Interior trends 2014 / Storage systems


One of the main threads at Stockholm Furniture Fair was the new high quality but affordable storage solutions. These systems are all characterized by modularity, variation and adaptability and mirror our society's strong need for flexible solutions and customization.


Menu Stick system is a good example of this. The designer embraces the characteristic "soft minimalism" of the Danish company in the simple but not simplistic details and finishings and creates a system that can be easily expanded at our will or need. 


At the fair, Danish design brand By Lassen presented their flexible storage solution Frame. Originally inspired by a sketch by Mogens Lassen that dates back to 1943, the modules are extremely versatile. They can be used as storage boxes for small objects, stacked together on the floor or hung directly on the wall creating a sort of sculpture. And, as Igor from Happy Interior blog pointed out here, the colour palette is very balanced and well composed for design savvy eyes.

 

I cannot help mentioning the iconic Scandinavian brand String, that presented their new bowl shelf. The bowls, in white ABS plastic and divided in 3 compartments, are waterproof.  They have now become a new favourite for organising small stuff in the kitchen, bathroom or in the office. We also had a chance to see the String Plex that we discovered was designed by the founder only four years after the classic system. The idea was extremely new at the time as the designer used perspex (plexiglass), a material coming from Germany. The only change carried out to the original Plex is that, nowadays, the panels are laser cut.

Interior trends 2014 / Lighting


Today I want to share with you some of my favourite lighting elements from the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair, starting with the Volume lamp designed by GamFratesi for Lightyears (above here). The table lamp was inspired by the old stereo amplifiers in the mechanical gesture of the button rotation that reminds of the increasing or decreasing of the volume.


At the fair, I also had the chance to see the Ascent lamp designed by Daniel Ribakken for Luceplan. The lamp was presented last year at Euroluce in Milan and was a real success. Also, from the same company and designer, the Counterbalance lamp (below).

The GM Pendant by Menu.

Brass Mass Light by Norm Architects above In Between chair for &Tradition.
 
From the Greenhouse area dedicated to the young designers.


My favourite object at the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair was the Noidoi lamp, in the Greenhouse area (the new talents). Designed by a Norwegian-Romanian company,  it's a sculpture-like element that adapts to the different lighting needs. In fact, the different facets of its base serves to orientate the lighting in different direction, therefore adapting to different needs. (above). Finally, the Pirouette Table Lamp by Studio Baag Milano. This draws its inspiration from old-fashioned spinning top and its whirling movement. Available in ash, oak or walnut wood with brass details or a playful striped-marble version (below).


Tomorrow Interior Trends 2014: Storage systems.

Stockholm Bloggers Tour // All pictures by Riikka Kantinkoski / Weekday Carnival.

Green styling with Intsight


I am very happy to present you today some pictures from the latest project of Intsight. The photos were taken for the TiempoBBDO / Simon. As you know, I especially love their work but this time it is very special to me as I collaborated for the green styling. It was an amazing experience to see the team working together and I have to say the atmosphere was extremely fascinating. It requires a great dose of professional experience and creativity to produce an overall image that is able to captivate the viewer without diverting the attention from the product. This is especially true when the element to present has such a reduced size.  Intsight's decision to create a series of "real life" situations to present the catalogue made the trick; also, it added that necessary setting that could inspire the public and engage them with TiempoBBDO / Simon.
It was a real pleasure - and great experience - working with Intsight.

For more pictures, check here.

All photographs by Mireia Rodriguez / My Umbrella Studio, with thanks.

Emma Fexeus at Fantastic Frank: the Bloggers Apartment



I am eventually back to Barcelona after three weeks away and I have now enough time to introduce you to the very core of our Stockholm Blogger Tour, i.e. the Bloggers Apartment. Born from an idea of our mastermind Allan Torp of Bungalow5, the Apartment came into life at the very office of Fantastic Frank: Emma Fexeus took over part of their headquarters in Stockholm and transformed the space into a cosy and cool home by mixing the elements provided by our sponsors in an impeccable way. She managed to create a "real home" where people could feel comfortable and enjoy themselves as surely did the over one hundred design people that came along for the party we hosted. I must say the atmosphere of the party was great: enjoying a glass of wine, listening to Bang & Olufsen Sound and having a chat with like-minded people while we laid on the super confy Auping beds was very nice. I am sure we also had the best "closing event" of the whole Stockholm Design week with our movie session at the flat the following day: candies and movie in a perfect B&O style, though I almost fell asleep on the huge One Nordic pillows once! Last but not least, I really want to thank Uber that kindly provided us with free rides throughout the week. Hopefully they will be  available soon also in Barcelona because I found the system easy, safe and very cool.

One Nordic Furniture Company provided most of  the furniture: here it is paired with Emilia Ilke's work.

