Latitude 60 Degrees North

Throwing the cold stone

2007-07-26T20:56:00.000+03:00

One of the things that often suprise people moving to Nordic countries from other parts of the world is that every day of the year is dedicated to to a specific name or a couple of them. These vary from country to country but the idea is the same. For example in Finland Laura's name day is the January 18th.

More interesting is that there are heaps of old beliefs connected to certain name days. For example it was believed that if you wanted to have a good crop the next year you should not do any work on the day of Martti in November.

One of the beliefs that still survives is that the waters start getting cold on the day of Jaakko. It is said that Jaakko throws a cold stone into the lake. As it happens, my boy friend is called Jaakko and his name day was yesterday. I hope he didn't sneek out to throw any stones because I still intend to do a lot of swimming this summer.

Tomorrow is also special but for another reason. It is called "unikeon päivä" which means the sleepy head's day. The person in a household that sleeps the longest will be the official sleepy head. Since I'm on sick leave because of my flu, I'm afraid that will be me.

Cushion project

2007-07-24T21:54:00.000+03:00

For about a month now we have had cushions that I made out of Marimekko fabric Elsa. I fell in love with it when visiting a Marimekko store and since it was on sale, I just couldn't resist. How ever, I haven't been able to get over how christmasy the bright red, gold and silvery gray feel to me. (You can see the fabric on a cushion lying on the chair in the picture.)

So, when I was visiting a drapery in Helsinki one day and saw a nice light blue Laura Ashley fabric (also on sale) I thought it was time to do something about the cushion situation. When I got home I started to think that the fabric might be too romantic for my taste after all, as most of the stuff from Laura Ashley usually is. How ever, I had some pink left over fabric that I could mix in. I thought that then the cushions would look more exotic than country side. I don't really know why I thought that.

The end result, I feel, looks more Slavic than anything else. Still I think they look quite nice and are going to go well with the pink and blue quilted bedspread that I'm working on. They certainly go well with my Russian matushka dolls, don't you think?

The chair in the picture, which I'm using as a night stand for the time being, is one of my dearest pieces of furniture. It was made by my great great grandfather for his daughter (my mothers grandmother, that is). The lamp foot is from a charity shop near by while the shade is of my own doing. I used Japanese news paper, clear laquer and some glass beads.

Saturday Fleamarket

2007-07-24T21:07:00.000+03:00

Last saturday I wisited the Hietalahti fleamarket in Helsinki. It is propably the most traditionaland famous fleamarket in Finland and is located by the Hietalahti market hall.

In the hall there are several antique and second hand shops and I actually would have liked to look at some furniture. But, like almost everything in Finland at this time of year, the shops were closed. From the fleamarket I still found these plates. They are a nice addition to my collection of mismatched blue and white china. There are two of each, since I try to buy most of my china in pairs.

The nightless night

2007-07-12T20:34:00.000+03:00

These pictures are from the Midsummer night three weeks ago. I was with some friends in one of the small islands that are scattered in front of Helsinki and surrounding cities. It was wonderfuly peacefull and the boat ride there was so much fun.

I took these a little before midnight and as you can see it's still quite light. The darkest hour of the night is of course at 1 am because of the daylight savings and here in the southern parts the sun does set every night.

I just wanted you to see how beautiful Finnish summer can be. This is also an excuse for the very slow posting. Before long it will be dark when we get up and dark when we come home, so I'm trying to enjoy the light while it lasts. I will keep posting through out the summer but probably the pace will be slow. I promise it will get better in the September at the latest...

Sorry for the absence

2007-06-24T19:05:00.000+03:00

First of all, I am shocked and sorry to see how long it has been since my last post. I kind of thought it had been two or three weeks at most. I guess time really flies when you're having fun...

Seriously, the last two months have been absolutely insane. I had to finish all the school work in Sweden (write papers, go to seminars, prepare oppositions, take exams...) and prepare my move back to Finland. Then I had two days here to move into the new apartment, before starting my summer internship in new project with new people. And rest of the June has gone to sorting out all paper work, unpacking, meeting friends and family and just generally adjusting.

All in all, it has been ten times more stresful than I anticipated. I guess I thought coming back home would be effortless compared to moving abroad but actually it is every bit as difficult. Except that here I can communicate in my native tongue, whereas in Sweden I was stuck with my fourth strongest language.

Anyway, now my life begins to be back on track so hopefully I will be posting more regularly from now on. Thanks for everyone who has visited and left comments in the past weeks!

