Design Hunter loves...

...these pom poms from Bodie and Fou.

An affordable, quick and creative way to decorate parties, events and weddings, they come in lots of other pretty colours too.

Ceramica

Today I'm sharing these images of some beautiful white ceramics. I'll let them speak for themselves.

1.Cup by Kjell Rylander

2. Installation installation by Edmund de Waal in the Porcelain Rooms at the Geffrye Museum.

3. Unknown.

4. Plates at Rossana Orlandi, Milan.

Visit: Vila Savoye

We visited Le Corbusier's Vila Savoye on our last trip to France and I recently remembered that I had never got round to sharing the pictures I took.

Located in Poissy on the outskirts of Paris, Vila Savoye was designed by Le Corbusier and built between 1928 and 1931. It is probably one of Le Corbusiers best known buildings, and had an enormous influence on the modernist design movement.

Built as a country retreat for the Savoye family, it fell into disuse during the second world war and subsequently deteriorated into a state of disrepair. In 1965 is was designated as a French national monument and was renovated between 1985 and 1997. It has since then been open to visitors.

Way ahead of its time and built during a period when building materials and technologies were considerably less evolved than they are now (the house was plagued with damp and the roof leaked), today it still feels like an incredibly fresh and exciting space. There are so many interesting angles and views to explore and each corner offers beautifully aligned new vistas.

The surrounding landscape has since been heavily developed, but when it was built in the 1920s Vila Savoye would have sat serenely alone amidst acres of lawned gardens, enjoying uninterrupted views over the landscape.

My own personal yardstick for judging architecture is how a building makes me feel. Vila Savoye made me feel stimulated, interested and engaged. It's also very beautiful.

Images: Design Hunter

La Cura by Studio Toogood

Hello & happy Monday. I hope you had a good weekend. We did a spot of vintage fair hunting and picked up an amazing Dieter Rams designed Braun SK6 phonograph. We've wanted one for some time so we were very excited to finally get our hands on one. Photos to follow - it needs a spot of restoration but is definitely worthy of a blog post.

So, this week on Design Hunter is all about white spaces and places and today I'm kicking off 'The White Week' with La Cura an installation that Studio Toogood presented in Milan recently. Maybe you heard about it? It seems just perfect for White Week so I wanted to share it with you.

Created as a visual antidote to the chaos of the Salone del Mobile, La Cura was designed as a 'hospital for the senses' where visitors were invited to rebalance through a series of intimate performances.

Guests were seated on ‘Spade’ chairs by Faye Toogood, each one bandaged and covered for protection.

Whilst experiencing a therapeutic sound and light composition they were presented with an enamel dish and a ball of white clay to mould and shape into something that reflected their own individual expression and mood. These artworks — called ‘The Cures’ — were collected at the end of each performance and clustered together in the ‘Pavilion’ during the course of the week to create a collective sculpture. 'Caretakers' dressed in outfits designed by Faye Toogood, attended to, maintained and safeguarded 'The Cures'.

The space was perfumed with a bespoke scent that was commissioned for the event from the perfumer 12.29 and designed to capture the essence of the colour white in olfactory form.

Faye Toogood's creativity just blows me away.

Images: Alessandro Maria Nacar

Announcing.... 'The White Week'

Next week on Design Hunter is 'The White Week'. Since I realised that my Pinterest boards are absolutely bursting with stunning white interiors I decided to run a whole week with a white theme. It seems that lots of you like my pins as I'm attracting heaps of new followers every day on Pinterest at the moment. I so appreciate every single one of you who follows me on Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook - huge thanks everyone. Seeing how much the readership of this little blog is growing makes me really happy.

Here are a few links I loved this week...

• 475 free movies to watch online  - there are some great titles to choose from including stylish film noir from the 30s and 40s, Godard's classic Au bout de souffle, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, and everybody's favourite yuletide tearjerker, It's a Wonderful Life.

• The Secret garden of Zaha Hadid

• I've entered this Heals giveaway to win these cute products from Anorak.

