A bit of a Christmas gift guide

This year I've once again put together the Christmas interiors gift guide for the Independent. 

In case you missed it, and are looking for some inspiration...





You can see more of the wondrous Oxfam blankets here, and read more about Louise Wilkinson and StoryTiles here. To find the online version of the guide, with click-through shopping links, here it is on the Independent's website (and

Spotlight on... Kinska ceramics at the Crafty Fox Christmas markets

Kinska was a fashion designer, until she found clay...



And I discovered this ceramicist's witty and wonderfully odd work while co-curating the Crafty Fox Christmas markets, along with Emy Gray, preposterously stylish owner of Brixi in Brixton Market, and online retail legend, Supermarket Sarah (see some of of the gems we picked out at the Crafty Fox blog).

 



Last week, I was interviewed

From the archives: Introducing... artist Stephen Wright

This story was originally posted in the summer of 2013. For those of you who missed it, enjoy...

I met the most unusual artist I've met in a long time last week. I love Stephen Wright's work – gorgeous, and often off-beat mosaics and bright, odd prints with a big Mexican vibe.



I'd seen the latter for sale in a shop near me (Brixi in south London's Brixton Market in case you're in this part of

Real Homes: Finally facing my Waterloo

When I was 19, out of work and still living at home, a friend of my mum's said she'd heard about some summer jobs going at Wimbledon, driving tennis players around during the tournament. 

She knew someone involved with the hiring and suggested to my mum that I apply.






Above: the downstairs loo got painted black

Incredibly, none of us considered that this prestigious job would definitely

Object of the day: self-loathing ceramics

Had enough of schmaltzy, smug personalised homewares? So has Keaton Henson, whose refreshingly honest debut range of ceramics you can see here.



Above: in case you can't read the text, it says: "This cup is on the theme of self-loathing"

Henson, however, is the kind of 26-year-old over-achiever it'd be easy to hate, imagining him to harbour some of his own smugness. The youthful musician and

Same house, different house

About five years ago, there was a brilliant photography exhibition at the Geffrye Museum in London, which depicted different flats in the same, south London tower block. Structurally, they were identical, but decoratively unique.

And a couple of years ago, I wrote about a similar project in the States, focusing on the interiors of the apartments in a housing complex designed by Ludwig Mies van

Moodboarding taste

So I've just been asked to create a few moodboards, own photography only, to illustrate my taste. I can't reveal why just yet (but will shortly) and thought I'd share them.

It was harder than I thought – mainly, I have realised, because I'm in denial about what my taste is. Who'd have thought?









I guess it's like trying to pick your 25 all-time most 'you' Instagram images. Each time I