From Place To Space: Asplund In Stockholm

I assume I have stretched your patience to the max with my Scandinavian posts, haven't I? Well, you must forgive me for one more - promised last - time. During my design bloggers tour at the Stockholm Design Week I had the pleasure to discover one more fantastic Swedish interiors brand that I didn't know up to then - much to my shame I have to say! The introduction to Asplund was a 'first sight - first win' kind of situation. We went to their inspiring showroom and store in downtown Stockholm where we were welcomed by Sandra Asplund, creative director at Asplund, and a group of designers who worked on the latest collection. They prepared a relaxed Mediterranean dinner in the showroom for us and we had the unique opportunity to chat with them and get to know more about the brand and its latest collection. I was taken away. Why? Well see for yourself!

First and foremost: Asplund is a leading Swedish design and interior company and has been founded back in 1989 by the brothers Thomas and Michael Asplund and the company is deeply rooted in its Swedish heritage. Their wide range of furniture and home accessories are designed in collaboration with celebrated Swedish and international designers. That's the case with the brand new Asplund Collection 2014 named 'Captured by Nature'. 

The new collection celebrates the grace of nature's great materials and the pride of supreme handicraft. The use of natural materials, the focus on sustainability and a cutting-edge design approach are the main features of the new collection - with the nature being the main inspiration. One of the hottest pieces was a first prototype of the new 'Besson Series' cabinet featuring a thin shell made of different materials such as brass, glass, wood and frames various volumes that can serve for many purposes - in a living room, in a dining room or in a (home) office. I also loved the new 'Nati Tati' nightstand with marble top and many other beautiful pieces. But before I bore you with details, have a look at the pictures and get more details on Asplund's website! Plus, if you are in a shopping mood now, be aware that Asplund has an online store, too.

Hope you enjoyed this little (and last for a while) excursion to Stockholm. Happy new week everybody!

Photography by Riikka Kantinkoski and Igor Josifovic

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Style Up Your Ikea Furniture With Bemz

Not long ago it was deep wintertime and I was roaming the streets of Stockholm with eight design blogger friends. It was one Stockholm evening that we were invited to the beautiful Bemz showroom in the Swedish capital. We were welcomed by a super friendly crew and the Bemz founder Lesley Pennington. Naturally, we made ourselves comfortable on colorful sofas with Bemz covers and enjoyed tidbits and drinks while we were introduced to the success story of the company and asked to accept a little design challenge: we had to create our own cushion cover.

The design challenge was really fun although I was totally out of space and had no idea where to start from and then I had too many ideas so that the end result was pretty chaotic to say the best. But I didn't mind because I was surrounded by beautiful fabrics, swatches and colours. Thanks again for a fun evening, Bemz!

Bemz is a fantastic way to freshen up the most popular Ikea sofas and chairs and style up your cushions. The custom covers for Ikea furniture come in all kind of colours, patterns and fabrics - it is up to you to choose and define your personal lifestyle. This idea really speaks to me - it gives you the freedom to decide what you want for your home and it enables you to update your furniture without being forced to buy new pieces and spend a lot of money. 

Do you own an Ikea sofa or chair at home? And what about the cover? Would you consider changing your cover any time soon?

Photography by Igor Josifovic and via Bemz

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Highlights From The Stockholm Furniture Fair

The fourth design show in a row since January took me to Stockholm recently. Last week I shared with you some highlight stands seen on the Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair and today I want to take you on another stroll through the design fair with me. And promised, this time it is going to be a bit more colorful (though color remains scarce in Scandinavian design).

This time I'd decided to skip the obvious Scandinavian favorites like Muuto, Normann Copenhagen and others since I had seen them on the other fairs earlier this year. I was roaming around in search for new discoveries and inspiration. Here are a few highlight finds:

A2: A2 is a young Swedish furniture brand with a fresh twist on Nordic design. The contemporary collection is comprised of individual objects as well as furniture families and stands out due to visually interesting accents like creative fronts, integrated plant basins and color accents. The young brand is deeply rooted in the Swedish furniture tradition and every single piece is produced in Småland in Sweden. I particularly loved their funky cabinets and furniture pieces with plant basins. 

