Style & Decor Blog

I’m feeling very Scandi today.

Having come straight from CityLine, where I styled a very merry Marimekko-inspired tabletop (the episode airs Tuesday, July 28th - check it out!), I’m seeing Scandinavian style everywhere - including (new this week!) the stunning Muuto collection at Hollace Cluny.

Muuto is a Nordic design company that hand picks designers from Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark for a high-impact line of furniture and accessories that follow a “less is more” approach – products that are light, bright and airy, but also pack wholloping great bucketloads of punch.

Just check out some of the Muuto pieces that Hollace Cluny is carrying…

As I mentioned in Home & Style in the August issue of Style At Home, origami-inspired whiteware is totally hot, and Julien De Smedt’s “Crushed Bowls” is another architectural twist on this trend. “The Crushed Bowls show big-scale architecture applied on small scale objects,” says Julien. “The bowls are composed of equilateral triangles and principles we use for big-scale computer modeling.”

Louise Campbell’s “The More the Merrier Candlestick” marries baroque decadence with spare Scandinavian style - two forces normally at odds with each other, but melded together, make for a striking centerpiece. “As the saying goes, the more elements you join together, the merrier the result,” says Louise. “The design is a blend of the formal and informal.”

Although it’s a sculpture in its own right, Jakob Wagner’s “Flow” is actually a fully functional jug. “With the shape of the jug I wanted to tell a straightforward story about its functional anatomy,” Jakob explains. “A large hole to fill up the jug, a small hole to pour, a low centre of gravity, and a middle area to get a firm grip.”

And how’s this for a splash of summery brights? (After the summer we’ve been having, we can all use a touch of this uplifting hue…) Jens Fager’s “Raw”collection of chairs, side tables and candelabras are made from wood that’s hand-carved with a band saw machine, and finished in an array of vivid colours.

For a “virtual tour” of Susan Fowlie’s impeccably curated collection at Hollace Cluny in Toronto, check out the September issue of Style At Home – on newsstands soon! (Subscribers will be getting their copies this week!)

Muuto at Hollace Cluny, Toronto, 416-968-7894

It’s hard to believe that a month has passed since I was in Copenhagen… Where did June go?!?  I’m still sorting through my snaps from my Adventures in IKEAland, and came across these shots of the unbelievably beautiful (and incredibly romantic) Rosenborg Castle.

Situated in the middle of the King’s Gardens, which itself lies in the heart of Copenhagen, Rosenborg was built by Denmark’s King Christian IV (the founder of much of Copenhagen as we know it) as a country summerhouse in the early 1600s. Not a bad pile of bricks to call a cottage, eh?

One of my friends commented on how the building reminded him of Amsterdam, and there’s a reason for that: the castle’s built in the Dutch Renaissance style that was all the rage in the early 17th century, and informed a lot of Danish architecture of the period that still stands today.

Rosenborg now houses the Danish crown jewels, which although breathtaking, take a back seat, as far as I’m concerned, to the architecture…

  I mean, check out the woven-cane-patterned mullions on this window… The attention to detail is mind-blowing!

There’s barely a stretch of 10 feet across Rosenborg’s facade that doesn’t fascinate with an intriguing little gem, including this weather-beaten bronze bust, constantly keeping a baleful eye on visitors.

Sometimes a picture just speaks for itself.

A brilliant azure sky, soft pink rhododendrons (they grow like weeds throughout Copenhagen!), and the vivid cyan of a tarnished bronze statue conspire to form a lasting impression in the King’s Gardens at the heart of Copenhagen.

The King’s Gardens, Copenhagen

I’m really loving the new Edland collection at IKEA, and 99% of that love affair lies in the lower half of each piece – those cabriole legs are such an elegant detail, providing a light, graceful contrast to the otherwise imposing stained pine. I’d love to pair the dressing table with a prettily-printed skirted Parsons chair… It could even double as a home office workstation… 

Edland dressing table, $249

Edland bedside table, $129

What I’m most pumped about, though, is my exclusive preview of the new IKEA PS Collection next week… Tomorrow, I leave for Almhult, Sweden (the worldwide base of operations for IKEA!), to interview the delightful Wiebke Braasch, a designer behind two of the products in the exciting new line. Can’t wait to see what she’s cooked up for us this time, as her resume for IKEA includes the popular Skimra lampshades (the ones with that you can switch out in any number of colours)…

And the Vano easy chair…

Following that, I’m off to Copenhagen to soak up Danish design in its natural habitat… So crazy cited!

I’ll be blogging throughout my trip, so stayed tuned over the next week for some Scandinavian sweetness…

Woo-hoo!

The Embassy of Denmark in Ottawa really appreciated a story I’d written on Danish design greats for the February 2009 issue of Style At Home, and have featured it on their website! (You can download a PDF of the original story by clicking on the link on the top right of that page.) What an honour!

Carl Hansen’s Wishbone Chair, Carl Hansen & Son

My style-sleuthing is leading me to Copenhagen this summer and I came across these crazy Danish digs…

Hotel Fox is situated in the heart of the Danish capital, and touts itself as “the world’s most exciting and creative lifestyle hotel”. Designed by 21 international artists from the fields of graphic design, urban art and illustration, Hotel Fox is a gallery of 61 no-two-alike rooms of sheer, wacked-out whimsy… 

My fave room is the “King’s Court 1″, designed by Birgit Amadori of Germany. A little bit fairy tale, a little bit Manga, it’s spare but strangely sumptuous at the same time. I’m also a sucker for great blue-and-white combos. And the Medusa on the walls is so very Versace!

Andreas Mindt’s startling “Highlights” room breathes life into the stark simplicity of an achromatic scheme with flowing lines and a real sense of motion. Not a room you’d want to be in after a dizzying night of partying, though.

Brisbane design collective Rinzen, conceived the “Dryads” room as a playful little fantasy-land. The raised bed is intended to suggest “walking into the heart of the forest”, surrounded by trees and fallen foliage. 

Light, bright and refreshingly bonkers! I wonder what it would be like in person…

Check out the other 58 rooms here!

All images courtesy of Hotel Fox

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