Hot Shop - Vintage Home and Garden

No self-respecting table should be without a mis-matched selection of crockery these days but if, like me, you have an aversion to spending Sunday mornings rummaging through car boot tat, sourcing said retro china can be a challenge. Imagine my delight therefore when I came across a road-side shed boasting shelf upon shelf of interesting vintage plates, jugs and glassware which owner Jo Griffths has unearthed, cleaned up and prettily displayed. All I had to do was decide which pieces to buy. Joy.

Vintage Home and Garden stocks all sorts of other lovely vintage things (think enamel bread bins complete with character-giving rust patches, recycled wool blankets and linen cushions) and can be found on the side of the A149 at Drove Orchards, Thornham, Norfolk, PE36 6LS www.coastandcountryhome.co.uk

Wallpaper Watch 2

Reason 8039 for loving wallpaper, Cole and Son's forthcoming Frontier Collection. To see it is to want it. All of it.

Available from September, http://www.cole-and-son.com/

Re-Worked

Upcycling (which, as I'm sure you all know, is the art of turning bits of old junk into objects of desire) is a growing trend and this week I've come across a newly established designer doing some very clever things with bits of fishing trawler, antique machinery, musical instruments and pieces of old timber.

'Anything can be reused and reworked,' he says, a statement which, judging by his current body of work, is probably true for Isaacs but should be treated with caution by most.

Check out his industrial chic lights and wooden furniture at www.reworked.co.uk or, if you're in North Cornwall before 20th August, catch his exhibition at the North Cornwall Museum & Gallery, Camelford

Name to Know 2

New Designers, the annual showcase of Britain's brightest design graduates, is currently filling Islington's glass-roofed Business Design Centre. For me, this is the most exciting and inspiring show of the design calender, as well as being the best place in the country to pick up a classic of the future. This year's must-buy is Phil Proctor's two-legged side table, Quello. Created in reponse to a student design brief (set by iconic furniture manufacturers Ercol) to come up with a piece of innovative bedroom storage furniture, Quello is designed to lean against the wall and features a neat sliding lid with a recessed handle. Beautifully made from American oak, this piece is striking in it's total simplicity. Make a note of his name.

www.philprocter.com

New Designers runs 8-11th July www.newdesigners.com

Wallpaper Watch

Ok, so I am more than usually interested in wallpaper (cue plug for my book, Wallpaper The Ultimate Guide, available to buy right now from all good bookshops) but I have recently come across two new papers guaranteed to trigger must-buy urges in anyone with an aesthetic pulse.

First up is a collection of digitally-printed, architecturally inspired papers by up-and-coming textile designer Sam, alias 'Mr', Wingate. (See images, centre and bottom.)

Wingate, who was tipped as a hot talent at last year's New Designers exhibition, builds up his patterns using small images which he has either drawn or photographed and then layers them with larger scale pictures of buildings or architectural motifs.The result is a collection of wall coverings that are striking, contemporary and uncompromisingly urban yet still retain that most essential wallpaper characteristic, soothing rhythm.

At the moment, his papers are all made-to-order but he tells me there's an off-the-peg collection coming soon, so start preparing those walls. (www.wingateprint.com)

The latest addition to Fromental's collection (see image, top) confirms the company's position at the top of the Exquisite Bespoke Papers league. Ponti, created as a homage to the legendary architect and designer Geo Ponti, is a giant-sized, geometric print featuring inter-cut silks rendered with metallic, marbleised washes that look like Travertine stone and it is utterly beautiful.

Ponti isn't available until September but since it costs £235 per square meter, I thought I'd alert you all now so you can start saving. (http://www.fromental.co.uk/)

Name to know: Designedmade

I've been watching this fledgling design company for a while now and was delighted to discover that Jonathan Krawczuk, the designer behind it, scooped up Thorsten van Elten's 'Best Newcomer' award at Pulse last week.

Amid all the faux-retro T-towels on display at the show, Krawczuk's clean lined, primary bright steel accessories looked exciting and contemporary. I was particularly impressed by his range of fruit bowls: the Meshed, Squared, Cubic and Globe bowls all feature geometric cut-outs which cast beautiful, geometric shadows across surfaces and play with your sense of perspective. What makes DesignedMade really stand out though is Krawczuk's insistence on functionality - those lasercut holes, for example, also allow air to reach the fruit in the bowl.

He says he makes things with pride and thought and it shows. Check him out at

http://www.designedmade.co.uk