It was marvellous to see so many of you at our stand at Graduate Fashion Week. We really enjoyed having the chance to show you all our Fashion and Textiles offerings!

Now for the bit you've all been waiting for...

We can now reveal that our GFW competition pile contained a whopping 5,222 pages!

We'd like to extend a giant THANK YOU to all of you who took the time to enter. Some very impressive mental arithmetic was witnessed by team LKP.

And the winner is...

Olivia Hunter.

Congratulations Olivia! We'll be in touch to confirm how we'll be sending your loot.

With Father's Day just around the corner (on June the 16th) we thought we'd treat you to some handy hints for the design loving Dad in your life.

1. Put that date in your diary now

2. If you don't have a diary to put it in, take a look at our marvellous dateless diary here. OK, this is a totally shameless plug but – in our defence – it does illustrate 24 world events (helllo nice pictures of Oktoberfest and the Tour de France) AND you can start it at any point in the year AND use it for as long as you wish – perfect for you diary phobics out there.

3. Now you've tackled the organisational bit (congratulations), it's time to get to the crux of the matter. What's the perfect way to say 'Happy Father's Day. I'm clearly the best sibling' or 'Thanks for being a great Dad. By the way, please can you help me...'. Well, look no further. From men's style, to the best bikes around, we've pretty much got it cracked.

4. And now for the best bit... use the promotional code DAD35 at the checkout to get 35% off the below books/gifts until the 16th of June!

We're making our annual trip to Earls Court 2 to check out all the amazing fashion design talent emerging from the colleges and universities across the UK.

If you're making the trip too we would love to see you at our little patch of exhibition space. Come and find us at stand D01.

Not only will we have 35% OFF EVERYTHING  on our stand (including new releases) but we'll be showcasing a VERY exciting new student book and running a bit of a competition. Plus, we're situated at a very convenient skip and a jump away from bar-based refreshments so no excuses really!

To celebrate National Bike Month in the United States, we caught up with 100 Best Bikes author Zahid Sardar to discuss how his passion for bicycle design came about and what he’s working on next.

Tell us about your background in design and how your fascination with bicycle design came about…
I have been drawing objects and people since I was 4 years old and I suppose my interest in both and how they interact begins there. I grew up in Bombay city in India at a time when there were fewer cars on the road and more bicycles and so it was second nature to love them.

Can you share with us your memory of the first bicycle you ever owned?
It was a bright child's bicycle with trainer wheels. It took me some time to get the confidence to abandon those supports but when I graduated to a 'real' bike it was a Raleigh. It was that or only a handful of other choices back then.

What excites you most about the future of bicycle design?
To some extent I am excited by the return of the bike as it was. Bikes had fallen out of favor for too long. It is now amazing to see all kinds of bikes being created with new materials and new technologies. We might even see a 3-D printed bike in the future replete with brakes and integrated gears. But, in general I think I am most interested in the Age of the Urban Bike. It will be a time when we cease to reach for bikes just when we want recreation or exercise but a time when riding a bike will be akin to walking out the front door.

How do you feel about the bike-sharing program that is coming to San Francisco, at last?
I like it. I've seen how well bike-sharing systems function in cities like London (in fact, I noticed that Laurence King frequently uses a share-bike when he heads home from work) and Paris and San Francisco has the right sensibility — albeit more challenging terrain — for a similar program to succeed.

As you know, May is National Bike Month in the United States. Do you have any special bike riding plans for this month or for Bike to Work Week?
Isn't that amazing? There was a time not too long ago that bike riders were considered renegades and troublemakers. Actually, I will be in Paris during May and my time there will surely include riding bikes to locations I need to see.

Take a look at our range of bike-related books and gifts here

Here are a few of our gift-worthy favorites:

We've teamed up with our friends at It's Nice That and got our hands on a pair of tickets to Here 2013 (a one day creative symposium).

On Friday the 21st of June, It's Nice That will be bringing together some of the best creative talent around for 'a one-day, fast-paced festival of creativity'. So far, the line-up includes: New York-based visual artist Rafaël Rozendaal, writer and performer Adam Buxton, award-winning French director and experience designer Nelly Ben Hayoun and Erik Kessels, the renowned creative director of Amsterdam-based communications agency KesselsKramer. Nice, huh? More information can be found here (including mega exciting things like 'all tickets include lunch and refreshments throughout the day').

Now for the juicy bit...

Despite many residents of LKP towers drooling over some of the hottest tickets in town, we've decided to gift them to a member of our Student List.

'What do I need to do to get my hot little hands on them?' we hear you ask...

To enter, simply sign-up to our Student List here and you'll automatically be entered into the mix. Bish, bash, bosh. As simple as that. We'll be contacting everyone on the Student List on the 28th of May and asking if you'd like your name to go into the 'yes please, I'd LOVE to win the tickets' hat. The winner will be announced on the 3rd of June.

Now for the even juicier bit...

Registered students receieve 35% discount on ALL the student books on our website. What can we say, we're feeling generous. AND it's sunny (sometimes). AND it's only a 4-day week (unless you're reading this post-Friday 10th of May).

Such is our love of the good life that our environmental ways even extend to the office kitchen. Take a trip to the culinary heart of the LKP operation and you will find a composting bin turning all our biodegradable lunch options into compost for the garden of one of our Editors. We would include a snap shot but the current contents is comprised of 3 avacado stones, a pile of tea bags, some dead flowers and a distinctly brown banana. Not a very photogenic offering.

Now for some MUCH more attractive eco treats...

"The perfect place to begin making unique crafts with a conscience." Making Magazine


"...demonstrates that achieving a sustainable design does not necessarily have to involve compromises in sophistication and style." Designer Magazine


"...will solve your 'where to find contemporary yet eco-friendly interior products' dilemmas and look good on your coffee table." Concepts for Living


"See how far the sustainable fashion industry has come in this dictionary of leading design companies that know how to do style with a conscience." The Financial Times


"Stephen Aldridge and Laurel Miller unpack various myths and show how, done well, packaging can please the planet as much as it can producer, retailers and consumers." The Independent


"...worthy, rounded, well researched and well written." Shirahime

This interactive activity book takes you on a ramble through a secret garden created in beautifully detailed pen-and-ink illustrations – all waiting to be brought to life through colouring, but each also sheltering all kinds of tiny creatures just waiting to be found. And there are also bits of the garden that still need to be completed by you.

Here's a sneak preview of this wonderful, inky world...

The Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Colouring Book from Laurence King Publishing on Vimeo.

Don't do schmaltzy? From the stunning Book of Skulls to the positively weird and wonderful Stickerbomb Monsters, we've got anti-Valentine's sorted.

Or how about a bit of fun to lessen the fluff? Take a look at our Gifts page for some V day treats. After all, who wouldn't want to play Bird Bingo with their betrothed?*

*Please note: This game will provide just as much enjoyment in the absence of a marriage proposal. However, the publisher is keen to point out that the inclusion of a nifty cloth bag provides ample space for 64 tokens AND surpise romantic gifts.

Aimed at fashion undergraduates, YourView features young designers at different stages of their training. Modeconnect's founder and fashion tutor Mark Atkinson says: "The idea was born from unsolicited submissions of work sent by students who are part of the Modeconnect community. The editorial team at Modeconnect found some of this work very interesting and worth showing. YourView provides a space on Modeconnect for undergraduate students to share their experience of the fashion projects carried out through their studies".

We will be sponsoring 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes to be awarded to the best profiles published on YourView within the first half of 2013.

For more information and details of how to enter, click here

The lucky winner will receive £200 worth of vouchers to be used on our website! Tempted? Go on, take a look at the huge range of fashion titles that are up for grabs here (the winner is also welcome to select any title in any subject category/range on our website).

The 2nd place prize will consist of 2 titles of the winner's choice (from our Fashion & Textile list), while the 3rd prize winner will be able to select 1 Fashion & Textile book.

What's more, students who sign-up to the LKP Student List will receive 35% off ALL student titles on our website. You can complete our quick and easy registration form here. So, your £200 prize could go even further...