About Me

Guide to Stockholm

A personal guide to Stockholm, written by me,
for you!

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Moormannberge Hotel

If I was ever going skiing in the Alps, I would go to Aschau im Chiemgau and stay at the Moormannberge Hotel! This is the most stylish skiing resort I have ever seen, so minimal and pure but still with a real Alp feeling. While the walls and ceilings have been left in their original style, all of the furniture is built on location in pine or black or white painted mdf, and the details are either industrial or mid century modern. I just love this style!

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Advice to sink in slowly

My love for inspirational art with fun quotes and cheerful type just keeps growing. That is why I went totally nuts this afternoon when I found Advice to sink in slowly via More Ways to Waste Time!

Advice to sink in slowly is a series of posters designed by recent and established graduates of University College Falmouth for the purpose of passing on advice and inspiration to first year students. A poster is given as a welcoming gift to every first year student when they enrol. And now anyone can buy the A3 prints from their site for the ridiculous amount of £5. I think that price justifies buying a whole bunch of posters, even though I have no idea where to put them, don't you agree?

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Restaurant Landet, Stockholm

In my opinon, Landet is one of the most inspirationally decorated restaurants and bars in Stockholm. It is situated in an old post office in one of the southern suburbs, and pulls a big crowd from all over town. Maybe it is because of the interior design, maybe it's the great food, the cool clubs, or maybe the excellent live bands? Whatever you are looking for, you can find it here!

The interior design was created by Kjerstin Björk, Hedvig Andersson och Tove Sjöberg who all graduated from Konstfack in 2004. Here they have gone all in working in a very experimental way, with nice clashes between the unusual premises and it's new content, to create something that is at the same time fancy and raw, common and smart.

I love the circus details  and strong colours mixed with the modern clean lines!

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Photographer Lars Ranek

Danish photographer Lars Ranek shoots some stunning interior pictures, with a great sense of space, light and mood. Take a look at his site for some beautiful food and travel photos as well.

Ranek is based in a 240 sqm studio in Copenhagen, and has been working as a professional advertising and commercial photographer since 1989. He established his own company in 1992 and is today an independent photographer specialising in food and interior photography.

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Lizzie Allen Wallpaper

I have fallen in love with the wonderfully quirky patterns on Lizzie Allen's hand printed wallpapers. Wouldn't they look great on a feature wall or just in a frame?

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Eye Candy

Saturday sweets for everyone, gathered from a mess of sites and blogs around the net as usual... Today feels like a good day for white, brown and grey.

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More textiles

Spira is another fab Swedish textiles company, with more graphic patterns. Their new patterns for 2008 are truly great, I love them! The styling isn't all that bad either...

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Textiles from Kardelen

Kardelen is a Swedish textiles company that started out in 1992 with the aim to provide a more modern alternative in the world of high quality linen fabrics. They showed some great new patterns at the Formex fair, but unfortunately the new product shots haven't made it to their site yet. So you will have to take my word for it, and be satisfied with some pictures from the past seasons for now. I promise to update you when the new photos comes up though!

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Friday Flickr Favorites

I've been down with a stomach bug, hence no posts in the last couple of days, but now I'm up and running again, so here you go, some flickr favorites to enjoy!

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Lampshades by Veronica Eklund

These hand blown glass shades are called Well-known Untold and are designed by Veronica Eklund as a project in her education at Beckmans School of Design, but are now being produced by Konguro Art Glass. They take their starting point from opal white glass lamps that are commonly seen in bathrooms and kitchens around Sweden, but end up as something completely different...

This is what Veronica says about her lamps:
"I have designed lampshades for indoor and outdoor lighting that can be used with various standard fittings. I have experimented with shape, light and space, were the lampshade is changing with the environment in which it is used and can continue to develop in new contexts, both conceptually and visually."

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A short report from Formex Spring 2008

So I went to the Formex Fair yesterday, to see if I could spot some new trends. And sure, most of the trend exhibitions by the decorators and designers were good, but it didn't feel like the shops that were there to show their goods were keeping up with the trends. In the exhibitions I saw lots of gold, pink, purple and grey. Very oppulent and luxurious with inspiration taken from both Art Deco and the Baroque era. The stalls in the fair however were mainly the same old stuff, white painted shabby chic, silver chandeliers, flowery pastels and high shine metal vases. You know, the regular high street styles. But that is what I expected, it is the same every year. I guess I will have to wait until the Furniture Fair with their Greenhouse exhibit of young new designers to get my trend fix. That is usually very fresh and inspiring!

Here are some snapshots from yesterday, and I will be writing a few posts on some nice things I saw in the fair in the following days.

