*iceland*

http://web.mac.com/allisyn/iWeb

finally, our photos from iceland...

*c l o s u r e*

holy crap. we've left the country. we're in iceland now, but i don't feel like i can even get into that yet, since i don't feel i've had blog closure with copenhagen. i will attempt to recapture our last 2 days in cph, and then get to iceland next time...

but first... can i just say how adorable my fairy godson, jake is?

ok. so we've been wanting to check out this cute looking breakfast place called granola in our old 'hood, vesterbrø. amazing granola & oatmeal. we would totally be regulars here. we bought some tables at design zoo & had to leave our bikes there the night before so we could haul the tables back home, so we took the bus back down & grabbed our bikes after breakfast. we did a pretty thorough run through of a bunch of places we wanted to hit one more time. there are tons of great kids clothing places. the patterns are so good out here. we also went by jason's favorite bike shop. so dreamy. then one more look at det mondaere skur. that place kills me. bought some spoons, cause i can't resist a great spoon.




after a little downtime at the apartment, we headed back out & rode to islands bryggs, and had our favorite pizza in cph one last time at il pano. the guy even threw in an extra piece for free! i felt like we had excellent islands bryggs closure. it was still light out so we took another exploratory bikeride which worked out great, because the next night was rainy. we were trying to figure out our favorites of our trip (sometimes we like to pretend-interview each other) and jason asked what our favorite hidden discovery was. we found a really beautiful area on our bike ride that became our favorite hidden discovery. how well does that work out!?




we ended up headed towards an enticing archway, and rode right into some armed soldiers. crazy. you never know what you'll run into on exploratory bikerides in copenhagen. these were not friendly fellows, like the soldier we made smile at the royal something castle. they were not to be reckoned with, and kind of harshed our mellow, so we headed back home...

next day: returned by bike to malene & bought 2 amazing skull glasses from lotta (soon to be photographed). then louisiana for one last time. checked out the sip my ocean video exhibit. loved it - especially the mother & father film clips. so brilliant. they also had a calder stabile up on the lawn overlooking the water that wasn't there last time, so we admired it from the cozy cafe while it rained for a bit. then a train adventure on the way home, hopping on & off, and checking out the town klampenborg, where arne jacobsen-designed restaurant. fyi -- closed on sundays, like everything else in copenhagen. but we had a nice walk & had a beach to ourselves and discovered this bikerack garden. pesky bees...

and with a light rain and a cozy bowl of chana aloo from our neighborhood indo-italian-mexican (what?) spot, came our moment of closure in copenhagen.

*jason's opening*

the dis (denmark international studies) opening was pretty amazing. it featured the work of all of the summer students in furniture, textiles, and glass. jason's chair looked amazing -- especially with the textiles in the background. lots of cool designs, like this one, for example:


and this one:

and this one:

and this one, by our friend kevin. it feels like a superhero chair, no?

some of my favorite textiles:



now they are working on shipping all the chairs back to the US, so the exhibit is coming down.

we are getting ready to head out to island brygge for one last outing by the water. you would never pronounce it the way you think.

*special shops*

i finally got back on my bike yesterday after being away and had time to explore østerbronx. it's about a 10 minute bike ride from here, and there are tons of cool little shops. well maybe not tons, but a good handful. my favorite discovery was a shop called forsberg, the home shop for modern living. the woman who runs it is very sweet, and carries lots of amazing local/scandinavian designers work. i am going back to get some of these cups made by a joint effort -- graphic designer (liebe) and a couple who produces them (urbanite) by liebe ceramics by urbanite! all of the displays in the shop look so good, perhaps some other purchases will be made as well...

i see these patterns in pillows & pot holders by fribert all over the place. all hand printed!


mette & malene's work looking great on display. super cute snap-together kid utensils:

this is new work from anne black that i've never seen before:

i also found another sweet little shop called søstjernen. they've got a really small shop for womens shoes/clothes, and also a kids shop. this is what their floor looks like:

so special!
one last find from smykker (jewelry) shop i found in stockholm that i took for amy:

*my time in sweden*

i like sweden. a lot. for one thing, smoking indoors has been outlawed there. we had breakfast this morning at the laundromat cafe, and it sucked that we got smoked out.

so my trip started with a 5 hour train ride. i love the trainrides here, and train rides in other countries in general. i'm working on a little photo documentary of trains. they are so colorful here. much more creative than our dumb old trains.

i learned that pippi longstockings is from sweden! who knew?

i spent my first night in sweden just wandering around -- well, i suppose i spent my whole time in sweden just wandering around, but my first night was a general, clueless wander. i ended up on a 2 hour boat ride that toured sweden's bridges, which i have to say, didn't knock me over or anything. but the buildings & the sunset were incredible. i couldn't get enough, so here's just a few photos. a sampler, if you will. the rest are on the photo page





this crane looked so much like a sea horse to me:

my 2nd day was my amazing shopping day. a few house-y highlights:

who wouldn't want to dust with one of these!?

