I almost forgot to tell you about another fun thing that I did over the weekend -- I attended a grand opening reception at a new home design store here in Hannover called Sommerfugl (butterfly in Danish) Raumkultur. For the locals you have to check it out, it's around the corner from Noa Noa at Wedekindstra?e 2. Owed by Daniela Thaul, I had the pleasure of speaking with her and her business partner and both were extremely kind and genuine (and spoke fluent English). I found these bowls and a lovely tea box along with some gray candles and a great pillow... the pillow is from LaNui - a company I've never seen blogged before so here's their design blog premiere - ha ha! :)

Sommerfugl is a beautiful shop with a focus on Scandinavian design, they primarily stock Villa Collection out of Denmark along with a few products lines I'd not heard of before, one being a new German design firm owned by Valerie P?tzl called LaNui of Hamburg. I immediately scooped up a pillow cover as I fell in love with the insect pattern called Grasswhisperer. It's so soft and the quality is lovely, I adore the green satin piping. When I went home to check out LaNui's website I was pleased to learn that they carry bedding to match. If you like LaNui you can also shop them here online.

This skull embroidered bed cover is really cute. The swallow embroidery on this striped cover is unexpected and pretty.

I really like the quality of their bedding and their attention to detail along with the gorgeous embroidery gives a craft most associate with grandma a fresh, modern edge. I'd love to see more companies like this rising up out of Germany -- I think the potential is definitely here but most move out of Germany to pursue design careers in countries like England and America instead. There are many creative people here though which is why I get excited whenever I come across companies like LaNui!

(top 3 images taken by holly becker for decor8. all others from LaNui)