Sunny sunny yellow…A vitamin pill!

|  Pic 1 / 2, pic 3. — Oh and look at this spring-fresh paris postcard set |

Name a Swede that isn’t proud of the fresh and oh soo creative designer Lisa Bengtsson. She left Berghs School of Communication in 2007 with a graduation project (the wallpaper above) making future career come self-evident. The wallpaper is named Familjen (The Family) and has a pattern of frames. It wants to tell a story about how we live and frame our lives. You can decorate it with photos of loved ones, you can put knobs on the wall that you hang things on, you can do anything that expresses your story, or you can just leave the design as it is. A roll (length 10m, width 0,53m) has a pricetag of approx £70 (795 SEK). Also, keep your eyes out for the Special Edition Gold version of the wallpaper.

I just love this poster “Drottningen von Savannen”. I do not have one in my possesion yet, but it’s on it’s waaay! It will be hangning in my study room. Soo cool, no explanation needed =) Well, maybe one thing: the ornate, guilded frame is printed on the poster as well! Price approx. £17.

Wait, there are more lovely things. The fabric of this cushion to the left is named “Sir Harald”. Harald is Lisa Bengtsson’s great grandfather. Next to that super-trendey fabric, a piece of peacock cup & plate designed for Indiska (and yes, there seems to be birdcages painted on it!). A list of Lisa Bengtsson retailers can be found here. And btw, here’s a short interview with Lisa Bengtsson, from the Formex fair.

Lamps are the perfect DIY-projects. And vintage china is burning hot. As I reported earlier, nowadays everyone wants to take their daily (or in Henen’s case hourly) sip of coffee from a beautiful vintage cup. What could be more appropriate than to design your own vintage-china-lamp?

The most inspiring piece of cup-lamp I have seen is put together by Oddbirds (shown to the right). Oddbirds is a Swedish design group with a design philosophy completely in our taste here @ trendey. They say:

Nothing is sacred. Some might think it would be a shame to paint a Gustavian chair cerise and dress it with butterfly-patterned fabrics. But if we feel that is the right thing to do, that’s precisely what we will do.

Now back to the subject. At Country Living I found this great guide on how to make new use of mismatched china. Step by step, they let us know how stylist Paul Lowe turn a collection of castoffs into an Alice in Wonderland-inspired lamp not very unlike the Oddbirds-one. This version is tea, I prefer coffee. Here it goes:

First picture: A box of vintage china. In the guide I refer to, colour-coordinated, simply shaped teacups, pots, bowls, and saucers that would stack easily were chosen. 2. Organizing the spare parts. To create a balanced arrangement, the tip is to chose components that can form a pyramid – with large, heavy items on the bottom and lighter teacups up top. 3. Attach hardware. In this example the stylist filled the top cup with self-hardening clay. While the clay was still wet, he pressed in a socket-and-cord unit from Ikea and a harp from Lowe’s, an inch deep. He then let the clay harden for 24 hours. 4. Assemble it. Glue remaining elements together, let each piece dry for a minute before adhering the next. Paul in this example waited a day for the lamp to set, then he screwed a standard shade to the harp’s finial. The wiring of Paul’s creation doesn’t require any drilling, because the cord runs behind the lamp instead of through it. Keep the cord flush against the base with a few pieces of electrical tape, and then position the lamp against a wall. Extra tip: Sandwiching saucers in between the teapots and cups gives the lamp added stability. 5. Tada! A teapot lamp.

Pics and instructions: Country Living. If I misinterpreted their article and misled you, don’t blame Country Living. Thank me, for your overly oddish china lamp. :)

As you probably already know, no one is drinking coffee in mugs anymore. It’s all about petite and beautiful vintage coffee cups. This phenomena goes along with the 1950′s/60´s housewife trend. For today, a non-negligible amount of young urban people has brought sweet new life to chores and duties our parents thought were overdue. The trend is aimed at the American housewives from the 50s. A bit harsh, a bit glamourous, but mostly back-to-the-bone. The new born interest in home-made soup and bread, 7 kinds of cookies, spectacular cupcakes and in exchangig tips on how best to manage antler salt has not necessarily anything to do with a backlash; i.e. a desire to never work and just wear a floury apron and be devoted to housework. Inside of the trend there is indeed an element of admiration of each other’s vintage china and puffy vintage skirts, but there’s also a high awareness and a play with stereotypes. It’s way aside from the heroine chic fashion, quite the opposite: with the hair come wavy on rollers and with the tilting pleated skirt, you can eat as much frosting as you wish. It is permissive, and that’s probably one key as to why the trend is so easily absorbed today. The appealing part of the housewife in modern times seems altogether to go back to the genuine: to make real food, cooked from scratch. To practice the tricks and that grandma taught us. To stand firmly on our roots when the wind wines. As long as you know how to grow and harvest potatoes you’ll survive difficult times.

So, even though not all of us will be making 7 sweet pastries for the coffee rope on Sunday, we cant’t escape reality. For this, we need flowered tablecloths and china from the first half of the 1900s. Here’s a lovely vintage coffee cup example: