Papermatrix

No blog that sometimes (or even rather often) is about papercrafting, is complete without

a reference to the fantastic Danish mother-daughter outfit  Papermatrix!

They do the most astonishing designs, not for absolute beginners, I will say (I have tried some of

their woven cones), but worth the struggle.

Their website, which is in English, by the way, is crammed with free templates and advice, and they have also written a couple of books on the topic. They sometimes do workshops here in Copenhagen, but I haven't tried that. Would like to, though!

Their templates are line drawings and can be printed straight on to plain colored printing paper (as I think is done with many of the designs shown on the website), which is actually very decent for weaving, or at least for practising.

They are endlessly creative, and come up with new beatiful things all the time. I am completely awestruck.

Here - and this is just a very, very small taste - are some of their crazy and unusual heart designs.

All images are from papermatrix.wordpress.com

Support your local designer / Hamide

The other day I went to an art show opening, and saw some rather cool and interesting art.

It was a cold and rainy night, so I kept standing around for a refill of the delicious hot lemon and rum toddy they served there - and kept bumping into the same very nice girl. Turned out she had an office next to the exhibition space, and that she and her sister run this fine graphic design studio and brand: 'Hamide' - which they named after their Turkish mother, who was a tailor, thus honoring all her values

as an artisan and craftswoman.

They design all sorts of printed matter; calendars, posters, postcards, notebooks and the like.

Only a few days before I met her, I had been admiring some of their products in a shop somewhere,

so it was one of those funny coincidences.

Their elegant products make great christmas or new year gifts, and they have a 50% sale right now!

Read their adorable story, and check out their webshop right here...

Both images are from hamide.co

Knit one purl two - it's another folksy heart!

I had such fun playing around with my embroidery and knitting motifs the other day,
that I just had to make another folksy and quite sweatery heart!

You can download it right here.

 

2021: I have a new location for my downloads, go here (A) and here (B) for both of the folksy hearts.

I love these patterns, that you might find in embroideries, as the ones I showed you a few days ago,

and in knitting patterns, and I collect them from all kinds of places. I sometimes even scan them, 

and vectorize them (lots of work!) - and the thing is, I neither knit, nor embroider.

But they are lovely all the same.

A folksy, wooly sweater is a kind of a timeless classic.

In Norway it would be a lusekofte, in other parts of the world it would be called a fair isle sweater.

They never seem to go out of fashion, and somehow embody a wholesome, outdoorsy and 

retro no-nonsense kind of dressing.

It even works with blazing red lipstick, and a little silly helmet-thingy, see? So cool.

A funny story that comes to mind, about such sweaters and their timeless appeal, is the almost world wide rage the Sarah Lund Sweater has caused. As perhaps you know, Sarah Lund is the heroine of the popular Danish television series The Killing.

Actress Sofie Gråbøl, who plays her, picked out the world famous sweater herself, among a lot of possible outfits for the tough and clever detective heroine, in an early costume fitting session. She picked it, she explains, because she felt that the sweater in so many ways, perfectly tells who Sarah Lund is. A woman who doesn't feel the need to neither power dress, nor dress sexy, but has her own definition of power, practical femininity, and of herself.

Her specific sweater is said to be a Faroese classic, but knitting nerds from all over Scandinavia have argued endlessly over this, so you didn't hear that from me - but it has a website dedicated to it!

And Sarah Lund is a modern sweater girl, indeed - or should I say sweater woman?

That's more appropriate, somehow.

Sofie Gråbøl / Sarah Lund - in the sweater of sweaters

Fantastic origami / Jun Mitani

This amazing origami artist popped up in some google search I made not long ago -
I thought I would share him with you readers here.

I found this little article about him (text by Caroline Aufort) on Li Edelkoorts blog, Trendtablet

Jun Mitani is a computer engineer, but he’s also a paper artisan; he designs origami pieces with computer programs that he develops himself. Seems complicated ? 
Not for him, as he explained to us: "My speciality in the field of computer graphics is geometric modeling, so it’s not difficult for me to develop computer programs for designing origami once 
the underlying theory of origami geometry is clarified."

The beauty of his creations might be in the clearness and smooth complexity of the shapes, 
almost just curves. The form is completely calculated by computer, it looks like an impossible 
things to make with just one piece of paper, but it is; Jun first start to work on his program, 
explores variety of origami shapes before he began to fold a sheet of real paper. 
The programs generate a crease pattern (a pattern of valley fold lines and mountain fold lines).

The pattern is scored on a sheet of paper by a cutting plotter. 
With these digital devices, now these sophisticated origami pieces are realized.

That’s why his art work is not just the folded origami pieces but also the software programs. 
Recently, Jun Mitani collaborated to 132 5. Issey Miyake collection.
Those three-dimensional garments are not cut or sewn but folded with permanent pleats. 
Invisible snaps allow the garment to be adjusted and fitted to the body.

Here are some more beautiful things he made:

Here is his own website, and here is a crazy timelapse video, where he folds one of his towers.

Flea market gold - and a folksy heart for you!

Even though it sometimes seems like a waste of time (and money) I still cannot resist going to flea
markets. I honestly cannot think af many things I actually need, that I might find there - but. But.
It's the thrill of the chase, as they say.

I struck gold a couple of times the past summer, let me show you:

Small Höganäs pitcher, framed embroideries and a trivet from Arabia, handpainted and signed by
Ulla Procopé. And none of these items cost more than about five euro. Yeeha!
Now that is why I keep coming to these things.

The embroideries are especially fascinating, I think. Such work, such detail. Fantastic.
I could never make anything like that.

