Fauchon Leopard print Eclairs. Perfect for when you’re having Jackie Collins over for tea…

January is the best time for an injection of creative inspiration, not to mention an excuse to escape to Paris for the weekend under the guise of ” work”  And so we found ourselves contentedly meandering around the shops (well half a day in Merci, a spot of Colette and a lot of various eateries.) Completely keeping the Maison&Objet trade show hours (that we were really there for) to an absolute  minimum. Playing Parisian truant felt so good ….

Making Eclair eyes.

Love Lace Space Invaders. LACE INVADERS anyone?

Walk on sunset screen.

Sculpted Polystyrene seats. Sublime.

Love these lights that are made from all sorts of Kitchenalia. Collanders, Tongs…

Champagne Buckets as spotlights.

Spotted this gorgeous traditional barbershop en route to Merci.

Shaving brush “installation”

Moustache signage (mais oui)

Merci. J’adore.

Great wall of industrial cabinets

Rather eye catching

Absolutely Love a truck, a caravan, a bicycle, anything on wheels that can dispense something delicious. I’ve been obsessed with the Heartschallenger van in New York for some time and have been looking for any excuse to get it to London. It’s so clever, so cutely designed and just so novel.

Wandering around Venice in LA over the holidays I spied a beautifully designed truck serving hot dogs. The “Dogtown” truck. Powder blue with red graphics it reminded me of the Heartschallenger in all it’s utilitarian kitschness.

I got more than a little excited when a local friend calmly told me that there were hundreds of these magnificent creatures and that they all came together in foodie truck gatherings throughout LA. A kind of Roll up Pop up of sorts. Of course I had to attend one of these gatherings. First Friday at Venice literally blew my mind. Legions of wonderfully designed pimped up trucks serving the most randomly exquisite food (orange chocolate cointreau ice cream sandwich anyone? Or perhaps a Bacon Kimchi tofu with sesame salsa verde hot dog?)

I was in meals on wheels heaven…for a moment. Please London can we have some of these? Mr Whippy and Mr Chippy are just not doing it for me any more.

Get your Lard on!

Pin up truck

The Truck that started the Movement with 79,891 followers on twitter. Kogi @kogibbq

The grilled cheese truck has been named the third most influential twitterer in LA with 29,233 followers to date @grlldcheesetruk

The Dessert Melt. How could I not know this existed??

Even the food trucks name drop in Los Angeles

The mirrored Ceiling, the lights. Disco truck

Truffle popcorn? Yes please.

Now this is really something

Yes Really

An ice cream sandwich. Cones are so last decade…..

A Cake Pop Truck

Vegan. Red. Velvet. Of course.

Enough said.

A “food truck” in England. Not quite the same somehow.

More about the LA food trucks here…

http://mobimunch.com/

http://www.foodtrucktalk.com/category/california

http://www.thegrilledcheesetruck.com/

http://www.foodtrucksmap.com/

It was a perfect project for Fiona Leahy Design. We are after all quite vociferous in our love of tequila and Patron tequila is (without sounding like an infomercial) truly exquisite. A luxury tequila that tastes wonderful and looks wonderful too. The bottles are hand blown glass that once inevitably drained I like to use as vases.

The Patron Silver Reindeer Tequila Bar is serving complimentary cocktails until December 23rd. Wishing you a shiny and bauble filled festive season from all of us at Fiona Leahy Design. CHEERS!!

These giant reflective rounds remind us of Anish Kapoors work

Tom Dixon Mirror ball lights

It’s just the sort of thing we love. A hint of science lab ,lot’s of pyrex and lab coats; lot’s of whirring of blenders, wearing of goggles and snowy clouds of nitro oxide. After all that you have a delicious ice cream that is made in front of your eyes. Part performance ,part haute cuisine and equal part delicious flavours. We had madagascan vanilla with salted caramel sauce and honeycomb sprinkles, so sublime. We tried and failed to take some home to everyone in the studio (honest) but the technology to take away is not in place yet.

