Rebecca May and Michael Wild are both ceramicists based in Manchester, UK. They also happen to be two of my oldest and closest friends, supporting me through untold dramas, tragedies, good times, successes and failures. A few weeks ago, they opened a new private gallery in Chorlton, Manchester, displaying and selling some of the most gorgeous things I’ve clapped peepers on in ages. Bonjour, May Wild Ceramics!

As well as Rebecca and Michael’s own ceramics, the gallery is currently showcasing works by select other Manchester-based ceramic artists and designers: Amy Daniels, Sarah Malone, John Slade, Sylvia Glover and Paul Reid. Items on display and for sale range from the purely decorative, such as the fabulous pigeons with gold plated bird shits by Michael Wild (above), to the brilliantly functional — such as Sylvia Glover’s beautiful mugs, jugs and bowls (below).

One thing that strikes you as you enter this light-filled room is that everything within is incredibly well considered — all the items are happily clustered in aesthetically pleasing groups (which work en masse just as well as when isolated). The blend of beautiful and useful is perfect.

Some of the pieces are far more sculptural than other ceramics you may have seen, such as Sarah Malone’s showstopping wall piece, made up of hundreds of tiny butterflies. Each butterfly glazed in red on the underside and attached to the wall by a teeny pin, and the overall effect is so, so pretty (below).

Some of you who have read this blog since day one will recognise Amy Daniels fantastical sculptures, as I exhibited her work in the original TIMBER shop in London. They are bold, weird, and extremely well executed (below).

What I love the most is that Rebecca and Michael have chosen work to complement their own, and have also found a wonderful balance between affordable luxury and decadent decoration.

Fucking love all of it. Oh man, could spend all day there. In fact I did overstay my welcome on the three times I invited myself round.

LOOK AT THIS PERFECT BOWL!

May and Wild have chosen to leave their hardworking kiln on display in the gallery space, which I thought was an ace touch — it’s really cool taking a peek inside and seeing how it all works. This sunny gallery is calm, reflective, full of beauty, and contains things that you can afford to buy. What’s not to love?!

Visit by appointment by emailing maywildceramics@gmail.com

Like their Facebook page here!

Check the May Wild Ceramics website for queries, details of pieces and prices, opening times, and anything else…

Well, here we are in November — nearly December! I don’t know about you, but this year has gone so incredibly quickly for me that I can’t quite believe it. The idea that my business partner and I are almost ready to launch our new company is just too exciting! Productivity and creativity are elusive creatures, but when they cosmically combine the outcome is thrilling.

Autumn is so mega, innit?

A number of my friends have had a fantastically brilliant year too: starting businesses, getting record contracts, making art/music/fashion… I’m very proud of and very inspired by these people, so I here are some heads up for names to watch in the near future. I think these people will be ULTRA SUCCESSFUL.

Years ago, I worked in a health food co-operative in Manchester called The Eighth Day. It’s a local institution, combining a lusciously well-stocked, ethically-minded vegetarian grocery store with a healthy and comforting cafe. One of my colleagues, Jen, was the buyer for the beauty products and cosmetics and wow – did she know her stuff. Unsurprisingly to all of us, she has since gone on to start her own skincare range created from all natural ingredients and produced with minimal damage to the environment.

Unique Naturals is a UK based company and all of its materials are from UK suppliers, all of its printing, packaging and production is also UK created. A brilliant feat! Containing only the good stuff and none of the bad, I was keen to test these products for myself.

Jen sent me a beautifully packaged selection as a gift, and I have been using the ‘Nurture’ serum every day for the last four weeks – with impressive results. I am currently getting very little sleep, my diet is haphazard and my life is fairly stressful at the moment. However, this gorgeous product has kept my skin plumped and smooth, hydrated and calm — even though I run and walk everywhere in the elements, and am obsessed with drying central heating when I’m inside (naughty).

Fast becoming the skincare brand to covet, Unique Naturals can be cooed over and purchased from The Grocery in London and The Eighth Day in Manchester, just for starters. I have no doubt that Jen – who is a proper grafter, as well as being absolutely lovely – will steer this wonderful brand to a glittering crescendo of success. I bloody well hope you all go and try these products, for they are not only ethical but are EFFECTIVE too. Congratulations Jen and team, what you have achieved is awesome! (Follow Unique Naturals on Twitter here!)

