Sugar and Spice...

One of the things we love about what we do is pushing the promotion of our designers as much as possible. Exposure through our blog, shop or exhibition is always great, and then a few weeks ago we were contacted by the award-winning design company Brinkworth. 



Having known the guys at Brinkworth for a number of years, they were looking for an illustrator who's work they could use to grace the walls in a new Indian restaurant project they were finalising the design for.








We instantly thought of Ben Phe as the perfect addition to a modern Indian establishment, as his intricate illustrations on both paper and glass, have a certain ethnic quality to them. Brinkworth were looking for a quick turnaround, so we put them in touch with Ben, so he could arrange a selection of his prints to be used.



The restaurant in question was Cinnamon Soho, the newest addition to the Cinnamon brand owned by Vivek Singh, with previous restaurants Cinnamon Club and Cinnamon Kitchen already established eateries.











The moody interior with a few flashes of colour provide the perfect back-drop to Ben's work, the first of many walls we hope his detailed pieces will be on show for all to see...

In store...

After a good first week open to the public, (although slightly hampered by the incredible rainfall), next week we have a few things in-store...

On Saturday, illustrator CM Carter was with us drawing live and she was offering some her cartoonist tips and tricks, so we hope that next week's in-store activities will have the same draw...

Monday, Tuesday 23/24th; With graduating designers coming to that stressful part of finalising work for degree shows, we will be on-hand with a portfolio surgery, offering advice on how best to present work to stand out from the crowd for the shows, and for those all important first interviews...

Wednesday 25th; Textile designer Sandy Powell will be in-store with her sewing machine for a live demonstration on how she creates her beautiful pieces...

Friday 27th; Not only will we have a late opening next Friday (open from 10-8) illustrator Kayleigh Hadley will be sketching here too, send us some of your favourite song and movie quotes, it might get turned into a one-off hand-drawn illustration!

Saturday 28th; The last day of the exhibition, and our official first birthday, so expect a few extra bits and bobs from our six designers making there way in from the on-line shop for one day only...

Unlucky for some...

On a leafy street in SE15, set half-way between the grittiness of Peckham, and the affluence of East Dulwich, we set about opening our very first pop-up exhibition on Friday 13th...

We were slightly dubious about the already over-used term of 'pop-up', but in our case it pretty much summed up the two week showcase we had planned, and although one of the biggest storms hit the streets of South London literally an hour before we opened the doors, we couldn't have asked for a better turn-out.

We were joined by five of the six designers, who were on-hand to talk about their work, and celebrate the launch following a good few months of preparation and meetings.

Of course none of this would have been possible without the support of TheHouseWith, offering us the use of their perfectly proportioned space. A former photographer's studio, it has been the blank canvas we have been looking for to show off the curated collection of new designers.

New illustrations by Kayleigh Hadley and CM Carter sit opposite each other towards the rear of the shop, and create a rebellious angst-ridden teenagers bedroom style to the space. 

Silver jagged offerings from Roisin Connolly and Michael Carroll segment the exhibition, and act as a natural pause point before the bold and bright work from Ben Phe and Sandy Powell which add a punchy blast of colour towards the front. 

There was also time for Ben to add our very own over-the-door sign in his signature style, with CM Carter adding her illustrations not only to the window, but to our open/closed sign as well. This was a true collaboration from all involved, making it all the more special for us.

For this first exhibition, we wanted to offer a range of works and specialisms to highlight the cross-section of talent that exists across the country, and from the response from Friday night's launch, everyone was as excited as we were to bring these six new designers to the fore...

Kayleigh Hadley

CM Carter

Michael Carroll

Roisin Connolly

Ben Phe

Sandy Powell

TheHouseWith and Look Like Love present Pop-up People - 14th-28th April - 174, Bellenden Road, London SE15 4BW

And the winner is...

A couple of weeks ago we launched a competition to win our first limited edition canvas bag, plus a £10 voucher to spend on-line at Look Like Love...we asked who we had chosen to grace the bag itself from the six designers taking part in the Pop-up, and the answer is CM Carter.

We looked at several illustrations for the final bag design, but felt the piece from CM Carter not only best represented us, and our collaboration with The HouseWith, it looked pretty cool too!

