Who don't love bees?

What's the buzz?

Bee Garden cushions - in the Lush designs shop in Greenwich and at our pop-up shop on Lordship Lane, East Dulwich. Available online in the New Year from www.lushlampshades.co.uk/

Happiness is a well-stocked shop

South East London has much to recommend it. 

The A2.  

The river Quaggy.

Catford Broadway.

The list is endless.....

and what is more, it has lovely East Dulwich.  Its villagey with proper butchers, greengrocers, ironmongers.  This is where Lush designs has found a new home.

This is our wall of shades in the Lush Designs Pop-Up shop on Lordship lane. The shelves may be somewhat industrial but they do a great job of supporting the teetering stacks of lampshades.
Come and visit us when you're down this way.

Lush Designs Pop-up shop, 106 Lordship Lane, London SE22 8HF
www.lushlampshades.co.uk/

What's this?

Clue: Its bone china and you drink coffee out of it.

Frosty morn

Some lovely people came into our Pop-Up Shop on Lordship lane in East Dulwich and bought two of these pale and frosty cat shades to put in their gunmetal grey hallway.  We think they'll look spiffing.

And this morning I looked out of the window and the garden was resplendent with both cats AND frost. This isn't my garden by the way, but its rather lovely aint it?

...and here's a cat whose name is Frost apparently.

You can't buy him, but you can buy the lampshade from www.lushlampshades.co.uk/ or from the Lush Designs shop in Greenwich or Lordship Lane in East Dulwich.

Lush Designs at home

What could be more lovelier than a velvety chair that used to belong to Nana?

 I'LL tell you what - a velvety chair flanked by two Lush designs shades and cradling a comely OWL cushion in its velourous seat.

AND while your at it, may I invite you to admire the glistening shrine that is the fireplace - recently tarted up with a bit of Dutch Metal Leaf. Took Hours, and I've still got varnish and golden flaky bits stuck to my good cardigan.

If you're likin' the look, the Owl cushion, Cat shade and Pig with Clouds shade are all available from: www.lushlampshades.co.uk/

Aye, tis HOME in Dartmouth

Be ye a salty old sea-dog just a rollin'into port and lookin' for some home accessories?

Well shiver-me-timbers - just lookee at this harvest-festive, all hallows-evenish, seasons of mists and mellow fruity, veg-tastic display at Lush Designs stockist HOME in Dartmouth
http://homeindartmouth.com/

Rodgers and Livings, the early years

Whilst clearing out some old files, this, our first ever business card turned up. Note the hand-rendered lettering (no computers in them days).

We called ourselves "Artists to the stars" on the strength of Diana Ross having once bought some earrings we'd made.  The logical extension of this being an imagineered composite of Irish Crooner Val Doonican wearing one of the papier maché constructions we were making at the time.

Mind you, we did have some famous earring customers,
here's Siouxie Sioux and wacky Pamela Stevenson looking very '80s in the '80s with some our Lushlobes earrings

Not devil worshippers, but lovers of needlework

Here's our shop window this week.  We've gone semi-halloween, which isn't too much of a stretch for us since some of our prints allude to the dark side.  A concerned customer asked me once if we were devil worshippers (she wasn't joking) For her information and everyone else's;

  No, we are not devil worshippers.

- and here's a photo of our window by Sue, a blogger from Melbourne who's massively into patchwork http://thecraftypioneer.com/

Talking of which here's a patchwork quilt by Grandmother Deborah

(see she quilted her name and the date 1988 on it) She died when she was nearly 101 and could remember the sinking of the Titanic, so she was very old when she finished this lovely quilt. If you look closely the pencil marks where she sketched out her pattern are visible.

Its on my bed now with a pair of Lush Designs Centaur pillowcases and a Cottages and Castles duvet cover.

Welcome to our DREAMY FABULOUS world of WONDERFUL GORGEOUSNESS

When we get home from our exciting, creative work, we kick off our Manolo's and slip into our cashmere wraps, talk about French films with our intelligent and symmetrical children and our high-cheekboned, high-acheiving men whilst rustling up up up a nourishing Nigel Slater made from cheese from our own goats, before whipping out our saxophones for a quick jam session and finally retiring (exhausted!) to our high thread-count beds where we invariably do something tantric, just to y'know, wind down.