Workspace dreams

2007-04-18T00:00:00.000+02:00

When you're suposed to use most of your day sitting by your computer you start wishing you had a good chair, nice table and proper lighting. Right now I really don't. These pieces from Design Whithin Reach have been tickling my fancy lately.

Dordoni worktop table

Eames aluminium management chair

Tolomeo desk lamp

More from Istanbul...

2007-04-14T22:15:00.000+02:00

On my trip to Istanbul I read in some magazine about a Turkish photographer Levent Özcelik and his new book "On a Winter Day, (If) I... - A Day in Istanbul". It has beautiful pictures and texts on Istanbul in wintertime.

I didn't have time to look for it in bookstores and the only net shops I can find it in are in Turkish. But I found the pictures and texts at artist's web page in the "projects" part. Here are some...

"I can't exactly remember which day's tomorrow or which evening's preparation it was. What's the matter anyway? It was a winter day and I was in a mood like saying '(if) I were really me, I would just leave home and wander around the city'."

Pictures and quote by Levent Özcelik

I'm definitely going to try and get my hands on that book.

Secto Design

2007-04-13T23:41:00.000+02:00

Birch is such a common material in finnish design furniture (for example by Alvar Aalto) but not at all that usual in lighting. I find these lamps by Seppo Koho really beautiful. Secto Design manufactures also floor, table and wall lighting but the ones I like best are these pendant lights.

Secto 4200 (left) and Octo 4240 (right)

Victo 4250

Such a big part of the magic of these lamps is the way they look when lit and the kind of shadows that they throw.

In my opinion even this picture doesn't really do them justice but I hope you can kind of see what I mean. It's from Restaurant Kastanj in Oslo.

All pictures from Secto Design.

Some Strange Activity

2007-04-12T20:23:00.000+02:00

Okay so first of all I have been blogging way too much today. (I really have some actual work to do but I just can't get started...)

Anyway, a minute ago I checked how much visitor activity my blog has had lately and the amount of visitors has increased about tenfold today from normal average. That's a bit odd isn't it? Even odder is that all the extra visits are from all around US and results of google search of "city at latitude 60 degrees" or something similar. So what in the world has made the Americans google our latitude so frantically? If you know and/or are one of those googlers, please let me know! This really intrigues me, I feel as if I'm cracking the Da Vinci code or something.

Picture: perso.orange.fr

(I only just came up with doing the same google search myself to see if I find some answers there. I seem to be a little slow today... I still have my holiday brain on.)

Tin Can Mania

2007-04-12T17:11:00.000+02:00

Lisa at Mitt lilla hus had a post about her tin can collection the other day. It inspired me to share mine with the world as well. These are just the ones I managed to "smuggle" to Sweden as the biggest part of my collection remains on the other side of the Bothnian Bay. Once they have all been reunited later this year there will propably be another post on the subject...

I only now realized just how international this collection is. Two of the tins have been purchased in Netherlands, two in Japan, one in Britain, one in Hong Kong (I haven't actually been there, my dad brought it for me), one in Turkey and only four of them in Finland. Impressive :)

Istanbul the way I've seen it

2007-04-11T23:42:00.000+02:00

Back from Istanbul

2007-04-11T16:29:00.000+02:00

So I am back from my holiday trip to Turkey, more accurately Istanbul. It was a wonderful trip and Istanbul is now definitely among my favourite cities in the world. Only when I started to unpack my suitcase I realized just how bad the air quality in Istanbul must be; all my clothes reek as if I had lived past ten days in a very dodgy bar.

We have tried to count exactly how much money we spent and on what and it seems that about one third went to kebap, one third to entrance fees and one third to my souvenirs. But it was all definitely worth it.

I had actually been to Istanbul once before but I was about ten years old back then so my memories were not that clear. The city proved to be much more modern and European than I had expected and at the same time much dustier, busier and larger than I could have ever imagined. It always impresses me to see how people are living their everyday lives on top of so many layers of ancient history.

I am going to post some pictures from my trip soon but here is one already.

The top picture from LivingEtc, the bottom picture by me.

Time flies

2007-03-31T19:58:00.000+02:00

I really don't know what happened to this whole week. All I know is that Easter holiday started today and in ten hours I should already be sitting on a plane headed to Istanbul. Perhaps it was the sunny and warm weather that hit Stockholm this week that has made it impossible to be stressed out about anything. (Usually I stress extensively about packing.) I've been sitting outside "studying" and enjoyed running in the evenings that are getting lighter and lighter.

