During our next stop of Blog Tour 2011, we began the day at Origin: The Contemporary Craft Fair held in the Old Spitalfields Market in London. The sun was shining and the market was already buzzing.

I have been to several craft shows across Canada and the US and it was interesting to see the differences in trends from walking the aisles of this show. Animals and nature were visibly present and seemed to have inspired several of the exhibitors within their pieces.

Sophie Woodrow

Rebecca J Coles

Abigail Brown

Debbie Smythe

Sarah Morpeth

Rachel Eardley

Lisa Swerling’s Glass Cathedrals

Lost and Found Design

Lost and Found Design

We ended the day with dinner at the Conran headquarters in Sir Terrence Conran’s Penthouse. It was a fabulous evening and being in the space that he used to live in felt like a window into his world and I couldn’t have felt any more inspired by it.

We could not have asked for a more beautiful morning to walk along the Thames to go and meet some fellow UK bloggers at the Poggenpohl showrooms. It was glorious.

After our meet-up, we all gathered at Tent London and it didn’t take me long to realise that in all the recent design shows that I have visited, this was by far my favourite. It had the perfect combination of experimental and commercial design without any corporate influence and I was inspired by virtually every single booth.

I was blown away by Tent London and should you ever find yourself in London during the London Design Festival, you must stop in.

Unfortunately, with such a busy BlogTour2011 schedule, I am unable to post each individual artist’s link so please visit the Tent London directory here.

After a pretty amazing and smooth flight, I headed into the heart of London to meet up with all of the incredible design bloggers at the Victoria & Albert museum. We had a guided tour of all the installations and room exhibitions while we marveled at not only being in London, but also being together as such an amazing group of peers who I all equally admire.

Regardless of the jet lag that began to set in, my eyes were wide open to such inspiring people and design.

If you wish to follow more coverage of Blogtour 2011, click here. I will be posting about our second soon at Tent London, the Origin Craft Fair and dinner at Sir Terence Conran’s penthouse so please keep watch.