We starting a band!!!

Ok, not quite!

But I am very proud and thrilled to announce (drumroll please!)that StylEAST has grown up and expanded! It is not just a blog, but now a super duper interior design consultancy firm! And we do furniture too!

Furthermore, StylEAST is not just me on my own, but I now have a very talented partner-in-crime ready to take on the world, one-house-office-shop-restaurant-guest house at a time!!

So let me introduce you to Carina, my very capable and talented co-owner of StylEAST!

We go a long way back to the vinyl halls of university (our hair looked alot different back then!) A lot of late nights working, crazy project deadlines and the usual student fun- and-games along the way, we both landed up across the pond in London, trying to make our international designer dreams come true!

Carina spent 3 years getting to grips with the London weather, and interesting terraced houses, before deciding to come home to her native East London. After a few years apart (After London, I was forging my career in Port Elizabeth and then Jozi!) fate would have it that I moved to little-ol’ East London.
We then reconnected, plotted and planned and formulated our dream: To combine our experiences, expertise and creative talent to open up our very own design firm … (with alot more awesome things to come, watch this space!)

So this is StylEAST! This is the exciting news we have been waiting to share!

Please do keep reading our blog, we will be sure to keep you updated with our plans as we go along, share what inspires us, give away some trade tips, not to mention share with you the amazing projects we get to make realities! We are also going to be having a very cool feature called “at home with…” where we will be showcasing some very stylish locals and the amazing homes they stay in!
We are extremely passionate about the city we live in, and will continue to showcase all the very cool things happening locally too!

We are open for business! So please do drop us a note at: bridget@styleast.co.za and carina@styleast.co.za OR you can chat to us on: +27 72 033 2322 (Bridget) and + 27 82 898 7249 (Carina)

Get to know Carina (as interviewed by Bridget)

1. What is your favourite colour?
My lounge wall, black as night, it’s a super dark dramatic blue, makes any seasonal favourite colors pop!

2. Design hero
When I’m big I want to be wonderful like the Wunders crowd… I’ve just turned 30 so I’ll be big in a year!

3. Favourite thing to do on a Sunday?
Playing Pinterest on my iPad and catching up with my friends on The Vampire Diaries. I don’t like to leave the house after 12 on a Sunday, I just don’t.

4. Current hobby
Wedding

5. Loves
I love East London summers! Born and bred Border beach baby!

6. What is on your bedside table?
Earphones, Gareth Cliff’s “Book on Everything” (which has been gathering dust for 3 months), too many bobby pins (no wonder I can never find any!) and a cold cup of coffee!

7. What do you like collecting?
Jars for my wedding. In fact if anybody wants to contribute to my collection, please email me!

Get to know Bridget (as interview by Carina)

1. What is your favourite colour?
Grey of course, all 500 shades of it! (read my previous blog entry on this colour obsession)

2. Design hero
I am very proudly South African, and think we are living in such an exciting design time in our country. I think the furniture that Haldane Martin has designed has become iconic, and pioneered the way forward for other young designers in our country. I’m also a huge fan of Okha, Tonic and Egg Design.

3. If I wasn’t an interior designer I’d be a ….. designer?
Couldn’t and wouldn’t want to be anything else!

4. Next business trip?
New York! It has been on my list of places-i-gotta-see-soon for as long as I can remember! It classifies as a business trip as I know it will inspire my soul!

5. Why do you prefer EL to Jhb?
It is in my blood! As much as I love the big city lights and buzz of the big smoke, my roots and my heart is here. (Oh, and there is a sea! Big plus!)

6. Your next hobby?
I guess I am a foodie! I am obsessed with cooking, recipe books, reality cooking-tv, (eating yummy things!) and kitchen gadgets!

7. Latest fashion obsession?
Stripes. Can’t buy enough of them! Especially black-and-white ones! Its a problem. Just come and look in my closet!