The V&A What is Luxury exhibition. This was a difficult exhibition as much of it seemed subjective but there were some gems such as this 3D printed coat by Iris Van Herpen and hair combs made from real hair set in resins. There was is certain richness where seventeenth century objects sit alongside contemporary on equal footing. Each a labour of love and passion created with incredible skill and dexterity, with hours, months, years put into each piece. Perhaps the ultimate luxury is the luxury of time.

At the VM Display Show, Business Design Centre for research and meetings with old and new suppliers. Textures and tapestries in a compressed layered space.

Tate Modern Sonia Delaunay exhibition. Simultanism, colour contrast and pattern in fashion. textiles and art. The confidence and exploration of the decadent 1920’s are here exemplified. The moving patterns displayed on continuous loop could well be a Vivienne Westward squiggle print window coming soon.

Marlene Dumas exhibition, The Image as Burden is a haunting exhibition somewhat disturbed and invasive, it reaches in and takes a part of you away

I’m in Milan for a few days 15-170415 for the Furniture Fair. It’s always good to re-visit Milan a city where design and craft come together in every object. Everything is displayed to perfection, stacked Louis Vuitton stools, a Neo-Rococo rocking horse, chandelier leather samples or swinging rope chairs hanging below an ornate ceiling. There was even a little time to view the architecture of Sante Maria Della Grazie and have brunch at Pasticceria Marchesi. We have an in store party tonight and it will be packed. The event management side of my work has continued to increase.

Today we are at Wanderland, the Hermes exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery. A strange fantasy themed world of flaneurs, choreographed sets, that provides some unusual surprises along with exquisite Hermes craftsmanship. En route to the show we pass a piece of chrome sheeting covered in rain turning its reflection into an Impressionist painting. Useful but when?

Operetta, with Joanna Marie Skillett.

A living poster outside the V&A, poorly executed but the idea has plenty of potential.

In a Glasgow gallery two puppets hanging on a gallery wall remind me of the puppets that Paul Klee made for his son.

Even as a member of the V&A I had to book this visit months ago and I have been looking forward to it ever since. That day has arrived and I am at the Alexander McQueen exhibition. Where do I start and how do I quantify what I have just seen without gushing lyrical about one of the most intensely emotional experiences of my life. To describe this work as fantastic, incredible, perfection, sublime does it no justice. I walk from room to room with tears streaming down my face, so much talent and such a waste. 110210 will forever be remembered as one of the saddest days of my life. Every room is without fault and the sequence and collation of each room perfect. My husband burst into tears three time just watching the Kate Moss ‘peppers ghost’ appear from a cloud, float and fade into fire flies. Claire Wilcox, Sam Gainsbury, Anna Whiting, Daniel Landin have done an amazing job for this show. Recommended as a ‘must not be missed’. I will be going again.

We are at an exhibition explaining the use of forensics to solve crimes. There are cabinets not unlike the work of Joseph Cornell. There are collections of specimens in jars, almanacs, inventories, classifications, and bibliographies, all are techniques used to display and make the unclear apparent.

Research project 3. How does one live in a true collage city where the ancient sits cheek by jowl next to the avant-garde, where a two storey bamboo hut sits next to a thirty storey glass sky scraper. Where history is constantly repackaged and re-themed to sell food or soap or love by the hour. The graphic novel and cinema-space become just as real as the high street. Virtual and real become indistinguishable further augmented by characters wrapped in fluorescent crinoline, carrying heart shaped bags and wearing rabbit ears. So mad I love this fiction. Was the Samurai in the noodle shop real?

Research project 2. From Graphics - Enclosure is defined by graphics and each graphic is a symbol of something else or somewhere else. Nowhere is this more so than in the street fashions of Tokyo. Manga and Harajuku characters live animated lives in real time Tokyo. The difference between virtual and real is impacted as film space and the animated cartoon occupies the streets. They become their own augmentation superimposed onto the texture of the ultimate collage City. See Tokyo Textures.

I have three research projects I want to undertake whilst in Tokyo the first is graphics. To be immersed in the saturation of neon while I walk the Pulp Fiction reflections of cartoons, dragons and calligraphic re-inventions. Space here is defined by symbol, it permeates every pocket of the urban infrastructure. It covers the vending machines, the road-works, the schools, every building’s façade and the packet I hold in my hand. Enclosure is defined by graphics and each graphic is a symbol of something else or somewhere else. See Tokyo Characters.

My work brings me to Japan for five days 16-210215 to travel round the country viewing the shops under my supervision. Hopefully I will have some time to soak up the culture and collect ideas. Everything Japanese is so beautifully packaged and presented. How about this for an airport meal? 

Mannequins in a fashion studio window at Central St Martins.

This morning I am at the National Portrait Gallery looking at fashion through paintings and collecting details for my scrapbook.

Theatre wigs from the Ray Maston Wig Studio, Charlotte St London. Research for a future window inspired by French 18^th Century styles, VWSS15.

Yes, we all need to put down the computer and the cameras and start drawing again.

Now for some time out over the Christmas Break at Buxted Park Hotel in the middle of Ashdown Forest, East Sussex. The Orangery is a favourite spatial type.

Germany, Memories Of A Nation expressed through 600 years of made and engineered objects.