Spotted: A Rather Cool Chair

My parents being the nurturing, caring and supportive peeps they are took me to Art in Action in Oxford at the weekend.

"There's some really cool chairs that would look good on your blog" they said and so off we set to be surrounded by creative people.

I've never been surrounded by so many creatives in my life, and despite my rather inappropriate choice of footwear (flip flops and the grounds of a house subjected to a torrential downpour the night before do not mix) it was a brilliant day.

Ceramics creators, textiles geniuses, jewellery designers, artists, sculptors were all displaying their wares. I have to say it made me feel rather humble. Let's just say, art has never been my strong subject - my creativity has always displayed itself in the form of words and definitely not painting or drawing.

As much as I loved walking around all the tents, it was the woodwork one that drew my attention as that's where I knew the chairs would be.

So, after trying not to fall over in the mud for the 50th time that day, I entered the tent and was not disappointed.

I rather resembled a tourist wandering around London as I snapped pics of some of the coolest chairs I'd ever seen.

Those pictures of course remain on my camera, not yet downloaded (oh give me a break, I've been busy working) but while they still wait, here's a sneak preview.

This is the Lobi Loi chair by Chair Creative. I love the raw, almost unfinished quality - which I'm told by someone in the know is a very hot trend for AW09, presumably to make us all feel really guilty for our desire for bling and glitz.

I urge you to check out Chair Creative's other designs, because you definitely won't see these on the high street.

By the way, my Dad printed the first ever Art in Action catalogue over, erm, lots of years ago. You could say print's in the blood...

Guilty Posting

Do you know, I can't even bear to look at the last post I wrote because it was agggeeesss ago, which is not good.

After all, there's no one else to write this blog for me - no editorial staff of 10 (one day, one day...) to look after it for me - there's just me, myself and I and I feel terribly guilty about not having updated it since the middle of May...

...there, I've said it and it feels a bit like going to an AA meeting (by the way I do NOT know what happens at AA meetings) so "My name is Alexandra Toso and I haven't blogged for a long time" now on with the post...

Chairs haven't gone away of course since I last wrote, in fact I've discovered even more beautiful ones in my hiatus and this one comes from the discovery of a furniture design company new to me.

Benchmark (available at Furnish) is fast becoming a favourite of mine.

Simply because they make really stunning furniture, when frankly we live in a world where people think they can turn out any old tatt.

The Alvis chair has pretty cool design credentials given it came from the mind of the godfather of design Sir Terence Conran but that aside looks stunning too.

I love the clean lines, simple shape and above all I love the fact it can be upholstered in your own fabric. I think it would look pretty cool in velvet or perhaps a retro pattern.

I promise there won't be such a long space between postings not now I've got my mojo back...

Lovely Leather

My poor chair blog has been somewhat neglected of late, which I of course feel extremely guilty about. There are fairly good reasons though; I've been doing lots of freelance work and working on two really exciting websites - one is greenmystyle.com (check it out for great, stylish eco buys) the other one is a bit of a secret but watch this space...

This week has actually been chair-filled in one way or another. Waiting to meet someone at the amazingly impressive One Canada Square, I sat on a Barcelona chair in reception, I've decided that I still want one and while on our way to a press show, my friend Roh and I walked past the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden which is being refurbished and discovered the developers were giving away the beautiful, Victorian seats from the circle. 

But anyway, chair of the week has to go to this rather beautiful specimen from Poltrona Frau (in fact I could happily live with any the chairs from Poltrona Frau) which is called Archibald (how do chairs end up with their names I wonder?) and is by Jean-Marie Massaud. 

I adore its delicate folds of leather, its simple design and  the colour, it would go perfectly in my new dining room. 

Genius Idea

It's been a while since my last post. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was more than a little disappointed not to make it onto Caroline Taylor's blogroll  but hey, ho onwards and upwards. 

Thing is there are a lot more chair blogs out there than I ever thought there would be and don't even get me started on chair books. There are loads but there's still room for mine so if anyone's reading and fancies giving me a huge advance to travel round furniture shops taking snaps let me know. 

Anyway, I digress so on with this post. I've mentioned before how exciting it is to come across new chairs. Yeah sure, there's the classic thing, the cutting-edge, high end designer thing and as we know about my love of vintage furniture, the retro thing but it's always great to find out about someone coming up with a new idea. 

Which brings me on to this chair which is designed by Robyn Notley found via Glimpse Online (a great new design website) 

The idea, as all the best ones seem to be (and yes I am talking about my idea to start a smoothie and juice bar before they were popular) is simple yet deliciously wonderful. 

Robyn has transformed the humble Lanni chair from Ikea into something that every bespoke-aficionado would be proud to own. 

By making "add-ons"  such as spindled legs, backs and seats from acrylic, Robyn's idea turns a everyone's-got-one chair into the equivalent of a Dior couture dress. 

Ok, so that's not the fairest comparison in the world perhaps, but Robyn's concept does make something pretty ordinary look rather interesting. 

And that, ladies and gentlemen, as with all new (good) design should be applauded. Big round of applause for Miss Notley then!

I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside...

...but unfortunately for me, I'm in Streatham!

Well, you can't have it all and at least this week's meant to be sunny, sunny, sunny.

My better half (lots of people to testify this is definitely the truth) has spent the last few weekends sorting out our small, but perfectly formed garden.

Looks like I'll get lots of opportunity to sit in it, which means I'm on the hunt for some fantastic garden furniture. 

Top of the list is a gorgeous deckchair and this stripy treat from Southsea Deckchairs is the perfect choice. 

I love the colourful stripes and think it would be perfect for sitting and plotting my future (with a large G&T of course) 

Poached, Fried, Boiled, Scrambled or Chocolate...

...none of those for me thank you.

I'd much rather be unwrapping a delicious new chair than a foil-covered chocolate treat.

It being Easter and all I thought I would share one of the most iconic chairs ever designed in the history of interiors. 

This is the Egg chair* (get the Easter connection now?) by Arne Jacobson, one of godfathers of modern design. 

I love this chair because it has a certain feel of power to it. The high back, comfortable seat, free flowing swivel (brilliant for those Dr Evil or James Bond baddie moments) 

But above all, I love it because its name, while being a little abstract, it so appropriate - sitting in this chair makes you feel coccooned and safe - a little like being inside an egg would I suppose. 

*This chair is from Go Modern 

Library Chair

I clearly love chairs (and rugs and cushions) but I also love books. 

Fiction, non-fiction, biographies, crap novels, brilliant novels - I love them all. I love the way they feel, I love the way they smell, I love the way they look.

Books have had such a profound effect on me that I can still remember the first line of my favourite book when I was 15, I regularly dream about books I've read and my Facebook and Twitter password is the name of the protagonist of one of my favourite childhood books. 

In fact, books have such an effect on me that I once sat on a bus with tears running down my face reading one of the saddest books ever. 

So, imagine my absolute delight and urge to rush out and buy when I saw this chair. 

It's called the Bibliochaise (geddit) and is designed and manufactered by Italian company  Nobody & Co. 

Its ingenious designs features storage space for a wide number of books and I love it. How bloody clever - a chair that keeps your books in check.