Urban Jungle Bloggers: Plants & Coffee

Hello 2015 and hello Urban Jungle Bloggers community! Here we are with our first Urban Jungle Bloggers post in 2015 - Judith and I have quickly decided upon the topic as we wanted to bring together two aspects we like and conjoin them into a precious moment of joy and pleasure - we invite you to share your moments with your favorite plants and a good cup of coffee or tea.

I truly believe that these little moments are precious and essential for our well-being. We all live in a super fast paced world, we run from one project to another, work, household, kids, partners and work over again. Sometimes it feels like we're losing the ground under our feet. But then we grant ourselves that special moment: We brew some coffee or prepare a pot of tea, we sit down, we unwind. This relaxing and mending power is amplified when plants come into play. The growing and living plant next to you, that invigorating green - it makes such a moment perfect. Moreover, it is proven that plants purify the air we breathe and release fresh oxygen thus helping us to relax and unwind. Win-win situation I'd say!

Like the majority among you, I have a pretty crazy and stressful lifestyle. But I keep my daily ritual of taking my moment of peace after the office - I brew fresh coffee, I sit down, I enjoy my plants and I like to flip through inspiring books. My latest addition is the book 'The Good Life' by artist Jasper Morrison. It is about perceptions of the ordinary and how the ordinary sometimes inspires us most.

For today's Urban Jungle Bloggers post I have also added a new green friend to my home - the succulent named Crassula rupestris also known as Jade Necklace plant. This succulent plant stems from South Africa and has funny looking, fleshy stems. In my pot (usually I hang the plant - see here) it looks like a crazy hairdo and it makes me smile. Can my coffee break be any better? Hardly so! Enjoy your cup and your plants, friends!

Urban Jungle Bloggers is a monthly series initiated by 2 bloggers: Igor (Happy Interior Blog) and Judith (JOELIX.com). Every month we share ideas to create an urban jungle through styling ideas, DIYs and green tips & tricks. You can find additional inspiration on our Urban Jungle Bloggers Pinterest board and keep up-to-date on our website and Facebook page. Want to join? Use #urbanjunglebloggers on Twitter and Instagram. Or let us know and we'll share the badge and upcoming topics with you. Let's bring some green into your homes and blogs!

Photography by Igor Josifovic 

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Interior Design News: IMM Cologne With Blogst

In my last blog post I've rounded-up a good deal of my design discoveries at this year's imm Cologne furniture show. However, that was not it - I have also spent one day touring the imm Cologne 2015 with my German friends and fellow bloggers from Blogst. The organized tour encompassed four very interesting fair booths: together we visited the Swedish design brand String, the German furniture manufacturer Kettnaker, the design brand Thonet and the German Association of the Wallpaper Industry. Here we rock!

String - because we all need the Swedish classic in our home
String is one of my all-time favorite shelving systems. Timeless, beautiful, unpretentious and super stylish - no wonder I was absolutely fascinated to see the full range of shelving systems, two new colours for the String Pocket shelves and the (home) office furniture by String. I need not mention that I was also very tempted to steal a few props from the fantastic styling done by the one and only Lotta Agaton (ok, ok, I did not steal anything but I brought some great news for YOU - stay tuned).

Kettnaker - furniture made by hand
Even though the German furniture manufacturer Kettnaker is based in southern Germany, it was a new discovery for me at the fair. When I entered their huge stand I noticed the huge photographies showing hands and wondered what it's all about. The secret was revealed by the owner of Kettnaker: all furniture pieces are handmade and this devotion to manufacture is showcased with supersized hand photographies. I particularly liked their sideboards with magnetic fronts (see the red and black drawer below, those front were simply attached magnetically to the drawer). These allow you to change the entire look and feel of the furniture without buying a new piece. Smart!

Thonet - for the design savvy dweller
Thonet is a famous German design brand best known for its refined selection of design chairs. Think of the bentwood classic No. 209 or the new and super comfy lounge chair 808 by Formstelle. I couldn't help but take a little break into the great lounge chair - after all design fairs are pretty exhausting. Moreover, their entire booth was lit up with the new pendants that will enter their range soon.

German Association of the Wallpaper Industry - where wallpaper has a sound
Last but not least we visited the funky stand of the German Association of the Wallpaper Industry (Deutsches Tapeteninstitut). This year their concept was to combine the visual impact of wallpaper with the audible dimension of our perceptive system. The idea is that you see a design and it evokes a certain sound in your head. They transported this idea by installing huge sound barrels that were covered in new wallpaper designs and featured various sounds. A very fun experience indeed!

