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Okay, so I know I'm in love with a lot of things this week, but I just had to share this. Seems like advertising alone is not enough for the Couture Fashion Houses anymore. Not that I mind, because it gives people like me who are more obsessed with furniture than fashion a glimpse at what an interior done by John Galliano or Karl Lagerfeld might look like. I'm not sure if the sets from Lady Noire (the first, it seems, in a trilogy of Lady Dior short films) are by Galliano, it doesn't matter to me, they are beautiful regardless. The room below, from the opening scene, is so glamorous. That pleated screen in the background is to die for!

Watch the entire Lady Noire short film here...

Totally loving these images I found of the new Fabergé store in Geneva, designed by Spanish superstar Jaime Hayón. Not quite what I would have guessed from a company that is well over 100 years old now, its quite contemporary. I love the colours and the mix of furniture though. In fact, I spy a few favorites, including sofas by Sé and chairs by Ceccotti.





What do you think? Does it inspire you to buy a jewel encrusted egg?

I am way beyond excited to be able to share with you some pics of a recently completed David Collins Studio project - The Limewood Hotel in Hampshire, England.

Unveiled in August '09, the Limewood is a quintessential English Country House Hotel set in a National Park, a little under 2hrs southwest of London. The architecture is classic Georgian, and the interiors are just sublime.

Collins has used his signature blend of elegance to create a relaxed but luxe ambiance. The soft muted colour palettes blend in with the surrounding landscape. Local materials such as ash and stone are skillfully blended with silk wallcoverings and dip-dyed curtains and another of Collin's signature touches - a mix of antique and bespoke furniture and lighting.

Each of the sixteen guest rooms are a different configuration and have been decorated individually. There are four different drawing rooms to relax in, a bar, a courtyard garden, and if all this is not enough, there are two dining rooms to chose from, one with a Michelin star chef! And that's not even mentioning the stunning landscape...

Says Mr Collins himself of the project: "Rarely do designers meet clients who are prepared to create something of quality, integrity, and style. We were fortunate in being able to bring our aesthetic to the interior of Lime Wood working within a framework of a re-imagined 18 th Century home but updating it and reinventing the so-called English Country Style. We have taken a simple subtle palette of colours, materials and textures and integrated them into the building and importantly the landscape to create something special that will evolve with time and use".

But don't take our words for it...check out these lovely images - or treat yourself to a weekend away if you are in the area!

The Guestrooms

Two different bathrooms

Seeing Anouska Hempel's new London home reminded me of another old favorite - the Paris apartment of US based furniture retailer, Holly Hunt. I first saw this in Elle Decor's Margaret Russel's book "Designing Women" published a few years back. I fell in love with this apartment and may well be what first introduced me to the work of Jean-Michel Frank and the other French moderne masters. And as I had never heard of Holly Hunt, it may well have also been my first introduction to the work of Christian Liaigre and Axel Vervoordt (there are pieces by both in the apartment). That's a lot to learn from one apartment! But this place certainly has style in spades.


I absolutely fell in love with this cabinet when I spotted it. I'm sure I'd never seen anything like it at the time and while I couldn't quite put the style into words I knew immediately I was onto something. Did you spot the books on top? I certainly did. Monographs on Jean-Michel Frank and Eugene Printz sparked my curiosity as did "Les décorateurs des années 40" . I was living in Tokyo at the time and tracking down copies of these books took me forever! In fact, I've only just got my hands on the Printz monograph recently.

The rosewood and parchment cabinet was designed by Hunt. Its obvious, as I came to learn later on, that the design is highly influenced by the work of Jean-Michel Frank. He was so ahead of his time...

I fell in love with the sense of relaxed glamour in this space. Everything looks so stylish and so comfortable at the same time.

And lest you wonder how all this loveliness reminded me of Anouska Hempel's home...these lovely Chinese antiques fit right into this space along with the over sized sofas and the french moderne pieces. It's no wonder Jean-Michel Frank was such a fan of Chinese antiques, they can be incredibly modern looking, depending on their surroundings.

I'm more than a little in love with the jewellery from the house of Lanvin lately...so, so, in love.

One of my all time favorite Interior Designers, Christian Lyon (who also happens to be an Aussie) has a website - finally! There isn't much on there yet....but as they say, patience is a virtue. Seems that on top of the international projects he has been working on Mr Lyon has also found the time to design a furniture collection or two for the Japanese furniture company Matsuoka. And not surprisingly, every piece is stunning! I'm loving these images of their showroom space...

From the new Christian Lyon designed collections I would have to say these two are my favorite pieces...


The drinks cabinet (above) I have been drooling over ever since I saw it in Vogue Living a few years ago (below) and posted about it here.

Venerable UK fine arts dealer Ben Brown has opened a Hong Kong gallery, which is good news to me, and to anyone else in here who is tiring of the Chinese contemporary art scene. They have a space above Shanghai Tang in Central, which I'm yet to check out. However, I saw the temporary space they have in IFC over the weekend with an exhibition of Ron Arad's pieces that will be there until the end of this month. These were a few of my favorite pieces....





This piece in particular is quite stunning up close. I might have to put this one on my wish list for my new office!

So stay tuned for more news and updates, and thanks as always for tuning in!

Gallerist Patrick Seguin's stunning Paris apartment photographed by Marc Seelen for Elle Decoration (UK) Feb 2010 issue.