Pumpkin and earthy hues

Yes...when one has too much to do, she starts to play with the camera and the color picker functionality...I give absolutely every credit of this idea to build this kind of color palettes from photos to Jessica behind Design Seeds, but really just wanted to try it out this month with the wonderful color trends.

And give you a hint on what kinds of tools the professionals (not me, I might add...) use to build the color palettes for a living room, for example...

I mentioned some time ago NCS (Natural Color System), which has categorized and coded, I don't know, THOUSANDS of color tones. It is based on a horizontal color circle (yellow, red, blue, green) - yes, we know green shouldn't really be there, but it is ;), placed somewhere on a vertical white-black axis.

Sounds simple, doesn't it? The more black you have, the darker your color is, the more white, the lighter. And every single color is coded! Guess who's logical mind loves THAT :)?

Well, it of course takes a bit of the 'magic' away from the thinking 'the interior designer had a great eye for color...' phrase, but it helps you to understand, why this yellow-green combinations works, and that one - not at all. And why all the colors work just wonderfully in nature...

About the tones above - just to tell you how it works (and for me to see if I got it anywhere right with the tones with plain eye...) - for them to be a perfect match, they should be found on a same page or at least vertically on the same axis...

Well, that dark brown I picked from the picture is a little off, too much red in it, but otherwise - quite okay, wouldn't you say?

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värit, värikartta, kurpitsan värinen, syksyn värit, syksyn väritrendit 2012

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Fall and Winter 2012 trends at Formex

Formex, the largest show on interior design in Scandinavia, is going on until tomorrow, but I thought to give you a little glimpse to what was new and what seemed to remain the same - at least what were the changing trends my eyes caught.

COLORS - Petrol, Heather and Aubergine - from the brightest to the lightest. Brown seemed to be the new black, as the black was present mixed with the trend colors - more about that later  - I thought to post A LOT about color during September. My crazy mathematical mind loves the NCS  - Nordic Color System it is called. You'll see what I mean :).

MATERIALS - lots of linen, velvet and leather. Linen cushions and all kinds of home textiles. LAMP SHADES made of Asian baskets (this was hilarious!! - remember my DIY lampshade in Werannas Facebook? That style.) For example Watt&Veke had this kind of pendant in their selection, made of split bamboo.

TEXTURES - continued to be on the rough side, and also lots of ruffle and smocking. Just TEXTURE,  whatever kind.

PATTERNS - Ethnic. Batik, IKAT etc. Traditional patterns from all over the world, I would say.

PECULIARITIES? I call them such, if they make me smile. If they make me go 'hmmm, interesting...' I usually don't mention in my blog...

- storage boxes covered with knitted textures. Beautiful and such a wonderful DIY idea!!
- Rag rugs made of leather - they have been there before, as well, but this year really seemed to have spread. Unfortunately still the quality seemed to be a little off, as for a lasting rag rug you need to use very long rags, but the idea itself is fantastic.
- Other home decor items made of rag rug

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syksyn trendit 2012, sisustustrendit, trendivärit, sisustusmessut

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Rustic loft interior

Loftenberg - two-level loft in Madrid, Spain

Going through my favorite blogs I ended up again in Loftenberg - ah, the beautiful lofts! Look at this one - all the elements are just right! 

 

And the bedroom:

And the other spaces:

Do I need to say more? It is just GEORGEOUS! So many interesting details - just absolutely LOVE it!

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olohuoneen sisustus, ullakon sisustus, makuuhuoneen sisustus, eläimen talja

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Formex spring 2012 Part II

Formex the second day - we were overly excited to go through the handicraft and kids sections to see what's new for the coming Spring/Fall 2012 season!! The color circus especially at the kids section was fantastic!! Rice won, of course :), but we also admired Teddy Kompaniet (the cuddlies are a MUST to our kids), Jabadabadoo and many many more. What was disappointing? Well - after the 3rd kid in the toddler age, I find it hard to get greatly enthusiastic about the wonderful things offered to the little ones the way I did before! That made me kind of sad - but then again, perhaps our little boy doesn't suffer too much even if mommy isn't getting to his room the newest cute little shelves and tents and all that...But these lovely colourful toys from Rice, which work perfectly as kids room decoration, got a smile on our faces:

Horseez...

