Reid Peppard

We were privileged to be invited to Reid Peppard's show of her latest work, RP Encore. Reid is a fully qualified taxidermist/jeweller who makes incredibly fragile and special pieces using ethically sourced found animals. As well as the jewelled taxidermy items, there are also bones, hearts and tongues of squirrels, foxes and crows, cast in incredible detail in precious metals. I love the thought of these animals, at best ignored and at worst hunted as vermin, getting their moment of glory as a beautiful accessory on the red carpet. Our favourite piece was the crow clutch (so dramatic and we love that), though we also had our eye on the cast crow tongue bracelets as well. Reid's show is open until 1 August by appointment only at 33 Fashion St, thereafter available online.

FIELD OF DREAMS

We like a little al fresco hedonism, so this weekend we'll be attending Field Day festival in our favourite London park. Victoria Park in the East End has already hosted some of the summer’s finest roster of outdoor events from the beautiful Carters steam fair to Lovebox. We love a festival and all the freedom of four days of living in a tent amongst the great hung-over unwashed but the prospect of a mighty line up and fields full of fun on our doorstep without the backpack laden journey is simply charming!

The lusty Phoenix will be heading up a rambunctious line up which will surely delight all London dwelling music lovers. There’s also a Village Green dedicated to the spirit of the country fete complete with eggs and spoon race, tug of war and cupcake stalls. We’ll be making a beeline for the vintage swap shop tent, where you can swap items of your outfit for new/old vintage treasures. We’re most excited about Field Day’s music hall revival stage which promises a wild and abandoned “anything goes vibe”. This includes a DJ set from The Filthy Dukes, burlesque performances, an operetta and a couple ‘o town criers thrown in for good measure. It’s sure to be fabulously surreal, especially after a few Pimms in the sunshine.

With all this revellery to pack in before sundown we plan to kick off the fun with a hearty breakfast at Pavillion café on the park. The vast fry ups are the stuff of local legend (see below for more Pavillion adulation!)

Here’s to much beer in plastic beakers!

SUNNYSIDE UP

We like Pavillion cafe in Victoria Park. Easily one of the finest locations for al fresco dining in all of London town, Pavillion cafe offers a joyous view across the park without a hefty price tag. Ramshackle tables and chairs surround the pond, ducks and dogs mingle, steaming mugs of tea. The simple and cheap all day breakfasts at Pavillion are nothing short of sublime. A full on fry up (or "big forker" as they say in Ireland), eggs Florentine, or fruit and yogurt are just a few of the honest to goodness menu options. WLTT had a foodie mum visiting from the emerald isle, she was most satisfied with a hearty brunch in the sunshine. Feel good food. Might we suggest that you use this as the morning pit stop before dancing till sundown at this weekend's Field Day Festival.

We Like Our Garden Too

Kind of in response to the lovely Madame Bracewell's garden of delights, one of the We Like This Too gang has also managed to craft something nice from their paved plot in Hackney.

Polly Morgan

Also on at Haunch of Venison, a smaller show of recent work by We Like This Too favourites Polly Morgan. Different, more ambitions configurations of her signature feathers and taxidermy hang dramatically lit in a darkened space - the shadows cast as beautiful as the work itself!

Joana Vasconcelos at the Haunch

I Will Survive at Haunch of Venison gallery is apparently the first major London show of Portugese artist Joana Vasconcelos - surprising since she seems to have a large body of work behind her. Beautiful and even funny in part - see the room of the colliding dogs. Elsewhere a dark room illuminated only by chintzy fibre optic lamps is a surprisingly disquieting experience.

One on One with the BAC

Last night we had the pleasure of visiting the amazing Battersea Arts Centre for the One On One Festival, where you're allocated personal (and surprisingly intimate) theatre experiences with different theatre comapnies taking part. One on One theatre experiences included Folk In A Box, The Face Game, Rotating In A Room of Images and Barnaby Stone's A Little Bit Of A Beautiful Thing. There was a lot more on, but we were on a strict schedule! So didn't all get to go one on one with Franko B, or get kidnapped by beatboxing youths. On til this Sunday at the BAC.

Our Little Bit of Something Beautiful, a personalised slice of wood from an ancient timber, from Barnaby Stone


Where is the room where you get tied up and hung out the window again?

Kate Moss vs Mario Testino

We popped into Phillips de Pury in Victoria to check out this collection of photos of Kate Moss by Mario Testino. The collaboration between the two over I guess the 2000s, was billed as on a par with the relationship between David Bailey and Jean Shrimpton, though this was certainly not the case of innocent model and up and coming photographer at this point - but rather two people at the top of their respective games. Our favourite appeared to be a self portrait on toy camera by Moss herself. The cute guy working there said to us 'it's a snip at 35 grand'. 'What a cheek', I said. 'Testino didn't even take this one'. Sadly my words were lost to history, our cute friend having left the room before he could be impressed by our wit. Oh well. The auction is on today at Phillips de Pury on Howick Place, the photos will be on display at the Saatchi Gallery from tomorrow.

