I mean, how cute is that?
via .
This house in Gävle, Sweden, was documented in the latest issue of sköna hem. I’m not going to excuse myself for being enthusiastic here. I love all the white(are you surprised?), with the subtle grey tones and black punctuating details.
I’ve been looking for the perfect old industrial desk lamp for my apartment, something very much like this one, I think they’re just beautiful.
The dress-decoration. Always a fan.
The lamp on the bedside table is the cheap version of the industrial light. And yes, I have one myself, they’re a really great substitute if you can’t find/afford the real thing. Thank you ikea.
Posted in Bedroom, Inspiration, Kitchen, Lighting, Living.
– March 19, 2010
Yes, this is an old garage, turned family home in Bordeaux, France. Project by architects FABRE/deMARIEN, they call this “the big black house”. They used black enameled corrugated iron and aluminum sheet, black concrete, plain sheet, perforated sheet and galvanized steel to embrace the industrial aesthetic. Not very warm maybe, but oh so cool.
Posted in Architecture, Kitchen, Living.
– March 18, 2010
Not all the time. But you know, sometimes I really do miss it. And except from the obvious things like my family or my friends, there are other things, stupid things that really make me ache a little. Like the grocery stores. Or the clean metro. To take your shoes of when you go in to someones home. Just stupid, random things. And then you look at Swedish real estate websites and compare them to the french. What a joke.
This is an apartment for sale in Stockholm. I’m not saying it’s perfect, just that this is how the apartments are presented, and most of the times are. I miss that standard. To not have to move in to an apartment without a kitchen, where the paint is falling off the walls. Check out booli, for much more apartments just like this one.
Posted in Bedroom, Inspiration, Kitchen, Living, Office.
– March 15, 2010
Tell us a little bit about you!
-”The design duo FAGERSTRÖM & ABRAHAMSSON consists of us to, Kristoffer Fagerström & Marcus Abrahamsson. We met at University College of Art Craft and Design, Konstfack, in the fall of 2006 where we studied Interior Architecture and Furniture Design together. We started working in various projects and found the collaboration very successful.”
- Kristoffer is the perfect college; he’s extremely professional, full of different skills and stubborn like an old donkey. Which of course is good, it pushes me to work even harder when we disagree. Kristoffer replies: -” Well, I agree. I am stubborn, but if there is someone that can change my mind it is Marcus. He is the most competent designer I know and he has an inquiring mind with a sense for details. However, he reevaluates everything into the very last minute and I’m glad he has me to push things forward.
When did you start designing?
-”We both have past careers in design”, Kristoffer says. -” I was graphic designer and specialeffects artist in musicvideos, commercials and feature films and Marcus worked as editorial illustrator and photographer in his past life.”
-”I guess we both got bored with expressing ourselves in frame of the two dimensional world and found a way in interior architecture and furniture design to explore the three dimensionality of the room.”
-”I have no idea where we will end up if this bores us someday?” Marcus smiles.
What inspires you?
-”When we do interior design for a client we take our inspiration from the client and the context that surrounds it.”
- “Our minds starts working the very minute we have a problem set before us. We see ourselves as problem solvers, whether its furniture design or architecture”, says Kristoffer and continues: -” We make our decisions based on what’s best for the client and what they need to communicate. With our brand related approach to design we still think that you can recognize our work even though the client got something totally customized.”
Marcus continues: -”It’s a bit different when we design furniture. We often find ourselves in the predicament of not finding the right furniture for a certain project. In our struggle to find suitable products we often end up in designing new products instead. Of course, this is very popular with our clients, it gives them a sense of uniqueness.”
Name some things that you like!
-”Real materials, materials that don’t pretend to be anything more than it is.” Marcus says.
Kristoffer continues: -”We prefer to use materials that we have a physical relation to. It brings us comfort when we know what a material feels and smells and looks like. We can also read a real material in a special way, we can read the material time. Everybody has at least a notion of the wood process. For example, we all know that it comes from trees and that it takes pretty long time for a tree to grow, and most people know that it is a time consuming process to refine that raw wood into a chair we sit in right now. That chair can, and will, cost a bit more than your average crap chair but in this case you know what you pay for.
