Soomkai goes Grey

A grey version of Soomkai saw the light at Studio Sankt Paul for a press event recently and we like it. 

Studio Sankt Paul PR is our creative PR firm where we feel at home. In the near future I would like to indulge in Soomkai dresses. Dress up the Soomkai in different outfits. 

Will show you soon. I have so many ideas. 

How would you dress up your Soomkai ? 

Think there is a competition coming up...

Wallpaper, table and suede runner also  www.jimmyschonning.com

 

Plaza Interiör

Our Soomkai lamp in Plaza Interiör, Sweden. Get it today :)

Arclinea in Sweden

Fell for these kitchens first time I saw them some years ago in Coral Gables, Florida. 

Now Arclinea comes to Sweden with their range of recycled and clever materials and italian design by Antonio Citterio. 

Find them at Planoform in Stockholm. 

Like the look of the cool style in these pictures of the Arclinea but would IRL use some more textile softness and wood to accompany such a clean kitchen look myself.

Cool cooked balls of dough

Dumplings are according to Wikipedia : 

Cooked balls of dough and are based on flour, potatoes, or bread, and may include meat, fish, vegetables, or sweets. 

These little lovely eatables have really become very popular. My first time eating dumplings was a delight in Chinatown in NYC over 20 years ago. 

To me the only cool place in Sweden that concentrate on serving tasty dumplings is Beijing8 - check out the link to find them in Stockholm. 

The silicon rubber FormUsWithLove ceiling lamp decorates the light wood and cool asian/scandinavian feel to the interiors.

Dear Diary

Last week I shot a lovely home with Photographer Per Magnus Persson, where the backyard had this wonderful darkgreen and brown bricks. Me like :)

We shoot in a home set in a old school house. So nice!! - Would love one for me and Francisco. 

Went to look at an old INN (sadly converted into condos) that was for sale, but it was so badly renovated inside it would cost more to change it all. There were also tenants that complicated it all to much.  The building itself was magnificent though.

Been to look at a old church house that would be just amazing as a HOME. Me and Francisco made a bid for it that the owner did not go for. There is no running water and no kitchen but it would be wonderful if made into a home.  

Since I´ve been a lazy blogger I wanted you all to know what I did last week apart from Formex. Therefore my Dear Diary headline. 

/ Jimmy 

A bright idea

A colorful cord kept at the right height with the nifty device you see above, and a simple bulb set in black is all you need sometimes.

What about a cement holder for you bulb ? 

Nud collection got it for you. 

NUD is one of the fun finds at Stockholm Fair Formex , that also has all the colorful cords you can dream up. 

The Formex 16-19 of Aug was more inspirational with the unexpected. The exhibitions that were comissioned from Formex only the ODD NEST by Oddbirds offered any inspiration for me. 

The others seemed more interested in showing graphic knowledge than interior inspiration.

The beauty of Mimou for next season at 
Formex this Aug.

Modern folklore

In swedish mag Allt i Hemmet, called AIH out now is an interior job called Modern Folklore by clever interiorista Helene Holmstedt. Our Trestle Table from www.jimmyschonning.com/webshop that is suppose to go outside is featured on a hot red floor. LOVE IT HELENE :) 

/ Jimmy

Formex finds

Old bottles can be very useful :)

The idea is to recycle

My favorite the cucumber jar as a candle. The bottom of the jar is cut and the sharp edges made soft and in with the scented candle. Voila !

The candle on foot which will be a gourgeous wine glass when the candle has given all of its natural scent.

The bottom on the winebottle looks this handsome with a candle inside. Wash it out after the candle has burned down and you have a beutiful bowl for you tea candles or as a drinking glass perhaps. 

Love when we can use it all. Purpose. Purpose. Purpose. Thank you :)

At Swedish fair Formex in Älvsjö, Stockholm 

I found the Munio CAN DE LA. 

They are company founded in Riga, Latvija. In my opinion they do everything we all want to do. They produce high end, smart and handsome things from old stuff we all throw away.

Love it !! 

-old wine bottles becomes candle holders and candle holders on foot that doubles as a wine glass, when you have enjoyed your natural scented candle. 

The old cucumber glass jars become the big candles with three wicks that I adore. Want one now!! Check out the wicked wicks they use. It´s a wooden version of a wick. 

This is certainly a Jimmy loves type of candle :) What do you think of it ? 

Will get back to you on the Formex I like and more..

Sliding doors - The farmers way

Have always wanted the old type of sliding doors that you find on every barn in Sweden. 

A simple but sturdy iron rail that hangs on the wall, on which the wheels that sit on the hanging door slides. 

So stylish indoors as well as outdoors. 

A sink you like

To always make it as fun as possible to do the dishes(which is not my favorite thing to do) I keep all the things around the sink as beautiful as possible. 

For me : 

No place for the ugly things = fun time around the sink. A sink you like.

