Karin's Style Blog

My days are a nice and focused mix at the moment. Today I’ve done some throwing, packed and sent 200 tealights to Stilleben, packed a bisque kiln and made a phone call that I’ve been slightly nervous about.

I’ve just posted about handmade tiles on whip up. Lubna Chowdhary is one of the makers I mention.

Lastly, I’ve stumbled across a bouquet of nice blogs. It’s always a pleasure finding ceramic bloggers, we seem to be a rare species. The latest on my horizon is Coe & Waito. Having said that, it’s a pleasure finding great blogs. Ma Roulette is a jeweller and Miss Hill prints.

I received my first card of the month cards today and they are so lovely - thanks mav!

Found this ever so covetable Turquoise Circle Dress by Rebecka Turbow via fashion is spinach. I also fell for Rebecka Turbow’s large rectangle bag with long strap.

The turquoise dress is available from Mighty flirt who also carry Katrin Schnabl’s great Lipstick Red Liza top.

PS The Sartorialist is in Milan.

I found dutch jeweller Ted Noten via Valdemar’s New Jewellery blog. Although Valdemar’s blogwas born only yesterday, he’s got some great links up already. Noten’s wedding ring pendant can be found through chi ha paura..?

Diana Fayt is another recent blogger and a “voice from inside the studio” (her tagline, which I think is great and very promising!) as she’s also a fellow potter.

Like hoping for happy accidents and Lena Corwin, I like the textile designs by Hau Hauz.

More enjoyable new aquaintances to me are Ms Spinach and No Good for Me.

Tim Gough, via 30 gms. The print above is called Grr.

Holly at decor8 posted about watercolourist Mizue Hirano.

Wonderful quilts by Ian Hundley, via Eva Noveau and Moco Loco.

Sew Recycled has a tip of where to buy Japanese craft books in the UK.

Style Bytes found this lovely cherry patterned Anna Sui dress from Spotlight Vintage. I own an Anna Sui jacket and skirt set which I treasure dearly.

This photo is from my dried-and-photographed-grass-and-leaves-period (which never seems to end). I’m forever drawn to those thin lines connecting with the fluffier bits and the joints - just lovely.

Designboom’s photos from their 2006 mart at ICFF and here are the designers that took part.

I like this green and blue and grey together. Huulaseventy didn’t want last weeks colour parade to finish so she’s launched another week!

I like Cindy’s flickr set of Abandoned Places and Things.

Annika has been to Skansen and Anneli has been to Julita. Follow their lead when you’re visiting Sweden.

Food art by Alinea, here it is potato they’ve made art of. Via lamarica.

I’m reading Dish by Julie Muller Stahl, the book I told you about in May last year… It’s presenting 30 female industrial designers and also includes essays on various aspects of design. On the front cover is “Dish” by Ana Mir. Here are some pages from the book:

Baby Lounger by Sophie Demenge.

H seat, designed in 2001 by Han Feng.

Swedish designer Monica Förster launched the ‘dot cake sun mini’ tables at last years furniture fair in Stockholm.

I like this book, I like the layout and it’s introducing me to lots of designers whose work I now want to know more about.

Galerie La Fayette in Paris.

Ye old english gas stove.

It has been a lovely week of colour, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it - thank you mav and Stephanie!

Tomorrow we’re cykling to the summer house, stopping off for a picnic in the park at Drottningholm (home to the King and Queen).

Have a nice weekend! Colliers from Lyndie Dourthe, via Treats and Treasures.

French Touche, Design*Sponge’s favourite design spot in Paris. Looks like a treasure.

Strings of dried rowan berries.

Me in my work clothes.

Three Layer Cake takes cakes to another level. This weeks interview features Eckart Maise, Managing Director of Vitra Home Collection and last week Kristina did an interview with Oscar Aciar who’s one part of Il Giardino Secreto, a shop/space in Rome. Here’s a quote from the interview: “The space is an island of innovation and visual stimulation, a secret garden within the city. A place where one can suspend rigid beliefs and preconceived ideas to encounter art forms which push the envelope of ‘normal’ conventions.” Sounds like a place I’d like to visit.

Fred Flare has visited Colette.

Some sketches I did for my degreeshow in 2000. I made a set of cups and beakers in which I was trying to express different friends’ personalities. Above is K and I was trying to capture her love of dancing and rythm by giving the beaker movement. It’s really difficult to do without making it seem like a mistake or the opposite, overdoing it.

Below is M and S - do you recognize?

Brown letters.

Cig Harvey’s got some beautiful photographs. Via Kunstbetrieb.

I’ve written a Whip up post about Chris Keenan’s ceramics.

