Sania Pell

sneak peek

August 9, 2013  in interior styling

Here’s a little teaser of one of the art direction and styling projects I’ve been working on over the last few months, a new look for a new client. Very exciting! I will share more soon…

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fluoro & flora in elle decoration

May 28, 2013  in interior styling, news

After Chelsea flower show last week and all the floral fringe events that have been happening in London, I wanted to show you the six page story I shot with photographer Uli Schade for the June issue Elle Decoration magazine which is out now. We shot my flower-themed interior story early this year at Julia Bostock‘s beautiful new skyrooms location in Sussex. The room sets were simple,  with what I call a Japanavian or Scandanese feel – I know, I made the words up! But I love how these two wonderful design aesthetics can be visually combined.

This issue preview video gives a peak into the magazine:

Japanese and Scandinavian are two of my favourite design styles. I think I am naturally drawn to this style of furniture, beautifully made in natural and tactile materials, light, classic and simple furniture accessorised with graphic, hand-crafted ceramics.

There are so many people involved in a shoot like this and to mention just a few; textile artist Debbie Smyth made a beautiful, threaded floral picture especially for the shoot, Libby from local Ipswich florist Myrtle & Mint came along and helped me with the flowers, Polly Ord who assisted me and of course all the shops and designers that lent me their products. They are all listed in the magazine but if you would like to know about any specific items do leave a comment on this post and I’ll add their details.

I wanted to add some unique and handmade touches that readers can make themselves at home. These included silk flowers dipped into plaster of Paris, Cole & Son wallpaper cut out and reconfigured on the walls, floral canvases and spraying hydrangeas with yellow fluorescent paint plus a favourite of mine: wrapping vases with fabric and leather.

I will be adding these photos to my folio gallery soon but you can pick up a copy in newsagents now before the July issue comes out.

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weathered glamour

May 20, 2013  in inspiring places, interior styling

From Sydney we flew up to Cairns in Queensland, hired a car and drove an hour North to the sweet, relaxed seaside town of Port Douglas. It was the perfect location to visit the Great Barrier Reef and explore the Daintree Rainforest. The vibe was quite different to Sydney, but I loved its relaxed charm.

The wonderful use of corrugated tin and wooden planking as textural building materials, either painted and smart or untreated and raw, rusting patina next to weathered wood. In a local bar, where we watched cane toad racing, the rusting tin was juxtaposed against twinkling chandeliers and more utilitarian ceiling fans and pendant lights. An unexpected and successful combination.

It was the wet season when we visited and with this comes rain, short heavy bursts of it. Looking through the car window there were rain specks dotted all over, rather like here in London but the views were however quite different. I couldn’t help snapping away as we drove the coastal highway, continuing my ‘through the window‘ series on another continent.

Wonderful palm trees swaying in the wind, fields of sugar cane and the most beautiful sea views and skys. Heavenly.

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details of sydney: sibella’s society

April 30, 2013  in inspiring places, interior styling

Sydney is full of interesting and exciting independent shops without the mass of high street chain shops thet we have here in the UK. One Thursday morning I visited a shop I have wanted to visit for a long time: The Society Inc, stylist and author Sibella Court’s shop at 18 Stewart Street, Paddington. With time restrictions on us, my husband and son went off with the camera to Deus Ex Machina, a shop he has been lusting at from afar for a long time too, and I headed to Sibella’s store with our daughter, armed only with my iPhone to take snaps (so please excuse the quality).

Having viewed the shop online from London it was a treat to visit, a treasure trove of curiosities and useful every day handy items. It was a small shop packed to the rafters with interesting bits and bobs, a combination of vintage, utility and sparkly. Everywhere your eye turned a new goodie was spotted. There was also a beautiful selection of paint designed by The Society Inc for Murobond, colours changing each quarter to transport you to different ‘societies’. I chatted with lovely Hannah in the store who kindly let me take these photos.

Sibella is a stylist and author whose work I admire and her books, Etcetera, Nomad and Bowerbird, are a joy to look through and a pleasure to have on my shelves, now even more so after visiting her gorgeous shop. If you are ever in Sydney do drop by.

Of course I came home wih a few treats, including a sparkly item that now sits on my mantlepiece glinting in the sun. I think I must be part magpie, part bowerbird.

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pretty in pink

March 22, 2013  in flowers, interior styling

With Spring approaching and beautiful sprigs of blossom on sale, I couldn’t resist taking some snaps of them at home. The photography course I am taking has inspired me to take even more pictures and with the arrival of a little Saarinen side table I just bought from Skandium, it all fell into place. I love its classic shape and after years of lusting after it, and several shoots where I had used it, I finally ordered one. The little Rosenthal Pollo vase is another design classic that a friend bought me for Christmas several years ago, one I will always love. I cut some leaves from patterned paper and added them to the blossom stems and placed them in one of my fabric-wrapped vases.

Finnish designer Eero Saarinen designed this range of tables in 1956 and they are still made by Knoll (available from Skandium in London). The Pollo vase is by Rosenthal and was designed by another Finnish designer Tapio Wirkkala in 1970 (available from Vessel Gallery in London). They sit next to a vintage fibreglass Eames DAR chair that we bought years ago at a New York flea market. They are also available new through stores like SCP.

I can’t wait for Spring, can you?

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styling for cox & cox spring

March 18, 2013  in interior styling

I thought I would share a selection of shots from the last Cox & Cox catalogue I worked on, styling their new Spring product range. My favourite images in the catalogue are from the children’s shoot days where there is a mixture of still lives and model shots, with the energy and fun that the children’s characters added to the images and sparkle to the products.

I think my favourite of all is the little girl in the basket, looking as if she is about to float up in her hot air balloon and wearing a crown and wand that I made as props for the shoot.

Which is your favourite image?

For many more images browse the kids’ range in their online shop here or you can order the free Cox & Cox brochure here.

Photographs by Emma Lee, courtesy of Cox & Cox.

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