When I was looking at Hannah Zakari’s website a few days ago, I discovered a couple of pieces from another fantastic independent designer, Comfort Station. Set up by Fine Art graduate (see, Fine Art degrees are useful!) Amy Anderson, the company has been showing at London Fashion Week since 2003 and in 2004 set up its flagship store in London, just off Brick Lane.
The store is decorated with the token East London Taxidermy pieces, vintage suitcases and books, chandeliers and lengths of genuine ship rope. Honestly it’s worth visiting just to see the store itself, and if you can’t pop down there then have a peek at the virtual tour – stunning!
Comfort station sells limited edition hand-printed crockery as well as countless pieces of beautiful jewellery, all of which is handcrafted at their East London studio and – another responsible designer – without the use of any animal products, with use of only sustainable wood and every little bit manufactured within the UK.
My favourite pieces are these ‘sliced’ pieces: maps, music, poems are laser cut to fit silver or gold booklets which are ornately engraved on one side, and inscribed with the geographical co-ordinates for the Bahamas’ town of Love on the other.
They might come up a little pricey but every piece is unique, every paper coated for protection and all made of sterling silver or gold so you should be able to flick through these tiny artworks for years.
This silver barometer is another piece on my wishlist – it even features a movable pointer which you can set to suit your mood, letting everyone else know how excellent you’re feeling, or warding them off when things are stormy.
Finally, a couple from Amy Anderson’s wind-up Hybrid series and machine cog earrings, yes please! I’m only now realising the full extent of what was stolen when we were burgled on Boxing Day (sad but true) so maybe this is the perfect excuse to replenish my jewellery boxes with a couple of teeny tiny masterpieces, and support a fellow Fine Art graduate in the process.
Yay for British designers, goodbye to mass produced tat and hello to the hand made.
