Pom poms and baskets

My sister bought this 'pom pom' plant (I don't know what it's real name is) last year at Tatton Park Flower Show. It was just a small specimen then and I thought the harsh winter had seen it off. Oh no ... it has spread like wildfire, popping up everywhere in the garden! So I took some cuttings for my basket display. It looks like a wild haired hippy. The basket is from a Japanese department store and as I remember quite reasonably priced giving that it looks handmade. It's made from bamboo strips. Seen in the left hand corner of the picture is an original tile by the infamous Liz Scrine. It has a delicate wallpaper pattern and works well in this compostion.

Noritake

'Grand Vert' tea set


'Grand Vert' side plate set

My brand new kitchen is very nearly complete (woohoo!) so now it's time to rediscover some of my Japanese ceramics. First up is the 'Grand Vert' collection of porcelain made by Noritake. I have the tea set and side plate set. As you can see, the fern design is beautifully simple and effective. It's so lovely.






I remember spending hours (or what felt like hours to my very patient friend Tomoko) choosing whether to buy the side plates or bowl set to go with the tea set. I think I would have bought the whole collection if I wasn't worried about getting it all back home! Now, I can finally use them - 10 years later. Only for special occasions though.



'The Noritake of today grew out of a trading company that was originally established by the Morimura Brothers in New York in 1876. This trading company imported chinaware, curios, paper lanterns and other gift items. In 1904, the forerunner of the Noritake Company was established in the village of Noritake, a small suburb near Nagoya, Japan. The goal of this first factory was to create western style dinnerware for export. It took until 1914, however, to create the first porcelain dinnerware plate that was suitable for export' (excerpt from Noritake's website).

Kitchen Tiles

I've been working on kitchen tiles recently. They are made from porcelain, glazed in retro pastel shades with distinctive black tree designs and are now on my kitchen wall.