the eagle (or boat) has landed ...

Uh-oh.

Our new container has hit the docks - time for some seriously serious organizing around the place.

Good old modern technology - we were able to watch it on it's long cruise around the globe ... not allowed to look at or touch the contents until the good folk of Australian Customs have inspected and cleared them though.

Expect new arrivals in the shop and on the website from next week ... and pained expressions on our faces as we part with pieces we have already been in (long-distance) love with for months!

Can't wait!

eeeep!

In between all of the other fun over the last few weeks, we have been chipping away at the mayhem of the garage behind the shop - years of weak-willed "see it - love it - buy it - stash it" has pretty much filled it up with a 3D to-do list.  AND what the heck are we thinking - it's a big floor-space that should be displaying more stock ... and being a restoration workroom ... and not being a cluttered stack of would-be gold.

Well - now we have to get serious ...

That's right, after nearly 12 months of sourcing and hunting, our amazing friend in Sweden (thanks, as always Craig) has shut the doors on OUR NEXT SHIPMENT!  Uh-oh.  It's on the water, and due to arrive here in 2 or 3 weeks!  We need to make space (ie - sell some stock and clear some floor - come to the website or our ebay store - make us an offer ... buy in bulk if you like!) so we have a spot for a fresh batch of amazing rarities from the chilly north.

A little taster of the next shipment?  Oh, alright then ...

Some very special chairs, amazing lounges, vintage hi-fi and some really, really lovely ceramics and glass coming soon ...

oh, Bruno ...

After a year or so of enjoying the company of our Bruno Mathsson Pernilla chair (as anticipated on the blog a while back), we thought it was high time she had some company.  About a year ago we got a rare example of the Pernilla 3-seater sofa ... and it has only taken us 12 months to source the screws needed to assemble it.

Is it the craziest sofa you've ever seen?  Seats 3 in amazing comfort (but not so great to lie down across - think Bruno designed a day-bed for that purpose).  Just steamed birch and cotton canvas, good old Swedish sparrtan post-war design and manufacture.  Anyway - we love it, and won't be leaving it outside.

Just need to find some suitable fabric to make some new headrests now ... keep you posted.

cabinet craziness ...

Sideboards are always pretty popular in the shop - seem to be the 'must-have' interior item of this end of the 21st century ... perhaps even more than those repro eiffel-base Eames shell chairs the real-estate agents insist on including in every house photo you see.
This past week we have had a stream (or at least a few) people asking if we had any more tucked away in storage (sideboards, not repro Eames chairs).  Good motivation to dig deep into the shed and take some photos.  Now we just wish we had a few more lounge-rooms so we could fit a few more in at home.

And that's the ones we could get to!
So - if you're looking for something really nice in the way of Scandinavian made vintage storage, please pop by the website or contact us and get us motivated to move 'em on!
Thanks.

sneak peek

On the subject of beautiful things from Scandinavia ... we have finished the 'collecting' part of getting together our next shipment.  As we speak, a warehouse in southern Sweden is bulging under the strain of some amazing and high-quality furniture.  The spring thaw up there means that the time has come to pack it all up and ship it down to sunny Melbourne!

Time to make some space in our (also bulging, and shamefully well-stocked) shed at the farm -

Eeeek ...

phew!

From this ...

 ... to this!

That's major progress.  The shed is done ... and pretty full already ... definitely need to do some work on our 'good use of space' techniques.  We're pretty happy though - and getting plenty of use out of our allen-key collection turning it all back into furniture.

This is DEFINITELY the fun part ... assembling, polishing, repairing, cleaning ... we just have to stop picturing everything in our house and start imagininging more of it in the shop!  We are taking pics and gradually getting it all onto the website now - so keep an eye out.

logistics, eh?

Well ... the race has been run and won ... who would have though that a container of vintage furniture from Sunny Scandinavia would be able to sail halfway 'round the globe, pass thru customs, and take a truck-ride all the way to the farm faster than a pile of bits of tin ("yeah, mate, it'll take a couple of days to put up ... three at the most.") could be assembled into shed form?

EXHIBIT A (truck manouvering around bits of shed)

EXHIBIT B (photo taken standing atop container)

So there you go ... all good 'zen' training for us - a big steel box full of beautiful mid-century bibs'n'bobs, and we can't open it to unpack ... yet!

update ... excuses ...

So sorry, we've been a bit slack on blog entries lately.  Been juggling the shop and a bit of organizing ...

After almost a year of sourcing and seeking, buying and storing, our fresh shipment of vintage Swedish design gold has landed in Melbourne.  Somehow our man on the ground in Scandinavia managed to get hold of all the things we 'needed', and (even more impressively) got it all to fit into a shipping container.  Burly Swedish truck-driver Magnus is pictured below doing his bit to get it all away ...

Wow ... that drab looking steel box has enough in it to keep us occupied on polishing and restoring though most of Summer, we think.  And if that's not enough fun, we'll have a container to renovate too.

Of course, what's a big furniture collection without a home?  So we chose the wettest August/September on record to get a big workshop shed built up at the farm ...

Ahem ...

There have been a few delays, holdups, and the like (we've seen enough episodes of Grand Designs to know that even the most basic build is guaranteed to take longer and cost more than you imagine).  After a 4 month process it seems that the 'last-minute' is when things happen.

So, according to promises from one and all, our shed should be finished on Monday afternoon ... oh, and the container is being delivered Tuesday morning.  Like the Grand Final last weekend, the smart money is on a draw ... just no re-match please.

nordic but nice

we were just googling to find a little more about the origins of some Swedish glassware we picked up, and one click led to another ... we came across a blog by a Canadian (we believe) couple, with super-scandinavian tastes.

Hindsvik are a couple (Daniel and Valeria) who specialize in kind of earthy industrial homewares via their etsy store ... nice things ... their blog's also really nice - with a bit of attention on their progressing home decorating project - it's looking pretty great from what we've seen.

They made this unit for their entryway from metal pipes and fallen wood ... inspiring!  Here are a couple of items in their etsy shop at the moment ...

They have lots in stock - and we love just about all of it ...

Pretty nice, worth a look, for sure.

more reasons why 2010's not so bad ...

so, we are totally blessed to have a like-minded friend on the other side of the world who helps us with our chair-sourcing ... he's got very similar taste in design to us, plus the energy to scour and hunt for hidden gems.  and he found us ...

we're not label-snobs looking for 'designer' items (heck - we appreciate design, but it ain't the label that gets us excited), but we can't believe that we will be sharing our lives with the lovely 'pernilla 2' by Mr Bruno Matthsson.  1941 - that's crazy! 

the next shipment should be here in late march, all going according to plan ... not sure that pernilla will be on display in our store tho' - haven't met her yet, but i think it might be true love.

travel safe baby!

those clever swedes ...

From this ...

... to this!

A 1940's Swedish treasure, we just finished restoring a super-amazing 3-piece lounge by Svegards.  Put together, it was a nice, clean and modern looking set - all open lines and pretty detailing ...

But the crazy amazing thing is that 2 armchairs and a 2-seater sofa pulled apart (no screws, no bolts) and fitted into the back seat of a sedan - including cushions!  An early example of "KD" (knock-down) furniture, you can see where IKEA are coming from.

Sad to say goodbye to such a beautiful set, but it went to a good home, so all OK.  Life would be so easy if all our favorite pieces packed up so neatly.

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!