Margot Austin

What a happy little bright corner this is, don't you think? Sure, maybe there are a couple too many pillows, but you see the pillows are the whole point today. Today's post is a little appreciation session for the wild and wonderful fabrics of Josef Frank. I was lucky enough to visit Stockholm a few years ago and on a visit to the Svenskt Tenn design store I was fascinated to see so much of his work. I have a well-documented weakness for fabric and this stuff is just like yummy candy. It's so exuberant and bold and fun and slightly psycheadelic, but somehow it seems to rise above trend. It's always in a never in. The multi-coloured botanical prints have almost every colour imaginable. If you've been visiting 'round here in the past, you will know that green is my most favouritest colour. So imagine how much I like these fabrics. Deee-lightful. When I was at Svenskt Tenn one of the only things I could afford to buy was one of the cute little glass vases in the photo above. Out of the store and back home, it's the kind of thing that looks like it's from Dollarama, but I'll always know it was from Svenskt Tenn. It was designed by Estrid Ericson. The neck of the vase is designed specifically to fit an acorn and the vase is meant to be used to allow acorns to sprout. I like to put a single giant peony bloom in it. But I digress, back to Mr. Frank... One of the most famous patterns is a map-inspired design called Manhattan. Luurv. You can catch glimpses of it in a recent issue of STYLE AT HOME because our ed-in-chief Erin was wed in the Spring in NYC and stayed at the Maritime Hotel. The happy couple's swish suite has chairs in Manhattan. Great-looking hotel, and by all reports the wedding was a magical affair. Lovely! Here's the penthouse suite:

When you think George Smith do you think of tobacco leather chesterfields, claret velvet tufted chairs and kilim-wrapped ottomans all with a faint whiff of cognac and old money? Think again. The upholsterer synonymous with classic English style and the heavy textiles that go with has teamed up with Raoul Textiles to offer an exclusive range of fabric choices to George clients. Oh my, a serious case of the wants....

If you know me at all, you know I'm a fabric nut. Fabric is definitely my favourite ingredient in the decorating tool kit. Today I was trolling Designer's Walk in Toronto. Well, what can I say about Designer's Walk fabric showrooms -- HEAVEN. I couldn't possibly pick a favourite -- they all have something lovely to offer. But today's discovery is a collection called John & Henri's. It's just a single small book of samples I found at the Primavera showroom. What did I love about the fabrics? Absolute simplicity. No embroidery, no ikat, no damask, no toile, no birds, no flowers. Just stripes and checks in very honest classic colourways and pure and simple fibres. Aaaah. Just perfection -- and completely unpretentious. I don't know if you've heard, but unpretentious is tough to find in the design business sometimes. A little digging reveals that the John & Henri's collection comes from a Dutch family textile business -- six generations no less! Visit their site here, plus I've added a few more pics for inspiration below.