Renewable aprons from Fernando Brizio

Angolan/Portuguese designer Fernando Brizio explored the concept of flexibility with his apron project. By creating aprons that the user can modify every time they're used, he showed that it's possible to modify and then erase and re-start projects over and over again. The aprons are created with multiple pockets and all the used need do is wash it and then fill the pockets with felt-tipped pens of their choice to create a new pattern. The material soaks up the ink within about an hour and is completely washable. You'd probably rack up quite a bill in the purchase of felt-tipped pens but the concept is original. Found via Designboom. (Apologies for my recent absence - I've just started a new job and the work is overwhelming!).

Design by Rita Botelho

Portuguese product designer Rita Botelho came to my attention when I was taking a look at the luso-Brazilian exhibition currently taking place at Touch in New York. A couple of her pieces really jumped out at me. Take a look at her extremely original cheeseboard cover, shaped like a large glass to link the dual pleasures of wine and good cheese (this is clearly a woman after my own heart). I also liked the Attach lamp as a concept, although I'm not sure it's something I'd have at home. But the idea is original - in normal gardening implements she sees possibilities for interior design that are often ignored. This recycled lamp made from an old gardening fork leans against the wall.

How to decorate a bachelor's bedroom

The bachelor's bedroom has to be one of the trickiest areas of the house to decorate. Too many men go for the "carpet-made-of-dirty-sock" approach. So with the help of images from Caras, I pulled together a few ideas on the ideal bachelor bedroom.

1. Tidiness is king. Dirty clothes should be hidden and laundry should be given somewhere else in the house to dry.
2. Bachelor bedrooms, depending on your lifestyle, are for sleeping, reading and (if you aren't fortunate to have a dressing room) dressing in. This means that electronics and desks should be located elsewhere.
3. A picture is worth a thousand words so ensure that whatever art you choose talks about you in a flattering tone of voice. Framed pictures of naked women are still pictures of naked women. Choosing multiple black and white prints of corseted women doesn't make you look like you appreciate art, it makes the room look like it's inhabited by a 15-year-old boy. If you must go the female-anatomy route try for a vintage burlesque print and remember that a little goes a long way. You don't need to wallpaper the room with them. Ideally, go for classic prints or sculptures or a print of something meaningful to you. Choose vintage posters of your favourite team, a cityscape of somewhere you're fond of or go for old road signs. Just ensure that whatever you choose is framed. Posters blu-tacked to the walls with curling corners do not a stylish bedroom make. The same goes for collectibles. Antique swords look great hung above a fireplace in a living room. Over a bed they're just terrifying.
4. Thread counts are important. In every room there are places you can scrimp and those you shouldn't. You spend a large amount of your life in bed so make sure your bedding is the best quality you can find and change it on a regular basis. Animal prints are an absolute no-go area unless you think you're Austin Powers (and want guests to do the same). The same goes for satin sheets. And don't even think about round, heart-shaped or rotating beds. That isn't lust in her eyes, it's horror.
5. An armchair makes the room look cozy and provides a useful resting places for discarded clothing on evenings when you've been too tired to hang it.
6. Large mirrors are fine. Large mirrors hung directly opposite the bed can be a little off-putting to the first-time visitor. Mirrors on the ceiling guarantee that your guest will immediately realise that it's getting late and she should be calling a cab.
7. Bright overhead lights make everyone look bad. Slightly dimmer bedside lights are much more flattering and have the additional advantage that you can turn them off from bed rather than having to get up and then feel your way back. Candles can be flattering but use them in moderation and avoid strong scents. If your room needs a scented candle to smell good then you should be reaching for the hoover and bleach before you're reaching for a bra strap.
8. Choose a colour palette and limit your choices to two or three colours for a streamlined, modern and tied-together look.
9. Framed photos are fine, in moderation (although please remove that large one of your mother from your bedside table. No guest wants to feel her partner's parents watching her getting undressed). The same goes for ex-girlfriends. No women is naive enough to think she's the first one to turn your head but remove all traces of ex-girlfriends, from the loose stockings under the bed, to photos, tickets of things you did together and old hairbands/make-up she may have left behind. It's basic courtesy and otherwise, you run the risk of looking like your past is still a large part of your present. Also, you wouldn't think this needed to be said but put the porn somewhere your guest isn't going to accidentally discover it. She won't judge you for having it but it doesn't need to be on display. The same goes for the handcuffs.

The Noova Lamp (Luis Teixeira for Blindesign)

Portuguese designer Luis Texeira got together with Blindesign to put his chandelier (the "Noova lamp") into production. Unusually, the polystyrene, metal elements and electrical components of the lamps were put together by inmates at a women's prison outside of Lisbon. Essentially, he had them work with old recycled plastic hangers to make these chandeliers. They're deceptively heavy (more than 3kg) for something made entirely of plastic but you have to admire something this pretty that is both environmentally friendly and is helping with rehabilitation.

The Garbage Pin - Ana Cardim

I don't feature much jewellery but sometimes a design piece catches my eye. Ana Cardim has a slightly unusual yet very original approach to her craft. Her garbage brooch is a new way to look at our throwaway and overly consumer culture. It comes complete with garbage bag refills. How bizarre - while I like the concept, would you be happy to carry your trash around on display?


Now the book ring is a completely different matter. That is something I'd not only buy (for myself, for my friends, for my sister) but use! Ana, start selling please!

Portuguese stoneware

Following on from yesterday's tableware theme, take a look at the stoneware ranges from Faria e Bento. The Portuguese designers based in the Alcobaça region which has been famous for ceramics since the fourteenth century tend to produce pretty normal-looking designs for the most part but I'm particularly fond of anything misshapen or unusual, like the Orbital range. Round plates are so 1990's. It might sound strange but I find myself wanting to pick up one of these bowls just to stroke it. This is a recent and somewhat worrying development. I think it's time to think about getting another cat.

