Xenia Taler

Very sweet and original design from Canadian Xenia Taler. A birdie trivet for your table with cork feet - lovely!

Isabelle Abramson

What do you follow a post on Spirograph with? With these amazing carved pocelain bowl from Isabelle Abramson Ceramics, of course! Beautiful!

Poppy House Pottery

These lovely bowls are from Poppy House Pottery. I love their vintage Scandinavian look. I would want to display these on an open shelf and admire them. Love it that they are handmade and painted - and not mass produced. Beautiful!

Inspiration - simple utilitarian vases

I really like these vases from West Elm - love the vintage texture and the bulkiness of them. Oh and I love the spring colours ;-)

All pictures from West Elm

Found - vintage asian ceramics

I'm always drawn to Asian character ceramics - whether they are real vintage or reproductions. I especially love these lamps(and I know my friend 'Linda the lamp shade maker' will be drooling over these.) I think they bring an interesting and colourful detail into your home even if it's decorated in a modern style! Available here.

Vintage chalkware bust

I was looking for something else at Henry Road and I spotted this chalkware bust - luv luv luv this - everything about it - speechless! Paula, WHERE did you get this?

Inspiration - Lubna Chowdhary

This is the work of London ceramic artist Lubna Chowdhary. I noticed her pieces on Bloesem. I thought you would love to see the colours and textures of her work. I think her pieces look like enamel but they are hand applied glazes with incredible colour. The containers are wonderful - the choices of lids is incredible. Further down the post you will see some of her selection of hot plates and if you check out her website you will find an amazing selection of tiles(and her studio is fab!)

Found - L'esperance Tile Works

When I first saw these I thought they were vintage - didn't you? They are beautifully done. Ceramic tiles by L'esperance Tile Works. they have a huge collection of tiles - lots of bunnies, birds and insects - lovely!

Inspiration - rice bowls

I spotted these rice bowls on Friday at Hanna's blog - and then noticed them again at design*sponge yesterday. I'd snap these up in an instant if there was a Crate and Barrel nearby. Not in this neck of the woods!

Inspiration - blue/green

A little bit of eye candy to get you in a blue/green mood on a Tuesday morning - via Piet Hein Eek.

Inspiration - tea set

Well, inspiration comes in many forms here at The Cafe and this morning I am feeling overwhelmingly inspired by this tea set from Susabella Brownstein. How can you not be? Photographing this set on a black background is a brilliant idea - the orange and the green the repeat pattern of the 4 cups - faaaaabulous! Phew!

Vintage inspiration

While I was checking out the cigarette cards at Miss Moss I noticed this stunning vintage commemorative cup. It's from an auction site - and long gone but I thought you would appreciate it's loveliness here this morning! You can't help but be inspired by the pattern and the colours - how about you?

Inspiration - bisque stamps

Check these out - these are bisque stamps for pressing patterns into - well, whatever you like. The producer suggests that you could use them on your crafts and also on fondant for cake decorating, pastry for pie tops etc. I think there would be endless possibilities. Just scanning all those potential pattern makers gets me excited. They would be great fun for kids too. From Charity Elise.

Inspiration

This vintage seller has pretty odd and a few excellent things including these wonderful turn of the century dishes. Love this bird motif - use similar ones often in my designs.

Stylin'

I absolutely adore this stylist's work. Lula - you can see her work on her website and also on Flickr. She has a great sense of playfulness in her work. I haven't run across her photographs until recently and I can't get enough of them. Originally from Buenos Aires(a place I never spell correctly) and now living in New York. I think you will love her work too. Beautiful!