tag your photos

This is a short story about why you should add tags to your photos on Flickr - you might get published. I did! And I bet others have experienced the same, am I right?

The programme manager at The Lighthouse - Scotland's Centre for Architecture, Design and the City - sent me a Flickr mail and asked for permission to use one of my photos from my Scotland trip last year. Of course she could.

Today I picked up the result in my mail box at the office: Where We Are - Design Guide to Scotland's Six Cities, with my (tiny) photo from Beauly on page 104. The book is really nice - great design and paper quailty.

I got an invitation to the launch party, which said the following:

“Where We Are” features the people and places that are creating Scotland’s new design landscape. Introductions to fifteen of our best designers reflect the increasing success of designers who choose to live their lives and build their design businesses in Scotland. These are accompanied by contributions from design-conscious locals, who know their cities inside out, telling you the unique places to visit, sleep, eat and shop.

The guidebook focuses on design and architecture alongside the strengths and successes of the Six Cities Design Festival 2007 . Created as a practical legacy document, the book promotes the work of the best of Scotland’s designers through a series of insightful essays and photography. It includes opinion pieces on current design issues, profiles of the most original and inventive Scottish designers, full city listings of where to go and what to do alongside detailed maps.

Designed by Marque Creative the book is a beautiful example of what Scottish graphic design companies can produce. Specially commissioned illustrations are included alongside a series of photographs that have been specially sourced and selected from Flickr. These create visual portraits of the cities illustrating the listings which have all been compiled from recommendations received from architecture and design aware citizens creating diverse and personalised selections.

The book is available from 3 September from The Lighthouse shop (online and in-store) as well as all good book stores.

Swedish style

Sofie Andersson is a Swedish interior design stylist. She works for magazines like Swedish Elle Interiör and Hus & Hem + IKEA. I like her style. (Via flittiglisene.)

Today I'm finishing the article about Stavanger that I mentioned yesterday, I have done a few changes to an article about a firm working with road construction, operation and maintenance, after lunch I'm doing a phone interview with a leader in a power company, and then I'll continue the work on the article about Finnish design for no magazine.

And then the weekend starts. Do you have any fun plans? We are celebration my friend's 30th birthday tomorrow. The theme of the party is headgear.

water words

When I had breakfast at about 7:45 am this morning, it really poured down outside. I said to Sølve, sitting in the green chair beside me with his head behind today's finansial newspaper, "today we need full rain gear and boots", and so we dressed. When we walked to the office the rain had stopped.

Talking about the wet element; one thing I regret about this summer is that I didn't go swimming in the ocean; I only did it in Greece in May. I had a few dips in lakes though. But it's not too late to go swimming, is it?

Today I'm writing the article about Stavanger that my sister and I worked on in July. Stavanger is situated on the southwest coast of Norway, it there are excellent beaches nearby.

Flickr favorites photo links:

1. Bath, 2. our memories are golden..., 3. Untitled, 4. to the left

a taste of summer

I have already said that I'm ready for autumn. But then again, August is still officially summer, and I wouldn't mind just a tiny taste of of those warm, lazy days before the autumn rain starts pouring down for real. You know what I mean?

Flickr favorites photo links: 1. peaches, 2. Saturn Peaches, 3. more yummy snacks, 4. Apricots

autumn coziness

I love how varied my job is. Today I wrote an article about a girl who is trainee in the Norwegian telecom company Telenor, I did a few changes in the article I wrote last week about the guy who wrote his landscape architecture master thesis in South Africa, and now I'm doing research for an interior design article about autumn coziness - hence the lovely autumn inspired photos above (found here). I already said it last week; autumn, I'm ready for you!

I hope your Monday is treating you well.

magazines and other news

I sure like to read magazines. Not so surprising maybe, as it is also my job - I'm a journalist writing for various lifestyle magazines. I read magazines both for pleasure and business. They are my one of my biggest sources of inspiration and they keep me updated in the fields that I work in - design, art, gardening and food.

As of today I subscribe to 13 magazines: Wallpaper - Vogue (US edition) - Vanity Fair - Nord - Livingetc - Elle (Norwegian edition) - Elle Interiør - Dwell - Costume - Rom123 - Gourmet - Bon Appetit - Norsk Hagetidend

There's also a few I buy on a regular basis: Boligmagasinet - Eurowoman - Insideout - Nytt Rom - Elle Interiör - Elle Decor

Puh! Did I forget any? I bet I did.

Well, you other magazines addicts out there, have you seen this? It's a website where you can flip through several magazines for free. The site is of course a bit controversial. I wouldn't want to see real paper magazines go out of business because of this, but I will enjoy this site - as long as it lasts...

Besides loving magazines, I also love watching movies, and so does Sølve. Consequently we watch a lot of movies on our home cinema system. I don't know if you have noticed, but on the right side of this blog I continuously list films that I like and dislike. The last film I saw was The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. You should see it too. Btw, there are heaps and heaps of other films that should be on the two lists, but it's not so long ago I started the lists and I'm not going to try to remember everything I have seen before to complete the lists.

