Nordic Living no10: Christmas Issue!

NORDIC g in Liv ISSUE NO.10 | NOVEMBER 2015

The season of joy

Christmas is all about giving. I love figuring out what my loved ones would be really happy to get, and then seeing their expression when they open the gift.

The great thing about Nordic Design Collective is that it is easy to find a great gift, even for those who already have everything they need, carefully created by designers with a passion for style and quality. When buying a gift from the designers at Nordic Design Collective you are also doing a good thing by supporting the new, independent and up-andcoming design entrepreneurs of the Nordic countries.

In this issue, we are endulging in the Holiday spirit, with inspiration for gifts, Christmas music and a great calendar to countdown to Christmas Eve. As usual, we are also bringing you interviews with our designer and more.

Welcome, we hope you enjoy this issue. Thank you for reading, following and supporting us!

Maria Richardsson Founder and CEO of Nordic Design Collective

Ps. As always, we love to hear your what you think about our work! Tell us through social media or send us an e-mail. We want to hear it all - the good, the bad and the ugly.

CONTENT Get into the Holiday Spirit Our big Gift Guide Holiday Goodies

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Presenting: Toril Bækmark On my Wish list

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Presenting: Butler/Lindgård Presenting: Bukvy

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A day in the life of: Tovelisa

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MORE INSPIRATION? Join our weekly newsletter for more inspiration, trends and interviews with our designers.

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Nordic Living is a magazine created by Nordic Design Collective, all rights reserved. www.nordicdesigncollective.com | info@nordicdesigncollective.com

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the o int Get

HOLIDAY

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SPIRIT Indulge in the spirit of the Holidays!

We love the season of giving and joy, and have gathered our best ideas and inspiration on the following pages.

You can also find everything online, just click below to get it all in one place.

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FOR HER Celebrate the woman in your life with something that adds value to her everyday life. A piece of jewellery is a classic gift that can never go wrong, and we all can use a bit of me-time in the sofa, with a candle, a cup of tea and a good book. A new cushion cover or a ecological scented candle will definitely add a bit of value to that.

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FOR THE KIDS The Holidays are all about the kids, right? Colourful, quirky and adorable, we have great gifts for kids in all ages. Lovely posters to decorate the kids rooms, playful masks or glasses, or soft cushions to relax on – what will you put under the Christmas tree this year?

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FOR THE KITCHEN Are you looking for a gift for the passionate home chef or the dinner party host? Upgrade your coffee cups to a new set, add new placemats or get a colourful tray. For the curious home chef, we can definitely recommend to try the Äggcøddlers, a brilliant new way to serve eggs!

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Holiday

MUSIC FOR THE

HOLIDAY SEASON Curious about what kind of music our designers listen to during the Holiday season? Well, we were so we asked them!

The result: 24 of the favourite songs of the season all collected in a Spotify-playlist.

Hope you enjoy it!

LISTEN NOW

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goodies!

A NEW DEAL TO YOUR INBOX! Every day from Dec 1 to Dec 24 2015!

As you may remember, last year we had the very popular Deal of the day Christmas Calendar. And now it’s back! Every day from December 1 up until Christmas Eve, one of our designers are giving away a special deal – valid for one day only!

Sign up now to get your deal delivered to your inbox.

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Presenting

TORIL BÆKMARK The amazing artist Toril Bækmark from Denmark has created a dreamy and beautiful calendar inspired by the Nordic nature. It is her first product to be featured at Nordic Design Collective, but she is an experienced illustrator with international exhibitions and exciting plans for the future.

Tell us about your background!

I am born in Ølstykke just outside Copenhagen.

My mother is a nurse and my father an engineer. But me and my sister loved to draw.

And I think I got a lot of attention and credit for it. So when it came to find an education, it was natural to seek the The Danish school of Art and Design.

What made you decide to start your own company, and what do you like most about it?

I have had my own company, since I graduated from The School of Art and Design. I think its just natural for me to work for myself, with the freedom and responsibility you have, even though it can be very tough at times.

What’s the story behind your products or brand?

I am an Illustrator, and I work with clients from Denmark and abroad. I achieved a lot of recognition, and this year I am featured in American Illustration 34, which is published nov 2015. I also enjoy just creating and experimenting beside illustrating, working with the materials watercolor, tush and ink.

During that I ended up with a lot of flowers, which form and colors always inspires me.

That’s how the Calendar project 12 FLOWERS Calendar 2015… now 2016 started.

What are your plans and dreams for the future?

I search and push myself all the time, trying to develop my creations. Making personal projects takes more and more of my time.

I plan developing more products, more calendars. Working with my images on textile. I also would like to make much more original artwork and exhibit them. Right now 6 of my watercolor flowers are exhibited just outside Milano, Italy.

