pinterest

That's why it takes so long to work out my stories about Maison & Objet. Something new and exciting always comes along to get my totally distracted. I recently discovered Pinterest, a social catalog to which 'people with great taste' can assign and pin things they love. If you don't fall in that category (or you don't have time to pin things) you can browse through other peoples pinboards. Perfect for new inspiration and ideas. Here's some samples, one made by Ms Sheperd, and one called Things I love. I love them too!

my holiday

As promised, I will be giving my impressions of the Maison Et Objet, you can read them soon! But first, let me tell you about my holidays, and the inspiration that I picked up there.

Our 'base camp' was at a beautiful gîte in the middle of Brittany, near Guingamp. The gîte is in an old barn that is beautifully restored by the owner. (Who happens to be my sister, which doubles the fun). Her website and her blog are in Dutch but she speaks fluently English and French. It is a great place to stay, to have a rest or discover the rest of Brittany, like St Malo (my favourite area in Brittany) or Dinan.

 You can rent the gîte or put up a tent (or a caravan) on the camp site under a pear tree. Lola, the donkey and her two goat friends will keep you entertained all day.

 In Dinan I found the best shop to spend a rainy afternoon, which sometimes can happen in Brittany. Fleur de Lin et Bouton d'Or is filled to the roof with ribbons, lace, antique fabrics, old buttons and colourful yarns. The perfect spot for some new colourfull inspiration.

I'm back!

Sorry to have kept you waiting for new posts, I was on a long, lovely holiday with my family. I'm working on new posts so I can show you were I was, what I have been working on, and next week I'll be going to Paris for Maison et Objet again. So there's a lot to tell.

More later!

Stephanie was here

Phew, I've been busy! But working 'behind the scenes', like trying to get some building permits (boring) (and complicated), shopping with and for clients (very nice!, but I already wrote about the shops I wanted to bring them to), working with the carpenter who's making some nice benches for a garden and a basement, watching paint dry and making some new paint samples. Nothing is finished yet, so there's nothing to show yet.

So it was time to reload my battery, as they say. And I chose the perfect spot to do that: B&B In de Aap, a beautiful Bed&Breakfast in a little village near the coast in the North of Holland.

Even if you don't go for the breazy seaside style, there's plenty of decorating ideas that work for any style. I like the wooden floors that are glued to the floor. You have the lovely feel of wood on your bare feet, without creaking that can wake you up in the middle of the night. And not the cracks where most of the dust and crumbs go when you're not watching. I also love the egg shell-paint, that gives the wood a nice gloss.

The walls have wall heating, which prevents the dust from flying around. And I like it better than floor heating because that always gives me the feeling that I have a fever. The chalky paint on the walls and the ceilings are perfect for walls that aren't completely straight, and it gives a nice nonchalant feel to any room. It can also work beautifully for a more loft style-house, because of the unfinished, raw look it can create.

The bathroom is a dream, with a nice big bathtub and a beautifully tiled shower and a tadelakt floor, a lime plaster that is traditionally used in Moroccan hammams. Beautiful and nice and soft to your feet.

All in all, a lovely place, (with a lovely big breakfast) that I will visit more often. They also have a nice and cosy family house, nice for a next visit.

Foam with The Girls

Last wednesday evening we joined Penny and Celia to the opening the exhibition of Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin at Foam. The exhibition is called Pretty much Everything, a title well chosen. Because the museum is filled top to bottom with what seems like all the images this creative photography couple ever made. I especially like almost their over-the-top and coulourfull images. And they suit Penny and Celia, another coulourfull, ballsy, funny and frightfullly creative duo who just started their own company, The Girls (tm) just perfectly.

a factory full of furniture

On my hunt for some furniture for a project, I paid Fabrieknl a visit, in the south of the Netherlands. It's been a while since I last went there, but it was worth the trip again. I bought my couches for my own home here.