And some dogs...

And mouse friends...

What really really made me happy was that many brands were introducing hand-made toys, fair trade products, as well as textiles made of organic cotton. I am not a very big fan of organic cotton - if I remember right, I told the reason already some time ago? Organic cotton needs to be hand-picked. It is not the nicest work, and in my mind it is just fine the cotton to be picked by machines. Fair-trade cotton? YES!!

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Lastenhuoneen sisustus, käsintehdyt lelut, sisustuksen trendit, sisustusmessut

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Formex spring 2012 part I

Source

FORMEX is still going on in Stockholm, and we will be taking another tour today. The trends seem to be splitting a little for the spring, which is very much welcome. It seemed to be more and more ethnic, like batik above. Batik is beautiful - we may associate it mostly with the inexpensive beach wear we buy from India, Thailand, Indonesia or Malaysia, but of course it is a true art form, as well. One of the very known batik artists is Dato Chuah Thean Theng, or just Teng, who is said to be the father of batik in Malaysia. When living in Malaysia, I had the great chance to visit his gallery in Penang. Unfortunately I haven't found images of his work which he had there, as it was pure fantastic!! His son was present during our visit, and was able to tell us a great deal about batik painting, as he is continuing in his fathers footsteps. If you would like to know some more, a couple of good links are

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batik
http://www.joaniemitchell.com/

More trends? Some rust, well, a lot of rust :). The industry style is clearly moving to the falling-apart industry style...I love the authentic, but making new production and then banging it with hammers and having it outdoors for it to rust...hmmm. The style was extremely obvious in Tendence during the fall, and was now coming to Scandinavia, as well.

Personally I am more Tolix and Jielde kind of person, and I love the new TVs, radios, cameras and cars in an old package so to say. Olsson&Jensen had a beautiful cabinet with glass doors at their stand - romantic industry style is what you would call it, I guess. They had 20 pcs, and had sold out every single of them during the 1st hour of the fair!! I promise you will be seeing this piece in the home decor magazines during the spring.


What else caught my eye? The unbelievably beautiful home textiles by Fabric Copenhagen. I always appreciate when the owners or founders themselves participate the major fairs. We had a nice chat with Annette Egholm, the textile designer behind the brand. The textiles are produced in a family business in Northern Vietnam. Having lived 4 years in my childhood in Vietnam, they really brought a big smile to my sisters face, as well as mine. The softest soft Vietnamese silk, some velvet, and those wonderful buttons or knots which are so special for Vietnamese clothes and textiles - a perfect combination.

Here a couple of images of Vietnamese silk products

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Well - this blog was more text surprisingly - let's make part 2 only pictures then!

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sisustuksen trendit, sisustusmessut, batiikki sisustuksessa

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Enja Vironmäki 2002



60s style by Enja Vironmäki - Avotakka 05/2002

 Here is some true customer service - I contacted the oldest Finnish interior design magazine Avotakka to ask, whether I could get the articles by Enja Vironmäki. It turned out that she has worked on so many stories that it would be impossible for them to send them to me. But they kindly sent me a list of all the magazines she has had articles in during the past 2 decades!

Talk about great customer experience - even though I've felt for some years that Avotakka hasn't really been on the edge (perhaps because I'm following a number of international editions, or because I've lived outside of Finland for 9 years, I don't know) Avotakka is again on my monthly reading list.

So - I get all magazines 1998-2010 from my Mom, and they are downstairs W-A-I-T-I-N-G for me to dig in. You know what? Perhaps this is no news to some of you, but I was a bit surprised - it really hasn't changed that much in 13 years. There was a number of items I could've purchased even today - especially textiles. Okay - the walls at the summerhouse are not natural pine anymore (of course they are, but just not in the magazines), the walls at home aren't yellow (according to trends autumn/winter 2012 they again will be...), and foremost: the quality of the photos in the magazines is excellent compared to these 10 years ago, and THE PRICES OF THE PRODUCTS HAVE SKY-ROCKETED!! Imagine - the Le Klint pendant (pictured below) sold for 167 € in 2002 - currently we are talking over 700 €!! Inflation my a***.

