Christmas

Just checking in to say hei. I've had a great week of Christmas celebrations home in Sandnes with my family and my in-law family. Now we are back in Bergen, getting ready for a fabulous New Years party on Monday.

There will be more activity here in the new year. Thanks for stopping by this space. I really appreciate it.

Hope you are all doing well.

Pure Style

Beautiful book. Some more photos over here.

Brontibay

Next to our hotel in Paris there was a lovely little shop selling beautiful bags, Brontibay. I think the two above here are my favorites, but there were really a lot of other beautiful stuff as well. I didn't buy anything, so I'm glad they have an online shop.

That is all I got today. Now I have to write an article about slow food, buy Christmas presents, and then on Thursday I start my Christmas holiday by driving home to Sandnes.

Paris je t'aime

Hei guys! I am back from my Paris weekend. I think I am in love. Such a beautiful city. I know I have to go back to explore the city more. We took about 500 photos, so guess what kind of photos will be dominating my Flickr stream the next days...

Did you see the movie Paris je t'aime? I saw it when it came out in 2006, and I liked it. I think I want to see it again now that I have actually been in Paris.

Some new things (yay!) in the photo above:
- New toy: camera
- Leather travel bag bought in Paris
- Cool print t-shirt from Poketo
- Skinny jeans from H&M

I hope you all had a great weekend and that you are doing good in this holiday time. Can you believe it is only one week till Christmas?! Note to self: Buy presents!

magic light

Today I got up at 0630 am, which is quite early for me. I normally get up around 0830 am. It is so dark at 0630 am! It doesn't get bright until around 9 am. And then at 4 pm it is dark again. Only seven hours of daylight. I am glad I don't live further north where the days are even shorter.

It is only natural that I am attracted to the magic light these days. Here are some current Flickr favorites:

1. Untitled, 2. Untitled, 3. Untitled, 4. Untitled, 5. the light, 6. woman in last light

I have added a new little thing to the right on the blog here; listening to...

I think I'll change the music choice from time to time. A friend introduced me to The Detroit Cobras at a party a little while ago. I bought the CD today. It is so great I just had to share it with you.

Sølve and I are off to Paris for the weekend. Au revoir!

Mike & Chris

Beautiful stuff from Mike & Chris (via Oh Joy!).

Baggu

Baggu is good (via Urban Preschool).

Hagedornhagen

I love the posters from Hagedornhagen.

yay

A very short trailer, but it makes me excited!

Anthropologie

I did a magazine swap with Jen of simply photo a little while ago. Some of the goodies she sent was a couple of Anthropologie catalogs. I instantly fell in love with some of the spreads. See the rest of the photos here. We don't have Anthropologie in Norway, so I will definitely make a visit when I come to the US on day.

work and food

Hei!

I have a plan to post here every day, but sometimes life takes over, and there's less time for online fun. You know how it is, don't you?

I was quite absent from this space the last week, which was filled with lots of work and great food. For those of you interested in what was on the menu, take a look at my Flickr photostream. It seems like this week will be as busy as the last, so I'll probably not be around here much this week either. When life slows down I'll take some time to write about Scandinavian design, which I got a question about in a comment on one of my recent posts. I also have a couple of other things planned to share with you. In the mean time I'll probably find time to upload photos on Flickr daily, like I normally do.

Have a great week friends!

dots

I like these cute coat hooks by the Bergen based Norwegian designers Tveit & Tornø. The Dots are manufactured by Muuto. You might remember Muuto from this post.

This is what the Muuto website says about Tveit & Tornø:

ON THEIR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY “We don’t have any strict rules regarding our designs - every product needs a different approach. There are always new things to learn and new ways to achieve high design quality. Inspiration can emerge from anywhere, but a good product needs a lot of work and a couple of designers loving their job.”

ON NEW NORDIC “New Nordic designers seem to be more playful than the older predecessors. You see them playing with abstractions and simplifications of everyday objects, often in a very humorous way. Maybe they feel less obligated to follow the traditions of Scandinavian design. However, you will in most cases find something Scandinavian in there…”

Tveit&Tornøe was established in September 2006, but has already received much recognition. In 2007 they received the Young Talent award of the Year in Norway.

And this is what the Muuto website writes about The Dots:

TVEIT&TORNØE ON THE DESIGN "This characterful little family of hooks is a friendly addition to any wall. The Dots are proud of their round edges and will treat your clothes with the greatest care. They will also let you arrange them on your wall in the pattern you like. Being a very social set of hooks, The Dots love to welcome other Dots to join them on the wall. The only thing The Dots demand from you is that you uncover them every now and then and admire their shape and material"

Sweet Paul

Paul Lowe has been one of my favorite stylists for a long time. He does a lot of fabulous work for some of my favorite Norwegian magazines, and he has done quite a few beautiful books as well. Remember this cookbook that I shared with you on Flickr a while ago? Well, that's an example of Paul's work. I just discovered, via Bloesem, that Paul has a blog - Sweet Paul. You can see more of his work over at Art Wing NY (that is were I got the photos above from).

Have a nice weekend guys. I guess a lot of you are enjoying a long Thanksgiving weekend with family and yummy food. We don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Norway, but I'll sure enjoy some good food this weekend though. I'm preparing for a special guest who arrives tomorrow... :-)

the perfect marriage?

