Paris and my secret favorites

 What can one say about Paris without getting a bit of a heartbeat and a blush. I have had some of my greatest meals, wildest partynights and most romantic weekends in this city. I love going to Paris in the spring, when it´s still a bit cold in Sweden and have my first coffee outdoors for the season. Or a glass of wine and a chevré sallad... What can be more French? Finding a good hotel in Paris can be tricky if you´re on a budget. So when you find one, keep it to yourself. Or spill the bean, like I´m about to do.

S T A Y:
If you don´t have a budget and what to try something different; 3 Rooms Alaia (5, rue de Moussy) is the place for you. The designer extraordinare Azzedine Alaia rents out next door to his atelier in the Marais. It´s a spacious, contemporary designed apartment, like something out of Wallpaper magazine. Of course, I haven´t stayed here except for in my dreams...

Another dream is Hotel Particulier (23, Avenue Junot in Montmartre). It´s a grand mansion turned five-room chic hotel in true parisian style. Each room is decorated by various artists.

Since Paris is all about luxury, no one can do it better than Hotel Costes (239 rue Saint Honore). Dark, decadent, sexy and stylish, designed by Jacques Garcia. I treat myself with a drink in their bar and absorbes the atmosphere...

Entering a more realistic world (for me at least), Hotel Bel Ami (7 rue St-Benoît in Saint Germain) is a good suggestion. It embodies Parisian chic with a contemporary and sleek style, just a few steps from the buzz.

Hotel Bourg Tibourg (19 rue du Bourg Tibourg in Marais) is my secret favorite. It´s the little hide-a-way in the best part of Paris. It´s a boutique hotel that feels like your own sexy boudouir. An absolute delight.

Kube Hotel (1-5 Passage Ruelle) is for you who is looking for a funky and extreme designed hotel. Something out of the ordinary. The hotel also have an ice bar, which is anything but French...

E A T:
I could go to Paris just for the food. It´s not hard to find a nice meal as long as you stay away from the more touristic areas and restaurants.

Mon Oncle (3 rue Durantin in Montmartre) is a place were the food is honest with a twist, the service is efficient and a good place for peoplewatching.

Usagi (58, rue du Saintonge) This Japanese-French hybird is the creation of artist and designer Shinsuke Kawahara. It´s a minimalist interior sourced from markets in Antwerp mixed with fresh delightful food that makes this place interesting.

L´Ourcine (92, rue Broca) is a good-value gormet bistro. Clean cut interior with excellent kitchen.

Cafe Charbon (109 Rue Oberkampf) is a great place for a night out. Check out the trendy street of Oberkampf. Lots of bars and hang-outs.

Market (15, Avenue Matignon). The wellknown chef Jean-Gerorges serves a mix of Asian-nouvelle French cuisine in a beautiful, comtemporary space.

Favela Chic (18 rue du Faubourg du Temple). Favela is the Brazilian word for Slum so don´t expect Parisian chic if you go here. The food is great but it´s for the ambiance and party that I recommend it. Last time I ended up dancing on the table...

Chez Pierrot (9 rue Amelie) Typical french kitchen. Warm and cosy with unpretentious and delicious food.

Glou (101 rue Vieille du Temple in Marais) A true recomendation. Traditional flavors presented in a sparse and modern decor. Only steps away from hipster bar Le Perle...

Rose Bakery (30, rue Debelleyme in Marais) Organic produced delights. Absolutely delicious!!

T´CHA La maison de Thé (6, rue du Pont de Lodi). A little teahouse off the beaten track. This is a great place for a light lunch of a cup of tea.

B U Y:
I´ll start with the most obvious suggestion; Colette (213 rue Sanit-Honoré), the wellknown and ubercool concept store that everyone goes to when the are in Paris. Standing outside during the store, just looking at the people walking in is more fun than looking at their products. To be honest, I think it´s a bit overrated these days.

Merci (111 boulevard Beaumarchais in Marais) is another beautiful concept store with a range of lifestyle products, books and furnitures. Just walking around the store is a delight since they have an innovative visual merchandising.

One Nine Six One (135 rue Vieille du Temple in Marais) is a great store with contemporary design with a retro edge mixed with restored vintage furniture. I strongly recommend taking a walk on rue Vieille du Temple. A lot of nice little shops are located here.

Caravane (6 rue Pavée and 19 rue St Nicolas in Marais ) is an interior store flirting with ethnic styles without loosing the French simplicity. I found a lot of nice things here.

0044 (16 rue du Bourg-Tibourg) is a red little box of French and Japanese design. Jewellery and clothes with a touch of rock n´roll.

L´Eclaireur (40 rue de Sevigné in Marais) Here you´ll find the clothes from the catwalk, the bags you´ve always dreamed of and things you didn´t know you wanted. All of this in a post-industrial fell with a shop turning into a gallery by night.

