And we are back in Edinburgh… Oh yes I shall take time and sit down and write all about our holiday in Sweden, don’t you worry! I am back a few kilo heavier (thank you amazing food) and all of us have a tint of green hair (yes mum lives on the countryside with their own well, and yes more minerals than expected) heard people pay lots of money for it!
First day back at the shop and I got an fantastic offer for you all this weekend and this weekend only. On Monday the shop will be closed until it is freshly painted and a few new shelves are up and looking very Scandi again. It is time for some love…
And for this reason (no of course we are not closing down) we have a flash sale today Saturday 8th and tomorrow Sunday 9th. So come on in and enjoy 20% off everything and I mean everything, including the already marked down sale stock.
So now is the time for that Pappelina rug, the wedding gift, new house, new baby, best friend or why not that amazing treat you have looking at for some time!
I am in all day, will close at 18.00 tonight so do pop in and say hi, who knows you might just find that perfect gift.
Oh happiness! I always get so excited when we take on a new brand to the shop. Spira Inredning is a lovely brand focusing on joy and playful colours that create positive energy. I personally love Spira due it’s quality and boldness in colour. Great about Spira as well is that even though they bring a new collection twice a year, new designs and previous designs can work together.
Summery
Welcoming
Spira Collection
Spira
I have had my eyes on Spira for years and see them quite often when I am home. And am delighted to introduce them to the shop, and I am also delighted to see how positive the response has been!
Teatowels in summery green
Spira is based in Borås in Sweden! Borås is the textile town of Sweden. Handy for me that I am from the small town next to it. So shall try to book in a proper visit to them this summer when we are home.
So it is time for another Pappelina order and yes there is a new catalouge, sadly not with us yet, but online…check it out.
Oh so many new lovely designs, oh I get all excited! Contemporary, stylish and so Swedish! I love it and I struggle a lot, oh which ones to pick for the shop? Hmm I might go a little bit crazy! And I love their cushions! Oh the feel just make you think of quality! No there is probably no need for me to go on, I love Pappelina and I am delighted how many of you do it too. See, you start with one then you get hooked!!!
I am about to place next order Monday 16th February (or Tuesday) so if you like to add a special one for yourself or a loved on let me know before then please. Pop in for a little chat, have a feel and check out the ones we have in store at the moment, call us 0131 6290941 or email me at hello@spektakular.co.uk for more information. Please do remember these lovely plastic rugs are made in Sweden and it is a delicate procedure so the delivery time can take up to six weeks. But it sure is worth the wait!
So am following all these bloggers, instagram, shop owners, suppliers and designers from both amazing Top Drawer and Home in London and Formex in Stockholm. Oh yes I am in shopping mood! Now after we have cleared up the shop from Christmas stock and are working our way through the stock take I am totally ready to do a little make over in the shop. What is on trend…well in Sweden all about organic foods and materials plus a lot of soft neutral colours like soft pinks, lilacs, eucalyptus, greys, mints and so on. The Nordic Neat, Nordic Essence, Nordic Motion and Nordic Folklore. It is more and more common that you find food in interior design shops as well as restaurants starting to look at clever designs and interiors for a new look. To follow a trend can be quite tricky and I admire designers who get it perfectly right and I love when a design really shows the love behind it. Also reading about trends and how to approach them is extremely interesting. One man I admire a lot is Ernst Kirchsteiger and his way of thinking regarding trends is quite healthy. In an interview he mentions that you need to look at trends as the topping in the cake. You need a stable base and a trend should just be the bright red cherry on the top. It sure sounds very close to my own heart and ideas. Do not overdo it…everything does not have to match, it is more about you and your personality than the interior design magazines.
Formex in Sweden is now the biggest meeting place for Nordic interior design. With 850 exhibitors and over 25000 visitors from all over the world. This is the place for a lady like me should be…sadly I never seem to make it! We say it every year and this year we actually started to plan to go in August, because it would be great to see new and exciting Christmas designs. But of course it turns out it will take place the same time Stina starts P1…sigh! Oh well we still have a few months to work out a solution. Formex is the place where you can also make a name. I just read a lovely article about Lina Rickardsson, the founder of Pappelina. Pappelina turns 15 years this year and it is fascinating to see how it all started and how well they are doing all over the world. Plus I like her as person, that always helps.
