EMMAS DESIGNBLOGG

Merry Christmas everyone! It's time for the grand finale! A big box of designer furniture and accessories, hand picked by me, generously sponsored by HIPVILLA.COM, with a total value of € 686. This is what you can win:

• Two Muuto Outside In rubber flower pots, one large and one small, in grey
• A set of Muuto Plus salt and pepper mills in black and white
• Gold Barre piggy bank
• Large DLM table in black, from HAY
• Candlestick The More the Merrier, in white, by Louise Campbell for Muuto
• Brush and dustpan from Normann Copenhagen
• A set of two big trays, in grey, from HAY
• Metal scissors from Seletti
• Wicker bread basket in dark grey from Muuto
• Dot pillow in grey, with two dots, from HAY
• Unfold pendant lamp in grey, from Muuto

The day before the big day... Lots to do, not much time left. Are you ready for the holidays yet? Perhaps you have time for a giveaway anyway? Today's prize is a teapot and two mugs from Höganäs Keramik, designed by Front, worth € 123.

Today's prize comes from Gubi, and it's a true design classic that I know that many of you wants! It's a Bestlite BL-2 Table lamp, in black, worth € 419!

After having some technical difficulties, here you go, today's giveaway! Today's prize is a Leaf hanger (worth € 64) from Swedish designers LagströmWiktorsson. The Leaf hanger consists of five laser cut steel rings where you can hang anything from clothes to magazines or jewellery.

Are you having friends and family over for Christmas, and nowhere to seat everyone? Then this giveaway is for you! Today's prize is sponsored by Länna Möbler, and it is one Acapulco chair in black, worth € 365.

I think you are going to like this... The prize today comes from Normann Copenhagen and RoyalDesign.se and it's a Heima candlestick, 2 Cognac Glasses, 2 Whisky Glasses and a set of Dropit hooks. Total worth: € 156.

I hope you are all having a nice weekend! Today's prize comes from Artek and consists of a big tray, a canvas bag and two packs of paper napkins.

Are you like me, and still haven't got all of your Christmas decorations up? Then this is the giveaway for you! It's big package of Christmas decorations from Norwegian webshop Bolina, consisting of this: Moon Light chain from House Doctor, large felt bag (to store your decorations after the holidays), pine cone garland, felted heart, pack of 3 paper star ornaments, pack of 10 black twig stars, tea light holder from Tine K. Total worth: € 145.

Today's prize comes from Iittala, and it is a 6 pack of their brand new glass Lempi (worth € 63),  arriving in stores in January.

And I have a little treat for you! It's a short interview I made with the designer of today's prize; Matti Klenell. Klenell is one of Sweden's most prominent designers, with a list of clients like Muuto, Offect, Moooi and Svenskt Tenn. One of the things that makes him unique is the fact that he works with both furniture and glass, both practical products and more artistic pieces.

I was a little surprised by the relaxed attitude in Matti's answers, he comes off as quite humoristic and very down to earth. Rare qualities in Stockholm's design scene! So I highly recommend using Google translate to read the interview if you don't read Swedish, even if it lowers the quality of the text a bit...

If you would like to see a short film (with English subtitles) where Matti speaks about the Lempi glass click over to Fiskars' blog Design Day by Day.

Kan du berätta lite mer om glaset, hur du tänkte när du formgav det? Vad inspirerades du av?

Det är ett allglas som ska fungera till både vardag och fest och min utgångspunkt var faktiskt ett generöst handgjort glas på fot som min pappa gjort. Jag har använt det i många år och alltid varit tilltalad av storleken och hur det verkligen fungerar till allt. Man häller gärna upp lite för mycket från lådvinsboxen när man har ett sånt glas och det är både ett plus och ett minus, men mest roligt. Mitt glas fick förstås en annan form då det skulle kunna tillverkas industriellt. För att balansera elegansen och det vardagliga är kupan tunn och foten lite tjockare. Det lyfter dessutom fram Iittalas färgade glasmassa på ett fint sätt.

Målgruppen för glaset är nog jag själv och jag bor förhållandevis litet med begränsade förvaringsmöjligheter i köksskåpen. Då glas på fot oftast tar mycket plats så utvecklades Lempi till ett stapelbart glas och det fungerar överraskande bra. Staplarna blir väldigt vackra i sig, speciellt när man blandar färgade och klara glas, så nu står glasen paradoxalt nog ofta framme. Men det kan ju vara nyhetens behag....

Till skillnad från många andra glasformgivare så arbetar du inte exklusivt med glas utan skapar även möbler och produkter i andra material. Är det någon skillnad i processen när du arbetar med glas?

Egentligen är det inte så stor skillnad. I alla fall inte när jag arbetar med ett glasprojekt som skall serietillverkas. Men jämfört med möbler är man ju låst till ett material som man måste förhålla sig till. Glas är dessutom ett rätt lynnigt sådant. Hur mycket man än ritar och skissar så blir slutresultatet lite annorlunda. Dessutom kräver glas mycket närvaro i hyttan under arbetet och det är väldigt kul även om man mest står och tittar på. När jag nyligen arbetade med objekt i just glas till en utställning på Galleri IngerMolin i Stockholm så var det periodvis rätt jobbigt och då frågade jag mig vad det var som fick mig att hålla på med det jag gör. Rätt fort kom jag fram till att jag verkligen gillar arbetet och de människor jag träffar i hyttan. Ett snickeri är också trevligt men det är något med tempot, direktheten och doften som är speciellt.

