Le Petit Atelier de Paris

A duo of french designers has opened this shop/atelier, they design and produce from this lovely place located in the Marais, Paris.I like this clean and poetic approach, it is all hand made.You can see their complete range of products here.

Li Edelkoort words

I totally agree with Trends Guru Li Edelkoort, we can become "curators" of our own lives.

Piegato

Browsing the web I found this great product.

Piegato (Italian word for bend) is a design of the Germaan studio MRDO, Matthias Ries.

As he describes on his web Piegato is: "a sheet steel rack with a surprisingly high load capacity. The laser cut and powder coated sheet steel is been delivered almost completely plain, which results in a simple and cost effective transportation.The customer then bends out the required amount of shelves from the plain and mounts the hole rack with just two screws in a few minutes. Due to the enviromental friendly production, the freight size and the recyclability Piegato also holds a brilliant ecological balance."

Today we are moving fast and some of us may have already moved 10 appartments before their 30's, this concept brings fun and helps in re-decorate.

Handmade is Hot

For Christmans I received a beautiful Hat+Scarf+Gloves set, made by my Aunt.

To make your own stuff is becoming a huge trend, does not matter if what you are actually making is food, knitting stuff, cheap jewellery, baby clothes, paintings, sculpture or other products called design, stationery and other stuff. Thanks to the Etsy website you can show the results of your creativity and sell it. Etsy has booked record sales figure during the last December month, one millionth sale for be precise and is expected to grow. This new Art & Crafts Revolution seems to say “we want personalized products and not just commercial chain stuff”. Etsy motto – do it yourself – is from some called nostalgic, their items have a whole story and a person behind, but there is no techno-progressive idea’s in crafts. However more and more people like the idea to buy what it is not industrially produced, and the buyhandmade.org has recently launched a campaign, through their web you can take a pledge, declaring you will buy handmade, within few weeks 6.500 people signed the pledge. I am not yet sure if to love or to hate this new trend. I believe that more global we go more local we look for, I believe that we look for exclusivity and personalization in the products we buy, perhaps not yet all the society classes are ready for this, but certainly the well educated and the creative one are. Lot has to do with the size of your wallet too, if you are young and with not too much money you may thank God for be able to buy clothes 16 euros and be fashionable as well! I am a bit older and not a student, I am rejecting the H&M culture, but you must have an alternative, perhaps small labels and websites like Etsy can offer us a new way to do shopping. However the shopping experience will be completely different, no more walking down town, browsing in design shops, no more touching the product or exausting kews for try it on. Is the browsing “on line’ becoming our new way to do shopping? I am not sure, I want exclusivity but I still like to go down town. So my opinion is that perhaps the commercial chains will disappear, and their space will be taken from small independent creative people who actually love to make a quality product with respect for the environment and in limited series. Am I dreaming??? More about this topic can be read on the NYTimes and the book “Buying In: The Secret Dialogue between What We Buy and Who We Are” by Rob Walker will be published in June.

Susanna Soares has a MA Design Interaction at the RCA in London. Her final project twas BEE’S. Susana Soares studied bees and in particular the way they can be trained to use their smell and detect pretty anything including bombs and landmines. Bees have a phenomenal odor perception. They can be trained within minutes using Pavlov ̕ s reflex to target a specific odor. BEE ̕ S explores how we might co-habit with natural biological systems and use their potential to increase our perceptive abilities. The aim of this project is to develop collaborative relations between scientific and technological research, beekeepers and design, among others, translating the outcome into systems and objects that people can understand and use, engendering significant adjustments. The object depicted provides a diagnosis using bees to detect general health through breath. I really like the concept and this new way to apply a creative thinking to scientific and technological research.

Christmas Cocktails

Snowball

Ingredient

2 ounces Advocaat Liqueur

Sprite® Soda

Ice Cubes

Preparation

Rub edge of glass with lemon, then dip rim in sugar. Drop the cubes into the glass, pour liqueur and fill it up with Sprite. Stir.

Be Aware

We Are What We do, is a new movement which would like inspire people to use their everyday actions to change the world. With action from our daily life like choose a mug instead of a plastic cup for the coffee, use canvas tote for your shopping instead of plastic bag, they want motivate people to be aware about our enviroment. They offer also products which can be a nice Christmas gifts.

More Gifts

Tobias and the Angel are a group of people who simply love handling and making quality things. They began sourcing items to create an attractive living space in 1986 and now offer everything from balls of string to antique Staffordshire jugs. Their passion for good workmanship and design led quite naturally to making their own range of furniture, furnishings and block printed fabrics including these pretty bags. Tobias and the Angel are a group of people who simply love handling and making quality things. They began sourcing items to create an attractive living space in 1986 and now offer everything from balls of string to antique Staffordshire jugs. Their passion for good workmanship and design led quite naturally to making their own range of furniture, furnishings and block printed fabrics including these pretty bags.

Gift idea's

These lovely printed purses are made by Teresa Cole, the dyou can find more esigner behind Teresa Green design you can find more designs on her web, or buy her purses at Selvedge. She uses practical textiles as a canvas for her print work a combination of art and design that can be used on a daily basis. She sources old buttons and haberdashery to add individuality to her pieces. Her purses are made from natural fabrics and screen printed in subtle colours. Each has an interor pocket and is lined in a contrasting fabric. A lovely little gift!

The Natural Wave

A very smart design of Byung-seok You. The Natural Wave is a new kind of warming plate. The ceramic plate fits perfectly into the grooves of your radiator and will keep your drinks and snacks at a perfect temperature, especially on these up and coming cold nights. The Natural Wave is sure to make any room more inviting with warm treats at hand.

Swedish Country Style

In Stockholm I bought this magazine, it is full of nice idea's for decorating the house and for the coming Christmas time, recipes look interesting too. After all Swedish is not that difficult to read if i use Dutch. I will post some recipes soon.

Special Bags

This beautiful bag is designed and made by Tineke Beunders, a Dutch designer who is using old blanket and transforming them in precious new bags. Tinneke graduated at the Design Academy Eindhoven, visiting her web you can order the bags, and find more about her studio.