Beau Travail ( 67 rue de la Mare) Gallery, shop, or something in between...

Atelier 154 (154 rue Oberkampf) for vintage and industrial interior design. Not open until the afternoon.

Ostentatoire (11 bis rue Elzevir) For jewellery extraordinare in a supercool store.

You can´t go to Paris without visiting Diptyque (8 rue des Francs-Bourgeois in Marais) to buy a scented candle, (althoght my favorite comes from Hotel Costes).

Tools Galerie (119 rue Vieille du Temple) is breaking the barrier between art and design.

I´m not writing anything about clothing stores in general because you´ll find them everywere. Especially around Marais; rue Vieille du Temple, rue de Sévigné, place des Vosges and rue des Francs-Bourgeois. However, Loft design by have stores all around Paris but the best one you find at 56 rue de Rennes in Saint Germain. I love their stores!

Another mensclothing store worth mentioning is French Trotters (116 rue Vielille du Temple) with the perfect mix of clothes, accessories and books.

I know Conran Shop (117 rue du Bac) isn´t french, but since you´ll hopefully go to Le Bon Marche (24 rue de Sèvres), you might as well pop over on the other side of the street. Le Bon Marche is in my opinion the best departmentstore in Paris.

Last but not least, you can´t leave Paris without trying a macaron (or five) from Laduree. It doesn´t get more French... They have stores around the city but if you go to Bon Marche, visit their foodcourt in the basement.

D O:
Fondation Le Corbusier  (8 square du Docteur Blanche). This place celebrates the Swiss-French architect and artist Le Corbusier. The collection  includes drawings, plans, photographs, sculpture and paintings created or collected by the father of modern architecture.

Centquatre (104 rue d'Aubervilliers) is described as a "place of creation and artistic production". It´s a mitxture of studios and exhibition spaces with contemporary artists.

Palais de Tokyo (13 avenue de President Wilson) is an innovative art space showing a variety of cutting-edge artists. It also incluedes a cafe and art bookstore, worth visiting.

Galerie chez Valentin (9 rue St Gilles) is a space lined with temporary installations by up-and-coming artists.

Galerie Almine Rech (19 rue Saintonge) is located in Marais, showing a wide range of contemporary art.

For you going to Paris soon; Bon Voyage! For the rest of us; lets keep on loning...

Photos: the sartorialist, citified, gypsy purple loves, behance, yvette inufio & pia jane bijkerk

London hotspots, part 2

The Wapping Project

I realized that I completely forgott about some of my favorite hotspots in London when I wrote about it last. So here comes a supplement to the list:

E A T:
Nordic Bakery, on 14a Golden Square (Soho) or 37b New Cavendish Street (Marylebone). It´s a Scandinavian style of bakery. Why go to a Scandinavian place in London if you´re from Sweden, you might ask...just because it´s nice and good.

Little Georgia, 87 Goldsmiths Row in East End. A small, humble café with touches of Gergian folk art and memorbilia from the Old Country. A little gem.

Bistrotheque, 23 Wadeson Street in East End. Brunch and dinner menues are made up of French bistro and English classics. A cool interior with an industrial feel to it.

St. John Bread and Wine, across Spitalfields Market in East End. A place for good food and trendspotting.

The Wapping Project, Wapping Hydraulic Power Station in East End. The adress says it all. A place to enjoy food and art in a exposed brick industrial space.

The Providores, 109 Marylebone High Street. A combination of Australian-influenced cooking with the concept of tapas. The also have a popular bar.

Shelf

B U Y:
Pedlars, 128 Talbot Road in Notting Hill. An eclectic mix of homewares and gift. From contemprary to vintage. Old bus signs mixed with playful items.

Few and Far, 242 Brompton Road in Knightsbridge. The sister of Terence Conran is running this quirky little store. One-off items, handmade clothes mixed with vintage and contemporary furniture.

Labour and Wait, 85 Redchurch Street in East End.. The store offers an eclectic mix of tableware, brooms, practical goods and everyday classics. They are "moving away from gratuitous design and faddish fashion".

Shelf, 40 Cheshire Street in East End. Quirky homeware, illustrations, kid´s books, ceramics and much more in this cute little shop.

SCP, 87 Westbourne Grove in Notting Hill. The shop with all the designer classics one can only dream about.

Next out is my guide to some favorites in Paris...coming soon.

Going to London?

Thanks to my work as a designer, I have the great benefit of going to different citys. Here is a little guide to some of my hotspots in London. Feel free to add suggestions to the list.

Tiny at Dean Street Townhouse

S T A Y:
Finding a good hotel without paying a fortune in London is hard. I have stayed at some really shady hotels but have also found one or two good ones.
Dean Street Townhouse, 69 Dean Street in SoHo. Quite expensive but they have "Broom Cupboard" & "Tiny" rooms starting at 90 pounds.

