Now, on to Day 2 with more interesting tidbits such as shopping in Greenwich and wandering around Peckham…

Teaching at General Assembly, London

My core purpose for going to London end of June was to teach two courses at General Assembly London, a tech-incubator and knowledge space. They’re located down on Back Hill Rd in the Clerkenwell section of London.

Students at my UX Basics Workshop at General Assembly London

The Bank of America.co.uk group

Shopping in Greenwich, London at Sophia & Matt

After wrapping up the course at General Assembly, we headed back to our hotel over in Greenwich and stopped by a curious store I spotted the previous night. The store is called Sophia & Matt and I fell in love with absolutely everything in it and wanted to buy it all. Really. Their origin story is a great one, as told by their lovely shop attendant. The two started making the bags all by hand and selling them in the stalls of the famed Greenwich Market. More about them and my bag lust after the jump…

Love this travel/changing bag at Sophia & Matt’s in Greenwich, London. Only £85! Tell them how you’ll use it and they’ll thrown in a free interior bag.

After successfully selling in their stall, they eventually moved up to a small physical corner store right outside the main Greenwich marketplace. In here you’ll find it’s tastefully packed and arranged with all their wares: purses, travel bags, changing bags, pencil cases, totes large and small, card holders, you name it. Everything is designed and made in England and always been. Their work is so good, Prince Charles was shown to their studio for a tour during his visit  to London’s Container City I and Container City II at Trinity Buoy Wharf.

What I love about their designs are the bold use of colour, dot patterns, overall patterns and sense of style that easily pairs with anything you currently own. Plus, they’re insanely affordable. For only £34 I bought the small purse, pencil case, medium purse and two card holders you see below. Support a business that’s handmade in England, plus they’re super young, in their early 30s. Go  look at all their beautiful things and buy them then go say hello on their rather lively Facebook page or on the Twitters.

Even the front of the register counter and the floor are beautifully designed.

View all of my photos from the Sophia & Matt store on Flickr in their own set.

My haul from Sophia and Matt: medium purse, small purse, pencil case, and two card holders.

My copywriter friend Carla also beamed when I gave the pencil case to her last week. 

Overnight in Peckham, London with dear Evelyn

We ended our evening staying with Gilbert’s lovely friend Evelyn who lives over in the neighbourhood of Peckham. We checked out of the hotel, Gilbert quickly bought a couple bottles of good red wine and we hopped a bus to her place. Again, these were his old stomping grounds from ye olde London days so the bus ride was full of finger pointing, chuckling and old-man-yelling-at-things-changing-everywhere. Ev welcomed us with her warm smile, a big furry orange cat and immediately put to us work shelling broad beans in the garden for our risotto dinner.

And of course, we topped off our night walking about the neighbourhood looking at all the new civic developments around the area and taking in the night air. Some of the best pictures always come when you’re not looking for them though. On our way, we passed a peculiar discarded box of “Meaty Crisps” on the sidewalk.  Why, they’re potato chips flavoured like steak and onions, roasted chicken and smoky bacon…of course. On that meaty note, Day 3’s write up is coming later this week. Swing back for the update on full greasy English breakfast and next week for my photos from Brussels.