Amazing Green....

Not sure I need to say much except "wow" - beautiful shots by Johnny Miller from here. A new respect of Green today....

Yum - I want this now!!

Beautiful Cheese from here! 

Favorite shots

I thought I'd share with you my 2 favourite shots of the season! I love these shots, taken at the beautiful Abbotsford convent in front of what we believe is an old shop. The wall has stunning texture, and amazing personality, and was a perfect backdrop for our new table linen.

Actually the whole new catalogue is rather special, a lot of team effort went into the creative process and we are all very excited and proud of the outcome, if you would like us to send you one no problem, click here to request our brand new Winter catalogue.

Have a lovely weekend!  

Beautiful India

Welcome to India - I haven't been to Delhi since the Commonwealth games and it certainly has changed. After travelling to Delhi for over 14 years now it was a very welcoming surprise to arrive at a beautiful new airport. The lovely man that greated me at the airport said "yes madam the the city is changing fast - but the people they never change" Thats the beauty of India - the people!

Inspiration everywhere including the super cool dudes driving the tut tuts to the fancy Kainoosh restaurant in Vasant Kunj, which is definately the place to be. With an incredibly hip interior fitout i am loving the cutwork screens and the Tom Dixon lights, that I am now wanting for the kitchen at home. And the food was amazing too!

Being in India does have a way of making me feel like I could be back in Colonial times, the impecable dress of these lovely fellas! And below a traditional hand weaving loom kept as a symbol of the beginnings of this beautiful Silk weaving mill in Bangalore.

The beauty of jacquard velvet being woven - hundreds of threads going into create this amazing fabric.

A welcoming outdoor lunch, I love Indian food! Below was a great lunch made for me, bring on Summer so we can sit outside at home!

The beautiful circular staircase leading up to the showroom. The colour of the stain on the wood is something that will always remind me of being in India.

Say hello to Spring with Sienna Caribbean!

Isnt she lovely! Our Sienna in Caribbean has just arrived - The Breathtaking Blue of tropical lagoons, Sienna in Caribbean is an island hopping adventure. A Sultry, dreamy Peacock Blue meets the florid overgrowth of ancient jungles, entwining to create a quite bedroom oasis lapped gently by exotic tides.
See more here.

Real living July issue

The Real Living July issue is out now and I was pretty excited to see this gorgeous shot of our Inka bedlinen in Smoke! I have been tossing up whether to get Inka for home and its a done deal now I think this looks great - and Im loving the Mustard wall back with it. Thanks Real Living! 

Table settings for the weekend!

Above these lovely shots of tableware by Trine Thorsen are inspiring me today - loving the top shot especially with the yellow hints mixed back with purples, gold and black - thats my kind of table setting! 

My Heart Wanders

I struggle to read, I want to read, but I just struggle in my day to day life to put the time aside for reading. But being ill this week (and through the long weekend- not great!) has given me time to read Pia Jane Bijkerk's lovely book "My Heart Wanders" - I was actually visiting a bike shop a couple of weeks ago and it happened to be across the road from the very lovely Scarlet Jones, where I managed to buy a Matta dupatta scarf that I have always admired and this lovely signed copy of Pia's book.

Pia's book was very easy to read, I loved the opening of the book in which she described being at a fork in the road, one way lead to her normal everyday life, the other to a new exciting but somewhat scary adventure. An adventure that we should all at least consider for ourselves one day. A very honest rendition of her life moving around with her family and then by herself, a pleasure to read and admire the lovely shots all taken by Pia.

Escape to the Country

Yesterday I was lucky enough to meet Victoria Carey, the Editor of the beautiful Country Style magazine, and told her of my desire for her very aspirational magazine - hubby and I, like alot of city dwellers,  have been talking up the idea of moving to the country and renovating a historic manor - I have visions of dark moody bluestone at the front and maybe a contemporary glass extension at the rear overlooking green valleys and the biggest trees ive ever seen... one day maybe? At the moment I can continue my dream by reading Country Style each month and today i'm inspired by the above shots from the the Home life blog - there is a little bit of French Country in all of us im sure.  

Bride to be - Top five trends in table style

The new issue of Bride to Be magazine, which I used to poor over when I was planning our Wedding, has styled the above Top five trends in table settings - Winter White meets Slate, Cape cod escape, The new romantics, Orange crush. I think these are all great and hard to pick a favorite but I am inspired by The new romantics the best at the moment - beautiful Grey with soft taupe and raw wood, and finished with stunning plums in the flowers. I feel another dinner party coming on! 

And what a good week it was!

It's been a busy couple of weeks in the AURA office organising our next shoot and last week we had a fantastic time shooting our new Spring/Summer 2011 collection - I love our photoshoots, the pleasure of working with a team of very talented people to make our new designs come to life! Lots of love and emotion goes into the designing of our ranges and it is wonderful to have a team of people that understand that passion and feel it too!

 

The hours of work that goes into a photoshoot before the shoot and during the shoot is amazing. The most exciting part for me is when each shot is being set up and then that final look through the camera and the sigh of wonder at the beautiful creation that has been made. And I promised I wouldn't put the team photo :( but you know who you all are - thanks for such a wonderful job team - you rock x x 

Beautiful Blues

Could these shots be anymore beautiful if they tried! We are always searching for inspiration for our up and coming AURA shoots and our Marketing Manager Jaine (it is no secret that Jaine is a lover of blue!) found these very inspiring, totally gorgeous blues today. I love deep, dark sexy saturated tones - and these shots make me lost for words. Just stunning from the amazing Elephant Ceramics, all the way over in Manhattan! Why cant they be closer! 

Back to the 1950s - a before and after

I was hunting through our renovation reciepts this morning and found these amazing old photos from The State Library of our house the year it was built in 1954! So I thought I would do abit of a before and after post! Our beautiful kitchen designed by John & Phyllis Murphy in the 1950s above with the servery and now below as one big open space, how life changes. Recently the son of Phyllis sent me a letter after seeing our house in Inside Out Magazine and I was very excited at the thought that she had seen the renovation and hope that she thought that we have done the house proud. 

And below the old built in stereo, how fantastic that would have been, unfortunately it was long gone when we brought the house, and the underneath shot, after the renovation and the whole stereo wall was removed to create a more open space. 

Our beautiful Wisteria tree, above in 1954 and below about a year ago, it is still going strong and now covers the whole front deck, we were worried during the renovation and the deck building but she has  survived the builders well.

These stunning recent shots of our house where taken by Sharyn Cairns. And our renovation was designed by the very talented Emma Tulloch of Nixon Tulloch Fortey Architecture. I hope your having a great Thursday! x

Velvet and Linen what a perfect combination!

Perfect timing, with the weather cooling down I have been thinking about abit more layering needed for the bed and our stunning new Velvet coverlets have just arrived! These are beautiful, a lush black luxurious Cotton Velvet on the front with a large pure Linen border, hand stitched with a natural top stitch. I know im sounding like a sales pitch but i just love them and have to take one home this weekend to survive our cold Melbourne weather! Have a lovely weekend everyone and hope you like the new shots x