Peonies and V&A Indian floral patterns

At some point I scribbled down in my notebook that the Chinese name for a peony is sho yu, which means the most beautiful. What a fitting name! In Iceland, where I grew up, peonies are called farmer's roses - bóndarósir. Perhaps a blog post about peonies is a cliché but last year I accompanied them with a book on textiles and I thought textiles and peonies were a good annual theme. The latest textile book in my collection is V&A Pattern: Indian Florals.

On the cover: Length of furnishing fabric, cotton embroidered with silk thread, Gujurat
(for the European market), early 18th century

The V&A Pattern: Indian Florals is a small book with only four pages of text by Rosemary Crill. It has 66 pages of prints, plus the one featured on the cover and a few additional ones (a total of 71). There are short descriptions below the prints (like my captions) and the book includes a high-resolution images disc with all the patterns.

Bed-cover, dyed and quilted cotton (chintz), Coromandel Coast
(for the European market), c. 1725-50

Length of dress fabric, block-printed cotton (chintz), South India
(for the European market), 18th century

The V&A Pattern books are a wonderful introduction to the design archives - textiles, decorations, wallpapers and prints - of the Victoria and Albert Museum. For textile enthusiasts or students they are ideal for collecting. Next time I think I will go for Kimono or William Morris, or perhaps the Box-Set III, which includes the books: Spitalfields Silks, Chinese Textiles, Pop Patterns, and Walter Crane.

I find it a bit difficult to make up my mind, but the books aren't expensive so I believe that in a short time I will have a good collection on my coffee table and on my bookshelves.

As I write this, my last bouquet of peonies this season is sitting in a white ceramic vase on my kitchen table. I am going to risk sounding dramatic (I'm anything but) when I say that I wish I had the powers to stop the peonies from withering. I don't want to wait for almost a whole year to breathe in their heavenly scent again.

Peonies are indeed the most beautiful.

Kember & Jones deli café in Glasgow

Yesterday we took a trip to the Scottish city of Glasgow and I fell head-over-heels in love with its West End district. Somewhere in the heart of this beautiful and laid-back district, with cafés and restaurants on every corner, I turned to my husband and asked him: Where has this city been all my life? At 134 Byres Road we found Kember & Jones deli café and when I opened the door I was home. We got a table upstairs with view over the ground floor where we took in the wonderful atmosphere of this place.

I never write any of those 'my week in Instagram' posts on my blog (sorry folks, I find them pointless) but when I took the camera out of my bag to snap photos of the West End district to share on the blog, I realised that I had left the battery in the charger at home ... duh! Luckily my husband had his phone with him so I was able to snap these two at Kember & Jones and share them on Instagram. This only means that I have to return to Glasgow one day.

Back to the café. Personally, I cannot stand it when my latte is served in a large glass. Dazzled by the café's rustic interior style, I forgot to ask how they served it at Kember & Jones and it arrived in a medium-sized, vintage-looking glass, which didn't bother my latte-soul at all. More importantly, it was good! I ordered a sandwich from their menu with roasted vegetables, hummus, spinach and harissa chilli dressing, with beans and salad on the side, and it was heavenly. When I thought this café couldn't enchant me anymore I found pretty much all the cookbooks on my wish list on display on the ground floor (Sunday Suppers by Karen Mordechai and A Kitchen in France: A Year of Cooking in My Farmhouse by Mimi Thorisson, just to name a few, and I added to it The River Cafe Classic Italian Cookbook by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers). This café is simply a charmer.

As a final note, let me just say that if you ever travel to Glasgow or have a stop-over, don't make the mistake of staying only one day. I could spend days in the West End district alone. In fact, I think I could spend days just enjoying the cafés, restaurants and scenery on Byres Road.

Stylish bohemian vibes in Ibiza

On Saturday the latest issue of Elle Decoration UK arrived in the mail and the house tour I fell flat for was a 300-year-old finca with stylish bohemian vibes, in a remote area of Ibiza. It doesn't happen often that I more or less like every single room when viewing homes in magazines, but I have been just a tad obsessed with this one (that top image is now decorating my desktop). The feature, Where the cicadas sing, was photographed by Sunna and Marc Van Praag. I had to snap a few photos to share with you, of the corners in this home that make my heart sing.

The rustic part of the house especially appeals to me, like these ornate built-in seating nooks next to the kitchen (not shown in the magazine). This look feels so inviting. The dining area connects with the sitting area and also has a built-in nook. The nooks have a mix of textiles, cushions and covers in solid colours and with patterns. The home is inspired by the owners' travels and there are quite many global finds. I'm fascinated by that lamp between the nooks (hence the detail photo to the left) but it doesn't say in the article where it comes from.

Rustic sitting area with a fireplace and a built-in nook

Other decorative objects that caught my attention were the ornate vases on the table below and on the stairs, and also beautiful rugs throughout the house.

The bathroom has arched original walls and stylish Spanish tiles. Don't get me started on the rug! I had to include the outdoor living area with the swimming pool. To see the rest of the house you need to get yourself a copy of the issue!

For those who aren't familiar with Ibiza, it's a Spanish island, part of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Since I can remember Ibiza has always been associated with partying and nightlife, a quality that has never attracted me to any destination. But I have always been fascinated with its small villages and quiet resorts, and its mix of cultures, which is why Ibiza is on my to-visit list. There is this one old blog post, Colours of Ibiza, by María of EclecChic that shows exactly what it is that lures me to the island.

There is one more feature in the July 2015 issue of Elle Decoration UK that deserves a mention. It's an article about architect and designer Alexander Girard (1907-1993). The Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein is planning an exhibition of his work in 2016. (The museum is located right in the corner where Germany, Switzerland and France meet.) Here is a link to Alexander Girard's design for Vitra - I love his matchboxes.

images by me | credit: Elle Decoration UK, July 2015, Where the cicadas sing, pp. 98-107 · Sunna and Mark Van Praag