I watched the Swedish morning news and saw a few bits from the Formex fair. One bit was about what is on trend at the moment and they had chosen to film and show off a brand I adore a lot. Well done Västergården! You got it right, how to mix handmade tableware with organic foods. And I was very delighted to see Gustav Hallen win the Formaidable award for his flask Accent designed for Sagaform. I love flasks and I have tried this and it is superb. The design is a classic 1970’s TV flask, but with a modern twist focusing on the modern kitchen handles and stylish lid. It should be drip free (for the ladies who worry about their tablecloth, or mums like me who seem to spill everywhere), comfortable to pour from and also keep the heat. It is stylish and ergonomically well done! Congratulations we say! And guess what it has arrived! You can buy the happy blue (with blue and purple lids) or the stylish black (with black and lime lids).
Winner at Formex 2015
A flask to me is great. When I was home with Lovisa I poured the left over coffee from the pot in my flask in the morning, headed across town to nursery to drop off Stina, came home an hour later and had a hot cup of coffee. When we have guests over for a fika there is always coffee in the flask, hot and ready for the second cup. So why are flasks not as popular in the UK as in Sweden? Maybe because here it is more common to use a cafetiere or a fancy machine rather than a coffee maker (which I am a big fan of). And the take away culture is rather big here. We have a massive coffee culture in Sweden as well but the take away is not as big as here. You meet your friends at a cafe or at someone’s home instead of grabbing a coffee on the go. As you shold know by now is that we take our FIKA extremely seriously…don’t mess with it…so I wonder if the take away culture will ever break through?!
Had a look through Sagaforms Spring Summer 2015 catalogue and yes we will try out some of there more FUNctional kitchen designs (very clever ideas). More about that later because now it is time to get moving, need to prepare some orders!!!
YES the shop has transformed into Christmas and it is warm and welcoming and absolutely jammed packed and I am amazed how fantastic all the staff have worked. So hard, well done ladies (and Richard of course).
Huss star in black
So after a long weekend, well started mid week last week really with the big pallet deliveries and then a few late nights, Richard took time off his normal job and grandparents arrived to look after our girls, the shop is now a proper Scandinavian gift and Christmas shop.
I LOVE IT! What I love the most is all the beautiful stars and candle bridges . They sure brighten up the shop and already many peoples homes. Richard and I hung up all the stars in the window on Sunday morning and then in the evening Richard, myself, Zuzanna and Ruth was joined by Åsa and Emma (who has not worked in the shop since Spring time) and it was so nice to catch up and I think they enjoyed it too. Emma and also Joanne will come back and cover a few dates from mid November and December which will be great. Both Zuzanna and Ruth have their own businesses and are super busy at the moment so it will be nice to have Emma and Joanne around as well.
Ladies at work…Progress
After many hours of hard work, a short mulled wine pit stop (including cake and apple crumble) we had enough and went home and I think that was the first night in a VERY long time I woke up by the alarm. Thank you children! Then back again, Richard was sent on a mission and Ruth and I continued to unpack and organise the shop yesterday and today I unpacked the last boxes and have a lovely print delivery to unpack tomorrow.
Leave you with images from the shop…
LED lights…genius for us with children , animals or just a little bit forgetful.Hello… Cute Santa tealight holder by Cult DesignCharming Tomtar by Naasgransgarden. Hugo lantern with friendsStunning Foxes pattern by Swedish AlmedahlJangneus tea towels and dishclothsJulia Cocktail Tray and Ester and Eriks stunning cone candlesCharming beautiful tealight holders by Pluto and Snow Princess trayMetasol in silver and redLove these Viking Candle Bridges, stylish way to brighten up your homeLovely gifts or treatsLOVILove LOVIPluto has done it again, beautifully detailed decorations.
Please do pop in and say hi. Hope you will love the shop as much as we do… I will post a album on our Facebook page with all our beautiful stars and candle bridges, but it will be another day because now I need to go to bed.
Lets take a spin around the shop this windy day! Ruth took a few images yesterday so here is some inspiration!
Enjoy!
Tea mugs and tea infusers by Danish Zone, happy and functionalJust love the happy colours on the Tea mugs (or as Ruth said, perfect little soup cup).Small baskets by Danish Zone, good for everything, make up, bread, keys anything at all really!FIKA, my favourite time of the day.In grey, turquoise and red, large mugs perfect for that big cup of coffee!Yay house tealight holders are back in, two sizes in white or zink.Love these, so atmospheric! Black on the outside and gold on the inside, give a warm light!These beautiful tealight holders by Danish Zone is a perfect little gift or treatThese stylish tealight holders by Danish KJ Collection is making beautiful shadows when lit up.Beautiful LOVI here with a heart warming tealight holder by Danish KJ CollectionIt is back in the shop, the Pasta server/grater by Swedish Sagaform. Super popular gift for the pasta lover!
