Home and House: August 2006

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Saturday, August 26, 2006

marimekko mouse

: : found these marimekko computer mouses via print&pattern. sold through Japanese site kokuyo.

I hope they will make it to the European and and American market soon. It would brighten up my work day! lovely marimekko!

: : French atelier LZC use these beautiful, organic, playful patterns and apply them to wallpaper, stationary, towels and steel objects. a collaboration of three designers, all graduates of paris school of art and design, founded in 2001. fun and inspirational!

: : more from .ulrika elofsson. form&design ....they just released their fall collection!! beautiful browns and blues. and look at that beautiful gustavsberg cup! what i would give for that!

bold color

: : came across this website called form-design and realized that this is where the dishrag that I blogged about earlier [from inreda.com] came from. the designer's name is .ulrika elofsson. the company; a young company selling products for modern living. the base for all their products are these bold, colorful and simple patterns, applied to lampshades, towels, table runners and...dishrags. color makes me happy : :

wall art

: : wonderful design.tina. passed along this link to Swedish wall art company .wonder wall.
wonder wall wants to change how the Swedish people [svenska folket] decorate their homes one wall at a time, by making art affordable and accessible to everyone.

: : wall decals are becoming more and more popular. Swedish company .form and function. has a great selection of vinyl decals. some come as one piece and some consist of several pieces and you choose the layout of the pieces. read about how they work, form and function

lovely lamps

: : these are another set of lampshades that I found very inspirational, by Dutch design company muurbloem. they have wonderful very graphical and colorful products. worth a visit! ::

: : my IKEA visit made me think about lampshades and I remembered seeing these beautiful ceiling lamps at lekker when I last visited. I've seen them in several home magazines as well, I just think they are so cool. they are part of the .delight collection. by Dutch designer .nicolette Brunklaus.
so, I thought to myself....maybe I should try and make my own lampshades? find a fabric that I love, buy a plain white shade at IKEA and put the two together. we'll see, I'll show you the results if it happens.

: I went to IKEA last night with some friends. we rented an IKEA zipcar and drove out there. it was a fun adventure. but it happened again....I'm sure this happens to everyone...you go, with a list in your hand of exactly what you need and nothing more...but you come out with a whole lot of things that was NOT on your list, and a receipt in your hand with much bigger numbers than you had planned for.

a lamp was not on my list. I have 6 lamps in my room already...I don't need more. well, I walked around the corner in the lighting section and saw these lamp shades...and fell in love. especially with the third one from the left. it would be perfect in my room! turns out they had sold out of the larger lampshade. and they're only in stores for the summer. I ended up buying a floor lamp stand and a white lamp shade...thinking, if I end up going back to IKEA and they have these in, I can get one and just change out the white one. I hope they'll have them next time I go : :

happy kids

: : I found this fantastic Brittish website all about kids interiors, called childhood interiors. just simple, bold and happy! and all their photos are so happy too! my favorites are the letter pillows, so that you can spell out your own name with the pillows on top of your bed.

: : some of you in the design world might have already seen the boon frog. boon inc is a company that creates "innovations for modern parents". and they're good innovations, the frog being the best example. but also the flo, which I would even like on my bathtub faucet, if only I could fit under the faucet.

: : swigg is another fantastic, happy and colorful company. you'll be hearing about them again from me, for sure. I thought their critter collection would be appropriate in this kids section. they're for everyone, not just kids, but they are made of a vinyl material, are animal-friendly and easy to clean.

[swigg has a great website, simple, straight forward, asymmetrical and colorful. enjoy your visit]

: : and who doesn't love these little fellows? two happy blond little ones. uggabugga is a Swedish kids apparel company, run by a mom and her friends it seems like. great kids clothes with refreshing patterns and motifs. [bus [the sign on his shirt] means doing something you're not supposed to be doing ].

: : while strolling the shoe stores downtown Boston during my lunch hour a few weeks ago, I found....my own designed Converse Chuck Taylors on the shelf!! I was so surprised!

