I am so excited I’m afraid I might explode. I just got the incredible news that I’m going to Japan in either September or October! I entered a essay contest held by the Japanese Embassy in Iceland and was one of two candidates to win a 10 day study trip to Japan!
I get to live with a Japanese family for a few days and travel around Japan, go to Hiroshima! I still can’t believe it, it will certainly be a trip of a lifetime!
My two favorite artist Junko Mizuno and Friends With You just launched some awesome new products on Kid Robot.
First of all, Junko Mizuno’s new blind-boxed mini figures from Pure Trance. These are soooo pretty. Looks like they are made the same way as the limited edition Keiko the director and Nurse Kaori figurines that came out in 2007. I have the Keiko one myself and it’s absolutely beautiful, so well made. Here are some pictures.
Then there are the Friends With You limited prints that just came out. I am in love with these, all of them! I think the first one is my favorite though. What’s better than a Malfi-Pear!
Pretty pretty! Happy weekend everyone!
It’s the start of my summer vacation from the music school so I’m planning how to make the most of it.
The company I’m a part of: Fafu is now on full blast and I’m working on the first line of toys which will be most likely made of bamboo. We’ve found a great marketing guru and a great business guru to join our group so now there are five of us. We’ve gotten a free office space through an organization here in Reykjavík and I’m so excited about the whole thing!
I’ll also be working on my personal designs over the summer and entering some competitions. I hope to open my Etsy store as soon as I get my Paypal account fixed.
Saturday was the start of the 101tokyo, Encounter Japan fest in the Nordic House in Reykjavík. I’m super excited about it and will be attending most of the lectures and events. I’m mostly looking forward to a lecture next Saturday on Japanese design and a seminar in Tea Drinking Ceremonies. There will also be movies showing, concerts and seminars in Sushi making and Calligraphy.
My darling husband got back home last night from a trip to Barcelona. He got me some super awesome gifts from a Japanese store called Momo
Here’s what he got me:
A cute Panda-with-undies-on-it’s-head-stamp, a beautiful wood-carved, marble crest stamp, Japanese ink pad and a Kimono pin!
Everything came so nicely packed with stickers and stamps and a pretty, little origami butterfly. I can’t get myself to throw these away.
While Ragnar was in Barcelona, I practiced my crocheting skills since my sister in law is having a baby any minute now. My sister has the book Amigurumi World by Ana Paula Rimoli and I decided to try making some Amigurumi. Here are the results:
Happy octopus.
Twin cupcakes.
And last but not least, I plan on crocheting a lid cover for this jar here. It contains my Marimo (named Marínó, after Ragnar’s grandfather, very convenient). This is the before picture. The after picture coming soon…
Marínó the marimo.
I found this on the infamous Cuteoverload today, and it’s probably one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen!
It’s addictive!!!!
Chilling on my new mushroom stool.
Winning a race, yay!
Taking a bath at my sisters kitty’s place.
Giving mom’s kitty a kiss…aawwww.
About three times a week, I go over to Mod Cloth’s website and dream about all their beautiful stuff. They have everything, and it’s not expensive either. I would love to have all this stuff an dress up in styles from a different era every day. Here are some of my favorites.
This would be my ideal hostess dress. Bun in the hair, a scarf down the back and a pair of delicate heels. It’s sold out.
I’ve been watching a lot of Mad Men. This dress would fit right in.
The romper is in this summer. I would need to slim down for this one. It’s too cute with a 50’s feel.
High waist jeans with sailor buttons.
The perfect 50’s bathing suite. Comes in plus sizes too.
50’s bikini.
Cute sailor undies.
I am in love with these. They don’t match anything I own but I want them sooo bad. They would look so good with a knee long 80’s dress with poofy shoulders and oversized glasses.
Another pair that would not match anything I own but I still want.
These 60’s boots are sold out but soooo nice.
Red wedges!
No summer in Iceland is complete without an umbrella. This one would look good with a trench coat.
Happy summer!
Do you guys of the 80’s remember these? I had the mouse, and wore it with pride hehe.
Taken from this site here.
Hello there
I’m still here. It’s springtime in Iceland which makes me very very happy.
We are crawling out of our cocoons after a very hard winter of unfortunate events. This whole economical situation has been taking it’s toll on people and we’re all hoping that it will start getting better when our newly voted government has settled and started making decisions to get us out of this.
I’m one of the lucky ones, I’ve got no children to feed, I’m not paying apartment or car loans (although I am in debt after my studies) and I have a job. It’s a tough time for us product designers though, we need to create our own opportunities and it’s hard to get started without money. I think about it every day if I chose the wrong profession but it’s best to think of this as a temporary situation.
On the lighter note (lol), I’ve got big plans for the summer, I’m trying to make use of all design contests I can find. There is one here in Iceland that is about designing things including Icelandic wool and I’m making a product based on my Bentey idea. There are some good ones on Designboom also.
I also have plans with Fafu the toy company that I’m helping start. We just got a pretty decent grant and we’re planing on teaching a course this summer in product design for children. It should be loads of fun. The costumes on the page is our first product line, we are hoping they will bring in some more funds so we can start product designing and development.
I need to get my thoughts together and start organizing to get the most out of the summer. I’m trying to cut down on computer use since I feel it’s taking up too much of my time. We’ve all ready gotten rid of the old tv. We don’t watch much of it anyways but I always seem to find a new time thief. Now I’m reading a lot, which I feel is a lot better than looking at gossip sites though. My dad got me hooked on Kurt Vonnegut, so I read Slaughterhouse five, God bless you Mr. Rosewater and Player Piano. All equally good although I think I enjoyed Player Piano the most. Then I got hooked on Ernest Hemingway, also a great, great writer. I started with The sun also rises, then The old man and the sea and most recently The Torrents of Spring. All good but I really enjoyed The sun also rises. Beautiful story. Then after hearing about David Lynch’s biggest influences I decided to try Franz Kafka. I started with The Metamorphosis and am now reading The trial. I can’t believe I never read anything by these guys before. They are all totally different but I enjoy all of their work equally. Now I’ve got a huge Kafka book on my nightstand with all his work and two Hemingway books. They kinda balance each other out lol. I’ve got Kafka for those longings for the cold-uncomfortable-slap-in-the-face moments and Hemingway for those romantic-beautified-adventurous moments.
Speaking of David Lynch, one of my biggest influences in life. He came to Iceland last weekend and I went to see him speak about Transcendental Mediation. It was an amazing experience and I couldn’t leave without getting up on stage afterward for an autograph on my Twin Peaks collection and a photo:
Sorry about the ranting, had to get these things out and feel better all ready!
by artist Chris Ryniak
I’m such a sucker for cute creatures with black beady eyes!
My Pippi stool is on Dwell’s website yay!
…looks like they got some info wrong, designed by me, made by Context and sold on Brikiland hmmmm.