yes, design can make you laugh

Sometimes design (with a capital D) can take itself too seriously. The blog unhappyhipsters.com shows how designs like that can only make you laugh. If you ever sigh about the mess in you own home (like I sometimes do), just have a look at their blog. You'll be glad that you spent the day living instead of cleaning.

Ina Matt

In a week or two I'll be starting a new project, a renovation of a house near Amsterdam. The plan is to add a few metres to the house, so the kitchen will be nice and big. The owners also want a restyling of their attic, so their two sons can share a room there. For inspiration I look at magazines and websites, and recently I was directed to a website of two other designers, Ina Matt (www.ina-matt.com). I love their clean way of designing, that brings a lot of light and space to a house.

STEK

Friends of mine, Patricia Hessing, Ifke Brunings and Jasper Westebring, from design company Ateliers Hessing & Brunings, designed the perfect line of furniture for children. They teamed up with Eugenia Clavero, a Spanish product designer.
I love all the designs Ateliers make, because they are stylish, aestethic but also friendly at the same time. As you can see in this rocking chair. It is my favourite piece in their collection. I'm so lucky that my twin baby-girls got them as a present. (and I love little hero Enza! I hope my girls will be as brave and spunky as she is). check for more work at www.aboutstek.nl

La Cucina d'Abruzzo

Another neighbour, and best friend of Gemma's, is Paula. She lives with her mother Clara and the rest of her family across from Gemma's. After the harvest of the tomatoes, in august and september, they make tomato sauce. They make a big wood fire under a big steel drum filled with, early in the morning before it gets too hot outside. Then they peel the tomatoes and use a special machine to make it into sauce. They pour the sauce in clean beer bottles, put a cap on in and cook the bottles in the steel drum to sterilse them. The have enough sauce to last them a whole year untill the next harverst, plus some for friends and family. I took some pictures while Giancarlo was helping them, and Mark Niedermann was taking pictures of the process for the book.

La Cucina d'Abruzzo

The hills and mountains in Abruzzo are empty, and silent, and very very big. Especially when there's some fog, it can feel a bit spooky. But still beautiful.

La Cucina d'Abruzzo

Here's some pictures that I took at Gemma's neighbours in her home-village Vallemare. They grow vegetables and herbs that they sell twice a week at the market.

La Cucina d'Abruzzo

La Cucina d'Abruzzo
Acciavatti, G. & Mirabilio, G.

Today we stay in Italy a little more, because I want to tell about another book I recently finished: La Cucina d'Abruzzo. It is a book about Gemma Mirabilio & Giancarlo Acciavatti, who run a succesfull catering company Mondo Mediterraneo (www.mondomediterraneo.com). It is around the corner from where I live. Lucky me!

They make beautiful and delicious food, but they are also very warm and lovely people. I asked them two years ago if they would like to make a cook book with me, and that is when our adventure together started.

They took me to their home region, Abruzzo, a part of Italy full of contrasts. Totally different from the Italy that I know from my trips to Tuscany and Milan. The mountains are rough and authentic, with little villages remote from everywhere. It is as if time stood still. But the coast is very lively and stylish, with exclusive beach bars and shops, especially Pescara.

These contrasts you can also find in Gemma, who is from a small farm in a village in the hills, and Giancarlo, who is from Pescara. And you can find these contrasts in the food they prepare. Some recipes are old, authenic family recipes, others are recipes that are inspired by their travels around the world.

My plan first was, besides making the whole concept of the book, doing the styling and making the illustrations, to also write all these stories down. But during the process of the book, I was also preparing something else: two lovely babies! So my very talented friend Jocelyn de Kwant took over the writing of the stories. Plus she finished the production of the book (bravo). Sanne Dirkzwager designed the book. Most of the images are by Swiss photographer Mark Niedermann (www.markniedermann.com), but some of them are mine. I will show some more of my images in a later post.

Alberto de Michele

Yesterday I went to a preview of a new art work by Alberto de Michele. He's an artist who lives in Amsterdamm but grew up with his Italian father. His recent works focus on the world around his father, who is, as Alberto states is on his website: surrounded by thieves, gangsters and gambling addicts.

