Design at its Best

I am amazed at all the poor design that is out there. Some may be trendy and look good, but is utterly useless. Other items may be practical, but the design........ So let me highlight a few pieces where form & function blend beautifully - that I'd love to have myself, if I was a rich woman.... 

Above, a the Ninna armchair in wood and leather, by Italian designer Carlo Contin for Adentro. 

Below a clever seat by Japanese designer Yukari Hotta

Above: Swedish designer Mattias Stenberg's Carry on seat from Studio Vision for Offect. 

Below the clever Fibonacci cabinet in bamboo by Chinese designer Wang Peng,  Utad Studio .

In their own words: The design idea comes from the traditional Chinese medicine storage units, where all the drawers are the same size. In order to satisfy the multi- functional requirement, we apply the principles of the Fibonacci sequence to rearrange every size of these units in series, which could be used separately, combines the freedom to incorporate the modular series into different interior spaces or scenarios.  

If you are new to the Fibonacci sequence, I've blogged about it before, here. 

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New glass design by Anna Ehrner

Today I found this image in my inbox - a beautiful photo of a new set of glass bowls from Kosta Boda. Tradition and trend in a nice mix, designed by Anna Ehrner. Instant love on my part! I'll have the green ones, thank you very much. What color is your fav?

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Kitchen Scandinavian Style

I really like a home with lots of original interior details. 

Just look at these kitchens in Göteborg. 

All images from Stadshem

Below some new kitchens with just a few original features, but still with lots of atmosphere. 

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Instagram Love: Julian Escardo

Remember the beautiful photo above? I posted it here, some months ago, because I loved the stunning composition, the soft shades of grey and the simple complexity of form. The person behind the lens is the Paris based photographer Julian Escardo, and since my previous post, we've become Instagram friends. Lucky me!

In his own words, Julian Escado is "adrenalized by photography, the possibilities, the art, the instant gratification, the communication process." OK, so what inspires him? "Life itself. Every hour of the day offers a different light quality, texture, color…even smells can be made visible." 

Below are a few of my favorite photos from his vast body of work - sophisticated and elegant, sometimes mysterious, sometimes humorous. You can buy his prints from here.

If you want to see more images like these, head over to Julian's beautiful Facebook page. Or go here or to his blog. If you'd like to know more about the philosophy behind his work, check out this interview,. And if you want to know more about the man behind the Nikon, here is a new interview.
If you might want to join me and follow Julian on Instagram. See you there! I am wabisabistyle. 

Julian Escardo: it is my hope to stir emotion when people view what I do. I thrive to take a relatively static subject such as architecture and show flow, harmony and movement. Like it is alive...

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Simple living in the south of Sweden

Last spring I showed you some photos from Swedish glass designer Ingegerd Råman's summer home in the south of Sweden. Now there are some new great images of the same house in the design mag Sköna Hem, showing us the latest changes. 

It's taken Ingegerd and her husband almost twenty years to get the "simple" and relaxed feel they wanted for an easy summer living in the country. 

They've stripped the surfaces of all recent additions, and brought the interior back to the 1920s, when the original school building was erected. All walls are white washed, and the furniture is mostly Scandinavian design classics by Saarinen, Alvar Alto and Arne Jacobsen, mixed with international designers like Marcel Breuer. The result - an old building with modern accents for a no-nonsense living.  What do you think? Is this YOUR kind of a summer house? 

All images via Sköna Hem

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Today's Insta Love: Christine Bauer

Good morning friends. Let me start the weekend by giving you 

another of my newly found friends on Instagram: christinebauerphoto. 

Christine Bauer is a German based interior and stillife photographer. 

The beautiful pics below are from her website. 

On Instagram she post more off the cuff images, 

like the beautiful landscape view with the lonely tree above (one of my favs),

or interesting behind the scene photographs from current assignments.

If you don't have Instagram on your phone,

you can easily take part of the fun over there,

by checking in via your computer.

See you all there! I am wabisabistyle.

Now - let's enter Christine's world

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Some lovely bathroom inspiration

I have two bathrooms, both in dire need of a make over. 

Looking for inspiration online, I found these examples. 

Of course, if I had unlimited resources... 

but I girl can dream, right? 

One thing I know - if I want to be trendy,  I should have copper water pipes making geometric shapes on the wall. A nice way to "stamp" the date 2013 on the bathroom design, don't you think? I found the left pic here, and the one on the right, here. (For the source of the bigger photos, please click on each image.)

Above: The right photograph is by Willy Ronis (1936). I've had it as a postcard for ages. There is something about the daylight and the unassuming interior, that I just love. 

The bathroom to the left I found here. Please note: the the very top, left image are from here. The sweet picture of the feet are from an unknown source.

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