House of Hackney

If you are in London at the moment, and you appreciate these images of 'grunge-romanticism' as much as I do, - please visit their pop-up shop in Dalston today..

http://houseofhackney.com/

Decorative Arts

Last weekend we had a major celebration at our house. On this occasion my youngest daughter was given the most adorable quilt. Handmade it is, by Hanne Gundersen, a photographer and artist based here in Oslo.

Slow Chair

This pink one belongs to Sondre & Karin.

STUDIO CONTEMPORARY

I found this amazing work in the current issue of World of Interiors.

Beth Katleman’s sculptures have been described  in the New York Times as "doll-sized rococo theaters of murder and domestic mayhem."  Her installations and porcelain sculptures combine ornament with icons from popular culture.

I am now hoping that someone here in Norway will discover her work soon and bring it to a Gallery  in Oslo.

Folly  2010 appears to be a three-dimensional rendering of traditional Toile de Jouy fabric or wallpaper.  However, on close inspection, the elegant, Asian-inspired pavilions that comprise the landscape of “Folly” are populated with kitschy figures from popular culture. As Katleman explains: “porcelain suggests luxury, refinement and royal provenance. While one flea market treasure seems a little sad, a florid profusion of them is cause for celebration.” The exuberance and refinement of “Folly” are astonishing to behold.

Porcelain, wire, steel rodds and and heat-shrink tubing.

The "repeat" is 69" x 96" x 11".

The overall installation is 192" x 108" x 11".


The installation is to be shown at Pavillion des Arts&Design Paris from March 30th 2011
and can also be seen at Todd Merrills Studio Contemporary

http://www.bethkatleman.com

I love my sofa

 

The big and chunky TV sofas are not particularly pleasing on the eye. I like them a bit slimmer and to be seated on.. This one was aquired at FRETEX, a charity shop run by the Salvation army, and re-upholstered in a fabric from Ikea. The lamp  got a new 'hat' from Åse Strand, a modiste in Oslo. 

Interiors 1978

A visually stunning family drama involving a fashionable Long Island interior designer who tries to impose her overbearing, critical standards on her husband and her three grown daughters. The film takes a realistic look at the relationships among one artistically-oriented family; one daughter is a successful writer; the second is looking for an artistic outlet; and the third one is an actress.

by:Woody Allen .
Maybe even his 'darkest' movie as yet.

A girl's room

              A 10 year old girl's room need not be pink. 

An old fifties chair has been reupholstered in a simple Designers Guild fabric, and the walls are covered in wallpaper from the new collection by Designers.Guild.  More images from this photo-shoot later.. 

Please contact Riis Interiør in Oslo for details on the wallpaper: Rheinsberg black & white. Chair was upholstered by 'Puffen' in Oslo http://www.puffen.net/

Book by Artist

A Narrow Scene of Hypothetical Circumstances


A publication/Book I recently wrote about for Objektiv. 
And a portrait of the artist as a young man. Photo:Elisabeth Aarhus

Text by Friedrich Tietjen, Caroline Ugelstad and Christopher Muller

80 pages, 21 x 30 cm, Oslo 2010
ISBN: 987-82-997894-4-8






http://www.tekniskindustri.no/page5/page16/page16.html

Places to stay

I once stayed at this lovely little hotel in St. Remy-  France. We were the only ones staying there for a couple of days, oh how wonderful it was..

However-I cannot seem to find the 'proper' pictures I did.. So here are some quick snaps

http://www.lamaisonduvillage.com

The House

Christian Lacroix for Designers Guild. Fabulous prints, luxurious velvets and stunning satins combine to form a collection which celebrates  the House of Lacroix . Whether inspired by the city of Arles, couture gowns or the Toreador - every fabric tells a unique story.

Oddfrid's sofa

 

My friend, Oddfrid- a young and popular costume designer for film and theatre, just moved into her new apartment. 

She is doing everything herself. 

Apart from reupholstering her old sofa.

Anne Grete at 'Puffen' here in Oslo has just done it for her.. In gold.

Think I will photograph the rest of  her rooms in all their glory.

Favourite magazines

The British publication Livingetcis a great source of inspiration for my  commercial interior photography. They have a daring enough picture editor.

This image of a girl's bedroom, I  made for their March issue- 'decorating with black' which is just out in the shops. Anna lives here.

Other favourites are World of Interiors, Australian Vogue Living and Casa Vogue. A fab scandinavian one, if you can find it, -is NYTT ROOM..

I like

BD Showtime Chair

by Jamie Hayon 
Act II of the Showtime Collection for BD Ediciones de Diseño was launched in April 2007. The range includes large tables and coffee tables as well as the elegant  chair that comes is a series of different finishes and accesories.

http://www.hayonstudio.com 

Architect's own

How clever: a sliding door and piece of artwork dividing rooms..
A recent feature to be published in Norwegian magazine Maison this spring

Cottage culture

Three Chords and the Truth

Photos and words by Elisabeth Aarhus

This phrase, coined as it was by a country musician, and later appropriated by the punk-scene is anything but the equivalent of simplicity as many take it to mean. On the contrary, it requires hard work, the ability to improvise, historical knowledge, and a whole bunch of will-power. It just looks and sounds simple. -Like a good architect’s work.