Also during my Eighth Day years, I met a handsome young fellow called Sam. Sam used to be in a band called Ten Bears, who were pretty ace. But then he formed a new band, called Swiss Lips. And Swiss Lips are WAY RAD. And Swiss Lips scored a mega record contract with Sony Epic and are coming for you… Amazingly catchy and slick pop music to dance to, performed by a load of well fit lads — what’s not to like, y’all?

Check this shit out — they are currently hosting a series of events and parties in conjunction with Vice Magazine in a wicked space just off Brick Lane in Shoreditch. Go and SEE THEM WITH YOUR EYES!! You will love ‘em… (details on the Swiss Lips website). Be quick though! The closing party is very soon. They’re touring with Ladyhawke at the moment too, so catch a live date if you can. Their shows are super happy, vibrant and there are always LOADS of fit people in the audience. (Follow Swiss Lips on Twitter here!)

Semi-attractive bunch of losers for hire

And as always, these people are making very cool things: Lisa Stannard, More Tea Vicar! & Wonderhaus.

LOVE YOU ALL, KEEP UP THE AMAZINGNESS. It keeps me on my toes and makes me positively buzz with pride!

Just look at that face! She matches all of my interiors as well, which pleases me on an aesthetic level. She’s ruined all my house plants though. SRSLY annoying.

The underbelly of a kitten is the softest thing in the whole world. It’s like putting your face in a vat of marshmallows and cotton jersey.

Aaaah, she’s a beauty, so she is.

I’ll be back soon with some exciting news about our accessories label!
Peace x

Here are some flamingos. Just because.

I don’t know why she was wearing this army get-up, or why she was so darned happy about it. All I know is that I WANT TO LOOK LIKE THIS ALL OF THE TIME.

A few years ago, I ran a competition on this very blog where a reader could win a gift package if they retweeted a link to the blog. The competition was won by a woman called Sian, and she sent me an absolutely lovely email to say thank you. We started following each other on Twitter, and soon realised that we were incredibly similar; not least in terms of our sense of humour. Over the last two years, this Twitter interaction segued into emails and a genuine, solid friendship was formed. The only thing was . . . we had never met!

I know, it’s weird. We have said to each other that we are essentially penpals: modern-day penpals. The digital age, eh? Anyway, a few months back, we started a new blog together based on our mutual bemusement at the interior “design” phenomenon that is twigs in a vase. You might have seen it (check it out here). It started as an in-joke between the two of us, and then became more and more popular with other people sending us photos they had snapped of twigs in vases all over the country. THEY ARE FUCKING EVERYWHERE, SERIOUSLY. This joint blog has made us laugh so, so much and we knew that we had to meet in the flesh. We knew what each other looked like, ate for dinner, listened to on the iPod, etc; yet we had never sat opposite each other in a cafe and laughed and laughed like “normal” friends.

So, after a thwarted night out clubbing, Sian came to visit me on Saturday in my current domicile of Manchester. I live here because my business partner does, and I miss London terribly (which is where Sian lives), but I was looking forward to showing someone round with fresh eyes but mainly just being able to look this amazing woman in the eyes, in the ACTUAL eyes, and tell her how just how much of an ace friend she has been to me.

We joked about photographing every aspect of the day and updating our Twitter feeds so our other mates (some who we’ve met, some who we haven’t) could join in on the inevitable LOLZ but in the end we just talked, and laughed, and ate, and talked, and laughed, and drank, and talked . . . It’s bizarre to think about it, but we basically knew everything about each other already. There was no awkwardness or stilted awkward pauses, it was if we had always known each other (aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah).

We did done loads of megalolz fings like get our photo taken in front of a window display of hundreds of mini Twigs In A Vase (TIAV) with the sign I had made for Sian, and the twigs in a vase she had brought for me (which is also what I had planned to get for her but fucking work didn’t leave me enough time, great minds eh?!!), and drank espresso martinis and red wine until she had to get her train back.

The next TIAV AGM will take place very soon . . .

When people take the piss out of things like Twitter I just casually ignore it, because through Twitter I have met some of the most incredible, strong, beautiful, interesting, intelligent, wise and wonderful men and women in the world. Some of them were friends of actual “real-life” friends, some were random people who I started interacting with, some were people I knew a little beforehand but came to know much better through daily conversations. It’s brilliant. It really is. Sian, Steph, Lesley, Lizzie, Sharmila, Vivienne, Sarah, Kimberley, Martin, Nick, Rhodri, Matt, Delia, Chris, Dan . . . the list goes on and on. You are all absolutely MEGA.