The Whitechapel Gallery

I went to visit the Whitechapel Gallery this week with view to potentially use it for a creative forum type event. Unfortunately the main space was too small but it was such a treat to go around the gallery in private. When we walked into this room I was not sure if it was an installation or not - maybe I'd stumbled into the United Nations HQ. The tapestry is in fact the life size tapestry of Picasso's Guernica, his anti fascist message. Rockefeller who commissioned the tapestry donated it to the United Nations HQ where it has hung ever since as an anti war message. The blue curtain you see represents the curtain that was drawn across the tapestry when Colm Powell gave his infamous speech about WMD in Iraq. The round table is offered to anyone to use free of charge for meetings / debates whatever and the only requirement is that the discussion is recorded. These recordings are then collated and will make up a wider part of Goshka's exhibition. I thought this was a really lovely idea and now just need to think of a reason to get a few people together for a chat.

Pop-Up Cinema

We went to see Exit through the Gift Shop at the Lambeth Palace on Saturday. Situated under the arches near Waterloo Bridge in an authorised graffiti area the cinema was a real treat. Cosy warm with traditional red velvet seats and bottles of cider to see us through the film. There were also some rather crazy installations that had everyone reaching for their cameras - kinda like we were all at a zoo or something! I love this photo of Bunny posing by the ice cream van - it's like he's jumped into a cartoon world and the guy behind the counter with the Mona Lisa is a funny distraction. It's one of those art within art within art type scenarios.

Oh and the film? It was bloody amazing! We laughed out loud (highlight was Banksy revealing the million pounds he innocently made with princess diana's face - ooops) and exited with big smiles on our face. Result.

fish & chips #1

I love, love, love, love fish and chips. Can I imagine serving it in Love Street? - probably not. Mainly because I don't believe I could do it justice. A fish-finger sandwich though is another matter and I've been working on perfecting this of late. I'll be showing the results when I'm satisfied. This was taken the other week at The Refinery behind the tate modern. It was not my meal so can't comment on taste sensation but I thought the presentation was fun.

how do you like your eggs

This chocolate is from Fortnum & Mason and was too good just to eat without a thought. It needed admiring and playing with for some time beforehand. I amused myself greatly with the makeshift frying pan (camera lens cap) and the way my little chocolate heart became a heart egg. The minute detail on the chocolate also becomes more apparent when you look at it against the thread of the cotton pillow. It really did taste as good as it looked.

home is where the heart is

February 14th - Valentine's Day. Woken to the beautiful sight of these Gran Prix Roses. Romance well and truly alive at my house on that day.



Slightly overwhelmed and in awe of my beautiful new gift I proceeded to spend hours arranging, smelling and photographing them. Which was then I started thinking about people's bedside tables and what they say about them. I always remember my dad's - piled high with intellectual books and a chocolate parrot in a plastic cage that my brothers and I bought him one Birthday and that he refused to eat. For year's we'd beg him to open it (possibly chocolate would have gone off by then) but he's never relent. Looking back what do I think this says about him? He's as stubborn as a mule for sure but he's also a sensitive soul - it just takes a while to break through the layer to the soft centre.



Here's mine.........not sure I should start to analyse myself but on a very superficial level I love the beautiful things in life

Press For Champagne

On the 13th February 2010 Bunny and I took ourselves off to Bob Bob Ricard for a treat. Were we celebrating Valentine's Day? I'm not sure but having stumbled across an article about the restaurant showing off the the art deco interiors and menu consisting of lobster and chips with endless champagne cocktails was basically enough to convince me I would love this place. When we first arrived we were sat at a table for 2 with 2 elderly french ladies next to us. They appeared to be enamoured with our conversation and would take big pauses in their own just to stop and stare/listen to us. Finding ourselves slightly on edge and with green eyed monster for those sat in private booths, Bunny had a word in the ear with the maitre'd. We were swiftly moved and then really began to enjoy our evening. The highlight had to be the press for champagne buttons - plans are currently afoot to have one installed at home.......

Cannes in Snow

I recently returned from a recce in Cannes following a pitch win to produce the sony 'experience' at this year's sony world photography awards. Excited at the prospect of being involved for the third year running and escaping the bitterly cold weather here in London for a couple of days I skipped off to catch my plane. As my colleague Jem and I sat down for breakfast on the 2nd morning I casually remarked 'oh look it's snowing'. And it snowed, and snowed, and snowed. Cannes became a magical fairyland that resulted in no one being able to get in or out. Being snowed in an extra day was not ideal but there are certainly worst things I could have been doing. What was so enchanting was the fact that this was only the second time in 10years that snow had fallen in Cannes. Watching children excitedly running along a white beach and elderly couples gripping umbrellas while capturing the scenes on their cameras was lovely. It was important to think 'ok it's snowing and I need to get home and do lots of work but.... c'est la vie!'