The old shoe factory is big (5000 square metres) and packed with the most beautiful vintage furniture. Some parts of the factory are set up as tastfully decorated living rooms or dining rooms, so you can get a feel how the furniture will look in your own house. The rest of the factory leaves room for your own imagination.

sleek, fragile and sexy designs

And while we're at it (or at least, I am), I also love the tender, fragile ceramic designs by Laura Pregger  (images below)...

and  the sleek lined, kind of sexy designs by Nika Zupanc. I saw some of her designs a few years ago at Satellite in Milan, the 'corner' for young designers at the big furniture fair Salone del Mobile. Glad to see she's doing so well.

rawwwwwwr

No need for a lot of words with a beautiful collection that Jochem de Wit made for his garduation project. It is called Raw Table Ware, quite appropriately. The cups and jugs are made of brick, the bowl of enamelled concrete, de glasses of raw glas and the spoons of beech veneer. For sale at The Frozen Fountain in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam: Made by hand

The ever inspiring Pia Jane Bijkerk has made a new book: Amsterdam: made by hand. A book about all the shops, studios and workspaces of beautifull objects made by hand. Or shops that sell all the products you need to make those objects yourself.

Pia a stylist that works for several magazines from all over the world, and I love her warm, feminine and authentic styling. She also has a blog that I frequently visit (or rather: whenever I think of it) for inspiration, or just a good feeling.

Good luck with your new book!

For a client I'm on the hunt for black-and-white accessories, to make a nice blend of her feminin modern-country taste and his more masculine preference for design. Black-and-white works quite well in those cases, especially when there's some kind of organic images mixed in it. I'm thinking of designing a wallpaper for the bedroom, that can be printed by Wonderwand.

For the living room, or the bedroom even, pillows and rugs will look nice. I found some really nice ones designed by a young design team from Australia, Pony Rider, who also have a webshop. I might even choose to use the wall dot, but I think a wall-to-wall covering of a leafprint will also look nice.

hotel De Goudfazant

Yesterday we spent a nice evening with friends in Hotel de Goudfazant. That may sound a bit strange, but eventhough the name suggests it, it is not a hotel. It is a restaurant, one of the nicest in Amsterdam. It is quite remote, way up in the northern part, but worth the trip. Even though the weather was a bit dull, we still enjoyed the view of the city on the other side of the canal. And the lovely food, the inspiring interior and the friendly staff, of course.

Jan

Jan is an old fashioned, masculine and typically Dutch name for a boy, and that makes it so funny that a small, feminine, elegant shop like this is called the same. It is one of my favourite shops in Amsterdam, it is in the Utrechtsestraat, and I go there mostly when I do a styling job for the finishing touches, like a nice bowl, a beautiful bag or a lovely toy. And I almost never leave the shop without buying something for myself. Which is not as bad as it sounds, because the prices are reasonable as well. Maybe that explains the name, because we're known for our money handling skills...

twins

Eddo Hartmann is a Dutch photographer who does projects all over the world - he even took pictures in a Russian fake space ship that they use to test future astronauts (and photographers) on their abilities to function in zero or double gravity, a cooperation with artist Bradley Pitts.

His images are mostly of strong, impressive, empty environments with strong lines and big horizons, like White Sands.
Currently he is working on a very special project called An unsuspected visit to a very familiar place. A touching and beautiful series of a house, with a very special story. It will be published in a book, for which he is now very busy looking for funds. (If you happen to have a a sack of money lying around: this is the perfect destination.)

And since yesterday we're the proud owners of three beautiful images made by him of our two lovely little girls. It was the gift that he gave us when they were born, and finally in May they were old enough to do the shoot. He used this technique once before for Volkskrant Magazine (art direction by Heike Gülker). Our twins have completely different characters, even though they are identical twins. And he captured it exactly, and that is a gift by itself. Thank you!

over to phase two

Now that the first steps are taken in the assignments that I'm working on, I'm doing some research on furniture, wall papers, tiles and kitchens. The big work, so to say, to later on fill it all in with accessories and smaller furniture. On my search I discovered a beautiful furniture brand, Seven Salotti. Italian, naturally. Clean, stylish and comfortable at the same time. The images themselves are inspiring as well; I love the dark grey-blue on the walls of the first and the last image. Nice chair as well, of course, the Sella. The couch in the last image is called Nap, quite appropriate, because it looks like a big, comfortable bed with a fresh, crips linnen. Myy favourite is the one in the middle: Naviglio. And I think it will look beautiful in the living room of one of my clients. Tomorrow we're going to have a look at it in the shop in Amsterdam that sells the brand: Mardonio - Home.