I had created this pattern while at Converse as an intern almost two years ago. I had no idea that it would actually make it to production!

But, here it is .eternal flower. .....

....available on the Converse website, both in blue and orange, hi-top and low cut. Just the way I intended it to look like! I'll be sporting them around town from now on......maybe you will too?

just beautiful...

: : wonderful .ali. at work sent me this link to a website called nebo peklo today. just the most beautiful illustrations!! I was so inspired! and just what I needed too...I was feeling low on motivation today.

it looks like such "free" art, I don't know how to better explain it, but it just seems so organic and free spirited. Beautiful watercolors mixed with black ink. From what I gather the artist's name is .natalie. and she's Brittish. Her art seems to be her true passion, but she still has a regular day to day job [where she doesn't seem too happy]. You can buy her art right on the website. Just beautiful : :

vintage arabia and rörstrand

photos: flaska online

: : I have mentioned before that my dad [.pappa. swedish for dad] used to work for Swedish china company Rörstrand [in Lidköping, my hometown] and Finnish china company Arabia

Through prints&patterns I discovered this wonderful Japanese website flaska that sells vintage ceramics, most of it cups and saucers from Scandinavian companies like Arabia, Rörstrand and another Swedish company, Gustavsberg. Most of these cups are from the 40's and 50's, many of which I have seen at friend's grandparents houses and flea markets around Sweden. They're becoming more and more popular and therefore more and more valuable. In the US you can find some of them on e.bay.

I think they are all so lovely! Such bold, happy, colorful patterns! I decided to make it a new hobby, to collect vintage cups. Hopefully, every time I go home to visit, I can locate a few of the beauties in the pic. above and bring them back.

.pappa. actually told me a funny stor about the cups, because I thought it was a bit strange to find all these Scandinavian cups on a Japanese website. He told me that at Japanese weddings the wedding couple doesn't recieve gifts, but they give gifts to their guests instead [as if a wedding wasn't expensive enough already]. Often they like to give two of something, and coffee cups turns out to be the perfect gift. Additionally, the Japanese food culture is so different than Western food culture and they rarely tend to use the same plates that we use, if any plates at all. So, that's why the website is comprised mostly of cups and saucers for sale. Interesting fact I thought. : : enjoy!

innovative subway maps

: : through print&pattern I found antoine et manuel
a french studio with really cool graphics. these are a two of their versions of the typical subway map. please visit their site for more inspiration.

: : yes, I am so excited, I've found a new favorite blog : : print & pattern , an incredibly inspirational blog. everything from buttons to ceramics, basically anything with prints and patterns. I am so happy! so much color, so much creativity...I think this will have to go on my daily blog list.

I actually found print & pattern through another great Swedish design blog, flitiga myran
definitely worth checking out if you have a minute or two.

: : after posting about danish design company rice I got a hot tip from my design friend .tina. she shared her favorite danish design store with me. stilleben, I'm assuming it is in Copenhagen [.tina. any info on that?]. a shop run by two young female danish designers. they sell beautiful ceramics but are also just about to release their own line of ceramics this fall. i'll keep you all updated on that.

if you're traveling to denmark, maybe you have the chance to stop by? it looks like a wonderful little store.

: : here is one more post from inreda.com
a very simple way to brighten your day. I know we use these in Sweden a lot but I'm not so sure if they are commonly used in the US. But basically they are dishrags that absorb liquids really well. in my home we use them for cleaning of counters etc. in the kitchen. they usually come in one color, but these patterns are so much more fun. only 25 SEK [about $ 3] at inreda.com

rice everyday

: : here they are!! the beautifully colored mugs that I have spotted at .frida's. husmusen blog, but never knew where they were from. well, I found them, they're from Danish design company rice. rice is definitely my new favorite company. so much color! the mugs are available right here at inreda.com [swedish only..sorry].

new on red.house! posts marked with a heart are personal favorites of mine.

