Britannia, The Great British Sofa designed in support of Team GB

_{**This is a paid for advertorial by DFS**}

With less than 100 days to go, we’re really looking forward to watching the Rio Olympics this summer. We won’t be there in person unfortunately, but we’re sure the TV coverage will be fabulous.

DFS is the official Team GB Olympic homeware partner, and to celebrate the event they’ve designed the hand-crafted Britannia ‘The Great British sofa‘, inspired by Team GB. When it comes to sofas, you don’t get much more British than the Chesterfield!

The limited-edition Britannia range consists of a four, three and two seater sofa, an armchair, an accent chair and a large footstool. The Britannia will be journeying to Rio to take its place in the GB lounge in the Olympic Village. The athletes will have a comfy place to relax and put their feet up at the end of an exciting and tiring day of sport!

The various pieces in the range are finished with golden studs to represent Olympic gold medals – one of the undoubted peaks of sporting achievement. In fact, the accent chair has 233 golden studs – the exact number of gold medals Team GB has won so far at Summer Olympic Games.

The range comes with an assortment of plain & patterned scatter cushions (in patriotic red white & blue of the Union Jack) designed in collaboration with British textile designer, Susan Munns, from Art of the Loom.

Have a look at the short film below, all about the design and making of the Britannia.

It’s a lovely range of furniture. We’d very happily give them house room – a dog’s big muddy paws might be an issue for us, but I’m sure we could work round it! The sofa and chairs have a very elegant and timeless shape. Quality woven fabric upholstery, generous layers of soft padding beneath, gentle curves for your back and neck, scatter cushions for extra support – they look so comfortable! The sofa and chairs are available in four different colours with further choices for the castor feet and stud or piping detail. They’re the perfect place to relax – whether you’re having a quiet read, enjoying a pre-dinner drink or watching the Olympics of course!

[disclosure*]

Bookmarks: Personal Best, Paul Floyd Blake

Personal Best book cover

Before we start, we need to declare a personal interest in this particular book. The author is a very good friend of ours – in fact we’ve blogged about him previously in our Friday Folks series.

Over a period of five years, Paul Floyd Blake regularly photographed sixteen young athletes in the build up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. His work documents a unique time in British history, and captures the development of a generation of sportspeople as they grow from childhood to adulthood within the intense world of elite sport.

Blake’s restrained and subtle portraits offer an alternative to conventional sports photography, with its emphasis on dramatic moments of action. Instead, his images pay tribute to the long slog towards glory that is not usually seen or celebrated, whilst excerpts from the athletes’ own writings offer insights into their personal hopes and fears. Blake’s approach emphasises the individual’s own story and motivations beyond the values and structures of competitive sport, as the title Personal Best suggests. Of the athletes that Paul selected for the project five years ago, three have been selected to take part in the London 2012 Olympics.

The book includes texts by curator Pippa Oldfield (Impressions Gallery, Bradford) and Professor Jonathan Long (Leeds Metropolitan University).

Portrait of fencer Curtis Miller from the book, "Personal Best" by Paul Floyd Blake Portrait of swimmer Rosie Bancroft from the book, "Personal Best" by Paul Floyd Blake Portrait of badminton player Gabby White from the book, "Personal Best" by Paul Floyd Blake

PERSONAL BEST
£20.00 + £5.00 P&P
Hardback, 112 pages, 50 colour plates
285mm x 245mm
ISBN: 978-1-907893-21-6

To order your copy please email PersonalBest@photographer.net

M & S Packaging

selection of Marks and Spencer food items with special Diamond Jubilee and London Olympic 2012 packaging

M & S continues to produce some fantastic packaging. We bought a few items last week – and thought we’d share photos with you in case you haven’t seen any of it.

Marks and Spencer New York pepperoni pizza box illustrated with characters of a cop and Texan tourist wearing a stetson

We’ll start with this pizza box for the pastrami pizza – with its New York cop and stetson-wearing tourist.

detail from a Marks and Spencer New York pepperoni pizza box showing a cartoon illustration of a cop

The characters are very reminiscent of Miroslav Sasek book illustrations from the 1950s & 60s.

Marks and Spencer chocolate teacake packaging decorated with illustrations of British bobby, Union Jack flags, school children, birds and bunting

The other products we picked up have much more of a British feel – perfect for this Diamond Jubilee & London Olympic year.

detail from Marks and Spencer chocolate teacake packaging decorated with illustrations of birds and bunting

These chocolate teacakes are covered with Union Jack bunting & flags. What does that pigeon know that we don’t?

detail from Marks and Spencer chocolate teacake packaging decorated with illustrations of a British bobby, Union Jack flag and bunting

Next up we have the old red telephone box.

Marks and Spencer shortbread tin in the shape of and decorated as a red British phone box with figures including a British Bobby, city gent and punk

It’s harking back to the days when telephone box queues were a common sight – pre mobile phone days – the variety of characters each waiting their turn.

detail from a Marks and Spencer shortbread tin in the shape of and decorated as a red British phone box showing the figure of a city gent

We just love the punk rocker blowing his bubblegum.

detail from a Marks and Spencer shortbread tin in the shape of and decorated as a red British phone box showing the figure of a punk

It’s a close run thing, but our favourite item of the batch is probably the biscuit tin below. Again, the artwork is very Sasek inspired – with a bit of Bill Charmatz thrown in.

limited edition Marks and Spencer biscuit tin produced to commemorate the 2012 London Olympic Games decorated with illustrations of London and other British landmarks

The design a real classic with scenes of the British Isles to the sides and traditional London sights to the lid.

detail from a limited edition Marks and Spencer biscuit tin produced to commemorate the 2012 London Olympic Games showing an illustrations of Green Park

Also, the tin will last years and can be used over & over again.

lid from a limited edition Marks and Spencer biscuit tin produced to commemorate the 2012 London Olympic Games decorated with illustrations of London landmarks

It’s fantastic when you buy a useful & beautiful storage tin – crammed full of lovely biscuits that you just have to eat first!!

Tuesday Huesday: Paul Smith designed London 2012 Olympic stamps

We’re big fans of postage stamps here at H is for Home and this gorgeous example was designed by British fashion designer, Paul Smith. It’s one of a set he recently designed for the Isle of Man to commemorate the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Oh, and did you know that Paul Smith is a HUGE cycling fan?

H is for Home Harbinger

Tag: Olympics

Britannia, The Great British Sofa designed in support of Team GB

Bookmarks: Personal Best, Paul Floyd Blake

M & S Packaging

Tuesday Huesday: Paul Smith designed London 2012 Olympic stamps