Porter makes these knitted chairs by finding old and vintage chairs from auctions, second-hand shops and markets across the United Kingdom. She then strips the furniture pieces down to their frames before restoring and reupholstering them using her knitting talents. Hand-knitted panels are created in different styles and designs for each particular chair.

It takes a white to complete each piece and even the smallest of crocheted buttons are done by hand. Without doubt, the work is a labor of love and the stunning results show this. In fact, each has been given a rather charming name such as Winnie, Albert, Nora and Rufus.

You can see the full array of knitted chairs here: Melanie Porter Chairs.

H/T Furfin.

(Photo © Melanie Porter)

The broad spectrum of this new website offers shoppers in the United Kingdom a wide variety of products for the home interior. No items are actually sold from the site but rather helpful categories and direct links to places where the buyer can discover what they are looking for. Most of the regular domestic home interiors are included such as the bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen. Also present are categories covering cookware, bakeware and related kitchen accessories.

Further categories cover dinnerware, kid’s furniture, home decorative accents and even flooring as well as various miscellaneous spheres such as wallpaper, clocks, bars and lighting. If you live in the United Kingdom and are looking for tasteful additions to your home, then why not pop on over to my new Décor and Furniture Shopfront and see if you can pick up a bargain via the categories and gateways provided.

There’s also a small blog section that accompanies the new interiors website which is being and will continue to be regularly updated regarding interesting and eye-catching designs and products based in the United Kingdom. Any news from the world of British interior design will also be highlighted. Bookmark now to stay up-to-date.

The architects came up with this cubist style timber extension which contrasts the old with the new. As well as this, the timber framework of the extension to the Georgian home is entirely reversible and thus can be removed quickly and easily at a future date, perhaps when it is sold on.

Environmental factors were a priority in the construction of this contemporary timber extension as well as care regarding the historical age and look of the property. Dry construction methods as well as good thermal insulation were designed during the planning of the architecture work. Due to the more traditional methods of woodwork and construction, trained craftsmen took on the role of building the timber extension.

Due to planning permission regulations, windows were to be a problem. Therefore the designs came up with a timber construction that was windowless but which still allowed light in and out. Sanded Perspex boards were used and these blended into the woodwork which gave the impression of a homogeneously clad timber box. Many of the timber boards were also painted in different colors thereby hiding the locations of the perspex boards except at night when the inner lights shone through.

As well as the three bathroom interiors there are also a complex system of piping inside the timber box extension to the Georgian house. A 150mm full width service duct runs down through the inside of the building to the ground level and below. Inside of this are the sewage, water and rainwater down pipes as well as electrical wiring, toilet cisterns and mechanical ventilation. This meant the outer façades of the timber box extension were left free of pipes which thus added to the overall aesthetics of the building.

You can see more pictures of this contemporary wooden extension building by visiting the arcitect’s website which can be found here: Henning Stummel Architects.

By the way, apparently this won the RIBA London Region Building of the Year award in 2005. RIBA being the Royal Institute of British Architects.

H/T: Contemporist.

Welcome to the polka-dot Aga cooker which is the creation of British pottery designer Emma Bridgewater. Whilst the age cooker itself is a typical model in itself, the decorative feature has never been seen before on such a respected and iconic kitchen appliance. For most kitchens this would look out of place but for certain design styles it would be a suitable addition. Bohemian themed kitchens that mix a rustic space with ecletic and modern designs would be the ideal setting for Bridgewater’s colorful design.

The combination of Emma Bridgewater’s pottery designs and Aga cookers is partly based on location. Bridgewater’s very popular pottery products are made in Stoke-on-Trent which is in the same region as Aga’s manufacturing base in Shropshire.

There are actually three different types of Aga cooker on the market. These are based on the number of ovens each one has. The versions include the two door, three door and four door Aga ovens. Depending on the age of the Aga, various modifications have been made which have meant the development of baking ovens and warming plate sections. Regardless of the type, all versions have two hotplates, one a boiling plate and the other a simmering plate.

You can read more about Emma Bridgewater’s reasons for designing this polka dot Aga oven here: Great British Cookers.

The area is a popular location for Premiership soccer stars to set up home, Cheshire being a pretty location between the major footballing cities of Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham. It’s therefore no surprise, that popular soccer stars, idolised by English football fans, want a private underground mansion all of their own.

The underground property is to be located beneath the landscaped gardens of an old Victorian apartment block located in the exclusive area of Devisdale. Despite the hidden quality to the underground mansion house, local residents still lodged complaints to the local authorities. Most cited the fact that the beautiful gardens will have to be dug up in order for the underground home to be constructed.

‘A lot of trees will be removed and the whole point of the conservation area is that the larger houses have lots of trees’, said one local. ‘Any new building in the area needs to be tasteful so they don’t lose the character of the area and going around digging houses in gardens definitely changes that.’

The Earth House, as the underground mansion is to be named, will consist of two-storeys and include three bedrooms and a swimming pool. Owners of the mansion will access the property via a front door disguised as a 2.6m-high garden folly. A spiral staircase will then lead to a main hallway and living quarters on the lower ground floor.

Natural light will enter the underground property through a large dome window behind the front door. As one might note from the artist’s impressions pictured above and below, the rooms are largely wedge-shaped so as to surround a central atrium.

