Poggenpohl Kitchens

For those of you who know me know that I love food and more than loving food love and thoroughly enjoy cooking. Out side of designing being in the kitchen is one of my favourite places to be and cooking becomes a stress release for me. I also enjoy the feeling of when someone has my food and enjoys it. Having said that it goes without saying that I LOVE a big kitchen and have always dreamed of having a beautiful country style kitchen with a deep sink and elegantly long faucet, accent pieces of rich golden brass pots hanging from the ceiling with a modern twist of stainless steel appliances and sleek countertops and cupboards.

Now one of my favourite kitchen designers is Poggenpohl there are world renown for their custom and contermporary designs, founded over 110 years ago as the first German kitchen brand, Poggenpohl is now the best known kitchen brand in the world – present in more than 70 countries around the globe. Worldwide, the name is synonymous with the claim of exclusive, individual kitchens and first-class quality in every detail. They have both beautifully old style kitchens as well as modernist classic kitchens.

Poggenpohl kitchens have won some of the most renowned design awards in the world.

Red dot design award 

Good Design Award of Chicago's Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design in 2004
Interior Innovation Award Cologne in 2005
IF Design Award
as well as numerous other distinctions....

http://www.poggenpohl.de/en/index.php

Kurt Geiger Covent Garden

At the beginning of the summer my good friend who I refer to as Ghana went to Convent Garden London, and into my favourite store Kurt Geiger. As I have not been to Covent Garden in a while I was blown away by the interior of the KG store. The store was designed by Found Associates, London. When I walked into the store being an Interior Architect I could not find one fault with the store’s Interior. It was well spaced out and planned. Clearly not only following the brief needed for the store attendants but also for the consumers. As on enters the store you are allured to the back of the main entrance where a mesmerising shoe chandelier greets you as you proceed down the catwalk staircase which features what seems to be the “shoe of the month” as you enter the basement floor it is heavily cladded in mirrors all around which is a most need for modelling shoes and doing your catwalk strut around the beautifully minimalist arranged seating area.

The store will cater for both men and women, with over 1,000 shoes available and there is even a promise from Kurt Geiger that the store will never sell out!Kurt Geiger describes the store as a seamless shopping experience and the jewel in its crown.

Style bible Vogue’s August 2010 edition agrees, describing the new Covent Garden store as “luxurious, warm and inviting – the ideal place for picking out the perfect pair, or two, of shoes.”

LOCATION:

1 James Street, Covent Garden, Londonwww.kurtgeiger.com

DESIGN CREDIT: 

Found Associates, Londonwww.foundassociates.com 

Shoes Shoes and MORE SHOES....

For those of you who don’t know me I feel sorry for you because this blog is going to be filled with the things I love most , some of which will be fashion a lot of clothing and colour styles as seen previously and some of it will be about shoes… ok that was a lie A LOT of it will be about shoes. I am a shoe person if nothing else fits your shoes (and handbags but that’s for another day) will always be there for you and for those of you who state you only have one pair of feet how many shoes can you wear? Well let me tell you! There are 365 days of the year and guess what I intend to have a shoe for every single day TIMES TWO because there is daytime foot wear and night time foot wear. So until I reach um…. 730 pairs of shoes I think I am well within my rights to not only keep on shopping but admiring and blogging about those wonderful things that go on my feet that I am OH so in love with.. can I get an AMEN!

Now onto the shoes in this issue of my blog (for I know there will be many) I will be talking about Camilla Skovgaard, FINSK and Gianmarco Lorenzi today. Now I know most of you are wondering why I’m not blogging about ohh Manolo Blahnik or say Jimmy Choo but what would be the point of that? Thanks to sex and the city we all know who they are so lets expand our minds and talk about someone else. Here is some back ground on the designers.

