Going Potty with Camille Walala and Ted Baker

“I painted a pot last Thursday and it was so much fun.” Not necessarily a sentence you’d expect from an outgoing young(ish) person, but I genuinely mean it!

Ted Baker has started hosting free events on Thursday nights, to celebrate their latest collection, the artistically titled ‘Colour by Numbers’.

I was excited to attend and was especially intrigued to meet Camille Walala – I pass her building in Old Street every day and love its bright colours so much. It makes me sad that it is now being covered up with advertising – but at least you can still see the edges of Camille’s work!

So, we set up and started painting our sizable pots. We used stencils, free-styled, masked. It was so fun and very satisfying to see the paint sink into the pot – it dried really quickly. And there was prosecco, which helped our creativity flow quite nicely.

If we struggled, Camille was more than happy to offer some guidance and inspiration. The pots all looked great, and we got a quick run-through of the new collection while they were drying. I can’t recommend Ted Baker events enough, you can see a full list of their future plans here.

Some inspiration was provided 

Such great colours

Such tasty fizz!

Charlotte Cameron displays her pot

There were some great pots

I show my pot to Camille Walala!

The new Ted Baker 'Colour by Numbers' collection

Loved these shoes

More pot painting

My finished pot 

Hox on the Locks

I’ve long been a fan of The Hoxton Hotel and when my lovely friends Jaime and Jason hosted their wedding reception in the Hoxton Apartment, it made me like it even more.

I started following Hoxtown to stay up to date with all their news and events and it was here that I saw a competition that was begging to be entered.

To mark the 1^st birthday of The Hoxton, Amsterdam, the Hoxton ‘jumped ship’ for two weeks to a Regents canal boat here in London. The competition prize was a stay on this boat – I won! A few Wednesdays ago, I eagerly packed my bags and invited my friend Laurel.

Before heading to the boat, we enjoyed a delicious dinner in the Hoxton Hotel (‘Hoxton on Solid Ground'). The food there is so great -  sometimes naughty, always hearty. I had a fabulous piece of cod with samphire. We walked off supper and headed to the boat which was moored in Gainsborough Wharf in Haggerston. It was furnished similarly to the hotel with beautiful linen wallpaper and the sort of muted, stylish accessories a bright-colour-lover like myself imagines for her future, far more sophisticated self.

The boat had a projector, but after a big dinner, it was all we could do to stay awake for deck-side champagne (a hard life, I know) before snuggling in to the amazingly comfy bed.

In the morning, I happily worked ‘from boat’, enjoying my little breakfast in the sun. It really floated my boat.

I mean, I don’t really want the extra competition, but Hoxtown are always offering cool prizes like this – so make sure you check the site – you have to be in it to win it, after all.