Schultüte - school cone

I was an au pair in Germany, Tübingen, over 10 years ago. I flew over in autumn and shortly after my arrival, the older girl of the family began her school as a first-grader. That was the first time I ever realised the concept of a Schultüte.

I had visited Germany many times during the summer months and always admired the pretty and colourful cardboard cones I saw at Müller for example. I never knew what they were for until I saw the small 6 and 7 year olds with their oversized backpacks, clinging to their cones.

It was such an adorable idea that I decided that I would make one for my child when the time came. And now it has.

The idea of a Schultüte is to do what people everywhere do when their children start school; to equip them with the goods they need. But somehow I like the idea of handing out all the items as a colourful, prettily wrapped gift. I have made one before to our neighbour girl when she started school but now I got to do the same to my own daughter.

A dvd for fun.

A small flashlight for the dark winter mornings when she will be walking to the bus stop.

Xylitol chewing gum and xylitol pastils to keep her teeth healthy.

Notebooks of various sizes.

Magnets. 

Pencils and a pen sharpener.

Stickers that glow in the dark - an essential part of any school year.

Scented crayons (did you not just love the scented erasers and stuff back in the day??) and some markers.

Initial.

 In Finland, there are no tütes and making one did not seem like a good idea. So I bought a pretty Marimekko gift bag instead.

I hope she likes her Schultüte. (I will decorate the bag later on.)

I hope her school years will be a safe and happy time.

Ikea improved - meet Bemz and Prettypegs

Last time I promised to write about another Scandinavian brand, but well, it´s not completely true. Or rather, it is true only in part.

By now I am sure you have realised how much I like Ikea. Not necessarily and at least not nearly always because of their products or the design thereof, but because of the fantastic job they are doing branding themselves.

So the people want quirky, limited edition stuff - they give them just that with their limited edition collections. Which is so intelligent, because then they can keep their normal range as it is (admittedly, quite generic) and even improve sales by adding that extra cushion which pretty much nails the entire feel of the era.

A couple of years back, before the launch of their new catalogue, Ikea photographed people in their setting. For free, of course. Then you received a receipt for the photo and could claim your very own, personalised catalogue from the store on the given dates. Obviously, with you on the cover of the catalogue. Ingenious.

Luckily, there are other ways to feel that Ikea is personified and not just the mega store selling the same goodies all over the world to millions of people. Which also brings me to the subject of interior decor personified. I do not know if it is a global trend, but at least in Finland the repetitive interiors featured on blogs is more than daunting. It is actually frightening. We all are different, in so many ways. I have always thought that your home should represent you (and that is why professionally I find interior design of homes to be a concept that is in big need of improvement), not the trends you see at the blogs, magazines or stores.

I realise it is not easy to find something that is not trendy. At least if you do not want to invest in a Design Product - which then again also can create that generic feeling.

Anyway, enough of the rambling (for now ), see this cool way to pick the things you like, trendy or not, and add the personal touch at the same time.

First in line, Bemz. Another ingenious brand selling custom designed covers for Ikea sofas and chairs.
http://www.bemz.com/en/


The covers not only allow you to have a different look, but they are also good ecologically. You don´t necessarily have to buy a new couch, a couch cover might be all you need.

Last spring they started working with Littlephant, another favourite of mine (and also Swedish).



They do not stock many of the Littlephant fabrics, but they also have a wide range of other fabrics from plains to Marimekko and Designers Guild.

All photos from bemz.com




And then there is Prettypegs. Not only for Ikea furniture, but others too, they sell furniture legs for beds, chairs, storage and tables.


I love this shape and the colour. And - they ship free worldwide.

So pretty.



All photos from Prettypegs
http://www.prettypegs.com/sv/

Design and colour trends for autumn 2014 from Marimekko

One of these days I am going to write about interior design and how it should be done to avoid having a catalogue home - which at least to me is a nightmare.

But to form a basis for my thoughts, let me first write a series introducing the trends of this era, starting from the Finnish Marimekko.

(All photos from Marimekko)



The black and white and the graphic elements are still represented. I speculate the Christmas 2014 will be black-white-grey again, too.

I quite like the design of this fabric, called Ararat. The harlequin motives have been all over for quite some time now and to find something that is even a slight variation of it, seems refreshing.

To me, though, all the black and white is really harsh combo. In Finland the daylight is not as bright and warm in colour as in the more Southern based countries and I have always been dubious as to why Scandinavians feed on white on white. Nowadays people have realised that there are others shades of white than only the white with a hint of black, or maalarinvalkoinen as it is known in Finnish.

Even the Ararat fabric base colour is not pure white, the base is somewhat beige. And that is good!





Saivu, here in two different shades, showcases another trendy colour of this autumn, purple, in pretty much all its shades. Again, in Scandinavia, block colours do not seem to work because the natural light is blueish in its tone, too. I love the quirky Marimekko designs. And the bold use of colour. IN comparison to many other fabrics by the meter, the price is not too bad. Especially considering the good quality of the cotton they sell. But sometimes I wonder who are the fabrics meant for?

In Saivu, the design is very 70´s style which I guess is the new trend. Or do they want to make it into a trend and put on store shelves the fabrics that were designed in that era? To  me, I understand the success of the harlequin-lead circus theme which has been in quite some time now. But the dungy 70´s..?

Yea or nay?





Next time I will continue on this note with another Scandinavian brand.

Rainy day chores

Rainy day today. So we cleaned. And since the light from outside was so pretty due to the rain, all soft and nice, I took some photos of my girl´s room.

The cardboard boxes are from H&M home, the Beagle Boys poster (in an Ikea Ribba frame) is my husband´s and dates back to the 80´s I would think.

The curtain fabric is from Marimekko (Karkuteillä), that and the cushions I sew myself. The fabrics of the cushions are from Ikea. And Puppy, erecting his/hers tail.

Bunting from Maileg.

Another Maileg bunting, which was set across our "library room". Later on, a lot of other stuff was hanging on the same thread, but this illusion was kept for a solid (maybe) 3 minutes.

Enjoy it while you can!