July 1, 2011 in news
I love Japan and my thoughts have been with everyone there since they suffered terribly in March. I was fortunate enough to visit Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka on a sales trip when I was textile designing full time and fell in love with it. It is so inspiring, full of the most amazing things and probably the best place to go shopping in the world!
Back in February this year my home, my daughter and I were photographed for a new magazine-book (a ‘mook’) called Liberty Chic in Japan. It arrived through the post last week and I thought I had to show it to you. The photography is beautiful and included a little bit of Liberty pattern in almost every shot. I was delighted to be featured alongside the homes of jewellery maker Emma Cassi, Apolline who makes the most amazing dolls and Marie-France Cohen, the founder of the gorgeous Merci in Paris, which is one of my favourite shops (along with Liberty).
My daughter Leila, wearing a Liberty print dress that I made for her, wrapping a strip of Liberty fabric around the lamp in her bedroom. This is the lamp from my book that was customised for the shoot by wrapping Liberty print around parts of the wire shade.
The bottles, lavender heart and lavender bags above are all projects from my book The Homemade Home. My son was at school that day but he was happy too as his drawing of an elephant made it on to the front cover if you look closely!
Liberty Chic is a 60 page magazine-book that features interiors and fashion, homes, clothing and products that all have a Liberty print focus. It is in Japanese only and comes with a Liberty print tote and mini pouch. It’s available from Hugowar.com.
Thank you so much to Masaki and Makiko, and to Teruyuki Yoshimura for the wonderful photographs. It is something we will treasure forever.
By coincidence, this was my work desk yesterday – a lovely Liberty print muddle!
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June 15, 2011 in flowers, news
Although I have worked with lots of amazing photographers, I think this may be the first time I’ve seen one of my own photos in print! I was very flattered when The Sunday Telegraph contacted me to ask if they could use one of the photos from my recent Forget-me-not post.
Anne Cuthbertson wrote in her piece ‘A nostalgic return: remember forget-me-nots’:
“The forget-me-nots have been the biggest surprise [in her garden]. They were nowhere to be found when I moved in, but this spring, tiny blue flowers have been frolicking along the base of the greenhouse and the ancient yew and through the borders. I have always considered it a childhood flower – sweetly nostalgic but, like buttercups. an uncontrollable nuisance. But so stunning is the frothy baby-blue bank that I am converted.
“I am not alone. The interiors stylist Sania Pell posted the most beautiful “bloom in miniature” pictures of forget-me-nots on her blog (www.saniapell.com) recently. She writes “to me forget-me-not conjures up old-fashioned love letters and romantic messages”.
Anne went on to write “Forget-me-nots also made rare appearances at the Chelsea Flower Show… Eyeing the show gardens I realised my shabby garden had stumbled into chic.”
Big thank yous to Anne for mentioning me in her lovely article and also to Rona from Flowerona for pointing her in my direction.
To read my original Forget-me-not post click here.
P.S. The graphic floral mug in the photo is one that I hand painted at a ceramics cafe a few years ago.
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June 10, 2011 in diy craft projects, news
I was delighted when I heard about this! The German publishing company Callwey have translated my book and LieblingsDeko: Schöner wohnen mit kreativen Ideen is now available and has had great reviews in Living At Home magazine and NZZ am Sonntag newspaper.
A copy winged its way over to me from Amazon.de and it looks great. Callwey have chosen a different image for the cover – the loverbird pillows, which is one of my favourite projects. I think it looks great. A big thank you to everyone at Callwey!
If you know anyone German who you think may like it, please pass on the link to them. You can buy the book here on Amazon.de
Who knows, maybe The Homemade Home will be translated into other languages too?
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May 27, 2011 in news
I do consider myself very lucky. Since art college I have always done what I love – be creative – and have been fortunate to make a career from it. It’s not always easy and is often hard work, but being creative is very rewarding on a personal level.
Beth Nicholls came along to the Decorate book launch at Liberty last month. Beth runs an e-course and an art and creative enterprise retreat in, guess what, how to do what you love for life. She asked if she could interview me and I said yes.
Beth asked me about professional styling, how I started and about being creative. You can read the full interview with me over on Do What You Love For Life – click here
Do you do what you love?
