www.bonbiforest.com

A couple of months ago Lee May, of the until recently named Bonbi Forest Indie Emporium, decided that she wanted to downscale her shop and concentrate on the designing of new and beautiful trinkets.

So she has slimmed the name back to Bonbi Forest and now concentrates entirely on her own designs – this can only be a good and wonderful thing, as a look at some of her beautiful artwork shows that she is a rare talent.

As always her site was a collaboration between the two of us as we aimed for a design that had a more minimal feel that still entirely reflects Lee May’s unique artistic world view.

There can also be seen a return of one of the world’s most reluctant male models, my good self. As it may be a little known fact that Lee May is my long term lady friend, she has also agreed to marry me next year! Potential clients can be assured that marriage is in no way a normal part of my web design contract.

The site was made with bespoke templates and designs and has a full ecommerce system as well as a content management system all of which can be controlled and updated by the client.

www.thestellarboutique.com

Stella McClure is the lady that runs The Stellar Boutique in which she sells her incredible selection of vintage, rare and, more often than not, one-off clothing. In her own words:

“Vintage clothing (to which it is most favourably known) is fast becoming the ‚Äòtrendiest‚Äô way to shop, and with today‚Äôs most prominent fashion power-houses continuing to look to the past to create future collections, it seems vintage clothing is the way forward.”

Stella wanted a store that reflected the diversity and quality of her wares and also reflected the name of her store, so the site is full of unique designs that combine astrological imagery with a vintage, psychedelic feel.

The overall site aesthetic benefits from Stella’s fantastic product photography, and if your wondering how the weather looks amazing in all the images, this is because Stella is based in Spain – where it appears to be very warm indeed, unlike the very cold UK summer we had during the project development….

The site has a full ecommerce system as well as a blog content management system all made to web standards.

You can see more of his stuff on his Flickr page

One of my highlights of the weekend was getting the chance to see Richmond Fontaine, a band that I’ve loved for years. Their new album ‘We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded Like a River‘ is wonderful – you can buy it here and I really recommend that you do

Here’s a track about getting a phone call from an old friend.

I wholeheartedly recommend that you listen to this wonderful, minimal, brooding album that despite the use of those words has a real sense of joy and positivity to it. The tracks ‘Islands’ and ‘Infinity’ I pretty much have fallen in love with and its the first album in a long time that had got me genuinely excited about people making music again.

In these times of the increased concern of how music should be delivered to the consumer it is wonderful to see someone forging their own path, creating something that turns music into a tactile, coveted, complete object that absorbs the listener both visually and aurally.

www.dirtyaddiction.com

Dirty Addiction create exciting, unique fashion. Chloe, the lady behind the company, designs all of the pieces and has created the world that makes up Dirty Addiction. Its very much a forward thinking internet company where Chloe has put herself at the forefront with a youtube channel, a stickam page and a variety of ways for her customers to interact with her, a great idea I think as it means that people feel involved in a vibrant, creative brand rather than merely a consumer.

The site is a full ecommerce store combined with a blog, meaning that Chloe can incorporate all the facets of her vision into one website.

It made me very happy to design it as it has what I think is the greatest colour combination of all time – Pink & yellow.

You can visit the Dirty Addiction by clicking on this link

www.number8hairdressing.com

For those who have ever met me the idea of me making a website for a hairdressing salon is probably quite a funny one. Mainly because I often forget to have my hair cut for months on end. But I digress….

Number 8 Hairdressing is a superb salon in Truro, Cornwall where you can have your hair wonderfully styled in a relaxed, informal, comfortable environment. The team there are lovely people and they make you feel very at home.

They wanted a site that showed the professionalism, modernity and quality of their work and so the site has a classy, polished feel with plenty of examples of the salon’s expertise.

The Number 8 Hairdressing website  is coded to web standards and is run using Wordpress so that the staff at the salon can add content, images and upcoming events to the site for themselves.

To have a look at the Number 8 Hairdressing website click here.

Phoenix are one of my favourite bands – I always remember when they were first played to me – it was on a trip from Brighton to Falmouth back in 2000. My good friend Bruce Ingram played us their debut album on our crappy car stereo in a 4 wheel drive vehicle that was smaller than a Ford Fiesta. I’ve been a fan ever since.

Their new album ‘Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix‘ is not only awesomely titled- it also sounds fantastic.

Take a look at their online place