Name some things you dislike!
-Kristoffer replies: -”Well, fake materials i guess..?”
-”But we like things that we dislike”, Marcus contradicts himself and continues: -”We can always correct something we dislike and thats a good thing, more jobs for us”.
Who are your favorite designers?
-”It’s always hard to answer question like this, the list could be endless but with a gun to our heads, we really enjoy designers like Patricia Urquiola, and Piet Hein Eek for their way of working with the “real” materials.” Last but not least our swedish super designer, Bjorn dahlstrom for his flawless designs.
What does your apartments look like?
Kristoffer says: -”I would like to describe Marcus apartment as a inferno of vintage lamps. He seriously has too many light sources per square meter, and they are all old industrial ones with tons of rust. This is his environmental Achilles heel I would say. He has a few new things too though, all our full scale prototypes scattered all over the place. Otherwise it’s just colors, colors and more colors. He’s newest color edition is greenstriped kitchen cabinets with a green floor. Oh I almost forgot, he just recently spray painted his glasses bright blue with the leftover paint from his Cube Light, Marcus in a nutshell.
Marcus on Kristoffers home: -”Actually I have no idea what he’s current apartment looks like, he just moved to Copenhagen, and I have’nt visited him yet.”
-”It is very danish.” Kristoffer implies while Marcus continues: -”But his old apartment here in Stockholm was a the perfect example of Kristoffers ambivalence in life. Is he a grown man with family, or is he a wild at heart skater with the humour of a fourteen year old? Both i guess. Once when i visited him, I found him lying in his purple sofa, with purple patterned cousions, purple pants and purple t-shirt like a giant chameleon. So funny I just had to take a picture.”
A selection of their work:
To learn more about Kristoffer and Marcus and their projects, check out their website!
Posted in Designers.
– March 15, 2010
This lovely house just north of Manhattan belongs to Swedish Martina Arfwidson and her husband David Weiss. Martina, is together with her mom running the Swedish cosmetics company FACE Stockholm.
It’s just a very romantic, charming house.
via Sköna hem.
Posted in Inspiration.
– March 14, 2010
One day, I will show you all pictures of my beautiful apartment, with my beautiful kitchen. That will not be today though, that will be the day I have a beautiful apartment with a beautiful kitchen. Until then, let’s just look at these pictures and hate the fact that these kitchens don’t belong to us. Sorry, I’m soon gonna stop being cynical, I promise. I just can’t wait.
via .
– March 11, 2010
This is the home of Fitzhugh Karol, a woodworker and sculptor, and Lyndsey Caleo, a jewelry designer and goldsmith. Now this is what I call a couple with a sense of detail. They’re home is the perfect mix of minimalism and personal style.
The floor. I say no more.
This bathroom is amazing, all the elements are great. The only thing I don’t really understand is the floor, but I guess that’s just a matter of taste.
Open shelves in the kitchen can be a risk. I mean, it always has to be tidy, and you have be proud of what you have to want to show it off. But I think it’s very charming.
Via design*sponge, photos by Emily Gilbert.
Posted in Bathroom, Bedroom, Dining, Floors, Kitchen, Rooms.
– March 9, 2010
And the second one. A more modern take than the london church, made by zecc architects in Utrecht, Holland.
Again, the floating stairs, they seem to be everywhere I look at the moment. Maybe it’s a sign…
I think it’s really beautiful, even more so than the one in London. But to keep all the crosses. I mean, really?
Posted in Architecture, Inspiration.
– March 8, 2010
It’s strange, I don’t think I’ve ever thought of a house in a church in my life. And yesterday I stumbled upon two renovated churches that people actually live in. I honestly couldn’t do it myself, isn’t it sort of creepy? However, with this beautiful space, I think I could get over it. This first church is located in London, I can’t find any information on who did the renovation. I found it on the website of a company that specializes in renting out locations for different shootings like movies and music videos etc. They have lots of other cool stuff, so take a look on their website.
Posted in Architecture, Bathroom, Bedroom, Ideas, Inspiration, Living.
– March 5, 2010