Maxine Sutton's lampshades at Radiance

I am so pleased to have Maxine Suttons new printed and embroidered lampshades at Radiance. They arrived this morning and it's the first time I've seem them in the flesh. They are better than I imagined.

I first met Maxine a few years ago at The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair where I saw some lampshades that she had made. She couldn't wholesale them though at the time so I couldn't buy any for the shop :(

I did write about her in Illuminate though and found out all about her and her work and her lovely shop Blackbird in Margate.

But since then there have been developments and Maxine had developed a brand new range of shades. They are printed on hand woven organic cotton and printed with Soil Association approved inks and some of them have embroidered details too.  

 I'm very happy to have them at Radiance.

 Here is Maxines page on the website.

Wintry window

Today the Magic Cupboard came to Radiance. It really is the most magical thing...

It's creator Helen Musselwhite made a special delivery in person and it was lovely to see her. We had a cup of tea and talked shop. I do find her very inspiring. She is a busy bee, working on a book cover illustration and preparing for an open house in Brighton, amongst many, many other things.

You can't see from the pictures but it has fibre optic stars in the sky in the sky that actually twinkle!

The cupboard is bigger than I imagined. All the better for sitting in the shop window. It inspired our white wintry window display.

Snowy white ambient ball fairy lights from Blaze On, Tord Boontje fairy tales and Midsummer light, Snowballs from Luna Lighting...all made it twinkly and magical.

I hope you can come and see it for real but if you can't then here's a little video of the Magic Cupboard that Fiona made of it so you can have a closer look.

Orange Loopy Lu's

Here is a great picture of Lothair Hamaans Loopy Lu's, which I just spotted on the Design Sponge blog when they did a sneak peek feature on the home of Gunilla and Eivind Platou in Norway.

I hadn't seen Loopy Lu in orange before. Radiance has it it in white, green, pruple, pink, yellow and red though!!!

Radishes, peas, birds and bees!

We've been quiet on the blog but certainly not quiet around here in real life! I have been working, working and working on the book and I am soooo nearly finished. I went to Llansteffan on to stay in a beautiful quiet house to try and get finished (blogged about it over on the Hannah Nunn blog) I'm posting it all of to my editor on Tuesday so just have a last few days to gather everything together!

AND I've been getting ready for The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair which is in 3 weeks. I'll be on stand 16 this year with all my lamps!

And what's new in the shop? House of Chintz have made a new lampshade. 'Mirror Bird', availavle in three sizes for base and ceiling.


Meryl Till has been busy with bees and has new honey lamps and candle cups.

and some floral ones too.

Joanna Coupland has made us some radish and pea fairy lights. These two veg were always my favourite on her string of fruit n veg fairy lights so I thought it would be lovely to have a set of them made up. The pink and green together are vibrant and lovely and the shapes are great! She can make up a set with any fruit or veg that you like...well she's willing to have a go at pretty much anything. She told me about a set of 'cow' fairy lights that she was asked to make where each fairy light was a different breed of cow! Wow!

My House Party

I was happy to discover 'My house party' whilst bumbling around on the internet one day. They are a husband and wife team based in the U.S and they designed these tiny wooden houses, originally to house air plants. They look really sweet with little air plants in but can also be used as storage or decoration. The ones with strings are really very tiny. Only a few centimetre's high. I think they are so sweet!

Louise Traill's paper Chandelier

I have been wanting to have one of Louise Traills handmade paper chandeliers in the shop since I first opened but I have kept her so busy with making her Heirloom fairy lights that she hasn't had the chance to make one! Louise once had a beautiful shop in York called Halo and I remember driving past it once late at night and being enchanted by all the twinkly colourful lights and one of her chandeliers in the window....years later I have a twinkly shop of my own and one of her chandeliers in my window! :)

She makes each panel with pretty handmade papers that she has been collecting for years and then embellishes each one with beads and sequins and trimmings.

It is soooo pretty. Here it is on the website.

It got featured over on the Indie Quarter blog today too in an article that Jenny wrote on our new website. Thank you Indie Quarter!

Jorja Wilkinson Design

I love these new shade by Jorja Wilkinson Design. I first met her a bctf this year and have been looking forward to her bright and bold designs becoming part of the Radiance collection.

Jorja lives in York and has her studio in an old cricket pavillion. Sounds charming.

What lovely magpies!

Her fabrics are inspired by the bold clean lines of 1960's wallpaper.

I love that at a glance this looks like an abstract pattern but then you realise they are pelicans.

All of her fabric is printed in the UK and her shades are made by hand in North Yorkshire. You can see them on the website here. There will be more stunning designs to come soon.

I can sing a rainbow

A delivery of new lights from Blaze On arrived today.

wicker stars in rainbow colours.

They are really very cheery.

Happy Blue Day!

We have had a day of photography inspired by my blue kitchen chair.. Here are some lovely teeny hare shades by Helen Minns.



They have a reversible fitting so they can be used on a base or hung from the ceiling.


These blue gingham lanterns haven't made it onto the website until today! At last!

and here is a new colour from House of Chintz (shown here with turquoise textile cable).

Such beautiful detail!

...and in case you need cheering up after all those blues here is a burst of colour!

Tomorrow I think I'll take my green kitchen chair to work!

Don't they make a lovely pair!

I commissioned Joanna Coupland to make a pair of wedding birdies for a friends wedding present. Aren't they just the sweetest things! If you fancy a set let me know and we can get some made for you too.

Mr Fox

Matt took some nice pics of Mr Fox. Seen here front and back! Can't WAIT for the new website. It's coming on in leaps and bounds every day! This one looks great hanging from the ceiling but is a good size for a standard lamp base too.

Stag and Dogs and Pheasants

I've been looking forward to this new stag lampshade by Lush Designs for ages. Isn't he grand! The designer Maria Livings is showing her Northern roots here and Saddleworth viaduct has made an appearance!

Tricky as always to capture on camera. The lampshade is blue. The stag is dark blue, the viaduct and hill light blue and the sky is cream. It looks different with a light inside.


Here it is on the website.