Andyland

Andyland is another great site for affordable art, their collection is even a bit bigger than wonderwall. My personal favorites, of course, are the illustration collages of various Stockholm motifs. But I also love the butterfly woman, so delicate!

Salad and Ljungbergs

Saldo is a Swedish textile company run by textile design couple Stefan and Madlein Fallgren. They recently started working with Ljungbergs textiles, so there should be more exciting news from this collaboration within the coming year.

wonderwall

.wonderwall. is a Swedish company, selling affordable art online, hoping to change the look of Swedish homes, one wall at a time. They offer a wide selection of artist's work, both photography and illustrations, each piece is numbered and signed.

Ljungbergs textiles

.Ljungbergs Textiler., is a great place to shop for textiles in Sweden. Located about 20 minutes outside of Gothenburg, it's a perfect weekend day trip. Ljungbergs has one of the best collections of fabrics in the country. And they are always working with some of Sweden's most well known and current textile artists.

In 2004 they began a collaboration with textile artist Catharina Edlund, for her thesis project at Konstfack in Stockholm. Catharina asked three different writers to fantasize freely and write about a piece of art that she had created. She then drew inspiration for her textile prints from those writings.

halloj

: : halloj

....following in the footsteps of two fabulous Swedish designer women, Frida and Karin is yes, another Swede. However, I am a Swede gone American. Living in Boston for five years, currently working in the city as an Industrial Designer.

My own blog, red.house, is where I dream about the perfect home [a red house in the Swedish country side] and everything else that I find inspirational within the realm of design.

I am so excited to be sharing some of my inspirations with all of you! Thank you Grace for this wonderful opportunity!

I am hoping to focus mostly on textiles, but there will also be some prints and illustrations in there from both sides of the Atlantic. : : enjoy : :

Adieu

My time on the guest blog is over. Thank you Grace and all readers for having me! I hope I've given you some food for thought and inspiration. If you want to get to know me more, please come visit my blog.

I shall leave you with a heart from Dada's Diamonds "That's Amore" collection and a bird brooch from Grainne Morton. Bye, bye!

Maxine update

Many of you really liked Maxine Sutton's work, and I asked her whether she sell to anywhere in the US? She doesn't yet, but she's working on it. In the meantime, contact her directly through her website.

Subdued beauty

LOD is six people sharing a working space and showroom in central Stockholm. They all work with metal in various ways. I think there is subdued beauty in Tobias Birgersson's tea ceremony set, I like the way the objects are laid out together and am especially fond of the spoon and the knife.

Above and below is jewellery by Åsa Lockner.

Glass from Denmark

There is a little discussion going on about Kuldeep Malhi's work at Graces mention of my post from yesterday. It's refreshing when objects invites the viewer to react in many different ways, don't you think? I believe we all have our own personal style and I like when that individual style and personal preference is encouraged, it just makes life so much more interesting!

This post is about subtle pieces of work. Above is Headwind by Micha Karlslund.


Lotte Thorsøe's Twig vases have been favourites of mine for a long time, they have a neverending pull on my heart! The Blue Puffin below is part of Lotte's more recent work.


Black Sub by Micha Karlslund. Imagine it with a sweet pea winding its way down that smooth profile.

Micha Karlslund and Lotte Thorsøe are both part of the exhibition New Glass from Denmark at the Traver Gallery, on show until October 31st.

Lubna Chowdhary

It's ceramics day here on the guest blog! These vibrant tiles comes from Lubna Chowdhary. The collection above is called target.



A lot of Lubna's work is done as commissions. Above is a public commission for Haringey Borough Council, London. Here's another one, for a kitchen in a private home.



Graphic black and white collection echo.

Kuldeep Malhi

The installation above is titled Blush and the inspiration comes from life and the pursuit of happiness, joy and pleasure. I think it looks just wonderful!


Kuldeep Malhi works with ceramics in a textile or painterly way. The wallpieces are like woven tapestries in their tactile qualities and shades of colour. Above and below is Braided Blue, made to commission.


Malhi is a graduate from Royal College of Art and a member of Contemporary Applied Arts, where his ceramics is part of an exhibition of new members work that is showing until 23rd December this year.

Read more about Kuldeep Malhi's work on New Designers.

What will the neighbours say?

I've already mentioned Stockholm jewellery gallery Platina several times, and here we go again. Their current exhibition is called N-0183 Norwegian jewellery - nothing but nine favourites, showing pieces by Kirsti Reinsborg Grov, Reinhold Ziegler och Sigurd Bronger.


In connection to my earlier post about wearable (or not) art... here's an egg-silver-steel ring by Sigurd Bronger.

Wax rings by Chatrine Rinman was shown for an earlier Platina exhibition called "What will the neighbour say?". It tackles the issue that jewellery is not necessarily about precious materials anymore, but also about attitude and crazy ideas...

Safe throws

Eleanor Pritchards throws and cushions brought me straight back to a safe cosy haven. I think most of all it is the colours that awaken a sense of nostalgia.


Eleanors new work draws inspiration from traditional British textile crafts and does it with a contemporary feel.


I love Eleanors way of presenting her architectural commissions with a storyboard.


Eleanors throws and lavender bags can be purchased from the Hidden Art Shop, a treasure trove for unique gifts.

A couple of London shops

mint on Wigmore Street is a favourite London shop to me. Owner Line Kanafani mix design and crafts objects in the most exciting way. When I was there a couple of weeks ago she was showing for instance Maarten Bass' clay furniture.Hygge is another small shop tucked away in the backstreet of north London's Islington.

"Cosy mug" by Ruth Cross, wooden placemats by Sarah Finn, ceramic bowl by Anne Black.


Hand in Colville Mews sell handmade objects from around the world, for instance this charming tea cups and saucers by Kaori Tatebayashi.

David's designs

David Taylor wants his work to raise questions about identity and function:

"This requires an input from those who pause long enought take in the object in it's entirety. My aim is to reward the viewer for the time they invest in looking at what I do."

His designs sure wake my curiosity, for instance the mix of materials in the tina box above - made of silver and plastic flooring. In relation to this, I just have to show you my old tina box, inherited from my granny.

Back to David again, here are two of his lights: a table lamp in silver wire and nylon cable sleeve and below that is the "baby wanton" table lamp, made in silver and silicon.

Avant-garde and primal

I could do with one of Adrienne Rogers' elongated cables (that's the piece above on the sofa) to keep me warm through the winter months ahead.


Critic Leslie Sherr writes about Roger's approach to knitting that it is:

"..at once avant-garde and primal. Her forms are intriguingly original, yet they stem from the timeless human urge to surround oneself with warmth, softness and comfort."

Avant-garde and primal - isn't that a fabulous combination?