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      April design news: the history of hi-fi, the future of energy and a pizza watch

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 2 days ago - 09:00


    A preview of the Milan Furniture Fair, the latest exhibition at Vitra Design Museum and the relaunch of London’s best 60s boutique

    This month’s design news is pretty nostalgic. Jonny Trunk’s wonderful history of hi-fi catalogues reminds us of the world before downloads and the relaunch of boutique Granny Takes a Trip brings back 60s psychedelia. And, as the new exhibition at Vitra Museum shows, looking to the past for answers to modern problems may well be the best solution.

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      Hidden gem: a jeweller’s remodelled terrace in west London

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 5 days ago - 14:00 · 1 minute

    Changes and clever touches mean there are surprises a plenty behind the front door of this Edwardian home

    From the outside, Marisa Hordern’s Edwardian terrace in London’s north Kensington looks just like any other on the street. A tiled path leads up to a grey front door with two clipped olive trees standing outside the red brick facade. “I like seeing people’s reactions when they come in,” says Hordern, the founder and creative director of Missoma , a jewellery label that started life around her kitchen table 16 years ago. “Inside, it really is quite different from what you might expect…”

    Hordern moved from a nearby maisonette five years ago. At the time, she was single and approaching her 40th birthday. “I decided it was time to lay down some proper roots and buy a house,” says Hordern. “The street is full of young families, and I remember my neighbours asking: ‘Where’s your husband? Where’s your partner? Where are your kids?’ I did feel a little bit like the odd one out, but this was just something I wanted to do for myself. Sometimes you just need to stop waiting for things to happen and do it yourself. I’m a big believer in that.”

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      Tackiness, sentiment, tradition: readers share what attracts them to holiday fridge magnets

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Tuesday, 19 March - 19:37

    Some collectors want the tackiest items imaginable, but for others they are heartfelt reminders of the past

    For Caroline Walker, 65, holiday fridge magnets aren’t merely practical souvenirs holding up the shopping list but “meaningful little reminders” that bring her back to a time or place in her life. The first in her collection was a little magnet from Dnipro, Ukraine. It was a gift from the leader of a group of Ukrainian students to whom she taught English. “I look at it now and I wonder where they all are, if they’re OK, how many of them died, how many of the boys are fighting,” she says.

    Walker is among dozens of people who contacted the Guardian to share their emotional response to holiday fridge magnets in light of a new study conducted by Liverpool University that suggests these objects may also provide an important means of accessing happy – and not so happy – memories of past trips.

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      Brownstone story: a stylish family home in Brooklyn

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Sunday, 17 March - 14:00 · 1 minute

    When interior designer Delia Kenza took over her aunt’s home, she had to make it comfortable and keep its character, but bring in a little of her own

    New York interior designer Delia Kenza didn’t go through any bidding wars, or an arduous search for the perfect family home to acquire her 1880s Brooklyn brownstone; the Clinton Hill property has been in her family for generations. Delia and her family moved into the home after her aunt, who had lived in the brownstone for decades, no longer wanted to live in the city full time. “Since I was a little girl I’ve known the house; I’ve grown up seeing the original details, high ceilings, shutters and plasterwork,” Delia says. She had a clear idea of how she wanted to modernise her new home, which she shares with her husband Júlio Leitão and their two daughters, but the very details that lend the property its character and charm would prove problematic when making the home comfortable. It was up to Delia to find solutions that wouldn’t interfere too much with the fabric of the building.

    A trip to France had made a lasting impression on the interior designer and would have a marked influence on the aesthetics of the family home. “I had visited the Louvre while in Paris and was inspired by the timber floors, white walls and brass handrails,” she says. “The rooms were full of very old paintings, yet the space was modern and I appreciated the way they managed to bridge the old and the new together.” Delia borrowed the black-and-white palette with brass accents for her interior scheme. “With this arrangement, whatever artwork we’d hang would pop on the walls.” Alongside the art, other stylish additions include an Afteroom bench by Menu and the IC pendant light by Flos .

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      Italian renaissance: a stylish renovation in Bologna

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Sunday, 10 March - 14:00

    The discovery of an old fresco inspired the colours and themes for this distinctive reworked apartment

    Sometimes it only takes a hint to change the fate of a project. For Andres Eduardo Avanzi, a young architect from Chile, it was a glimpse of a faded, dusty colour that emerged from beneath a thick layer of paint and plaster.

    He suspected that the soft blue, seen on a wall during the first stages of the renovation of his apartment in a late 19th-century building in the heart of Bologna, could be an original fresco.

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      Bright and beautiful: lamps are the new living room status symbol

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Saturday, 9 March - 12:00

    Stylish lighting has replaced plants and vases as the new interior must-have, be it colourful, cordless or even works of art

    Our choice of ornaments has come under fierce scrutiny ever since Instagram, TikTok and lockdown Zoom meetings put our knick-knacks and trinkets on public show. Houseplants , candles , vases and books have all had their turn as the accessory of choice. But for 2024 the interiors must-have, artfully spaced on a living-room shelf, is the side light or table lamp.

    And if it’s a one-off, all the better. Secondhand homeware platform Narchie reports a boom in lamp sales “Lighting is one of our most popular categories on the app, with sales increasing 47% compared with last year,” says Harriet Pringle, Narchie’s chief executive. “Recently, table lamps have consistently been the most searched-for items, followed by floor lamps, lampshades and wall lights.”

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      Colour therapy gives an injection of personality to east London new build

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Sunday, 3 March - 14:00

    A psychologist and his partner create a sanctuary with bold and bright hues

    Inspiration is one thing, the ability to express your ideas in a tangible and functional way is another. Working room-by-room, Tom Lalande and Julian-Pascal Saadi have fused influences from their travels and heritage to bring warmth, energy and life into this east London townhouse.

    “As a psychologist, I’ve always been very interested in the mind, our feelings and what we think about,” says Julian-Pascal. “I know that there’s a very strong link between architecture, colour design, and how we feel internally.” With this in mind, he was clear that he wanted each room to have a specific effect.

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      ‘Have fun with your spaces, layering up eras’ – a 1930s semi that mixes old and new

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Saturday, 2 March - 11:00

    A textile designer’s Cheshire home is a skilfully curated collection of modern pieces, heirlooms and charity shop finds

    A lison Sharpe has long surrounded herself with stylish, colourful people from whom she takes inspiration. She was a punk on the Manchester fashion scene before becoming a textile designer, and her love of interiors has been a constant.

    The 1930s semi in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that she shares with her husband is filled with personal treasures, from a vintage bergère armchair upholstered in a Vivienne Westwood fabric to a painting by friend and artist Ben Mayman that brings the blue-painted walls of the dining room to life.

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