design: simon & tomas

It's safe to say that there are way too many cooking-TV chefs, design-building and dating shows on TV. To mention the word 'inflation' only begins to explain the inconceivable (at least to me) phenomena.

I'm so not interested in watching other people cook more or less good food, I'm so not interested in seeing homes and houses getting built or redone in more or less pleasing ways, and I'm so not interested in seeing people dating in the most awkward of ways.

I'm constantly amazed about the seemingly endless stream of various degrees of weird people who desperately want to have their 15 minutes of *fame* on television. We certainly live in stranger than strange times.

Having said that - oh it felt good to get that out of my thought system - there are scarce but still exceptions to the rule of no-TV-chefs - an odd episode of Nigella cooking might do - and design/building shows - I am a proud 'Grand Design' junkie.

As for dating shows, so no exceptions, they're just beyond sad and pathetic.

Another very entertaining exception-to-the-rule in design shows is 'Design: Simon & Tomas'. The interior design duo behind the show are two middle aged guys - Simon Davies and Tomas Cederlund, owners of an interior design business in Stockholm, London W8, and gourmet olive oil shop, A l'Olivier - with a fondness for bold colours - always an obvious extra plus in my book, especially when the favourite colours belong to the pink-red colour scale - who more or less constantly acts like two nagging old ladies but in the end often (but not always to my personal liking) manage to transform the ugliest of homes into something striking and magical.

Though I personally would very much prefer if they could recycle, refurbish and transform old stuff a whole lot more instead of this constant buying of new things and furnitures. That would be so much more inspirational, quirky, personal and up-to-date I think.

They are always accompanied by two adorable shaggy Jack Russels named Percy and Pooter, whose behaviour makes Malte look like the poster boy for the well behaved model dog. Since Simon is originally from England, but I presume a long time resident of Sweden, his talking is a silly but charming mix of English and Swedish. Non other than an Englishman could get away with such a manner me thinks. He has a fondness for cakes and bright coloured glasses. Which beyond any doubt must be considered good traits.

Their current show isn't called 'Design: Simon & Tomas' but 'Sveriges fulaste hem' (*'weden's ugliest home') but it's pretty much the same concept as usual; ugly home in dire need of refurbishing and sprucing.

Some bits of the residence of undersigned certainly need sprucing, and perhaps it would be nice to get some serious professional help with parts of that, but I am so beyond not interested in having any TV-crew poking around here. So my home will most probably never be visited by Simon, Tomas, Percy and Pooter. Alas.

But what I do have - or rather M has in the car, but I was the adamant instigator of procurement - is this both cute (pink!) and rather clever little paper tissue holder, design: Simon & Tomas.