Storage: Trunks, Chests, Boxes and Blogs
Storage trunks will always remind me of school. Although I was not a boarder the beginning and end of term would always bring the flurry of activity associated with arrivals and departures, and signalling a beginning or an end. Large storage trunks and chests, whether shiny and new, or battered and bruised, and filled with the owners belongings would be stacked to one side awaiting to be taken away and unpacked of their practical items and treasured memories. Storage trunks also call to mind a bygone era when travel to distant places meant embarking on a long, and often tedious journey and having to ensure that you had everything you would need with you, requiring something sturdy to keep them safe in. I came across some trunks and boxes that take inspiration from Africa, and through their designs tell the stories of journeys that began long ago, but are still continuing as they embrace and are reshaped by ever changing times. Created by textile graduate Siobhan Harrison, Blanche Dlys Designs breathes new life into vintage and discarded pieces of furniture, restoring them with colour, pattern and texture in the form of selected fabrics and surface treatments. Hand finished, no two items will be alike and each item bears the marks of its previous life which adds a sense of the preciousness of treasured items passed on for safe keeping, making them modern heirlooms. Siobhan has used a range of fabrics including vibrant wax cloth fabrics to line the interior of one trunk and on another to cover the exterior.

The words modern heirlooms, also describe Tattoo Dreams' wooden boxes, tables, mirrors and other accessories that feature rubber stamped designs, giving the sense of times gone by, and conveying the thoughts, imagery and inspirations of their creator, designer Patricia Hecker. The box shown here is adorned with Adinkra Symbols and was a commissioned design. The box's small size and sliding lid makes it ideal for keeping items like jewellery, keys or little bits of stationary safe; however I can easily picture the same style and design on much larger scale as a coffee table or storage box for household furnishings like blankets and linens, in fact when I first saw the image that's what I thought it was!

African Daydreams is Two
Marking another year of researching, writing and blogging African Daydreams turns two on Sunday; and as the storage for my inspirations it continues to take me on an amazing journey of discovery; one that has begun to overflow the confines of its space. African Daydreams has given me the opportunity to I meet whether virtually or in person many interesting and inspirational people, organisations and businesses. 

Thank you to those who have shared their finds and their own designs, and thank you to all who have stopped by to say hi, for your words of encouragement and for sharing in the same enthusiasm I have when I come across something that inspires and delights.