Trend: Creatures

Words by Emma Kay

Whether it be ethereal glassware etched with sea life, be-winged bird friends swooping on to plates or rabbits popping up on our dining tables, our recent animal infatuation shows no sign of slowing. Glassware, art, ceramics and textiles have all seen creatures stealing centre stage.


























Thrifty upcycler and designer Esther Coombs first began illustrating unwanted ceramics. Laying bold graphics over traditional design, she gave old crockery a new lease of life. Recent collections have expanded on her green credentials and now include upcycled tea towels and cushion covers. Yellow Robin plate, £36, www.esthercoombs.com

London-based artist Jen Franklin has a long-standing animal obsession. The Camberwell Art College graduate's anthropomorphic line drawings of cats, birds, squirrels and foxes have a subtle retro Victorian charm to them. Giclee limited edition Falconry print, £75, www.elphicks.bigcartel.com


























Glassware designer Christian Haas launched his 'Small Worlds' collection for Theresienthal during Vienna Design Week 2011. The intricately engraved cased crystal tumblers picture sealife, woodland owls, ants and bees. Designs are available in blue smoke, smoke grey, dark blue, clear and mandarin. Whale tumbler, £175.16, www.artedona.com

Ceramicist Fliff Carr has been working from her Camden studio in leafy north London since the late '90s. Creating finely rolled and hand-thrown earthernware products for the domestic market, each piece is finished individually with no two ever the same. Gold and Hare sugar bowl, £65, www.roostliving.com

US lifestyle brand Anthropologie has all sorts of weird and wonderful animals starring in its collections, with its Hardware section a veritable menagerie of brass woodland creatures. Sly fox door knocker, £24, www.anthropologie.eu

  






















Louise Body is a Brit designer with an eye for the outdoors, her designs inspired by British garden life and frequently depicting birds, botanics and nature. The 'Harry's Garden' union linen fabric is a modern take on a traditional material and can be used for domestic upholstery, drapery and soft furnishings.  Harry's Garden fabric, £47.20 per metre, www.louisebody.com

On set: TV channel set design, Microsoft Xbox

Words, Set Design & Styling by Emma Kay

When I took the brief from Microsoft, it demanded cohesion of three existing set areas at its Soho studio. Here the technology firm films and broadcasts video game-related shows for digital TV channel 'Inside Xbox'. Using 2K's iconic gaming hit 'BioShock' and its beautiful '30s interiors as inspiration, the client wanted to fuse retro and modern with an added dash of science fiction.

 

Part of my job is establishing what items need to be on display, or how they should be stored. I edit together pieces that will be on show and put aside bits I can tuck away or place on other parts of the set for best effect.

Installation day begins with heaving piles of boxes that need to be unpacked and the contents assembled. The giant wooden 'manikin' measures 1.8 metres – the size of an actual male adult –

and took three actual adults to put together.

My styling kit contains a full complement of screw drivers, all manner of sticky tapes, glues, wires, markers, pins and tacks. If it can be bought in an art shop then there is probably some lurking in my kit. In addition to basic decorating tools, I carry an armoury of cleaning products, to make sure every piece of furniture or prop is wiped down and dusted before final styling. Greasy fingerprints ruin photographs and the darker the item, the more they show up.

Storage formed a large part of the requirement, with Xbox needing somewhere it could keep props for filming, camera equipment and also somewhere to display memorabilia, superhero figurines and Gollum-esque models in all shapes and sizes. I sourced the antique metal and glass display cabinet from a company that specialises in vintage utility furniture, and commissioned a small designer to custom finish a G Plan sideboard for the additional space to store props. A brick wall also had to be commissioned, so I found brick slip tiles in an aged brick finish that we used for cladding.

The life-size wooden 'manikin' will be used to display outfits of current video-game characters and I am told will be redressed for each show that airs. I stumbled across vintage illuminated signage letters from '50s Germany to spell out the initials of 'Inside Xbox', which the client fell in love with. After searching high and low for the originals, I put together a dimension drawing and commissioned a signage designer to make some up for us. Interestingly, it is the same company that makes most of Vogue magazine's lighting props for fashion shoots. Although expensive, the result was stunning.


























The set was already home to an '80s arcade machine used to preview new releases. Placing the machine against the brick-clad wall lessened the harshness that this kind of object can have on a room. Key to this project was melding Xbox's items with retro, utility and modern furniture to create a thirtysomething gamer's dream loft apartment.

Lurking in the bottom of the utility display cabinet is a Czechoslovakian factory steel pendant light that will be used as a set prop, and which was sourced from a company who specialise in architectural lighting salvage. The pendant is 35cm high and a huge 25cm in diameter and I was desperate to hang it up, but with it weighing in at 8 kilos, we weren't entirely sure the ceiling would take it.

Mood board: Play skool

Words & Styling by Emma Kay

Sun made of linen blend 'Sarona' fabric in tumeric, £46 per metre, www.romo.com

Sea made of cotton velvet 'Taormina' fabric in peacock blue, £42 per metre, www.sanderson-uk.com

Road made of cotton twill fabric in grey, £3.99 per metre, www.eprafabrics.co.uk

Balloon made of linen blend 'Sarona' fabric in lacquer red, £46 per metre, www.romo.com

Fuzzy felt fridge magnets used as set props, £8.50, www.johnlewis.com

Decorate: How to make a school coat rack

You will need:

1 x wooden floorboard measuring approximately 150cm, 7 x iron coat hooks, 1 x electric drill, 1 x sheet of medium-grade sandpaper, 4 x long screws, 4 x rawl plugs, 1 x danish oil, 1 x small paint brush, 1 x tarpaulin, 1 x cloth, 1 x measuring tape, 1 x pencil.


























