Wee Birdy

What to take home: Martin Grover bus stop prints

I'm loving the new prints and tiles by London-based artist Martin Grover: London iconography, pathos and an irreverent sense of humour rolled into one. Most excellent. They're available now from Rob Ryan's shop Ryantown on Columbia Road.

My Secret London with Neal from Present & Correct (Part 2)

In part two of My Secret London with Neal from Present & Correct, we find out exactly where he shops for stationery, children's toys, skincare ... and stacks more. Dig in, birdies.

Best for stationery?
Present & Correct of course! I always check out Magma, Muji and Shelf too to see what they are stocking on their shelves. Most of all I think that there are some brilliant old-school stationers dotted around. Belsize Stationers in Hampstead is a good example. Lots of binders, school notebooks and an eraser for any mistake. Holloway Arts, on Holloway Road is another good one. They have an old Letraset sign that I have been coveting for around 8 years.

Some of the design and stationery goodies from Neal's online shop, Present & Correct.

Best for kids?
Caramel has a great selection of things. The museum shops too, especially The Natural History Museum. And Couverture. Anywhere that sells traditional wooden toys makes me happy.

Above: wooden toys at Couverture.

Best for skincare?
I always buy Aesop products for myself and as gifts, I love the old-style apothecary packaging. The store itself is original and fun. You can’t beat Boots though. A good long walk in any London park will work wonders, too.

Neal out for a stroll on Hampstead Heath.

Best London shopping secret?
My friend Emma introduced me to Sunbury antiques market in Kempton. Get there early and be prepared to dig through lots of nonsense to find a great gem.

Above: Treasure to be found at Sunbury Antiques Market.

Best London souvenir?
A bag of Brick Lane bagels and something to put on them from Fortnum & Mason.

Best place to eat?
There are a few, because I love to eat lots and try new places. For breakfast The Modern Pantry on Clerkenwell Road is brill, as well as Bob Bob Ricard in Soho which is an OTT diner/brasserie where the staff have gold and pink uniforms and the menu features Farley’s Rusk milkshake!

Above: the fabulous interior of Bob Bob Ricard.

Ottolenghi is always good for lunch, as is Leilah's at Arnold Circus near Brick Lane. Market on Parkway in Camden is great and not dissimilar to the brilliant Quality Chop House in Farringdon - hearty British dinners.

Café Paolina on Kings Cross Road is a wonderful, cheap Thai café. Wood panelling, fake flowers, melamine chairs. An old greasy spoon now run by a super-friendly Thai family. Monmouth is always great for coffee, at Borough Market or in Covent Garden. I plan to go to Petersham Nurseries this year as I have been wanting to go for ages. 

I like eating on the sofa at mine, too. It’s BYO at P&C headquarters.

For all addresses and a Wee Birdy map of Neal's secret London, click here.

Read more about Present & Correct here.

For more secret Londons, click here.

What to take home: Charlene Mullen cushions

I first spied Charlene Mullen’s exquisite hand-embroidered work at the East London Design Show in December. And being the London-obsessed lass that I am, I made a beeline for her monochrome cushions featuring iconic London landscapes.

Transcending a purely functional role, each graphic “piece” is beautifully crafted with extraordinary attention to detail. And with Mullen drawing inspiration from Victorian Christening gowns to prison tattoos, it’s no wonder her work appears simultaneously both modern and vintage.

In London, you can find her cushions at Liberty, Sigmar and Linley. She is also stocked in Le Bon Marche in Paris and Scoop in the U.S. Otherwise, purchases can be made through enquiries to her website.

Wee finds: Hats at the V&A shop

Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones, is the very latest exhibition to open at the V&A museum, and accordingly the rather brilliant V&A shop has stocked up on a delightful range of exclusive hat-themed products. I'm planning a trip to the museum next week, where I'll be nabbing one of these adorable acrylic brooches of ladies in cloche hats, which are quite reasonably priced at £10 each, and come in a variety of colours.


I'm also loving these clever paper hats, perfect for parties or the kids' dressing-up box. At £2.50 each, both designs are based on actual hats from the V&A's collections. The 'Harlequin' hat is a based on a 1980s design by Chris Clyn, and the top hat is based on an early 20th-century design by Lock & Co.

