Lumiere London

1.8 London by Janet Echelman

Lumiere London

Roads are closed, streets are busy and lights have taken over London town. Tonight was the start on the 4-day light festival 'Lumiere London'.

I wrapped up in all the clothes I could find and eagerly wandered down (looking like a well-dressed sumo wrestler, 5 layers is normal right?...) after work to see the lights turn on. The lights are all over London, we started at Oxford Circus because, a). I was eager to see Janet Echelman's floating, jellyfish cloud creation, and b). I wanted to walk in the middle of the road on Oxford Street without fear of death.

Janet Echelman's '1.8 London' was a firm favourite - beautiful, ethereal and based around an impact created by a Japanese earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

"Such was the strength of the vibrations, the earthquake momentarily sped up the earth's rotation and shortened that day by 1.8 microseconds"

All of the pieces I oogled were incredible and I am still itching to see the telephone box aquariums around the city...

The festival runs from the 14th - 17th January, if you are in London, drop everything and go.

Lumineoles

Keyframes by Groupe LAPS

Walking With Dinos

Walking With Dinos

Oh Sundays, glorious Sundays - I wish there were so many more of you in the week.

This particular Sunday was spent dino spotting in Crystal Palace... yes, you heard that entirely correct - dinosaur spotting. Crystal Palace is a wondrous place - it has foregone the usual route of chained restaurants and big superstores - they have instead embraced independence. I would take a quirky coffee establishment over a Starbucks any day, big bravo CP.

The Palace has a pretty fun history, apparently when the park first opened in 1852, a full dinner party for 12 people was held inside the 'Igaunodon'... oh to be alive in a time in 1852 to feast amongst the extinct. We did manage to blow some bubbles, drink some cider and eat a few snacks whilst viewing the creatures, same?

This also happened to be a typical England Sunday - flipping between extreme heat, icy wind and rain, which is where 'the flasher' comes in extremely handy. I have begun to live in this coat (I am sure you must have noticed its overwhelming presence by now...) and I am happy in my new habitat, it appears to just 'go' with everything and makes me feel a bit like Batman in the wind - all things I am pretty happy with.

Go to CP and report back? Until next time...

A Week in July

A Week in July

I filmed a week in July and thought you may like to see... (Ashley's YouTube)

Filming, The Aftermath | Hearts & Glitter

Filming, The Aftermath | Hearts & Glitter

If you have seen the latest video to go up on my YouTube channel (if not, please oogle here – Ashley’s YouTube space) you may be wondering on how I managed to pop balloons full of glitter / confetti without making a mess...

Well my friends, I made a mess, but at least it was a big glittery mess – the type of mess that makes rubbish and outdoor spaces look fancier. I think it is an improvement to our garden if I’m honest, luckily my housemates share the same opinion.

My video is entitled ‘what happens when you break up?'. I decided that popping (bursting the bubble, if you will) heart balloons full of glitter and shiny things would be a great way to signify the end of a relationship. I also had the idea of making the balloon gather all of it's contents and sealing itself up again at the end, signifying a more mended, post-break up you, ready to take on the big bad world (aka, Tinder). 

I hope you enjoyed the video and I hope you enjoy seeing the beautiful mess :)

The Lily Allen Effect

The Lily Allen Effect

Sometimes you need to channel Lily Allen, this day happened to be one of those days.

This particular evening, I was making the trip to Surrey for dinner and drinks. I decided to get dressed up for no reason whatsoever, sometimes no reason, is the absolute best reason. I have been on the hunt for a pair of trainers for a while and couldn't quite bring myself to cave and get the Nike Free Runs, instead I decided on a pair of Adidas Sambas (mens - the women's selection just didn't cut the mustard..). The whole outfit selection, including a hipster half bun, felt very 2006 and I loved it.

The night consisted of steak, great company, good music and cider tasting (a bit like wine tasting but if you spit the cider out, people pelt you with apples - don't waste cider kids...). I know it's August so it is actually meant to be warm, but I am still amazed when I can sit outside at 11pm sans a coat / blanket / duvet. The only thing making me want to relocate indoors was the apple tree, that kept dropping apples uncomfortably close to my head - I survived, but only because I was supporting apple kind with my choice of booze...

Until next time :)

Dress - HM, Trainers - Adidas

Forever Legs - A Leaving Cocktail

Forever Legs - A Leaving Cocktail

One of my loveliest and best pals upped and left us for Australia, not to worry though, we will be stealing her back soon. However this post is going to be less about kidnapping someone and more about how we 'celebrated' her leaving us for a new adventure.

We decided to provide a recipe and cocktail ingredients for people to help themselves to... this was not an aim to avoid any hostess duties, although it turned out to be a pretty swell by-product. I wanted to illustrate / design the recipe card as a fun addition to the party and something that Sophie could keep as a memento (it was also an excuse to play). I like designing things and I like booze - these two things seem to fit together rather well. So well in fact, that I may start a regular post illustrating and sharing some of my favourite combinations... winner?

The party was hilarious, cocktails were created, cocktails were drunk and sore heads were created.

Love Lambeth Country Show

Dress - Topshop, Sandals - Dune, Sunnies - Vintage

Love Lambeth Country Show

The Lambeth Country Show is becoming an annual tradition for me, it is the highlight of the South London summer calendar (yes, even including you Brixton Splash). For the past three years, as soon as that LCS weekend hit, I have donned a fancy outfit and marched myself straight to Brockwell Park and then, almost immediately to the Chucklehead Cider stand.

This year, the outfit choice was this seventies vibing, shirt dress of dreams. This dress was the dress that you buy despite it possibly wiping out your finances for the rest of the month, just because you can't live without it - having the dress counteracts the hardship... not a massively healthy view on clothing items as saviours of the modern day, but anywhoo...

I'm not sure I have ever explained my love of dogs to you, if I haven't, I have probably saved you a good few hours worth of gushing. Just so you don't feel left out, I will touch on the subject now. I ADORE dogs, I want my own as soon as I am a capable enough person to look after something other than myself. LCS always gives me the perfect opportunity to indulge from afar as dog spotting is rife. I'm not usually a Chihuahua fan, but we were ransacked by three of the lads and were fully won over.

Usually, I make time to take in the all the sights and sounds the show has to offer, including big veg, camel racing, delicious food, haystacks... (you know the country show drill) but this year, it was about cider, dogs and good company. I was fully content sitting, having a little tipple, talking and swaying to the wonderful music that is always hanging in the air.

Safe to say my head feel rather flat the following day, but as always - completely worth it. Until next year my friend.

My First Event

My First Event

So, this was my first event (not in life terms, that's always eventful) at work and it went bloody WELL.

Our company were participating in the London Festival of Architecture and I wanted to do something slightly different, something creative and fun, which led to the first ever 'Great Architectural Bake Off'. We had eight design firms and three prominent judges descend upon our office to create / judge iconic London buildings out of cake, as you can see by the images - the teams went all out!

Bricks and mortar were switched artfully with Battenburg and icing. The teams arrived with van (actual vans, no exaggeration!) loads of supplies, team aprons, pre-baked cake bases, blow torches and Dremel drills!!

I enjoyed the whole thing, from the spark that started the idea, to pitching the idea, getting people interested, designing collateral, creating hype, emailing, organising, planning, blogging, photographing, managing, wheeling and dealing, eating and to top it all off drinking and celebrating.

Masterpieces were created, fun was had and we have created an annual event!! You can see more about the event and the champions here.http://www.watg.com/index.cfm/view/blog

Top & Trousers - Topshop, Smug look - models own...

So, I have awesome friends who gave up a day to help me! Laura & Milla!