 

Which of these four would be your favorite?

Photography by Igor Josifovic

This blog post has been brought to you through Blogst and in collaboration with the mentioned brands

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Highlights From The IMM Cologne 2015

Being a design blogger has its perks. One is that you are out and about when design fairs are taking place. Last week I spent in Cologne at the international furniture fair imm Cologne 2015. The design fair takes place on various places in Cologne: The majority is at the city's fairgrounds, but there are also interesting exhibitors in a showroom area called 'Design Post' and scattered all around town in various interiors shops and other showrooms. Consequently, I've seen lots of cool designs, I've spoken to fantastic designers and I brought back too many impressions as to squeeze them in one single blog post. So expect more to come!

Here are a few of my favorite observations during the imm Cologne 2015:

Jungle Fever!
Green is here to stay in 2015 - in two ways. I've seen lots of green as a colour in its various hues on home textiles, furniture and accessories. I have also seen many jungle prints on textiles and upholstery - one of my favorite was the jungle chair from Danish design label Gubi. I need not mention all the plants - again, many booths have been styled with plants abound. Particularly outstanding were the Vitra stand, the Belgian label Buzzi Space and the German furniture manufacturer Ewald Schillig.

Back To Nature!
Natural materials continue to convince in 2015. Lots of wood furniture was presented and the focus on natural materials is also interpreted in various material combinations like wood and leather. I particularly loved the new Danish label 'Woud'. Their collection features simple and refined furniture pieces created by various designers, mostly Scandinavian ones. I think they will be pretty interesting for all of you who love Scandi styled interiors!

Young Talents!
One of my favorite parts at design fairs is the young designers section. I like to see what the next designer generation is keeping in readiness for us. In Cologne I enjoyed the creative kitchen solutions presented by students from the interior design school of Stuttgart - among their solutions was a lighting idea with potted plants/herbs serving as fresh greens and light in one.

The shelf system 'Deep Forest' by Silvia Terhedebrügge is another cool solution inspired by nature - the shelves rise organically like leaves from branches.

The brass clothing rack 'Foldword' by Friederike Delius is another interesting piece. Its graphic appearance is inspired by German traditional half-timbered constructions and is foldable.

The concrete lamps 'Like Paper' by 'Dua' have a paper like appearance although they are cast in sturdy concrete.

The Berlin based design studio 'llot llov' presented playful solutions for urban homes. I loved the funky, macrame inspired hanging planters.

Neo/Craft is another brand new design label from Berlin. The designer Sebastian Scherer exhibited cool furniture and lighting pieces like the soap bubble looking pendant 'Iris' as well as the colourful 'Diamond' pendant.

The Austrian designer Martin Breuer Bono presented a very cool book shelf called 'Schlagseite' which literally means 'list' (nautical language for tipped over position) - pretty fancy for artsy interiors, isn't it? Read another round-up in German on Roombeez if you like!

Enough for today, I will share more highlights and designer talks with you over the next few days.

Photography by Igor Josifovic

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Exclusive News: Urban Jungle Bloggers In Paris

My blog post is pretty late today but this had a good excuse - I was waiting for the official publication of our fun video interview Judith and I did as Urban Jungle Bloggers for 'The Joy of Plants'. We had the honor to kick start a new interview series about plant loving people and the team of 'The Joy of Plants' followed us along on a weekend in Paris.

I have given a little glimpse in this blog post already, but today I want to share a few shots from the film crew and - yes of course - the video itself. Judith and I had a great time filming with the crew in Paris and showing them our favorite green spots in the City of Lights like the vertical green garden in the Rue des Petits Carreaux, the atelier 'Green Factory' in the Rue Lucien Sampaix or 'Le Comptoir Général' along the Canal St. Martin in the 10th arrondissement.

We've been very curious to see the final results as the filming took place beginning of November (yes can you believe that weather back then!!) and today we can conclude: it was a success and looks pretty cool, don't you agree?

For both of us this was a wonderful momentum to mark the one year anniversary of our mutual blogger project, the Urban Jungle Bloggers. Over that course of time we have seen so many of you join the green digital family and share your ideas about living, styling and decorating with plants. We also hope to see even more of you join in the fun - you can easily subscribe to our monthly topics HERE. After all we truly believe that plants can make people happy!

Images & video by The Joy of Plants

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