Style resolutions: Top Bird from Wee Birdy

I really admire bloggers whose sites have a very strong USP, and today's interviewee is one of those whose blog has a unique identity. Top Bird's blog, Wee Birdy, features lots of things I love, which is not surprising, as her interests are primarily birds and tea (I would say mine are tea, and birds), with a definite London focus. I can't reveal all of my favourite posts here, as I especially enjoyed a tea-related series she ran before Christmas, and still have intentions of stealing some of those ideas and passing them off as my own....(no, not really.)

As a fellow Londoner, I really like the special shopping spots which she features, like this one and this one. And just to demonstrate how influential the blogging world can be, I was so impressed by this review of afternoon tea at Liberty, that I headed there myself only a few days later.

Wee Birdy was featured in UK Vogue's secret address book in December, so I'm thrilled to have Top Bird taking part in my humble series.

Thank you, Top Bird, for taking part!

Style resolutions: Top Bird from Wee Birdy

Q. What was your favourite design find/achievement of 2008?

A. I guess 2008 is the year that I discovered the magical world of Rob Ryan. He’s an incredibly talented London artist and I was so excited when he opened his first shop on Columbia Road. You can pick up quite a few affordable Ryan artworks and homewares here, like hand-carved wooden keys and hand-screenprinted vintage shot glasses that you won’t find anywhere else.

Q. What are your style resolutions for 2009?

A. In terms of interiors, I’m still working on transforming our London flat into something that’s more reflective of “us” (that’s my husband and myself). We packed up our lives in Sydney two years ago and have since been living in fully-furnished apartments in London. Our current flat is a very pretty, light-filled attic flat in South-East London, but as we rented it fully-furnished it suffers from being “unoffensive” in a bland beige, hotel room kind of way.

The trouble is that all the art, furniture and decorative stuff that gave our Sydney home a personality and “soul” is currently locked up in storage. So the challenge is finding small, inexpensive items to inject a bit of our “style” without necessarily doubling up on what we’ve already got. And let me tell you, it’s way more difficult that just chucking around a few throw cushions! (Although the hideous brown suede ‘art’ was the first thing to go!)

On my ‘design’ wishlist for this year are:

· Karen Hilton Union Jack and Queen’s head cushions.
· A pigeon light by Ed Carpenter from Thorsten van Elten.
· A vintge Anglepoise lamp for my desk.
· A vintage Noguchi paper lamp for the living room.
· Jonathan Adler needlepoint cushions.
· Danish wooden birds by Kristian Vedel.
· A blue vase by New York ceramist Judy Jackson.

Q. Which style blog(s) will you be reading in 2009?

A. All of my favourite style and interiors blogs are consistently excellent, with lots of eye candy and inspirational finds. I love all the design blogs I link to on Wee Birdy, but my most favourite are:

Apartment Therapy
Bloesem
Design* Sponge
Please Sir
Delicious Industries
Oh Joy
Emma's Design Blogg
Grain Edit
Spotted by Normann Copenhagen
Retro to Go

And of course, Tea for Joy!