The word eco attached to an article, product of service has become a turn-off, a moral obligation to read rather than a pleasure must continue kind of momentum. This is not to deny the importance of doing our bit to reduce carbon foot print. So mentioning the idea of designing an eco kitchen to the studio team the other day did not bring the normal enthusiasm that we get when we talk of starting a new project? The reason is that most eco projects have a slightly miserablist messages behind them. There are lots of good, exciting and enjoyable elements to the Eco-thought Zone. First it is a chance to use the imagination of a natural kind attached to ideas of longevity, quality and respect for nature; its is about things made well, slowly and with pride; it is about using renewable resources when it comes to energy. This suits anybody in love with timber, sunlight and harmony with nature (think William Morris or is true that it also about low energy or reminders of the Arts and Crafts period makes us think greenness is attractive. Why should eco mean cheapness and reductive down at heal scrimping when it should mean a release from the world of rat race competitiveness and devoid of human imaginative sensuality.

The Art of Exactitudes: Tribalising Fashion at Selfridges Ultralounge was an exhibition I was sorry to miss. After reading Peter Yorke’s piece in the Independent magazine (29th March), a man with a sharp eye for the comings and goings of cultural undercurrents, I was reminded how stale so many interiors feel – how disconnected from their owners ‘emotional mind-space’.

I enjoy how nuanced people are with their dressing habits, what trouble they take to send out the right messages. Constructing your look for the day requires prediction on everything from who you are going to meet to what the climatic conditions are to what mood you want to propel yourself – its like a self created spell. Dressing is an attempt to make oneself feel comfortable. The world of home décor is an incremental extension of this but with added elements of practicality, shared opportunity for expression with loved ones albeit complicated by longevity and high cost of fiddling with walls and furniture.

Next time I flick over a fashion page I shan’t be dismissing it as just another frivolity I will be thinking Oh it’s a sign of people engaging with life and wanting some fun and subtle interpretation. Cultural sub groups are a sign of a really healthy and free society. For sub group read the new ‘local’ spirit rather than product (more removed from our inner lives) and for free society think of the banning of fashion in communist or fascist regimes. Décor can’t display a daily or casual sentiment in the same way but it can be a charming expression of people’s feelings, history and collections of life experiences as 3D record. People should be braver about doing up their homes to reflect their passions and telling us their personal story.