Northern Lighting: This Norwegian brand offers a wide range of distinct lighting solution for all kind of interiors - from sleek, typical Scandinavian pieces to colorful and more playful designs. They call themselves 'mood makers' and claim to produce designer lamps and lights for different moods which are inspired by the Nordic nature, culture and society.

Fjordfiesta and Røros Tweed: Two further Norwegian brands that caught my eye at the Stockholm Furniture Fair. Fjordfiesta produces furniture in the typical Scandinavian design tradition but spiced up with a certain Norwegian flavor as they call it. I particularly love the Krobo bench, a design from 1960 with practical accessories that will launch in summer 2014. Røros Tweed is a Norwegian home textiles producer with high quality woolen blankets and pillows and they have been around since 1940. I am afraid I fell in love with their Konfetti blanket!

Hanna Dalrot: In the so-called Greenhouse section young design talents and design schools exhibited their creations. One of them was the Swedish designer Hanna Dalrot who caught my attention with fascinating textile designs named 'Textile Landscapes' in monochromatic hues with dashes of blue. I adored her beautiful, hand painted designs that combined the individuality of brush strokes with a repetitive pattern structure. I hope she will launch her products soon!

Noi Doi: Another young brand in the Greenhouse are was the Norwegian label Noi Doi. The two designers Kathrine Lønstad and Cosmin Cioroiu showcased a multifunctional bench called 'Pulse' and a great lighting design named 'On the Edge'. Very Scandinavian, very cool!

Frama: The Danish design label Frama is not unknown but I was curiously inspecting their stand as I noticed many pieces I didn't know. Frama exhibited furniture pieces, lighting, tableware, accessories - all in a wide range of materials such as wood, steel, stoneware, canvas, concrete, glass, marble and cork. Their designs stand out due to their simplicity - they almost seem Japanese. Frama puts it this way: We present a graphical and plain aesthetic approach to appearance. 

Maze: The Swedish design label Maze aims to amaze the beholder's eye with a refined use of natural materials such as wood and leather and a playful twist in form and structure. The brand pays due attention to sustainability and its entire range of furniture and home accessories is produced locally in Sweden. I really liked their side tables. 

Enough design fun for a Monday! I hope you enjoyed the little tour at the Stockholm Furniture Fair with me and I am wishing you a successful and happy Monday!

Photography by Igor Josifovic & Riikka Kantinkoski

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Our Blogger Apartment In Stockholm

Yesterday I announced that I will tell and show you a bit more of our blogger apartment in Stockholm. During our Bloggers Tour in Stockholm we were lucky enough to sort of move into the headquarters of the hyper stylish Swedish real estate agency Fantastic Frank. We had their entire upper floor to style and create an apartment feeling with the support of our generous sponsors. Emma was the leading mastermind in styling the entire space which was pretty important because we hosted a design party last Thursday night for the creative scene in Stockholm.

I need not tell you that the party was a full success - design journalists, designers, bloggers, brand representatives, stylists - all flocked at our party and made themselves at home in our blogger apartment. But all of this would have not been possible if we had not have an excellent set up of interior goodies for the apartment:

One Nordic Furniture Company provided us with stylish furniture pieces like chairs, a dining table, sideboards, a magazine ladder, a sidetable and beautiful and comfy cushions. 

No Early Birds added more furniture bliss to our apartment - a desk, stools, another table, and other accessories.

Granit was kind enough to offer us their brand new collection of rugs and cushions that were not even available in stores at that moment.

Auping took care of beds - two brand new models like the super stylish Criade boxpspring bed were added to our apartment including bedlinen by Auping - this bed was a hotspot during the late hours of our party as people flocked in bed for comfy chats & drinks.