You can buy into the fabulous Lush Designs lifestyle for the fraction of the price of a pair of Manolo's, no smell of goat and no tedious antics...

Merely avail yourself of some Cottages and Castles fabric and a Cottages and Castles lampshade and YOU TOO will be the envy of our neighbours.

Curtains made by The Working Well Trust

A project that offers training in all aspects of clothing manufacture. Due to the demands of one of their regular clients their work tends to be merchandise for the upper end of the clothing and home furnishings market, therefore the standard and quality of work is very high. The men are also offered additional training in English as a second language (ESOL), I.T and Welfare Advice.

http://www.workingwell-trust.co.uk/ethnic_minorities_project.htm

Work in progress

"What," you ask "are these dear creatures with their elaborate marking and cheeky bandit faces?..."

Clue a): perfume is made from the secretions of their anal glands
Clue b): They eat coffee beans which are rummaged out of their bigs and then made into the finest coffee money can buy.

Bet you wish you hadn't asked.

Millyard Gallery, Uppermill

This is a photo taken at The Millyard Gallery in Saddleworth. 

This gallery is within spitting distance of the magnificent Saddleworth viaduct.

"Hey!" you say
"Worra coincidence - there's viaducts on them there lampshades!"

Not so much of a coincidence, because one of us Lush Designers is a Saddleworth gal, brought up in Dobcross, not half a mile from that same magnificent work of engineering.

If you too find yourself in this beautiful part of the country. RUSH to the Millyard Gallery, which has a facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Millyard-Gallery/468616396483299 and EVERYTHING!

Mark Hearld

Who is this lovely tank-top wearing individual? Why, its the wonderful Mark Hearld, sitting next to one of our lamp shades in his home.  We rather love Mark's prints and have blogged him on another occasion. He is represented by St Jude'swhich is a fantastic gallery in Norfolk and they have web shop (http://www.stjudesfabrics.co.uk/) wherefrom you can purchase Mark's fantastic prints and fabrics, as well as this gorgeous wallpaper.

WANT

Top Drawer Autumn 2012

This is our stand at Top Drawer.  

Its always difficult to decide what colour to paint the walls 

but we plumped for prune

Looks comfy.  All those squishy cushions to sit on. 

NO SITTING ALLOWED!

Why do you think its called a STAND?

Shop dogs

Truffy casts an eye over the legs of Lush Designs' customers from the comfort of his bed.

The Dog Within... 

and The Dog Without 

This little feller was not only without the shop, but without a leg, for he is a Three Legged Friend.

His Mummy and Daddy bought one of these

Autumn?!

Finding the change of seasons difficult?

Missing the Paralympics?

You are not alone.

Find solace in some cheerful homewares from Lush Designs.  This lovely plummy Cat lamp shade perhaps. Available very soon from the Lush Designs shop in Greenwich and at www.lushlampshades.co.uk/

Paralympic pandemonium!

The paralympics has seen yet more equestrian gold medals for team GB, and spectators thronged Greenwich once again, many of them in need of a tasteful souvenir such as only Lush designs can provide.

In order to guide visitors to Lush Designs Sarah, our enterprising employee commandeered the help of a cheery gang of gamesmakers.

Under Sarah's choreographic instruction the iconic foamy pink pointing hands were able to draw attention to the Lush Designs Shop. Which has been described as
"The best place to buy Jubilympic tea towel or a Horse bag" by neither the Queen nor Lord Sebastian Coe.

Observe the serious attention with which these customers select products. Now they've finished their sandwiches they can use the vacant space within those back-packs to stash their purchases. 

Those of you who live too far from London to experience Paralympic Pandemonium, can still avail themselves of lush Designs Lovliness at www.lushlampshades.co.uk/

Dirty Cakes: A tribute

Are you lucky enough to have a dirty cake shop in your neighbourhood?

See here the coffer of flowers with the march of the dinosaurs bringing up the rear.

We at Lush Designs have several to choose from.  This is our favourite, not because the cakes are the dirtiest - why, there aren't any flies or even cobwebs visible.  No it is the combination of obvious great age (note the bleached out and grisly colours) with the charmingly frivolous designs.

