A fashion all-star cast comprised of Markus Lupfer, Jonathan Saunders, Roksanda Illincic, JW Anderson, Peter Pilotto, Christopher Raeburn, Emma Cook, Marios Schwab and Louise Gray spent the evening adding their signature style to Vogue Fashion’s Night Out t-shirts, much to the delight of the ever growing crowd. A huge thank you everyone for being involved especially the designers for being so good natured and crafty under pressure.

Roll up roll up! A moment of calm before the designers worked their magic in a whirlwind of gems, jewels and ribbon.

Hand-painted signage by the wonderfully talented Saskia, Emma and Rebecca

Our funfair Dj Booth. Merry Go Sound (get it?)

We loved bringing our local, The Shop to Harvey Nichols. The Shop in Shop!

Recipes featured were ‘Queue Barge’ – vodka and ginger wine with fresh lime, apple juice and a top of ginger beer, and ‘Once Loved’ – dark spiced rum, coco lopez and creme de apricot.

Cocktails served in nostalgic jam jars and milk bottles

The amazing JW Anderson hard at work bedazzling tees, their owners and just about everything else in sight with his Japanese stickers.

Peter Pilotto and team heat-pressed to impress with clever dress-up doll style illustrations.

Jonathan Saunders brightened up tees with bold, graphic spray-painted shapes

Louise Gray

The beginnings of beautiful grosgrain bows by Roksanda Ilincic, alongside our striped rosette name tags.

Pin on Karl’s Pony!

Makeda from the studio enjoying a scoop!

Photography by Orlando Gili

For the launch we decided to echo the ethos of Jamie Oliver’s Fabulous Feasts and their farm-to-table philosophy and create an abundant, botanical feeling featuring fragrant herb-clad walls and bar – all accented with opulent flashes of bronze, gold and teal. We had the fabulous Black and Lilac DJing – Annie Monroe and Paula Goldstein’s new DJ project.

The launch party coincided magically with the recent heat wave. We found ourselves sipping cocktails on the deck of the Silver Sturgeon on one of the balmiest Friday London evenings ever. Sublime. We can’t wait for lots more boat parties, that feeling of being on a boat in the City is just too seductive.  Take me to the river!

Red neon tracing the jetty made for an impactful entrance. Red neon is our new red carpet.

Our giant balloon installation filled the atrium with the perfect contrast to the slick, geometric surroundings.

Divine Bigbury Bay oysters – Jamie’s three favourite ways – sweet onion and vinegar, bloody mary style and ‘yin and yang’ a blend of lime, chilli, and soy. Their food is pretty fabulous.

Our living herb bar. Planted and ready for picking for delicious botanical cocktails.

Gin cocktails by Sweet and Chilli were served in classic british jam jars and vintage milk bottles – a nod to Jamie’s traditional culinary values and patriotism.

Midas moment. Gold milk bottle tops for the milk bottle cocktails. Everything tastes better through gold!

All Images Beth Evans photography .http://www.bethevans.com/

http://www.silverfleet.co.uk/

http://www.jamieoliver.com/

http://www.blackandlilac.com/

http://www.sweetandchilli.com/

http://www.jamieoliver.com/fabulousfeasts

We were so excited when we were asked to design Louis Vuitton’s worldwide Fashions Night Out. We ADORE the current Louis Vuitton campaign with gorgeous girls and equally gorgeous dogs. We are ever so slightly Dog Obsessed at FLD…to put it mildly. So Dogs had to be a feature. Dogs (real ones) and Parties don’t mix that well so we decided on balloon dogs in matte and glossy black for a slick sexier take on kitsch balloon animals crafted by the wonderful Twistina.

Our version of the photo booth. Illustrated Pier Boards inspired by the campaign

Illustrations by the amazing Jo Ratcliffe our absolute favourite illustrator.

The Pier Boards in Situ

Love it that a real dog stopped by

Nothing like a french maid with a balloon dog.

The most desirable “Doggy Bag”… sorry couldn’t resist!

One of the best aspects of my job is getting to see and explore beautiful locations that I would otherwise possibly not discover.

Montenegro is one of those places. If you haven’t been…move it to the top of your destination list immediately. An idyllic and fascinating country that I quickly fell in love with. We recently produced a very special 40th birthday there. A magical three night affair in July that is still making me smile.

The party was held in Porto Montenegro which is an incredible development developed by Peter Munk in an old Yugoslavian naval base. In the place of massive submarines are now massive super yachts and what is probably the most perfect swimming pool in the world. An infinity pool that blends seamlessly with the vast azure sea, framed by a bronze sculpture that reminds you what a great picture it all is.

The pool, complete with our giant inflatable dinosaur. Every pool needs one of these.

Boys polishing mirrorballs, every pool needs these too…….

Because they are essential if you are going to fill a pool with giant glistening mirrorballs which is exactly what I have always wanted to do.

Waving goodbye to the sun the party ensued with neon palm trees framing the dance floor. Electric dreams.

The gorgeous Michelle Rodriguez who as well as being an incredible actress. Is. The. Best . DJ…Fact.

The incredible Sam Obernik performed in disco appropriate Gareth Pugh with a mirrorball in her hair

The tables were lit with a stretch of nautical inspired buoys suspended by bronze and black rope and filament bulbs.

Swings around the dance floor. Now that’s a good time…

…and how does the perfect party end? Well, when Porto Montenegro throw us a pool party to say thank you! The perfect ending. Thank you PM for the best pool party we’ve ever been to (honestly) and for such a wonderful gesture. We can’t wait to come back!

More on the other two Montenegro events to follow

XX

We have been guilty of neglecting our blog recently. Flattered though that it’s been missed and that we’ve had irate emails demanding more regular updates.