A gourmet hike through sub zero streets to Camden it is then… Gosh how we suffer.

“Artisan Chewing Gum factory” I mean everything about that implies a certain Willy Wonka fabulousness. Who can forget the three course gum from the film and the gum addicted Violet Beauregarde?

So off we went to Bompas & Parr’s first chewing gum micro factory in Whiteleys to learn about and make chewing gum. Genius. We got to choose from a flavour library of two hundred flavours (anyone for Damp or black pepper?) I chose Ambergris and grapefruit. Perfumey and delicious and truly the most fragrant gum I ever tasted. Given that we all chew gum (well we do don’t we?) I am thinking that bespoke gum could be the way forward. Like a custom blended fragrance. I know it’s going to sound indulgent to have your own gum blend but really why not? First date gum, wedding gum, Friday night gum, workout gum…cruising in a hummer gum? And the thing is…I am not even kidding.

The Flavour library. Must have sniffed about sixty scents. How many scents can one smell without reaching a “sniff plateau”?

The Chewing Gums base kit. My phial of Ambergris and grapefruit which I could happily use as perfume.

A gooey pink ball of perfumed gum. Yum.

My next door gum making neighbour made a gum chicken and egg

I was pretty blissed out at Elton John’s Grey Goose Aid’s fundraiser. Two of my favourite things coupled together. Lasers and Roisin Murphy. Heaven on a dancefloor.

I pretty much couldn’t ask for more…dancing through slashes of primary coloured laser lights to “Overpowered” and ‘Cry Baby”. If I was to design my perfect birthday party this would be it, complete with Rosin of course. Lucky for me Jo Sedley the amazingly talented set designer who designed this party has agreed that we can design each others big birthdays. Lucky us! Now how the devil do I convince Roisin?…

Swimming at Port Eliot

I used to think that swimming in cold water when the sun was not shining was something only done by people in the full throes of lunacy. The perception that swimming in Ireland and England is best confined to indoor stretches of chlorine is widespread thankfully I’ve taken the plunge and dipped my toe into wilder waters.

I was switched on to what is known as wild swimming a couple of years ago when I had the good fortune to go away for a Photography Weekend with Martin Parr and the School of Life. His wife Susie Parr is a dedicated outdoor swimmer and is writing a book on the social and cultural history of Outdoor Swimming. Spurred on by her enthusiasm I went swimming in the Isle of Wight and instead of it being ghastly I found the whole thing totally exhilarating. I felt invigorated and yes I’m aware it sounds new agey but very much back in touch with nature.

This year I rediscovered Outdoor swimming at the Port Eliot Literary Festival, The Outdoor Swimming Society did a series of wild swims with the founder of OSS the hugely inspired Kate Rew. It was a magical swim and I berated myself for not doing wild swimming more often. It’s so reassuring to me that organizations like this exist. In our age of branding and mass consumerism it’s a joy that a group get together to extoll the virtues on swimming as the realm of freedom, adventure and magic.

Nobody says it better than Robert Macfarlane of the OSS – ‘The Outdoor Swimming Society is there to give people a passport to a different world, or worlds. Once you see open water as something to be entered, rather than driven around, flown over or stopped at the brink of, then even familiar landscapes become rife with adventure. Britain seems newly permeable, excitingly deepened. Every lake or loch or lough or llyn is a bathing pool, every river a journey, every tide or wave a free ride. As a wild swimmer, you become an explorer of the undiscovered country of the nearby, passing through great geological portals…There’s nothing faintly class-based about all of this. What could be more democratic than swimming? What more equalising than near-nakedness? You need even less equipment to swim than you do to play football. A bathing costume, if you insist. Then just enough common sense to avoid drowning, and just enough lunacy to dive in”

Riley and I swimming in Camber Sands last week. More invigorating than a ten hour sleep or a two hour massage. Honestly.

How could I not go in?

