The Beat That My Heart Skipped – A blog dedicated to daily design inspirations. By Rohini Wahi.

Events like these are why I love London!

Rosie Lovell of Rosie’s Deli and last month’s Ginger and Chocolate Cookie recipe contributor heads a super fun pop-up kitchen and shop with DJ Raf Rundell.

You will find the ‘Kitchen and cultural Closet’ at No.1 Granville Arcade Brixton Village, running from the 10^th – 24^th December midday to 11pm daily. Using a redundant unit in Brixton’s covered market, the shop will offer a fine selection of Christmas gifts for people of all persuasions, wholesome dinners and fun evening events to while away the long December nights.

The Kitchen, hosted by Rosie will serve up her signature wholesome warm fare with the much talked about Salad Club girls [who will be contributing to Louise's kitchen this Friday] taking over the pop-up kitchen on Saturday 12^th December.

The Shop will be drenched in quality Christmas gifts for the quality giver… Stock will include; Music from SoulJazz, Honest Jons, Heavenly, 1965, Deep Medi, Strut and others. Books for disco dads from DJ History, T’s from Horsemeat Disco. Books and bags from Caught By The River, Stuart Gardiner print work; David Shrigley books and postcards from Redstone Press, books, cd’s and woodcuts from Jeb Loy Nichols, all manner of tiles, prints and books from Rob Ryan, Rosie’s Deli Café hamper fillers and a host of stock from local artists! Wow!

There will also be an array of happenings; a pub quiz, evenings of music, an afternoon of high style courtesy of Hildebrandt Robertson, a screening of a favourite film. Contact Rosie for bookings.

Perfection. See you there!

I am so inspired by UK maker, Nathalie of Le Petit Oiseau’s work! I am not really a pretty plate kind of gal but I have been coveting her vintage plates with graphic shapes for a while now… [we featured Nathalie's work in our Christmas Gift Guide last month].

Nathalie recycles vintage plates, and hand customises them with decals. Some plates have been fired and are therefore fit for daily as well as decorative use. I just love the way the pop-arty shapes seem to dance across the surfaces – like a party on a plate!

Most will probably know Rhonda Drakeford from her work at Multistorey. After studying Graphic Design at Central St Martins, Rhonda formed  the Design Consultancy Multistorey with fellow CSM graduate Harry Woodrow in 1997. Here she has been creative director on jobs ranging from branding, packaging, exhibition design, and more recently shop fit. With Rhonda at the helm, Multistorey has become well known for it’s highly creative portfolio that encompasses a wide array of production techniques.

For design lovers, you may be more familiar with their range of cushions made from vintage African fabrics sold under the name of Multistorey, and following this the side project of textiles brand Themselves.

With all this creative energy, it is no wonder that Rhonda launches her current new project Darkroom with great aplomb and ceremony this December.

Darkroom is a new concept store due to open on Lamb’s Conduit Street, London this month. It will curate an eclectic mix of high-end fashion and interior accessories alongside bi-monthly art and sculpture exhibitions. Darkroom will explore several concepts – at the forefront is the crossover between fashion and interiors and with it the juxtaposition of materials, scale and form. Oversize plaited quilted scarves resemble eiderdowns whilst jewellery made from chunky rope evoke Sculptural furnishings

We speak to the lady behind these big ideas…

I collect… Trench art [vases made by soldiers in the 1st World War using empty brass mortar shells]

I cant live without… whiskey

My guilty pleasure is… see above, however, I have so many and unfortunately don’t feel guilty about any of them…

Our house is filled with… pictures and paintings. There isn’t enough wall space for them all.

I treasure my… moody old cat Herbert

Right now I can’t stop thinking about… my new concept store Darkroom which opens next week!

Currently I am reading… Catch 22

My favourite item of clothing is… a vintage Aztec style Liberty print dress that I bought from the vintage dept at Liberty.

At the top of my furniture wish list is… grass green Superoblong sofa by Cappellini.

The last thing that really inspired me was… Ettore Sottsass

My comfort food is… Marmite on toast every day for breakfast

On my desk are… it would be quicker to list what isn’t on my desk. I work in ‘organised’ chaos.

This weekend I will… make last minute preparations and rest up for the opening.

I love what I do because… It allows me to try out whatever I want to do. One day Graphic design, one day product design, one day knitting, one day meeting and talking to other designers and suppliers for the store. Hard work, but never boring.

Image from Dolci Felici

Wow! How has December come upon us so soon… only one more day of November left and then it’s ‘winter’. Exciting, but hard to comprehend how the end of year has approached so quickly but so painfully slowly at the same time…

I cannot wait to do all the the things December has in store for us, the spirited parties, the family gatherings, the mundanities of brisk aimless walks then curling up on the couch and watching Christmas television.

The next few weeks here at The Beat That My Heart Skipped promise to be abundant in heartwarming inspirations. Louise will be supplying us with delicious treats and news of foodie events around the UK [tune in tomorrow for a peek into her weekend bake-sale in Brighton], Lauren will be educating us with the perfect winter reads to snuggle up with and I will be hunting down covetable inspiration to get you through this last month at work!

We start this week, with a wholesome pop-up kitchen in Brixton from Rosie Lovell, a Craftroom Makeover, a glimpse into a jewel of a shop in the East End, and up next an interview with Rhonda Drakeford of Multistory fame and founder of new concept store opening this week, Darkroom!

Image from We Heart It.

- My Inside life with the inspirational Annabel of VV Rouleaux!
- Woodland Things product guide.
- A peek inside a few beautiful Editions Paumes books.
- Another fun DIY from the lovely Laura of Lupin Handmade.
- Lauren takes over from Vanessa to show us around her favourite Ski Resort.
- Lauren reviews a not so steamy read, ‘Chastened’ by Hephzibah Anderson.
- We drool over the delicacies at Japanese/French patisserie Sadaharu Aoki!!!
- We spent an insightful day with the brilliant Karine Kong of Bodie and Fou.
- Louise’s Kitchen featured a hearty Autumn Lasagne from ‘Supper for a Song’ by Tamasin Day Lewis + don’t forget to comment on what you’d like to see more of on the blog for a chance to win a copy of the book!
- We gazed adoringly at the following lovely interiors, a majestic theatre in Argentina which is now a bookshop, a romantic Mansion apartment in Antwerp, organic Story Deli in the East End of London, an unusual London terrace home, Bailey’s Art Cafe, and the graceful Izz Cafe in Turkey.
- We also added a lovely ‘like’ button in the shape of a heart on the end of all of our posts so you can show us if you are inspired by them.