dutch design week 2011

Last weekend my eldest son (13) and I went to the annual Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven. We took it easy, stayed in a hotel, got up early in order not to miss anything. We could have stayed for a week: we only saw half or even less of this lovely big event, I guess.

Most of the times I was so absorbed by what I saw, that I forgot to take photo's. And seeing the photo's I did take, it looks like I only saw lampshades!

Tallow candles by my friends from Ontwerpduo, who have this wonderful feeling for colours.

Rick Tegelaar's chicken wire and paper maché lamp shades. 

Beautiful blues and greens at Piet Hein Eek

Butterfly Lamps, the latest work by Paula Arntzen, one of my favorite (paper) designers.

Some nice neon paper lamp shades designed by Buro JET

 

is there life after the blue box...

Dear readers! It took me a while...no post last week because I was in the hospital, emergency surgery, got my appendix out! I am recovering. Not easy for me: piles of work, millions of plans and ideas, and even more promisses and deadlines....

 
Some of you might know that I worked as a stylist for IKEA Amsterdam years ago. A strange world, creative in a certain way, with the loveliest co-workers you could wish for, but locked up in a large blue box every single day.
And there I met Ellen, she actually was my 'boss', and we became friends. We kind of didn't fit into the IKEA mold and we felt extremely unhappy in our XXXL unisex stylingteam IKEA uniforms, on a daily basis children used to point us out: 'Mummy look, there goes Bob the Builder!'
You can imagine Ellen and I asked ourselves: is there life after the blue box?

Well, there is! She came a long way: but here is Ellen van der Wiel!

She has built up a beautiful little company in felted home accessories, which she all designs and makes herself, partly by hand, partly with her huge new felting machine.

The icing on the cake for her: her plaids and cushion covers where used in the huge VT-Wonen-magazine stand on the Dutch Interior Fair called Woonbeurs (see photo's above), that was held last week. And her work is on the cover of this months issue of VT-Wonen.

Ellen, I am so happy for you, you go girl!

cottage town

These cute little plant-cottages called Cottage Town are the latest product from Ontwerpduo. They play with your sense of 'large' and 'small' and they invite you to enter a fab fairy miniature world, where ordinairy houseplants suddenly turn into huge seqoia's....

I am big fan of Ontwerpduo and this new paper product is special to me: my own printers Luc and Bram from Drukkerij Drukkracht have taken care of the printwork and my die-cut-company did the complicated cutting. So actually I feel rather proud...

The cottages are made of 'waterproof paper', so they can resist rain from a watering can. The cottages are pre-fab (pre-folded and cut), you'll have to do a little constructing yourself. My cup of tea!

Tineke and Nathan from Ontwerpduo will present their cottage town on the Elle Inside Design show that will be held in Amsterdam (IJburg) next week. In the Annie Boshof number 3.
From of that moment it will be available online as well at: BijzonderMOOI* .

If you ever dreamed of buying your own house constructed by the famous Ontwerpduo architects - for less than 10 euro's!!! - this is your chance, go get one (or the whole town of course...)!

DIY rope swirl tapestry

This morning my heart started beating faster when I visited Handmade Charlotte's blog and discovered this amazing rope swirl tapestry. It is handmade by the display team from the Free People store in Philadelphia US. Untill the 5th of July you could list for the give away of this piece of art. How could I have missed this?
Hooray: Free People has written a clear tutorial for making this tapestry. And I think it is even more fun to make one (in your own style) than to win one!

just wandering

Oh, how I missed doing this on a quiet Sunday morning. I have been working so hard lately - even in the weekends - that I almost forgot what a relaxing joy it is to just wander a bit through the internet, looking for colourful food for the soul.
I adore the above kind of hip Waldorf (Rudolf Steiner) style: organic geometric shapes (wooden chrystals), soft pastels, and natural materials. Necklaces and pendants by the designers of the Italian Studio Fludd, who call these gems 'simple but not dull'.

The pots above haven't been in the ceramics oven, they are made of 100% biodegradable cellulose and are air dried! I love innovative use of materials. Ett la Ben has created a wonderful lampshade in the same material as well.


High on my wishlist: the tea towels Scholten & Baijings designed for Hay.

Ladies & gentlemen!

