Tuesday, 26 March 2013
Tuesday, 12 March 2013
Come Buy With Me
Spring will have definitely sprung...
Alison Day Designs) will be appearing at the Design Market: 11.00 - 17.00 Sunday 7 April on the Grote Markt, Groningen. Joining about 50-ish other stall holders offering their imaginative creations for sale.
Alison Day Designs) will be appearing at the Design Market: 11.00 - 17.00 Sunday 7 April on the Grote Markt, Groningen. Joining about 50-ish other stall holders offering their imaginative creations for sale.
So... if you happen to be in the area, why not drop by for a look, and who knows you may find something you just can't leave without!
Monday, 11 March 2013
Pyramid Hacienda
Continuing with the Vertical Gardens theme I champion, I found this rather ingenious design for one that not only maximizes space, but is quite attractive too. Featured by Green Renaissance, its construction looks a relatively easy design to replicate if you are handy (and so inclined).
A wall brightening and more organically shaped solution is the pot tree, where pots can be interchanged, as well as reorganized to get the desired effect.
The lettuce wall, however, I think is ingeniously simple. It is a good use of vertical space in order to grow ecologically friendly and pesticide free crops, hands stay clean, and it serves as a decorative divider in the planning of a landscaped garden.
If you want a bit of inspiration when it comes to construction, take a look at the Florafelt growers from Plants on Walls - they are created using recycled plastic bottles and an indestructible nylon non-toxic fibre. Once the plants have 'settled in', the effect is amazing!
Labels:
air,
crops,
DIY,
earth,
green,
grow,
hacienda,
plants,
pots,
pyrimid,
renaissance,
vertical gardens,
wall,
wood
Saturday, 9 March 2013
Howzat - Connections
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
Hanging Ladies
Unlike their exhibition, where they were hung in a single row, finally: 9 Women are hanging on my living room wall, as I had envisioned they would when I created them.
To view them up close and in more detail, see them on my website here
©Alison Day Designs
Sunday, 3 March 2013
Porcelain Favours
Funny how things go sometimes...
Not being a great lover of newspapers (I generally
only see them as fodder for papiermaché pulp, and my artistic creations), I was
surprised recently, when in a Dutch local rag (Nieuwsblad van het Noorden), I
came across a photo of a 19th century porcelain dog - a Staffordshire Spaniel
to be exact - a popular ornament in the Victorian era. The article was
entitled: 'Turfstekers en Hoerenhondjes; - 'Peat cutters and Whore dogs'.
Nothing remarkable in that, I hear you bark? Well,
co-incidences of co-incidences, I have recently inherited a couple of said
beasts, which now sit proudly, if somewhat arrogantly with spoilt little
expressions, facing each other from the corners of adjoining book shelves, in
my living room.
It is interesting to discover that throughout history,
Spaniels (the living ones), have been the pet of choice with royalty. Ladies
of the court would often hide them under their skirts to keep their legs warm.
Apparently, a black and white, toy, Cavalier
King Charles Spaniel, was found under the skirts of Mary Queen of
Scots, shortly after she was beheaded, in 1587.
By the 1720's onwards, the porcelain variety
began to be manufactured in Staffordshire potteries, with their
popularity increasing throughout Queen Victoria's reign. As a result extra
labour - children - were hired to keep up with demand; they helped in the
decoration by painting on the whiskers and splotches on the spaniels backs.
Generally made in pairs and with no two Spaniel faces alike, the Staffordhire Spaniel became:
...the quintessential Victorian bourgeois status-symbol knick-knack: no mantelpiece was complete without a pair of spaniels standing guard.
Apart from their obvious
decorative appeal, Victorian brothels would put a pair in their windows,
pretending that they were in fact a porcelain shop!
In modern day windows, hearsay has
it that how the dogs are placed is of particular interest to potential
clientele - If the dogs face each other, it is a sign that the husband is in the house;
if they have their backs to each other, well I think you can guess the rest...
Labels:
Alison Day Designs,
bourgeois,
brothels,
dog,
King Charles,
ladies,
mantelpiece,
Mary Queen of Scots,
porcelain,
royalty,
spaniels,
Staffordshire,
status symbol,
victorian,
whore
Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Prawn Crackers
In existence since 1969, the Seafood Market Restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand, boasts excellent cuisine, a seating area able to accommodate 1500 people, and a 50 metre long counter displaying all the seafood possibilities. In their words: If it swims we have it.
This is dining on a large scale with the guarantee that your meal is totally fresh. Upon entering, you first select your fish or seafood - live - from fish tanks. This is followed by choosing salad, vegetables and wine. Pay at the check out, pass on how you would like you food to be cooked, then wait at your table to be served. Also, no monosodium glutamate!
Although I am myself, admittedly a great lover of seafood, and the freshness with which the fare of this restaurant is served appeals, one can't help but wonder, with over fishing the world over, whether this idea is actually sustainable with regard to world fish stocks.
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