Tuesday 20 December 2011

Best Christmas Baubles!

Today is our last day of work before the holidays and, although we are very busy going on site later to finish the cafe project, we're feeling rather festive. I still haven't finished decorating the tree (yes I know I've left it very late) but come on, hands up those who haven't done it either?! Yeah, I see a few. Well here are my favourite, last minute, christmas baubles. And, most of them are reduced!


1. Belleek Living Snowflake Pierced Lantern, £9.60
2. Wedgwood Santa in Flight Bauble, £25
3. Silverface the Cat Bauble by Reiko Kaneko Ltd, £14.95
4. Gold Glitter Ball, £3.25
5. Bristle Red Nose Reindeer, £8
6. Q'guard Olympic Glass Christmas Decoration, £25
7. Beacon Robot Ornament Gold Glass, £5.14
8. Swarovski Christmas Tree Ornament, £49.48







Friday 16 December 2011

Oh Deer!



1. Floral Stag Head Object (Medium / Pink Rose)
(H37 x L30 x W40cm) - £45.00


2. Oh Deer - Set of Two Companion Cushions
(36cm x 36cm) - £60.00


3. Bookcase “Albero della Cuccagna,” by Matteo Casarosa

4. Teal Glitter Stag from Paperchase
(Height approx 19cm) - £4.50


5. Christmas Stamps Stag Heads Napkins from Paperchase
(165mm x 165mm x 2mm) - £2.50


6. Stag's Head Salt and Pepper Set 
(7x6.5x5cm approx) - £28.50

Creative Christmas Tree Alternatives

Anyone else have a little moan about the price of Christmas trees when buying theirs? I most certainly did! At the Pair Studio office, we decided instead to go for something much more interesting than a real tree (and definitely much cheaper). If anyone else is having the same dilemma, maybe you'll enjoy this post!

1. Our office christmas tree, made out of hand cut paper snow flakes.


2. Lights Christmas Tree - Simple but effective idea using christmas lights on a wall.


3. Items on the wall Christmas Tree - Made using pretty but random objects pasted on the wall, the perfect tree for a hoarder.


4. Wooden Palette Christmas Tree - Made out of recycled wooden palettes, a great outdoor tree.



5. Christmas Tree Bookshelf - Ok, not necessarily a DIY project but at least it's practical, creative and reusable. Use the shelf space to display Christmas presents!



6. Laser-cut Christmas Tree - For anyone who owns a CNC cutter (we still really want one!), you could make a fortune making and selling these!



7. Book Christmas Trees - Use old books, notebooks or magazines to make these creative table top trees.



8. Book Christmas Tree - Got a lot of books? Great way to use them around Christmas.




9. Ladder Christmas Tree - For the extra tight budget (or for those with an interest in DIY/building), the ladder tree is probably the most cost efficient idea we've seen!



10. Vinyl Sticker Christmas Tree - Had to include this one, we're totally obsessed with vinyl stickers in interior design so this simple design was perfect! Still not as good as our one though...

Wednesday 14 December 2011

This Years Best Christmas Cards!

We were thinking about making our own Christmas cards, like we do every year, so we were looking for some inspiration and found a few interesting things. Here are our top Christmas card designs this year:



1. Pantone Christmas Cards - These come in classic Christmas Pantone colours. Classic.


2. Johnson Banks Ram-Punched Christmas Card - Both the tree and the angel cards have been in the book for the D&Ad awards and the Christmas tree won a Design Week award in 2009. 




3. Magical Christmas Card - Swedish Post (Posten) and Crispin Porter + Bogusky have won an Interactive Gold at the 2010 Clio Awards for their Magical Christmas Cards campaign, made out of recycled magazines.




4. Simple Pop-Up Cards - We thought these creative pop up cards were a really nice, innovative idea. Easily made at home following the instructions provided.




5. Smelly Christmas Tree Card - Two bits of card are slotted together to create this creative christmas card. It's also scented with white spirit to capture the smell of a screen printing room.


6. Envelope and fold-out Christmas Tree Card - Beautifully designed card and envelope set that opens to reveal a post card with removable christmas tree shaped cut outs, that slot together to create a 3D design.