If you try it I sink you will like it :=)

 

Plain&perfect

First of all I just love the simplicity of the kitchen.To die for :=) 

Well -- that´s slightly over-reacting. 

But ---

The Bertoia type of chairs has always been to my liking(check out knoll.com) 

and the table is of the kind that will last a lifetime. Love it!

Really like the plates on the table - they look like the plates we sell at jimmyschonning.com 

The simple kind of stool is the perfect extra seat and works just as wonderful as a bedside table. 

Found the kitchen at my favorite Dutch Mag that you for some strange reason can not subscribe to outside of Holland... it´s called VT wonen

Plates and bowls from www.jimmyschonning.com 

as offcourse the suede runner stiched with number 4 also comes from.  

Soomkai hjälper

För snart två år sedan bjöds jag av min vän och fotograf Per Magnus Persson och hans fru Ann till Thailand där de bor del av året. Tanken  var att se på ett  samarbete och resa runt en del.

Att komma till Thailand var för mig en enorm upplevelse. Vi såg så mycket avancerad möbelproduktion, men överallt sprang jag på de enkla hönsburar som kom att ge mig idén till lampan Soomkai som vi tillsammans med underbara Watt&Veke kunnat ta fram.

Allt började med att jag skapade en ny form av den bambubur jag sett där jag använde mig av den hantverkskunnighet som de som tillverkar burarna besitter.

Ann tog fram en produktion i Thailan efter det att Watt&Veke gillat min formgivning och idé om välgörenhet och Per Magnus fotade bilder och gjorde en brochyr.

Vi har snart sålt lampan i ett år och nu är det dags för den bit jag längtat efter.

Vi skall i slutet av November åka till barnhemmet för HIV smittade barn i Lopburi, Thailand och där få skänka av vinsten från vår Soomkai.

Tack så oerhört alla ni som genom att köpa en Soomkai lampa till ert hem har bidragit med hjälp till barhemmet i Lopburi.

Vill att ni alla skall veta att vi håller som bäst på med ett nytt projekt som heter Soomkai Lek, som är en ny lampa i samarbete med Watt&veke.

Formgivning hjälper,

/ Jimmy

 

In English that would be :

 

Almost two years ago I was invited by my friend and photographer Per Magnus Persson and his wife Ann to Thailand where they live part of the year. The idea was to look at collaboration possibilities and travel around a bit.

Coming to Thailand was to me a tremendous experience. We saw so much advanced furniture production, but everywhere I ran in to the simple chicken cages that came to give me the idea that became the lamp Soomkai that together with wonderful Watt&Veke we were able to produce.

It all started when I created a new design of the bamboo cage I'd seen where I used the craft skills of those that manufacture cages possess.

Ann found a way to produce the hand made lamps in Thailand and Watt&Veke liked my design and idea of ​​charity and Per Magnus photographed images and made a brochure.

We have now sold the lamp for almost a year and now it's time for the bit I longed for.

We shall in the end of November go to the orphanage for HIV infected children in Lopburi, Thailand and there donate the profits from our Soomkai.

Thank you so very much all of you buying a Soomkai lamp to your home and by that providing help to the HIV infected orphfans in Lopburi. 

I would like you all to know we are working with a new project called Soomkai Lek, a new lamp in conjunction with Watt&Veke.

Design helps,

/ Jimmy

I´m moving on

For many years life for me has been a struggle. I have been mostly unhappy. 

This is not something I would let anyone know. I thought I had a loving relationship and I worked hard to try to keep it. 
I always thought I had to work harder. 

I have on the surface had everything I thought I wanted with life in general.

I worked with the type of creative things I have dreamed of. 

I had everything I thought would make me happy. 

The thing is though....I was truly unhappy most of the time.  

What I thought would make me happy was : 

A relationship  

Friends and family that love me

A good creative job

A beautiful house with a garden overlooking a lake

A creative studio in the cool part of town

I had all of this but I was never happy. 

I  kept a brave face and showed everyone the happy smile that I wanted them to see. 

A few times I would let my close friends know how unhappy I was. When I saw their concerned faces I always regretted it. So I stuck to my clip on smile.

After years of sleepless nights, 

I  decided to leave my loveless relationship and stand up for love. If you can not stand up for your love and say : this is the man I love in Sweden 2012 you will never be able to do it. 

I know now that I can not share my life with someone that can not introduce me to their parents, family and friends and be proud of me. 

I want to tell the world of the man I love and share my life with my family and loved ones that respect me for who I am.

2012 in Sweden, even though there are still politicians and other scary trash citizens that seem uneducated and without humanity, we have a society that understands that love and relationships happen between people, 
not just some people. 

We have in Sweden a society that for the most part understands that : 

All pigs are created equal and not the revised version : 

that some pigs are more equal that others.

Sadly there are religious believes that has not yet understood that LOVE is always LOVE. 

If someone treats you bad or unkind or just make fun of you because you do not live after the hetero normative definition, 

PLEASE STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS.
Don´t let yourself be put down. 

This is PRIDE to me. 
Pride is not just a festival ones a year, 

it´s a way of living your life. 

Believing in this I a let my former work know that I felt descriminated against, which got more attention than I could ever had expected. 

When I had thought about the former job at the tv show I worked with for years where I not felt appreciated for my creativity at a job that is a all about creativity and negatively compared to the famous and not so accomplished on your workforce and you always come in last although you work your ass off you are better off somewhere else. 

I sure was.

So I sold the house, sold the studio and all of the huge furniture I felt I had no need for and put the rest up in storage and went looking for real love. 

I went looking for work that I love doing and a workplace that 

appreciate me and my knowledge and creative force.

I let everything go that I felt was not a good vibe for me. 

I let everything go that made me feel bad. 

I kept only what I felt was of love. 

Now....you probably think that I went mad and ..... maybe I did. 

But....when I least expected it 
------I found love. 

I met the MAN I fell in love with that I want to live with, share my whole life with and the man that loves me back. 

The man that is proud of me and want to tell the world of our love. 

Truly - it does not get better than this. 

If all of the bad experiences, depressions and suicidal thoughts I had in my life had to happen so that I could experience this love, -it was all worth it. 

“You only need one man to love you. But him to love you free like a wildfire, crazy like the moon, always like tomorrow, sudden like an inhale and overcoming like the tides. Only one man and all of this.”
― C. JoyBell C.

The picture above show my beloved belongings where they are stored. 

Since I now have love, I only work with things I truly believe in and love maybe it´s time to start looking for the perfect place for me and my love. 

No word describes better my feelings for my Francisco than the ones sung in Kärleksvisan in swedish by Sarah Dawn Finer. She has written the song together with the talanted Peter Hallström. I heared this for the first time sitting on the floor under the grand piano at my friends sung by Miss Sarah and I will never forget it. Sarah has a voice that talks to your soul. Thank you for sharing your gift with the world.

Tack för alla motgångar. 
I´m moving on!

Francisco this is for you:

För Francisco : Sarah Dawn Finer Kärleksvisan

Tänd på tegel

Yep. Så är det. Går definitivt igång på tegel just nu. Rött och slitet eller gammalt tegel nymålat lila, eller varför inte vitt? 

Tegel är tryggt och tungt både kilomässigt och  rent känslomässigt.

Har kämpat med mycket puts genom mitt liv för att finna tegelväggen där bakom och har sökt för att finna vägar för att laminera den gamla väggen så att putsen ej fortsätter att ryka. Det finns ju bra lack och annat fästmedel som tar hand om det. Prata med en färghandel om du vill knacka puts i helgen. 

I just go for brick at the moment. 

Heavy huh...No really, it feels comfy and safe. Found this NYC loft in one of my favorite magazines in the world´s online verson, Living Etc

Ceiling gallery not Sistine Chapel

I don´t paint my ceilings very often. I mostly consider the ceiling something to match the rest of the room and something you do not see that much. Is that true ?

As soon as I lay down in my bed I see my ceiling clearly, especially on summer nights before I close my eyes and fall asleep I do think of whats above.

What if the ceiling held a whole gallery of wonderful images that I love?

What if the sky opened up and showed an cherub like this ceiling painting at Gyllene Uttern close to Gränna, Sweden.

It does not have to be the Sistine Chapel, it could be anything you want.

Maybe Paul Smith type of stripes in the entire ceiling, or leaf gold in the ceiling over your entrance?

Whatever floats my boat.

What would you you like your ceilings to show?

Spanish influence

 Window shutters old or new in all shapes, sizes and colors I love. They also make for a wonderful partition for any room if you just connect three together with some hinges.

Above a flowering cactus, never seen such flowers before. Beautiful!

Below a white house with a very green tiled door frame which just got to me. Brick closest to the door and a frame of green handmade tile around it. The door frame really stood out on this white house.

The Spanish influence is from my travels this summer. Love seeing new ways of doing things I thought I knew all about. So inspiring to experience. What about the butterfly?

With this I bid you a very good weekend my Dears

/ Jimmy

Door to door experiences

An industrial blue metal door can be so inspiring. This one I found in Malmö, Sweden.

Metal ornaments on a wooden door in Lund, Sweden.

Powerdoor. Wood off course with metal studs. Very impressive. Barcelona, Spain.

Large angel above your door feels safe and welcoming.

A beautiful simple wooden double door with a small angel above and and the eight that here looks like the eternity symbol, don´t you think?

Keyholes can look this beautiful

For a more stylish knock knock knock. 

Door ornaments. Not decoration any longer. Sooooo inspiring. Saw these in Sitges, Spain.

The ornaments are made in metall on the wodden door. A technique used in Sweden aswell on church doors.

These doors a few of my favorites I´ve seen this summer.

Doors say so much. About the house. The owner. The times.