BLIMEY

Has it really been this long since I posted anything?!

Time seriously flies when you're having fun - and I've had lots of it!

I've been working on some very exciting projects all over the world including Raffles Hotel in Paris and Dubai (now there's a hotel you should stay at - such glorious attention to detail), Design Consultant for a major BBC1 design show (exhausting to say the least) and numerous private clients all of whom have been a joy to work with.

There seems to be a real air of 'design comes first' with interiors at the moment - I've always maintained that good designs (of all kinds) are good solutions to problems and people are evidently less fussed with the additional decoration of an item, but more with whether or not it actually performs in the way it should - it's so important. This has taken us into the Industrial look that is omnipresent right now - basic, functional and solid - all good stuff.

But having said that, does this mean we're on the cusp of the next big thing?

As the pendulum swings from ornate to ordinary and back, is now the time to start looking at the items that have fallen by the wayside? The ornate items that have been banished from our homes? I don't mean unnecessary, gauche, ostentatious fancy frills, but rather items that have been beautifully made with skill and tremendous craftsmanship - a gilt table lamp, an inlaid mahogany box, a Sevres mantle clock - things that have gone from our homes in favour of the plain and the useful. But where are these things? Who's still got them and when will they come back in fashion?

A sprinkle of luxe should always be welcomed, and the mix of that with the utilitarian is a very interesting one indeed, so let's start looking for the gems that really sparkle and get them back into our homes - but let's not call it 'Vintage' - it deserves better.

Maybe we should be looking at what's for sale and get ahead of the game.