Prints Please

Pattern lovers rejoice for Neisha Crosland, undisputed queen of the repeat print, has just launched a collection of glazed terracotta tiles in collaboration with  luxury surfaces specialist De Ferranti. Hand made and hand painted, they come in six glorious  patterns to be mixed and mis-matched over your patio or exterior walls as you wish. With these in your garden, you won't care if sun doesn't shine.

Navaho Tiles, £540 per meter square from www.deferranti.com
www.neishacrosland.com

Perfumed Perfection

When it comes to home fragrance, I've always been a flowers and freshly brewed coffee kind of a woman but today my bathroom is enveloped (as I believe the perfume people say) in the fresh scent of Lime Basil and Mandarin courtesy of a Jo Malone Diffuser. I had never used a diffuser before so it took me a while to work out that the bundle of black sticks I discovered nestling in the bottom of the presentation box were, in fact, diffusing reeds designed to be artfully arranged in the neck of the bottle. The look is a bit hotel chic for my rather utilitarian bathroom but the smell is quite wonderful.

Jo Malone's Scent Surround Diffusers cost £45 and will be available from April. www.jomalone.com

Underground Storage

Good news for lovers of industrial chic: Transport for London has de-commissioned its Metropolitan Line A tube trains, which means that - from this February - those understated aluminium luggage racks which have been transporting umbrellas and briefcases to and from Metroland since the 1960s are now available to buy. Yes indeed. But hurry, stock is limited.

Prices start at £150 www.ltmuseumshop.co.uk

I am always thrilled to come across a new wallpaper talent and Sarah Milton is one of the most interesting I've seen in a long while. Inspired by typography (always a good start), she has developed a unique process called 'Legible Process/Illegible Type' where she abstracts typography into obscure geometric surface patterns and then mixes them with marks and textures she has collected during the screen-printing process. The result is a series of striking, rhythmic prints which tell a visual story about how they have been made. Nice.

The papers are available to buy from www.sarahmilton.bouf.com/products.

Small Pleasures

I have just purchased a set of Small Garden Seeds from The Balcony Gardener - not because I have any intention of growing any vegetables (I tried gardening and found myself wanting) but because the packets are small pieces of patterned art.

£3.25 per packet from www.thebalconygardener.com

Beauty before Utility

Gabi Bolton's upcycled suitcases are quite simply the most beautiful pieces of luggage I have seen. No, they don't have wheels or pull-along handles and yes, they probably are rather heavy, but sometimes perfect form really is enough.

Vintage Cases covered in printed linen, made to order from www.originallittlebird.

Papery Perfection

I've just come across these exquisite pieces by Japanese artist Eiko Yoshido. Made from twigs and scraps of old paper (books, wrapping paper, food packages etc) which she finds on the street, these decorative accessories are a reflection on nature's ability to regenerate. And very, very lovely they are too.

Snow White, £40; Eco Apple, £37 available from www.madebyhandonline.com

Rough Beauty

Upcycling old junk from the back streets of London's edgier boroughs is hardly news these days but Hendzel + Hunt's 'Made in Peckham' collection is worth writing about nevertheless. Why? Because each piece has been built using proper cabinet making jointing techniques (Oscar Hunt is a trained joiner) and the Hinkley table, with its patchwork painted top, is really rather pretty.

www.hendzelandhunt.com

Modern Classic

Another Country's furniture collection launches at Twenty Twenty One tomorrow and I for one am lusting after their Day Bed One. Simple, functional and utterly contemporary, it's a piece to gladden the hearts of everyone who has grown tired of all things vintage.

www.anothercountry.com

www.twentytwentyone.com

Wallpaper Tiles

Rejoice, rejoice for Louise Body, one of our most talented makers of papers and fabrics, has just launched a new wallpaper range. 'Paper Tiles' is, as its name suggests, a trompe l'oeil print featuring original Victorian wall tiles to which Body has added her own photographs and delicate drawings of flowers. What's more, the seven designs have all been printed onto paper so robust that we can really can use it in place of ceramic tiles. Buy now and get papering that kitchen.

www.louisebody.com

Thoroughly Modern Mottos

Ellen Calvert combines upcycled textiles and furniture with traditional craft techniques (mostly embroidery and knitting) to create quirky home accessories which are so of the moment that I suspect she moonlights as a trend forecaster.

Her 'Honey I Stole your Jumper' collection is full of gorgeous things but my favourite pieces are the Motto Samplers (from £60). Inspired by every wholesome home's most treasured wall decoration, these framed pictures are made from vintage handkerchiefs and feature Calvert's distinctly contemporary take on the embroidered homily.

