EMMAS DESIGNBLOGG

mixd is a new concept for better home living, the mix between an online store & a platform for designers. mixd wants to find what cannot be missed in all houses. Every two months mixd will introduce a new collection, both from designers & restylers. New and vintage furniture, accessories, wall & fabric art, all made by designers with knowledge.

DESIGNER #01 is Kaat Pype. She introduced her well-known ?keep-your-house-clean-boxes? (Blauwhout) succesfully some months ago. Not only can you buy her three boxes at mixd, but she brings in some new products into her collection: a mirror and some series of wall art: surprising by colour, shape & humour she will change every interior right away.

I just found Supermarket, a web shop that seems to work similar to like Etsy, where you can buy products directly from designers, but Supermarket's product range is more modern, sleek and without the "crafty" stuff that overflows Etsy... In this Brooklyn based shop you can find items from big names like Norwegian Wood, Brave Space, blissen, Deadly Squire, Kim Westad and ferm Living along with new up and coming international designers. These are some of my favourites (but check out the site because there is so much more!):

I thought I would give you a little list of blogs that I love, besides the big ones like Decor8, The Style Files, Bloesem and fine little day.

The first one I'd like you to give attention to is Malo, a Swedish design blog that is, in my opinion, totally rockin it! She has such a great sense of style, spot on in the Scandi, minimalist, airy style that I love.

Then there is Ellmania, another Swedish blogger, mixing modern design with vintage and some awesome themed blog posts on colours, art, typography etc.

Grijs, pure minimalistic bliss, from the Netherlands.

I love following the decoration of Frida's new apartment, seeing the absolutely fab choices she makes in shopping, colours and style at Fridas fina.

Danish photographer John Bendtsen is another master to put on the short list of people who can tame the northern light and catch it in it's true essence.

Maija Louekari is the one who makes all of Marimekko's best patterns, but what might not be common knowledge is the fact that she is also a product designer and an artist! Take a look below to see my favourites.

Designers of ontwerpduo are Nathan Wierink and Tineke Beunders. Nathan is graduating at this time, at The Design Academy Eindhoven. Tineke is graduated Cum Laude at the Design Academy Eindhoven in January 2008 with the projects 'Marbelous' and 'When I was little'.
'We didn't want to wait with our design studio until we were finished studying, it is too much fun to wait. We started the studio in 2005, during our second year, the design 'tallow' was being produced at that time. From our studio in Eindhoven, we try to do the whole design process ourselves. From the idea until the finished product. In this way, we keep the production small and personal.'

Tineke is working mostly from her memories as a child. These memories are vague but give a very clear feeling and ambiance. This she is using later in her designs.
Nathan is working more from physical laws and scientific studies. This knowledge he uses in his designs. Coming summer his graduating project will be at this site.
When Tineke and Nathan are designing together, this is giving a great mix of ambiance and technique.

"The world of adults furniture and the world children's toys don't seem to belong together.
From my childhood I remember it was always exiting to combine these two.          I used the woodcarvings of furniture as a playfield for my puppets, to play in a new world.
Functional woodcarvings and decoration you can play with. Applying woodcarvings in a piece of furniture that combines the world of adults with the world of the children.
A marble track in a table. I've created this new type of functional woodcarving, that invites you to play with it..."

When I was little...
"Barbie dolls, playmobil and doll houses... They have become too small for me, or I am too big for them. When I was little, I made accessories for my dolls. With these accessories and dolls I made stories. Ordinary everyday stories, with everyday things. Nowadays these stories are special memories. These special memories can be a part of our everyday life again. Looking at my small toys and using their specific shapes and solutions I've redesigned and made my toys the adult size. And when you use my products in your daily life, you can't help to dream away sometimes..."

Tallow
"Some products always need each other. They belong together like a hammer and a nail, bed and blanket and cup and saucer. By melting them together in one material, their relationship is clear. All tallow."

The Lloyd Hotel is a Dutch hotel centrally situated in the fashionable heart of Amsterdam?s Eastern Docklands Area. Renowned Dutch architects, designers and artists have transformed this monument dating from 1921 into a hotel where many inhabitants of Amsterdam, international artists, tourists and business people feel at home. The interior decoration is a combination of modern Dutch design and timeless classics.

This winter, Richard Hutten transformed the restaurant/bar/shop of the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam with an new bar and the specially designed Lloyd Light.

Hutten graduated at the Academy Industrial Design Eindhoven in 1991. That same year he started his own design studio, working on a variety of projects such as: furniture-, product-, interior- and exhibition design. Richard Hutten is one of the most internationally successful Dutch designers; a key exponent of "Droog Design", in which he has been involved since it's inception in 1993.

Photographer Richard Powers is a regular in magazines such as Elle Decoration UK, Inside Out and Dwell, and as I read a few lines from an interview he made for Architectual Digest, I  found out that he is actually completely auto-didact! Amazing talent and passion must be the answer behind his great pictures. If you want to see the photos he shot at Donna Karan's apartment, just click on over to his portfolio!