Came across this little crowd of wooden ladies and gentlemen via an old post written by Kickan & Conckers. They are designed by UK artist Chrissie Mac Donald. Love them!

Sunday morning window shopping

Above left a pendant hanger from German Dawanda shop Laurencia. A cute and square needle felted rabbit by Etsy-seller Felt Jar
The ceramic bowl as well as the grey jug (below right) is from Chimalaya, a fair trade designer brand from Denmark. The clock I came across at the lovely Twentytwentyone store.



A classic: Topan pendant lamp designed by Verner Panton, via Twentytwentyone store. And I found soap for DAD on Etsy, at Karen's Soap Co.

Magic

Hana Kitazaki combines geometric patterns, light fabrics and a poetic style, a combination I absolutely adore! Here you see some pictures of the Magic Flute series, inspired by Mozart's opera.

pattern or pure?

While working on new paper lanterns I came across these lovely, simple 'patternless' products.
During the designing process the last few weeks I was struggling big time: couldn't make a choice between using pattern designs or plain patches. I found out that I am afraid NOT to use any pattern designs. I am under the impression that people buy my work because of those designs and I have to make a living...
Outcome: There is a traditional colourful (yet surprisingly pure) Jurianne product coming up! I'll show it to you after it is produced.

In the meantime I keep dreaming of pure products like the ones above! Everything comes from Analogue life, apart from the I-phone alarm clock, I found it on Areaware.

STOCKIST SPOTLIGHT: sid en liv

The shops, the people who sell my work worldwide...who are they? What are their dreams, their inspirations, what made them start their own businesses? A feature in words and images with a little surprise-coupon at the end...

This month the stockist spotlight is on Sid en Liv , located in the beautiful city of Nijmegen in the Netherlands.


Owners Bob Tönissen en Mirjam van Rijt in their ‘living room’

What is Sid en Liv?
Sid en Liv is a lunch and lifestyle store. A kind of living room where you can have breakfast, lunch or high tea and have a good time. All the food is traditionally prepared and comes from our own open kitchen.

During your lunch or coffee you can sit back, look around and get inspired to buy a present or get some lovely decoration ideas for your home. Everything you see, even the chair you are sitting on, the cutlery you eat from - and the lights, the vases, the tea-caddy, the glasses, the chairs, the paintings and accessories - is for sale at Sid en Liv!!

On sunny days you can sit in the lovely courtyard. You will find benches and chairs from Fermob, the sustainable furniture coming from park Luxembourg in Paris…
The café is child friendly and our little customers will love the yummie menu as well!
What made you decide to start your own shop?
This ‘living room’ concept - a combination of good food, lifestyle and home decoration - was our dream for years! Two years ago we sold our house in Utrecht and we found a building in Nijmegen where we saw the living room of our dreams.
Summer 2010 we opened Sid en Liv.

What are your Sid en Liv ‘classics’?
Some of the classics are already the wall stickers of Ferm Living , the ‘Blommen’ of Jurianne Matter and the handmade aprons of our friend Marie. The one-of-a-kind baroque flower paintings are unique falsuries from old masters, painted in China, with love!



What articles did you buy for the shop recently and why did you buy it?
The paper balloon from Petra Boase, makes a nice letterbox present and cheers up every childrens room.
“Cookie in a Jar” by Merei de Ruiter. It is a glass jar filled with all the ingredients needed (including a how-to) for baking and decorating your own cookies. A great looking and pure DIY-present, which suits our Sid en Liv concept!

The egg warmers designed by - again - Marie, she does have such an eye for detail and makes beautiful combinations of materials. And also the cards from Who’s Loes?! All the people pictured on her cards are her relatives!


I choose products that make people walk out happy…

Do you have a particular way of styling in your shop? Your own ‘hand’?
I (Mirjam) decorated and styled the food section and the shop myself. After years of interior styling experience I can use it on my own store, love it! Inspiration I get from Scandinavia and places like Haarlem, Antwerp and Copenhagen. Ideally I would change the wallpaper in the shop every week ;) ! But it will always be fresh, light and creative. A space that makes you smile...


Is there anything else you would like to share with us?
We are happy to announce that we opened a Sid en Liv WEBstore on the 1st of April!