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Trends 2008

I started thinking about interior design trends for the new year today, while preparing for my visit to the Formex Spring Fair 2008 tomorrow (more on that in a couple of days).
I'm thinking green/recycled/eco friendly, Art Deco, Asian/North African inspired patterns and surfaces, maximalism and eclecticism, lots of grey, camel and taupe mixed with warm and deep colours or very strong hues like yellow, lime green or tangerine will be big this year. Then I found this great trendspotting article from Swedish lifestyle magazine Family Living. Have a look at some of the pictures here:

Styling: Saŝa Antić
Foto: Stefan Segolson

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Friday Flickr Favorites

Honey and nuts.

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Textiles and ceramics exhibition at Kaolin

Keramikgruppen Kaolin is a genuine group of ceramists founded in 1978. Since the beginning they are located in Hornsgatan 50, near Mariatorget in Stockholm, where they together run both a shop and a gallery. Today, the group has fifteen potters working with unique handicraft, including utility goods as well as unique objects and sculpture in their own workshops all over the country. In their beautiful gallery they show one-man exhibitions by the members and also invite exciting exhibitors from both Sweden and abroad.
The name KAOLIN emanates from a place in China, a mountain called Gaoling, where the important kaolin clay was found, a pure fine-grained white clay forming part of both clay and glaze.

The first show this year is a coexhibit by designer and textile artist Ulrika Mårtensson and ceramist Eva Hedberg. The show is an experiment of what can happen when you put together two very skilled visual artist working in different materials, and what their work can give to each other in a mutual space. While Ulrika has been working with common white fabric, and Eva with stoneware, both of their works have a sense of play between light, shadows and darkness in common.

The exhibition will only show until the end of the month, so hurry if you want to see it!

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Unfinished and Unpublished

Today I recieved an email from Marta, a member of the project collaboration between Studio Matador; a platform for self-generated publications and printed products, and several international artists and designers. The result of this collaboration is a beautiful collection of limited edition notebooks, available for purchase on the Studio Matador homepage and from Rare Device in New York and San Francisco.

I love how very "now" all the books look, and all have totally different styles of illustration, although they are all in black and white only.

Thank you Marta!

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Etienne Meneau, artist

Etienne Meneau is the artist behind the fabulous glass wine decanters that has been flying around the bloggosphere over the last few months. Now he has made a new amazing piece of art, The Elastic Houses sculptures. I love how he expresses his thoughts about them in her email;

"The elastic houses are made for those who like instability and precarious, who like

to be awakened by the sound of the rain, those who like to sleep under the boats

returned. They will be recalled at any time to the realities of gravity, rocked by

wind and earthquakes. The elastic houses therefore ask its inhabitants a strong

sense of balance and a real taste for the experiments."

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Eye Candy

Looking for light and shots of color. Did someone say Spring?

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Aiko Machida, artist

Fantastic leather artwork by artist Aiko Machida. This is what she has to say about her work:

- I make bags for wearing. not so much for carrying things in. They are as aesthetically perfect as I can make them. Clothes have to fit, but accessories don't. I see my accessories as clothes that don't have to fit, which will suit all sorts of people for all sorts of reasons.

My another collection follows the logic of different materials for different functions, I radically changes what object should be like. Using two materials in a new way creates not only surprise but a new function and a new meaning.

I use leather instead of wood because it looks similar but it performs differently. I am interested in both the tactile and the visual, and the gap between these: can one be distinguished from the other? Deceiving both sight and touch creates an element of surprise, of subversion. Working somewhat in the trompe l'oeil tradition, but in three dimensions, I transform furniture (lamps, chairs, interior fittings) and instruments (a piano). I deceive your eyes, your expectations of materials, and your "common sense" - and in this way challenges preconceptions and cultural norms.

Deception produces confusion, agitation or the feeling that one is being played with, whereas "to see is to understand".

via Oh Joy!

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Friday Flickr Favorites

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White French loft

I found this beautiful industrial style loft apartment on Marie Claire Maison. Such a great mix of styles, with the white walls, huge windows and raw industrial accessories, against warm wood and vintage furniture.

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Maria Westerberg paintings

This Saturday I'm going to the opening of Maria Westerberg's exhibition of oil paintings at Restaurant Vimmel. Extremely cute little animals having fun in the bathroom could never go wrong, don't you agree? I love the dirty pastel colours and the absurd motifs!

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5 New Names

Yes, that is the title of the first exhibtion of the year at Konsthantverkarna (The Craftsmen) in Stockholm. The exhibit runs between 19.01 and 13.02 and shows arts and crafts from the five new members of 2008 who are: Esmé Alexander (glass), Inger Andersson (ceramics, concrete, glass), Petra Mandal (silver), Tina Olsson (textiles) and August Sörensson (ceramics).

