And breathe...

When your colleague suggests taking in some lunchtime culture it's a difficult opportunity to pass up. When you find out that that culture involves an exhibition where 'a lady breathes on some paper and shows the results', it's difficult to get excited about it. With that being said, you can sort of find yourself regretting that initial feeling.


'And Breathe...' at the Old Fire Station showcases part of Jayne Wilton's 'Drawing Breath' body of work, in which she creates physical, ephemeral sculptures from human breath. It's much less gross than it sounds and it was actually kind of beautiful.


[Sing 1 & 2]


[Expire]



[Breathe]


[Drawing Breath]
It's been ages since I've visited an art exhibition much less found any new art that I actually enjoy. Sometimes finding things visually pleasing can boil down to something as simple as whether you would hang it on your own wall, and I definitely would. 'Sing 1 & 2' were my favourites in particularly though I really liked the simplicity of the whole exhibition.

'And Breathe...' is a small exhibition of just 7 pieces but I'd definitely recommend visiting if you're around Oxford before 14th November.


[Crowd]


[Blow]


Arts at the Old Fire Station has a range of shows and exhibitions throughout the year, as well as featuring an adorable shop featuring work from independent UK artists and designers and hosting workshops and classes, it's a really neat public space.

'And Breathe...' runs until 14th November 2015 at the Old Fire Station gallery, Tuesday - Saturday, 11am - 6pm, and it's free!

Have you seen any inspiring art exhibitions lately?

Wipeout by Invader.

During our visit to the PMQ, we stumbled up an exhibition from the semi-well-known street artist, Invader.

Not only was it a nice find, it was also a pretty interesting exhibition experience. It's one of the few gallery spaces that I've been to that has not only allowed photography, but actively encouraged it. Such is the nature of Invader's work that you can actually see it better with a little help from a small screen than with your naked eye.

Old Police Married Quarters (PMQ)

PMQ, 35 Aberdeen St, Central, Hong Kong.
Without a doubt my new favourite place in Hong Kong. ♥

A complex rich with heritage, from its time as the first government school in Hong Kong to being occupied by the Japanese to just a place to live for junior police officers and their families, the PMQ is now establishing itself as the creative hub of Hong Kong, showcasing a range of independent shops, art exhibitions and places to eat.


From that description alone, it should be pretty easy to see why I fell in love so hard. I wish there were more places like it in the UK, which is why I mentioned being so pleased about the OXO Tower taking on a similar idea (long may it continue to develop).

I felt like I noticed more of the endless Chanel/Gucci/Other Designer Things train than ever before so to find somewhere full of unique shops that were either standalone or part of much smaller chains stocking things that I could actually think about affording made a nice change.

If you're ever in that part of the world, it's more than worth a visit, for the visual merchandising inspiration alone!



Wish I could have done the VM in Open Quote justice, it was probably the most perfect bookshop.







Everything is a candle at Glue Associates.



Naturally the white + teal facade was the PMQ's main appeal as a space.



Hong Kong is the most vertical place in the world so pockets of green space are always welcome.








It really goes to show that modernisation doesn't have to mean tearing down and actually, using the history can make somewhere mean so much more. The main thing the PMQ does that I feel is so brilliant is providing such a great opportunity to emerging artists and start-ups with a seemingly lesser city price tag.

I just want to know why everywhere isn't doing this, everyone should be doing this, right? RIGHT?

For my Walls.

Sunshine + Mushroom
It wasn't that the flat was full of art, not by any means, but we did have a certain amount of frames on the wall. Now we're 'doing up' the house, there's a lot of bare wall space to think about.

Some of the things that used to be on our walls have been relegated to keepsake boxes, other things that have been waiting to be framed for years are still waiting. Even though we've no shortage of things to put up, there's always more to find and a quick browse of Etsy has me full of ideas for our future gallery walls.


[Kate Broughton]
Just give me all the Kate Broughton things, please. This will be great to go next to our Billy bookcase bar.


[Kate Broughton]


[Finlay McNevin]


[Tim Easley]
Perfect to hang in the 'study' once it's no longer full of boxes.


[Bold & Noble]


[Michael Sapienza]


[The Motivated Type]
Apt.


[1st Class Posters]


[Mostly Harmless]
Unpopular opinion: I didn't even like Breaking Bad but Better Call Saul is totally my jam.


[Smal Adventure]
I'm generally noticing a mixed up theme of films, lists and animals seems to have come together, I just felt like putting these here because I've not done anything a wishlist in a while and they're all just so pretty I needed to share.

It's funny because as I was thinking of putting this post together I came across this post on Cup of Jo about the best ways to hang art, some real sound advice.

Friday Finds.

I hadn't actually planned making this a weekly thing, but I figured I would at least do it today because it's been a little while and I have a few things to share with you. As well as winning tickets to Taste of London, this has generally been a pretty great week for food, I've cooked proper teatime food every day this week and I'm very proud to be eating so well — that being said, I have kind of being eating all round me a little too so I feel like I should probably pipe down on that front for a little bit.

I have a couple of fun things happening this weekend, we're off to see Josh Widdecombe (off the telly!) in a bit at New Greenham Arts Centre, I've seen him before and he's very funny, I'm very curious to see what the venue will look like. We're also off to see Dry the River for the ninth time tomorrow, this time with just them and a support at an apparently small venue in Reading. I'm looking forward to in generally because my ears do seem to need a regular top up of their beautiful live performances but also because it's been ages since we saw just them, with the last few times being as part of festivals, which isn't quite the same.

Slightly more mundane things that are happening this weekend include; turning the flat upside down in a cleaning frenzy, doing a test run of our new Glastonbury tent we bought last weekend and maybe going on a little walk if the weather's nice. I also plan on at least one lie-in, it's been a major struggle waking up before 7am nearly every day this week, I really need to catch some zzzs.

[Help Ink]
Reason number 1 for wanting to move, although a little unreasonable is that we've run out of wallspace for pretty things, I like the pretty art work we have but I just really need some more...



[Eightbear]
I picked up Eightbear's lovely 'Bears' print when we went to Soho Flea Market a couple of weeks ago but it was really this print that caught my eye first. The 'Bears' print is now nicely framed in our bedroom, replacing a print that I liked but Moon didn't - sometimes relationships are about compromise. Sadly when I saw this print in real life, it was just a *smidge* too big for any free frames we had, see? We need more wallspace. I think this would be lovely for a nursery, not that I'm feeling particularly broody or nesty, I just think this is cute and that I could have easily hoarded it if paper wasn't so flimsy...


[Zara Home]
How great is this cushion cover? Sometimes I really wish I was a bit more matchy-matchy when it came to my interior design choices, and I think the time is approaching where I need to at least think about some new cushion covers for the lounge, but then, I like having lots of different things and this definitely would go with my general animal/cutesy theme that I've unintentionally run throughout my home.


[From London With Love]
Although I get on much better with large bags, it is pretty handy to have a tiny one with your essentials in for a night out. This one is so cute! I love the colour but I don't think I actually own anything that is this colour at the moment. I think £25 for a real leather satchel, even if it is tiny is pretty reasonable too!


[x]


[Kinship Goods]
This is such a cute t-shirt! It would certainly make bringing Doll up with strangers a lot easier. :)
I hope you have a great weekend!