And I would love to share some other links with you:
Bolig Liv - A Danish magazine someone showed me once when she visited Sid en Liv. I am a big fan since that moment! Such a nice magazine!
De wereld van Jansje - You must visit the store when you are in Haarlem. A great lifestyle and design store also combined with catering during daytime.
Bloesem Blogs - I visit this blog often, it inspires me big time.

Coupon
To celebrate the fact that we opened our Sid en Liv webstore we offer you a discount in our webstore!


Thank you so much Bob and Mirjam! It was a pleasure having a peek in your lovely store. Can’t wait to visit Sid en Liv in Nijmegen. In the mean time I’ll keep checking out your webstore…

Sid en Liv Van Welderenstraat 95 - 6511 ME Nijmegen - The Netherlands - NEW! Sid en Liv webstore - Twitter: @sidenliv

brandnew: slow wood

Congratiulations to Christien. Your Slow Wood furniture collection is breathtaking! The shape, the material and the concept are so pure. With this collection you show us that you are not only a a great stylist, but a wonderful designer and a real eco-friend too. I am sure your Frysian handmade ecofriendly Slow Wood collection will conquer the world!

Hellen

Somewhere hidden in my attic I have lots of hilarious photographs of Hellen van Berkel and me, taken some 33 years ago. As 12 - 15 year old girls we were close friends. We were very different, but found each other somehow. There was this creative click between us and she was and is a sweet, funny and very frank person. We lost track for about 30 years, found each other in the magazines recently and we started reviving our contact cautiously.
Hellen has become a wellknown textile designer. She has this lovely delicate Hellen-style, unfortunatelly often badly copied by companies that have no conscience and no ideas of their own. Hellen is continiously developing her style and her techniques, she is a real crafts woman and she understands the art of 'combining' very well. Hellen recently started her own inspiring blog! And her house was on Bloesem last winter.

Blogfriends in the Netherlands: don't forget to check out the Dutch Elle Decoration this summer (june-july issue), Hellen, her work and her house are featured!

etsy: white and grey - clay

After the overkill of colour of the last weeks I was dying for some visual peace and rest. Found it in clay, on Etsy.
From top left: hand built ceramic pears, by Element Clay Studio, Leaping Rabbits mobile by the Amsterdam-based Artisanie Europe, vintage Hungarian porcelain easter bunny from Vintage Biffan and a porcelain wall sculpture called Graces, made by Prince Design from the UK.

paperwork at selfridges

Today my dear UK-distributors Saskia and Sofie have sent me some photo's taken at Selfridges & Co in London. Reason: Selfridges is going Dutch this spring and they are selling my work!
'The pop-up shop 'EveryDayDutch' gives you the opportunity to shop products inspired by traditional Dutch craftsmanship and Dutch design's heritage of simplicity of form. From one-off pieces to much loved collectibles from some of the biggest names in the Dutch design world.'
So there they are, my paper children, between Scholten & Baijings, Tony Chocolonely, Royal VKB, Droog Design and Piet Hein Eek. It is BIG, maybe that's why I feel so small...?
Lots of designs - like mine - are for sale at their webstore too.

lubna

It is - I guess - a decade ago that I first saw Lubna Chowdary's tiles. I was deeply touched by her work, I 'recognized' it with my heart, so to speak. The colours, the simple graphic patterns, the glazes and the lovely handmade look and feel. Lubna is a real craftswoman and a remarkable artist who lives and works in London.
Every now and then I check on her website how she is doing, which is funny: it feels like catching up with an old friend...

sunday morning etsy visit

From above left: Zakka Nouveau, Paper Phine, Pardon My Vintage and again Zakka Nouveau

DDW

On our way home from France we paid a flying visit at the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven. Our Dutch pride, designer Piet Hein Eek (first two images), opened his new huge factory/showroom/office/studio/restaurant in one of the old industrial Philips buildings - called Strijp R. The photo's above are taken at that location. We went (by free Design Taxi's) to other locations too, but it was apparently só overwhelming that I forgot to take any pictures at all.

The enourmous tent lamp and the 'suitcase-cupboard' are designed by Lotty Lindeman, the black and white wallpaper is by Melissa Peen. But those great glass lamps... sorry, I know they are famous, seen them before, but I don't remember the designers name! Anyone?