On the same level as the living quarters, are a man reception area, kitchen and a master bedroom suite. Below this level, there are two more bedrooms, a gym plus a swimming pool and jacuzzi.

The developer of the property, Chris Oakes of Huntsmere, also highlights the eco-friendly aspect of the subterranean property, especially regarding insulation. An underfloor heating system will heat the underground home whilst hot water will be provided by a large-scale ground source heat pump. The latter of which uses specialist heat exchange technology to gather warmth in the ground to heat the house.

It’s estimated that these and the state-of-the-art ventilation system that will be fitted will reduce fossil fuel usage by 75% compared to a regular family home of the same size.

‘There are some very sensible and practical reasons for developing down as opposed to upwards. The property has very little impact on the surrounding environment’, said Mr Oakes. ‘It is easy to heat in winter and to keep cool in summer; and by incorporating the highest standards in renewable design solutions the energy demands of the building can be cut to almost zero’.

H/T: UK Daily Mail.

All the designers in the exhibition hail from London and are up and coming young talents that might one day be big names worldwide akin to the likes of Philippe Starck, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Tom Dixon. In fact, the latter name will also have a few items on show at the same time and in the same place. The basic philosophy of the exhibition appears to be the ever popular and en vogue rebellion against the rigidity of mass production and factory style ordinariness.

The two chairs pictured in this post are by the designer Lee Broom. He is a graduate of the prestigious Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (numerous friends of mine have studied there) where he originally studied fashion. His career gradually evolved and moved into the realms of furniture design. His designs have since been sold worldwide including in galleries location in New York, Paris, London and the Middle East. For those who know their English soccer, he also designed Roman Abramovich’s Executive Box at Chelsea FC as well as the one at Wembley Stadium.

The luminaire bergere chair (top picture) and the luminaire club chair (bottom picture), are two chairs that were once discarded by their previous owners. However, Lee Broom saw their potential and redeveloped them into sculptural lighting fixtures that also function perfectly well in their original use, as seats. You can see a preview of the entire collection as well as read about the other designers on show here: Max Fraser Exhibition.

H/T: Design Boom

The Cornish Kitchen Ware designs were first drawn up by T.G.Green & Co in the famous English pottery county of Derbyshire. However, its name would be taken from another county, that of Cornwall in the south west of England. This was due to the lathe-turning process which led to a white and blue hooped quality which reminded a T.G.Green & Co worker of the waves around Cornwall.

Over the next decades, Cornishware grew in popularity and the numbers and types of items made were increased. This was further enhanced during the 1960s when a young designer by the name of Judith Onions restyled a number of kitchen ware ranges and further increased the company’s popularity. Nowadays, collectors seek out Onion inspired designs and often pay high prices for the now rare original pieces.

Unfortunately, as the decades progressed and the increase of foreign markets imposed themselves on the United Kingdom, so the Victorian style pottery company floundered. However, Cornishware has not been allowed to die out completely. Fans of the old kitchen ware maker have gathered together and restored the classic blue and white hoop designs.

Charles Rickards, chief of Chomette Cookware and Perry Haydn Taylor a branding consultant and designer have created a small business and website dedicated to selling and keeping the famous kitchen designs in the wider public eye. From their website one can buy a variety of products including mugs, cups, plates, bowls, jugs, jars as well as tableware and cookware.

For more information about its history and products visit the Cornishware website.

A company called Newton Vineyard in the Napa Valley commissioned the young British designer (seen in the picture above with the instillation) to create the work. Standing at six feet high, the piece was constructed using re-purposed red wine oak barrels and 300-year-old oak wood acquired from a Bristol (UK) wine merchant.

The wine tasting instillation is comprised of 112 individual oak segments which allude to the Newton estate’s 112 distinct vineyard blocks. It also includes two glass shelves which make up the bar as well as a hanging rack for glasses and spaces to store the wine bottles.

This piece is one of five wine tasting bars that Claire Danthois as created using recycled natural materials. Her other work can be seen in London, Tokyo and even on the South Atlantic island of St. Helena.

It’s without doubt a wonderful edition to any wine connoisseurs’ tasting room or wine cellar and a dream for an Interior Designer. Perfect for a wine club meeting. Could you imagine entertaining guests around this?

Carwardine first came up with the idea when tinkering around with different spring designs in his workshop in the city of Bath, England. Upon inventing a unique spring that was both agile yet able to remain rigid when needed, he looked for an application for his newly patented creation. The result was the Anglepoise light which was based on the muscle principles of the human arm.

You can read more about the history of the light and Carwardine on the British Design Museum website. It’s a fascinating read.

The picture above shows the gigantic Anglepoise lamp especially made for the 70th anniversary of its creation. It’s actually available for sale if you have a room big enough.

‘Not Tom’ is a British Design Studio based in London. Their ethos is to design pieces that are effortlessly functional but which also offer an aesthetic beauty and an engaging attraction. Environmentally friendly design is a priority for them and they consider good design to be fundamentally eco-savvy.

The idea for the ‘Book Book Shelf’ was fuelled by the Studio’s desire to redefine discarded items through ingenuity. I think they have met their intended aim with this book shelf.

What do you think? Read any of those books?

See: Not Tom Design Studios