amazing window of tea shop

from david design. perfect for me. i love hanging things off of things.
to give you a sense of swedish design:

quite possibly the coolest name ever. right up there with ascha drake! jewelery designer. closed. bummer.

my other favorite shops in sweden were: bric-a-brac, design torget, david design, and zadig & voltair (french & expensive, but still...).

the next day, i went to see karin eriksson in uhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.giflriksdal. i took a pendaltåg to get there! so much better sounding than "commuter train," no? my visit was great. i got there, and it was in this compound sort of place -- big gardens & farms... it was like going back in time, sort of. i met karin's brother & his wife & kids, who were picking out some of karin's work for their new home. i also met her dad! he runs a compost shop right by karin's studio. she's hoping to move to a bigger space that's become available, which she took me on a tour of. amazing space, and perfect for a studio & shop. we went back to her studio and she showed me around. karin does literally everything, which is shocking to me, since her work is sold all over the place -- so many shops in denmark & sweden, and in the US. crazy & huge. but it makes her work that much more special. i wandered around & did a photo shoot of the area because it was so inspirational. more photos here. we went to the cafe and had a very delicious lunch overlooking the garden & golf course. then back to the studio where i helped her with the decals she uses. it was so incredible to get a peek at the behind the scenes of karin's studio, and to talk blogs, style, etc... for a day. it was a perfect visit.


my 4th day i checked out anna-carin & karin's recommendations for a day of galleries, gardens, and museums. there were a handful of really amazing small galleries and shops along hornsgatan street. my favorite was blås & knåda (blow & knead, as in glass & clay), where i bought a small ceramic piece by hisako mizuno. it's a small dish that has such a soft, round feel. i couldn't stop touching it. when i asked about it, the gallery owner introduced me to hisako, who was working in the shop, so meeting her made it ever more special.
then i went to rosendals trädgård, these beautiful gardens with a great outdoor cafe.

a quick tour of the stig lindberg exhibit at the national museum -- the man behind the cup!


on my last day, i found my favorite cafe -- the copacabana. great location for people watching, and even though the weather was perfect & i didn't need one, they had the cozy blankets!

*new tricks*

amazing day with karin eriksson. clearly, i also learned how to make links. more once i get back to cph and am able to post my photos...

*bloody birger jarl*

bloody hell. i just lost my posting i was working on about my time in stockholm, since the bloody computer at the bloody birger jarl just quit out on me, unannounced. shouldäve saved. letäs see what i can muster...

iäm here on a short excursion, to explore stockholm. i canät figure out how to make apostrophes on their computers, but å, ö, and ä are readily available. after my 5 hour train ride,and a bit of wandering, i sensed that i was more of a copenhagen girl than a stockholm girl. but after my day yesterday, stockholm got kicked up a few notches. perhaps it was because i had a great hair day. perhaps it was the perfect weather. whatever it was, i rocked the stockholm shopping scene. which, for me means, i scored lots of little gifts, 2 shirts, and an outfit. thatäs right, mom. an outfit. my favorite store, bric a brac, was a recommendation from karin erikssonäs super dreamy blog. as soon as i figure out how to make links on my blog, i will make those easily click-on-able. or perhaps karin will show me today, when I VISIT HER AT HER STUDIO! perchance.

so i will surely have more to write about at the end of the day after meeting karin...

*malmö*

yesterday was our first time in sweden together (jason cruised through on his study tour, but didn't get to malmö). it was fun to explore, but lots of shops were closed on sunday. we took lots of photos, though.

this is jason... allisyn literally just walked out the door. she'll be sipping up the stockholm scene until saturday. i'm sure she'll have plenty of finds to share then.

so malmö...

basically, if you stand on your left foot you're in københavn, but hop onto your right foot and you're in malmö. (i äm løving using åll these nü chäracters).




the form/design center was fantastic and well worth the (short) trip. their current exhibition meanders around a camping (and camping gear) theme. al loved the textiles and hanging screens (including a beautiful birch print by maija louekari for marimekko). seems like the denmarkians & swedens cant get enough of their dishtowels. they are everywhere, in the dreamiest patterns. we are stocking up. i couldn't stop touching the eva solo table grill--i'd love to break this out to grill some veggies in yosemite, right outside the airstream (a boy can dream).

the 2nd floor housed their "literary café", a beautiful little spot where you can enjoy a biscuit and sip a kaffe (or varm choklad) while thumbing through an amazing array of design zines (many of which urge you to learn swedish or danish).

one of only stores that wasn't lukket was the center's butik on the 3rd floor. pretty killer... so many options, so little kroner. we scored some great dish towels in a sweet vintage pattern, though.


we sat by the sea with a light lunch before heading back to our homebase. this kid couldn't stay away from us, so obviously we had to document him.

we will be back, mälmo. we'll be back...