02 October 2011

Big love for London


It's hard to believe that I took that photo of my foot a week ago. That was a marker in the sidewalk in the small park behind St. Paul's Cathedral and the inscription actually read "Here stood Paul's cross." I had just walked out of the Cathedral with my friends Bob Borson and Stacey Bewkes. Borson noticed the marker first and a great photo op was born.

Endless thanks to Modenus and the sponsors of Blog Tour 2011 for getting our rag tag band of North American design and architecture bloggers to London for the Design Festival. Here are some London highlights.





London is an amazing city. It's beautiful, clean and huge. As much as it embraces the 21st Century, it's still present to its history. Some of the greatest minds humanity's ever produced called that city home and their fingerprints are everywhere.

The group with whom I shared that great city last week are a special lot. The are Susan Serra, Tamara Matthews-Stephenson, Carmen Natschke, Veronika Miller, Mollie Magill, Jonathan Legate, Elise Jones, Michelle Jennings-Wiebe, Meredith Heron, Mae Hacking, Andie Day, Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo, Leslie Carothers, Michelle Carangi, Bob Borson, Tim Bogan and Stacey Bewkes. All of us knew each other before the trip but most of us had never met. It's a curious state of affairs brought on by the social web and it was a real treat to meet up with a bunch of people with whom I have more than a few things in common. All of our Blog Tour posts are being aggregated on the Blog Tour website and our photos ought to start showing up there this week too.

Blog Tour wasn't a one-time thing. In March of 2012, a group of UK design bloggers are coming to New York for the AD (Architectural Digest Home Design Show). I can't wait to be there to reconnect with my UK friends. Then in April, Blog Tour's taking a mix of North American and UK bloggers to the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan. After that who knows? I'm holding out for Mumbai and Beijing but wherever it ends up, Blog Tour is here to stay and it was an honor to be part of the its maiden voyage.

6 comments:

  1. I have a shot of your very own spot at St. Paul's as well!! Love your shots - and I agree - just LOVED London - so full of history, new design and inspiration!! I'm already looking forward to reuniting many from the group in NY next March and trying to figure out how I can wrangle a spot on the Milan trip!!. Here's to BlogTour past, present and future!!

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  2. All hail Bob for noticing that marker in the first place. I was so busy looking up I walked right over it. I agree on all counts, London was a peak experience all around and I cannot wait to reconnect with everybody again in New York this winter.

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  3. I've enjoyed reading everyone's post about London. But must confess it has made me feel unexpectedly homesick!

    Looking forward to the next installment of blogtour!

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  4. I'll be writing about it for months. What a town!

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  5. Thank you very much for the post Paul and yes I agree with Nan, I'm homesick and I've only just left. You know we selected the hotel directly adjacent to St. Paul's only for you.
    See you in New York, Milan, Paris and London and someone said maybe we should do one tour "off the beaten path" for non trade-show related design inspiration. I'm thinking Marrakesh next Thanksgiving :)

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  6. Thanks for the comment V, that was the best put together media trip I've ever been on and as someone who's no stranger to media trips, I know what I'm talking about. Marrakesh for Thanksgiving does sound lovely, but I keep hearing great stuff about India...

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