7. Pack of 10 laser cut Christmas Cards - Available from Not on the High Street for £34.99, these cards may be a bit pricey but definitely worth the money!






Monday 12 December 2011

Best Christmas Gift Shops

It's that time of year again (I know, we keep going on about it!) when everyone is doing their Christmas shopping. With so many gifts to buy (and so little time), we thought we'd make a post about the best Christmas shops... and you know you can trust our judgement, one of our specialities at Pair Studio is product sourcing! Christmas shopping made easy:



John Lewis - Great selection of gifts, divided into categories by person  (Him/Her/Couples/Grandparents) or by hobby (For the Gardener/Traveller/Crafter).

Dot Com Gift Shop - Good value gift shop, especially for home decorations or novelty (but not cheesy) gifts. A 50's housewive's dream come true!

Not on the High Street - Potentially one of the best online shops ever. If in doubt, shop here. What you can't find from Not on the High Street probably isn't worth having.

Menkind - The ultimate shop for men's gifts. 

Marks and Spencer - Good value 'experience' gifts. Experience gifts can be much more exciting and personal and really show someone you gave thought to the gift.

I want one of those - It may not be the most exciting looking website but it certainly has a good range and something for everyone.

A Quarter of - If you know anyone with a sweet tooth, this is the place to shop. They make absolutely all the sweets you remember eating when you were a kid. Yum.

The Discovery Store - A good shop for gagets and technology.

Past Times - The good old reliable past times, never failed me yet in finding a present for mum.

Mojo London - A sweet little online shop selling a nice range of gifts and trinkets.

TK Maxx -  If all else fails and you leave thinks till the last minute, run along to your nearest TK Maxx.

Friday 9 December 2011

Our Christmas Wishlists...

It's that time of year when all we can think about is Christmas presents (for others, obviously)! So in case anyone is feeling really generous, we thought we'd make it quite obvious what we want for Christmas... It's also a very good test of whether our friends/family/partners read our blog! ;)

Pia wants for Christmas...

1. Set of Six Mini Vases by Nkuku, £20
2. Habitat Fruit Candles (Apple and Pear), £8
3. White Hummingbird Light Shade, £14.99
4. Eames Rocking RAR Chair Replica, £50
5. Mulberry Bayswater with Fox Rivets, £4000
6. Tom Dixon Large Hex Bowl, £110
7. Vivienne Westwood Ivory Pave 3D Orb Pendant, £152
8. Vivienne Westwood Classic Scarf, Camel, £60
9. Jasper Conran Light Brown Embroidered Dot Bedspread, £160
10. Miniature Schnauzer
11. Tillie Quilted Doc Mac, £165



Annelie wants for Christmas...


2. Lightning Class Cruiser 2 by Simon Birch, currently for sale at Carmichael Gallery





I guess some people are more demanding than others. :)

Thursday 8 December 2011

Mental for Metal

Since we've been through silver and gold colour palettes recently, we thought 'why not go all out and just do all metallics'. So we went all out and did a piece on purely metallics! Perfect for this time of year!





Wednesday 7 December 2011

Winter Palette

It's getting close to Christmas now and everyone is buying Christmas lights and decorations and other lovely little trinkets. Someone brought a red candle into the studio and we went mental... We know Christmas colours are traditionally your green, red, golds and silvers but can't we still be stylish and stick to our colour schemes this time of year? The answer is yes. Check out our NEW Christmas colour scheme, white, silver, purple and yellow. Bam.

1. Dear Prudence for Urban Outfitters Tea Mug, £10
2. Ligne Roset Clara Chrome Magazine Rack, £330
3. Yellow Pigeon Light by Ed Carpenter, £67
4. Heal's Kaboom White Pendant Shade by Tina Leung, £110
5. Bonaldo Viento Silver Chair Set of 4, £700
6. Polygon Shelving by Luka Stepan in White, £249
7. Ligne Roset Ruche Sofa, Contact Manufacturer
8. Dwell Stag Cushion, £34.95
9. Michelle Mason Stella Felt Rug in Purple, £350
10. Classix Exotic Flock Haddon Hall Silver Foil Wallpaper, £145 per roll

Recycled Vinyl Records

We came across this amazing wall art entirely by accident! It's made out of recycled vinyl records and you can even find instructions on how to make your own vinyl butterflies by clicking HERE. We're totally thinking about making some for our office walls...







