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

Could there be a more lyrical name for a store? I discovered this treasure today in Williamsburg on a strange kind of street common to Brooklyn I suppose – a contrast of ugly urban architecture prettified with boutique stores on a street that sloped down towards the industrial banks of the East River.

Stocking a combination of simple utilitarian homeware – plain linens, weighty chopping boards copper and iron hardware, the store also has a Gothic slant – offering glowing Edison light-bulbs, Victorian book stands and strange twisted pewter initials -  Moon River Chattel with it’s gold-lettered frontage was kind of glittery and dark and simple and complex all at once.

Beautiful online boutique Bodie and Fou have recently launched a truly inspiring new online catalogue. Designed like a mini-interiors magazine, the catalogue is filled with exquisitely styled imagery with click through links to product and snippets of stylish information. The first issue features Karine and Elodie’s [the founding sisters] London and Paris style files.

I really love these ladies and their style, they have worked so hard to bring Bodie and Fou to the forefront of online shopping and constantly have their finger on the pulse of online media. They are super clever business women and I think merging online and an easy to relate to editorial format is definitely the way to move forward with online selling. It makes me want to click and buy everything!

Go here to take a look and request a hard copy from here.

So I made it through the London Design Festival, a super hectic but fun week for everyone in the design industry. There are always so many great free events going on and so many inspirational shows and new exhibitions being launched at my favourite museums. Fun, fun, fun!

One of my favourite events was an early morning talk about “Manufacturing in Britain” at Tom Dixon’s beautiful showroom at The Dock. Hosted by Tom Dixon, the conversation was chaired by Vicky Richardson, director of architecture, design and fashion at the British Council, and the panel was made up of designer Tom Dixon, design director at Aston Martin Marek Reichman and professor of forecasting and innovation at De Montfort University James Woodhuysen.

A lively debate, copious amounts of morning coffee and delicious biscotti surrounding by Dixon’s covetable products in a stunning dockside location was undoubtedly the highlight of my week [possibly made better because it was followed by a lacklustre 100% Design].

Check out some of the handmade goodies currently in the showroom – beautifully crafted hunks of wooden furniture, hammered copper lights and dark terracotta vessels.

At the risk of sounding repetitive – I’m back! Instead of waxing lyrical about where I’ve been [working],  I’m just going begin by posting.

I had the pleasure of heading to Amsterdam for work last week where it poured with rain and the canals roared and the pavements thrummed with torrents of showers, but the city was still charming. I visited exquisite handmade shops and remote Dutch villages and ate steak and fries in the rain while waiting for my next train back to the city. Exhausting and wonderful.

Sweet and sometimes surreal tokens from Thé Dansant [meaning Tea Dance] two ‘merry’ Belgian sisters who decided to open up an online-shop together.

Sometimes they find vintage objects and other times re-purpose them by adding whimiscal touches with packaging or customisation like hand painted vintage objects and these delightful vintage spoons in glass test-tubes, waiting for their special place in your home.