But I did get inspired, and made a kind of folksy heart for you to weave.
Download it right here! Enjoy.

2021: I have a new location for my downloads, go here (A) and here (B) for both of the folksy hearts.

Himmeli Blingeli

Yesterday I went shopping for plain grey t-shirts, but I had to give up. I got too distracted.
I went to the popular high street shops, where t-shirts are abundant, but all I could see were himmeli, whereever I looked. Do you see them too?

No doubt the triangle remains the shape du jour.

From top:
hexagon earrings: Topshop / triangle earrings: H&M / gold-silver necklace: H&M /
gold-silver earrings: & Other Stories / two rings (from a set of three): H&M /
golden triangle bangle: Topshop - and the necklace at the bottom is found on Pinterest.

Kravlenisser / Shelf Elves # 2

I happen to know this family, who takes fun seriously - and I like that in a family.

They have taken the annual (predictable looking) family christmas card to new heights,
in my opinion, with inspiration from the aforementioned kravlenisser or 'Shelf Elves'.

With a lot of enthusiasm, hazardously stacked furniture, white sheet backdrops and a bit of
basic photoshop, they have established their very own christmas tradition.

The result speaks for itself, I think - no further explanation needed - and they turn it into
a cut-out sheet, and mail it to all their friends and family.

They have a lot of fun setting up the photoshoot, as you can imagine.

I give you: Charlotte, Martin and their kids Augusta and Virgil - end their very special
homemade multifunctional christmas greeting: Baunernisser!

(the top ones are from five years ago, so the kids have grown quite a bit in the bottom ones).

Kravlenisser or perhaps 'Shelf Elves'. . . ?

Have you ever heard about 'kravlenisser' - ?

The word means something like 'climbing gnomes' - but I personally think 'shelf elves' would be more appropriate! They are, in fact, a Danish invention, much as the woven christmas heart is said to be.
They are slightly naughty, mischievous cardboard elves, up to no good, crawling about on your shelves.

They do so, by the most simple design: simply by a couple of bent flaps, you stick under the books or what ever is on the shelf. They are a kind of nostalgic, granny style christmas decoration I like, both because it is what I grew up with, and remember from every christmas of my childhood, but also because they are meant to be a little tacky and misbehaved.

These are my own family heirlooms, they were probably bought by my grandmother.

They are said to date from the 1940ies, and as far as I understand, the inventor of kravlenisser was the guy who also gave them their Danish name: illustrator and cartoonist Frederik Bramming. His designs are classics today, and a true kravlenisse-afficionado can name all the most famous of the designers.

Many were well known cartoonists, and they each added little touches of personality to the both annoying and charming creatures. Here are some typical and old fashioned, classic examples:

A Danish website covers the topic in nerdy detail with lots af fun stories and images - the guy who is behind it, really knows his 'nisser' - here it is: Kravlenissernes Side

Maria Huhmarniemi

I came across a contemporary Finnish artist, Maria Huhmarniemi, who makes enormous himmeli-installations (among many other things) - they are really impressive and beautiful.

Here is what she says about her himmeli - quite interesting:

"I started making the series of Himmeli-sculptures in reaction to a comment in 2011 by the True Finns Party, proposing that only Finnish nationalistic fine arts should be supported by the Finnish state. They admired fine arts from the period of National Romanticism, (the Golden Age of Finnish art), but ignored the fact that Finnish art has always been influenced by other countries and cultures. Himmeli is a traditional Finnish decorative mobile. It is made from short strips of rye straw tied together with string to form a complex and symmetrical three-dimensional structure. It is used as Christmas decoration that hangs over dining tables in many Finnish homes. What is less well known is that the origin of himmeli is thought to be a canopy decoration used in Medieval and Renaissance festivities in Central-Europe. The word himmeli has origins in the Swedish and German language: ‘himmel’ means ‘sky and heaven’. I began making Himmeli-sculptures by extending traditional decorations that my mother made from rye and lake straws. I morphed these symmetric forms into free and wild sculptures using coloured plastic drinking straws."

Here is some of her fantastic work:

First advent and a little quick fix for you

Late last night I wrapped 24 small silly gifts for my son - ranging from glow in the dark dinosaurs to a pack of fake sailor tattoos (if you know him, please don't tell him). They hang on a long rope suspended on the front our bookshelves, and that is how we do it. Every morning he gets to choose a gift, and open it after breakfast.

This kind of advent calendar is very popular in Denmark, and as much as many parents loathe them, I still cannot resist the sheer joy it brings a four year old. I buy about half of gifts and his grandmother the other half, and I rarely buy anything that cost more than a euro (his grandmother tend to go a bit more crazy). Anyway - some people hate these things, some do a sock, as you can buy the things as you go along - and some only give the little gifts on the four Sundays of advent.

I do the full 24 gifts thing, because I like wrapping things, and the gifts in themselves are pretty.

Well - today is not only December first, but also the first Sunday of advent.
For those of you who haven't gotten around to inventing a clever gift calendar thingy for your dear one(s), here is a little something that might inspire you. And it is a quick fix - all you have to do is print the PDF (it is right here), and find four little lovely things to wrap. It might be four chocolate bars, it might be four golden rings (four calling birds won't fit, since the sheets are only A4, ha ha) - I'm sure you come up with something.

I like making patterns, and all sorts of graphic details or shapes can set off some kind of pattern or repetition going on in my head, when I am in that particular mood.
These patterns are made from the numerals 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 - and are little hints about which gift to open on which Sunday.

Happy first advent!

2021: I have a new location for my downloads, please go here:
Advent 1  /  Advent 2  /  Advent 3  /  Advent 4