Phew! We recently worked with the lovely Lucy in Disguise sisters, Lily Allen and Sarah Owen to throw a suitably summery party to celebrate their new collection being launched in Harvey Nichols. Inspired by their collection, which has hints of Americana, we decided to do a party channeling Coney Island meets Neon Graveyard.

On a recent trip to Venice beach in LA I spent way too long having fun posing with the seaside Pier Boards (the low-fi photo booth.) We decided to use these as the main backdrop and as an illustration of the new Lucy in Disguise designs. We had gold leaf hot dogs, macaroni cheese and burgers served in Pink Cadillacs. Doesn’t everything taste better in a Pink Cadillac? Lashings of delicious home made ice cream from Yee Kwan for dessert and our Coney Island Canape set was complete.

Another great Sister set “The Broken Hearts” DJ’d in their nautical, but nice (wink wink) Lucy in Disguise Romper suits. Love these Girls. Not only do they look amazing, they sound amazing too. Check out their new radio show here.

Fun Fun Fun coupled with the killer 5th floor margaritas, it almost felt like being on holiday again…

Adore this Ice Cream Cone from Circus Antiques. We all need one of these don’t we?

Neon and On and On………

My girls. Anna, Makeda and Laura. Loving the boards…

Photography by Roo Kendall

We recently worked on a particularly gorgeous event with Louis Vuitton to celebrate their “Double Exposure” Project. A press launch and dinner for their collaboration with Sam Taylor-Wood, Bay Garnett and Tom Craig.

The Double Exposure images are beautiful, ethereal wet plate images of Sam and her personal objects. The wet plate process is magical. Check out the making of film here.

Personally I am particularly inspired by items and momentos that people collect, with this is mind we decided to make a feature of hundreds of found objects. We cast and dipped all of the objects in plaster to give a white utilitarian uniformity to an otherwise eclectic mix. Enlisting the skills of the hugely talented sculptresses Maddie Sharrock & Lily Octavia Brown we set up a ‘plaster studio’ where they crafted souvenirs, trophies, architectural models, random items and memorabilia into unique pieces of art.

Accompanying these we used Kathy Dalwood’s beautiful plaster busts which are 20th century interpretations of portrait busts from the 18th & 19th centuries. Traditional busts adorned with large scale incongruous objects. We love Kathy’s work and were thrilled to be able to use so many of her pieces in such a remarkable setting. Truly a dream project.

We had a lot of fun with a lot of plaster in the studio! (see more of the making of the plaster objects on Fred Butler’s wonderful blog here)

Double Exposure Press Launch

The neon and perspex provided the perfect clean backdrop to the elaborate table centre that unfolded

Kathy Dalwoods Sculptures are sublime. One of my favourites “Tower Bridge Dragoon”

White Lilac and White Roses were the perfect neutral flowers set on an illuminated perspex runner.

Plaster Tassles on suede ribbon as placement and napkin ring. Love a delicate item such as a Tassle being made in plaster.

Metres of flexible neon underlit all the objects, highlighting everything in a bright contemporary fashion.

We recently designed a dinner that allowed us incredible creativity. The Louis Vuitton Paris team held a fabulous dinner in central London. We decided to have a full length paper tablecloth illustrated by our friend the illustrator Jo Ratcliffe. We Love the idea of being in beautifully designed luxurious surroundings and having the contrast of a hand painted craft paper table cloth. A long stretch of art to eat from and enjoy, there wasn’t a scrap of tablecloth left at the end of dinner. So great to see guests tearing their place setting up, proof for us that it’s worked it’s magic.

Jo busy painting her girls. She’s that double threat of hugely talented and hugely hot. Love her work.

Applying lipstick, using a knife as a mirror. There’s a trick.

One of my favourite “Tablecloth Girls” with cocktail sticks for heels (complete with Olives), Martini Heels?

The table was adorned with a stretch of Slipper orchids & Succulents accompanied by magnifying glasses and mirrors.

A delicious tasting menu of six courses by Nuno Mendes for Viajante. Each course matched with accompanying wine. Words can’t explain how divine this food was. Jo illustrated the menu and we used suede ribbon and magnifying glasses as napkin rings (Perfect for reading the small print)

We had the Experimental Cocktail Club come set up bar and make some of their signature cocktails. Can’t really get enough of their Opium Express.

Table cloth to go?

Photography by Ed Reeves

http://www.jocandraw.com

http://www.louisvuitton.com

It might have been the helium, it might have been the thousands of silver heart shaped balloons…but this past Valentines was a lot of fun. Were we having romantic dinners or opening declarations of well written love poems? Er No we were installing the ELLE Style awards (a much more novel bypass for Valentines) which was a riot of silver with a touch of fluoro. We made intricate silver paper origami invitations, table centres and decorations. Walls and walls of balloons that reminded us of chain mail.

My favourite bit was the beds for the afterparty. We do like a pillow-fight…especially in a nice dress.

Elle Style Awards is always a wonderful event to work on. Thank you to team ELLE and Quintessentially Events.

Silver origami starburst table centres

A Pantone moment.  There is something so beautiful about a shiny silver round

Balloon walls. Love a balloon & ballroom combination

Origami Hearts. A labour of Love

Fluoro roses. We all know I love fluoro. These fluoro roses in orange and pink are divine. Nu Rave Rose?

Origami paper chandelier

DJ hide. Made from folded wallpaper. MAJOR  paper.

The ELLE Style Awards after party…And so to bed. We decided beds were a more Valentine friendly seating option

And then we decided we needed more fluoro…

…think how great a Christopher Kane fluoro pink dress would look on this?

…Or this.

Just a girl who wears her heart on her face….

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/