In the image you see a still of his last movie, that gives a close look of the world of I Lupe. These robbers live in the north of Italy and only work during the fog season. They know the area by heart so they can easily disappear in the fog. The story in the movie is told by Alberto's father. The movie is thrilling, but also moving, because it makes you realise in what world Alberto grew up in. check for more work on www.albertodemichele.com

happiness is a Cupcake

Happiness is a cupcake is a book that I made together with Sanne Dirkzwager. Paul Barbera made the beautiful, dreamy images. Marlein Overakker, Martha Regtering and Hans Heiloo were the professional cooks, but Sanne and me also wrote some recipes. The concept and the design is Sanne's. We did the styling together, and I edited the recipes and wrote the texts.


Happiness is a cupcake set
Stephanie Rammeloo & Dirkzwager, S.

maison & objet trend: mixing, patchwork & ethnic chic

This nice rug, in the first image, captures two trends in one: patchwork AND ethnic chic! Well done. 

Ceannis, that also makes some wonderful bags, gives the patchwork-trend a try as well, on their pillows.

TM Collection, in the last image, makes its own mix, of ethnic fabric and bohemian prints. They design fashion as well as home wear, like pillows and lamp shades.

maison & objet trend: pastels

This nice stack of plates by Reichenbach shows a good overview of another, more muted colour theme: nice, dark, powdery pastels with a touch of yellow and lighter tones. Lovely porcelain cutlery, also.

maison & objet trend: colour

Another big, big thing, in interior design as well as fashion, is colour. Pastels, nudes and greys are combined with more bright, bold, almost fluorescent colours. I saw combinations of colours without print, but also fabrics with prints with flowers. The motto is: put as much colour and flowers in it as possible, and then add a little more.

maison & objet trend: layering and stacking

Maison & Objet is, besides shop owners, visited by stylists and journalists, to see what is going on. Funny to see that some ideas that I saw a few years ago in Milan, found their way to other designers  Like the pile of mattresses by Dutch designer Richard Hutten. In the first image you see his design, shown in Milan in 2008.

You can see it translated in a way that is close to his design with a lot of colourfull mattresses, or, for a more sophisticated look: mattresses in soft greys, combined with grey pastels by Desio.

maison & objet

End of January I visited Salon Maison & Objet in Paris. It is a big trade market with a lot of home design, where you can the latest trends on interior fashion. The fair is huge, with halls as big as the New York train station, with, for instance, only table wear or scented candles. I skipped a few halls (those) and I got lost a few times, but I saw some really beautiful designs, and got some inspiration for future designs. 

maison & objet, 1

A tiny part of the fair is Objets de Mode, with small boots for little design companies, like La Cerise sur le Gâteau, Zoe de las Cases, Miss Print and Numero 74. The designs are all really personal and authentic. But, if you want a general trend, there's a lot of humour in it and a lot of colour.

La Cerise sur le Gâteau (www.lacerisesurlegateau.fr) makes home linen, like dish cloths and bed linen, but I like the pillow cases best. With which you can add a light, funny and colourful touch to your house. (first image).

Zoe de las Cases (zoedelascases.com) makes inventive, cute objects for your house. Like posters, bags and boxes with beautiful old family pictures printed on them, or a game with different scents. Her latest design is this stamp kit, which you can use to cheer up you paperwork. Like contracts or bills, for instance. (last three images).

maison & objet, 2

I loved the wall paper and fabric by Miss Print, (www.missprint.co.uk). The fabrics are all hand printed. The wall paper Dandelion, shown in this picture, is also available in yellow and grey. (first image)

Numero 74 from Italy restores (and sells) beautiful vintage children's furniture and also makes lovely soft hand knitted blankets and toys (www.numero74.com), on the last two images.

maison & objet, 3

While I tried to skip a few halls I got lost in the hall with all the big fabric producers. Luckily, because otherwise I would never have met the wonderful fabric designer Marie Riche of Lalie Design. Unfortunately her booth was too full to take a good picture of it, so she sent me and overview of some of her fabrics.

I also stumbled upon these wonderful, handprinted pillows by Geneviève Lévy édition (www.gl-edition.com), as you can see on the two lower pictures.

my house

I really love my bathroom. It is in the middle of our house. If you open the sliding doors, you can watch movies on the wall from the bath tub. The bedroom is separate from the rest of the house. Images by Paul Barbera.

my house

I designed the interior of our house myself. This is office and my walk in closet. Images by Paul Barbera. The image of the greyhound is made by Euan Myles.