DIY Easter eggs

Getting into Easter spirit. A few eggs made of left over materials from other projects: bits of wallpaper, feathers, silk flowers, christmas decorations. (No kidding. )


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Sunday garden...

Sunny sunday. My garden is holding its breath - waiting for projects to finish and others to start. Today: a few snapshots of garden items of iron and terracotta. 

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Traditional Paper Design for the Future

As an occasional paper artist, show me some new paper design, and I fall for it with a bang. Like these items by the three designers Jovana Chris Lei, presented at the Milan Furniture Fair 2011. 

The collection is inspired by 2000 years of Chinese umbrella paper craft. The material choice may seem, well...  delicate , but the paper chairs are built to be durable. 

I guess the paper is treated to withstand humidity and heat? What do you think? 

From their website: 
CHAIR: Gluing layers of paper is the way how to make a traditional paper umbrella. Our Paper Seat is using the same craft. The paper layers are combined until the chair is strong enough to sit on, but is still keeping its flexibility. Hand made paper is rich of natural fibers that give strength to carry a person and is therefore our choice for this comfortable chair.

WASTE BASKET: The form as well as the mechanism of the foldable waste basket is based and inspired by the traditional Chinese umbrella. It is made of tear proof synthetic paper and obtains its durability and stability through the way of folding.




And last, but not least: two beautiful pendants. This one is made of paper, the bottom one  of bamboo. Well done! 



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Milano 2011: Olby Design

Also at the Milan Furniture Fair this spring is Olby Design.

Designer/owner Kerstin Olby is a former student - and now professor - at the prestigious Carl Malmsten Centre for Wood Technology & Design. Olby started her company in the 1980′s and has won many prestigious awards. Her timeless furniture are all hand made in Sweden with local, natural materials. I use to listen to her lecture, when she visited my previous work at Chalmers University in Göteborg. I've always loved her work, and if I had the money, I'd love to invest in the beautiful chest of drawers at bottom left... Which one is your favorite?



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Stairway to Heaven?

London based Hogarth Architects  have redesigned a listed London apartment in South Kensington. Love the stairway. More picture of this project on their website. 


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Höganäs design on my Table

Swedish designer Lovisa Wattman, has designed most of my tableware from Höganäs Keramik. I love the simple, elegant yet modern design of these stoneware plates and bowls. Just the other day I added the black (milk) pitcher (top left) to my collection. A majority of these items are out of production now, but I have not grown tired of them.

Most of my round dinner and salad plates are egg shell white or charcoal black, mixed with the odd grey, celadon green/blue and yellow for fun. But when it comes to the triangular breakfast bowls, I've gone wild and added a few greens and dark blues, - all colors that match my finnish cups and bowls, Arabia's Paratiisi perfectly.


The new pitcher made me remember when I, some years ago, styled three different table setting, using my Höganäs stoneware. I set a colorful party table for 12, a romantic, late dinner for two, and an early morning breakfast table for one, on a small balcony. For fun I sent the pictures of these table settings to Höganäs, who at that time had a contest going on. I won, and was invited to the factory to check out their work and new designs. (The pictures of my 3 table settings are lost - most of these pics are from the Höganäs site).


The Höganäs trip turned out to be different from what I had expected. Less Höganäs Ceramics and more garden design.

I had asked my garden expert friend to join me, and we decided to drive the 200+ kilometers down to Höganäs in my car (that kept acting up all through the ride). We got to the Höganäs factory before lunch, rather hungry, since we had not had time to stop for coffee on the way. My hopes for some refreshments soon died, as we quickly were introduced to the kind man who was going to show us around, and off we went.

It was a great tour of the factory, seeing all the different phases of the production and talking to the designers. Wish we had not been so hungry, though.

I got no Höganäs item as a winning prize, but had time to spend an hour at the factory outlet, before heading west to claim the winning prize: an over night stay and fancy dinner at Mölle by the Sea. Absolutely lovely, though we were there off season, and had to dust the room, wipe off the bathroom and shake the bed spreads, before settling in. Unusual....

The following day we focused on art and garden design, and had a fantastic drive cross the country side, before heading home - fingers crossed the car would last all the way. It did.
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Dusty Dimonds at Milan 2011


Swedish award winning designer Anna Elzer Oscarson's Dusty Diamonds collection is currently on display at the Milan Furniture Fair. The stunning collection consist of high vases, plates and round boxes.




Anna Elzer OscarsonThe reliefs were my point of departure. The whole concept involved integrating patterns and the three-dimensional shape. The result was facetted pieces with several dimensions. Pieces that draw you in and make you want to touch them. Which should give the products a long life. Being granted the opportunity to work alongside some of Sweden’s most skilled craftsmen  at Porslinsfabriken in Lidköping, a factory once used by the fine porcelain manufacturers Rörstrand,  made realizing these pieces possible and the process had the extra benefit of passing on traditions and know-how.  Pics from her website

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Trendy Beeswax and Greys

This spring's trendy yellow is, according to Pantone, BEESWAX. This soft yellow goes brilliantly with different shades of greys: all the way from crisp white to charcoal black. Just perfect if you want to bring a bit of warmth and color to your otherwise toned down Wabi Sabi interiors.
The funny this is that I've never really liked yellow. Not in the garden. Not at home. But this soft shade, I could live with. I just love it with greys. So..... what's your relationship to yellow?





Pics?
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Snapshot from my garden

Söndagsbild på en måndag, Ibland är man riktigt sen... Varför? Var alltför upptagen med att tvätta och städa för att hinna med. Och du? Hinner du med allt du vill inför påsken? 

White sheets in the spring breeze. 

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