Fffffascinating feathers

I do find the whole cycle of nature so fffffascinating. I love watching the transformation that occurs to plants through the seasons. It's rather quirky that plants can flower some years and not others - and that they're so affected by the weather and the amount of water they get. And I'm curious to know if plants appreciate our loving care and attention as we tend them over the years - let alone our emotional attachment.






Apparently the idea of talking to plants was first introduced in 1848, when Dr Gustav Theodor Fechner, a German professor, suggested the original idea in his book Nanna (Soul Life of Plants). He believed that plants are capable of emotions, just like humans and that healthy growth can be promoted by showering plants with attentive chatter. Later, a botanist called Luther Burbank, suggested that, although plants may not understand the spoken word, they might telepathically understand the meaning of speech.




In 1970, a New York dentist called George Milstein released a record called Music to Grow Plants By. Various experiments were carried out (straight faces all round, of course), and there did seem to be some evidence that soothing and/or classical music was of benefit to plant growth, as opposed to loud agressive rock-type music.







In reality (ie ignoring scientific models and experimental quackery), we don't really have much in the way of confirmation that plants like to be talked to, or that they appreciate the odd blasting of Mozart's Requiem (although perhaps that's not so soothing). I think it's a lovely idea though, and I do often stroke the leaves of my plants and tell them how sensational they're looking. I just hope that the neighbours aren't watching!





I've also been known to place unique feather fascinators from ShopCurious amongst the plants to photograph them, which might seem equally odd, but it's all in the name of art. These are just so naturally beautiful, they could almost be real. They also look fabulous in your hair, or as a fashion accessory on your clothes, attached to a hat - or just as a rather original decoration for your dressing table perhaps?





By the way, for anyone who's interested to know what happened next to my Triffid - here's how the magnificent flower curiously withered and died. I hope that wasn't a reflection of my negecting to converse regularly enough with it. The flower has since been lopped off and the plant looks somewhat less threatening...

Another yukka type plant has just burst into bloom though. Have you got any plants that have fffffascinatingly started flowering at the very end of the 'summer'? Or have you experienced any other curious natural occurences, possibly linked to the strange weather patterns of late? If so, do let us know.
Will you?

Tropical tresses

A couple of years ago I had a curiously crazy idea to get a few outdoor plants delivered to create my own tropical paradise in central London. Of course I went a bit over the top and eventually had to organize a crane to deliver said pots and palms - but the result is a pleasingly stylish and unique oasis of rustling leaves, twittering birds and buzzing insects (though at this time of the year there are quite a lot of nasty garden spiders too.. )

I thought it might be appropriate to focus on nature for a while, since so many of the new products at ShopCurious are naturally beautiful things - like these rather individual silk and feather hair accessories. Each is lovingly handmade in England by the designer, Gil Fox.






They're great for so many occasions like parties and weddings. They'll also make a perfect addition to your Christmas wardrobe, or even an unusual seasonal gift. These unique accessories are also very versatile and not just for wearing in your hair. Why not attach the clip to a hat to add some ornamentation - or fix to your clothing and turn this into a quirky corsage, or an original piece of jewellery.





They also look very arty in the leaves of my palms. The one in the middle (above) is attached to the rather dangerous looking agave (right), a plant native to Mexico. This agave is now scarily larger than when first delivered,as is the rather fiercely spined plant pictured in the top left of this blog, which I'm stilll trying to identify - I think it's a type of trithrinax. Does anyone know?

Do you?

Spanish rose

So we finally travel back to Europe to bring to an end our curiously circuitous trip along the Silk Route. We're just stopping off in Spain for a final glimmer of summer sunshine, a spot of flamenco dancing and a whiff of some late flowering Spanish roses.





Of course some parts of Spain are sunny all year round, like the Canary Islands. Perhaps that's why the Greeks and Romans called the archipelago the Fortunate or Happy Islands. Some historians believe that the legendary continent of Atlantis was located here.






On to the mainland for a bit more action. Flamenco combines dancing, singing and musical accompaniment. It possibly evolved from the music of Moslem Andalucia, during Medieval times, but developed into the dance of the gitanos or gypsies, the form of flamenco as we know it, from the late 18th century onwards. Of course, there's also a fair amount of fashion involved in flamenco. Traditional female flamenco costume is a fringed shawl, a long frilly flamenco dress (bata de cola), a fan and a flower worn in the hair.



At ShopCurious, we've got a wonderful selection of Spanish inspired vintage clothing and unique accessories for dancing (or dining, or just looking pretty). As well as our collection of original vintage silk scarves featuring Spanish tourist destinations, we've also a vintage skirt made of a recycled Spanish silk scarf with unusual hand dyed pale pink fringing. You might like to team this up with one of our selection of fans - this hand painted Spanish lace number should work perfectly - or it might make an unusual gift for someone who's visiting a hot country, who's a collector of vintage fans, or simply a lover of beautiful things.






