Where next on the map? I love to travel, and maps hold a special allure for me. They present suggestions and possibilities of new experiences to be had. Which is why I quite like Future Maps by Digitile. The company has created a modern redesign of the Cylindrical Equal Area Projection and made it available for people to cover their walls with on a massive scale via wallpaper or tiles. It’s an opportunity to cover your walls in something more interesting and educational than a tin of white paint

Did you know that on average, two new Starbucks have opened every day since 1987? With Starbucks attacking on all fronts, it’s refreshing to see something as uniquely glorious as London Tea shop Teasmith fighting back against the growing coffee mono-culture.

Owner John Kennedy, a self-confessed ‘tea geek’, runs the contemporary teahouse offering customers the world’s best teas amidst a beautifully designed interior created by Jonathan Clark Architects. Accompanied by Miss Random Fashion Coolness, I visited the teahouse this weekend, and instantly fell in love with the place. As if the beautiful hanging bare bulbs of the interior design weren’t enough to turn me on, the teas, biscuits and chocolates (by master Chocolatie William Curley, no less) certainly finished the job. Although, the absolute jewel in the crown is reserved for the owner, John Kennedy. Never have I experienced such warmth and enthusiasm from the owner of any establishment. Even though we were just another couple of customers off the street for all he knew, he took the time to educate us in the culture of tea and the skills involved in making the perfect cuppa. Christ knows how he gets anything done if he’s as attentive to every customer as he was to us this weekend.

I’ve completely forgotten what teas we tried, as I was so engrossed in Kennedy’s tales of the tea world, but guided recommendation using his wealth of knowledge, resulted in experiencing some of the finest tea I’d ever tasted. However, I can definitely recommend accompanying your tea with the chocolate dipped fruit, and salty Miso flavoured biscuits (I know, right? Salty biscuits? Sounds so wrong, but incredibly it works so right!)

If you live in the capital, or you’re just passing through, make sure you take a pit-stop at Teasmith. Saturday is a great day to go, when the nearby Spitalfields market is closed, and it’s quiet. I can’t recommend it enough. Go and experience the best the world has to offer in tea, guided by one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.

Teasmith is located at 6 Lamb Street, London.

Run for the hills, the sky is falling! Some of you might experience some issues with the Things of Random Coolness website. I’m not sure what has happened, but it’s decided to through a childish tantrum whilst I upgrade some of it’s software.

Hopefully order will be restored soon, and we can pretend it never happened.

Hip & stylish accommodation in Malta. If you’re like me and love quirky, hip boutique style hotels and you’re thinking of heading towards Malta anytime soon, you might want to check out the a new luxury self catering accommodation option in Malta called Maison La Vallette. It’s a discreet self catering luxury town house, situated in the old part of Valletta. Decorated in a mix of Maltese style baroque and bespoke designer furniture, it looks like a great setting for a romantic stay, for those looking for a bold, stylish, sophisticated yet affordable option for their travels.

Even if you’re not looking to go there on your travels, it’s worth checking out the website just to pick up some decor style ideas on the virtual tour.

For more info see Maison La Vallette.

Wallpaper for cyclists. I’ve mentioned Dan FunderBurgh before, but I’m doing it again because he’s created some amusingly beautiful bicycle themed wallpaper for Flavor Paper (I should be working on commission for these guys today!)

See more work by Dan Funderburgh.

If you’re on a diet, look away now! It’s a new year, and like many others, I’m doing the obligitory resolution to eat in a more healthy manner. However, the exact moment that you start denying yourself sugary snacks, you start dreaming about cake. At least I do. Or to be more accurate, I’m dreaming about the edible creations of Carles Mampel at Bubo.

I found Bubo last year whilst mindlessly wandering around the back streets of Barcelona. The Bubo shop is more akin to an art gallery than a shop selling cakes and petit fours, which is fitting as the edible artworks created by Carles Mampel are beautifully designed statues of taste. Seriously, it’s almost a crime to eat these things!

If you ever find yourself in Barcelona, skip the tourist traps and head over to Bubo to stuff yourself with beautifully designed award winning cakes. Even if you’re not hungry, just go and feed your eyes.

Visit Bubo

I’m hitting the street of Barcelona for a few days. So there won’t be any posts for a while, but I’ll be back with a Barcelona report on my return. Hopefully I’ll be checking out some of the best new hotels, restaurants and bars that the city has to offer - all in the name of ‘Things of Random Coolness’ of course. It’s a tough job, but somebody has got to do it!

Absolute discretion provided to lovers. Newly renovated & styled La França Hotel in Barcelona is said to be for “couples”, if you get what I mean. The discreet and stylish interiors are set to provide lovers with a romantic hideaway in one of Europe’s greatest cities.

It certainly looks beautiful inside (the parking lot even has curtains), but the best part are the prices, starting from €42 up to €88 for the grand suite. I’m off to Barcelona next month, and I’m paying a lot more for a standard room in another hotel, than La França charges for their grand suite. Hmmm….Perhaps it might be time to change my booking?

Find out more at La França.

Update: The beautiful interior design work at La França was done by Lázaro Rosa Violán.

Don’t Worry, I haven’t developed a soup fetish! I know I posted about another design soup bowl the other day, and now I’m about to do it again, but it’s just a coincidence! It seems we’re on the edge of a new trend for designer soup bowls. And the Topography Soup Plate by Kyouei Design is a corker! Plus the wonderfully disjointed english blurb they have on the site is like somekind of crazy beat poetry:

please pour the soup into this plate. mountain range and a lake are completed. and the bottom of a lake appears when you eat the soup. please enjoy the taste, the landscape and topography of the plate. when you use it as a salad dish, it becomes a forest. you can create a landscape on your very own table.

See more work by Kyouei Design.

Sorry for the lack of posts this week… but I’ve been skipping around the country for the past few days. The highlight was catching Interpol play live on Monday night.

Also, I tried out a new design concept hotel in Birmingham called Nite Nite. The hotel is a boutique budget hotel that takes it’s inspiration from Japanese capsule hotels. Essentially, your room amounts to what can only be described as a luxury prison cell. That may sound awful, but it’s actually a great experience. The tiny windowless room which is kitted out with a 42 inch plama televisions and a high-spec wet-room area can be completely controlled from a star-trek style neon control panel on the wall. It’s what I imagine a cabin on a luxury space travel trip to the moon would be like at some point in the future.

If you’re not claustraphobic and you ever find yourself in Birmingham, UK and need a room for the night in the centre of the city, you should definitely check out Nite Nite.