Konsthantverkarna was formed in 1951 and is now the oldest, and biggest, co-operative of proffessional craftsmen in Sweden. Each member represents good quality and new ways of thinking, and almost all of them have undergone four to six years of training at the School of Arts, Crafts and Design or similar.

Proppen, candlestick by August Sörensson


Cykloper i mörker, brooches in acrylic by Petra Mandal


Kalas, cake stands by Esmé Alexander

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At home with Anne Black

Wonderful pictures of ceramist Anne Black's Copenhagen flat. It is only 80 sqm, but looks very spacious through the sparse furnishings and whitepainted floors and walls.

Photos Torben Petersen, Boligmagasinet

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White and birch trees

Somehow this article from a Russian magazine popped up on my screen, and I recalled seeing these pictures somewhere before, but I don't think I ever blogged them. The apartment shown is probably British or Swedish *correction* it is located in Copenhagen! , and the only words I can actually read in the article is "Elle Decor", so I guess that is where I saw it first.

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Karin Sehnert, ceramist

I found the work of Karin Sehnert at the craft2eu site, and thought it was really cool. Karin has to make time in order to produce her tiny exclusive collection of "good spirits" in her own small workshop. Her "day job" is in production design for industry, having first completed studying how to paint on china and a degree at the University of the Arts in Halle - Burg Giebichenstein.
In the top photo below you can see her Lucky Charms, with powerful words like Love, Courage and Energy written in German. These qualities are supposed to transcribe to the carrier of the charm. The middle pic is of her toothpick holders, and below is her porcelain thermos flasks for milk and water.

Craft2eu is an agency and gallery for European arts and crafts, and you can shop directly from their site.

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Some sweets for you all

Since I haven't posted any eye candy for a long time now, and because I am currently saving my nice pics on no less than three different computers, here is a bag of candy from the Mac I am currently on. It is also supposed to work as a little inspiration for my friend Henrik who is ripping out his kitchen in the next few weeks but has no clue what to replace it with...

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Sara Danielsson, photographer

Swedish photographer Sara Danielsson has worked for most of the big magazines in Sweden, showing great talent for both food and interior shots. She has also shot some of my favourite cookbooks, like Njut en liten smula and Gucka. Världens röra.

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New poster by Elisabeth Dunker

Elisabeth Dunker of Lula and excellent blog fine little day has a great new poster called Krakatoa, available from Little Red Stuga. Looks to me like she was inspired by Tove Jansson and perhaps a little Marimekko? Anyhow, I love it!

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Tag, you're it!

I was tagged by Studio Wellspring with the "7 random facts" meme. I know I have been tagged with this meme by several other people, but I just didn't have the inspiration to do this before, sorry folks, please don't feel too ignored.

So here we go, seven random facts about me:

1. I cut my own hair, and have done so for a couple of years now since my hairstylist moved to Australia. I figure there is no point in paying for a bad haircut when I can give myself one for free.

2. I have two nails on each of my pinky toes. Sometimes they grow on top of eachother, other times side by side. Looks equally weird either way, but it makes me pretty unique, doesn't it?

3. I really really wish I could draw. But I have no talent whatsoever in that field. I believe my life would be so much easier if I could visualize my thoughts for other people in an easy and natural way. I will try to learn, that is one of my resolutions for 2008!

4. When I clean my home I always start in the wrong end, with the decorating and arranging little stills, and do the vacuum cleaning and dusting at the very end. I just can't find motivation enough to start with the boring stuff, I have to get some inspiration first!

5. I am most creative at night. The best hours of my day is between 10 and 02. And I totally hate mornings. I wish I never had to get out of bed before 10 am again in my life.

6. I'm so afraid of failure that I very rarely finish my projects.

7. I don't know much about music. I have no idea what I like. My ex husband was a DJ when we met, and continued to pick the music in our home. I would sometimes just say that I wanted to hear something happy, British, with a female lead singer for example, and he would put something like that on and I had no clue as to what it was. So I have just started to actually choose my own music, my own soundtrack of my life if you will.

Ok, so maybe it got a little too personal there at the end, but hey, some of you readers have been putting up with me for 2 and a half years now, so you deserve a little private information, right?

I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you feel like sharing yourself with a couple of thousand of strangers, I won't stop you!

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Marimekko Spring News

Some wonderful new fabrics from Marimekko, available from Textile Arts in the near future.

Via Door Sixteen

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Fredrika Linder, glass designer

"In my work the shaping of the material is in focus. By making use of the movement in the warm glass and its transparent abilites, I try to balance the polairitys between control and freedom, to see where the limits are between spontanous expressions and the repeated skilled craft."

Fredrika Linder

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