Graham and Green join forces with Crown paints and the Royal College of Art

Sarah Seaton-Burridge won the competition with her witty interpretation of the traditional kitchen chair. She has transformed it into a clever, multi-functional storage piece. Laura Amstein came in second place with her psychedelic, retro sideboard inspired by the traditional technique of marbling.

We are just back from an afternoon out in Central London where we were judging the winners of the "Crown Brantiques" project. Crown has partnered with the Royal College of Art School of Fashion and Textiles for the third year running and this year we are thrilled to be the chosen retailer of the winning pieces.

The students were asked to design a range of 'up-cycled' furniture for the home, using a range of Crown paints to give each piece a new lease of life. With the trend for up-cycling gaining momentum amoungst designers and consumers alike we are exctited to be involved in a project with such a positive message. The winning pieces will be launched in our shops next Spring. If you want to get your mits on a piece of original, innovative furniture then watch this space.

Christmas home sale.

Founder of G&G, Antonia Graham has spent the last couple of months scouring the globe in search for goodies for her first home sale. With visits to Ethiopia & India, to name but a few, she will be selling her wares this Friday, Saturday & Sunday at her home in Chiswick. Fri 26-Sun 28 November from 10am-6pm, 12 Findon Road,London, W12 9PP.

Why not pay her a visit, there will be lots of interesting and unusual Christmas presents for all your friends and family.

Evening Standard

Thanks to Katie Law and the Evening Standard for this lovely article on me and the hubby!

Telegraph Magazine Shop Awards 2010

Hello folks, it's that time of the year again. The Telegraph Shop awards are upon us and open. We would love it if you could give us your vote for the "Best for Interiors" category. Go on, make our year. THANK YOU!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/shopawards/

We're participating in VOGUE.COM's Fashion's Night In.

On Monday 1st November, VOGUE.COM is holding Fashion Night In, an online shopping event which is the perfect reason to sit back, kick off your heels and spoil yourself as they bring you the best that online shopping has to offer with a night of exciting and exclusive digital fashion events.
Following the fantastic success of Fashion's Night Out in September, they've taken it online to raise even more money for KidsCo. - offering one-off designer collaborations, expert styling advice, on-the-night collection launches, goodie bags, competitions and bespoke films. We're getting involved in this event by offering a 10 per cent discount from 5pm until midnight and £1 from each order placed will be donated to KidsCo. It's the perfect opportunity to do some Christmas shopping, whilst giving something back.

A weekend break to Vienna as seen through the eyes of our press manager Lizzie.

This weekend I visited the Austrian capital of Vienna with a few friends.I wasn't really sure quite what to expect but I was more than pleased with the choice of city getaway. Having been ranked a few years ago as the best place for quality of life, I can see why. The people were warm and friendly, the transport system easy to use, the streets weren’t overcrowded and the schnitzel – well it was delicious! It’s a place you can spend hours wandering around, admiring the Baroque and Romanesque architecture, drinking coffee in cafes and stumbling across amazing vintage shops. For some alternative culture we visited the Frida Kahlo retrospective at the Bank Austria gallery, which was a visual treat and we finished the day on the spectacular giant ferris wheel at the Prater – followed by some local schnapps! Cue headache for flight home….Elizabeth Kelly – Press Manager

Christmas catalogue out now!

http://www.grahamandgreen.co.uk/static/catalogue.pdf
Our Christmas catalogue is out now. It's packed full of inspirational gift ideas so why not start your Christmas shopping today?

More pictures

Christmas comes to our shops!

I have just spent the day surrounded by gorgeous, glittery Christmas decorations and am now starting to get in the mood for Christmas! We have just installed our Christmas table in our Elgin Crescent branch, and the shop is looking fabulously festive. Come down to Notting Hill and have a look for yourself. There are presents for everyone, lots of great stocking fillers for the kids as well as wonderful gifts for the grown-ups too.... We're off to Primrose Hill tomorrow to work our magic there. With just over 8 weeks to go until Christmas it's defninitely time to start your shopping. Louise

India buying trip day 10

Today we fly back to our beautiful families and back into the exciting times at Graham and Green of planning our coming seasons with our new lines. We can’t wait to show the team back at HQ!
I thought I would attempt to summarise my first trip to India; It’s a beautiful place that is rich with life, it’s diverse and colourful. It’s also absolutely bonkers but in a lovely kind of way.
Jamie always says that anything is possible in India, and although I don’t fully agree I do see what he means. Things just seem to happen here – if you ask it sort of just happens. It might not be in the way you’d expect, but it does happen.
I’ve also learnt that if an Indian man is shouting at you; turn and smile and he’ll smile back. It works most of the time. And most importantly, don’t ever have ice.
Thank you all for reading what we’ve had to say and watch this space (or our website http://www.grahamandgreen.co.uk/) for our new and exciting products.
Until next time.....

