Larsson mania

We love Lisa Larsson's ceramics - have managed to restrain ourselves to just a couple of little pieces at home, but get a bit antsy whenever we see others for sale ... so hard to justify buying little pottery knick-knacks, but they're so sweet!

Lisa is a Swedish ceramic designer who started at Gustavsberg Porcelain Factory in 1953. Since 1980 she has worked as a freelance designer and sculptural artist.  A distinctive style with a unique charm, her abstracted animal forms are the Scandinavian equivalent of our local maestros Ellis and Gus McLaren. 

Our new shipment from Sweden has put us in an awkward position, can we justify expanding our own collection, or should we share?

 

As well as the great little dogs and her cuter than cute people, we're lucky enough to have a couple of big pots and lamps she designed for Gustavsberg in the early 70's ... keep an eye out - they'll be popping up on the website this week (just waiting for the photos to come back from the chemist).

mmmm, dark ...

As a 'look' for the interiors of our place, we have been leaning towards the lighter end of the spectrum. 
The main walls are pale mud (mud-bricks made from the clay out of the dam), and this summer we plan to make time to paint out the rest of the place in white.  Most of our furniture is teak, with a mix of olive-greens for upholstery and the ceramics and bits'n'pieces we're collecting up.  We have gradually been stashing away a bunch of chairs in beech and maple timbers to brighten up the front room - which will hopefully give us a pretty breezy feel.
But, gee, seeing this interior makes you think ...

A country house in Nordsjælland, Denmark, the styling is pretty amazing - a timeless sort of 'lodge' look.

You should take a look - the place is pretty nice.  The photos (by Birgitta W. Drejer) are from VartNyaHem, via MyScandinavianRetreat.  We'd live there if we had to ...

just wow ...

Nobody can deny that there's an art to good storage, but Swedish artist Michael Johansson has made it ART.  We saw a few of his pieces featured on 'What's blogging my view' (Janne, a Norwegian blogger with a GREAT eye), and had to follow up.

Johansson combines collecting and curating and colour-coding and compacting so well ...

For those of us with a nasty habit of accumulating more than we can accommodate, his work is pretty inspiring, and the mix of scales is cool too.

Sadly, though we share some of his principles in filling our garage with our finds, the lack of open space around our stacks means we're not quite at exhibition levels yet.  Great stuff though!

welcome to PRODUCT

Hi all ... sorry we have been a bit lax on the new entries over the last couple of weeks.  We've been busy with our new baby - a gigantic new store ...

For the past year or so, visitors to Know Your Product have been known to ask "Do you have any more stock that's not in the shop?" to which we reply that we have lots, just nowhere to display it ...

So when the opportunity arose for a short-term rental across the road from us in a big, big space, we jumped.  After much moving of furniture, and a few late nights, we are proud to present PRODUCT ...

We are loving being able to see our collection out and on display - hope you will too ... there's a big mix of Australian and Scandinavian furniture and hi-fi - all of which would be in our loungeroom if we could fit it in.  Mum always said it's good to share though, so it's all for sale.

The new showroom is at 118-122 High Street Northcote, and is open Wednesday to Sunday until the end of the year ... now we just need to get to work on taking photos of everything for the website and we'll be sorted.

Come visit if you get the chance!

more woodiness

I know ... seems like if it looks like a log we love it. True dat. If there's a way to bring the outside world into our little compartmentalized lives, we're up for it. Next week we might finally get a few days of quiet up at the farm - do a bit of kooky woodworking/tree-appropriation of our own.

We spotted this serious looking table on birdlette - a blog from Sweden jam packed with really beautiful images ... if we ever get sick of Melbourne (HOW could anybody?), I think a few years in the fjords might be a nice plan. Anyway, do visit birdlette for some heartwarming stuff ... oh, while you're out checking the blogs, go to fine little day - it's extra nice too.