In other news, there's an interview with my over at Cathrine's Frilansjournalisten blog today. If you read Norwegian, you can read it here. In short I'm telling about my work as a freelance journalist and copywriter. Cathrine is a freelance journalist too and that's what her blog is about. I enjoy reading how she combines the freelance role with being a mum. You might remember that I mentioned her blog earlier this summer.

we did it

If you are a regular visitor to my Flickr photostream (which btw is updated e v e r y d a y, in case you didn't know) you already know the simple yet biiig reason why it's been so silent in this space for almost a month - we got married! This bride was of course a little too busy smiling to the photographers, so she didn't take many photos herself. But my sweet friends did, and I'll share a few over here when I get the time to sort through them.

The photo above was taken by my friend Jannicke, who also did the graphic design for our wedding. She's the best!

Cecilie Melli is the Norwegian designer who made my dress.

pretty pictures

These two ads are beautiful.

keep my time

On my wish list: the ball clock designed by George Nelson.

The photo is a page in one of my favorite interior design magazines; Living etc.

boats

I just realised I have quite a few photos of boats. There must be something about the colors and shapes I really like. I'm a little ambivalent about being in small boats though. I get easily sea sick... But I love swimming!

See all the boat photos in this new Flickr set simply called boats.

dress tree lamp

I found this flyer in my e-mail inbox today. Such a beautiful photo. In fact, I love it so much I instantly bought the poster. Now there's only 14 left in stock (of 500). I should go to London and see the exhibition. Or maybe I should just buy the book.

More info about the Tim Walker exhibition on the Design Museum website.

slow work

Even though it's raining and it doesn't feel much like summer, it definitely feels like my head is on vacation. Most people at my office are gone fishing or what ever, and it's hard to focus on work. Yesterday I did a lot of planning and today I'm updating my work website.

Some of you might remember that I was in Moscow for work last year. If you didn't get hold of the international issue of no magazine, don't worry, you can read my Moscow story here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and download the pdf - it's in English!

I don't know why, but I didn't take so many photos in Moscow. Maybe because I only brought my small Olympus mju point and shoot (with film). The two photos above are my favorites. See all the Moscow photos here.

Speaking of travels, as the rain continues to pour down, I long to go back to this place and have meals like this and this. I also wonder were we should go for our honeymoon. Any suggestions?

freelance life

I really enjoy being a freelancer. As long as I don't have any appointments, I can do what ever I want. Sleep in, read magazines all day and call it "research", go thrift store shopping with my friend M, bake cakes and eat them too - also "research". It's summer and I don't have a lot of deadlines at the moment. In fact, this whole week I have done a lot of "research" (= I didn't plan to take the day off, it just happened). Also, I can take the day off (on purpose) and drive home to my parents one day before planned to have dinner and talk about our wedding. That's what I did yesterday.

Today I'm home alone in my childhood home while my parents are at work. I should work too. Although I don't have a lot of deadlines these days, I have one on Monday. Time to write the article about the local artist I interviewed a little while ago. I have had the whole week to write this article, but the big procrastination bug bite me... So, today I slept in, had breakfast while Flickring, photographed around the house, talked to my maid of honour for about an hour on the phone, and read blogs.

The blog reading is the reason I wanted to write this in the first place. I have come across a couple of Norwegian blogs about freelancing. I know of a few similar English blogs, but the Norwegian blogs are just so much more familiar to my work situation. When I started freelancing in 2003 (oh! it's already been almost five years!) I had NO idea what I was doing. I wish these freelance blogs existed back then. Even now, with a few years of freelance experience, these blogs are really inspiring reads.

Frilansliv - Frilansjournalisten - Frilansinfo

organic cool

I like this pillow from Danish Mow Living. I'm not a big fan of yellow, but it works so well here. The bonus is that it is made of 100 % organic cotton.

wedding preparations

Today our wedding is 1 month and 2 days away. We are getting more and more ready, but there are still preparations to be done - like getting Sølve an outfit. Since our garden wedding is in my mother-in-law's childhood home (photos here), we have to do things like prepare the garden (it is big!), paint the flag pole (it hasn't been done in 30 years, so the wedding is a good excuse to do it), and clean the house (we might have to go inside during the party). Some of the projects have been going on for a while, and some of them we started this weekend. I spent some hours high up in a ladder painting the flag pole in the sizzling heat. At least I got a slight tan.

One preparation we did this weekend, that I especially enjoyed, was the hike to Stalheim. It was our first time there, and it was truly amazing! Most of our wedding guests are coming the day before the wedding, since none of them live at Voss. We want to have a fun, informal meet up before the big day, so we plan to take them on this hike to Stalheim, and have a traditional meal at the Sivle gard (Sivle farm) on the way back.

See the photos from our Stalheim hike here.

PS: Click on the image above to view it bigger (and better).

great style, part II

Here is another home style I love, also found in Rom 123 (like this). It's the home of the Norwegian photographer Trine Thorsen.

great style

These are some photos from the home of the Norwegian stylist Margrethe Gilboe. It was featured a little while ago in the Norwegian interior design magazine Rom 123. I love her style!

happy minimalism

Ann Sophie Stærk has been one of my favorite artists for a long time. Her work is often called happy minimalism and neo pop art. I would love to have one of her painting on my livingroom wall. Ann Sophie's boyfriend is Leonardo Annecca, he is an Italian designer and architect. Take a look at his inspiring work here.

the table

I love that table.
(Via the style files)

PS: I updated the blog header some days ago. June is the month when summer officially starts. Doesn't feel like summer today though. It's so wet and grey outside...