On a recent whim. I threw out my bed. It just wasn’t working for me anymore. Instead of being more rational, finding an alternative and THEN getting rid. I decided to just do without until I find the perfect one. So now I am sleeping on my Tempur-Pedic mattress on the floor. A liberating experience that feels a little like camping. I am thinking of making my army green linen Merci sheets into a kind of tent/canopy to go overhead. Bedroom as set, it’s really the way forward.

Bed research has been extensive. I want a bed with character and personality, slightly traditional sturdy and long lasting (like the ideal man?) I am a slight bed-a-holic and love nothing more than spending copious amounts of time doing whatever grabs my fancy in the haven of my bedroom. I remember my glamorous platinum haired grandmother Mona constantly holding court in her bed like a queen on a throne while we, her minions scuttled around her making cups of tea, plumping pillows, doing magic tricks anything really all in the hope of being invited to join her in bed for a chat, an episode of Dallas. Everything was perfect in the hallowed ground of “Mona’s bed.”

Recreating my own bed nirvana, a few beds have caught my attention and some have had me delirious with laughter (fragrant fog machine anyone?). I have considered sleigh beds, four posters all the usuals but sleeping in a shell, how fun would that be? The four poster with Calcuttan screens overhead is my favourite so far. Made by the fabulous design couple Jamesplumb and seen when I went to visit the one room hotel at Hostem. This is a bed with character, provenance and is interesting without being too overbearing…I love it, I want it. In the meantime I am happy to consider any interesting bed suggestions.

A beautiful screen ceiling…Bed can be seen during The London Design Festival

Welcome to the Playhouse

Bed with remote control. Eject button?

The Valentine bed, love the all important “ceiling view” and “rear view” mirror. No Joke.

This is for real. A fog machine in bed now that would be something. A scented Fog machine? Got to be Old Spice…

Failing a shell how about a swan? I love this

Nasturtiums. Love the appeal of eating beautiful flowers. Raw food canapes from Zenses Ibiza.

I used to be a fan of the radical detox holiday. It was like a prescription of drastic correction that I enforced anually for having too much of a good thing (a convent school upbringing can do that to you). Detoxing in Thailand, fasting in India, bootcamp in Mexico. A masochistic set of healthy holidays. The last time I went on a fast in Thailand I persevered through two weeks of “nothing broth” while fellow holiday makers filed past me with plates of lobster further cementing my misery. Mission accomplished and bursting with rude health we finally went off to a neighbouring island where our exquiste teak villa awaited…complete with a mini bar stocked with my favourite red wine. Oh dear.

I woke up the next day and instead of glowing with post detox gorgeousness. My face was covered. IN. RED. WELTS. The shock of the alcohol on my impeccably clean bloodstream. The rest of my holiday was spent hiding behind a penguin classic, large sunglasses and a giant hat. A distinctly post op Look that in retrospect was pretty hilarious. That experience taught me the lesson of trying to achieve balance and not living in such extremes.

Now Instead of going on extreme health kick holidays I try and temper my everyday life to incorporate the positive aspects that I learned on all those holidays and I save my holidays for doing, well Holiday things. I like a trip where I wake up and can sip a Spirulina smoothie and at sunset have a glass of good red wine. Balance.

Delicious healthy lunch that Ibiza Retreats arranged at our villa.

On a recent trip to Ibiza (an island that can knock you off or put you on balance like no other) I met the lovely Larah from Ibiza Retreats. Larah runs retreats in Ibiza which run from a day to a few weeks. They serve delicious raw food, have life-coaching, yoga, massages…all the good mind, body and soul stuff. On this trip Larah was our holiday “wellness concierge,” now this is a concierge service worth having both away and in everyday life. She booked us reflexology, massages, vibrational healing (this is amazing) and liberally sprinkled healthy fairy dust on our holiday. You’ve got to love someone who adds cucumber and strawberries to your daily pitchers of water. Vitamin Water indeed, this is the original and yet another trick I took back home.

