His master’s toys

Kurt thinks it's so unfair that he's not allowed to play with the slinky or chew the lovely new longhaired sheepskin rug or even pull on the curtains. He will do his best to get away with it, though.

Mad Men meets Barbie

I'm still waiting for season 3 of Mad Men to be launched on dvd (it will probably be out on video before shown on TV in this country). I know it's out on March 23rd in the US, so hopefully we will have it in the stores here before too long. Meanwhile, how about this?:

From amctv.com: Available to consumers July 2010. Designed by Barbie designer Robert Best, the Mad Men Barbie doll line features key players from the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency: creative director and leading man Don Draper; his wife Betty Draper; Sterling Cooper partner Roger Sterling; and bombshell office manager Joan Holloway. (Via Obsessilicious blog).

Brangelina meets Mad Men

These images have been making the blog rounds but I still think they're worth another post. The photography is as fab as the interiors. Images by Steven Klein for W magazine (click on the link to see all 33 images). Found via Whorange blog.




I have to agree with Whorange blog - dysfunctional never looked more desirable.

Designer Al Coulson

There are some interesting and talented people living in my area. Today I'd like to introduce you to one of them – designer Al Coulson. You can check out his website for more great designs and projects here.

I think the concept and execution of this drink/music cabinet is fantastic.
Wouldn't it be perfect for lounge parties?

This mobile kitchen was designed and developed for the TV-series «Scandinavian Cooking».

Freia chocolate ad with retro interiors

Every time this ad comes on the telly I wish I could pause the film and have a good look at the interiors. So I looked it up online. Now I want to BE in that 50s/60s kitchen and the 70s living room and absorb the details.

You can view the whole ad here.

Conran cups and London tray

I have posted these cups and saucers before, but they deserve another post. I never tire of this pattern and I was just thinking I should try harder to collect more pieces... (As if I have the space for it). It's Nature Study, Stylecraft by Midwinter, Staffordshire and the designer is Terence Conran. I think it's dating back to 1955.

The London tray in the background is designed by Maria Holmer Dahlgren for Metagram Art. I purchased it from the museum shop at Tate Modern. (I wanted to buy the Stockholm tray when I was there last summer, but I think this one is more for me, as I have a connection to London.) It is a wonderful and clever design, managing to look timeless.

The messy truth – cupboard cravings update

After yesterday's post I've been thinking the picture of my cups collection looks way too tidy. Probably because it's not updated. This is what it really looks like:

They are double-parked and stacked on top of each other and I'm worried the shelf will one day fall down from the overload. I had to put the Orla Kiely cups and more somewhere else – I'm getting swamped and I want those glass door cupboards NOW.

Display cupboard cravings

Since I started collecting my vintage cups etc. (above) I have been on the lookout for the perfect way to display them. I am still looking. I can't stand having to dust everything off on my open shelves, so I really want some cupoards with glass doors. I've been searching Ikea and other furniture stores, but the ones they sell are too deep for my liking. I have of course looked around fleamarkets too, but still no. The hunt continues. Meanwhile, here are some of my favorite display cupboards, found on other blogs.

From the lovely Jane Foster blog. I so love this cupboard. (Above and below).

From Design*Sponge.

(Sorry, forgot where this is from..)

Boxy furniture

This furniture line by TAF architects kind of spoke to me when I saw it over at design*sponge: I'm lending out my graphic design services to Posten Norge at the moment (the Norwegian equivalent to Royal Mail). In their visual profile they use boxes on a grid system, so I guess you could say I'm thinking inside the box these days...

Anyway. This trompe l'oeil trend in furniture design seem to be spreading. It's fun to look at and there are some interesting ideas, but how practical and comfortable are the pieces, I wonder?

Carnival

He decided he wanted to dress up as a tree. Mummy made the costume. You tell us if we succeeded :-)

Vancouver - A Minute Impression

I do not follow sports in any way, but I've registred that the Winter Olympics have just started in Vancouver, Canada. It is a place I've been wanting to see for some time. Not really sure why, but I think the author/artist Douglas Coupland might have something to do with it. Also, I think the nature might be a bit similar to where I live – both places have easy access to hillsides for skiing in the winter and beaches and fjords for swimming and boating in the summer.

I found this cool little film via the Poppytalk blog.

Apropos Douglas Coupland, I really like this piece on his front page:

Bling art moment

I just thought of this piece by Damien Hirst that I saw at the Tate Modern ('Pop Life' exhibition) and how the title made all the difference. It's called 'Memories of/Moments with You'. I loved it.