Vad tycker du kännetecknar ett bra glas?

Att det bidrar till att skapa rätt stämning tror jag. Naturligtvis ska det vara funktionellt med bra tyngdpunkt och vara trevligt att hålla i då det är en väldigt taktil produkt men om tillfället är det rätta kan jag dricka ur en syltburk. Men Lempi glaset representerar nog på många sätt min syn på ett bra glas då det är så generellt och växlar identitet beroende på sammanhang. Det känns inte konstigt att dricka isvatten ur det efter att man har tränat för att sen blanda drinkar i det.

 

To enter the giveaway and have a chance to win, just answer the questions below:

1. Which product is the prize in Design Day by Day's Christmas Calendar today?

2. What makes the Lempi glass special?

This giveaway is open for 24 hours, until 12.00 CET December 16. A winner will be announced here and contacted via email.

Update! This giveaway is closed. Congratulations Hanna!

Hi all! Enjoying the giveaways? I have arranged another one for you today! Today's prize is sponsored by Swedish calligraphist Ylva Skarp, and it is a print of your choice from her online shop!

New day, new giveaway! Today's prize is sponsored by Swedish designer Pia Wallén, most known for her cross-patterned blankets and felted slippers. What you can win is this: one Cross Children's blanket (73x107 cm) in grey, a gold X-mas Star in leather (to use as a tree topper) and a pair of Slip In Leather slippers in your size. Total worth € 178.

Welcome to a new week of Christmas giveaways! Let's start off in an awesome way with this prize from Olsson & Gerthel consisting of a Wall Clock by Naoto Fukasawa for Plus Minus Zero, a pack of 5 Kin tealight holders in brass by CKR for Skultuna and a Hommage matchbox jacket by Kristina Stark, adding up to a total worth of € 230!

I fell in love with these wooden jumping jack dolls earlier this fall when I saw them in Aschebergsgatan 24's webshop. They are called Dancing Man and Ballerina, and they are hand made out of old fruit crates. Designed by Victoria Ladefoged, they are 50 cm tall and worth € 125.

Today's prize comes from Miki Organic, a British online store selling stylish ethical and eco friendly interior design, accessories and gifts. They are offering one lucky winner a gift pack consisting of two white Tine K bamboo salad bowls (medium and large size), and mango wood salad servers and serving board from Nkuku (worth € 88)!

I'm so excited about the big giveaway that Hip Villa is sponsoring for Christmas Eve that I just couldn't wait to give you a little preview! I chose all the products myself, so I have to admit I will probably be a little jealous of the person who wins this... But this package doesn't open until Christmas, so you will all have to wait a bit!

You should check out Hip Villa's site, it's a great shopping experience! They've got cleverly written texts about everything, you can browse for products in several different ways, and if you have a question or would like help with anything, they have a chat service that is open 24/7. Plus, they are selling some of my favorite brands like Muuto, Hay and Seletti, and of course lots of other great brands.

Victorinox, the makers of the classic Swiss army knife, are giving away their new knife Tomo, to seven lucky winners! The Tomo is a beautifully designed and packaged minimalist knife by Tokyo designers Abitax, who have given the traditional knife a whole new and modern look.

”Modern Art Cutting” is Victorinox interpretation of ”Kirigami”, the ancient and complicated Japanese art of paper cutting, where they cooperated with famous British artist Rob Ryan. Below is a video with Rob talking about his work. There are more videos on the Victorinox Tomo site where Rob shares lots of tips and tricks for paper cutting. You can also download his paper cutting templates to try this beautiful art form yourself.

Today's prize comes from Anve, a small Portugese company making unique handmade goods in small editions, inspired by their discovery tours through Lisbon, a beautiful old city full of hidden workshops and warehouses, and also their past lives in places like Berlin, Basel, Vienna, Cape Town and Tokyo. Simplicity and high quality is key.

Anve is offering a chance to win a Laboratorio lamp, worth € 120, made of a vintage borosilicate laboratory flask with a lamp socket in brass, rubber and porcelain and a fabric covered wire. This lamp can be used as a pendant lamp, pinned on the wall, or put on a table. (This lamp comes with a Euro wall plug, so if you live outside Europe, think twice before entering the giveaway.)

Appartement is a small design shop in Stockholm selling a carefully chosen selection of Scandinavian design items. They are sponsoring today's giveaway with a Sky Planter Recycled, a flower pot made of recycled plastics that let's you hang your plants upside down in your ceiling, freeing up floor or table space and also creating quite a conversation point in your home. Perhaps it would even work for a small Christmas tree?

This cool design won the 2011 Red Dot Award for its use of recycled materials and its integration of a Slo-Flo internal irrigation system that is able to water the plants directly at their roots. And to make it extra fool-proof for those with less than green thumbs, each plant even has a little water level measure and a mess-free locking disk to hold in the soil.

I know you all loved the last giveaway that Lighyears sponsored here where you could win the Calabash pendants, so I'm sure you will love this just as much! Because this time they are generously giving away one Caravaggio BlackBlack P1 pendant light (worth € 180)!