These Picknick Hors d’oeuvres by Swedish Almedahl are stylish to serve nibbles on.Almdahls Herb Garden is a pretty gift for the kitchen! Love it!The Red Fox is my favourite pattern, childhood memories and a Christmas song spring to my mind.Beautiful Retro Design from Swedish Almedahl
I am trying to puzzle where every product and design will go this Christmas (including twelve new candle frames) and I kind of wish I had a bigger shop! One day, one day ;)
So I am finally catching up with all my posts and so on and hopefully I shall be better at posting images from the shop regularly before Christmas. Delivery after delivery is arriving at the moment and one brand I am VERY excited to receive in again is Star Trading. A Christmas at Spektakulär without our lovely, stunning, welcoming Advent stars and Candle Bridges would not be as amazing and fantastic as a Scandi Christmas should be!
So this summer when we where at home for our holidays we took the opportunity to visit Star Trading in Svenljunga, about 1.5 hours drive from my mum. Not bad at all, so packed up and headed over for a little visit. Right, when we arrived, I think all of us, including a then 16 month old girl, first impression walking in through the doors to a 900 sqm showroom was WOW! We were all stunned and amazed, it was massive! And it was beautiful!!! Sadly non of my camera phone images does justice to how it truly was, so just imagine: brighter, bigger and more colourful!
Welcome to Star Trading!!!
It was very difficult to capture that amazing feeling of walking in to this room. It just went on and on. The girls and Richard disappeared in the back among the massive Christmas trees and of course cuddly toys that sang Christmas songs. They managed to set them all off at one time and Richard did say he never wanted to hear one of those again. But the girls were delighted.
Lovisa and Stina at Star trading, found the cuddly singing toys!
Malin and Mikael took me on a tour and we left 2.5 hours later, all exhausted but happy. I felt extremely inspired and excited. The colours of this year is grey, white and red and the shop will look so stunning. Our biggest order ever of Christmas lightning is leaving Sweden this week and I shall make sure I can be in the shop when this pallet arrives because as a shop owner every day is like Christmas when we get deliveries. Some more than others!
This year we have introduced a few more candle bridges, pretty stars, led candles (great if you young children or animals) and lots more Scandi decorative designs.
I leave you with a few happy images from our visit, think they will explain it better than my words…
And do pop in after 3rd November since the shop will look like a little Scandi Christmas shop then. Previous and current staff will come in on Sunday the 2nd and while drinking mulled wine we will create a wonderful winter shop for you!
Inspiration, these knitted balls light chain is on its way!Lovisa and Richard checked out every design in the whole showroom!The Viking Bow will join us again together with a friend.Bull Candle Bridge in White is one of my favourites!Trapp in white, red and grey will join us this WinterWall of colourful starsColourful
Love this one, TOP in two sizes. Will look stunning on an occasion table or in a window!Must admit it is VERY difficult to decided which ones to bring in to our shop.LED Candles, I love candles and with small children running around these is a great and safe option.Lovisa and starsStina found a table a magically pens and paper appeared so she was happy colouring in while Lovisa found some stones (on display) and brought Stina one by one.
Do pop in for inspiration after 3rd November. Of course anyone can create a Scandi Christmas!
Hooray! Time for another Pappelina order. They are so popular and I am so pleased how delighted our customers are with their plastic rugs and coming back for more, just like us working here at Spektakulär. We all love our rugs!
I am so excited to let you know that Pappelina has introduced a new size, so now there is two designs with the new 85 cm width size. Some of you find their standard 70 cm too slim and I am so pleased to see the new size. Hopefully it will make some of you very happy. The two new designs in 85 cm is called MONO and DUO and their lengths are 160 cm or 260 cm. The designs are simple yet classic. MONO is plain with two similar colours to create a warm and welcoming feeling and DUO is a lovely stripy design, we Swedes do love our stripes.
MONO Pappelina rug in Olive and Lime green. Image by PappelinaDUO in Warm Grey and Vanilla. Image by Pappelina
Not only is Pappelina incredible at making beautiful plastic rugs at a high standard, together with with Swedish Klippan Pappelina has created the most stunning blankets in high quality. The Honey blanket is a new favourite for me. In 50% Wool and 50% Cotton Chenille, the softness is amazing and to be honest, how sad this may sound, I am looking forward to a dull dark Autumn evening with a cup of tea, candle lights, cuddling up in a warm cozy blanket with a good book.
Beautiful Honey Blanket in Turquoise/Vanilla. Image by PappelinaStylish Marre in Black/Vanilla. Image by Pappelina
Oh the shop will look fantastic in a few months, lots of cozy blankets, stunning rugs and I love their super stylish cushions. Pappelina has introduce more cushions in pretty designs and bold colours. These cushions are printed in Sweden at Rydboholmstextil and the cover is in 100% cotton canvas. The cushions come completed with a feather inner.