India buying trip day 9

Planes, Trains and Tuc Tucs?
I didn’t know what a Tuc Tuc was either. The simplest way to explain it is that someone has taken a motorbike added another wheel on the back, thrown a few old bean cans together and wrapped it round, then taken all the old umbrellas in the world and made a roof. They travel round in a slow but effective pace and really are the best way to see India. So we took one on our day off and went round the sites of Delhi. We ended up in the old town. Jamie had never travelled on the metro (just like the London tubes) and wanted to try it. A rugbyscrum is the best way to describe the experience – utter chaos. But at least he can say he’s done it. I however wish to forget that I was ever on it!
So, in the old town we experienced what Delhi is really like, Medieval England springs to mind, not in a negative way but the traders, the close housing, the tea shops on every corner (It’s how we pictured old England to be). We also found the spice market which was like nothing I have ever seen before; hundreds and hundreds of men carrying bags of all manner of spices, up and down the thinnest of alleys, round people, cars and anything else that gets in their way. From above I imagined it looked a little like the ants do. We walked through back alley and street just exploring all that Delhi has to offer. Colours and colours of fabric, smells upon smells and the general chaos that somehow works. I was even brave enough to try the local Chai* off a street trader.
We then headed back home for a quick shower before heading off for Tea at the Imperial Hotel (Founded by George V and it’s the Indian equivalent of The Ritz). A complete contrast to our morning, it’s a really decadent building with brilliant service and very relaxing gardens. Then off to a local hotel for a spot of dinner before bed.Tomorrow we fly home.
*Chai is a really sweet tea that is boiled for ages and the milk is added during the boiling process. Served in sort of espresso cups. It’s also got cardamon pods and ginger for more flavour. Really yummy.

Gorgeous Goan retreat available to rent!

We are thrilled to announce the launch of our first ever G&G holiday home, Casa Tota, a lovingly restored Portuguese villa filled with many beautiful & inspiring products in one of the most sought after villages in Goa. Check out the link to see the full brochure.

http://www.grahamandgreen.co.uk/static/Goa.pdf?id=goa

India buying trip day 8

We are nearly at the end of the trip, as we finished the show yesterday (we are 1 day ahead of ourselves). We went to another supplier to finish off a few things, had lunch with them again before heading back to the show to do a few emails and catch up on what has been happening in the world in the last few days.
I’m not sure if I have already mentioned this, but in India they honk there horns constantly. Instead of looking they just beep and turn. There is a constant noise of car horns honking all the time (I’m not sure how we’ll cope when we get back to England – perhaps I’ll just honk for the hell of it)!
Since being in Delhi we have been going to the trade show and then back to the hotel, always in a bus. But today we were in a car, the roads were empty where we were going, the roads had been for about 10 minutes. I was convinced that our driver just honked for the sake of it even though there wasn’t anyone around. About a minute later he did it again, so now i think it must be how they learn to drive...just honk every few minutes!
After the day was done we headed back to the hotel, there is a little inconspicuous tea shop on the corner (see photos above). I’ve been brought up on tea (and it’s almost a ritual in Graham and Green) so we popped in for a look. Words and photos cannot do this little place justice; the owner is a complete connoisseur of tea, he has every type and knows everything there is to know (plus makes a splendid cuppa ) – including ideal brewing times depending on the leaf (yes, I had to take notes). It is safe to say that between us we bought enough tea to last a life time (or to throw a very good tea party).
“T”omorrow is our first free day so we are going on a tour of Delhi. Until next “T”ime...

India buying trip days 6&7

I think it’s better to group these two days together. The last few days have been spent at the Indian show. The word 'show' doesn’t really put it into scale, it's miles and miles of companies displaying their work. It’s a good job that Jamie has been doing this for so long as I don’t think I would have found anything! However, we have found some really nice and exciting products for next year. I’ve been sworn to secrecy but i think they will be worth the wait.
Not a lot else to report I’m afraid other than that we managed to see the whole show in 2 days (record time I hasten to add) and tomorrow we’ll spend time with one of our key suppliers perfecting a few of the new products.
I’ll keep my eye out for something exciting to report for tomorrow.
Until then...

