if you’re a reader of design & decor blogs or blogs of any kind really (and i assume you are because, well, you’re here) then you’ll probably be familiar with Skinny Laminx. Heather’s wonderful textile & design work is one of our proudest south african exports – and she’s based right here in Cape Town which makes me doubly proud because our city is rad, huh?

so if you follow Skinny Laminx on twitter or facebook you might have seen that their shop on Bree Street is celebrating its first birthday this week. Heather mailed me a little while ago with a cool idea to make a special music mix for the shop in celebration of their birthday (and to spice up the shop’s playlist, which is currently made up of a lot of songs from my mixes – rad!) and i jumped at the chance because i can’t resist a great mix.

but that’s not all. in the spirit of celebration and giving, the Skinny laMix comes with a bonus GIVEAWAY! Heather is giving one lucky reader an Alexander Sack in Pollen Pebble Print (say that three times fast) as pictured above. all you have to do to enter is leave a comment telling me what your favourite song is at the moment. i’ll be closing the giveaway & drawing a winner at random on Monday 17 December, so get commenting!

as for what inspired the mix itself, Heather gave me a pretty great brief:

I’m a sucker for  beardy, Byrdsy men on a harmony, lanky boys with hair in their eyes doing something jangly, and sunny girls singing about trees. You know the kind of thing.

Skinny laMix. download it here*. playlist:

1. Devendra Banhart – Baby
2. M.Ward – Chinese Translation
3. Deer Tick – Art Isn’t Real (City of Sin)
4. Stornoway – Zorbing
5. Votiv – Upstairs
6. The Tallest Man On Earth – 1904
7. First Aid Kit – Emmylou
8. Wilco – You And I
9. The Velvet Underground – Femme Fatale
10. Kings Of Convenience – Know How
11. Mumford & Sons – The Boxer
12. Laura Marling – Rambling Man
13. Feist – How Come You Never Go There?
14. Levek – Girl In The Fog
15. Blitzen Trapper – Lady On The Water
16. Bowerbirds – Sweet Moment

if you’re after more Skinny Laminx: international readers can shop at etsy, and south africans can order at her local online shop or visit the shop on Bree Street. i have had my eyes on her rough diamond cushion for some time now… oh and i couldn’t end this post without showing you the cute video made to celebrate their birthday:

* click on free download. close the pop up window, if there is one, and wait a few seconds before entering a captcha code to start the download. here’s an alternative download link. same drill: click on free download, close the pop up window if there is one, click the download link again on the next page. you might have to wait a few seconds before it starts downloading.