To top it off, here's a stylish Spanish silk rose corsage, which you can use as a flamenco-style hair accessory, though this one can also be worn as a bracelet, or pinned to your dress. It looks as naturally beautiful as a real rose too - can you tell the difference?

All this talk of flowers is making me feel homesick. I know it's a bit sad, but I'm missing my plants! I'm curious to see what's happened in the garden whilst I've been away.
Are you?

Old meets new down under

Down under the Silk Route there's a place where old meets new. Rather like ShopCurious, where unusual and vintage curiosities are to be found side by side with the latest technology in the form of that great modern invention, the internet. At ShopCurious, we simply love combining the old, new, quirky and classic in an eclectic melange of unique and beautiful things. We've got stylish antipodean vintage silk scarves, for instance, that each have a story to tell. So let's continue our journey - which seems to be getting curiouser and curiouser... Let's start at The Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven wonders of the natural world - even larger than the Great Wall of China and the only living thing that's visible from space. The reef is breathtakingly beautiful, with an abundance of marine life, comprising of over 3000 individual reef systems and coral cays, hundreds of picturesque tropcial islands and some of the world's most beautiful beaches. Possibly one of the quirkier things to be found in Australia is that distinctively individual creature, the duck billed platypus: a mammal that has a duck's bill, webbed feet, a furry body and lays eggs. One of the few mammal-like things about these oddbods is that they swim with their eyes closed, otherwise they're essentially underwater cats with a double layer of fur so they never get wet. How curiously clever is that? Let's make a quick detour to Papua New Guinea, which is a perfect place for a spot of twitching (Brit term for bird-watching). The tropical rainforest is the most wonderful habitat for a wide variety of extraordinary birds, including the world's smallest parrot and 38 of the 43 known speices of birds of paradise. Many tribal groups in the region use bird plumes to decorate their traditional costumes and head-dresses - making for a very original fashion statement. Some of the more curious birds include kokomos (hornbills), palm cockatoos and Papua New Guinea's largest bird, the giant cassowary. There's also the land of the kiwi, New Zealand, to consider if you're travelling south of the equator. 200 million years ago, New Zealand was part of a big continent called Gondwana, which later split apart into the continents of the world as we know them today. New Zealand is rather like the lost piece of a jigsaw, which remained cut off from the rest of the world. Because of its isolation and lack of land mammals, New Zealand became a land filled with unique animals, ancient frogs with no tadpoles, insects as big as mice and birds that couldn't fly. 85% of New Zealand's flowers are endemic (that means they're unique to New Zealand). Of course, like most of the people down under, the Kiwis will put on a bit of a show for the tourists (see right) - or are they actually trying to scare us away? Anyway, I'm just about ready to be heading off back to Europe. Better be eco-friendly and remember to offset the carbon emissions from the air miles... Will you?

Sailing by the Silk Route

When it comes to maps, I tend to get a bit enthusiastic. I don't often mention that I'm a geographer: hence my curiosity about global trading patterns over the past millennium or so. Long before that, probably around 139 B.C, the Silk Road started as a chain of caravans, transporting goods from China, across central Asia to mainland Europe.



The commodities traded included not only silk, but other rare and unusual offerings, such as gold for coins and jewellery, jade, tea and spices (reminds me of what's available at ShopCurious!) Since the capacity to transport these goods over long distances was limited, luxury goods were the main products that were traded (rather like today, except now it's fuel prices that are the main factor affecting the transfer of goods). It was during the Roman era that sea routes in the Mediterranean basin and India first became fashionable for shipping produce, which was then taken by camels inland to the Nile. River boats moved the goods to Alexandria, from where trading with the Roman Empire was carried out. Arab traders, who controlled the maritime routes, gradually took over from the original overland transportation along the Silk Route from the 9th century onwards.



Much larger quantities could be transported by ship, stimulating even more trading between the various nation states and territories of the time. The main maritime route started at Canton (Guangzhou) and passed through Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and on to Alexandria. There was also a trading route to the Spice Islands (Moluccas) in today's Indonesia.


The spread of religions such as Islam and diffusion of their principles also took place at this time. Many of the rules and ethics of commerce have their roots in religion. Meantime, the Europeans were developing their own maritime technology and from the 15th century onwards, they achieved sufficient power and influence at sea to overthrow the Arab control of lucrative trade: European style ships were simply able to shift commodities faster and cheaper ... and by the 16th century the Silk Road was already obsolete.