As promised, here is some more info on the wallpaper in the top photo from yesterdays post! It's from a new Swedish wallpaper company called Scandie. They have a stylish collection, all manufactured in Sweden, and designed by some of the worlds most talented designers. Or what else can you say about names such as Dutch design studio Demakersvan, and from Sweden; my favorites Anna Irinarchos and Lisa Widén of design studio WIS.

A clipping from their site:
Scandie is a community of free spirits. A big family in which designers and artists from all over the world share the same fire: the burning desire to create design that goes straight to the heart of the beholder. If you are pro freedom and believe in design that knows no limits, then you are our friend.

Demakersvan made these Lace Wallpapers:

Björklund & Wingqvist is one of Stockholm's oldest and best stocked wallpaper shops. It is the place to shop for wallpapers, as they have a huge range of wallpapers, paints and fabrics from the best design houses, from Osbourne & Little and Cole & Son to Cath Kidston and Designers Guild. Of course, they can also offer a big range of Swedish manufacturers and designers, my favourites being Sandberg, Defyra and Decor Maison. Since I don't have any wallpaper in my home (I prefer simple white paint), I have only been in contact with them professionally through my jobs as a styling assistant, but I can tell you that they were always very accomodating and generous!

Last week I was invited to come to the press show of their brand new, huge department store outside Stockholm. It was built in an old factory, and the bottom floor is now brimming with wallpaper, while the first floor houses 7 professionally decorated rooms to get your inspiration flowing, and also shelf after shelf with interior details to finish off your newly wallpapered room!

Here are some snapshots of the store:

Last autumn a new great little shop opened up in SoFo, my favourite area in Stockholm. The store's name is GARAGE, and they offer a stunning mix of new and vintage furniture, art and home accessories from the 1920's to the present, with everything from Eames chairs to Tove Adman's concrete candlesticks. A very stylish store indeed, but not in the intimidating way where you are afraid to go in because you don't have the right look. The staff are very friendly and service minded, and can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the great design pieces in the shop. If you can't visit the brick and mortar shop, you can always have a look in their webshop!


As I mentioned, GARAGE are selling art as well, and on April 26 they are hosting their first vernissage. The artists name is Lotta Enbrand, and she works with a mix of acrylics and photography to present little scenes from the mundane everyday life in a new beautiful light.

You have all seen the Random Light by Bertjan Pot for Moooi, but have you seen the aftercoming designs he made, inspired by the technique used for the Random Light? Let me show you the Random Chair, the Carbon Copy, the Carbon Chair, the Carbon Cloud, the Netted Lamp and the Non Random Light!

The Swedish brand Ruben Lighting is associated with very classic and timeless design with a slight industrial, functionalistic feel, which is exactly my style! The person behind this brand is Niclas Hoflin, former CEO for one of Sweden's largest media companies, but now an inventor and designer of these lamps, which are manufactured in Sweden to minimize transports and coated with eco-friendly paint. Last year they won the prize for best lighting in Elle Decoration UK.

My favorite Swedish design team has done it again! Two new ecxellent pieces from WIS Design are fresh out of the studio. The Vanity Easy Chair and foot stool with a quilted upholstery made out of second hand leather jackets, and The Shady Pendant Lamp compiled from old lamp shades proves that everything does not have to be new to be innovative.

I was on my way to a meeting (I might tell you more about that at a later date) yesterday when I realized I was a bit early and popped into Designtorget for a quick overview on what's new and hot on the Swedish design scene. The most interesting thing I found was this book, Stockholm Love Apartments, from Jeu de Paumes of course. Remember back in May last year when I did a shout out here on the blog to help Yong, the stylist, to find some lovely apartments? Well, it seems she did. Lots of them in fact. All these creative couples with cozy, stylish homes, I wish I could move in with any one of them!

Today I am loving these illustrations by Annika Bäckström! I have always liked drawings of anatomical hearts and the messages on these feel like a nice alternative to all the usual over romantic stuff I see out there.

The two Swedish brothers Daniel Hertzell, photographer and Jacob Hertzell, stylist, sure knows how to depict the Scandinavian light and minimalistic style without making it look cold or uninviting.

First a few of Daniel's photos:

I just got the press release that reveals the 18 nominees for the Swedish Design Award 2008. Among the competitors are Ilse Crawford, James Irvine, Gunilla Lagerhem Ullberg, design firm Claesson Koivisto Rune, Jean-Marie Massaud and design studio Folkform. I picked some of the goodies out of the cake for you:

At first I couldn't figure out what I was looking at. And after I'd read the description, I still couldn't understand how it was possible. Artist Are Mokkelbost is so talented that he leaves me totally puzzled. Look at these pictures below, and guess how they were made!

Ok, I'll tell you. They are paper collages, made from teen magazines. Amazing, isn't it?! And this is what the backsides look like:

Via Saker som inspirerar

My sweet friend Géraldine has a fab little shop called The Bobo Gallery in the Old Town here in Stockholm where she sells a great mix of jewellery, clothes and art from French and Swedish designers and artists. And now she has started a blog! Hop on over to Bo-Bo Land to see some of what she offers in the boutique, and also to read some funny texts from a Parisian woman beamed to Stockholm by the power of love.