BRACEWELL'S BESTEST

We like the marvellous Miss Camilla Bracewell's brand new blog: camillabracewell.blogspot.com. Camilla is one of WLTT's favourite Londoners. Possessed of the city's finest party throwing skills, Camilla is also an expert in interior styling, garden grooming, and cooking up a veritable storm. Famous in the merry district of Hackney for her exquisite, elbows on the garden table, wine soaked, summer dinner parties, Camilla regularly gives good Saturday night fun in the magnificent setting of her eclectic home. The blog already includes a medley of pretty pictures from her garden make over to a charity shop she revamped. With a make do and mend sensibility and an eye for how to make the best of a space Camilla's is a great blog to keep an eye on if you want tips on feathering your nest with stylish treasures. We heard a rumour that she plans to set up her own supper club in the next few months, so keep an eye to the blog and an ear to the ground if you fancy experiencing the culinary talents of Camilla in the inspiring setting of her Hackney home. Bloglovin' indeed!

GUN METAL BIRDS

We like Fiona Banner's "Harrier and Jaguar" currently standing proud at Tate Britain. Epic, graceful, dangerous. Banner describes the pieces as prehistoric birds. If you do one thing this weekend, do this.

The Surreal House at the Barbican

This is the only photo we got (of Rachel Whiteread's Black Bath) before we were told off! Which doesn't normally stop us. But this time we thought it would be nice to not see an exhibition through a tiny lcd screen for a change. The Surreal House is quite an ambitious project we thought, bringing together various artists and filmmakers of the last 80 or so years and twinning or teaming them if you like with architects and architectural concepts in such groupings as Mad Love, Femme Maison, and Theatre of The Domestic. Each of these occupies its own space, and this was one of our favourite aspects of the show - the way the organisers have divided up the Barbican Gallery space into odd shaped rooms whose geometry is actually quite disorienting - presumably to drive home the overall message of the show. Our favourite bits included Jan Svankmajer's films (including the amazing Jabberwocky) in the Haunted House area, Rachel Kneebone's tortured and sensual ceramics in the Mad Love area, Rene Burri's photos of the Le Corbusier's ruined Villa Savoye in the Divine Concrete area, the looped footage of a burning house from Andrei Tarkovsky's The Mirror, and Paul Thek's tower of Babel log cabin. Overall we really liked the show, which, rather than churning out the usual suspects of the Surrealist movement, instead revealed the surreal aspects of others such as Louise Bourgeois, Sarah Lucas, and Jean-Lu Godard, and for me at least, breathing new life into what can sometimes seem like a bit of a cliche. Well done.

Bricks through Selfridges windows shock!

Look at all the lovely white painted bricks going through all Selfridges new windows! Nice and minimal and oddly cool looking - we wanted to just lie down on the floor of these today for some relief from the midday sun.

Inside/Out at Showstudio Shop

At once beautiful and grotesque Showstudio Shop's current exhibition Inside/Out features work that explores the relationship between the aesthetic of beauty and the reality of the human body. We especially loved the work of Arianna Page Russell - blessed/cursed with extremely high skin sensitivity, she need only scratch her arm to create a lasting red mark. For this, she photographed herself wearing temporary tattoos from photos of marks made on her body. We did a double take, thinking at first they were real. We also loved Marilyn Minter's film of purple lips repeatedly devouring what looked like green slime. It's these seldom seen views of the human body that are at once alluring and repellent. Looking forward to the next one Showstudio guys. Thanks for having us.

Puke On Gaga by Nick Knight and Ruth Hogben

Terence Koh's The Little Arrow of Silver Lodged in my Heart in Getting Bigger - note the sculpture must be hung so that its mouth is at the height of Terence Koh's heart

Marilyn Minter

Carson McColl and Nick Knight - Saint Black

GHOST STORIES

We like Ghost Stories, the marvellously scary play currently showing at The Duke of York theatre. First seen at The Lyric, Hammersmith to a rapturous (if terrified audience, Ghost Stories is written by WLTT favorite League of Gentlemen's Jeremey Dyson. As one would expect of a gentleman that writes with a novel turn in wrongness the script is woven with a thread of tongue in cheek darkness. Andy Nyman who was the masterful co-creator of Deren Brown's stage productions took on the dual role as of co-writer and leading actor. Nyman plays a sceptical paraphyschologist who leads the audience through what appears to be an academic seminar seeking to disprove evidence presented by a series of anecdotal ghost stories. As the stories unfold a heart stopping, house of horrors vibe takes the audience on a nail biting journey, punctuated with a series of cheap but blood curdling thrills. We're sorry to say that one of our number screamed like a baby throughout. Leave your cynicism at the door and enjoy a romping good night of hair raising horror.

We Like (To Read) This Too

All currently nestling on We Like This Too's bedside table...

The White Castle by Orhan Pamuk

The Mayor's Tongue by Nathaniel Rich

My Michael by Amos Oz

The Paris Review Interviews vol. 2

The Thief's Journal by Jean Genet

Sally Mann

The Family and The Land, at the Photographers Gallery until 19 September.

Bethnal Green Town Hall

We liked this view when we passed by on the way to work today. The new Town Hall Hotel in Bethnal Green.

Coming Up For Air

We're very proud of our copy of Stephen Gill's beautiful new book, launched last night at the Photographer's Gallery.