You can catch the samplers at the 'Something Blue' pop up shop from 26th April - 1st May (21 Clerkenwell Green, London EC1) or view the whole collection at www.ellencalvert.co.uk

Table Delight

I don't need a new dining table at the moment but if I did, this is the one I would buy. Made by Glenn Rushbrook and Samantha Robb of Pacha Design from sustainably sourced British oak and lovely grey steel, it is a thing of simple, streamlined beauty which celebrates the inherent charms of its materials. Available (with matching benches) from www.pachadesign.co.uk, it's worth every penny of the £1,700 price tag.

Fabulous Fabric

Rejoice all you fans of Jocelyn Warner for she has turned her fabulous floral wallpapers into a range of furnishing fabrics. Yes indeed, all your favourite prints (Blossom, Tree Tops, Flora and Leaf) in the sophisticated, dull metal tones she has made her own are now available on 100% linen. Buy now and celebrate the arrival of Spring.

www.jocelynwarner.com

Cushions should be soft, luxurious things designed to bring some beauty and comfort into our lives. Any other features, including top notch Eco credentials, are secondary.

Newly established designer Lorna Syson understands this. Her Linear Fold cushions happen to made from a planet-friendly mixture of wool and stinging nettles but they are also gorgeous: feather-filled, soft to the touch and adorned with striking three-dimensional flowers and ruffles. She will go far.

Cushions start at £32. www.lornasyson.co.uk

Cult Shop

Those of you who like your shops small and interesting should hot foot it to Hoxton tout de suite for there you will find SHOP, a mini boutique offering just three collections. There are stoneware pots whose simple modernist shapes belie their recycled origins (they're made from the clay left over after throwing and turning) and whose bold colours would have delighted Le Corbusier himself. Then there are the witty seat pads with their images of ipods and take out coffee cups (sewn and printed by the same Vicky Thornton who made the pots) and finally Morag Myerscough's eclectic and eccentric collection of vintage chairs.

SHOP@Her House can be found at 26 Drysdale St, London N1 6LS (020-7729 2760). The doors close on 12th December so you'd best hurry.

Marvellous Melamine

If you think November is an odd time to launch a collection of melamine tableware then you clearly haven't come across Thomas Paul. (Shame on you.) The crowned king of this particular nice of the tableware market, Paul's latest collection, somewhat ironically titled the Luddite Collection (cue interesting fact of the day: the Luddites were a group of British textile artists who formed a movement protesting against the changes the Industrial Revolution brought to their industry) features tumblers, dinner plates and trays printed with witty references to the motifs used in traditional fine bone china. So not just for picnics as they say.

www.supernice.co.uk

Storage Glory

It's not everyday I find myself lusting after a modular storage system but when news of this one arrived in my in-box, I was smitten. Launched to celebrate Montana's founder Peter J Lassen's 80th Birthday, it's a Limited Edition version of Model 1120 ( a vintage model if ever there was one) boasting, alongside it's truly glorious colour, doors decorated with gold line drawings and the great man's very own signature. It's a design geek thing...

Pop Up Shop

Pop up shops are, well, popping up all over the place these days and a jolly good addition to on-street shopping they are too but if you only visit one in the run up to Christmas, make sure that it's Settle.

Conceived by textile artists Helen Minns and Eleanor Pritchard, ceramicist Louisa Taylor and mid century furniture specialist Stefanie Legros, Settle is a small but perfectly formed gallery of gorgeous things - we're talking exquisite hand thrown porcelain pots, soft, woven blankets in muted shades of grey, cotton/linen lampshades printed with charming illustrations of leaping hares and pieces of vintage children's furniture.

Those of you drawn to understated craftmanship will find beauty in every piece here but I defy anyone to leave 14 Woburn Place, London WC1 without having lingered over something.

As with all pop-ups, Settle is a blink and you miss it kind of a place so get these dates in your diary: 20th November - 7th December 2010.

Plate Spinning

Robert Dawson has made his name doing subversive things with Willow Pattern - the nation's most favourite tableware motif - but his latest re-working is the wittiest yet. More Spin, Less Spin is a set of six dinner plates on which Dawson has progressively blurred that distinctive blue and white print as if the plate is spinning, faster and faster, on a potter's wheel. It's clever, beguiling and would look fabulously ironic on the wall.

Contact www.aestheticsabotage.com to discuss ordering.

Kitchen Glory

How fabulous is this? Designed by the ever-inventive Nina Tolstrup of Studiomama, it's a mobile outdoor kitchen designed for those of us who love the idea of cooking outside but can't cope with live flames.

Consisting of a proper gas hob, a chopping board, storage for crockery, utensils etc and a jolly bucket sink (water comes through a standard garden hose and is collected in a watering can beneath the sink so it can be re-used), it's part Heath Robinson, part high design and wholly desirable.

In true Studiomama style, the Outdoor Kitchen is available to the public as a set of plans but be warned, construction calls for proper carpentry skills so amateurs would be better off calling in a pro.

http://www.studiomama.com/