At this point I'm almost done with packing. The last thing on my to do list is the dishes, and sleeping of course...

But before I go I would like to show you this picture of the Swedish påskris, or virpomavitsa as we call them in Finland. Tomorrow is the Palm Sunday and kids will go from door to door dressed up as little witches, handing out these decorated birch twigs and asking for sweets in return. Kind of like Halloween in US I guess.

I got these about a week ago when a girl in my Swedish class made a presentation about Swedish Easter traditions. She had brought them with her but since she already had some at home she gave them to me afterwards. They have grown tiny leafs which in Finnish are called "mouse's ears". It's so nice to have a little bit of spring inside.

Happy holidays to all who celebrate Easter! See you in ten days!

Sea Life

2007-03-21T20:12:00.000+02:00

Last Saturday I visited water museum Aquaria here in Stockholm. All other visitors either were children or had children but still it was so much fun. I am fascinated with sea creatures and although this has nothing to do with anything (especially design) I want to share these photos with you.

Inspiration

2007-03-15T17:16:00.000+02:00

Lately many bloggers have been writing about the things that inspire them and about the pieces of memorabilia they like to display in their homes. Sadly, I have left most of my collections in Finland where they are now neatly packed and waiting for me at our summer cottage.

Out of the few things I brought these are perhaps most dear to me. There is a seashell my brother brought for me from his holiday in Portugal and the first ever birthday card I got from my boyfriend, which I have framed.

I have been swimming and diving my whole life, it is just the most natural thing for me. I also love being by the sea. That is probably one reason why I find these things so special. In addition to the fact that they remind me of two people that are very dear to me.

Here you can have a better look at the birthday card. It is a picture called "Das Bootshaus" by Quint Buchholz from a book called "Am Wasser". If you look carefully you will see that the orb in the sky is actually the Earth, which makes you wonder where exactly is this boathouse located. It is like something out of a dream. It inspires me to look at things from a different angle and to use my imagination.

If you would like to share with me the things that inspire you, I would be happy to hear.

Japanese Gardens

2007-03-13T23:07:00.000+02:00

I really adore Japanese gardens. I like the way water, gravel and stones are used and how everything is in balance. There is also a strange quietness in them, it feels like time standing still.

As far as I know there are not that many Japanese gardens in Finland, or in Sweden for that matter. So mostly I must content myself with pictures. I have a couple of book on on the subject but I left them in Finland. I used to spend hours leafing through them...

Pictures from Domino

I took these pictures in the city of Kamakura in September 2005. It was such an amazing piece of old Japan and only about 50km from Tokyo. I wonder what is that pink plant protruding from the gravel.

Peaceful Bedrooms

2007-03-13T20:08:00.000+02:00

Our whole studio is such a mess right now. We have had exams and other projects for the last two weeks so tidying up has not been a priority. The most annoying thing about it is that I hate to sleep in a messy room. I'm looking forward to having a bed room that is dedicated only for sleeping and relaxing. These lovely and light bedrooms inspire me.

Pictures from Domino

Pictures from Marie Claire Maison

Pictures from Domino

Lovely pictures

2007-03-13T00:16:00.000+02:00

Some pieces of art are such that you can just stare into them. It's like they are windows to other worlds and amazing landscapes. It's very hard to explain actually. The works of Kristian Krokfors are like that to me. I can just look into them and forget the world around me. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Left:
Habitation II, 2004
Picture: Pratt Contemporary Art

Right:
Town II, 2004
Picture: Pratt Contemporary Art

Faraway, 2000
Picture: Studio U

Range II, 1997
Picture: ArtLine

Spring Greens

2007-03-12T16:57:00.000+02:00

It seems that spring is finally here. Snow is practically gone, streets are dry and dusty and temperature didn't sink below zero the whole last week. Besides sunlight, here are some things that make me smile.

