Year: 2017

Beautiful, handcrafted ceramics for your home

Do you love handcrafted ceramics? If so, you are in for a treat… Last June, Mila, my niece Lily and I got stranded in Singapore because Mila had only 6-months left on her passport to enter Bali. Luckily, I had some good friends living there and we ended up staying with them for a week until we received Mila’s New-Zealand passport. During that time, my friend Sofia took me to a lovely home decoration shop where I spotted some really beautiful, handcrafted ceramics by Zakkia Homewares. A Sydney-based studio founded by Swedish Sara Lundgren, Zakkia Homewares produces beautiful handcrafted ceramics and objects to love and cherish for a lifetime. I fell hard for the two black ceramic pots (above on the right) and really pondered whether I should be backpacking for three weeks with ceramics in my bag. In the end, common sense prevailed (for once!) and I just took a picture of the brand to look it up later. Once back in Europe, I spent a lot more time on Zakkia Homewares website. When I found …

A few new things in our home to add warmth & textures

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

If you watched my stories yesterday, you probably saw the amount of brown boxes in my lounge. It was a mess and it freaked me out a little but our home is being photographed on Monday (and I will use this opportunity to promote my portrait photography). I also thought it was the perfect opportunity to finish styling the house properly. I always find that when you go through major renovations, you tend to be on top of things for 90% of them and by the time, the heavy work is done, you have no energy left to finish the remaining 10%, which is, in fact, the fun part. It was also a challenge to source everything in the UK when I was stuck in France but apart from a few things, it went pretty smoothly. As I mentioned in this article about adding textures to your home, I moved this lovely Berber rug to our bedroom and put a much larger and beautiful rug from a company called Larusi in our lounge. They have …

Winter seaside mood board

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

Working on a Winter seaside mood board for an upcoming and exciting project…. I’m off to London this afternoon to finalise the styling of our home which is being photographed on Monday. I will stay there until Friday I think, to attend a few press shows and catch up with friends. However, on my return, I will need to kick off with a new project for The White Company which I’m really looking forward to doing and sharing with you. I have been a long-term customer of The White Co and a great admirer of Chrissie Rucker, who founded the business over 22 years ago (read their story). She was a major inspiration when I set up the BODIE and FOU concept store ten years ago. Besides the business side, The White Company is always the first company I check online when I need to get new white cotton bedding and soft, high-quality bathroom towels. Looking at their collection to work on my concept, gather together a few props and create this lovely mood board, I came across some really beautiful and …

How to add textures and warmth to your home

How to add textures to your home

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

I’ve always loved the minimalist, relaxing look that exudes from our resin floor in our London home. However, since I’ve painted this wall with Kalklitir paint before Summer, I have been drawn to more intimate, muted colours, wooden furniture and handmade objects and of course, stonewashed linen in the bedrooms. I suspect this unpainted plaster wall is not going to get painted anytime soon and that’s ok… I love it just the way it is, with its small imperfections and soothing atmosphere. It’s also the start of Autumn and personally, I feel more inclined to stay at home where it’s warm and cosy rather than hitting the town on high heels in the cold, don’t you!?There are different ways of adding textures and warmth to your home but one that doesn’t fail is adding a rug, even a small one like this wool berber rug I got from Next a while ago but never got around to photograph. You can see here how the lounge looked before the addition of this small rug (especially here!) … I should have …

Kid jumping on bed © Karine Kong Photography, All Rights Reserved.jpg

How to use Lightroom (and not be scared of it)

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

This year, I started using Lightroom, a software, which at first really scared me (that recurrent fear of the unknown!) but which in the end, became my friend. This article is for you if you are a keen Photographer if you are already using Lightroom or are planning to use it. These four tips will show you the benefits of using Lightroom without being scared of it… For me, the biggest advantage of using Lightroom is that it allows you to file all your pictures by keywords, rating (1* to 5*). It also allows you to create folders and collections within your massive catalogue to find a specific picture quickly. Even if you don’t remember what month or year you took it. If tag this image of Mila in Lightroom with keywords “Mila”, “tutu”, then create two mini collections with the same keywords, I will be able to see at a glance, all the pictures of Mila or tutus I’ve taken over the years. I can even narrow down my search and have all the images in one folder with the …

Parisian inspiration

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

I’m in Paris for a couple of days with a program including editing recent shoots, catching up with friends and working in my PJs from the comfort of my sister’s beautiful flat. Elodie is having a new kitchen fitted in a couple of weeks and even her flat is filled with Ikea brown boxes, it still feels very peaceful. I’m currently working on revamp project for our home in London which is being photographed on the 20th November. Not much time left to do everything but I’ve never backed down in front of a challenge. I’m leaning towards softening the look of our lounge with natural materials, texture and handmade things. If you know a few great Ceramists in the UK or ceramic retailers, please let me know. Also, if you’re coming to Paris soon, know that the Salon de la Photo is on. Sadly, I will miss it because I’m flying to Switzerland on a press trip on Thursday to visit Vitra and given how many vintage Vitra pieces I own, it is one …

Golden Hour

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

Finally the weekend and a little blog post. While my last article was only 5 days ago, I feel I haven’t written for ages. Maybe it’s just the feeling of not being present online when life takes over that gives me this impression… Last week, Mila competed in the Bodyboard French Championships for the first time while I was fighting a nasty bug. This week, my energy level was so low that I didn’t have the strength to write any long blog posts. However, I’ve started taking Ginseng, royal jelly and acerola which has proven to be super efficient to bring my energy level back up. It doesn’t taste great but it certainly does the trick. While in Hossegor for Mila’s competition, I did a photo shoot with this beautiful woman. This has inspired me to finish editing a few other shoots I had done over Summer to upload them onto my website. It included these behind-the-scenes shots for an Australian fashion label. I also made a little video for my Facebook page if you care to follow it. I always …

#weekly fashion edit

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

After fighting a sore throat and the beginning of the flu, I’m finally on the mend and off to Hossegor for a few days to see Mila who is taking part in the bodyboard French championships. Quite a big thing since she has only recently starting bodyboarding. A part of me is super proud and the other part is a bit freaked out. Last time she took part in a competition (her first), she came 4th which was fantastic but the waves were 1.5m high and the ocean was pretty agitated and this week looks like it’s gonna be the same if not worse so will see. Anyway…I had started my board with this navy coat which is very similar to the one I’m wearing here but then, I came across this beautiful cream coat (2). Cream coats always look very chic and this one is perfect to wear over a pair of frayed jeans or wool trousers if you want to go for the cream on the cream look. Given the weather and our needs for warmth, …