Super Stylish Cushions in stunning designs and colours. Image by Pappelina
What I personally love about Pappelina is the quality. Just the feeling and the look at a Pappelina product make you warm inside. It is good quality design that lasts. While I was home this time I saw many plastic rugs by other brands and I am so pleased that I never ever thought of stocking anyone else then Pappelina. I have seen horrible copies, no edges (basically just cut off, and then folded and sewn over to create an edge). And then if you feel them, they have been thin and far less comfortable underfoot.
I am saving up for a new rug or perhaps two more. One large for under my dining table and one super long for my hallway, but since I have a kind of funny shaped hallway I might need a super long and two small ones…oh I better set up a secret Pappelina saving account, I hope Richard does not read this!
If you like to know more about Pappelina, check out their website. It is a very stylish website and their images are beautiful. There you can find all their designs, colours and sizes. However do pop in, call us on 0131 629 0941 or email me at hello@spektakular.co.uk if you like any more information, we are happy to help. Our next order will be placed on Monday and we normally say about six weeks for delivery, but recent orders has turned up within three to four weeks. If they don’t have them in stock they will make the rug for us. If you can not make up your mind straight away, we place orders regularly and I am ordering in quite a few rugs to the shop so you can always come in and have a feel and look.
There is no denying that Menu is a stunning brand with sophisticated and stylish designs. Menu collaborate with talented designers who more than often produced award winning designs. The thought behind each design is carefully consider and loved. The passion behind Menus’ products are reflected in their designs. Menu are obsessed with clever solutions and functional details They believe it is “because that’s the originality that makes it a true Menu product”.
When I see my agent (lovely Carole) I always feel so excited, it is different to see a design online or in a catalogue compared to see and feel a beautiful product in real life. And with Menu I never get disappointed! It is SOOOOOO hard to choose what to introduce to the shop.
But as with every brand I can not stock it all I have to pick what I believe would do well with you our customers. And now I am delighted to introduce two new collections in their table top designs. Stitches and Leaf! It was love at first sight when I saw these.
Are these not just so elegant?! Clean lines, simple and yet sophisticated! Menu is well know for its crisp designs and they call their designs for soft minimalism, I would agree!
Oh I can just picture these wonderful designs in a minimalistic and modern kitchen, great when hosting an elegant afternoon party or why not in a homely and warm kitchen. A cup of tea, scones, knittings and lots of gossip among good friends. The big Stitches bowl will end up in my own home, ready to be filled with Clementine at Christmas.
A couple of years back a gang of Swedish ladies with young children started to meet up. The main purpose was to sing traditional Swedish nursery rhymes with our bilingual children. To keep the Swedish going and support each other, because for anyone out there with bilingual children, you know what I am talking about…it is bloody hard! I struggle so much to speak only Swedish with Stina and even Lovisa who does not even answer me back yet. It comes and goes in periods but sometimes I feel a genuine heartache when Stina tells me to read a Swedish story in English instead so she can understand it. The support from other people in the same situation is great to have around, to get some tips and ideas. Richard understand more Swedish than I think he does and he uses a lot of Swedish words at home which is great and helpful.
This Summer we are heading home for almost all of August and the main reason for a long holiday at home is for Stina and Lovisa to be surrounded by Swedish. Of course to spend time with family and friends and get lots of inspiration for the shop but mostly the language. Now these days I guess these lovely sing gatherings is more about the mums drinking LOTS of coffee and gossiping but at least it is in Swedish. We still sing but maybe not as much as we did in the beginning. Sadly not everyone are able to make it these days (myself included). We all work and have busy lifestyles. But I hope after the Summer holidays we will work a bit harder to meet up more often.
Last Midsummer my friend Linda and her husband Craig invited us all to a Swedish/Scottish Midsummer and it was such a hit they invited us all again this year (believe it will be a new tradition). Truly amazing, they have done such a great job. A Maypole, Swedish food, BBQ, Strawberry cake and dance.
Getting ready for the dancing!Sma Grodorna song!Let me join…Bjornen soverEnd the dance with the rocket!
Last year I missed the dance since I had hidden somewhere to feed the then two month old baby, but this year she happily joined in and it was great fun. Sadly not as many Swedes this year, but still lovely to catch up with those who made it.
Our lovely host Linda! Schnapps time
Ate a little bit too much of the Swedish Midsummer food, so skipped the BBQ to save space for the cake and coffee instead. I do hope all of you enjoyed this Midsummer and I hope rest of the Summer will be warm and happy!
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