Baby in a Pod

In my life right now, I am pretty much surrounded by babies... I suppose its part of those phases when at first everyone is getting engaged and married... then later its buying houses... and then its babies! I even got a new baby, she's a basset hound mix called Lucy. If you've been here often, you'll know Lou, my beagle mix, from my profile photo. Lucy is a bit bigger and much younger, and she's giving us all a run for our money! She is a lovely dog, and we hope that we can provide a wonderful home for her, her forever home.



Hmm, not sure how I ended up introducing Lucy, but I'm glad you're all acquainted now.

With all these babies around, I've been doing some baby stuff shopping and recently discovered the wonderful Kickcan and Conkers. Inspired by her great blog, I decided to see what fabulous baby things I could find in my favourite part of the world, the tip of southern Africa.

I have discovered Baby Podo, who specialise in baby furniture that grows with baby, and looks stylish to boot! They have cots that change into beds...







Baby Podo also have other furniture, and have recently their first brick and mortar store in Cape Town. The babies in Cape Town are so lucky!

Zulu Lulu

Happy New Year everyone! Let's get this year started on the right foot, shall we, with these amazing pots.



They are smoke fired pots inspired by traditional Zulu beer drinking pots, called the ukhamba (pronounced oo-kum-ba, if memory serves) ... and oh, so beautiful! Because of the inconsistency of the smoke, each pot is different. I'd love a few to place on my bookshelf. A traditional ukhamba looks something like this:



Now, take a look at these...



They are also fire smoked in a pit, and are inspired by the water-bearing calabash, used for so long by the Zulu.



I just love how they are so beautifully forged by Zulu Lulu (what a delightful name!) in the Natal Midlands of South Africa.

Founded by Trayci Tompkins, her Zulu Lulu team create all sorts of beautiful ceramics, but these are definitely my favourites.





Go take a look at their website, their work is lovely.

Marine Life

I love the renovation of South African hotel, The Marine.



Situated in Hermanus (a beautiful town nestled between the glorious ocean and sweeping mountains), you can view whales and their calves swimming by from the cliff tops.


















I was lucky enough to stay there years ago, and then it had a more worn but still warm, old-world charm to it. I look forward to one day going to back to enjoy the renewed hotel.

Merry Christmas!

I really love this mish-mash of Christmas/Hanukkah/pop music, so I thought I'd share it for this special, magical time of year. I love it not only because it mentions Christmas down in Africa, but because they are so damn good!

Casual Elegance

This past week the nytimes Style section featured the beautiful home of Mufti interiors owner, Michael d'Souza.







I'm drawn to his home because its a beautifully restored old building, but also because he incorporates warm accents from his home country, India, and his travels (which, lucky for us, are also for sale at his online shop!). My particular favourites are the porcupine quill lampshades from South Africa (of course!), which must be an absolute gem to look at when they are turned on.




Here are some that are available in the Mufti store










I may bookmark that page for some new year's shopping for me.

NeedleCraft Bridging the Gap Between the Traditional and Modern

I love my blog because, amongst other things, I get to meet so many wonderful people. Ansie is one of those people (and just so co-incidentally the person to win the Christmas tree decoration) and I was so impressed with an article she recenlty wrote for the brand-spankin' new magazine, Needle.

An African Rainbow talks about how South Africans today are using age-old needlepoint traditions to make livings for themselves in ways that accommodate raising families whilst fighting poverty. Its a great read, and I wanted to showcase the work of some of those people (as a magazine - even an online one - only has so many pages but this blog is mine, so I can do what I want ;).

Mielie is the first organisation, that allows its members to be at home and work on products, while getting together only once a week to collaborate.



You'll notice, if you live in the Northern hemisphere, how colourful their work is. Part of my experience of living in Boston is that I've noticed how different the light is here compared to South Africa...I decorate here with less colour, but even so, who would so no to a gorgeously colourful rug, or fantastically organic cushion?







Moxy is another enterprise Ansie mentions, and I've chatted about them before. I love their work and hope one day to have at least one of their cushions in my possession... they also work mostly at home.





Kaross is the last group that is mentioned, and they differ in that they are a collaboration of over 1000 people belonging to the Shangaan group, who share their culture through needlepoint. They create everything from bed linen, to cards that show the beautiful designs they create.





Thank you to Ansie for sending me the link (you can read the magazine here). I definitely have a few more things on my Christmas list, for years to come if I don't get them this year!

And the Winner Is...

Ansie! I know she is off to Thailand for the festive season, so I'll keep her decoration safe until she gets a chance to email me with her address.

There will be more give-aways in the new year, so don't be a stranger.