Lena Hoschek

My Leena introduced me this afternoon to another Lena - Lena Hoschek, fashion designer from Austria. It's one of Leena's favourite places to buy sexy, feminine, original, rockabilly inspired clothing with a touch of fetish to them. This gorgeously decorated boutique is for women who want to be seen and admired in all their glory! Think Betty Page - she is all over the walls, and is an obvious muse to the talented designer. It was sooo delightful to step into the dressing room which is an exquisite boudoir of sassy and feminine luxury. YUM. Think I'd better to hint to my husband that we pay a visit for my 40th birthday this year!!

Tatau Obscur

Just around the corner from our place is a wonderfully exotic and gorgeous tattoo parlour, and I mean "parlour" in the old fashioned sense, called Tatau Obscur. Run by Berit Uhlhorn, pictured, it is a deliciously decorated feast for the eyes, part kind of 1950s diner/café, part exotica boutique, part art gallery downstairs and tattoo parlour upstairs. Every detail has been considered so that you literally walk into a "world".

Some seriously talented female resident tattooists work alongside guest artists and the outcome is without fail unique and yes, obscure!

Sang Bleu 5

My friend Liz Ham in Sydney and I are two of many contributors to the new issue of sexy Sang Bleu magazine. Look out for all of me somewhere in the 600 page tome of delights... I am looking forward to seeing it very soooooon...

Japanese tattoos

While I was waiting for my tattoo yesterday I read a beautiful thing... In ancient Japan, believed to have originated in the Kansai region, lovers would exchange beauty spot tattoos called irebokuro or "love dots". These exchanged tattoos are also known as kisho bori.

a new tattoo

Yesterday I got a new tattoo, from Maxime Büchi, editor of the wonderful Swiss Sang Bleu magazine. He's in Berlin for the month working at the gorgeous tattoo parlour BLUT & EISEN, and this seemed too good an opportunity to miss, seeing as I'd been planning to meet him in Lausanne one day when I visit my best friend there.

This one adds to the small collection I have growing of drawings by heroes of mine... such as Paul Klee, Le Corbusier, and my dear friend Takk in Japan. The new one is a drawing by Jean Cocteau with a tiny personal addition... I've always loved Cocteau's line drawings!

David Shrigley

I discovered the fabulously sick world of Glaswegian David Shrigley by chance when I lived in Paris 10 years ago. I was passing by a gallery in the Marais and was drawn in by a strange illustration in the window (don't remember which one now!), but I still have the invitation card of that exhibition on my wall today. I was going through a hard time back then and found myself drawn out of that and into the world of Shrigley, giggling gleefully at what I should not perhaps have found funny. What a relief to have a laugh and be jolted out of my blues, but then taken perilously close to his... Ahhh, Shrigley. His work simply has to be seen and enjoyed - it's available in many forms as you will see on his website.

Sang Bleu

Thanks to my photographer friend Liz in Sydney I discovered this gorgeous magazine, based in Lausanne Switzerland, focusing on the wonderful world of tattoos... Being a fan of tattooing, as my friends know, I was thrilled to learn about such a classy publication on tattoos, and Liz suggested I contact the editor about my series of tattoo portraits. So I did, and Maxime liked the shots enough to include them on his fantastic blog. I could spend hours browsing all the treasure on the Sang Bleu blog!!! Obviously the SB team is a fascinating bunch of people... I look forward hopefully to a visit to Lausanne this year to make contact in person, and perhaps get a new tattoo... For all those interested in tattooing, try to get your hands on the latest issue III/IV, a huge double issue which is stunning.

http://sangbleu.com/2009/01/01/deep-skin-by-eloise-de-hauteclocque/