Bedside table by One Nordic Furniture Company and bed and bedding by Auping
 
 
 
 Granit accessories. Brass Lamp and Bureau by No Early Birds . Beoplay A9 from Bang & Olufsen.

 More pictures are available on our Instagram accounts!

Thanks again to Auping, Bang & Olufsen, Granit, No Early Birds, One Nordic Furniture Company and Uber. A very special thanks to Fantastic Frank who kindly hosted us: it was great to meet you and have an intsight of you amazing work.

MONDAY CRUSH |


I hope you all are having a great Monday: the week has just started but already looks full of interesting things. I am in a kind of rough mood today - not a lot of sleep last night- so my Crush tends to dark tones, minimal industrial elements and beautiful sofas.

| 1 | Vosgeparis home | 2 | Night The better half of life | 3 | Maison Martin Margiela Pre-Fall 2014 | 4 | Woven | 5 | Togo sofa from Ligne-Roset

SELECTED | Hk Living


The HKliving collection for 2014 has been launched with the new catalogue styled and shot by talented Paulina Arcklin. Profoundly Dutch in its essence, the collection gatheres furniture, homewares and striking pieces characterized by their strong appeal and vintage memory, though remaining extremely contemporary. As many of you have noticed, there is a general trend to present collections in real homes and I believe Paulina Arcklin's choice of this whitewashed flat flooded by light fits perfect the style of HKliving.
I like their collection of pillows a lot. Also, another element has caught my attention immediately: the long black bar above the bedroom. It is a very inspiring idea that I'd love to recreate at home. Head to HKliving  for more inspiration.

Via Est Magazine, with thanks.

House Malinm

 
Let's take a virtual tour today to Helsingborg, a city in the southern part of Sweden, where Malin Matsson lives with her husband, their two teenage daughters and two cats. After following her feeds on Instagram for a while, I decided to contact Malin and see if she could be interested in sharing some pictures of her home on my blog. She was so kind she also released a little interview for us. 

Malin, who works as an architect, describes her house as "a simple plastered building with 1 and a half floors. It is a rather narrow building which makes it bright with lots of daylight coming from the large windows. It´s an open design with different rooms connecting to each other, both upstairs and downstairs". 
The palette is minimal both in terms of colours and materials: they privileged natural elements and combined them with white plastered concrete. The raw industrial mood is softened by cosy home accessories, like the hairy sheepskins or the many pillows.
She particularly loves their study, which is placed in the middle of the lower floor and can be separated by two sliding doors from the remaining space, allowing to be arranged according to the family needs. These pictures also reveal their love for design objects, like the Tolomeo lamps from Artemide, present all around the house in different designs in almost every room; the little Lampadina designed by Castiglioni for Flos or the classic dining chairs "Myran" from Fritz Hansen.

Malin's feeds are so beautiful I believe you all should take a look and follow. And I'd strongly suggest any photographer to pay her a visit because this place must be published as soon as possible!      

MONDAY CRUSH | Green mood


A green urge has been growing silently in the last past weeks and it has eventually made her way to you thanks to the beautiful styling of Hildur Blad, done during a course at Beckmans College of Design in Stockholm. The hockey motif is brilliant: I love the combination of masculine elements and the vintage touch on the String pocket. Also, it expresses perfectly the kind of mood I was looking for: dark green and black contrast.

Happy Monday to you all.

Design Bloggers at Bemz


When Leslie Pennington moved to Stockholm, she was immediately caught by the Scandinavian lifestyle and, like many of us, by the IKEA possibilities. But she would have never thought that IKEA would have been the starting point for her successful company. 

Bemz is an acronym of her four children's names because it was during her maternity leave she came up with the simple yet intelligent concept. Everybody - willing or not - shops at Ikea for its very affordable yet stylish products. Also, none of us like the "serial effect" we can come up with: homes from opposite corners of the world can look too much alike, making personalization very difficult. 
Bemz is the solution to this globalization effect. With 180 different fabric designs, that include classic and contemporary patterns, we can make over our IKEA sofa, armchair or cushion and create a home that is a perfect reflection of ourselves. 

During our staying in Stockholm for the Design Bloggers Tour, we spent some lovely hours at the Bemz store, surrounded by beautiful fabrics and inspirations. My favourite corner was the sample desk where you could pick your favourite fabrics and see how they combine together.  I really enjoyed mixing all the black and white samples, especially the Marimekko ones! The sample area was also where we drew the inspiration for the Cushion Competition we had at Bemz (see picture 5-8 above and here) where we were so lucky to meet Leslie herself and also the lovely girls that work at Bemz.

We really need to change our sofa and I feel so inspired now (aren't the all white pictures beautiful?). Is there anything you would like to give a new life yourself?

Images 1-4 courtesy of Bemz
Images 5-8 courtesy of Riika Kantinkoski / Weekday Carnival

For more insights from our Stockholm Bloggers Tour, please check here.