Nonetheless, exotic places along the route still make for stylish and unusual travel destinations today. And no doubt they now have their fair share of designer boutique hotels too. I'm certainly curious to explore some of them.

Are you?

Marco Polo's Silk Road

The Silk Road was a network of ancient caravan routes that opened commerce between the great civilisations of east and west. From the capital city of ancient China, Chang'an, the caravans crossed the deserts, mountains and steppes of Central Asia, all the way to the Mediterranean port cities of Byzantium (Constantinople) and Venice.

In addition to being a commercial trade route for silk and other curiosities, the Silk Route was also a means of spreading new ideas and religions as well as stimulating cultural and technological development.


The Silk Road reached its peak during the Monglian Empire in the 13th century, when China and central Asia were controlled by Mongol Khans. During the Middle Ages, the Venetians and Genoese controlled the bulk of Mediterranean trade, connected to the major trading centres of Constantinople, Antioch and Alexandria. The trading relationship between Europe and China was greatly strengthened by the voyages of Marco Polo.



Marco Polo was born to a wealthy, privileged family in Venice in 1254 and became one of the most famous merchants to travel the Silk Road. At the age of 17, he set out with his father and uncle for the court of Kublai Khan, returning 24 years later with many fantastical tales to tell of trips to places such as Ceylon, Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia. He also reported on the incredible luxury and amazing wonders of the court of Kublia Khan, such as a palace built of marble and precious stones, a stable of 10,000 snow white horse, robes made entirely from gold thread and magicians who used spells to keep bad weather away.



On his return to Venice, Marco Polo was imprisoned during a war with Genoa, where he told fellow prisoner Rustichello of Pisa of his adventures in exotic lands. Rustichello published the stories in a book originally entitled Il Millione, but later named The Travels of Marco Polo. Later, as European powers developed their maritime fleets from the 15th century onwards, they put an end to the Arab control of the lucrative trade route and the ability of ships to transport commodities much faster and cheaper than camel trains resulted in the demise of the Silk Road by the 16th century.








We have a unique range of vintage silk scarf cushions at ShopCurious, some of which feature Venice - the 'Queen of the Adriatic' and major host to merchant ships of the Silk Route.




The cushions are beautifully handmade, each with an individual contrasting trim. These are great for the home in a fashion-meets-art-meets-furnishing sort of way and they also make a really unusual gift. Maybe you'll be inspired to invest in a piece of history?

Will you?

Let's go Dutch

Okay, so we may be taking a slight detour on our alternative Silk Route, but it'll be worth the trip. Sorry for misleading you, but the Netherlands is not the silkworm breeding capital of the world. However, there are a few things peculiar to Holland that the country has become rather uniquely famous for:

1) Windmills. There are around 1000 original windmills in Holland that are still fully operational.

2) Tulips. Apparently 75% of the entire world's flower bulb production comes from the Netherlands. Due to this, the Netherlands is the third largest exporter of agricultural products in the world, even though just 3% of the Dutch population are employed in this sector.



3) Clogs.












4) Bicycles. Holland has over 15,000 km of cycle lanes. Amsterdam alone has over a million bikes, but a population of only around 700,000. Every person in the Netherlands has at least one bicycle and there are twice as many bikes as cars in the country. How very eco-friendly...though the classic Dutch bicycle with its old fashioned iconic design (pictured below left) might be a bit more cumbersome than the more modern, but equally quirky and individual folding Mobiky (below right), currently available at ShopCurious.

















5) Barges. The Netherlands has more than 4,000km of navigable rivers, lakes and canals. A quarter of the country is below sea level. When you land at Schipol airport, you are actually four meters below sea level. Rotterdam was once the world's largest port and is still the second largest. The name Amsterdam comes from the combination of the river Amstel and the Dam that was built on it.





6) Artists. From the old Dutch Masters to impressionsts such as Van Gogh, the Netherlands is a country that seems to inspire great artists and extraordinary works of art. I personally prefer the more contemporary style, like the painting below left called Card Players by Theo Van Doesburg (1917), who was a member of De Stijl (The Style) group of Dutch artists that included Mondrian. You can see this painting at the Haags Gemeentemuseum in the Hague. Karel Appel is another very important post 1945 Dutch artist, whose expressionist abstract style is also illustrated below and was a reaction against the strict formalism of De Stijl.















7) Crazy people. Holland always has a coalition government, so it's a country of compromise and tolerance. Amsterdam has over 300 coffee shops, which can legally sell up to 5 grams of soft drugs to each person. And of course, there's plenty of Amstel beer.

Unfortunately, we haven't time to visit any Dutch fashion designers, we'll have to leave that for a later date. I'm packing my vintage bags and am already getting curious about the next destination on our whirlwind tour.
Are you?