1. Paper work, Brazilian Pavilion – 2. Christian Boltanski, French Pavilion – 3. Mural, Iranian Pavilion – 4. Marina Abramovic, Palazzo Fortuny – 5. An installation by Argentinian artist Amalia Pica, Italian Pavilion

Ole!

Lamp shade  Johan Carpner - www.johancarpner.se

If you go to Barcelona, don’t miss Nobodinoz. Two locations for the fun children’s concept store, about 15 minutes walk from each other : Seneca 9 (pictures above) and Mestre Nicolas 8 (as seen on their online store home page, below).

The selection on display is eclectic (clothing, shoes, toys, furniture, books, home decor, accessories…) and  the long long list of beautiful brands includes Oeuf, Leander, Mozzee, Dagmar Daley, Baby Barolo, Salvor, Lucky boy, Petit Pan, Fern design, Zoe de las Cases, Talc, April showers by Polder, Morley, Zid zid kids, La petite Luce, Veja, Bensimon, See Kai Run, Ketiketa.

If you have no plans to go to Spain, you can still visit nobodinoz.com

Spotted walking in Pau Garcia : photographer Melanie Rodriguez (left) and Naif Director Silvana Catazine (right).

Olivia Streatfeild-James is a Printed Textile Designer and Printmaker. Her work reflects her love of nature and animals as well as her love for her home, Scotland. Part of her inspiration comes from looking at childhood drawings of imaginary and known landscapes. Her choice of fabrics is influenced by research into Interior Designers such as Timorous Beasties as well as the natural colours and texture of the Linens and wool. She also likes the work of Marrimekko, Missoni and Thomaspaul.

1. Snow ball Petit Collin – 2. Pillow Pipoca – 3. Poscard Alain Gree – 4. Bean bag Lale - 5. Paper Garland Les Colocataires

myredpoppy.fr

Jenny Dalton is a UK based freelance writer and editor. While pregnant with her son, she launched an online blog/magazine/store called Little Big  www.littlebigmagazine.com. LBM is a rich platform focusing on good design for children : toys, furniture, art, decor, lifestyle, food, books (check out the special Amazon store; crafty). Recently Jenny  launched  Brand-I, a shopping directory to stop fakes online www.brand-i.org. The creative and well connected journalist tells us more about her activities and the things and places she likes.

Speaking about business…

How long have you been in the children’s industry? About four years.

When and how did you start Little Big ? It was in my head during my first pregnancy with my son – now nearly 6. Like many parents that early parenting time is thinking time – it’s such a shock becoming a parent for the first time and realizing all the things you thought would exist don’t.

What brands do you carry in the LBM store? Corraini books, Flensted mobiles, Deuz playmats, Hommu Barcelona wall stickers, and Editions Paumes’ interiors style guides.

How large is thestore? Oh, LittleBig is pretty small! One day I hope to have the time and resources to expand it.

Advice for young entrepreneurs in the children’s industry? Look at colour, innovative materials, and price point.

Advice for retailers? Avoid any more Scandinavian themed stores – there are so many doing great things already – especially the likes of Kidsen. Really, there are so many exciting new markets to explore!

…and about the world and other places…

What would you say about the general economical climate in your country? Precarious. We live in difficult times.

What are your favorite cities in the world and why? I’d love to travel more – I used to for my job on Elle Decoration and to some extent in my work for How To Spend It magazine at the Financial Times. To date, Rome (it’s a party city, so glam); Palermo (surprising, raw); Kathmandu (beautiful people); Marrakech (both bustling and completely serene, depending on where you are).

Have you seen interesting children’s stores that you liked recently? I really like the concept behind UnDueTreStella in Milan – products made with contributions from children themselves. (www.unduetrestellababy.com)

Interesting things to see in your area? If your family likes cars and motor racing the new Brooklands Hotel Surrey is great for a weekend stay – it’s right next to the Brooklands museum which houses one of the old Concordes, and loads of old cars – all on the old Brooklands racetrack, the first purpose built British racetrack. (brooklandshotelsurrey.com)

Your favorite stores? Museum stores. Especially the shop at the Natural History Museum – all those soft animals and gemstones!

more about yourself now!

How would you describe your personal style? Used-to-be-stylish-but-now-largely-confused-and-scruffy.

Your perfect Sunday ? Rest! Never happens.

What do you prize most in life? It’s a cliché, but family and thinking time (mutually exclusive?).