Phone Detox. We placed our mobiles on trays of cleansing Ibizan sea salt. Mine is now switched onto another vibration (and devoid of inappropriate texts)

Larah took us on a one day multi sensory retreat which was just extraordinary. Set in a private villa we had an unforgettable afternoon of eating raw superfoods (a shot of raw cocoa we downed contains the same nutritional value as a large steak) having treatments, listening to music and engaging in wellness rituals. I loved the Multi Sensory Ritual where we were blindfolded and had scents placed under our noses, different tastes planted in our mouths. This took me out of my comfort zone and is not something I would usually do but I found it strangely liberating and left with a heightened senses of awareness. Always a good thing.

This is a wonderful mindful experience to have with friends and I highly recommend it. Of course you can also run off to Aura afterwards for more wonderful experiences. Mojitos on the terrace, Dinner in the garden, Disco indoors…it’s my favourite place to escape to this Summer. Ah The Joy of Balance…Happy Holidays!

Lunch at Cas Gasi. Incredible food that comes from…

…their garden.

Ibizan hens. We ate their eggs for breakfast every morning.

Silk blindfolds for the multi Zensory experience. Delightful.

At the Retreat. This cat has the ultimate water/fountain bowl

The Goddess like girls from Zenses who do the Multi Zensory day retreats with Ibiza Retreats.

After a night at Aura. A smoothie at the organic juice bar on Benirras beach works wonders.

My second Port Eliot Literary Festival and I’m totally smitten. It’s my idea of the absolute perfect festival. Beautifully art directed, wonderfully curated, intelligent and thought provoking all supplemented with the most delicious food (provided by The River Cottage and Chris Sherville’s Seafood Cafe.) I came away inspired, informed and eager to read more, do more and learn. Port Eliot is an enlightened festival and I could write about it for days. There was so much to do, see and listen to. Here instead are my edited highlights…

• Murray Lachlan Young. How we laughed, cried and sang. Hilarious. Possibly the funniest poet in the world.
• Eating seafood in the walled garden. Many times…
• The Hermes Gold horse balloons. How I love a good balloon (They wouldn’t give me one as I’m not a child…arguable)
• Jarvis Cocker’s Dj set. Awesome. Anyone that ends a set with Black Betty is instantly promoted to demigod status
• Speaking of demigods GRAYSON PERRY. So loved listening to him. What an incredibly intelligent articulate man…




• …And then there’s Alan Measles, Grayson’s teddy bear who drove to the festival in a shrine on a motorbike. No joke
• The one minute disco. Genius van that pulled up every hour by the river for exactly that. A burst of one minute disco
• Wild swimming in the St Germans estuary with the Outdoor Swimming Society. So invigorating we did it both days.
• “Flights of Fancy” Stuffed birds as interior decoration in the English country house. A brilliant talk with brilliant slides by Tim Knox (Director of Sir John Soane’s museum)
• Toy Story 3. The subliminal star. Referenced many times by the intelligencia

My only low-lights, the things I missed. But like anything worthwhile you are always left wanting more…

The Hat Competition with master milliner Stephen Jones

Grayson Perry’s talk. Witty, intelligent and pretty damn funny.

The KLF’s Bill Drummond making his own bed. Intriguing. How I loved the KLF

Loved the Hermes scarf tying Horsebox. A vibrant splash of luxury goods and the best gold horse balloons

Learning how to tie a headscarf in the Hermes horsebox. I have a new appreciation for the art of headscarfage and can see an expensive habit cropping up.

The boys from the One Minute Disco roll up.

Swimming with the wild Outdoor Swimming Society…’Water needs no roof’.

Rosette making. Honestly. This is a workshop everyone should do, we all deserve a rosette

Flower arranging competition. An arrangement of weeds in a wellington boot. Genius

An arrangment of flowers in a thimble…for a Mouse’s tea party

Delicious oysters

Went for a walk around the grounds. What a striking view of the viaduct.