Another project/dream is finally making this Graphic novel I have been dreaming about for a long time.

What inspires you to create?

My inspiration comes from the lines and shape I see. Like the aesthetics seen in fashion and the botanic that surrounds me.

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HOLIDAY PARTY GIFTS The season for parties is here, and wouldn’t it be great to find the perfect gifts for the hosts? A bottle of wine or a flower is always nice of course, but we want to suggest something else.

Bring them a set of coasters, a set of beautiful postcards or a beautiful tray. A scented candle adds to the Holiday mood and a set of glasses to play around with boosts the mood at any party! #perfectforselfies

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SOFT & COZY The winter can be cold in the Nordics. Time to get some warm, soft and cozy gifts. Scarfs of different kinds, warm blankets and soft cushion covers are just a few perfect things to put under the tree.

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FOR HIM Celebrate the man in your life and add a touch of Nordic spirit to his everyday life. Darker colours and raw materials add a more masculine touch to the Nordic style. Get him a new mug for the morning coffee, a brand new wallet or maybe a pair of elegant cufflinks?

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ON MY

Wish list

We asked a few of our friends, designers and colleagues to share what’s on their Wish list for this year.

Right now, I’m very fond of photo art like these landscapes by photograper Alex Hinchcliffe in collaboration with Owl Streets. Photographs in shades of grey, and they look even better when you add a few to get the sense of a bigger motif.

ELIN HERMANSSON Stylist, Plaza Interiör Magazine

I’d love the Bukvy Bag in black! Five bags into one - What’s not to love!? It’s a versatile and timeless piece that would be a perfect addition to my capsule wardrobe!

I’m also a big fan of the Archil Light C Print from Details By M. - I love the beauty and fragility of ageing flowers. There is something very poetic about it.

CATHERINE LAZURE-GUINARD Blogger, NordicDesign.ca

I love the knitted shopper, because it combines tradition and sculls in a very cool way. The fact that it is ecological makes it even better.

MIA EKSTRÖM Designer, Lagnöviken

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I have a strong urge for colour right now, so instantly fell for this lovely mobile. The paper gives it a nice fragile lightness and the shapes of prisms reflects the light in a delicate way.

CAMILLA FÜRST Interior designer, Allt i Hemmet Magazine

These lovely coasters are high on my wishlist to decorate our coffee table. Even though it has a strong pattern, it has full harmony that speaks to my aesthetic heart! It was love at first sight!

NINA LARSSON Instagrammer, @interior_by_nina

For a retro lover like me, the Tärnsjö/Berså bracelet from Sägen is a given on my Wish list. I love th e mix of soft and hard materials. The leather from Tärnsjö Garveri will only get more beautiful, and it matches well with the classical porcelain pattern Berså designed by Stig Lindberg. It is a bracelet I would like for many years to come!

KAROLINA FURTENBACH Designer, Frau Furtenbach

It was love at first sight for me when I saw the Ametist Cone Ring from Paula Hagerskans. I’m often told that I live my life in black and white, but what people don’t know is that green is my personal favourite colour!

FRIDA RAMSTEDT Blogger, Trendenser.se

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I’m really into products made in Sweden right now, it feels great with local produce from an environmental point of view. The beautiful tiles from Diket Design are not only produced nearby, they are also handmade - and craftmanship is the best! My favourites are Star and Pinch, both would look great on the hallway floor in our summer house.

MARIA SOXBO Blogger, Husligheter.se

I would love the The One Book Shelf, it would display my favourite books in a supernice way!

MARITA HEDSTRÖM Designer, Ita Design

The placemats from By May are so sleek and stylish. I can’t wait to invite my friends to a fancy dinner party just so I can make a fantastic table setting with them!

IDA ANDERBERG Nordic Design Collective

Future Days, based in Malmö, are creating crazy-beautiful paper sculptures. Symmetrical, geometrical in pop colours.

Fits anywhere, really.

STEFAN NILSSON Trendexpert, Designbloggarna.se

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This lovely handmade lamp in white tulle is high up on my wish list for christmas, it would really create a good feeling of harmony in my bedroom.

JEANETTE ANDERSSON Nordic Design Collective

There are so many beautiful posters, but I’m especially fond of the “Ha ha” from A Grape Design at the moment. It has such a a great energy and says what I many times thinks.

TOVE GORDON Designer, Scary Friend

I would love to let these mugs move in to our kitchen!

MARTINA MÜNCH Designer, Mooncake

I’ve been interested in the beautiful and cool copper candlelights for some time. Even more so now when I realised that “11:an”, which is beautiful all year around”, also works like an alternative to the classical advent candle lights that often has a bit of dated design to them.

SABINA WROBLEWSKI GUSTRIN Designer, Studio Sabina W. Gustrin

I have a thing for small vases, and can’t get enough of them. Of course I fell instantly in love with this copper vase from Jenny Kåberg Metalldesign.