Montana

Recently I told you what kind of bookshelves I like. The Danish Montana shelving system is another one I like a lot.

for the love of light

I just ordered my copy of the book. Did you?

Get it here.

a travel story

Let me take you to Greece. I have uploaded all my photos from my recent travel to Halkidiki, Greece. See them all in this set. The photo above is from the last day, when I packed my backpack to leave.

String

Bookshelves filled with books, magazines and other inspiring things are great furniture. They add so much personality to a room. I must admit I always seek a peak in people's bookshelves when I'm visiting. Do you?

I prefer simple (white) bookshelves. If I were to change our white IKEA Billy shelves for something else, String would be a very good option. A Swedish design classic.

PS: I love the wishbone chair to the right in this photo. But I already told you that.

Everyday Holy

...is the name of this cool cup from Muuto. This is how the designer, Ilkka Suppanen, describes it:

I wanted to create something different from the iconic coffee mug with handle found in office cubicles around the world. Modern people don't just have coffee; They have lattés, cappuccino, espresso, tea or Chai. So I wanted a mug which would look and work equally well no matter the content. On a more emotional level I was thinking that the time we share over a cup of tea or coffee is often a sacred break from our hectic everyday lives. Among other things this inspired me to work with the iconic Holy Grail in the shaping of the mug.

I have mentioned Muuto before, here and here.

traveling

I'm so glad the airport strike is over so we can get to Berlin this weekend.

Here are some Flickr favorites that in one way or another fit the theme "traveling": 1. viv love... (and love this cross-processed expired kodak ektachrome 320T too..), 2. Perfect lighting., 3. lost highway. this way., 4. Untitled, 5. west, 6. 31, 7. Untitled, 8. ug, 9. Untitled

Speaking of traveling, here is an article (in Norwegian) I enjoyed about American motels. If you don't read Norwegian, at least take a look at the photos, by Sune Eriksen. They look much better in the magazine.

beautiful bowls

I love the shape of these bowls from Höganäs Keramik.

the vase

I'm not much into interior decoration knick knacks. For example, I love cut flowers yet I only have one "real" vase - the one to the right in the photo above. It's beautiful. So simple yet elegant and timeless. Normally I put flowers in carafes or old Norgesglass, but I think I might want to expand my collection of real vases. Of course it has do be from Iittala's Alvar Aalto collection. I'm a big fan of this Finnish designer and architect. I'll show you more of his design later.

al fresco

Don't you just love al fresco dining? I'm planning to have outdoor meals this weekend.

1. Untitled, 2. film 14, 3. The first breakfast of this summer, 4. Untitled, 5. enchanted evening, 6. iced coffee tuesday, 7. 8/20/05, 8. film8, 9. Real or fake?

bed light

I think I want a couple of Seed lamps by our bed. This is what Northern Lighting writes about the lamp and the designer in the catalogue:

Seed is a wall-mounted night lamp. Seed creates a unique reading environment through its filtered light source from a low watt energy saving LED. The focused yet soft beam emitted from the diodes makes it possible to read in bed while your partner sleeps. The ‘revolving arm of light’ can point in a variety of different directions and can be easily fixed to the wall in any desired position. The front-end light switch makes it easy to turn the light on and off and since the lamp does not emit heat Seed is safe to touch, even by children.

Seed is available with four different colours of fabric. The package also includes patterns, tips and suggestions of how to create your own personalised cover. The lamp is inspired by a seed - rising and growing into a plant.

Designer: Hedda H. Braathen
Hedda Heyerdahl Braathen is head designer in Accendo, an Oslo based industrial design office. She and her team have won several awards for their designs. Accendo works with a variety of design projects, mainly related to lighting, furniture design and consumer good packaging.

“With the Seed lamp I wanted to create an arm of light which lets your partner sleep while you read, nurse or knit. I also wanted to challenge users of the lamp to create their own design element by changing the cover according to their mood, the season, fashion trends or simply a change of the bed covers”.

You might remember that I have mentioned Northern Lighting before.

dinner time

I've been away from this space for too long. Time to do something about it.

I'm cooking dinner and waiting for Sølve to come home from work. I'm making the same thing we had yesterday, which turned out to be super yummy. This is it:

- green asparagus
- snow peas
- fresh fillets of salmon with salt, pepper and olive oil
- spring onion
- little gem lettuce
- lemon juice
- feta cheese

The ingredients are listed in the same order as I put them in the frying pan. The asparagus needs more time to cook than the little gem lettuce. Keep the temperature on medium, and make sure you don't over cook the vegetables. I prefer vegetables to be "al dente". The heat will make the feta melt a little, and with the lemon juice (from half a lemon) it makes a nice kind of sauce. Quick and healthy dinner - which is now served!