Fabulous Friday Felt Work

British artist Lucy Sparrow has taken a run down, empty store in east London and created a light, bright, colourful cornerstore filled to the brim with all sorts of goodies... FELT goodies that is!

Lucy has hand crafted every single item in the shop, including the cash register! Magazines, candy, beer... you name it, it's felt! The wee 'art installation' is open til the end of August. Our lovely Katie is currently on that side of the world, maybe we should send her in to check it out!?

Found via the Jealous Curator

Monday Inspiration - A Wall of Art

Here's a little inspiration for your Monday morning - a gorgeous interior shot of the Lake Room in the Lake Austin Spa Resort in Texas. What an amazing blanket of bird prints across the wall, creating an amazing canvas to pull other interior colours from!

Image via Lonny

Hello Again, Native Agent

From the early days of esdesign we've always had a wee love affair with kiwi designers Native Agent.

When we first set up in Marion Street about 8 years ago, we stocked their gorgeous (and hugely popular) cushions, specified their bed runners as part of our work at Ohtel in Wellington, and commissioned an amazing massive scale wall hanging for a Wellington apartment (how I wish we had a photo of that one!).

Studio Home recently posted about their latest art prints and it felt like coming full circle and falling in love with their wares all over again! Head to their website to see more and be inspired by others who are inspired by our beautiful country and kiwi culture.

Art Prints - Greg Straight

Ugh this dreary weather makes you pine for sunshine doesn't it? Here's something a little brighter for your day - some very cool, contemporary graphic prints by kiwi artist Greg Straight. Great in a kitchen, family room, bach... we love them!

All images via

Vintage Textile Transformations by Mr. Finch

The self-taught artist Mr. Finch is part hunter, part gatherer and fully genius. Obsessed with the rolling hills and mossy woods near his home in Yorkshire, Finch goes gathering for inspiration. "Flowers, insects and birds really fascinate me with their amazing life cycles and extraordinary nests and behavior", says the artist. He then goes hunting for vintage textiles; velvet curtains from old hotels, a threadbare wedding dress or a vintage apron and transforms them into all sorts of beasts and toadstools. The aged feel creates a sense of authenticity, or mystery as if each piece has an incredible story to tell.

The Art of Conrad Jon Godly

Successfully blowing my mind this morning are these artworks by Conrad Jon Godly. The simplicity of the concept of these pieces of work is easy to see, but the way they are executed leaves no doubt as to the subject matter. I think most of us in NZ have seen mountains just like these at some point in our lives - just spectacular!

Found via

The Original Pantone Book

271 years before Pantone, an artist mixed and described every colour imaginable in an 800 page book!

In 1692 the artist known only as “A. Boogert” sat down to write a book in Dutch about mixing watercolours. Not only would he begin the book with a bit about the use of colour in painting, but would go on to explain how to create certain hues and change the tone by adding one, two, or three parts of water. The premise sounds simple enough, but the final product is almost unfathomable in its detail and scope. Spanning nearly 800 completely handwritten (and painted) pages, it was probably the most comprehensive guide to paint and colour of the time. 

Surgically Altered Ceramics by Beccy Ridsdel

UK-based artist Becky Ridsdel creates fun yet strangely macabre interventions where ceramics have been surgically altered to reveal additional layers of detail. Where the word surgery might normally evoke blood and guts, Ridsdel instead reveals further floral patterns inside bone china plates and cups. 

Chocolate Master Pieces

We are all chocolate lovers here at esdesign and we love what this clever artist has created using only Whittakers Chocolate Sante Bars as his medium!

Check out the youtube video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b3e8cKFKXw

Wacky Wednesday - A Little Bit of Crazy

Vienna-based designer Andreas Scheiger has created this fun series of faux taxidermy heads using a collection of re-purposed, found bicycle seats and handlebars. The pieces can serve as fun art objects, or as functional hooks for holding bags, coats, and even other bicycles. So clever!

Desert Breath - Art Installation in the Sahara Desert

Nature is amazing, and here is an art installation to prove it! There's nothing like digging 

and sculpting in the sand, but this is taking it to the extreme...

'Desert Breath' is located near the Red Sea in El Gouna, Egypt. It is an impossibly immense land art installation dug into the sands of the Sahara desert by the D.A.S.T. Art Team back in 1997. The artwork was a collaborative effort spanning two years between installation artist Danae Stratou, industrial designer Alexandra Stratou, and architect Stella Constantinides, covering an area of about 1 million square feet. Wowee!