Let's go For a swim at Kalithea

This is one of my favourite places to instantly melt any cares away. Over these few years we have seen the Spar be restored to it's former glory and eaten lots of tzatziki in the little cafe overlooking the beach and it's straw parasols. The most blissful hours have been spent in the cooling waters on baking hot days, encircling the volcanic rocks and spying crabs and colourful fish.

The traditional Spar, now restored

The baking hot beach-too hot to stand on the sand!

Lovely textures of volcanic rocks where gases bubbled and the shells of  prehistoric sea creatures fused with them.

Shell mosaic made from pebbles in the floor of the spar

Mosaics in the spar carry motifs from the sea and beach around it.  I also found inspiration in the shapes of these sea creatures to create a special present.

I incorporated sand from the beach we all visited together into a pair of cuff-links. The two shapes are taken from my cast of a real pre-historic ammonite, and a perfect pink shell I found on the beach on our holiday.

I hope this present is a little reminder of the wonderful holidays we have spent so far, to carry a bit of those happy times away with us.

Silver & resin cuff-links, using sand from the beach in Greece.

Paris in the Springtime

I am really looking forward to a little break coming up in my favourite city, Paris! We booked the mini hol a while ago in the middle of the bleak wintery weather. March seemed a long time away, so I was dreaming of floaty florals, sunglasses, cardigans, sandals and other Springtime wearables. These have been tucked in the back of the wardrobe for a loooooooong time behind the daily layers of jumpers, wooly tights and scarves and I was looking forward to rooting them out again.

Well holiday time has rolled around quicker than expected and weather wise I'm not quite at the bright & flowery stage as the clouds and cool breezes are still hanging around, but luckily inspiration from Saint Laurent's A/W14 collection has arrived!

These gorgeous 60s style pieces are right up my street, making me want to pack my suitcase with my own sequinned treats, collared shirts, metallics & bows with black tights (with my newly acquired ox-blood go go boots). Usually the sparkles are reserved for my party-time wardrobe but I'll be paring these down in the day with a navy oversized coat, woolly scarf and maybe still get a chance to get the sunglasses out if the clouds part occasionally...

Chanelling Nico!

I could definitely see a Breton top worn tucked under this cherry sparkle.

I'm planning on wearing with some of my black & pyrite Hewn rings...

Vintage style Gogo boots look rad back in the 60s they often had a comfy mid-heel to dance the night away so also great for wandering round the City's sights!!

These atmospheric images are all the work of Lea Colombo, courtesy of Dazed & Confused. See more in their article on the Saint Laurent A/W14 collection here

If Anna Karina joined Brian Jonestown Massacre I think it would sound like one of my favourite French bands, the Liminanas. I'll be listening to them on the Eurostar. C'est parfait!