Design Centre Chelsea Harbour - Design Week 2010 London

I found myself suddenly in London due to family commitments....my life is usually like this, never a dull moment... jetlagged or not, I was transported by my son in law Oliver Adam, see his beautiful bespoke rugs (http://www.cb-parsua.com/ ) to a wonderful feast at Chelsea Harbour for Design Week 2010 http://www.designcentrechelseaharbour.co.uk

I have visited this centre on previous visits, but having Design Week was the icing on the cake

I traipsed in & out of many of the fabulous showrooms seeing their latest releases, drinking in ideas, stimulated by colour & amazing designs, all of this within the 3 glass domes, up and down stairs, in & out of lifts....the place was buzzing with decorators, designers, hearing many different accents & nationalities sourcing for their clients - so good to know that the market is coming out of the recent gloomy times

I often ponder why we don't use colour & design more in Australia, we seem to be a little conservative somehow, playing it safe.... far too often methinks

The Victoria & Albert Museum has a fabulous Quilt Exhibition at the moment, if you follow textiles it's well the trip, http://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/future_exhibs/Quilts/index.html

My favourite store is Liberty www.liberty.co.uk ..... I always get lost inside for hours, don't just think Liberty prints, it's an off beat place, amazing window displays, unique pieces - you might be surprised ....the furniture floor always gets my attention. From Arts & Crafts, industrial, retro .......check out their use of fabrics - always such a different look - and that's just what I like....never boring or mainstream

A couple of great foodie suggestions if you are in London, www.thewaterway.co.uk & http://www.ruby.uk.com/idlewild/index.htm - try them out ... no disappointments here !

Am back in Sydney now, luckily missing the Icelandic volcanic fall out.....see you next time

Pam Fielding, roving textiles fanatic

Australian International Furniture Fair 2010

David, Carol, Pam and I were able to steal a little bit of time away from the showrooms last week to visit the Australian International Furniture Fair & Decoration + Design. It's a great opportunity for us to stay up to date with new products within the furniture industry. It's beneficial for us to see what the design trends are at the moment and where they are heading in the future, along with some beautiful new homewares that will accent both furniture and interiors. It was an enjoyable day in which we gained some valuable insight to assist us in our own design and development along with providing us with more depth in what we can offer our customers.

Be on the look out in our showrooms over the next few months for some beautiful new homewares and accent pieces.

Coopers Store Entertaining You Outdoors This Summer!

We are very excited about our new dedicated range of outdoor furniture. For years people have been coming in to our showrooms asking if our beautiful tables could be used outdoors, well finally we can say yes! We now have 2 unique designs in amazing recycled Blackbutt and Jarrah, locally made here in Sydney. These can be custom made to suit your size requirements. We also have exclusive to Coopers selected outdoor dining chairs in a range of plain and vibrant colours. Additional outdoor furniture is available upon request. Only available at the Taren Point showroom.

JANUARY 20% BONUS SPEND SALE ENDS SUNDAY 31ST JANUARY

January 20% Bonus Spend Sale

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First Blog

Welcome to the first Coopers Store Blog. There will be three of us regularly contributing to this blog, Pamela Fielding, Mark Wardle, and myself, Vaughan Cooper. Let us say from the beginning this blog will not change your life or perspective on life in any real substantial way. Our only hope is that it will be a good and informative read from week to week. This Blog will be used to keep you updated with everything that is happening and upcoming at Coopers Store. So if you want to know when the sales, new releases, product launches, and VIP nights are, then we encourage you to visit this blog more than just today. We each share a passion for design and creativity, so in our own unique ways we will be sharing that with you as well. It is our promise to you that this blog will be updated weekly by one of us!

Let me start off by saying I love what we do; designing and building furniture I believe is a privilege. Despite the mass production market taking over the furniture industry (I’ll leave that for another discussion) I am proud to be part of a small group of furniture companies that still recognize the value and the need to make beautiful and high quality furniture. We have a responsibility to not make throw away furniture but to make furniture in such a way that it could be the antiques for the next generation to enjoy. At the end of the day the only mark we can use to measure our success is whether our clients are happy and proud of the furniture we have made them, if the furniture is fulfilling its task and is pleasing for people to have in their homes then we are successful, we’ll let the future judge us on whether they are worthy to become antiques or not?

Kind Regards

Vaughan