Mara Skujeniece is a skilled Latvian designer currently living in Amsterdam who creates pieces that have been called, “Honest with a beautiful simplicity.” Which I couldn’t agree with more! Mara’s ceramic work is so lovely, I particularly am fond of her “spool” series of vases that have been made to look like spools of thread and yarn. An arrangement of these on a table with a lovely background of either a patterned wall or a color, like indigo blue or even a mustard yellow hue would really make these stand out so well. They would also look nice collected on a table in front of a window so you can have the sunlight and a mixture of greens from the outdoors beyond them…
Mara’s company name is Studio Skujeniece and she produces all of her beautiful things in house from furniture to interior products and Mara is also a teacher at the Design Academy Eindhoven. You can find more of her work on Zilu, an online shop introduced to me a few times by friends already but today when reader Maltien wrote in to share Zilu yet again, I knew I had to scour the site and find some treasures and the first place my eyes rested was on the work of Mara Skujenience.
(images: mara kujenience)
A print I’m liking right now… Which leads me to ask, can you define what home means to you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. What makes a house a home? I always find it so fascinating when I hear thoughts from a global audience on this topic because it seems no matter where we live, we all want and desire the same things at home. I guess the answers you leave in this post will prove whether this is true or not! :)
This print is by Jenny Theisen and available to purchase online for $20. Enjoy!
(image: jenny theisen)
Here’s a pretty room (or six!) to inspire all the bohemians and romantics out there today who like an open yet rustic feminine space. These photos are from the 1850′s home of Argentinian couple Federico Bonomi and Cynthia Kern who run clothing company Kosiuko and currently live in Uruguay with their children. These photos are from Mixr in Sweden and I simply have to share them as the look is very unique and you may be able to take away some inspiration from the arrangements.
This casual home merging old with new looks like a creative center of activity, doesn’t it? I love how it has some very elegant touches but that it also feels lived in and that it’s not overly styled or designed to perfection. I also like some of the whimsical touches, like the mismatched tilework around the fireplace. I’m seeing more and more wood encased tubs lately, especially salvaged wood, and I find this inspiring and original.
These were forwarded to me by Emma who I had the pleasure of hanging out with in Stockholm a few years ago. Emma, thank you for these photos!
(images: mixr)
Whew! What a day! I just finished writing a small section of the book I’m working on and I realized, “Oh no, my blog friends!” and raced over here to post some sign of life. :) How are you? How was your weekend? I hit a flea market, here are some of my inspirations from that and also from my weekend in general. I’ll share them with you briefly now as they may also serve to plant some new ideas or inspire you in some way, too.
Above: Flowers casually tossed in buckets at a market, two petite tea cups that I found for $6 total at the flea market on Saturday (vintage porcelain from Germany), some beads from a fair trade shop going out of business nearby — all you see was around $25! I have Maryam to blame for starting me on this obsession with beads ever since she sent me strands of beautiful turquoise ones from Morocco years back… Next are these Japanese interiors magazines and books that I spent time looking through on Sunday — all from Kinokuniya in New York City (I lingered in that shop for 3 hours after I had breakfast two Sundays prior in Bryant Park. In the park I spent an hour chatting with a homeless man who was a doll and in the store I met a darling Polish girl who recently moved to Brooklyn for a new life. I loved the random conversations I had while in NYC, the most inspiring part of my trip were these little connections that I made with such a diverse group of people from street vendors to homeless Vietnam vets in the park). The $14 slippers are from Pearl River, also in New York, which was a gorgeous store to browse. I walked away with these silk sequined slippers for the hotel and a CD of classical music from China (so beautiful). I could have purchased a ton of ceramics but there was no way I could travel with them to L.A. then back to Germany so I opted to keep it simple. And finally, the tiny blooms from a table in L.A. where I had a hearty breakfast before work, dining on a lovely patio in sunny, 80 degree weather with a slight sea breeze… Ah, bliss.
I want to add that I reviewed the new Apartment Therapy book today over at Real Simple and thought you may like to read it. You can purchase the book at Amazon, I’m an affiliate so I earn a small percentage for each book sale which, ultimately leads to me buying more books since so many publishers refuse to ship to me now that I’ve moved outside of the U.S. Boo! So the affiliate dollars really help me to keep current with the new releases out there so that I can keep sharing inspiring titles!
Before I get started on the next post, I have to quickly shout of some of the ladies who came out to NYC while I was there to welcome me! We met at the lobby bar at the Ace Hotel and even though I had major complications in the end since the manager ran my credit card through 8 times leading to over $4,000- being taken out of my bank account while on a business trip (not fun!) and they ran a tab on our party but charged us for drinks that people who were NOT in our party, but who were seated nearby, drank – annoying! Well despite the disappointing Ace Hotel lobby bar experience (too bad) in the end, the joy of being around so many amazing women, some with their husbands by their side, was simply lovely. Michelle from Design Evolution rounded up the ladies and so she was there and just as lovely in person as I imagined, as well as my pal Nichole from Little Brown Pen, Jenna from Whimsy & Spice/Sweet Fine Day, Amy Atlas, Michelle from When I Grow Up Coach and her man, Debi Treloar and her son Woody who was also our wonderful assistant on the US trip, my husband Thorsten, and Karen Mordechai from Sunday Suppers. It was just lovely to hang out with so many creative, supportive and successful women (and men). Yay for taking the online offline once in while!
Oh, I must note: The Marrakesh/decor8 adventure that I posted about end of June sold out while I was in the states, I’m sorry to those who did not register in time. I promise to do another workshop somewhere else in the near future. I’m already considering another location so we’ll see — perhaps in 2011!
(images: holly becker for decor8)
It’s back to business as usual on decor8, I’m back to posting my usual lot and Leslie will visit us next week for her July Color Me Pretty column. I’ll be here blogging daily next week so you can plan to meet me back on Monday and we’ll huddle around the table here and pow-wow about design + stuff. I also have a home tour that I’ve prepared for you.
Until we meet again, have a ridiculously awesome weekend! xo
(image: CMP archives)
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