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...)!

happy hands

Last year I developed a deep desire to work with 'real' materials. As you may know: I design, work with paper and I do business. My work though is mostly digital.

Yay, I am going to get my hands dirty next week on my first ceramics course in Amsterdam! I am going to mold, touch, fire and glaze. I allways thought I didn't have time to follow any courses but I need to give myself a present after three years of enthusiast hard labour and I need this inspiration to keep on doing what I do. Just found some inspiring ceramics on Etsy. I can't wait!

Would love to learn to work with melted glass, like I found on Prince Design UK
 

Maybe I should start making small tiles, these little handmade triangles would make a beautiful wall in the kitchen...
Seen at Mosaic Monkey

Yes, I know this jar is Ceramics.3, but it would be a nice dream...Isheely

This simple bowl, with a Japanese feel I found on: Glazed Over

good vibes, good sales

My very first trade show ever was so much fun! I loved finally meeting my retailers - who helped me build up my business in the past few years - and I loved meeting my collegues and other business friends. I wrote a lot of orders, welcomed dozens of new stockists... Overall: a great trade show! Here you see the stand I shared with Uitgeverij Snor (Moustache Publishers). Claudette and Annemarieke (see photo) are the best 'room mates' you can think of. Professional, fun, sweet and they love having good wine and good food on the stand. Our products are a lovely match and we share a lot of customers. Thanks ladies, for 3 lovely days!

my first trade show!

Amazing...it was only last week that I was an ultra relaxed woman, just looking at the Italian hills in meditation mode, sipping my espresso coffee... Where has this woman gone in such a short time?

Back in Holland I had this large trade-fair-to-do-list, for the 'Najaarbeurs', the Autumn Trade Fair. Uitgeverij Snor already asked me some years ago to share a stand. This year I said YES. Uitgeverij Snor - translated: Moustache Publishers - is the most hip & funny publisher on the planet. I feel honoured to have these wonderful neighbours.
After spending a couple of years in a kind of solitairy confinement in my studio, I am really looking forward to MEET old and new retailers in real life...

So, if you are a retailer in Holland (or elsewhere) you are invited to meet me there on September 4, 5, or 6 in Utrecht. The Trade fair is being held on the 7th floor. Our standnumber is C341. The najaarsbeurs is not the most wonderful Trade Fair for interior accessories, but it is the only one we have in Holland...so you can find lots of nice little businesses like mine there!
Would you like to receive free entrance cards for 2 persons? Just send me an email and I'll send you one back with a printable attachment.

Hope to see you there, would love to hand you over one of my new Shine lanterns in person!

summertime...

Hello again, dear blogreaders! Just came back last night, after a wonderful vacation in Italy.

On the way to Umbria we stopped near Basel in Switzerland, to visit the Goetheanum in Dornach. It is the Mekka of the Waldorf movement. Visiting this strange yet stunning building was one of my wishes for a long time. When my boys saw the building on the outside they thought it was a huge prison... inside it felt like being back in the womb though!



The first week in Italy we spent in Umbria, which was at the same time the highlight of our vacations. Umbria stole my heart. Our fantastic apartment (the terrace, the garden, the pool) did too. This year was the first time ever we rented appartments - I'm not so fond of tents and campsides - and I am really enthusiastic about it: never came back so relaxed as this time!
I will start saving money today already for the same concept for next year, it's worth it big time!

Left: The books we read. Right: me on the doorstep of our beautiful old house, a former convent built on roman remains (see also below).

Keeping in touch with your friends new style and old style...

The streets of Perugia.

We have visited many cities and villages. Amongst others: Perugia, Cortona, Assisi, Castel Rigone. Staying in Tuscany we 'did' (like thousands of other tourists) Siena and Florence and during our stay in Le Marche we went to Loreto (where we rented a house), Recanati and Ancona.
Culture, nature, good food, heavenly coffees, sun, water and being together with my men... this was a good summer!

STOCKIST SPOTLIGHT: hen & hammock

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...

Just before I leave the country for a summer break I would like to put the stockist spotlight on Hen & Hammock, a succesfull online gardening, home and outdoor lifestyle shop. They are based in Moreton, Oxfordshire (UK). I love their honest concept, their well chosen assortment, their style...

Owner Andrew Jones, mowing the lawn together with his daughter Katie.

Hen & Hammock: webshop - blog - twitter

When did you start your webstore and what made you decide to start it?
It was a time-of-life thing. Time to stop commuting to the big city and time to spend more time in the garden. The former was achieved very early on. The latter is still an aspiration!

What choices do you make when you purchase new products?
When we look at new products we have two priorities. The first is that the product needs to look good and be practical. Beauty alone is not enough, neither is functionality. We search for nice looking products that serve a purpose.
The second is that products should make the world a better place. This can’t always be achieved, but we should try by asking the right questions and by favouring producers that share our values.


What is the most beautiful part of your work and what part just ‘comes with the job’?
There are lots of rewards in what we do. Helping producers by buying their products is enormously rewarding. We also donate 10% of our profits to causes we feel strongly about, which is very satisfying. This year we gave £500 to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, which is striving to reverse the decline in the bumblebee population
The biggest challenge for us is getting products from some of our producers in a timely fashion. We don’t like letting our customers down with the words ‘Out of Stock’.


Which Hen and Hammock products would you like to show to us?

Kettle watering cans, because they show what fun practical gifts can be made from recycled plastic.

Picnic blankets, made from new wool waste. There is something very appealing about having a unique colourway. And they are a good excuse for a picnic!

Seed trays. These simple trays are made locally from waste wood and make germinating seeds all the more satisfying.

Paper maché bowls. The cooperative which makes these bowls is inspiring, as are their designs.

Is there any article that is produced almost uniquely for your shop?
The scarecrow kits are unique to Hen and Hammock. We collect the coffee sacks, which would otherwise go into landfill, and assemble the kits in house.

What are the items you took home from work?
Every day at this time of year I use one of our recycled tyre trugs for collecting weeds.
And later in the year, one of our Sussex trugs for collecting vegetables.


What do you expect to be a real trend for the future in your business?
I think product provenance will move to centre stage. It is already important for food, and will become increasingly important for the gift market. A gift is so much more if you can show who made it, where and how.


What will you be doing in five years? What is your ultimate dream?
We are living the dream already. I hope to be doing the same in 5 years!

Thanks so much Andrew, for this little peek in your green paradise!

I wish you all a wonderful summer, with nice relaxing garden work. And of course: For tools and other great stuff, made with love go to Hen & Hammock and use the discount code on the coupon below. Enjoy!