretty, sweet and playful.

But although I like the new accessories, it's the frocks which always do it for me. Some of you may remember the great stampede at Topshop a couple of years ago for Celia's gorgeous printed tea dresses and blouses based on her own vintage designs. For those of you like me who did not have the patience or the elbows to see one in the flesh, let alone grab one, you still have a chance. This summer, Celia created a capsule collection of clothes, bags and homewares, exclusively for British high street stalwart John Lewis. The collection includes some lovely billowy sleeved dresses and blouses and I have my eye on this little number (below), a Rock Print Silk Dress and... well I'm going to need a lovely green, tasselled, leather drawstring pouch to go with that.

However, the other day I spied a less successful Birtwell collaboration currently selling in Boots. A bizarre mish-mash of cosmetic purses, socks and make-up brushes - Celia Birtwell eyelash curlers anyone? I can see she is probably trying to appeal to a younger generation in the same way she did when she worked with Millets a couple of years ago by creating a range of festival-chic camping gear. But for me, I think the beauty and timelessness of her prints lend themselves best where she ultimately began - clothing.

Top image: Vintage Ossie Clark for Radley Tea Dress

Middle image: (l-r) Lullaby Notebook Grey; Pretty Woman Mug; Red Candy Flower Blanket; Dandy Garden Gloves; Bird Song Cherry Red on Crisp Linen; Blue Lullaby Bag For Life; Pretty Woman Flask; Candy Girls Greeting Card; Charcoal & Cream Monkey Puzzle Scarf

Bottom images: Celia Birtwell for John Lewis Gathered Front Rock Print Silk Dress; Celia Birtwell for John Lewis Soft Leather Drawstring Pouch, Green

Chartreuse

I have recently moved and seem to have spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about wallpaper, paint and curtains. What has come as a bit of a surprise is the way I have found myself inexorably drawn to all things chartreuse. I don't really know where this has come from. I have always been a fan of sister colour lime green but yellow is most definitely not my thing. I'm not sure how easy it would be to live with but I suspect I may be about to find out.

Oh, and just to keep in the spirit of the thing I've also been indulging in a little of the original. Perhaps that could explain the recent obsession?

[Images above from top: Harlequin Wallpaper - Elodie 30203; Romo - Rubani Collection Seraphine fabric in Dijon; Chartreuse liqueur]