Oh finally, after years of thinking about it, we have dared to introduce jewellery. And what a fantastic brand to try it out with. Våga (Swedish word for dare) is a Swedish brand established in 2007 by two cousins with an eye and passion for classic designs with a little twist. They create lovely designs full of fun as well as simple and yet bold. All jewellery is nickel and led free.
Kara
Heart
Oslo
Austin
Karina
Sallys
Sally
I am delighted to be able to introduce their brand to our little shop. It sure makes the shop look very lovely and after years of supplying the lovely jewellery trees from Pluto Produkter it is nice to fill them with stunning necklaces and bracelets.
Addie in grey
Addie in coffee
Aira
Christa in cream
Christa in black
It is a bit tricky with jewellery, mostly since it is very rare I wear any myself. Wore a lot as a teenager, especially big earrings and had a thing for pearls. These days nothing, well one ring, my engagement ring. Not even a watch any more since I always have my phone with me. Why no jewellery? Well I like to blame it on the girls, but that is not an excuse really! You can still look smart even though you have children! Guess I just got used to not wearing any, but I think it is time for a little change. Am kind of in love with these bracelets and love the simplicity of the tiny heart necklace as well as some of the more chunky statement necklaces. Yes it is definitely time for me to start wear more jewellery.
Thank you Våga for making me dare something new! Hope you enjoy them too.
Yay finally time for a new competition on our Facebook (make sure you join in)! A little Mother’s Day competition if you like. And this time we have teamed up with amazing Sagaform. We love Sagaform and so delighted their functional and happy designs are a part of our shop. I believe most of us have one or two of Sagaforms lovely designs in our homes. So what is the prize? Not one but two of these super sweet green houses is the prize for our lucky winner(s). Like us on Facebook and find our more.
This greenhouse comes in three colours, pink, sage and lavender. And they belong to the Green range. I am a little bit in love. I love plants but they don’t seem to love me. But hey maybe I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!
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.
Oh Spring is in the air even though it is proper raw and unfriendly outside. It sure is happy and colourful in here. Lovely Ruth took some photos yesterday, so why not have a little brows though or why not pop in during the week and check it out for your self. More lovely Spring collections are on their way! Love new seasonal designs. So happy and bright! Welcoming colours and designs do cheer me up!
And yes we do not have a fancy camera, just my old phone who is in desperate need of an upgrade or ready to move on to a new home. So no the images are not showing off the products as they should…but hey you get the idea :)
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!!!
This is a lovely list of independent boutiques in Edinburgh and we are included in the top ten. Us a tiny tiny shop, but hey it is true…we are all in for Scandinavian designs! And we do really work hard on being a bit different, and as you can tell when you enter the shop, we also love colours and happy designs. Scandinavian designs is not only about expensive furniture and clean lines, it is for me more about personality, colour and functional designs. We Swedes are very house proud hence why seasonal designs is so important, but for me it is not about showing of my expensive furniture (maybe because I don’t have any) it is more personal and more about making your home comfortable and welcoming. Your home should be where you close the door behind you, kick of your shoes and just breath, leave the worlds problems outside and just relax.
And I hope that we kind of do that, making your home a little bit more personal by being happy, different and stylish and yes of course Scandinavian because that I am and a very proud one too.
The girls, Richard and myself are delighted that you have found us and thank you for being part of our success. We will continue to hopefully make a lot of people very happy with cheerful gifts and treats for their homes.
Yes I shall order more blankets and throws from Swedish Klippan! Have had quite a few people in during the weekend asking if we will get more in since it is rather cold outside and we have hardly any left in the shop. Do have a brows through their catalogues on their website and let me know if you like to order one for yourself. Give us a ring 0131 629 0941 or email me at hello@spektakular.co.uk for prices. Or why not just pop in to the shop and have a little chat and see what we have left.
We do love our blankets, warm, cosy and welcoming!
So after two days in the shop I have changed it around and managed to squeeze in what we had left of Christmas in a few shelves (will get packed up next week). Also left a massive to do list for Zuzanna (she was impressed…or not). We still have a little sale on so why not pop in and have a brows.
Yesterday I packed up our Christmas window display and created a winter display. Warm blues and purples colours, cosy cushions and blanket. Also this stunning silence print by One Must Dash.
Love to fill up my home with happy prints. It is just so welcoming.
This time of year I am all about relaxing, reading books and looking at that knitting of mine thinking, yeah I shall create a stunning jumper (one day, one day)! Also this is the time of year I like to organize our home, well I like the idea. Go through cupboards and the girls clothing, writing dinner list and get back in to thinking healthy. It is also time of the year when we do a stock take at the shop, sorting all the paperwork and thinking ahead regarding the shop. There are a few ideas we will try to get down on paper during January, some might even be worth following up. It is also time for the big fairs, and the Spring/Summer catalogues has already arrived and a few more is on it way, so I have plenty of ideas. Think I also need to order a few more throws because we hardly have any left and there is still a couple of cold months ahead of us and with this storm on its way I am glad I have my own woolly throws here at home.
Right Lovisa is having a little nap and Stina and I will have a look at one of her crafting Christmas gifts. This should be fun! I think I need to make myself some coffee first!
Now is the time for me to reflect on 2014, but somehow I am not sure I am completely done yet, you know sitting down thinking it through properly, will I ever?
But what I do know is that Spektakulär has had a amazing year, we sadly sad good bye to some brilliant staff but we also welcomed in Ruth to join and we sure love having her in the shop. So Zuzanna, Ruth and myself, well it looks like we will be the ones that will look after you in 2015 as well! We have seen so many new and returning customers in the shop and we love it. I personally love the chat, happy comments and how friendly you all are. Owning a small independent shop sure give you so much back, and no I am not talking about money, if I did I am not sure we would still be around. I love being amongst the designs and products in the shop, I love going home and explore my favourite shops in Sweden. Meeting my suppliers and explore new designs. I enjoy the chats with other shop owners and we all work together, give ideas and tips, both here in the UK and in Sweden. But most of all I enjoy being in the shop, you our customers do brighten up our days with your sweet comments. And that our shop is a bit different, well that means we got it right. I do try my best to find new and exciting designs. We do enjoy colour and also good functional designs that brings a smile to your face.
2015 we welcome you and hope you bring happiness and joy to all of us. Let’s make it our year! Our plans for Spektakular is that we will give the shop a little love in January, paint and a proper clean. We will sort out or gift vouchers, it is not that hard just on our to do list which never seem to get any shorter. The webshop, yes that is my project and I will get going in January as soon as we have packed away Christmas, done a little stock take and then I just need to get in to the mood. Any new designs? Oh yes! Of course! I have a long list and we will introduce quite a few new brands to the shop this Spring.
Thank you all for your lovely comments and thank you for your support, supporting local shops this year has been big and we can tell. Please keep supporting your local butchers, book shops, coffee shops and small independent gift shops just like ours. Thank you and we all hope to see you in 2015.
Welcome to Spektakulär 