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May 20, 2011 in my london, news
I took a couple of hours out from making and writing yesterday as I had heard about the FOUND exhibition and sale and just had to go. And I’m so glad I did! It was full of the kinds of things I adore and I came home excited and invigorated. A bit of time out at something like this can sometimes be just what you need and I got lost in the beauty of everything here and found inspiration for the rest of my week.
FOUND – A Garage Sale is a one off charity sale of artworks, found objects, textiles, rugs, furniture and crafts to raise funds for the new education wing of Kettle’s Yard house and gallery in Cambridge – one of my favourite places to visit in England.
It’s no ordinary garage sale though! The sale is in The Brompton Garage on North Terrace in South Kensington and is chock-a-block with creativity and inspiring objects – just like Kettle’s Yard itself. Only here you can purchase all the items on show with new pieces arriving daily. Heaven!
The items are displayed beautifully and you can spend from just one pound for something little to hundreds for original artworks donated by well-known artists. And it all goes to support Kettle’s Yard.
Paintings, prints, sculptures, drawings, ceramics, curios, pebbles, feathers – all beautiful in their own way and all mirroring the ethos of Kettle’s Yard.
The black bowl with the lemon is by Sotis Filippides.
I loved these ceramics by Carys Davies.
Organic, handspun wool from Kay Buxton.
This pencil sculpture is by Shane Waltener.
I adored this painting by Neal Jones.
This artwork was so simple but I so LOVE it! It’s by Alex Calinescu.
Naturally I wasn’t able to leave without buying a few little things – feathers, a bunch of pine needles and a box of natural river chalk collected from the riverbank side – all absolute necessities for a city-dwelling stylist!! I could have quite happily bought everything there though and filled my house if my budget had allowed.
This wonderful sale, which is free to enter, is only on until this Sunday 22nd May, so if you live in or near London, do pop along this weekend or you will miss out.
If you want to make a longer day trip and see some of the best interiors shops and a bit of culture, then you can also pop into the lovely Mint, Few and Far, Skandium, The Conran Shop and Caramel (exquisite children’s clothing) which are all virtually next door, then pop to the V&A which is only a 3 minute walk away – try lunch at the cafe there, it’s in the most amazing room.
If you want to find out more about Kettle’s Yard you can read my post about my trip there below.
FOUND is organised by members of the Kettle’s Yard Development Appeal Group and you can also follow Kettle’s Yard on Twitter.
P.S. Hi to Nicole, Joan and Daphne who I met and chatted with at FOUND yesterday, lovely ladies doing something wonderful. Thank you for letting me take these photos.
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May 17, 2011 in news
Wow, what an amazing start to my new blog! I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone for joining me from the very beginning here, as well as those on Facebook and Twitter, and for all your wonderful messages of support and for making me feel so welcome.
It’s funny, as I was reading Holly’s posts last night she had described all the Liberty projects as perfect ideas to make when you throw a party. Well, starting this blog felt a bit like throwing a party. I put lots of effort in, styled it all up and wrote and photographed some posts ready for my guests. I then invited a few friends over and hoped they’d turn up. I was nervous, do you ever feel like that? What if no one comes?!
And, of course, then the doorbell rings and everyone starts arriving and you have a wonderful time! This morning it feels as if I have just had that party, danced all night, had a wonderful time and made lots of new friends. Thank you all so much.
An especially big thank you goes to my lovely friend Holly Becker. I had no idea she was going to post so much of our Liberty makes yesterday and it was such a lovely surprise. I woke up with a big smile on my face this morning. It is all SO exciting. Thank you Holly xo
I’m going to do my best to post a few times each week, as I juggle being a mum of two little ones and working too. I’m sure a lot of you know what that is like and how busy life can be.
Thank you all again and do pop by tomorrow for a couple of new posts!
Sania x
PS I took this photo for you this morning in the kitchen, while my children were having breakfast. Flea market playing cards, a flower from the garden and my holy grail of beach combing – a heart shaped pebble. As I write in my book “become a magpie” and you will always have lots of lovely things to be creative with. See you soon for more creativity.
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A place to share my work and the things I love: interior styling and great design; fine art and contemporary craft; exciting new products and flea market finds; handmade and homemade; celebrating the old and embracing the new; creativity, family and fun. The things that I believe make your house a home.
Line Up contemporary craft exhibition, curated by Sania Pell, at Flow Gallery, 1-5 Needham Road
London, W11 2RP.
View Sania's interiors, food and table top and children's lifestyle photographic styling portfolio.
