Well, winter looming outside our doors and we’re all spending a lot more time around the house and finally getting around to framing art and finding places to hang them. We have a couple of interesting antique Japanese *correction – Chinese scrolls (I bought these from a shop in Japan)* that we thought we should share with you. One is finding its home in a narrow wall in our bathroom to the right of the sink.

It is the popular motif of the plum blossom, but this one is the lucky double plum blossom *peach blossom?* ensuring a good spring. It’s a nice reminder during winter, the promise of the spring to come. Also, the artist used their finger print to make all of the little dots – I think that little bit of charm was what encouraged me to buy it.

A closeup detail of the finger prints used for the blossoms.

The other is just a fun piece that I bought for Elodie. When I saw the cats, bamboo and flowers I thought it would look great in her future bedroom. Plus one of the cats looks just like Isha! Elodie really likes this piece, she likes counting the cats.

Last night we had our opening of the LATrE indigo exhibition and capsule shop here at Mjölk. We are all huge fans of LATrE, and thought it would be very interesting to ask Brian to come up with a conceptual collection of home wares utilizing his impeccable sourcing skills, craftsmanship and of course his Indigo dyes.

In the front window Brian’s friend and merchandiser Jodee set up a beautiful display taking all of the tools from Brian’s workshop and transplanting to the store to show the equipment used in his dyeing process. This combined with the Dead stock WWII army tent turns the tools into artifacts of survival.

You can see the mason jars in the background with indigo dye.

Bamboo stirring sticks.

In the front / middle half of the showroom, Brian’s drop cloth from his studio is used as a rug.

Deadstock wool military socks with various Indigo dyeing methods.

Clothing rack with just a tiny sampling of the items that are currently available.

Japanese scarf.

Along with the clothing articles, Brian made some incredible Boro-esque patchwork placemats made from military sailing fabric.

Only 6 available!

Also, indigo coasters!

We hope to see you while the exhibition is on!

We recently bought a copy of the new Remodelista book, which contains a mix of houses, kitchens, bathrooms and design ideas that are surprisingly accessible. It’s definitely a particular aesthetic, but of course one that we gravitate to: natural materials, plenty of white, and considered accessories.

Notably for us, we couldn’t believe it when Julianne Moore mentioned our shop in her foreword. I think her experience of using Remodelista is one that many can relate to. It’s the only resource on the internet that we’ve found that does such a great job of sourcing the best within a particular aesthetic. I mean, try googling “modern [insert fixture, furniture, accessory, building material etc here]“. I can guarantee you will spend a lot of time sifting through very unmodern products!

The aforementioned Sori Yanagi flatware. We use it at the cottage and love it. Substantial but not heavy, and the knife is so sharp it can cut steak easily.

We were also pleased to see Pia Wallen’s Cross Blanket in The Remodelista 100 listing.

But enough about us. The spaces featured all have a calm, homey feel. I really loved the Remodelista Headquarters, and their investment in mill work. That said, there are enough spaces to provide inspiration for more limited budgets.

In the Remodeling Reality section there are plenty of things to remember when renovating, and some good tips too.

Each featured space has a Steal this Look section. The Shaker peg display is something we were considering at the cottage (the bedrooms were never really finished).

Same goes for the wall of Josef Frank wallpaper. This is the exact one we were thinking about for Elodie’s bedroom! It’s nice to see it used in a large application.

You can get it here or preferably at your local independent bookshop or retailer.

So a cool thing happened! We ended up of the Government of Canada’s website for our CEREMONY set that was designed by Swedish architect firm Claesson Koivisto Rune. It is now my main mission to have this tea set ready for sale before December.

Here is the webpage: Link