We hope you’ve enjoyed our most recent Seek Inspire Create e-zine? If you haven’t read it yet, you can download it for free simply by registering your email here. It’s 12 pages of 91 loveliness with this issue focusing on three inspiring, creative women and their workspaces.
Team 91 have been busy preparing our next print issue too (thanks for all the pre-orders so far! order here if you haven’t yet!) so it’s been a little hectic, but here is what we’ve all been up to in our downtime. Don’t forget you can join in with #seekinspirecreate over on Instagram with us too – sharing the places you’ve been, books you’ve read, shops you’ve shopped at and anything else that’s inspired you creatively.
Cotswold Farm – Laura Pashby (deputy editor)
My family and I have been searching for snowdrops at Cotswold Farm, the home of a galanthophile, where 62 varieties of the blooms are scattered around an Arts and Crafts garden overlooking a Cotswold valley. I love the ephemeral beauty of these delicate flowers which bring us one step closer to the arrival of spring.
Etcetera Vintage, Margate – Caroline Rowland (editor)
We recently sped down to the Kent coast to spend a day exploring the Old Town of Margate which is packed full of independent shops and enticing cafes. The first shop we stumbled upon was Etcetera Vintage – a small, but perfectly curated shop which mixes vintage finds, Scandi homewares, lifestyle products and plants effortlessly. As a rule, I don’t generally buy in the first shop I visit, (Why?! Such a silly rule!) but I couldn’t resist purchasing (another) plant pot and hubby picked a leather keyring. I had to restrain myself from popping in again on the way back to the car! Read my full post about our day in Margate here.
Pretty Little Party Shop – Melissa Burgess (designer)
When my sister got married we spent hours and hours scrolling and searching for wedding decorations and creating endless Pinterest boards. As it turns out, there are many great places to find original and beautiful event decorations but the hard part is finding them all! Now, it is my turn and my wedding is just five months away – the DJ is booked, the food is ordered, I have sampled a good amount of cake and now it is all about the details. When I discovered Pretty Little Party Shop I was absolutely elated! It’s the perfect online destination to source original and unique balloons, cake toppers, cocktail decorations, table trinkets and all-round beautiful accessories that I am sure will make my wedding personal and special.
Anna Jones book – Olivia Williams (brand and advertising manager)
Never before has being in tune with the season made more sense than it has for me in the past winter months. Maybe it was the arrival of Anna Jones new book The Modern Cook’s Year in January that turned my focus into celebrating wintery wonders and making nourishing bowls of tasty, warming food with simple, seasonal ingredients. That said, I think I might be even more impatient for the promise of the year ahead. With another 400 pages of this beautiful book just waiting for the arrival of spring and beyond, I find myself looking longingly at them as I plan the food to get us through this current cold snap.
Firstsite – Kath Webber (sub editor)
Essex has long been ridiculed and remarked up upon as a cultural black hole, but residents and natives like me baulk at that suggestion. Firstsite in historic Colchester shatters this empty illusion by bringing art and culture together at a beautiful space in the town centre, with art exhibitions, film screenings, events and workshops all held under the golden, crescent-shaped roof. Recent draws include The Life of Julie Cope, a wonderful display of Grayson Perry’s tapestries, sketches, stories and ceramics that make up the fictional life of his ultimate Essex woman. It’s a moving tale of an everyday, middle-aged woman- someone who might be an aunt or family friend that’s familiar and yet extraordinary enough to warrant Perry’s beautiful shrine, A House for Essex, on the River Stour. For Spring, we can look forward to the Essex Book Festival, a short Japanese film season and the new exhibition ‘The Britishness Project’- a ground breaking exhibition that explores national identity through art, working with resident artists and schools.
Casa Ṃe, Portugal РLucy Davidson (designer)
I recently went and stayed at Casa Mãe in Lagos, Portugal for a week. I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of their artists for the residency they are running ‘Share&Stay’. Each week they have a different artist staying and other visitors or locals can come and take part in your workshop. I was teaching weaving and got to meet various lovely people from all parts of the world. The space is absolutely beautiful and it was so hard to leave, especially with the warm temperatures!