MARIA RICHARDSSON

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Nordic Design Collective

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Presenting

BUTLER/LINDGÅRD Based in Malmö in the south of Sweden, best friends Hanna Butler and Karin Lindgård are creating beautiful textile patterns and handmade products. They really seem to have found a great way of working together, proving that 1+1 most certainly is more than 2.

Tell us about your background!

The two of us met at the Royal Danish Academy of fine arts school of Design in Copenhagen where we both studied textile design. Hanna had been studying printdesign before, and Karin came from a background of comics and illustrations.

We soon found ourselves goofing around, laughing and making joint experiments in the printstudio. Our work mood is quite similar, so it was always pleasant to co-operate around different themes. When it was time to do the bachelor project we chose to do it together. We made a textile interpretation of the 80’s blockbuster ’Terminator 2’. It was so much fun and a huge success. We just couldn’t imagine working one by one, and we’ve been inseparable ever since.

-Why work alone when you can have so much more fun working with your BFF? What’s the story behind your products or brand?

Our works commonly emerge out of an analog sketch process where we collaborate close to each other, with materials in hand. Creative moments are sparked by an unexpected issue, a statement, or a comic observation.

The two of us normally work in close proximity, in a nearly symbiotic state where

“mine and yours” is blurred and replaced with “we”. We draw and paint on the same surface, alternately or simultaneously, while maintaining a continuous and reflective conversation regarding colors, rhythms, and tones. Authenticity, sensuousness, and presence of the human hand are all important guidelines in our work, and this might be why it appeals to both the body and the mind.

Our work is not exclusively in fiber form, but always emerges from a textile point of view.

Everything we sell is made by hand by us in a small scale production in our Malmö studio.

What inspires you to create?

Anything. We get inspired by each other, by nature, by other artists, architecture, movies, books and by everyday life. Lately the state of the world has been on our minds, so our latest collections has been about migration, xenophobia and equality.

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BLACK & WHITE Finding a gift to someones home can be difficult. You might not know their favourite colours or their style, but with black and white you’re always safe! Why not a new and stylish lamp, trays for the kitchen or new cushion covers for the living room? You can never have too many candle holders, and a scented candles adds even more to your home.

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INSPIRED BY NATURE Nature is a great inspiration for people in the Nordics, and these are a few gift ideas inspired by nature.

Anything made from wood is an obvious choice for this category, whether it being candle holders, lasercut flowers or photo blocks to display your favourite postcards and small prints. Hanging posters to your wall with motifs from nature is another popular way to bring nature into your home.

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Presenting

BUKVY Meet the duo behind Bukvy, the designers behind this very clever bag. Their vision is to offer a survival kit for the urban people, and I’m not surprised to learn that their background is in architecture and business development.

Tell us about your background!

Joanna has been studying architecture and Elena is a business developer in the IT industry. We are best friends since the age of 6 and have done everything in life together.

Both have been living busy lives on the run in Stockholm which includes a lot of carrying.

None of us has experience from the design or fashion industry. What we want is to create long lasting products that evolves with the carrier and its needs.

We complement each other very well and we always dream big. That is what has made Bukvy possible.

What’s the story behind your products or brand?

Our vision is to offer the ultimate survival kit for urban people. As kids we drew different survival kits and bags to help us live through any situation and the Bukvy Bag is our updated version of that. It is also our belief that people are in need of smart accessories.

We want to offer really useful products that age well and not just one more throwaway thing.

It is also of great importance to us that we effect the environment as little as possible. All products are therefore made in a carefully chosen studio in Spain and the leather is treated in local tanneries. They use minimal amounts of chrome and all workers have good conditions.

What inspires you to create?

We urge to create what does not already exist.

Transboundary, multifunctionality and quality is key.

What made you decide to start your own company, and what do you like most about it?

We realized that we wanted products that did not exist and that we needed to make them our self. It is liberating to be able to design products and develop a company with just a vision of something great and make it happen step by step. Just the way we want it.

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A day in the life of

TOVELISA The talented illustrator Tove Larris, the name behind the brand Tovelisa, took over our Instagram-account for a day.

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8.53: Good morning! I work as a freelance illustrator based in MalmĂś and have a flair for thin lines, ink, animals & recipes.

11.24: Picking up over 100 kg of new calendars and posters from my printer!

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12.38: Working from my home office today!

14.16: Robot in the making!

15.56: My calendar is up on NDCs shop!

Both in color and in black and white.

17.11: Eating and drawing sweets.

19.45: Today’s procrastination.

Check out the work of Tovelisa in our store!

21.33: Thanks for following my day today!

Now I’ll unwind with a bit of coloring in my coloring book.

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