Miss Havisham, eat your heart out (or at least chow down on the grey heart-shaped glory, top right)

  

Disney characters and beaded subtlety

 Virgin brides and drooping beige ribbons

Gambling on love

Lushlobes: The latest in an occasional series

Occasionally someone will come into the shop who remembers that Lush Designs was once Lushlobes.




















The owner of this collection of ancient historical Lushlobes earrings is the lovely Julia Dunne. They're in such good condition that we are quite sure she has never got drunk and fallen asleep at a bus stop in them, or taken them off and put them in her handbag with an overripe and leaking banana and two sets of keys.

In the Lush Designs Olymporium

The Olympics couldn't happen without the support of wonderful volunteers from all over the country.

This is Lynne and Roger Young.  Roger is part of the transport team for the Olympics.

Lynne looks after and prepares the medals before they are presented to the winners.  Her support is pivotal to the smooth running of medal presentation. 

Presumably if Lynne had been around when Bradley Wiggins had won the Tour De France she could have prevented the embarrassing Lesley Garret caterwauling and dress-swishing debacle by bundling Lesley into the back of a waiting van. 

Life imitates art

Our Jubilympic Royal Dressage tea towel has been selling like hot cakes as a result of the Equestrian events in Greenwich Park. Here's a detail of a winning Olympic eventer in the

  Pantomime Dressage section.

Imagine our delight when this real life embodiment of man-and-horse-in-symbiotic-harmony trotted by the shop. This fellow and his cerulean steed posed for us before galloping off to win a deserving Gold in the Bluest Face event. 

Come and visit us at the Lush Designs shop at 8 College Approach, Greenwich, SE10 9HY to experience the mayhem.

Great horse rush continues

Hurry to the shop before all them horse-lovers nab out tea towels!

Olympic Pro-pals

Is there no end to our equestrian new-best-friends? This is lovely Leopoldo Palacios and Holly Kessler- technical officials from the US How does Holly look so glamorous after doing horse stuff all day? 

Leopoldo was course designer at the Sydney and Beijing Olympics and is a stickler for safety apparently. They bought quite a lot of tea towels. Perhaps Leopoldo will wind them round the branches of trees in the park so they can't poke the horses in the eye.

Holly had taken lots of pictures of Kate Middleton, Prince William and all.  She was worried that she might have done wrong but we soothingly assured her that our royals are public property and their main job is to have their photo taken.  Clarifying protocol is a free service we're glad to provide at the Lush designs shop, 8 College Approach, Greenwich SE10 9HY.

All Our Dreams Came TRUE!!!!

No sooner did I blog about the redoubtable New Zealand equestrian legend Mark Todd than he appeared in the shop!  I had to explain that the equestrian tea towels he was buying (two for the price of three) featured an illustration inspired by his good self. This was all terribly exciting and as you can see I was quite beside myself.  His friend took a photo. What a lovely geezer.  I hope he wins a medal (yes, yes, I know he's not English but he's my new best friend).

NB Equestrian window display in Lush designs shop window.

Horsin' around in Greenwich

We've just changed our window in the Lush Designs shop at 8 College Approach in Greenwich to reflect the Olympic Equestrian Events which are taking place in Greenwich park
from Monday.

Buy two get one free!

One of the guys from the hotly fancied New Zealand team who was up all night looking after the locks on the horse boxes or somesuch vital function was accompanied by his charming wife who took advantage of our three for the price of two offer on Royal Dressage tea towels.  We explained to her that New Zealand horseman Mark Todd had been one of the models for the characters on the tea towel.

Those who are involved in this momentous event are already being seduced by our equine products.  here's Ann the fence judge looking mighty swanky with one of our horse bags.

You too could have the cachet associated with Olympic Equestrian involvement, simply by visiting the shop or www.lushlampshades.co.uk/ and choosing from our range of charming horse-related items.

xxxxxx

Lush Designs manicure

This is what happens when you have a VERY SPECIAL work experience gal.
See what Nina's done here? Lush Designs on every nail. Now she's got a pig on her index finger she can do some porcine pointing.

Here she is again - all wet from the beastly rain in which she was required by us cruel Lush Designers to run errands:

We dressed her in a Lush Designs while she was waiting for her clothes to dry. We reckon Nina's a great model.