op art ceramics with embroidered walls

Kitchenware drawing on 1960s style op art and new approaches to wallpaper design are among the new products offered by Yoyo Ceramics and on view during its OPEN STUDIO showcase at Cockpit Arts in Holborn this weekend. The enterprising ceramicist Helen Johannessen, who was behind the successful Is That Plastic? hard take on Tupperware five years ago, has just launched a Blimey O Riley bone china tea and toast set and she has begun to collaborate with wallpaper embroiderer Claire Coles on innovative wall surfaces and lighting.

hackney's house of straw is sign of buildings to come

Plastered bales of straw are the main material for an innovative new building at Hackney City Farm, an education and training facility completed by Amazonails in December. The building points the way forward for companies and clients looking for sustainable and less environmentally damaging forms of construction over the years ahead.

The materials for a house built with straw bales cost about the same as those needed for a conventional timber-frame house, but significantly less than brick and block. A family-sized strawbale house in the UK would cost about £60,000 plus the price of the land. The UK currently produces 4 million tons of straw a year more than it needs. This is sufficient to build 250,000 homes a year.

Strawbale buildings are not the fire risk you might imagine. They have been subjected to rigorous testing by Amazonails, who say that the bales resist burning for the same reason it is difficult to burn a telephone directory. It is easy to set fire to one page, but not to a dense block of paper. When plastered, strawbale walls have an even greater resistance to fire.

Design consultant Barbara Jones, the director of Amazonails, recently supervised the construction of the largest strawbale building in the UK, the new offices and auction room of fine art auctioneers G E Sworder and Sons of Stansted Mountfitchet in Essex, which will open in May. The building was constructed using a new technique called ‘compressive framing’ in which the roof is supported on a timber frame while the strawbale walls are constructed. It is then lowered onto the strawbales, which become the loadbearing structure. The roof then protects the strawbale walls from the weather while they are being plastered.

Strawbale building techniques will be demonstrated at this year's Ecobuild show, an annual event dedicated to sustainable forms of design and construction, at Earl's Court from 26-28 February.

designer kelly shaw wins river island fashion award

Hackney fashion designer Kelly Shaw has won second place and £2000 in this year's River Island awards for her 1950s style womenswear. Victoria Beckham is rumoured to have purchased three of her dresses. "I've been trying to push the boundaries of fashion, rather than just staying inside them," Kelly told the Hackney Gazette, adding that the work of photographer Martin Parr is an inspiration for her designs.