Bead Design Studio

When I was a teenager, my favourite read was Elle South Africa. You know, the fashion magazine. So you can imagine how thrilled I was as a university student to get an internship for two weeks during my holidays. Nearly. Died.

Anyhoo, Elle shared their offices with Elle Decor. So I ended up helping their team too, and you know... I kind of enjoyed that more! I guess I should've realised my dreams of being a journalist were not all they were cracked up to be when I was far more interested in how the team at Elle Decor got their ideas, how they created those beautiful images in the magazines and all that delicious visual stuff.

One of the people I worked with at Elle Decor was Cathy O'Clery. Poor Cathy. I grilled her about everything. A question about this! And that! And she was very patient and lovely. I learned a lot. But one thing has stuck with me in the (many) years since then. When we were busy at a photo shoot, with this little breakfast scene set up with gorgeous crockery, chair, table, linens, flowers... I said, oh if only life were always like this. And Cathy looked at me and said, "But it can be!"

Since having my own place I've realized how nice it is, and how important to create an environment that you love, that you feel good in, and that looks gorgeous. She was right!

Wow, this has ended up being quite the wordy post. But I do have a point!

Reading my daily blog reads yesterday, I got to remodelista and there Cathy was. She's started her own company, Bead Design Studio, creating and selling the most divine cushions.















I LOVE the tie-dyed ones, and that the last one is called shongololo (millipede in Zulu). All the best to Cathy and the team. Go check out more of their lovely stuff on their website.