If this was a piece of music, it wouldn’t have been recorded in a dingy basement. Our first impression is actually that this place is quite polished/refined. That is, refined in the same way a Nick Cave and the bad seeds record is, where dark, somber tones and a deep bassy voice floods a tight, industrial soundscape.

 But this isn’t music. This is a summer-cabin. And at first glance one could almost mistake this place for any old summerhouse or basic cottage in Norway, built some time in the late sixties. But that’s at first glance. On closer inspection, when we notice that the plywood walls hve been lacquered and contrasts with the gritty, ‘real’ nature outside, and surfaces spray-painted black are cut through by welded....... and off-green kitchen fronts and floors, it’s plain to see that everything here is grounded in two artists applying their trade. Walking from cabin to cabin between the rock-formations, and from room to room,- it dawns on us that what the owners have created here isn’t just an updated version of the “summer-cabin”, but an alternate cabin-universe alltogether.

The couple, who both work for prestigious Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta as architetect and interior architect, live a typical urban life with visits to coffeeshops right around the corner, continually changing hair-colour, and a sweet-spot for the king himself, Elvis Presley whose image adorns their livingroom at home (this however is a different feature-article alltogether..)

The fact that they’ve decided to build a simple cabin then, out in the boondocks, an hours drive from the capital, could seem off to some. Heidi explains -In the summer of 2008 we were invited to our friends cabin, down south in Norway. We had a fortnight of stunning weather, warm evenings where the sun never seemed to set...and our two girls even learned to swim. We realised then and there that the summers both Andreas and I remembered from our own childhood, summers like the one just mentioned, was something we wanted to be able to give our children as well.

And so it went. Their brief was as follows:

-sober cabin for two adults and three children, with space enough for company

-the cabin has to sit well in the surrounding areas, and create useful outdoor spaces

-the cabin has to be made to fit the specific terrain of the property

A couple of important things came into play when making such a hasty decision as to the location of their summerhouse. For one, Heidi has spent most of her childhood summers in her grandfathers cabin, only a few hundred metres from where this place now is. Secondly, this area is one of the few relatively cheap places still available anywhere along the coast. Lastly, as an added bonus, it takes only about an hour door to door from the city of Oslo and out here. Not such a bad idea when there are three wee ones in the back-seat!

According to the couple, the final product is often best if every little detail isn’t necessarily drawn out beforehand, but seen as a collaboration between the designers and the workhands, allowing problems to be solved as they come up. This is probably the reason why they haven’t had to make any concessions as to the finished product- they were able to have their cake and eat it too.

 There is no doubt that this collaboration has been thoroughly succesful. And, without any ironic undertones, they both agree that the best thing about this kind of summer-living is being outdoors, wandering around barefoot. To the question of what they’re most happy about, its the way the structures fit snugly into the terrain which in and of itself was quite a challenge. In addition, it makes no difference whether it is just the two of them there or ten guests, it works in any case. There are two buildings on the property, one making up the main house which sits where the original cabin once was, and the other, consisting of three bedrooms, sleeps nine tired vacationers..

As an afterthought, the only thing they would have changed if they could, is their proximity to the ocean..

Given their occupations, it goes without saying that they’ve put in more than a few hours on this project themselves. - We’ve drawn up everything down to the steel bedposts, sofa and all the built-in furniture. We’ve been on the phone with the contractor every day, and put in personal appearances every weekend. In order to make the work run just a bit more smoothly, we’ve cleared the property of scrap every weekend. Heidi’s father, more than willing to lend a helping hand driving supplies to and from the property, has been of great help. And now, they’ve filled the property up with gravel and soil in order to plant grass, and make room for flowerbeds and sitting areas.

Slightly embarrassed, but in earnest, we ask what a typical day looks like here?

-The sun comes up and heats up the concrete patio; enter us, coffee-cups in hand and croissants on a plate. Then the kids can continue working on their treehouse, go for a swim, and finally start nagging us about going for a boat-ride (which involves stopping at the local kiosk which serves two huge scoops of ice-cream). Then, more swimming, another boat-ride in our little 15 foot boat, spray-painted in the colours of a volvo-truck. We do our shopping, dinners consisting either of barbeque or wok, prepare and eat it outside, and hopefully add to it some goodies picked around the property!

If the weather allows, we have an evening swim, and when the kids crash around sunset, we put on an extra sweater, bring a bottle of Chablis, and take our seats on the white bench above the cabin and enjoy the view for a while. Heidi laughs.

_So.., what to do on a rainy day?

Heidi quickly replies,

-read books or play yatzee....the sun will shine tomorrow!

So what else can you do, after a visit to this unpretentious, simple yet incredibly generous summerhouse, but to conclude ....”come on admit it babe, it’s a wonderful life, if you can find it”. As Nick Cave leads us down a twisting path-.....

Kjersti's place.

The newest issue of Design Interior presents my pictures of interior architect Kjersti Hoel Gazzola's home  in Oslo.

I previously let out a couple of the images here, and can now safely show some more. The rest of them you can find in Design Interior no 5 2010. Enjoy her fun environment..