: : rice products are perfect for adding some color to your everyday. simple, fun, durable products for the kitchen. why not a round flowery cutting board that can also serve as a tray? available at inreda.com [under "köket" = kitchen]

: : I found this wonderful Swedish online shop inreda.com [interior decoration] and through them discovered all the wonderful products of rice design. I've seen the colorful mugs on .frida's. blog, husmusen, but haven't been able to find them. Finally! rice design is a Danish company, young designs bursting with color. Just what I needed after a long week at work. : : enjoy: :

: : last set of dishes

: : these are all dish sets from German company Kahla.

the first, pronto, maybe not what .pete. and .tina. are looking for, but I had to include them because of the beautiful orange cup. [definitely going on my wishlist. I love anything orange]

the second set is called cocoon. , organic and asymmetric..adorable.

the last set is called elixyr , .tina. really fell for these. symmetry and asymmetry with a lot of character.

: :lekker and bliss home

: : today I went on a shopping trip with lovely bride to be .tina. [she asked me to help her find the perfect everyday dishes. see entry below] we went to check out two local [boston] stores that offer a good selection of dishes, bliss home and lekker home .

lekker offers a great selection of German and Dutch brands, .tina. was especially interested in many of the Kahla dishes. They also have several Arzberg dishes. lekker is a wonderful store, one of my favorite design stores in Boston. Perfect for gift ideas! .natalie. at lekker was very helpful and gave us a lot of information about the brands and the products. Thank you .natalie.!

bliss has a wonderful collection of Scandinavian products. Several of the iittala products mentioned below, teema and origo were available in their store. as well as the Swedish brand Höganäs [see below].

this will be the last post for the everyday dishes. I hope for .pete. and .tina. ,that this has given them inspirational ideas, and maybe you even found the right set for you.

: : Finally it's here! the IKEA catalogue...joy! Of course I am an IKEA fan, I'm Swedish! I woke up Saturday morning and spent the morning in bed looking through the catalogue jotting down inspirational ideas and things to put on my wish list. if you didn't receive it in the mail, check it out online.

: : part three continued

: : okay, okay, I know there has been mostly scandinavian dishes.....but I have to mention Karin Eriksson, one of my very favorite designers at the moment. Visiting her blog is a daily inspiration to me. Her products are amazing! Beautiful, delicate and just absolutely lovely. I just had to share. Maybe not the perfect every day ceramic pieces, but just one of her pieces in my home would brighten my day. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

: : another scandinavian favorite [sorry to be so biased here] is höganäs ceramics, of course. the cup is part of their more recent serie of salt glazed products. the black cup is a personal favoritete of my lovely friend .tina. who sent me this link. [tack tina!] there is something pure and very scandinavian about that cup.

the cute colorful dishes are called kakao , which means cocoa in swedish. funky and asymmetrical. if you visit their website, make sure to check out all their cups. cups is definitely what they do best.

: : so, .pete. seems to be a fan of the colorful dishes. he liked the combination of teal and brown in teema [by iittala]. so, to give him some more inspiration, I found this series called koko from arabia. very similar to teema but a little more expressive. basic forms and colors that can be combined with anything. timeless. both teema and koko has my personal vote.

: : part two continued

: : it would be impossible for me to blog about dishes without mentioning iittala.
as I have mentioned earlier, I am a fan of all of their products. actually three separate series, but all part of the same happy colorful family, here are teema dishes, kartio glasses and origo cups and bowls. teema comes in a variety of colors, combine with origo in red or blue tones to create an original set but still manage to keep them as a family.

: : teema: : I especially like teema's series of plates, bowls, cups etc......so simple and so colorful. here combined with Kaj Frank's timeless kartio glasses, a perfect match.

[all from iittala. available at several retails locations around the US.]

: : today I focused more on color. and I found this really cool set of dishes [ this is actually a picture from someone's flickr. account ]. I haven't been able to find a lot of information about them, they are called Russell Wright Residential by Northern Melamine Dishes. I'm thinking they are probably from the 60's? they only place where I have found them for sale so far is on e.bay. could be a collectors item? in any case, they are adorable and fun!