Sanctum Soho, 20 Warwick Street. I stayed here last time in London and were pleasently surprised. Good breakfast, clean and nice rooms, but the best part is the roof top garden.

Hoxton Hotel, 81 Great Eastern Street in Shoreditch. I haven´t stayed here myself but I have heard good thing about the hotel and it looks really nice on the website.


Fernandez and Wells


E A T:
Fernandez and Wells Food & Winebar, Lexinton Street. They also have a coffebar just around the corner at Beak Street.

Daylesford organic Farmshop & Café on 208 Westbourne Grove in Notting Hill. An absolut delight to have a organic breakfast (try the eggs with whitewine sause) or snack and then just walk around in their shop.

Ottolenghi Café, Ledbury Road in Notting Hill. It is supersmall but have the best food ever. Next door you find a lovely jewllery designer, Fiona Knapp. Walking on Ledbury Road there are some small but very nice childrens clothingstores.

Story deli at Old Truman Brewery, next to Brick Lane, East End. A modern, minimalistic "shabby chic" interior with great food. I had the best organic pizza ever (grilled veggies and lots of goatcheese...) and they also sell some beautiful little items in the back of the place.

Locanda Locatelli, modern, contemporary interior and high class, inovative italian kitchen. When I was there, Madonna sat at the next table...

Hix, 66 Brewer Street in SoHo. You´ll go there for the food, the atmosphere and th trendy crowd. The place is filled with artwork from artists like Damien Hirst, Tim Noble and Sue Webster.

Moro, 34 Exmouth Market. It´s a classic that can´t go wrong. Moorish cuisine at it´s best.

Busaba Eathai, 106 Wardour Street in SoHo. I don´t know how many times I´ve been here and I never get tired of their food. Don´t worry about the line outside, it only takes a few minutes to get in. The only negative thing with this restaurant is the very noicy atmosphere.

Orla Kiely

B U Y:
If the weather is nice, I like to take a walk around Notting Hill, at Ledbury Road and Westbourn Grove. There are some small, excusive but inspiering shops. Quite a few artgalleries and excusive childrens stores.

Last year a friend of mine suggested a "new" street, not far from Oxford Street, Marylebone High Street. A smaller street with lots of nice stores such as; Conran Shop, Skandium, Monocle, Designers Guild, The White Company , LOFT design by and many more. I found it to be a treat getting away from Oxford Street and see something nice.

The furniture store with all the big names; Aram, 110 Drury Lane. If you are looking for an Eames chair or something from Eileen Gray, this is the place.

Mint, 2 North Terrace Alexander Square. A place were art and furnitures come together.

Elemental, at Spitalfields Market, East End. If you like industrial design this is the place for you.

I have a sertain love for Orla Kiely, so walking in to her store in Coven Garden at 31 Monmouth Street is a delight. Especially her home collection is something special. I´m getting the wallpaper next time I go there.

When looking for sexy lingerie, go to Myla, in Notting Hill or Coco De Mer, 23 Monmouth Street in Covent Garden. They have everything a girl would like and knows how important the wrapping and atmosphere is.

For menswear, I just found this great shop, Albam. They have one store in 111 Commercial Street, East End and a little one on 23 Beak Street, off Regent Street.

I assume that if you have been to London lately, you have visited Anthropologie in Regent Street. If you haven´t, then off you go... As always, theire stores is an experience.

Travelling tips

I´m thinking about how to enrich the content of this blog, apart from the interior pictures. Because of my work as a fashion designer I have the benefit of travelling to lovely cities around the world, something I´m very grateful of. Would you be interested in tips of hotels, restaurants and shopping from these travels? Please let me know if this whould be of interest or if you have any other idea of developing the blog.

Vacation please

I don´t know about you, but I could really use a vacation right now. Driving to work when it´s still dark, when back home with the same colour on the sky. So, right now Hotel Boca Chica in Mexico is where I would like to be, more than ever. I love the interior and I´m sure I would love the weather...

Via: aubrey road

Florence

When I came to Florence today and got in to my room, this was the view that I got. A big difference from the snowy, cold morning I left in Sweden. I am staying at the Gallery Hotel Art and so far I am very pleased. A nice room in cream, cognac, turqoise and brown. Very good service and everything else one can wish for. The only problem is that I am here by myself... Can not wait until tomorrow when my dear friend Anna will come and stay with me.

See you later...

Via: The neo traditionalist

Well, I am off to Florence for a couple of days. Hopefully I will come back home with lots of  inspiration for wonderful things and the stomac filled with lovely food and wine. Ciao.

White wonderland

For some reason this is how I picture our upcoming ski trip... A beautiful igloo from Whitepod. Who knows some day that will be true?

Time for a trip.