Serving dishes shaped like food...

Faianças Artísticas Bordallo Pinheiro (Bordallo’s Artistic Earthenware) was founded in 1884 and is still extremely popular today. His pieces (now mass-produced) are shown in museums across the world and most Portuguese people you meet will have at least one pumpkin or fish-shaped dish in their home. They’re extremely common as wedding gifts but there is something nice about having one in the family for generations. My mother had a salad bowl shaped like a cabbage leaf that was handed down from my great-grandmother. Although the designs are very ornate and now more likely to be purchased as ironic tableware (I've got my eyes on the melon bowls for breakfast) if they’re to be used rather than displayed, the company has an impressive history and their pieces are instantly recognizable. It’s a shame that their website isn’t better constructed – losing half of each image at the bottom of the page is frustrating but then I’ve noticed that the vast majority of Portuguese businesses are badly represented on the web. There’s a campaign in this somewhere, I just know it. In the meantime, I give you a soup tureen shaped like a pumpkin. Aren’t the fish dishes just a little bit scary?

The Homesick project by the Magic Studio

Isn't this Homesick project by the MAGIC team (Carla Castro, Lilia Borges, Joao Loureiro and Helena Santos) original? They put together a luxury travel kit with the kind of personal items that none of us really want to share - in this case, sheets, slippers, a teddy bear with swarovski eyes, porcelain tableware, and a robe. All the materials and are high quality, for example the sheets are made with dry-release fibers (Dri-release® is a patented and unique yarn technology that enhances the performance attributes of synthetic fibres while maintaining the look, hand and feel of natural fibres. It is indeed an intimate blend of a specific synthetic fibre with a hydrophilic fibre, under fixed optimized percentages that makes the moisture management capacity perform so well.) The shape and cut of the items have a minimalistic language with neutral colors. No more worries about whether or not the quality of hotel sheets - or wondering who the last person to sleep in them was!

The Toni Grilo cutlery table

Franco-Portuguese artist Toni Grilo used his French background as inspiration when creating this table from cutlery. As part of a range for French flatware house Christofle, he also created a bowl made of spoons, a candlestick, a pot made of hollowed-out plates and a mutant glass. The spoon bowl was originally priced at €4,500 in a limited range of 20. However, while it wouldn't have the same meaning (and doubtless wouldn't be made of the same silver), I'm confident that this is something most people could knock up in their kitchen using a cheap batch of IKEA spoons...

Shower curtains

Nothing Portuguese today chaps. However - I'd like to ask you a question. If I gave you £98 (€114 / €146) right now, what would you buy with it? A dress? 98 lottery tickets? Four bottles of gin? I ask only because in the course of planning my shopping trips next week, I was browsing the Anthropologie website and thought I'd take a quick look at their home furnishings. They have quite an impressive range of shower curtains, all priced at a thought-provoking £98. That said, one of them has an actual bustle. For anyone fond of vintage fashion, that has to be worth something. Although I'd tire of it in a day or two, I'd quite like the classic "Bates" curtain from Forbidden Planet. But I realise I'm quite alone in this...

Concrete candy by Wonder

My friend L hates cut flowers. What is the point, she asks, of a gift of something that will just wither and die in front of you? Whilst I disagree in principle (I always have fresh flowers at home), I can see how that kind of thing might make gift-giving a little difficult. Candy is similarly difficult. Once given, it is soon gone (although personally I'd rather have cheese). Portuguese design house Wonder have come up with a solution for all of you brooding over similarly particular women. Don't buy your sweetheart cheap roses from a hopeful looking man hovering over your table in the bar. Instead, invest €10 in some concrete candy from Wonder. It will never be eaten, meaning that no food-related guilt is incurred and, in the event of an argument, these pieces are small enough to avoid any lasting damage to surrounding furniture, pets and/or people. So voila, daters of non-traditional women, don't say I never do anything for you.

Lovebird cups by Isak

The Portuguese online shop Loja de Estar have stumbled upon perfect porcelain prettiness with these small cups, complete with oak lids from Isak. I'm not even sure what I'd use them for but I'd still quite like a couple. Their baby cups (that is to say, small cups - I'm not sure that any company making fine china for infants would last very long) are also very pretty but what really grabbed my attention was the penguin wallpaper. Little sister, guess what you're getting for Christmas next year?

Making the most of a small space

As my apartment is the size of a postage stamp, I'm always interested in interior design for small spaces. I started out like most people in my situation, thinking that going for a completely white interior would make what little space I do have seem larger. That plan was was a good one in theory but was rapidly scuppered by my magpie-like love of random prints and junk and the fact that I have more books than most classrooms. So while my space looks crowded and rather messy because of the sheer amount of stuff I have, it's sometimes possible to make a small and crowded space look visually arresting (rather than visually shocking), as Portuguese interior designer Graca Viterbo did with this small pied-a-terre in Lisbon. Rather than go for neutral colour schemes that would maximise the space, each room is boldly designed to grab and hold your attention. I'm not sure it'd be the most relaxing place in the world to live (all those loud stripes!) but you have to admire her nerve.

A little piece of art deco: Jan Schreiner

I`d love to have a house large enough that I could decorate each room in a different style. In theory it sounds perfect but in practice it`d probably look like an explosion in a paint factory. However, if I had to pick an era to put at the top of my priority list, it`d be the 1920`s. I`m particularly fond of the idea of an Art Deco hallway. The 20`s were so elegant and bold. Jan Schreiner put together a clean and simple look for this apartment: