Summer hits Sweden

 Many apologies for the lack of blog posts, I am now well underway as "painter in residence" for the company Annie Sloan who makes Chalk Paint and have been incorporating that into my styling and photography.

My second trip to Sweden in as many months was to finish the photos for the Van Asch and BVN Designs catalogues.  Primarily the front cover shot which was many days in the planning and took place a few hours drive from Stockholm at a private castle.

The furniture above is made by the lovely Isabel of BVN Designs and she has just opened her own shop in the quaint and pretty seaside town of Vaxholm.  We had a lovely day out there as it is packed full of antique and interiors shops, lovely cafes by the waterside too.

Another regular stop off for me is to visit my god-daughters grandparents in the countryside at Tjulsta.  Gunilla has such excellent taste and so many lovely old things which have been handed down through the family, here are some snippets of her old farmhouse.

Now Im back in the UK I need to crack on with the piles of furniture waiting to be painted to finish my time as "painter in residence" and then my final projects will be launched on their website in September. Heres a sneak preview of one of the new designs from Van Asch. UK buyers should be aware that Van Asch will be launching in the UK at Septembers Top Drawer in Olympia. 

Some of my original photographs should be also making their way onto some cushions, more about that later. I hope you are all having a lovely summer, whether you like the heat or not, see you back here in a few weeks.  

Swedish summer shoot - part 1

This last week has been crammed full of wonderful work and play in and around Stockholm in Sweden.  Primarily a trip to see friends and start on this seasons Van Asch photographs. 
The trip did of course, have to include some shopping and, what I call, research !

Some of you may know already that I have the great privilege of being asked by the paint maker Annie Sloan to be a "painter in residence" whereby I use her trade marked chalk paint in my styling.  The above photo features Antoinette paint and some details of the photo shoot for Van Asch and BVN Design. These two Swedish based companies have joined forces to expand their collections, Van Asch now producing fabrics and BVN using these on the furniture. UK shops should be prepared for the Swedish invasion as they will be launching in the UK later this year, I will keep you posted about that.

Shopping wise, well, we squeezed in what we could. A car boot fair was brilliant, although the weather was so hot! I found some beautiful candle sticks and a crochet throw, which will end up as props at some point. Then at the opposite end of the spectrum, we hit the old town in Stockholm, lovely winding cobbled streets with beautiful stores like Indiska and Godrum Sjoden.  These Swedish stores in particular are really embracing colourful influences from India and Eastern Europe. 

Gudrun Sjoden

Dala Horse Museum

the old town

lighting store windows

displays outside stylish shops

Indiska

Indiska

Indian cafe in the basement of Indiska

A couple of charity shops were raided for props, I saw the chair above in one and would have loved to have brought it home.

This little shop in Solentuna is now the latest Annie Sloan paint stockist and they are also stocking Van Asch cushions and bags.  The lovely lady is currently in Oxford at Chalk Paint HQ and will be setting up a facebook page on her return. Previously her parents gift shop she is in the process of revamping and re-stocking. 

Part II of the photo shoot will continue in July with some outdoor shots and new designs hot off the press.

In the meantime, Im working on some interior styling using Annie Sloan paints and also maybe photographing some more rock musicians. Who says my life isn't varied ! Lastly just before I sign off, I love this photo I took of my god-daughter so much I wanted to include it.  Vie ses snart!

Swedish Christmas Market

I'm sure we all have a pretty good idea about what a German Christmas Market has to offer now that they also seem to pop up around the UK. So, whilst it's probably not radically different, I thought some of you might like to see a traditional Swedish Christmas market.

This one was held in the Medieval town of Sigtuna. This lovely town is on the shores of a big lake and is the oldest town in Sweden. Narrow shopping streets are filled with welcoming cafes and shops and the main street leading up to the town square is where the market was held. A very popular event, the town was rammed full of people. On the whole the market was predominantly hand made goodies mixed with food stalls, the cake stall drew our attention and I do believe we 'had' to buy one of each type of cake, just to sample them all.

a huge variety of different types of wreaths

The little gnome figure can be seen a lot. He is called Tomte and is a mythological figure from Scandinavian folklore associated with the winter solstice. He is three foot tall and is a gift bearer, rather like Father Christmas.

yes, we will have one of each please.

Apologies to this handsome chap for an unflattering photo, he became known as "my future husband" for the times when I dream of marrying a Swedish Viking and run off to live in the mountains. 

these hand felted boots are very similar to the Russian Valenki boot.

Knitwear aplenty, and so lovingly made.

straw ornaments are a very popular feature, either these hanging ones or a horse figure. 

hot nuts anyone?

And then to round off the bright cold day, a sunset to be proud of.

So as they say in Sweden, God Jul to you all, lots of love to everyone who found my blog which I started this year, hope to see you again soon.