• Beautiful images of Miuccia Prada. She looks so radiant - a true style icon.

Big happy weekend love.

Helen xx

Above: Plastic Ceramic tabletop designed by Pili Wu.  Image: Graham for Design Hunter

At Home with Anouck Lepère

Oh I just keep finding so much cool stuff from Antwerp. I really want to go. Are there any Design Hunter readers who live in Antwerp or who've visited recently?

I am in love with these images of model Anouck Lepère and her Antwerp apartment by Estelle Hanania. Looking at these photos it came as no surprise to me to learn that Lepère studied architecture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp - she clearly has a very design-conscious eye.

Images: Estelle Hanania via Nowness.

Nygårdsanna Lookbook

Modern rustic meets natural minimalism, and makes me dream of a summer which still shows no sign of arriving, in the new lookbook from Swedish brand Nygårdsanna (via Igigi).

Carly Dodsley

Graham and I are currently working on a design archives project which will form the basis of our next Obsessionistas exhibition in Birmingham in June. We've been allowed access to some imcredible archives from some of the UK's leading heritage brands and feel very privileged and excited about sharing them.

We both feel really passionately that the UK doesn't do nearly enough to celebrate its rich design and manufacturing heritage.... which is essentially what our Design Archives project is all about. You can find out more about it here.

So I was really interested to hear about English Eccentrix, a new venture by Royal Stafford, which aims to bring together the best of independent design while drawing upon the vast heritage of ceramic manufacture in Stoke. Carly Dodsley is one of the designers producing work for them. Her work first caught my eye a couple of months ago and I have been meaning to blog about it for some time. Based in Stoke-on-Trent, she is passionate about British manufacture, its heritage and all things ceramic. Working at the Royal Overhouse Manufactory, surrounded by piles of plates and books, Carly creates patterns that are inspired by a vast archive of British design as well as more contemporary trends.

If like me you love the mid-century tableware designs of Jessie Tait and Kathie Winkle you might recognise the influence of their designs Carly's work (which is now being stocked at Selfridges).

www.carlydodsley.com

www.englisheccentrix.co.uk

Apartment Envy

I have serious apartment envy for this beautiful home which was featured in Marie Claire Maison recently. The chairs, the fireplace, the mirror, the detail on the ceiling coving - it's all just perfection, and I think I've mentioned before that those Arne Jacobsen lights in the bedroom are top of my lighting wish list.

Images: Marie Claire Maison

Slices

I have a confession to make. I am really nervous about wearing print. I often find myself envying people who seem to pull it off with ease. When it comes to choosing what to wear, print to me seems to be imbued with all sorts of potential hazards and pitfalls. If I contemplate a print skirt or blouse I start to hear all sorts of fashion faux pas klaxons going off in my head. Rather than trying to negotiate my way around them I often just steer clear of print altogether, opting for something simpler and safer. Which is probably why I love scarves.

As miniature pieces of wearable art, they instantly add colour and pattern to virtually any outfit. They are an excuse to cut lose and wear a bold, striking pattern, colour or fashion trend that perhaps you wouldn't feel comfortable wearing as any other type of garment. Well, that's how I feel anyway.

Graz Darken is an Australian-born, London-based graphic designer and artist who founded the Slices London scarves brand in 2011. Remixing antique microscopic slices from the worlds of biology, science and nature she creates beautiful scarves with an edge. The designs reveal patterns which are gorgeous and intriguing in the abstract, but whose origins are to be found in the essence of our bodies and the natural world - in samples from the human, plant, insect and mineral world. I think they are awe-inspiringly beautiful and would love to invest in one (they are available exclusively from Harvey Nichols).

Science and nature are themes that are inspiring a lot of designers right now with trend forecasters pointing towards bio-luminescence, bio-pscyhedelia and the scientific beauty of nature as the source of colours and ideas for a new visual landscape. (Take a look at my pinterest board.)

Head over to the Slices website and enjoy their gorgeous lookbook.