I’m joining mav and Stephanie’s colour week. Scrubbed and washed ceramics drying on my doorstep.

Here’s a link to the black cat’s puppet theatre. Click on “smakprov” to see a short taster. Via swedesres.

This is such a summery picture to me. The collected post boxes of a hole summer house area and a notice board that hasn’t been updated for the last decade.

Here’s another summery image that I found at Skovshoved Furniture factory. I found my way to there via lovely Copenhagen florist Vandas have.

If I were into lists, mine would have accumulated into a novel by now. When I reach the limit for how many things one person can prioritize at once I sometimes (on good days) react with accepting that in my handmade world, things just take time and it’s really no use pushing because that only results in cracks and breakages. It’s much better to sit down with Ninni and have a cup of coffee.

Delicious days has been to Lisbon and it looks fantastic.

Rare Device sell this bag from Kristen Aronsson. That kind of handle makes my heart beat faster.

A sneak preview of the fall/winter collection from Odd Molly. Love it.

fiftyX3R posted a great story of how ugly sweaters and a creative mind can work wonders.

Swissmiss found Maria Bussman’s mouse hotel bed some time ago. Just because they’re tiny doesn’t mean they should be ignored.

Now, I really have to work on my next post for Whip up. Am very late indeed with that.

There’s a hole pile of books next to my sofa that I’ve been meaning to tell you about and what better time than when summer’s ahead?

Inspired, by Dorte Nielsen and Kiki Hartmann, is about “How creative people think, work and find inspiration". The book has it’s own website, which had a problem loading when I wrote this, but the book is also available from Amazon.

It’s a fast read with lots and lots of inspiring and stunning photos. The core of the interviewed people are from the world of advertising, but the book also includes architects, designers and illustrators and the odd musician.

I did feel that I wanted a more in depth text, more digging into what really triggers people’s inspiration and thoughts around why. It’s quite impossible to pin down, I know, and perhaps it’s all there and I was too lazy to do the digging myself….

Above is a page from the book, it’s the scrapbooks of typographer Chris Priest. He says: “I think making scrapbooks creates confidence in your visual language. When you’re actually working on them, sticking things down, you explore space, tension and composition.”

I found this quote by Anders Lund Madsen, entertainer from Copenhagen, interesting: “The more ideas you give away, the better ideas you’ll get in return.” Is that what the (craft) bloggosphere is about? We share and improve by sharing.

When writing this post I found dear ada, another blogger who’s been inspired by Inspired.

When in Brighton, at a little shop called cinco, I added a yellow flamingo bag from Lisa Stickley to my bag collection. Cinco does not have a functioning website, but you can see more of Lisa’s work at Gigi & Tom. It was mav who introduced me to Lisa Stickely’s work by sending a wonderful teatowel that is adorning my kitchen.

Here’s a Dalahäst and a package of sweets against a Paperchase wrapping paper. It was my gift to Jehane’s adorable little son Lucas.

I’ve had my coffee sitting on the porch, reading yesterday’s paper. Life is good! I closed the workshop today and am spending the weekend at the summer house. The image above is an embroidered cloth with the un-translateable saying “A teardrop of coffee is the best"… Have a swell weekend!

The door to my workshop has been wide open all day and I cherish the sound of rain falling outside mixing with the soft humming of my potter’s wheel. But what’s made my day is listening to Tango for four. Blending Finnish and Argentinian tango, I’m in love! Available from Amazon and I’ll soon return my copy to the library in Solna centrum.

This slightly unrelated picture is a Fritillary (Kungsängslilja) - one of the most beautiful late spring flowers:

Kath of Whip up and many more excellent projects is interviewed by Craft Sanity. It’s quite a long interview and lovely to hear some background to Kath’s projects.

If you want to listen to my choir, we’re performing the concert we did in Hungary this Sunday at 6 o’clock in Sundbybergs kyrka. The way I sound today I suspect I’ll be taking care of the page turning again… (by the way, I know the pictures are really tiny - making the them clickable to enable larger format is on the to-do-list!).

Knitting Iris had a link to this site with botanical stamps from around the world. Some of them are quite wonderful.

I’ve just read Justin Good’s post at Design Observer about contrasting interpretations of beauty in the case of wind farms. Both views, he argues, are “sensitive to the structure of wholeness in the world” - isn’t that a beautiful sentence? I’ll be reading that post several times.

The brick in this lamp by Formfjord collects the heat from the lightbulb, it’s one of the products on show at Designmai 2006 spotted in the extensive photo gallery at Core 77.

Favourite jewellery gallery Platina has an exhibition of work by Mona Wallström. The exhibition is called Evidence and is all about found things turned into brooches. Above is one and here is another: