New collections: Jeff Banks paint and Dulux wallpaper

Sat next to Jeff Banks (right) at a posh dinner at the Cork Street Art Gallery in Mayfair to launch new paint for his furnishing brand Ports of Call now in store at Focus DIY. Ports of Call (below) also includes paste-the-wall papers, bedlinen, accessories and much more.

Jeff - dapper in his own-brand tailoring - certainly is a go-er and a stay-er - his fashion boutique Clobber was a retail rave-up when opened in 1964. We chatted about the swinging sixties when I wore virtually non-stop Biba. Other fashion memories included Warehouse and The Clothes Show. More recently, it was Jeff that designed the outfits for the Olympic bid.

Jeff's new satin paint is so full of silicon you can use it on any surface except glass. To prove it, Jeff had lined the centre of our long table with painted design "icons" which his long-suffering assistant had tracked down through auctions and the internet.

They included a 1984 Apple Mac which sat centrally as a distinguished design dinosaur. We also had a 1932 Anglepoise lamp with a chic coating of charcoal grey, a Kodak 1934 Baby Brownie dolled out in baby pink, and a classic 1922 soda siphon was a lovely lime green. More up-to-date was an Alessi kettle and the Philippe Starck triffid-like lemon squeezer.

We all sat on those notorious Christine Keeler Arne Jacobsen chairs, similarly painted, and with our names on them on small engraved silver plaques. Mine was peachy. The new paint is in 36 high fashion shades, and after dinner was a party game. We had to match slightly arcane fashion names like Sunglasses, Hot Pants, Silk Stocking and Peep Toe to the actual paints. Blow me down - I was one of five winners, to receive a huge signed shell artwork, the logo for the brand. For more details, visit www.jeffbanks.co.uk and www.focusdiy.co.uk.

The next night I saw Dulux (the most mega of paint brands) launch their first wallpapers, which - obvious really - exactly match their paint colours (right). "But it's never been done before," says their charming young colour and design manager, Louise Smith.

Whilst not outrageously original, the designs are very usable, and will be in Homebase from October, complete with their specified colours. Another thing I like about Dulux: the samples of real paint that can arrive through the post.

Visit www.dulux.co.uk and www.homebase.co.uk for further details.