Eastie Empire A/W 12

Something a bit different today, I received Eastie Empire's A/W 12 looking through the post some weeks ago and I've been meaning to share it ever since. Eastie Empire are a small British menswear label who take strong influence from traditional sportswear, key figures within their sporting field and the exploration of all things gentlemanly. Relative newcomers on the block, Eastie Empire was set up in 2009 by S. J. Weston and has gained a cult following for their simple, tailored and functional sporting-inspired garments. All made using locally sourced fabrics in factories around the British Isles.

I'm not the sportiest guy around and I don't think I'd be up for a 10k run is this stuff but you can imagine some big time sport stars in Victorian England playing a spot of tennis in some of their jersey pieces. The collection is inspired by those same names off the field too; who were donning soft, layered tailoring gear which would be worn at the whiskey club or taken off at drop of a hat for a good old fashioned fist fight. Each piece features the name of who it was inspired by, all which have been discovered after heavy research into old photography and archive materials at libraries, vintage fairs and art galleries."Matters Maketh Men" as they say in the trade.

For more info on Eastie Empire visit their site.

Matija Blagojevic's Milky Packaging

I think this is the second time I've featured milk based packaging in the last 6 months (see Anders Drage's Mountain Milk) but to heck with it, I love the stuff after all. Milky is a project by Matija Blagojevic which he worked on for his MA degree in Graphic Design. This is just a portion of the project which also features some really nifty cereal boxes, the designs work perfectly together. I'm not 100% sure who the target audience is but I'm pretty sure they would catch your eye in the isle, next to all the everyday plastic cartons. I'm sold.

You can see the whole of Blagojevic's Milky project here

In other news - Thank you for all your positive and uplifting comments last week, from when I was being a right grump-bags and down in the dumps. I think I needed that to snap me out of it, I may not be in a great place in terms of a career but there's a lot of people with much bigger problems to deal with. Also you might have noticed that Buckets and Spades is now Dot Com! You don't need to update any of your GFC, links or bookmarks; everything should work just the same. If you do notice you're having troubles  or my posts not showing up in your reader please do let me know.

Enjoy your weekend folks.

Store Visit - Peggs & Son, Brighton

Whilst I was in Brighton I took the opportunity to visit menswear store Peggs & son. I've been following their site and social networks for a while now and it was great have finally have a nose around in person. Stocking a wide range of contemporary and street brands such as Bedwin & The Heartbreakers, Folk, HUF, Norse Projects, Nudie, Obey and YMC along side more higher price point and cult status items from Buzz Rickson's Creep, Fidelity, Mister Freedom, The Hill-Side, Levi's Vintage Clothing, Lightening Bolt, Oliver Spencer, Porter, RRL, Tender.

This one a gem, it seems like menswear stores like Peggs & son are a rare breed in Brighton so it's definitely worth for stopping by if you're ever in the area. It's a stone's throw away from the beach, win/win.

Peggs & son - 39 Duke Street, Brighton East Sussex, BN1 1AG, England.

Trip To Brighton Part 2

1 & 2. The only day of sun on Brighton beach 3. View of the big wheel from the pier 4 & 5. Cool garden tools poster and a mega tasty banana and peanut butter milkshake at the Farm cafe 6. A room with a view 7. Perfect town houses in Hove 8. More coffee in Coho 9. Rolling with the rain 10. The lads as thimbles 11. No cycling outside the Brighton Pavilion 

Here's a few more photos from our recent trip to sunny Brighton town. Well I say sunny but we only had one dry day, it was a perfect crisp no clouds kind of day. We started the third day with rather wonderful selection of breads, scrambled eggs and mint tea at Jamie Oliver's Recipease (not just a cafe, you can even have cooking lessons there. Gutted I didn't buy the jam but apparently John Lewis stock his range) and headed off for a walk down the beach. I think this was the only time I saw a smile on Hollie's face that day, she had been coming down with a bug but it had got much worse by this point.  Plus the 3 pints the night before didn't help!

After a snails pace walk down the seafront, taking in all weird and wacky sights we headed onto the pier, but by that point Hollie was failing. I didn't really have a plan b but we stopped by the Farm cafe(where incidentally they used coffee from Small Batch Coffee, nice to keeping it local) for a quick bite to eat and a mammoth banana & peanut butter milkshake.

