Snapshots From Home

June has commenced and I am wishing you all a happy new month! This month will be a very busy one and packed with travels. I will be off to Paris on Wednesday to attend the presentation of the new Habitat collection and discover a few new spots in the French capital. Next weekend I will be off to London with my Urban Jungle Bloggers partner-in-crime Judith to speak at Blogtacular about our green and thriving community. Then I am off to Amsterdam, Austria and back to Paris. In such busy times I love to save some rare but precious moments at home and unwind. Oh well, and enjoy some new little additions bien sûr!

I will not bore you with my future trips now, I will do that after the trip, ha! But for now I just want to  share some little snapshots of my home with you (yes, still the same small shoebox apartment). I have added a few new 'tchotchkes' to my home which I really like! Recently I've been e-thrifting and managed to score a few goodies like two vintage ceramic vases (mid-century German pottery) and a cute brass crane figurine - all found on eBay. I have also potted my new mini plants from Bordeaux (you remember from HERE) and the Sedum plant is now in my 'evil eye' planter, handmade by the potter Leandro Marcelino of 'Hey Camel Bazaar' in Vietnam.

For the scent of a comfy home I have opened the brand new KOTO scent diffuser which is perfect for summer as I tend to reduce my candle burning during the hot season. The diffuser is perfect as it scents the apartment gently and it looks pretty stylish. For candle lovers there is now a small KOTO candle too, all available through Skandinavisk.

Maybe you remember the motto I preach for small home dwelling: One in - one out. With all the recent additions it's time to restore the good balance which I will do by donating a huge pile of home goodies for free to a local flea market that will be organized on June 13th in Munich and all earnings will then be donated for earthquake relief in Nepal. That makes me double happy!

Photography by Igor Josifovic

Tweet

Update: KOTO candle is now available in small!

The scent of a Nordic home is enticing, soothing, warm: Our KOTO candle, the world's first scented candle designed by nine European design bloggers (among them the humble me) in collaboration with Skandinavisk is now available in a regular small size. You can still get the candle in its extra large size with four wicks but if you want to test it first, opt for the small KOTO candle. Additionally, a decorative scent diffuser is available too.

Why should you have KOTO? Because there's no place like home and your home should be scented with a perfume that refers to the warmth of the home and the freshness of the Scandinavian nature. After all, KOTO is the old Finnish word for home and a good scent is one step forward to a really happy home!

Photography by Linda Elmin

Tweet

Forest Inspired Vignette

Autumn mist, crisp air, the wilderness of the forest - all these seasonal elements inspired me to a little vignette. I love to play around at home from time to time and go through my piles of props. This vignette has been triggered by a vintage oil painting that I had found recently online. I liked the deep greens, the evocative brushstrokes, the immortalized nature. The oil painting reminded me of my scented candle named Skov (Forest) by Skandinavisk and I had the perfect props from Bolia to finish it off - three little wooden forest trees, a shiny vase and a marble tray. 

What I like most about this vignette is not the green hues, it is the interesting 2D/3D effect created by the forest trees on the oil painting and the wooden forest trees. More pictures and explanations can be seen on the Bolia blog where I presented my forest vignette, too.

Happy weekend, friends!

Photography by Igor Josifovic

Tweet

World's First Design Blogger Candle: KOTO

This week kicks off with a 'world premier' if you want so. And as world premiers are special occasions, this calls for special actions - so today I will dedicate the blog space to the world's first design blogger scented candle: I am honored to introduce KOTO to you. Why am I so excited about that? Well, because I am part of the 'Design Bloggers United' group who have collaborated with Skandinavisk and have designed this candle. Our scented candle is named KOTO, which is the Finnish word for 'home' and it promises to carry the scent of an intimate and cosy space to refresh the soul. Because no place is like home. 

The scented candle KOTO is an exclusive collaboration of Skandinavisk, a brand known for its wonderful scented candles that incorporate the unique Scandinavian way of life (I blogged about them HERE) and the 'Design Bloggers United' group, that I am part of. We thought about a way how to create that everyday intimate moment at home, where the simple gesture of lighting a wick creates the feeling of warmth and tranquility. That's how KOTO was born. You will notice that KOTO is bigger than regular scented candles and burns for up to 75 hours - this again is to pay reference to our home and to a long-lasting scent of cosiness and intimacy.

But KOTO does not only look sleek and is perfect for the design-savvy home. It also promises delicate notes of amber, jasmine and vanilla. To enjoy KOTO to its full extend all four wicks should be burnt until the melted wax reaches the edges of the glass. The scent will enchant you and add that intangible design aspect to your home - an olfactory moment of cosiness in your home.

If you feel as excited as I do about our scented candle KOTO or you're at least curious to smell it, you can preorder it as of now HERE. The candle will be available as of September 2014. Bring home a unique design scent to your own nest and enjoy it to the max! 

P.S. I will be on holidays as of tomorrow and I will see you back here next Tuesday! Have a fabulous week my friends!

Photography by Susanna Vento

Tweet

Happy Interior Blog Recommends: Skandinavisk

I am a mixed breed but one thing I can reassure you: I have no Scandinavian genes in my body. Yet I am drawn to a certain Scandinavian notion of interiors and interior styling. And to quite a few Scandinavian brands. One of those is a young brand that I discovered in Copenhagen last year: Skandinavisk. A truly Scandinavian brand founded by two English guys who fell in love with two Scandinavian girls - now this I call a happy brand DNA!

Skandinavisk is a celebration of Scandinavian lifestyle, of vast silent landscapes, of cosy shared moments, of the world's happiest peoples. Of hygge. I couldn't put it better than what they're saying about themselves. When I met them in Copenhagen I was immediately drawn to their beautifully designed scented candles. In the meantime, they've extended their range with adorably happy tableware collection named FIKA (I blogged about it HERE).

Today, I am focusing on one of their scented candles with the mysterious name Ø. What looks like a weird letter is in fact an entire word bearing the promise of freedom, air, sea and wilderness - it means 'island' in Danish. It is inspired by hundreds of thousands uninhabited islands scattered across Scandinavian waters. It carries the poetic promise of the 'solitude of the archipelagos'. 

Now as someone who had spent a part of his life in Greece on the shores of the Aegean sea I couldn't help but give the candle a Mediterranean twist. And this is the result. A salty breeze, the sound of the sea, the scent of a happy escape to the island. 

Happy hump day!

Photography by Igor Josifovic

Tweet