Yesterday I was at a press show for Stockholm's newest design hotel called Nobis Hotel, opening on December 1. Located in the city center with just a few minutes walk to the central station, and everything you need just around the corner (including Riche, one of my favorite restaurants in that area), and with a great view of the busy square in front of the hotel.
I had expected this luxury hotel designed by prominent design trio Claesson Koivisto Rune to be very sophisticated but also a bit boring and cold. It was sophisticated for sure, but also very warm and welcoming! The house is an old bank building from the late 1800's (actually this is the bank where the famous "Norrmalmstorgs robbery" was held in 1973 and so the birth place of the Stockholm Syndrome!) with loads of wonderful details like intricate stucco, wood panels and patterned ceilings, and the architects have managed to balance that with more modern and cleanlined furnishing, without making it clash. The rooms and corridors are all painted in matte warm grey hues, including the ceilings and trims, and curtains in the same hue, which produces a feeling of calmness and understated luxury.
I could write a whole lot more, going on and on about the restaurants with Stockholm's top chefs, the hi-tech solutions that are hidden everywhere in the hotel, the amazing service levels that will be offered to guests, and so on and so on. But I won't. This blog is more about pictures and feelings, so if you want more hard facts, just click over to the Nobis Hotel site.
Stockholm's smallest museum, the clock room, with an old mechanical clock from the 1800's. An amazing room, I loved seeing all the little brass wheels, pistons and other mechanical parts still doing their job. This clock is actually rather special because it's not a pendular clock, but a circular one, meaning the pointers on the clock move in a smooth motion instead of ticking minute by minute.
The ceiling of the atrium is just one example of the great meetings between old and modern.
One of the rooms, with grey walls, ceilings and curtains. I might be modern and cleanlined, but I promise, it felt very warm and welcoming in person.
The bedroom of the Nobis Suite. Super luxury and lots of shiny surfaces, without feeling bling.
I found these incredibly inspiring Christmas pictures on Dutch magazine vtwonen's site. They all show very simple DIY settings, made with just some white paint, newspapers, candles, sheets and string. And takeaway boxes as tea light holders, very cool and clever! All the other things you see are things that most of us already have at home, like cardboard boxes, a stool, a ladder, chairs and a big mirror. You just have to style them correctly, and they will help your christmas spirits right along.
Do you remember the post about the Delfin & Postigo house I wrote back in January? The photos spread like fire over the internet, and I believe photographer Manolo Yllera had quite a peak in the visitor stats of his portfolio in the weeks following that post. Well, yesterday I was reminded about Yllera by a post on the Love Nordic design blog, and decided to pay him a visit again. Here is what I found:
Maliins bedroom with a black ceiling, concrete wall, white painted pallets used as a bed frame and naked bulbs.
The en-suite bathroom with a mix of vintage mirrors above the washbasin and a light made from an old funnel, with a string of lights adorning the wire. you also get a glimpse of the concrete floors that run throughout the entire house.
The open plan kitchen and dining space, with a mix of whitepainted wooden chairs around the Bruno Mathsson table and a branch with a string of fairy lights as a ceiling light.
Maliin free-hand painted this "rug" on their concrete deck.
More pallets, used here as a table in the garden. Notice the log sculptures in the background.
A big cluster of work lights welcomes the visitors.
Found via Lotta Agaton's blog, Paris based American photographer Mark Eden Schooley. You have probably seen his work before in Marie Claire Maison, Selvedge, Elle Decor Italy or Bloom.
1. The silkworms are fed with leaves from a particular tree, which tree is that?
2. Which country does silk originally come from?
Source: Sköna Hem
A cool outfit by Bobo Choses
Cushion and plate by Donna Wilson
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