Bang & Olufsen and B&O PLAY added to the real life setting their latest home entertainment products like the sleek BeoLab 18 wireless speakers with oak lamellas, a huge home cinema TV and the latest product called BeoSound Essence, a handy round device to control your sound by one simple touch. All this was also put into full force the day after our party when we had our own private movie afternoon - enjoying the full force of picture and sound!

I hope you enjoyed the little tour through our one-of-a-kind blogger apartment in Stockholm. Hopefully we can carry on the concept into other cities all around the globe! And another big thanks to our private driving service during the Stockholm Design Week offered by Uber - such a cool idea to call you private driver through a smartphone app!

Happy Thursday!

Photography by Riikka Kantinkoski

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Happy Interior Blog Recommends...

Good music for my ears and beautiful furniture and home accessories for my eyes - sometimes it doesn't take more for a chilled day at home. While I was in Stockholm, my blogger friends and I threw a party during the Stockholm Design Week in our so-called 'Bloggers Apartment'. The apartment was created in the headquarters of the famous real estate agency Fantastic Frank and we equipped the entire apartment with furniture and accessories from our generous sponsors. But I will tell you more about our 'Bloggers Apartment' tomorrow!

One of our cool sponsors was Bang & Olufsen who was generous enough to offer to everyone of us a pair of personalized BeoPlay H6 headphones - thank you so much. These cuties actually inspired today's product recommendations and I hope you'll like what you see and enjoy some of your favorite music in your stylish homes!

1. BeoPlay H6 headphones by B&O PLAY

2. Nelson Sepuvelda lamp via Body & Fou

3. Jaeda rug via Lulu & Georgia

4. Sticks coat hanger via milanari.com

5. Glass bottles by House Doctor

6. Bitossi ceramic 'Blue Sun' by Aldo Londi via Markanto

7. Why Wood coffee table via John Lewis

Happy hump day!

Photography at top by Igor Josifovic

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Stockholm Furniture Fair: The Best Stands

Hello back, my friends! After four days of design fun at the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair with my blogger friends, I am back with a first round-up of three outstanding fair booths at one of the world's leading design fairs. We were asked to select three favorite stands with an exceptional design for the fair's blog and I thought I'll share our favorites with you too in today's post. Here we go:

Menu: The Danish design brand Menu not only captivates the visitor’s eye with their excellent product range but managed to catch our attention from an overall perspective as an exhibitor stand. The refined, minimalistic Scandinavian approach is softened by the use of very pale, soft colour shades of green and nude to take off the edge and a multitude of textures like wood, marble, copper, ceramics and concrete visually stimulate the visitor’s attention. Additionally, Menu has managed to preserve their traditions while they’ve managed to renew themselves simultaneously. The stand is a good example of this and shows that Menu manages to show both well-known products and their new design objects. 

String: Swedish iconic furniture brand String opted for a monochromatic full-impact performance at this year’s Stockholm Furniture Fair. The non-colour scheme was mirrored not only in its shelving systems but also in the entire booth styling by famous local stylist Lotta Agaton. Moreover, String managed to portray the various facets of the String system usage on its stand – for big apartments, small apartments and now for the office, too.

By Lassen: Danish design brand By Lassen convinced us with a smart interpretation of their iconic designs for their own fair booth. The typical, cubic design of their benchmark product, the ‘Kubus’ candleholder, has sort of set the tone for a cubic design approach of their entire stand highlighting the wide range of products and offering the best visual frame for their new range of reversible coffee tables. Also, the colour palette was very balanced and well composed for design-savvy eyes. 

It comes as no wonder that we've picked three pretty iconic Scandinavian brands as the Stockholm Design Week is a true source of fabulous Scandinavian design. However, I have way more to share with you including some excellent examples of young design talents. All this I will share with you over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

For now off we go to hit this Monday and a new week! Bon courage!

Photography by Riikka Kantinkoski

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