Here Bunny shares some online favourites, with a few from Emma as well.
Our favourite websites… Our interiors style is all about mixing furniture from different periods and there are a couple of sites that make finding antiques easy. 1stdibs is an amazing source of mid century classics and Lorfords Antiques has a more eclectic range of furniture from different periods. Where before we spent hours trawling antiques dealers' sites and shops, both of these resources have made it possible to browse a vast catalogue of furniture through a single portal. They are treasure troves and it's how we have sourced some of our favourite pieces that have really made a space work.
Life is pretty hectic so I rarely have a chance to get into shops and Net-a-Porter is my go to for fashion browsing and I tend to buy a handful of key pieces a year which I wear to death!
Our favourite apps… Our days are jam-packed with meetings and Uber is a godsend for getting around London. As an escape from the hectic-ness, I find Headspace can restore a sense of calm.
Our favourite blog… We started the company ten years ago and one of the first bloggers we got into was Heather Clawson who writes Habitually Chic, an amazing American interiors/lifestyle blog. It’s always a treat when the daily newsletter arrives in our inbox and Emma and I often end up forwarding them to each other with exclamations of “wow look at this”. Heather has a fantastic eye and is a magpie for beautiful things/spaces!
Bunny's most recent buy online… Victoria Beckham trousers from Net-a-Porter - They are mega versatile and I wear them with trainers to site meetings and dress them up with flats for smarter moments in the day.
Before Christmas, I bought some amazing handmade ceramic marbled Christmas tree baubles from The Edition 94 - Christmas decorations are one of my many guilty pleasures (encouraged by my husband the kids call me the “buying machine”?!). I try to hunt out unusual tree decorations each year and buy a handful so that over time the collection of ornaments is the story of my treasure hunt. The kids are also allowed to buy one decoration of their choice each year. It is usually not the most tasteful addition and I have to be very restrained not to try and influence the outcome (last year we had a punk rocker owl with crystal eyes, a chocolate and a mini with a Christmas tree on top) but the variety is fun and I love watching the excitement as they unwrap their own ornament from past years.
Book just downloaded/read… Finding the time to read is hard but I try to turn a couple of pages before I go to sleep. They have to be pretty gripping reads and I’ve currently got Asia Mackay’s Killing It on the go. It’s a page turner! Asia was at school with me and I’m in awe of her having found the time to write a novel, work and have four kids. Women are amazing in what they can achieve.
Our internet heroes…Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google - They have transformed our ability to sniff out new and interesting products, craftsmen, suppliers. They are also responsible for my memory loss as there is no need to store facts with Google up your sleeve!!
Our favourite podcasts... We both love The High low – A weekly culture podcast hosted by Dolly Alderton and Pandora Sykes. They come up with great book/film/theatre recommendations and have an easy fun relationship to listen to that reminds me a lot of Emma and I. In fact Dolly’s book, Everything I Know About Love is a great read too.
In contrast we also listen to A Well Designed Business, which gives some great insights and ideas about running a company in the creative sector. LuAnn Nigara interviews people with varying sized businesses about their journey through the design world and then she also does podcasts focussed on different elements of the business from systems/process/social media etc. It’s a great resource for inspiring us to change the way we do things.
My favourite tweeter… I’m archaic and don’t tweet.
My favourite Instagrammer… This is a tough one and Ems and I are a bit divided. I love the nostalgic images, oozing with colour and pattern, posted by The Real Maggie Shepherd. Ems is an avid follower of Lawson Robb and their fresh, funky vibe.
Social media allowed us to meet… Great new clients. Instagram provides an amazing platform to engage with a wider audience and let people know what you are doing in real time.
Most worthwhile newsletter subscribed to… As I mentioned before, Habitually Chic is always bursting with gorgeous images and Remodelista has access to some fantastic projects that are always inspiring.
My pet hate about online… The non-stopness. I am rubbish at switching off and am a terrible multi-tasker. I resolve in 2019 to be better at disconnecting from my phone and focusing on the moment. I think a basket by the door to leave my phone in when I get home is the answer.
Standout online memory… Reaching 20k on Insta.
My favourite social media tools are… Instagram and Pinterest which have been really useful tools for clients to gather inspiration images to give us design direction - although it’s a bit of a double edged sword! We love both portals but ideas get circulated and copied very quickly and it can remove the creative edge from the process so we try to encourage our team to use our extensive library of design books for inspiration over online images which are often over used.
My favourite communications tools and apps … We use WhatsApp a lot to communicate with clients. It’s an easy way to get a quick response and share images privately. Instagram is a nice way to keep in touch with the design community; it’s great to see what fellow designers are up to and its always nice to have enthusiastic feedback when we show the world what we’ve been working on.
iPhone or android… I was slow to convert but iPhone – they are AMAZING!!
February 2019