Camilla Skovgaard Denmark born shoe designer with a BA and MA in shoe designs and product development got her big break while doing her masters to design footwear for a Sheikh’s wife and daughters in Dubai, after 7 years on Dubai Skovgaard returned to England where her line was eventually picked up by US Saks 5th Ave. Skovgaard’s empasise on form and style verses decoration is what sets her shoes apart from the average. Ever since then she has been designing and making her name in the shoe industry and is a favorite among stars such as Kim Kardashian and Kimora- Lee Simmons.

http://www.camillaskovgaard.com

         

FINSK is a brand created by Julia Lundsten in 2004. Lundsten who is Finish born situated in London has been dubbed as a “designer with a strong vision and unique, directional style.” Lundsten graduated from London's Royal College of Art in 2003 and won the prestigious Manolo Blahnik Award two years running. One can say that design is in her blood as her father is an architect and her mother and Interior Designer. Lundsten’s shoes have a unique aesthetic flare and are almost sculpture by nature and form. Her signature look has always been the wooden wedge heel which is has been perfected over the years Lundsten takes her inspiration from different ranges of design from not only architecture but also chairs “Lundsten views the heel and sole as the chair legs, with the upper, the seat.”

http://www.finsk.com

Gianmarco Lorenzi hails from a long background of shoemakers, his family owned a specialist children’s shoe factory. Gianni Renzi the man behind the brand drew his first shoes designs at age five and with the help of his brothers Marco and Renzo he helped gear the family’s factory design from children’s foot wear to high fashion innovated women’s shoes in the 70’s. Renzi’s high quality shoe fashion has be decribed as “the cutting edge of perfection finding beauty and glamour, art and seduction in Gianmarco Lorenzi styles”. The shoes are made with high quality standards and the use of exquisite materials such as natural gemstones, 24-carat gold, silver and titanium that set Lorenzi styles apart from any other making them top class in their field. 

http://www.gianmarcolorenzi.com

                                       

Stars in Yellow

After I posted about block colour earlier on my blog I had to mention my favorite of all summer colours especially after viewing Victoria Beckham’s 2011 collection I was inspired. NOW those of you who know me, know that I am in love with the colour yellow epically in dresses, I can not tell you how many varieties and shades of yellow there are that I am in love with from neon yellow to goldish yellow and my favorite of all mustard yellow. With all these hues of yellow there is bound to be one that suits your complexion and is your favourite. If you don’t know you better find out and soon before this summer passes you by. One of the best things about Yellow is that this colour can be paired with almost any other shade to give you the block colour style that we mentioned earlier from feisty reds to bold blues even those classic animal prints that never seem to go out of style you can mix and match to get that ultimate summer feel to your wardrobe. 

Blake Lively Chloe 

Demi Lovato BCBG

Emmanuelle Chriqui David Meister

Fearne Cotton Miu Miu

Fergie BCBG Max Azaria Atelier

Freida Pinto Michael Kors

Ginnifer Goodwin Roksanda Ilincic 

Keri Hilson Rachel Roy

Kerry Washington Michael Kors Resort 2012 collection

Kerry Washington Back view 

Lily Cole Prada 2011

Olivia Palermo Victoria Beckham

Freida Pinto Roland Muland

Shaun Robinson Jay Godfrey

Monochrome

Now the king of monochrome is Karl Lagerfeld and his beautiful creations in Channel have always had that classic style of black and white. Monochrome has always been a no brainer for a quick fashion fix if you don’t know what to wear. The mixing of these two colours creates an effortless chic to any ensemble. And for those of you who find the style quiet boring think again because here are some wardrobe updates to help you recreate this style at home.

Chanel Resort 2012 Swimwear

ELENE CASSIS Spring 2011

Antonio Berardi Spring 2011 runway

Antonio Berardi Spring 2011 runway

Antonio Berardi Spring 2011 runway

Antonio Berardi Spring 2011 runway

Sophie Theallet Resort 2012

Sophie Theallet Resort 2012

Kim Kardashian Givenchy

Ashley Green Givenchy

Raven Symone

Lucy Liu Antonio Berardi 

Zooey Deschanel Alice & Olivia

Nicole Scherzinger Thierry Mugler

KG Bella

Casadei worn by Lucy Lui

Even the shoes have gone with the monochrome style, here are the some shoes that have inspired these looks.