Tuesday, January 29, 2008

My dad...

Before my dad started to grow plants and flowers for living, he used to work as decorator. Back in the early sixties part of the education as decorator was to hand paint signs. I love the way a hand painted sign looks, so, of course he had to create the new sign for my studio ( Well, he made the old one as well... nice with a talented family ! ).

As young dude he used to work in the very finest women's clothing shop in our town. One day they received a whole shipment of finest Scottish woolen fabrics, and my father and his colleagues had a bet going on; would dad be recognized walking through the city in disguise. The local newspaper shoot pictures and wrote an article about the Scottish fabrics ( this was for about 40 years before the Internet... ). Oh, how I love that picture; those cars... that outfit... and well, I guess, my dad too. I wish, our town was just as pretty now, as back then!



Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Ikea Hacker

I have always liked the way light filters through handtrown porcelain; it reminds me of the rings of Saturn. It has long been the plan to make new lampshade for the Ikea lamp BASISK. The lamp is simple but has the perfect fitting making it really easy to change the shade. Perfect for me since I am a potter, not an electrician. We have three of these lamps by our sofa, and I love the way the shades gives out light so similar to candles.



Friday, January 4, 2008

The Famous White Tablecloth

Sometimes you have to do it. Make life something special, do something extra, spread the white cloth on table and get properly dressed for dinner. We have just one kitchen cabinet that holds our china, which in this case is NOT from China, but mostly earthenware from my studio. Not much space, but I'm trying to combine the tableware in a way we have all we need at hand, not only for everyday dinner but also for special occasions like Christmas and birthdays. I sewed the white linen tablecloth just a day before Christmas eve and made an effort to make the edges and corners to look sharp and good. Next year I will sew napkins to go with it.

The Christmas was wonderfully hectic; family over for Christmas eve, Seth's birthday and friends & family visiting, but I think we are back on track by now.




We don't have curtains because I just love the light in our apartment, but at winter the naked windows look so very big and dark. So, I put up this winter decoration made of two different type of oilcloth. I just stick it to the window with double adhesive tape. It can take the rain if the window stays open and it doesn't fall of even in windy weather. As you can see, it softens the rather harsh winter light. When the light gets stronger and days longer in April, we put it away for next year. Maybe next year with a different border... who knows...