Bloesem

I love Lenneke

Mister Right and his cups' are soooo high on my wish list!

Ceramics and styling by Lenneke Wispelwey from the Netherlands.

A studio tour in China with Dutch ceramic artist Carola Zee

I hope you remember this Let's Get Personal Tour with Dutch ceramic artist Carola Zee. Carola makes all her ceramic products in her studio in China... yes that's right all the way in China! In the city of Jingdezhen Carola has found a great place in a former school building inside "The Sculpture Factory".

Carola told me that in Jingdezhen the main industry is in porcelain and ceramics. which gives her the ultimate possibility to work together with many skilled craftsmen to create new products and work on special projects.

I love these pics, makes me want to work with clay too. It must be such an amazing adventure to work as a Dutch person all the way to the other side of the world, learning not only true craftmanship but also the customs and traditions of a different culture. 

   

Let's Get Personal with Carola Zee

Let's Get Personal with Carola Zee 

D:: Dutch is ... Being free and being able to follow your dreams, to follow your passion and be the creator of your own life.

E:: entrance, when entering my home you will notice... My magazine rack. It used to be a mail gathering rack for an office. I found it abandoned at an old office building. It's a great system to display all my magazines. 

S:: style, means...  Creating your own style, your own way of doing things. To be unique and true to yourself.

I:: interesting places in my city, Rotterdam are... the place I love to go for inspiration is Depot Rotterdam. This lovely store has great ideas on interior design.  I am very honored  that they also sell my work. From my very first products till now. They are very supportive of young designers. 

Another place where you can find me frequently is the Urban Espresso Bar. For their great coffee and for being a place near my home where I can always meet friends. Planned or unplanned.

   

Ceramics you will LOVE by Karen McPhail

I have to start this week with some amazing ceramics by Karen McPhail who had sent me an email telling me about her work. I absolutely love the contemporary style printed decals. The tile below with the bird calls my name! You can find Karen her website right here and some of her pieces are online available at papastour. 

Later today I will come back with a new Let's Get Personal Tour and I'm working on a small report about my visit to last weekend SaturdayInDesign in SIngapore!!

Papastour interiors

Hello Monday morning... how are you?

Papastour was one of the first online shops I wrote about here on Bloesem, december 2006, and I often go back to look at the new items in their shop but only last week I noticed theis beautiful lookbook for interiors right here... they give so much inspiration, warmness and pleasure that I wanted to share them with you... now I love seeing these styling images....styling by Rosie Brown, and photography by James Merrell  please contact Rosie for more information.

and I absolutely love these wine cups by Tom.

Iittala and Orla Kiely... 2 new gifts from my friends

Dear Bloesem readers, time to take a little break for this super tired women... after three weeks of going back and forth to Singapore, two little sons that keep me busy during their school holidays, having wonderful friends here from the Netherlands visiting us and setting up a new pillar for Bloesem, which will launch May 9, I just need to take it slowly this week and leave you with only one post... so I can get some rest and prepare a whole bunch of nice-ness for next week... i hope you understand? love irene xoxo

Like I said I have some wonderful Dutch friends over for a short visit, who I met while living in Toronto. They brought this beautiful gift for us,  a plate and two serving bowls from the new dewdrop collection called Kastehelmi by Oiva Toikka for Iittala. The plates fit perfectly well with my mix of vintage, ikea and marimekko tableware :) 

...and then I was even more lucky last week when this book arrived in my mailbox. Another gift from another friend... she is expecting her first baby any day now and I helped her creating the birth announcement, perhaps I can show you soon on BKids. The new Orla Kiely book has been on my wish-list ever since I saw it appear in the blogland and I can only say the book will not disappoint you. Pattern by Orla Kiely is absolutely very inspirational and a true feast for your eyes... who doesn't love Orla? Thanks Marjolein!

{All images by me, Irene from Bloesem}