Hollie had had enough so I left her at the hotel and went for a giant walk around Hove, they have the most wonderful town houses I've ever seen. I walked along imagining what it would be like to live there and what a nice life you could make for yourself. I'm sure view of the beach from your living room doesn't come cheap but I reckon it's worth every penny. I was away for a couple of hours and after a sleep Hollie seemed to perk up, so all was not lost, we had another day ahead of us. Final day and the rain came but we didn't let that stop us hitting one of our favourite homeware stores, Utility. "No-nonsense household goods made by us and independent manufactures", that worked on us. We walked out with cups, wooden spoons, soaps, pencils and had a nice natter with the owners. I'd highly recommend checking out their store if you're ever in Brighton. It's a pleasure to shop there and brownie points for playing early Black Keys tracks too.

So that's enough Brighton for one year but I'm sure I'll be visiting again soon. Here's Part 1 if you missed it.

I'm heading down the London this Wednesday and I may have some free time, so if anyone's about and fancies a coffee just get in touch.

Shape Sifter

Never in my life have I wanted a flour sifter more than right now. I reckon this Tala sifter would make a cracking gift for any keen bakers out there. The Cook's Dry Measure would just top it off, one for the Christmas thinking caps.

Harrop & Penny stock loads of products you didn't know you wanted as well as  take some of the best product photography I've come across in ages. Definitely the find of the week (thanks to Hollie).

I just need to learn to bake something other than cookies.

Got The Blues

Sounds spot on, but in reality I'm not so sure. Buying a bike has been quite stressful up to now. In stock, out of stock, poor customer service, misleading information, lack of funds, more important things crop up.......just give me the bike already! Hopefully within two weeks I'll be all set and cycling up a storm but this hasn't been the simplest task. Who knew it would be so hard to spend money?

I also thought it might be slightly more straight forward finding a job after uni but more than a year on I've yet to make much progress in terms of anything sustainable. I'm just going to have to start making things happen on my own. I need some cheering up guys, what's new?

(Image source)

Trip to Brighton Part 1

1 & 2. Best way to start the day, breakfast at Jamie Oliver's Recipease 3. Old industry sign at Kensington Gardens 4. It's bike central down there, this Brooks saddle caught my eye 5. Tired traffic cone 6. "Here here", not sure what was up there there though 7. Cassette Lord near the prom 8. A trip around Brighton Pavilion, amazing 9 & 10. Walking down the beach on the only day of good weather, this rock seemed to stand out 11 & 12. Beach huts in Hove 13. Immense selection of ales at Craft Beer co. 14. Lunch at Bread & Milk 15. V-Dubz 16. Strong stuff at Small Batch Coffee

Last week Hollie and I headed down to Brighton for a few days for our annual "late" summer break. I really couldn't wait, our Berlin trip fell through due to lack of money so I suggested Brighton, as Hollie hadn't been and knew she would love it. I was right, she did! We spent 4 days wondering around, stumbling across some pretty brilliant coffee shops, cafes and pubs along with vintage and independent stores; I was glad we didn't have too much planed as we might not have come across these gems otherwise. I'd been to Small Batch Coffee in Hove before but we checked out the Jubilee St. branch, which is their flagship. Along with great coffee it's got some serious people watching window space. Check out their neat cups above. We also had a few coffees in Coho in The Lanes, which is another I'd recommend. Jamie Oliver's Recipease is als  well worth a visit, we had breakfast there three days in a row; best scrambled egg I've ever had. Knowing that we both love a good ale, our friend Nic recommended we pay a visit to a super specialist pub called Craft Beer co., we were not disappointed. This is seriously the place to be if you like discovering new beers, really nice modern environment and clued up staff. Apparently there's a couple of them in London too?

Hollie was really keen to visit the Royal Pavilion, we both hadn't been before and whoa, we were totally blown away. It's pretty spectacular on the outside but the inside is on another level. The audio commentary stated, "How did the hall make you feel, where you shocked?" Hell yes, it was one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever been in. It's hard to get your head around that is was built for George IV in built in 1787, 

I've got loads more photos to share and we picked up a few bits and pieces so I'll save that for a part 2. Over the past couple of years I've spent quite a bit of time down in Brighton, each time it makes me think how ace it would be to live there, and now I think I've got Hollie on board. That's the dream. 

Have any of your guys been down to Brighton?