Live with JOYIA - The JOYIA LIVING Blog

There is nothing more evocative than the shape of a palm tree – its silhouette is instantly identifiable and familiar, yet exotic and strange all at once. Palms are part of the Arecaceae family of flowering plants of which around 2600 species have been identified. They grow mostly in tropical and sub-tropical climates. Many are incredibly hardy and can withstand heat, torrential rain and storms as well as dry desert conditions. The Arecaceae family has been a consistent feature of the earth’s flora with fossil records of these plants dating back to as early as 80 million years ago. And palm use...

When we were debating our second design theme there were many contenders, but with summer coming and our yearning for the sea, we decided on the idea of corals!  (Don’t worry, the other contenders are still in the works – something to look forward to in the near future from JOYIA LIVING!). But, back to corals and why corals.  Simply, we love them!  They evoke summer and happy times in exotic places.  We’re intrigued by their almost naïve and sometimes pre-historic looking forms. Corals are a diverse range of species representing a vast ecosystem on our beautiful planet.  Coral reefs also support...

At JOYIA LIVING we love a good stripe!  But where did the mighty stripe for decoration originate?  Stripes occur quite widely in the natural world – think majestic tigers, zebras, striped hyenas, gloriously crested hoopoe birds and a multitude of tropical reef fish.  And it is not just animals. The plant world is filled with variegated foliage.  So it’s not difficult to imagine our cavemen ancestors sporting a variety of striped animal pelts as clothing and potentially also using them for rugs, bedding and so on. Neanderthal Chic anyone?  These bold stripey pelts offered probably one of the earliest forms of human...