Maison Assouline

I made a new discovery on Piccadilly the other day - Maison Assouline, the luxury book brand featuring Swan's Bar where we had afternoon tea.

 It was like sitting in someone's own private library with books on fashion, travel, jewellery and other luxury items, alongside antiques and beautifully crafted objects. A peaceful oasis in the west end. Originally designed by Edward Lutyens in 1922, its high windows let in plenty of light; on the mezzanine a traditional Italian bookbinder, Paolo Taddeo, has a studio.
Sophisticated craft meets high end luxury.

Floating Jasmine

Summer shows are now over and I've loved getting back to playing with paint again, inspired by colour saturation on the west coast of Sweden.

Here is a preview of my new series 'Floating Jasmine' with underwater flowers in luscious colours.

I'll soon be back in Flux Studios working on my new silver collections, ready for autumn. Revving up for a summer of creating.

Jasmine Tea

At last we made it to Ping Pong, the Chinese restaurant at Southbank which I've often walked past and wanted to go to. The range of dim sum was excellent, we sat out in a heated terrace and I loved the flowering jasmine tea. Served in large thermos glasses, they kept the heat in constantly. 

It reminded me of the first time I had this tea at Huxingting, the oldest teahouse in Shanghai, back in 2008. You could get flowering jasmine tea in the UK a few years ago, but it was not as easy to find it back then. Not a problem now - another sign of China emerging in London.  

Flowering Jasmine tea at Ping Pong

Flowering Jasmine served in glass teapots at Huxinting Teahouse 2008 

Still life: Chinese Bowls

I've enjoyed immersing myself in colour again, this time developing my still-life series of  Yunnan tea cups, bowls and blossom. All painted with Oil bars, some of them handmade from Sweden: Bivaxoljekwritor:) 

A way of slowing down and observing what I see in front of me. It becomes a meditation on the object itself, making associations with time spent in China and what I've seen out there. 

By using oil bars and a pallet knives, I can't work in great detail. It's an impression of what is there, capturing something about the object without reproducing it as I would in my drawings. 

I'm looking forward to developing this series over the next few months and making some of them available for sale online. 

Puer Teacup and Orange Blossom 2

Japanese Calligraphy

'Happiness' in my beginner style, with my name in Japanese on the left

We had a such a great time yesterday being given an introduction to Japanese calligraphy, taught by expert, Shoho: an excellent teacher, very patient and was very encouraging of our attempts! She gave us such interesting information about kanji and the Japanese culture.

It was wonderful to see an expert actually doing calligraphy, seeing how the writer moves, keeping the elbow up and held in a curve, staying in balance. How the calligraphy looks on paper is seen as a reflection of the calligrapher's mind..... we're not sure what our attempts said about us!

But we had fun, especially attempting to write our names in Kanji. And we loved the home made sushi too.

Pepys' first Cup of Tee

I like this extract from Samuel Pepys diary, 1660, which I came across recently......

September 25th

To the office, where Sir W Batten, Collonel Slingsby, and I sat a while; ... And afterwards did send for a Cupp of Tee (a China drink) of which I never had drank before

Apparently it is one of the first references to drinking tea in England - it must have been a real luxury considering the cost and length of time it took transporting tea from the Far East. It was only drunk by the fashionably rich in England for the next 100 or so years.

 Chinese porcelain and a Yixing teapot

Britain has since become the country with the largest per capita tea consumers in the world.


I like this Dutch Golden Age painting by artist Roestraten (1627-1698) showing a Chinese tea set used in Europe. 

Asia House Fair

A wonderful afternoon was spent in Asia House hearing a Tea Master from China Life tell us about Tea. After tasting a few teas, I bought my favourite tea which is Silk Oolong - have been enjoying  its 'creamy milk and mango flavours' every day for the past two weeks. Love it.

I need to find out about more about my Puer Tea Cake - a gift given to me in 2008. Apparently it will improve with age, like a good wine.

Puer Tea Cake and cover 

Now looking forward to checking out China Life's stylish 1920's Shanghai Tea Bar in Camden.....

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