And if you're after a genuine Stephen Jones piece for less, you might like to check out the hatpin, £35, (left) and earrings, £40, (right), designed exclusively for the V&A. Jones was inspired by the "beautiful graphic ironwork on the staircase at the V&A" when he made these 'twisted cage' pieces.

Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones
Until 31 May 2009
£5, concessions available
Victoria and Albert Museum
Cromwell Road
London SW7 2R

My Secret London with Martina McHowat - part II

In part two of "My Secret London", Urban Junkies Style Editor Martina McHowat tells us her favourite London destinations for gifts, stationery, beauty and food. It will make you dream of Icelandic mud and stationery with tiny beefeaters...

Best for interiors and gifts?
Lifestyle Bazaar on Newburgh Street always has a cool selection of lifestyle bits. Urban Outfitters and Muji are good for knick-knacky gifts, and the Magma product shop next to the book store is great for unusual finds. And I’m looking forward to seeing what H&M does with its homeware offering, slated to arrive in February.

H&M homewares range.

Best for stationery?
I do love Liberty’s stationery department, as much for their own line of note cards, diaries and address books, as well as the range of designers they stock. Smythson do great correspondence cards and stationery which you can have personalised, and their current Giles collaboration is a fashion-lover’s dream, with design sketches on the front and neon pink and green tissue-lined envelopes.

Best for beauty?
I get facials at Elemis off Bond Street, which is like a little sanctuary in the middle of potentially the busiest shopping district – not that you'd know it! It’s all quite South-East Asian feeling which I love, and Amanda gives the best tri-enzyme resurfacing facials - sounds hardcore but is really gentle.

I also love Sjal skincare, you can get it on www.cultbeauty.co.uk (also love their website, finally a site you can believe in completely, full of things properly tried out and reviewed).

And if you’re ever in Iceland, try out the hot springs at Blue Lagoon which have pots of this amazing silica clay mask dotted around – you just slather it on and float about. They’re doing it in tubes now for us poor souls who can’t be there in person.

I’ve just come back from Compton Hair in Covent Garden where I tried out their Brazilian Keratin Hair treatment, and it may well change my GHD-dependent life - after leaving it in for three days, my usually wavy, frizz-prone hair is down to a quick morning blow dry and it still looks straight and soft. I didn’t think it was possible!

Other London favourites?
I’m a bit obsessed with Columbia Flower Market on Sundays. The prices are just silly compared to what you’d pay in town, and the street is just stunning filled with every imaginable kind of tree, bush, shrub and stem.

Even better though, is that one side of the street is choc-full of some of the coolest little boutiques in the city; Cerise for jewellery, Suck & Chew for vintage-style sweets in jars and pocket money bits and Treacle for cupcakes and cool kitchen/homewares. I also love Far Global and Nom for the collections of Far Eastern antiques and bits & bobs. They have that lovely incense-y smell and everything inside is authentic and comes with a story. 

Best London souvenir?
I try and stay as far away from the tacky souvenir shops you tend to find down the dodgy end of Oxford Street; nobody needs a Union Jack G-String. Instead, try Muji’s ‘London in a bag’ full of wooden London landmarks like the London Eye and St Paul's, and now they’re doing rather fabulous little ‘London transport in a bag’ containing little painted wooden buses, black cabs and tubes.

I also like Julie Bell’s stationery, which come in beautiful boxes and have London icons embossed on them - beefeaters, buses or phone boxes.

Best for food?
Sophie’s Steak House on the Fulham Road - it’s a lovely, homey but chic feeling place with no reservation policy, so you turn up, get given a number which flashes up on a board above the bar, and wait over delicious cocktails. Lots of exposed brickwork, lightbulbs hanging loose from the ceiling and old train carriage luggage racks above the tables. And it’s not unusual to see Sophie herself wandering around serving steak, which by the way, is divine. They’re just opened in Covent Garden too. Go!

For all addresses and a Wee Birdy map of Martina's secret London, click here.
Check out Martina's London Fashion Week coverage at Urban Junkies, which includes designer interviews, backstage images and a competition to win the Ultimate Swag Bag.