Left:
The cup and saucer Apila from Finnish porcelain manufacturer Arabia. It is designed by Birger Kaipiainen; the cup in 1969 and the pattern in the beginning of the 1970s.
Picture: Finnish Design Shop

Right:
Cup and saucer Berså by Swedish designer Stig Lindberg. Designed in 1960.
Picture: Nationalmuseum

Left:
Midsummer Light by the Dutch designer Tord Boontje.
Picture: the Home Port

Right:
Twiggy lamp from Moth Design, designed by Shannon Shapiro.
Picture: Moth Design

Left:
Duvet cover and pillow case Keiju (Fairy) from Finnish company Nanso. Designed by Paola Suhonen. How could you have bad dreams if your bed was filled with fairies?
Picture: Finnish Design Shop

Right:
Unikko fabric from Marimekko, designed by Maija Isola. I have a special relationship with this green Unikko pattern. In my first apartment my kitchen curtains were made from this fabric, they had been sewn by my mother in the early '70s for her first apartment.
Picture: Finnish Design Shop

Some actual news from Marimekko

2007-03-09T00:25:00.000+02:00

I did some more digging around Marimekko and found more patterns that I loved. These are my new favourites, they have both been designed last year. On the left is "Peikonlehti" by Kristiina Isola and on the right "Onnen Apila" by Teresa Moorhouse.

Pictures from Marimekko

Spring "news" from Marimekko

2007-03-08T00:51:00.000+02:00

I was browsing through the web page of Marimekko and there were some interesting things I hadn't seen before... These two patterns are my favourites in the spring/summer 2007 -line . The one on the left is "Oona" which is a reproduction from 1969, the one on the right is called "Lehtimaja" and it is originally from 1958. Both are by Maija Isola.

Pictures from Marimekko

Acrylic Furniture

2007-03-05T23:10:00.000+02:00

For some reason I've been drawn to acrylic furniture lately. They are just so light and ethereal. I like the way they often have such strong contrast between the material and the form. Here are some of my favourites.

Picture from Stockhome Picture from Finnish Design Shop

Picture from Domino

Picture from Aaron R. Thomas

Above left: A small table,"Illusionbord", from a shop called Stockhome. I have no idea who has designed it. There is no information on the website.
(Edit: So the table is actually called Illusion and its from Danish company Essey. It's designed by John Bauer. This wasn't so difficult, I just took away "bord" (=table in swedish) and googled... I feel a little embarassed that it took me this long.)

Above right: The Modern Art lamp that was designed by Yki Nummi in 1955.

Middle: Of course, the Victoria Ghost chair by Philippe Starck.

Below: Lounge chair Dinette from Aaron R. Thomas.

Fingers crossed

2007-02-28T23:17:00.000+02:00

Right now I don't have balcony let alone garden. I don't think I'll have a garden in the next decade but by next summer I might have a balcony again. Spring should officially start tomorrow so it's high time to start planning these things. Of course it has been snowing here for almost a week now but that's not going to stop me.

These pictures from Domino are so adorable. I would love to be able to invite people over and serve dinner on the balcony. I quess coffee for two is more realistic in the near future... But that's lovely as well. The second picture reminds me of my family's summer cottage. It's such a shame that I don't have a good picture from there right now.

Domino

Domino

One of the most important things about a balcony is of course the view. This is the view from the balcony of our last apartment in Finland. The picture was taken on the last day before we moved to Sweden. The water in it is the Baltic Sea. A litle gloomy but at the same time so wonderful.

I love these cute floverpots by Tina Hellman from Sturehofs Krukmakeri. They would look perfect in my future balcony. I'm going to be in so much trouble when I have to move my stuff back to Finland but I might buy one or two of these anyway. As souvenirs.

Sturehofs Krukmakeri

Exam week is getting closer

2007-02-28T20:03:00.000+02:00

I've been so busy with seminars, essays and all sorts of studying that I have been forced to neglected this blog. But the library at the KTH is such a cool space that I don't mind spending time there. The offices, computer rooms, group work spaces and reading rooms are located in an old laboratory building of the university. The cool part is that the space between the two wings of the building has been covered with a roof and transformed into a book hall and a cafeteria. The space is so light and airy, it is almost like being outdoors. The design furniture is a nice addition. I took this photo last Oktober.

Fettisdag

2007-02-21T00:44:00.000+02:00

I quess in English this time of year is called Shrovetide but here the name for today can be directly translated as the Fat Tuesday. I know it has something to do with starting the fast that's supposed to go on until Easter but I'm too tired to remember or find out what. To me the meaning of this day has always been the pastrys and occasionally sledding.

The traditional swedish pastry for this holiday is the "semla" which is a bun filled with marzipan and whipped cream. We eat those in Finland as well but there we call them "laskiaispulla". The Swedish-speaking people in Finland call it "fastlagsbulle" which is the direct translation from Finnish. If you ask for a "semla" in Finland you get a bread roll and if you ask for a "fastlagsbulle" here in Sweden you get looked at as if you were an idiot. Asking for just a "bulle" would get you a plain bun. Except in southern parts of Sweden where it would mean a bread roll. Confused yet? I know I am.