What inspires you at the moment? Trying to work with brands to help solve the counterfeiting issue.

on the cultural side…

Your favorite bedtime reading with the kids? My daughter’s favourite current book is Wow! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood – it’s all about colour. I never tire of the Frog & Toad stories for early readers by Arnold Lobel – so funny!

A movie you recently saw and that stayed with you? The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, and the Kite Runner (both about suffering children).

Your favorite movie to watch with the whole family? The kids are a little young to sit and watch a whole movie so far – and I’m not usually into animated films – I find them too long and boring. However I loved Despicable Me with Steve Carrell, and I still don’t think you can beat the beauty of 101 Dalmatians.

The book on your bedside table; what you like about it? Ha, there are so many books on my bedside table – the trouble is finding time to read them! I’ve got Peggy Guggenheim: The Life of an Art Addict; Gerald Durrell’s My Family and Other Animals; Bruno Munari’s Design As Art. Haven’t touched any of them for a month or so… Sad. But Peggy Guggenheim is an inspiration; Gerald Durrell’s tale of his childhood in Corfu is so simple and evocative; and I love how seriously Bruno Munari took children’s design in the mid last century.

focus on kids and kid’s products…

What’s missing in the current children’s product offer? I still don’t think there’s enough variety in clothing for boys. Too much sportswear and visible logos, which I really dislike.

An online destination, preferably children’s related, that inspire you? poissonrouge.fr – I love the creativity of this gaming site and the fact that it is updated regularly. It’s perfect for pre-readers as it is so intuitive. & I love peeking at The Selby for family interior inspiration. (theselby.com)

Latest item added to your child’s wardrobe? A Fabric Flavours Green Lantern T-shirt for my son – they are really lovely heavy quality jersey: fabricflavours.com. And a Christina Rohde cardigan for my daughter from Custard: custard-online.co.uk

Your favorite website related to children? I love the artwork on laffichemoderne.com, and its online tool that allows you to ‘design’ rooms around that poster – it’s actually a really easy-to-use design tool to give you colour / flooring ideas for kids’ rooms. I adore the selection on kidslovedesign.com, and favourite clothing stores are custard-online.co.uk and www.fluke-kids.co.uk.

When they hit the market in 2005, Veja shoes got a lot of attention, for they were  the first ecological trainers brand respecting both humans and the environment. Clean design - organic cotton from the Northeast of Brazil – wild Amazonian rubber and ecological leather - workers’ rights are respected : their look and story  had all to seduce. Great news, mini versions of the green shoes, inspired by the adults style, are now making their way to success. 2-10 years old.

Available from September at Elias & Grace, Petit Aime, Marie Chantal, Bonpoint, Galleries Lafayette, Bellerose

She’s a photographer and she lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her full name is Maria Eugenia Alvarez Colodrero, but you can call her Maru.  Not a mum yet, Maru  has 2 nieces and 1 nephew that she loves sooo much: Serena 1year, Francesca 2 years, Pedro 6 years. She takes pictures for magazines and brands, but she also spends time working on commissions and personal projects. The right person to ask about kid’s fashion in Argentina…

Brand name : DOUUOD (Doudou, pronounced dwoodwoo) - Country of origin :  Italy

Created in : 2006

Name of the founders : Patrizia Boscherini, Elisabetta Mambelli

Sales points : 5 flagship stores, 200 multibrand stores worldwide – Multibrands includePupi Solari (Milano), Sciuscià (Napoli), San Carlo (Torino)

Thanks to Jenny from cool blog the-little-list for sharing these pictures of singer Serge Gainsbourg and wife Jane Birking. Lou and Charlotte, you made (an still do!) dream many of us!

…

Currently on display in London (Phillips de Pury; last days) and in New York (Bonni Benrubi Gallery) are the wonderful photos of Linda McCartney. A good occasion to peep at another similar one-of-a-kind family life, with little Kate and Stella this time.

If you can’t see the photos in real life, have a look at the book. Jaw-dropping.

Linda McCartney: Life in Photographs by Annie Leibovitz, Martin Harrison, Alison Castle and Linda McCartney

I am off to Venice Biennale. A little break but I’ll be posting again next week!

Freya Sewell

Jo-Yun Wang

Lucy Bunney

Hannah Niskanen

Lots of playful design as well as children’s related year-end projects at the New Designers show in London. Let’s hope the ideas of the young graduates will have an impact on the market.

And let’s wish some of their wonderful products will also be available to buy.