I sourced my Victorian pine floorboard from www.reclaimed.uk.com, the 'Appleby' iron coat hooks from www.castinstyle.co.uk and all of the other materials from www.leylandsdm.co.uk.

Rub the board down with sandpaper to remove any dirt and to reveal the wood's grains and natural markings. If, like me, you are using an antique board sand it very gently to prevent any damage to the wood.

























Protect your working area with tarpaulin. Pour the danish oil directly on to your paint brush, then use it to coat the board and its edges. Be sure to apply it thickly and that a layer remains on top of the wood's surface to sink in. Check the board after half an hour and rub the excess off with a cloth (old T-shirts are best). Concentrating on one side at a time, reapply and repeat this process until you have the desired depth of colour.

Measure your board and work out the placement of the hooks, using a measuring tape and pencil to plot out where each hook will be placed (hold the hook to the board and mark through the screw holes with your pencil). Finally, mark a hole at each corner for the larger screws that will fix the rack to the wall.



























Using your drill, create an indent two-thirds of the screw's length for each hook fixing, then drill four holes at each corner of the board. Fix the hooks to the board with the screws and screwdriver. Measure the distance between the board's corner holes and mark on wall, then drill corresponding holes in the wall for the rawl plugs. Finally, screw the board to the wall with the rawl plugs.

Time to get those coats hung up – for a change.

Trend: Geometric

Words by Emma Kay

It could be the nostalgia of maths lessons spent daydreaming that has squares, triangles, rectangles, lines and angles lingering in the interiors air. But whether you are a protractor fan or not, it's hard not to glance up and feel surrounded by the geometric shapes of the world as the prevailing trend of 2011.


















Tel Aviv textile designer Mika Barr has released her first and very aptly named collection 'Geo' at Talents Design. With an ongoing fascination for structures and 3D formations, Barr's origami-inspired, screen-printed cotton cushion cover echoes this obsession, available in white with contrasting thread in grey/black/red. Geo cushion cover, €65 each, www.talentsdesign.com

























Erica Wakerly, RCA alumni and award-winning wallpaper/textile designer, frequently takes her cue from geometry. The monochromatic 'Squares' wallpaper is sure to put even the least studious of you in mind of yesteryear's maths lessons. The wallpaper is manufactured using traditional techniques that are environmentally friendly and suitable for use in both residential and commercial projects. Squares wallpaper, £59 per 10-metre roll, www.ericawakerly.co.uk

Paperchase, the beloved UK high street stationer, is renowned for turning out quirky designs on tight budgets. The Neon Geo slim task list pad will brighten any stylistically dull desk. Neon Geo list pad, £2.75, www.paperchase.co.uk

Chicago-based furniture and object design brand T J O Keefe is a company with its roots planted firmly in geometry. The 3:1, an intersecting nest of steel powder-coated tables, finished in monochrome and neon yellow, forms a perfect square when nested together, while each piece takes on its own geometric form when parted. 3:1 tables, $2450, www.tjokeefe.com

























Old-school German tile manufacturer Via produces ornate and functional tiles in concrete, cement and marble for architectural projects. If you want to inject some understated geometric glamour into your hallway, kitchen or bathroom, try these cement Standard Assortment tiles, available in black and white, red and white, or green and white. Standard Assortment tiles code 10460 200, £POA, www.zementmosaikplatten.de

Published: Tech Life, T3 Magazine, February 2012

Words by Emma Kay

On set: Fashion shoot, GQ Turkey launch issue

Words & Prop Styling by Emma Kay

The first job at the photo shoot is to get everything unpacked. The wallpapers, paints and fabrics I will use have to be laid out side by side, before the sets are finalised, with accompanying accessories and props matched up to each set. 

Props have to be checked and cleaned, ready for the fashion director to inspect and match accessories. We agree the sets and shot sequence, then the sets are prepped, ready to paint and wallpaper.

 

It’s always good to have a hit team of helpers when you have a number of sets to create. Usually, I have my assistants prepping one area, as I finish the one they have prepared previously. Masking tape and tarpaulins are an absolute must to protect the studio floors.

  

When you’re making a temporary set, you have to get the details as close to perfect as possible - under photographic lighting any lumps or bumps in your wallpapering skills will be magnified. First I measure the set and cut the lengths of paper for each section. Then, using extra-thick double-sided tape, I fix the hand-printed (and therefore quite heavy) wallpaper to the set. 

Each painted set needs roughly half an hour to dry between coats (two coats will have to be applied). You are always working on a tight deadline, so I use studio lights and plenty of assistants armed with hair dryers to get the sets dry as quickly as possible.

With the sets perfected and dried, the first prop is carried carefully on, as the photographer and his assistant run lighting tests. We do a couple of takes and check the images so we can correct anything that might make the image look messy. I always have a variety of cleaning products stashed away in my styling kit, to remedy any greasy fingerprints or dust.