"Kanelbulle" on the other hand means a cinnamon bun both in Finland and the whole Sweden. But it is also another name for @-sign. Swedes even have a special day for cinnamon buns, "kanelbulledag", but I don't remember when it is.

Looks from Helsinki

2007-02-18T00:58:00.000+02:00

My boyfriend found such a cool web site today. It's called HEL LOOKS and it has tons of pictures of originally dressed Finnish people. Pics have been taken all over Helsinki and I'm actually little home sick after looking at them.

There are of course pictures of entire persons on the page but I only borrowed their feet here...

There are just so many inspiring and disturbing looks in there. I love it.

Dreaming of a bedroom...

2007-02-15T23:31:00.000+02:00

For the first time in my life my I have my bedroom, livingroom, kitchen, diningroom, library and homeoffice in the same room. I calculated that the bed takes about 30% of the floorspace of the room. When we first moved in I couldn't believe that there simply wasn't enough space in the whole "apartment" to spread my yoga mat. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate the compactness. I think it is great that if I should stumble anywhere in my home (except shower I quess) I would always land softly on the bed.

Still, I'm begining to dream of a time in future when I will probably have an actual bedroom. Here are two pictures of bedrooms that are currently my favourites. First one is from Dana's Sunny Logan Square Apartment. I found it among AT Chicago's home tours a few weeks ago. Of course I'm only kidding my self thinking that my next apartment would have big windows and wooden floors. But I love the colours and the peacful atmosphere. I had never thought that you could have a couch in a bedroom but it's actually quite a nice idea. Bedrooms in Finland tend to be small so I probably have to forget about it.

The second room is Carrie's bedroom from Sex and the City. I found the picture from HBO's Sex and the City interiors -page. I love the color of the paint in this room as well. (Walls of my next aparment will ofcourse be bitterly white.) I like mixing different styles of furniture and textiles and I'm not one of those people who believe that all wooden things in one home has to be the exactly the same colour.

My biggest obsession right now is to find the perfect chandelier for my future bedroom. I can't say when it started or why it seems so essential for me. I've been manically surfing the web pages of finnish antique shops and mailing the owners about the sizes and prices and such. It's funny how it's impossible to tell the size from a photo and then they turn out to be one and a half meter high. Then I have to write them back and explain how I'm looking for something slightly smaller...

Things I didn't know about Ikea

2007-02-12T14:02:00.000+02:00

I have been exposed to a little too much Ikea lately. It seems that in Sweden every student room, hostel and most of the public spaces are full of Ikea furniture. Then last week when I had to pick a subject related to Sweden for the talk that I'm going to hold in my Swedish class tomorrow. So I panicked and picked Ikea.

Here are covers of Ikea catalogues from 1958 and 1962. Pretty retro! There are many more to find at the catalogue cover archive.

Here are some new things I've learned:

Ikea was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad who was at the time 17 years old.
The name IKEA comes from the founder's initials and the first letters of Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd, the farm and village where he grew up.
IKEA originally sold pens, wallets, picture frames, table runners, watches, jewellery and nylon stockings.
Last year there were pressed 175 million Ikea catalogs in 27 languages and 458 million people visited Ikea.
Ingvar Kamprad is estimated to be among 4 richest people in the world. He is also said to have raised funds for a pro-Nazi group in Sweden during the World War II.
Before 2006 the worl's biggest Ikea was one of the stores in Stockholm but now it is the one opened in Bejing, China.
World's northernmost Ikea (65.50 N) is in Haparanda, Sweden.

Start Up

2007-02-10T23:27:00.000+02:00

I'm currently living in Stockholm, Sweden in a 23 m2 studio that I'm sharing with my boyfriend. The student accomodation office has kindly furnished the room with some of the cheapest furniture Ikea has to offer but there are also many things that I love about living in Stockholm. Still I can't wait to move back to Helsinki, Finland in the summer.

Our last apartment was the first that we shared and it was exactly what you get when you just throw all the posessions of two people together. It was too cramped and cluttered and since we knew we were going to live in it only about 10 months we didn't really put that much thought into it. My hope is that we will find a slightly bigger apartment and I allready have a million ideas for decorating it. So to spare my boyfriend from my constant babbling on the subject I'm going to be recording my thought's in here instead. At least some part of them.

And propably there will be talk about studies, travelling, living in the Scandinavia and a few other subjects as well.