70s by Enja Vironmäki - Avotakka 05/2002

And - the mystery of Enja Vironmäki, why I like her style so much, that is, is slowly starting to unravel. First of all - SHE is on the edge. She wrote these articles 9 years ago, but could've published them today! Second of all - I've been reading Avotakka all my life, and she's been writing in the magazine as long. So I guess she is one of the people who have more or less defined what I learned to appreciate. And third - I just happen to like the same things she does. It is as simple as that. For example - those Tsaikka-glasses in the above picture are on my must-have vintage items -list (provided to my mother-in-law who enjoys auctions) since 2 years.

An article by Enja Vironmäki I found in Avotakka 03/2002...The Vaavi-babygrid produced by Sokeva (association for visually disabled producing a number of products in Finland), still available from ROKA-TUOTE (the base is still made by Sokeva) in the picture below is one where me and my siblings have spent our first months. The same babygrid goes around in my husbands larger family from cousin to cousin as new babies are being born. My husband has slept in it, and so has his siblings. To those planning to have a baby, and living in Finland - get this bed! It is light, you can move it around in the house, and it is just...right.

Sokeva VAAVI -babygrid - Avotakka 03/2002

Another article in Avotakka 04/2002 - here is a nice idea for bathroom! Buy some cheap, tall flower vases, and stick your bathroom necessities, like cotton balls and hair-rollers, in them!

Avotakka 04/2002

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Kelly Hoppen store - disappeared?

source

Whatever has happened, me not know - but the Kelly Hoppen online shop seems to have disappeared!! I guess as her own boutique is moving to Selfridges&Co, she has also closed the online shop. What a pity!!! She had a beautiful, wonderful collection of cushions, lanterns, prints...and I really wanted to share those with you, in my own way. Now gotta settle for this photo...

source

It was in some magazine a couple weeks back, that Artwood will present her products in the Scandinavian market shortly, but at least today their website didn't have any hits when searching for Kelly Hoppen.

Where are you, you beautiful thingys??

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Enja Vironmäki

Finnish interior designer Enja Vironmäki is one of my oldest favorites. She has been designing homes for decades, to me she has been visible from the Finnish interior design magazine Avotakka. There is something unique in her work - often, when something really catches my eye in the magazine, it has been her work.

It is really hard to say what it is - perhaps her use of colors, perhaps the details she adds to her work. When I was younger, my first small apartment was decorated by her; perhaps that's why her work always feels...right.

It remains to be seen whether I will be able to get the old articles I've requested to share with you what I mean!

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Kelly Hoppen

Her home speaks for itself, right? This specific picture I took from Loftenberg.

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Interior design

The definition for interior design in Wikipedia is:

'Interior design is a multi–faceted profession in which creative and technical solutions are applied within a structure to achieve a built interior environment and home lifestyle enhancement. The interior design process follows a systematic and coordinated methodology, including research, analysis, and integration of knowledge into the creative process, whereby the needs and resources of the client are satisfied to produce an interior space that fulfills the project goals'.

And moreover;

'Some use the terms Interior Designer and Interior Decorators interchangeably. However, in general Designers tend to produce more drawn information and plans, whereas Decorators are more associated with finishes and furnishings.'

So what do I do? I design (in the narrow, less academic sense of the word) and then decorate. And what style? Hmmm. That would be a Classic International Lofty style spiced up with some Shabby Chic items :).

Really, isn't that what it almost always becomes? You don't tend to have an empty white space to start with. You have the furniture you have, rarely you can, or WANT to change it, at least at the same time. You have your house decoration items - paintings, vases, lanterns. You have your lamps, baskets, curtains, other textiles. And - you have those items in your house that you just love, perhaps they don't match perfectly with the rest, but perhaps you've got them as a gift, or just bought something at some point somewhere, and you just adore it.

My solution: have classic furniture in colors like brown, white and beige. Simple enough to match it with almost anything. My address: http://www.boknas.com/. Each room you then decorate around the items you want to keep visible. It might be anything. I've furnished a kitchen around some storage jars :) (those jars still haven't found their way there...), decorated a bedroom under a lantern, and decorated a kids playroom around curtains.

In this section of my darling blog I'll try gather works by the interior designers I just ADORE. Now, I have to say, they've stolen some of my ideas :), which means that I come up with some detail, then go and check out their websites at some point, and there it is!! Must admit, more often, it happens vice versa...

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