Put A Sock In It

I've always been a fan of the sock monkey and if you get cracking now they make the perfect (if not a bit comic) christmas gift. A much better use for old socks than stockings, after all they're not really big enough to fit all the required presents! 

Weird & Wonderful

Our imaginations have been running wild over the Summer holidays and when we came across this image of a photographic shop disguised as a camera we couldn't help wanting to see more. These weird and wonderful pieces of architecture are such fun even if you don't fancy living in an upside down house. We wonder what our dream house would look like, probably rather ordinary in comparison to these!

Joining in

As everyone is talking about the olympics we thought we would join in! Of course the sporty stuff is very impressive and we hope team GB win loads of medals but of particular interest to us were these stamps. Sir Paul Smith has done a lovely job for the Isle of Man and we especially like the Swimming pool, very David Hockney!

Green With Envy

With the UK being treated to a very 'British Summer' we are desperately envious of all those people who are jetting off on their warm and sunny holidays. However there is an upside, London has never looked so green, the vibrant hues are everywhere and the rain even improves their sumptuous look! 

Best Of British

Seeing all the amazing preparations for the Queens Jubilee has made us ever so excited to be British. There is nothing we love more than dressing up for a celebration and I think these guys have the best costumes ever. We salute the Pearly Kings and Queens for all their buttony faboulousnes!

Flower Power London

With London in full bloom for the Chelsea Flower Show we can't help but get excited by the wonderful variety of colours and shapes. Although they are hardly considered exotic anymore one of our favourite flowers is the tulip, especially the green and white ones. 

All Things Stripy

We love stripes and we especially love the idea that you can apply them to absolutely anything, even your house, or especially your house. Be it a little cottage, a big town house or a fabulous beech hut we think a bold stripy finnish is the way to go!

Something Fishy!

We are not really sure what these might be useful for but we love them anyway! There's always something charming and interesting about the very ordinary, as long as its not familiar, sardines have never looked so exotic! We always visit foreign supermarkets and vintage fairs when travelling and recommend you do the same, you never know what gems you might stumble upon.

Happy Easter - The Old Fashioned Way!

We love these old fashioned postcards celebrating everything that is lovely about Easter. All the clashing colours, lots of eater eggs and of course the long weekend wouldn't be complete without dancing hares! 

Get me out of the city!

I can't think of anything that could make me want to visit the countryside more than Hockneys paintings of Yorkshire. In glorious technicolor, they really are for adults what Disney is for children, mesmerising! We can wait to use his work as part of our inspiration for the next collection. The show is on at the Royal Academy until the 9th April, tickets are hard to come by but you must go! 
Royal Academy of Arts - www.royalacademy.org.uk

Cafe Chic

I have always loved sitting in Parisian cafes enjoying a drink and a spot of people watching. However on a recent trip I was really attracted to the variety of colours and patterns that are now used on the quintessentially Parisian chic chairs. These are some of our favourites that we will use as part of our next collections design inspiration.

Just Add Stamps

We came across these amazing old stamps while researching the forthcoming MON collection. Far from being a nerdy hobby we think they are beautiful and would love to receive more post and less emails! Oh, and we would like all the stamps to look as good as these ones.

Love Art London

Art in London is amazing at the moment, there's the fantastic Damien Hurst Spot Paintings at the Gagosian Gallery (showing the complete works in all their Galleries around the word), the brilliant (or so we're told, still need to get tickets) new David Hockney show at the Royal Academy and then the intricate early work of Sean Scully. The show is on at the Timothy Taylor Gallery in Mayfair and is comprised of acrylic, ink, graphite, and masking-tape drawings from 1974–75. The colour combinations are wonderful, it's a great way to beat the January blues and will inspire you to create beautiful things.


Sean Scully : Change and Horizontals, 13 January - 11 February


Timothy Taylor Gallery

15 CARLOS PLACE, LONDON, W1K 2EX

Monday to Friday 10am - 6pm
Saturday 10am - 2 pm

Ready Steady 2012

Happy New Year to you all, from MON! We hope it's a good one!