Next year Marimekko and H&M are collaborating. Me likey!

This is what the press release says:

Marimekko is licencing its patterns to H&M's summer 2008 collection

Marimekko Corporation and H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB have today signed a license agreement whereby Marimekko licenses some of its popular patterns from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s to H&M's summer collection 2008. The impressive collection of around 50 products will be sold in H&M stores in 28 countries.

"Our design team has long admired Marimekko's vivid patterns and colours. When our designers came up with the idea of creating a collection with Marimekko patterns, it felt very natural and timely. The summer collection 2008 will be joyfully fresh like a vitamin injection," states H&M's head of design Margareta van den Bosch.

"H&M is one of the trendiest and most successful fashion houses in the world. I see a great value in our co-operation. I believe that it will enhance Marimekko's international recognition among young and fashion-conscious consumers," says Kirsti Paakkanen, President of Marimekko.

In addition to increased international visibility, licensing co operation with H&M will generate substantial non-recurring royalty earnings to Marimekko during the second quarter of 2008.

new no

A new issue of no magazine is out.

I have written about the visual Portugal. Some of you may recognize the talented Cristina who is one of the artists included in the article. I have also written about coat hooks, king crab and warming winter drinks. If you live in Norway, or happen to visit Norway these days, you can get a copy of no at the newsstand. All you other guys can have a sneak peek here.

a long workday

You all know the feeling of a long working day, don't you? The first part of the day, when it's still daylight outside, your energy and spirits are high. At lunchtime it drops a little because you are hungry, but after a quick bite you are ready to go again. Then, at about 4-5 pm, it's time for another meal. At least for me it is. I eat small meals often. This last meal was an organic sunflower seeds whole grain roll from Godt Brød with a homemade spread of mayonnaise, eggs and scrimps bought at Kjøttbasaren. It was so, so good. But it did not lift my energy level at all. I'm so tired; all I want to do is sleep. Its dark outside, so why not?

What is your trick to keep going the second part of a long workday, when it's dark outside and all you want to do is go home?

The photo above was taken some weeks ago when I biked home from work. Close to my home there is a steep hill through a church yard. I never bike up the hill, it's too stressful. As I walked up the hill, I saw the moon shining through the tree branches. It was pretty nice, so I took this photo with my old analog slr. It's not the best moon shot in the world, but who cares?

That's all. Now I'm going to work. Astrid out. 6 pm.

Moo

I just wanted to stop by and say hei. I'm having some busy work days, and not so much time for blogging.

Two moos today:

I guess by now most of you, especially Flickr users, know of moo.com. I use the mini cards as my business card, which I am really happy about, and I recently ordered the postcards too. I'm surprised how good they look. Recommended!

The second moo is Norwegian designed leather laptop bags called Moo. This is the story (as it reads on the company's website):

One day, a Norwegian designer told her friend of an idea she had: "What people need are funky bags for their laptops". The friend and a Swedish guy liked the idea and took it to Buenos Aires. They roamed Argentina for a few months and learned the tricks of the cow trade. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the designer started sketching. This adventure resulted in the creation of our Moo bags. All the members of our herd are hand-made from the finest quality Argentinean leather in order to protect both your hardware and software. The first collection was launched in Scandinavia in the autumn of 2005. The bags are now available in several countries, so check out our map page to see where we are.

The bag in the photo above is my favorite. The grey color is really nice. It reminds me a lot of my favorite Calvin Klein bag that I have used for ages (I don't have a good photo of it). It's not a laptop bag, and I need that. Check out the Moo website for more stylish laptop bags and to see where to buy them.

girly galoshes

Remember I told you about the Norwegian Swims galoshes?

Swims galoshes are now available for girls too! I like how they have made the galoshes look so sexy... Take a look on the website for more photos and to buy the galoshes.

Check out the website of the shop Pur Norsk. They are giving away a free subscription to one of the magazines I write for, no. You might need a Norwegian address to get it, but I'm not sure.

Kirsten Hinder

Blue skies and sun in Bergen today, the snow from the weekend is almost gone, but it's still cold. My bike was all white of frost this morning. With three layers of wool the ride wasn't too cool. The writer Astrid Hagen has busy days, but I enjoy stopping by blogland and Flickr for some instant inspiration. And hopefully also to inspire you.

Today I want you to take a look at the beautiful photography of Swedish Kirsten Hinder (via style files). On her elegant website you can browse through photos in the categories interior, food, people and product.

There is an interview (in Norwegian) of me over here at Frilansliv (translates to freelance life).

yes, I got comfortable

Yes, I got plenty comfortable on Thursday night.

As expected the ride home was wet. Raindrops dripping from my nose kind of wet. But I wore rubber boots and rain gear (I have been a girl scout for many years and I know how to dress in bad weather), so it wasn't too bad.

I came home to candles, roses, a lit fireplace, chilled Chablis and a super delicious salmon dinner. Sølve arranged a surprise date. How can I possibly ask for more?!

In other news:
Some of you have already seen this, and if you haven't, you should: Jen of Simply Photo has made a beautiful simply breakfast book.

My sister and I finally got a chance to work together again this weekend. I'm writing an article about bananas, and my sister took photos. Here is a couple of behind the scenes shots. At last I got to try mav's famous banana bread. Oh yum!