Everyone with the correct answer was put into a hat and the winner picked at random, and we are pleased to announce that Amelia Irta is the winner! Well done Amelia, we will be sending the bag, and £10 voucher this week, as well as a set of the designer postcards produced for the Pop-up itself.

But don't be disappointed, we have the bags for sale on-line right now for the bargain price of £5!
Head over to the shop to pick up your own limited edition bag, or if you are in South London over the next couple of weeks, we have them available to buy directly from the Pop-Up...

In it to win it...

We promised earlier in the week we would be celebrating the launch of our pop-up exhibition with a competition... 

So, for your chance to win one of our Look Like Love/The House With limited edition canvas bags plus an all important £10 voucher to spend on-line at Look Like Love, all you have to do is answer the following question...

We have 6 designers showcasing their work at our exhibition from the 14th April, but who's design have we chosen to grace the bags themselves?

Answers on a postcard...no not really, just always wanted to say that!

To be in with a chance of winning this already coveted bag (well by us anyway!) and a £10 voucher to spend on-line, email us at looklikelove.popup@gmail.com by 12pm on Thursday 12th April.

We will announce the winner on Saturday 14th April, and as you know, you have to be in it to win it!

Good luck...and if you're not the lucky winner, the bags will be available to buy on-line from Saturday 14th April too...

The small print...one answer per email address will be allowed, and the winner will be chosen at random from the list of correct emails received. Entries will not be accepted by anyone associated with TheHouseWith or Look Like Love. The winner will be notified by email, and then announced throughout our social media network. The bag and voucher will be sent within 14 days of the close of the competition. The voucher to the value of £10.00 will have a discount code that will be able to be used for one transaction at the Look Like Love on-line shop and will be valid for 6 months from date shown on voucher. After this date the voucher will expire and will not be redeemable - if anyone has any queries with regards to the T&C's please contact us@looklikelove.co.uk

Blog & Buy...

As part of our continuing efforts to get our new designers names and work out there for all to see, we are excited and privileged to have been asked to be part of the Spring showcase at BlogAndBuySale...

BlogAndBuySale was set-up by James and Josephine, and they understand in much the same way as us, the importance of getting creativeness showcased and promoted. It's all about working with, and supporting independent artists and designers, but instead of having a single on-line shop, they have created a virtual design fare.

They hand-pick a selection of sellers who each get their own 'stall' to trade from, and over the course of four weeks, assist in the further promotion of each stall to encourage more traffic, and ultimately more sales for the individual sellers.

To date they have achieved huge press attention from Creative Review and Digital Artist, and have also gone from interviewee to interviewers having been in conversation with Big Cartel and Made.com recently.

We hope you have a chance to not only check out our stall, but all the other creative sellers we are neighbours with this month...it's the ultimate showcase for creative talent...

Pop-up People...

From the heart of Peckham in the last two weeks of April, we will be hosting a collaborated pop-up exhibition with design company TheHouseWith. We've been dropping hints about who, when and where, but since a meeting with THW last week, we now have our final six exhibitors decided upon.

We presented all designers who applied to be a part of the exhibition, and would like to thank everyone for their interest, but numbers had to be limited due to the space, and we hope you are as excited as we are to host these hugely talented bunch of new designers.

The event is to also coincide with our first year as Look Like Love, and the designers exhibiting are a true reflection of the journey we have had over the last 12 months, as some of the first designers that caught our eye during last years shows, and initial research.

Ok, so enough waffle...here are the six you will be able see next month, some of who you will be familiar with from our support and promotion, who we will be proudly representing in Peckham!

Ben Phe - Illustrator, newest edition to Look Like Love and member of Art School Disco...

Michael Carroll - Sustainable Furniture Designer who we got chatting with at New Designer's 2011 and soon to have pieces available through our shop...

Roisin Connolly - Jewellery Designer from Dundee who uses acid-etching to create her amazing pieces...

Sandy Powell - Textile Designer who works with felt and recycled leather and will add a bit of softness to proceedings...

Kayleigh Hadley - Lyric-inspired and movie-loving illustrator is currently experimenting with lino-prints for a new collection...

CM Carter - Illustrator and all-round doodler, our first blog post, so it would be rude not to include her, and her amazing caricatures into the mix...

We'll be posting more details about the designers, the work you can expect to see, and information about dates and opening times in the next few weeks...our first literal watch this space moment...we cannot wait!