I borrowed the bottom picture from Anorak News.

Holly Golightly’s shades

The days are slowly getting longer, and I can't wait for spring and sunshine. And an excuse to buy some fab new sunglasses, of course.These are the ones I want – they are the ultimate shades as far as I'm concerned:

Audrey looks fantastic wearing them in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

The only problem is, they were custom made for Audrey's role in the film back in 1961. The sunglasses look similar to Ray Ban Wayfarers, but they're not quite like any Ray Bans available in the shops. The brims are thicker and the shape a bit rounder. According to some research I did, they could be custom ordered by the Ray Ban company, but will most likely cost a bomb. If anyone know of any smart designers who might have copied this style – and I want an exact copy – please point me in the right direction!

My favorite artist right now – Michael Johansson

I just love this guy's work. Particularly the pieces where he's been stacking things. It looks so neat and tidy and cool. I know it's art, but it makes me want to do some tidying up and organize stuff. There are lots more great pictures and info on his site: www.michaeljohansson.com/works.html

This makes me want to collect more vintage suitcases...

The stacked glasswares is just fantastic. I’m tempted to try with my own, but something tells me it will not work quite as well as this...

Christmas is long gone, but how cool is this?

A spot of orange

Apropos of nothing, a little orange in focus for you today. Actually, seeing these images uploaded in the Blogger window, I realize just how difficult the color orange is to photograph digitally. It usually always turn out too red. Do you get the same? (I did a very quick job on these in Photoshop desaturating the redness, and ended up with the rest of the image getting a bit bleak).

Siamese twin cats from Disney's Aristocats and black glass globe paperweight, both vintage finds. Josef Albers art postcard from MoMA (thank you Emma of Wooden Donkey!)

'Daisy' dishes from Figgjo Flint. Recently handed down to me from my generous aunt.

A grand addition to my (small) Egersund collection - a lidded pot in the 'Unique' range. Found at a Salvation Army charity shop.

PS. I will be freelancing full time for the rest of January, so chances are my blog posts will suffer ... I will try my best to keep up with you all the same :-)

Touristy London Christmas

I just wasn't very inspired to photograph during my few days in London over Christmas. Probably to do with the car accident weighing heavily on my mind but also because of all the damn tourists everywhere... Well, if you can't beat them, join them! Here are my sightseeing snaps:

The London Eye

Little Ellis and Big Ben (or vice versa)

Natural History Museum

Tate Modern

View over the Millenium Bridge to St. Paul's Cathedral,
as seen from a window at the Tate Modern

January greys

Happy new year, everyone! With the festivities and sparkles of Christmas gone, January seems rather grey, black and white to me. Not necessarily a bad thing – neutrals can be beautiful. Like these ones above. The bowl is vintage (unknown designer), the little candleholders in two different greys are by young Norwegian ceramist Ann Kristin Einarsen. I bought them as Christmas presents (I will not say who for) at the Designers' Christmas fair, but ended up keeping them myself, as I like them so much. No regrets! ;-)

Seeing red this Christmas

In case you wondered, I'm still around. And that is not a given, considering the horrible experience I had a week ago...

To cut a long story short, I was driving to the airport on a highway not cleared of snow. With my 3-year old strapped into his car seat in the back. Everyone had warned me about the danger of driving under these snowy conditions, but I had no other means of transport.

I was driving as safely as I knew how, but 5 mins away from the airport I see a big red rescue transporter approaching from my right – at full speed. I thought I'd better move into the left lane to give him way. The next thing I know, I'm spinning around on the road and heading straight into the side/back end of the rescue car. It was a horrible fraction of a second where I saw the red vehicle coming towards me, knowing there was nothing I could do to prevent a crash. And crashed it did. The impact threw my car into the ditches, which luckily were full of snow, softening the blow. I just couldn't believe it had happened. We were all unharmed, but to think how badly it could have gone...

When things were as bad as they were, it was ironic that I should have hit a rescue car. I made my flight to London, thanks to the rescue guy. My car is not worth trying to repair, unfortunately. So now it's back to taking the bus. (Hopefully not indefinitely.) At the end of the day, I'm lucky I got away with just a bruised confidence and some shattered nerves.

Now you're updated, and probably understand why I haven't been blogging for a while. I hope to get my spirits up again soon.