Here are some other creative uses of old vinyl records... we found lots of different wall clocks but this little twitter-bird was one of our favourites. If you're less included to making your own vinyl art, why don't you go to the Vinylux page and buy a ready made recycled vinyl item? We're turning the oven on and getting right to it!





Lastly, having found this amazing vinyl record floor for MOMA PS1 by Christian Marclay, we're regretting having laminate wood floor in our office. Oh well, maybe in the future?


Tuesday 6 December 2011

ABC...

We were inspired enough in the summer to cut some letters for our office but they never got completed until now. So in celebration of our beautiful wooden letters, covered in fabric or wallpaper, we thought we'd post a few other examples of wooden, fabric or other types of lettering that have been used in interior design.




Using letters in decorating can make a great impact or say something meaningful... whether arranged into words or randomly, we're all about alphabet design.



Above: This bookcase was designed by Industrial Designer Pieter de Leeuw. The letters can be arranged however the user wants and can be used to display books or other items. The bookshelf also functions as seating!











Monday 5 December 2011

BRRRR!

It's been so cold today in the office that all we've been able to think about is tea! We were researching tea shops (just the thought makes is feel warm and cosy) and came across these two amazing designs.

The shop for the Great Wall Tea Co. is quite a simple but eye catching design using  568 magnetised tea containers to create a feature wall. The shop is located in River Market at Westminster Quay, BC. and was designed by Marianne Amodio Achitecture Studio. The entire shop is only 155 square feet and the long, narrow space only has a few bar seats where customers can sit and drink their tea. This shop is a perfect example of how all it takes is one good idea to make a truly special design.





The second shop we saw an love is a shop designed by Alan Chu, changing a small house into a tea shop. The Gourmet Tea Shop is a minimalist design where the bright colours and interesting furniture make the interior. Minus the furniture, the space features white brick walls, a white ceiling and dark wood flooring, however, with the installation of plywood counter with a colourful block pattern and brightly coloured lighting, the space becomes beautiful and interesting! We'd love to be there right now, enjoying a warm cup of tea.... brrrrrr!






Friday 2 December 2011

Achieve the Look!

Our customers are always bringing us images of rooms or cafes they love but aren't sure how to achieve the look, or where to get the specific items that make the room... or even whether they can afford it. If you have a clear idea of what you want, an interior designer can help you achieve the design you have in mind and still keep you within your budget. Here are two ways (or budgets) to achieve one look... your choice, spree or steal?!




3. SPREE: LINUM Silk Cushion Yellow, £42

6. STEAL: Next Teal Folds Cushion, £14

7. SPREE: Lansdowne Sofa System by SCP, £4810

10. STEAL: Replica Eames DAR Chair, £50

12. STEAL: IKEA Tral Floor/Reading Light, £25.99

13. SPREE: Ligne Roset Pebble Low Coffee Table Walnut, £1340 - £1460

15. SPREE: Eco Velvet 2615, £88 per roll
16. STEAL: Basildon Green/Brown Wallpaper, £10 per roll









Black, White and Gold

We're all about monochrome design here at Pairstudio, but everyone needs a bit of glamour to cheer them up in these cold winter months. So we've gone for a black and white design with a golden twist! Here are some of our favourite pieces in black, white and gold:



1. Nate Berkus Orbit Table Lamp
2. David Hick's Hexagon Wallpaper
3. Morocco G Hexagonal Side Table
4. Criss Cross Stripes Black Rectangular Throw Pillow
5. Black and White Stripes Cushion Cover
6. AMSTYLE Design Antik-Sideboard Extravagancia




"As Coco Chanel has proven, black and gold are a classic pair that will surely stand 
the test of time in both fashion and interior design".