The List #13
It's Friday the 13th! But these paperweights, notepads and sensational buttons are anything but unlucky
The Stories I have received the most DMs about in the past year are a) My Brilliant Friend and b) this rug. I had been looking for a vintage Swedish flatweave since I moved into my house 6 years ago, but since I could not countenance the price of said rugs, I burrowed into Etsy to find a rug maker who could help. I chanced upon Mohini Creations, based in Jaipur, who said not only could they copy anything, but they could do it for the same price as you’d pay on the high street*. I sent them a pic of a Marianne Richter rug from the 1930s which sold at auction recently and 3 weeks later, the below arrived. I gasped! It was identical.
If you fancy one for yourself, they’ve since started selling the rug I commissioned. As a designer later pointed out to me in my DMs, what would have been more respectful to the principles of design, would be to have taken inspiration from that original rug and then tweaked a few things. As the designer is dead, and the rug is no longer in production, I don’t think it’s the same as ripping off a young designer, but I do think it’s something to bear in mind - and something I will certainly consider in future - if you get in touch with Mohini Creations yourself.
Well, this concrete soap dish is very lovely! Dig how it’s slanted. Handmade in England and at £6.99 it’s an affordable, genuinely useful gift.
Like door knobs and cupboard pulls, buttons have the power to transform. But it’s hard to find really unique buttons on the internet. And so I was delighted to discover recently that one of my fave designer Rejina Pyo sells her iconic shell, metal and glass buttons for £5 a piece (there are larger ones, too.) Instant makeover for your old blazer and such a great way to buy into a luxury brand, on a budget. How good would these buttons be on this vintage velvet blazer?
I really love The Basket Room, which has the most comprehensive array of colourful baskets. They’re all sustainably handwoven by co-operatives in Kenya, Zambia and Ghana and - most crucially for supply chain accountability/ fair wages - half their team are based where the products are made.
