Cosmopolitan spunk in Barcelona

This sexy home just oozes character, but if we're going to take one thing away from it, it's those beautifully polished concrete floors. I have always wanted to have a concrete floor... one day...

This beautifully charismatic and eclectic home is in Barcelona, one of my favourite, favourite cities in the world... where I'm sure to live a year-or-two of my life one day, when I'm a famous blogger and my work will just beg me to travel and own apartments in all the glorious cities of this earth... but I digress...  

The apartment is located in Barcelona's gothic quarter and has been entirely renovated and spruced up by Australian restauranteurs Crick King and Tommy Tang, who are also the dynamo duo founders of Federal Café, found both in Madrid and Barcelona. So many reasons to go to Barcelona again...

White beam ceilings, incredible warmth and natural light make this home so tranquil and cozy. It is rich with treasures that the owners have collected from there whirlwind worldly travels, all while it embodies new and untold stories through second-hand vintage finds. This eclectic mix of colour and spunk gives the home a very soothing, cosmopolitan feel. And I love the baskets that hang of the wall. What a unique and fresh way to decorate and allow for storage.

Source - nuevo estilo via sfgirlbybay

Images courtesy of - sfgirlbybay

The most comfortable armchair in my world, by Jardan

I was recently invited to a new product launch at Jardan's Sydney showroom, by a very good friend who is also a talented Australian-based designed in her own right. As luck would have it they make incredibly comfortable, sexy and high-quality seating furniture, all while I'm madly looking for the perfect twin set of armchairs for a cozy reading area that I'm redesigning at home. Albeit loving practically all that my bottom tested in the Jardan showroom, I was hands-down smitten by one handsome character, Wilfred.

Wilfred is the beauty in the above photo. While appearing simple in execution, this dreamy chair has the perfect proportions. Not too tall, so it doesn't dominate a room, but nice and wide so it welcomes you in it's embrace in total comfort. And the American oak frame is so attractive to run your fingers over, the design is just pure class and seduction... well I was certainly seduced.

Jardan is an Australian owned family company with all the furniture hand-made in Melbourne. The company has a simple belief that no machine can replace hand or eye, and the craftsmanship of each piece is definitely evident in the soul of their showroom. Driven by the power to transform everyday living Jardan takes inspiration from the relaxed Australian way of life, expressing contemporary ideas through the very best of quality materials. 

Now while I'm in the process of convincing myself that I absolutely must, have to, no questions about it, make this purchase, let me share some more superb Jardan gems here with you. In the below photos we also have Harper, Camper, Seb and Van. I love the quirky, playful names! They make the furniture even that much more enticing and unique. I've here picked some of my favourites, but I wouldn't be exaggerating in saying that all of Jardan's pieces are fascinating. You'll quickly get lost on their website.

Source - jardan.com.au

Images courtesy of - jardan.com.au

Donny's, one of Sydney's coolest bar interiors

Vogue Living Australia has recently published the shortlist of Australia's best restaurant, cafe and bar interiors of the year. There are many that are absolute gems and, out of the total of thirty-five published by Vogue, it's tough enough to click fast enough through the glorious photographs of the contenders let alone pick a favourite. But I have here picked one that stood out to me personally, and I think it may have something to do with the fact that it is located in sunny, beachside Manly, where I may have just spent some years growing up, so maybe I'm a little biased... just maybe...

Designed by Luchetti Krelle, this is Donny's bar. Aside from its location, this gorgeous interior has so much spunk. There is no pretense of being pure and pristine, but rather a layering of so much character and oomph. There is a real sense of bareness and bringing to light only the very raw of what the interior is made of. There is a busy intersection of industrial textures, such as concrete, metal and brick... all while adorned with the basics of nature; wood and leather.

It's definitely a bar I want to discover very quickly. It just looks so cozy and welcoming, and beyond the obvious spaces that invite us to take a seat and relax, I feel like there is another quiet world looming on the walls and under the elevated ceiling. There is a definite gentleness in the play of unravelling pipes across the walls, softly met by the sea of high-hung lights.   

Source - donnys.com.au via vogue.com.au

Images courtesy of - donnys.com.au

The sheer magic of Parisian rooftops, by Michael Wolf

If you have been following my blog for some time you would know that I spent 6 years living in the crazy and beautiful city of lights, love and luxury... Paris! And although I'm now back in Sydney, a part of my life is still intertwined into the happenings of this magical city. Whereby the everyday Parisian grind may have been tough; squeezing into the metro with lots of colourful characters, living through more rainy days than sunny, and constantly waiting in queues and fighting the administrative monster, there are undoubtedly unforgettable aspects that just make my heart melt and make Paris the ever-so-unique city it will always be... the food, the art and music scene, and of course, the mesmerising architecture speckled along cobbled, romantic streets.

So, when earlier this week, I came across this wonderful work of German photographer Michael Wolf, I jumped on it like a mad woman. Too often we see representations of Paris that are the usual associations to tourist spots and attractions, so what I personally really like about Michael Wolf's work here, is that he is capturing Paris through the point of view of someone living within the maze of this busy cultural hub. And, I'll have you know, when living in Paris, these rooftops are considered as such a wonderful commodity. The truth is, if you can see rooftops out of your apartment in Paris this is great news! It means you're on the top floor, have some light streaming in, and are not looking into the wall of the adjacent building.

In his work Michael Wolf focuses on very specifics facets of the dense layering that is the endless sea of rooftops. His images blur what we think we know Parisian rooftops to look like and drive our eye to quite select, intricate architectural elements that often go unnoticed when lost in the wider context of the famous city.   

In looking at these photos, I feel like I'm looking at a close-up of a musical instrument, whereby the red chimney tops are not too dissimilar to the the pipes of an organ. And as my eye dances up through  each photo, I honestly get the feeling that the chimneys are moving...

Source - designboom.com

Images courtesy of - designboom.com

Photography by - michael wolf

The serene & timeless work of Luis Barragán

As I dabble through some of my favourite design sites, and discover new ones, all in the name of research for the blog, I have come across the inspiring and ever-so-colourful work of award winning, Mexican architect Luis Barragán. I'm not sure when I last leaned on Barragan's work for inspiration, probably as early as my uni days, so there was certainly a little sensation of 'blast-from-the-past' when I, again, came across his work. More often than not I am so enthralled by new, fresh, edgy and minimalist work by young and upcoming designers from all over the globe, that I seldom dip back into the work of the classic architects that were a pillar of learning during my studies.

Barragán's work is timeless. The architecture and interiors depicted in these photos could very well be out of a publication dated from today. So many of the rules that govern beautiful design are present in his work, and it is a humble thought to consider that, when designing, we're mostly borrowing and manipulating things that have already been done in the past, rather than reinventing the wheel. Furthermore, it is mind blowing to think that the projects that appear in these photos were ones that came to life in the 20-year period between 1948 and 1968. This was post second world war, a time where the world was grimly rebuilding itself, so I think we can definitely appreciate how forward thinking Barragán's work would have been at the time.

But back to the projects depicted in these photos, what an incredible array of colour! I love the shadows cast by the geometry of the architecture in the very top-most photo here. They define their own rightful presence as design elements. And I'm far from a fan of anything gold, but in the below image the gold plated canvas seems so perfectly placed against the timid pastel colours, the hard lines of the staircase, as well as the shadows being cast all around it... all while geometrically complementing the shape of the floating work desk one floor below.

Source - pritzkerprize.com

Images courtesy of - pritzkerprize.com

See more on the official Barragan Foundation site - barragan-foundation.org