India buying trip day 5

Health and safety, now without wanting to sound too boring I’ll keep this short. Health and safety doesn’t exist in India. Well, it probably does but they don’t pay a blind bit of attention to it. We have seen so many crazy things that we couldn’t help but laugh. Like three men on top of each other trying to fix a electric pylon with a hammer. A truck that was so full of people that they also were stood on each other – however they were singing so it can't have been too bad.
The rest of the day we saw a few more suppliers, developed a few more items and before we knew it it was evening, early to bed as we had an early start for the show.
NB The early start wasn’t just for the show, I had actually got the dreaded Delhi belly. Not a nice experience and enough said about that......

India buying trip day 4

Friday, started in a similar manner to all the other days, breakfast and then a visit to a supplier. This supplier is also an old family friend, a fabric printer who prints Jamie's designs (this season it's the Paisley.) He has been working on a few more designs for next season; so we finalised colours so the production can begin in time for summer.
Now, our flight was meant to be leaving at 6pm but our airline (for legal reasons we’ll call them Jes Air) phoned us to say that our flight had been moved forward by 1 hour. So we didn’t have much time between seeing the supplier and flying – so we went to see old town Jaipur. What a sight, full of magical colours, smells, food and some cheeky monkeys.
After a quick lunch we headed to the airport (to get everywhere in India takes 1 hour.) We arrived at the airport at about 3pm, only to be told that our flight had been delayed by 1 hour, so it was now back to its original time. Eventually we landed in Delhi, got to the hotel, had dinner, and hit the sack.

India buying trip day 3

Day 3 in India started with the normal custom of coffee and toast in the grounds of the hotel. It really is as idyllic as it sounds. We then headed back to our biggest supplier to continue working and developing new products. It was amazing to see how quickly the production guys could bring to life Jamie's designs.
As the Bath range has been so popular we thought we would move it on for summer with a new and exciting Suzani print so watch out for that.... After another delicious lunch we headed off to our fabric supplier who provides us with our G&G bedlinen. We have developed some gorgeous velvet prints for Autumn/ Winter 2011.For dinner we headed over to an old family friend of the Grahams named Sarah. Sarah lives in a colonial cottage in the grounds of a hotel in Jaipur. She used to be a fashion designer and ran a successful business in Canada before deciding to change her lifestyle completely. Sarah now spends her time travelling around India; when not attending to her exemplary garden. Her home is testament to her new lifestyle, packed with magical finds from her travels. I’m pretty sure Jamie was eyeing up one or two pieces for inspiration. Tomorrow we fly to Delhi for the next exciting part of our journey and the infamous Delhi Trade Fair (providing we drive the right way down the motorway!)

India buying trip day 2

Well, my first official day in India. Jamie met me at the airport with a very excited grin on his face. The adventure has begun. Our day started by travelling the wrong way down a motor way (apparently it’s very normal) until we saw a camel pulling an apple cart, we promptly moved to the correct side of the road and on to the hotel!
After a quick shower we were off to see one of our biggest suppliers, luckily we arrived in time for lunch! All the office staff sit and share a meal together, the food is all cooked in house and it was lovely (I learnt that you only eat with one hand – was pretty tricky when trying to tear bread).
So then the fun started, we started in the fabric room where we saw them hand block printing all the material. Every single stage is done by hand crafted wooden blocks; there were about 15 people per sheet of fabric. We then looked at some very exciting rugs (a possibility for next season) along with some very lovely new furniture pieces. We’re coming back in the morning to continue the quest...

We have just re-decorated our Regents Park Road shop.
"HOORAY" I hear you all saying. Better late than never, hey! We think it looks fab. Let us know what you think?
We have used our two favourite autumnal colours from Farrow and Ball's interior paint: Cornforth White and Downpipe Grey.

Hello all my name is James McWalter and I'm the Head of Merchandising for Graham and Green. I'm currently waiting in Heathrow airport about to board a flight to Jaipur where I am meeting up with Jamie Graham (who has spent the last few days designing furniture from his house in Goa) for our seasonal buying trip to India. I've been asked if I'd mind being the guest blogger for the next 10 days.

The aim being to keep everyone updated with what we are doing. I'll try and write every day with hopefully some wonderful sights of India, some exciting new products and anything else I think you will appreciate.

Consider this the diary of "Jamie and James do India". It would be good to hear from you all so please leave your comments below.

Until tomorrow.......