Tea & Make {a great British fete}

Yesterday we went to the Tea & Make event which is a celebration of regionally-made craft and making-do from South East London.

There were some lovely stalls there with a variety of things from local honey to ceramics to jewellery and toys. There were also free workshops such as how to make your own monster, learning how to felt and making mini kites. They had a small but great variety of some of the best designer-makers and creators working in Britain today.

My personal favourite was Cornelia O'Donovan who made such fabulous toy animals. She teaches print making at Middlesex Uni, and uses many of her designs on fabrics and incorporates them in her soft animals.


I also very much liked the creations of Polly George as she specialises in intricate homeware ceramics. Very lovely!

Snowden Flood

I've mentioned the shop Magma before (It's my fav bookshop). A year or so ago they opened a product shop a couple of doors up from their Covent Garden shop. So naturally if I'm in the area I can't resist but to go into both of them!

They have lovely nik naks, toys, homewares and illustrated books by Kate Sutton and many others. But it's here that I cast my beady eye on these lovely plates by Snowden Flood. Snowden Flood is an interior accessories designer based in London. She celebrates urban and rural landscapes and likes to reflect this in her work of souvenirs and keepsakes.

The first 6 plates are from their River series and the last two are from the Urban Landscape series.

Sweet Talker

I discovered Camila Prada in 2007 when Design Week did a feature on emerging young artists, and it was love at first sight! I studied ceramics at secondary school and was close to doing a degree at Staffordshire Uni, but bailed at the last minute to study illustration instead. I would have loved to have created something so playful and quirky like her Pepe and Friends characters.

Pepe and Friends are a tableware family of 16 characters, ranging from salt and pepper shakers to butter dishes and oil decanters. She has also produced little figurines, called Flatfaces. Her collections are designed by Vinila for the prestigious German ceramic manufacturer Rosenthall. They are available to buy from Heal’s and other stores across the country, I couldn’t resist buying myself this cute ‘Sweet Talker’ sugar shaker. I couldn’t think of a better ‘friend’ to help me with my tea making!