Don't judge a bag by it's cover

I recently read an article by a friend of mine who writes for the Salon.com, about a bag design dispute concerning Kate Spade. On googling this topic, I found that it was being discussed everywhere...

In August of this year, Kate Spade is launching a set of clutches based on "classic book covers" such as The Great Gatsby, Emma, The Importance of Being Earnest, Great Expectations, and A Tale of Two Cities. "The brand will release the 'volumes' one at a time as a sort of Book-of-the-Month Club"*. However these handbags aren't launching without controversy...


Not that long ago, French designer Olympia Le-Tan, launched a collection of clutches called You Can't Judge a Book by its Cover in Autumn of 2009. Obviously Olympia is not happy with Spade's choice of bags and feels that the design house has copied her style.


Le Tan is passionate about books, something which was ingrained during her childhood by her book collector father. She was inspired by her favourite first edition classic covers such as The Catcher in The Rye, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Moby Dick, 1984 as well as 17 other covers.

Le Tan's bags are close copies of the original first editions and it's undeniable that more craft have gone into their creations compared to Spades - for a start Le Tan only made 16 bags for each 21 covers; each made of embroidered silk with colorful felt appliqué. Spade's are new illustrated versions of their books and printed to look worn and will obviously be massed produced. But I have to say, that I don't think the idea was 'stolen' from Le Tan - the outcome is very different: differently crafted, different book covers and I'm guessing a very different price tag - although the retail price of Spade's bags haven't been disclosed yet I'm imagining that they will be the more 'affordable' of the two as Le Tan's bags cost $1,500.

I googled 'book bags' and got copious results for etsy shops and crafters. As the saying goes (and I don't entirely agree with it): there is no such thing as a new idea and Olympia and Mrs Spade are certainly not the first nor the last to have the same idea and it seem that for years people have been transforming books into bags. Michelle Pulis, a young designer who has been creating bag tomes out of actual books since 2008:


Here’s a lovely book tote bag designed by Lizania Cruz, that will unzip to become a handy shopping bag. Lizania creates many beautiful items for Anthropologie.


However I can see why Le Tan feels this way; her collection came out very recently and these gorgeous literary purses are her livelihood whereas Kate Spade is a much bigger cog and doesn't need the cash. If I were Le Tan I would take it as a compliment and reel from the amount of press this issue has received. If I could afford it, I would certainly choose a bag that had been handcrafted by a smaller fashion house over a mass produced one as it's more individual, and I'm sure she hasn't had a shortage of interest. Despite this all, I'm still a big fan of Kate Spade (and even her husband's shop - Jack Spade - is gorgeous too) and I constantly enjoy the visual feast I encounter every time I walk into the stores!

(*) Quoted from the Vanity Fair online article.
Images of the Kate Spade collection also sourced from this article.

Bill Turnbull

British fine artist, Ben Turnbull (not to be mistaken for the BBC journalist and presenter of the same name), recently had an exhibition at Eleven gallery in London, I Don't Like Mondays. He also had a feature in Wallpaper magazine and on It's Nice That.

It is his wood carvings that attracted me to see more of his work. I've always had a fondness towards school desks, I even own the 1950s twin lidded school desk with ink wells that I sat at during primary school. In the late 80s, our school decided to get rid of the "old fashioned" furniture and replace it with horrible plastic stuff, and so my parents bought it for me. I love the feeling of being sat at it and freely graffiting!

Anyway, back to Ben...his most recent work is a reflection of America's fascination with gun culture: it's a beautiful juxtaposition of school children innocence (and their boredom doodles) against the sad reality that guns and harmful weapons have infiltrated our societies. They are all aptly named Lesson 1, Lesson 2 etc.

I also like the fact that he has used salvaged school desks, as their pen-marked scribbles and markings make for great backgrounds and canvases. There are seven desk tops in total including weapons such as western styled guns, grenades and futuristic/space-age guns. The weapons are intricately part-carved out of the desk lid and they gently surface out of the woodwork. I don't know what technique he has used to create these works of art, but it's impressive. I even like his signature that is carved on the bottom left of the canvas.

He is definitely out to shock, turning the innocence of boys toys and school life to the dangers and corruption of firearms. He explains why toys are central to his work: ‘Force fed on violence, abused by a controlling superpower and blackmailed through patriotism, the public are ultimately as disposable as the toys they once played with’.

Stephane Halleux

I recently got sent a link to Stephane Halleux's website, and I'm very pleased to have had the pleasure! The Belgium sculptor has developed a fascination with robotics, be it characters; animals; cars; flying objects or chairs. His style has a strong Steampunk feel to it - kind of Lemony Snicket's: A Series of Unfortunate Events mixed with Tim Burton's quirky creativity.







These cyborganic sculptures are created with with mixed medias such as leather, metal, wood pulp and salvaged materials. They look so fragile, especially the thin legged models and would work beautifully in a stop motion animation film. Although I'm not sure if the sculptures are malleable or can be easily turned into animatronics. See his website for more images and close ups of his spectacular mechanical curiosities.

Cakes & Ale Press - Jonny Hannah

Continuing with my cultured weekend, I went to see Jonny Hannah's Notes from McVouty exhibition at the Coningsby Gallery. I adore his surf shack chic look, it's just so bright and playful and makes you long for lazy summer days by the sea.

Most of his exhibited collections are from his Cakes & Ale Press and amongst the prints are odd objets d'art (such as scraps of wood, toy cars, bits of board...) that have been painted and inspired by 'McVouty's', the world famous second hand emporium which sadly shut up shop last month. Viewing his work on his website doesn't give his paintings, lino cuts and screen prints any justice. If you want a chance to see his work, the exhibition has been extended until this Wednesday (10th June) and I strongly recommend going.

Church chairs

After making do with a cheap dining table set for over 6 years, we felt it didn't go with our new bookcase, so we decided to spend some money on ebay and bought a set of 4 lovely reclaimed church chairs. These chapel chairs were originally from Enfield Church and date from 1900-1920. They have lovely patina on them that only age and wear can achieve. We are however without table, that arrives in a couple of weeks time. I will post when we get it.

Book worm

Our Ikea bookcase

I spent my bank holiday sorting out our bookcase issue, which is why I was quiet on the posting front. This is our 3rd stab at getting some kind of shelving for our alcove in a desperate attempt to get rid of our Ikea bookcase! (the 2 previous attempts have been a disaster involving floating shelves that only take a flea’s weight and big holes in walls...) But inspiration struck us when we passed a Brooklyn thrift store. There on the pavement were some lovely Pepsi-cola crates and we thought these would make lovely shelving. So when we returned home we bought some crates off e-bay and one in Portobello market on Saturday and here are the after shots of what we created. We also bought some old wooden cog patterns, from an antique shop in NW8. These cog patterns came from a foundry in the North of England and were used for making the cast iron cogs much used in the late 19th and early 20th century - we thought they'd make lovely bookends.

Bullet Buddies

While I don't condone gun crime at all I am however in favour of recycling. I stumbled on Rachel Pfeffer's very cute personalised recycled bullets and felt they were way too cute to keep to myself!