Minimal design by Jake Arnold | Shani Darden LA studio

You could say that this Parisian SPA in wabi sabi style I showed on the blog last year is a huge inspiration for me personally and the pictures appear in almost every moodboard I made for my home lately. I simply love the use of colours in the Parisian Spa and had to think of it when spotting the bassin above on Instagram.  

Being a lover of minimal spaces with a bit of raw and sophisticated touch I had to find out more. The studio belongs Los Angeles based Shani Darden, a skin expert who had this beautiful place to welcome her clients designed by Jake Arnold, who kindly sent me these pictures of his work.

photography Michael Clifford

What does being at home mean to you | A photo competition by VDM - The Association of the German Furniture Industry

Janua BC 06 RooM 68 Shelving

A safe retreat to escape everyday life, the place where you can be yourself and let creativity run wild, a reflection of your own taste, where the people who are important to you live and where memories are created. Or maybe being at home is not limited to just one place, but linked to the cities you lived in and different phases of life. 

These are just a few answers on the Friday question "What does #beingathome mean to you?” An initiative run by ‘VDM ‘The Association of the German Furniture Industry’ on social media using the hashtags #zuhausesein and #beingathome. On Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, the association shares new trends and designs, German furniture manufacturers and designers and a modern and innovative take on German design in general. 

Many people, including myself, have already answered the question of what 'Being at home' mean to us ... and now it is up to you! 

Home by BeeldSTEIL - Thonet table & chair 

photo competition
Matching the Friday question "What does #beingathome mean to you?” the association launched a photo competition with some great prizes, where you are asked to show what being at home mean to you by photographing your favourite place(s) in your home. A picture that tells us what being at home mean to you personally. This can be anything from your kitchen to your couch or outdoor dining table as long as it reflects your feelings and answers the question.

Not only can you win a piece of furniture from a Geman furniture manufacturer, the winning pictures will also be shown at the photo exhibition at imm 2020 you will be invited to visit, and published in the German Design book 2020! There are ten categories under which you can submit your photos, just a few rules and as said some amazing prizes to win, which I will explain below! 

Rolf Benz

How to enter the competition!
We love you to show us what #beingathome mean to you and therefore you can send us your image(s) of your favourite place at home within the following 10 categories, please note you can sent in only 1 picture per category, therefore, you can submit a maximum of ten pictures in total.

Categories :
1. Outdoor Living
2. Tiny Spaces
3. The hallway - the ticket to your home
4. Kitchen Lover
5. Relaxed sleeping
6. The living room - my private retreat
7. The bathroom - the private wellness temple
8. Living with children
9. Working at Home
10. Other forms of living (e.g. caravans)

The following conditions apply to participation:
- The competition is global; there are no country restrictions.
- The participant must be over 18 years of age. As part of the price is a trip to Cologne, we cannot accept younger participants.
- To like the VDM channels Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter if using.
- The image must have 300 dpi
- The association acquires the image rights of the winning motif for an unlimited period of time, legally and medially.

Deadline.....
Pictures can be sent in until August 18 (23:59:59 hours) to zuhausesein@real-communications.com with the following details:

1. Name of the category in which you wish to participate.
2. Name
3. Date of birth
4. Country
5. Telephone and email
6. Name on social media channels (so that we can check if the competitor is following the channels when he is around the ten finalist). 

Please note: Only one picture can be submitted per category. Therefore, you can submit a maximum of ten pictures in total.

What can you win
There are different prizes and each winner wins:
- A piece of furniture from a German furniture manufacturer
- Integration of the winning motif at the photo exhibition at imm cologne 2020
- Two tickets plus one overnight stay for the imm cologne 2020, where the VDM
provides a travel allowance of up to 500 euros. The winner has to make the booking himself, VDM refunds it
- Integration of the winning motif in the "German Design Book 2020".


The furnishing items to be won per category are the following, good luck! 

1. Outdoor Living: prize from Janua, bowl "SK 07 Ritual"

2. Tiny Spaces: prize from Bordbar, lighting "Super Light", colour black

3. The hallway - the ticket to your home: prize from Schönbuch, wardrobe “Line” the winner may choose one of the colours shown on the photo

4. Kitchen Lover: prize from Caussa, lighting "Fabella", colour white

5. Relaxed sleeping: prize from Vitamin Design, nightstand "Pfeife”

6. The living room - my private retreat: prize from Rolf Benz, footstool "Rolf Benz 953", colour anthracite

7. The bathroom - the private wellness temple: prize from Duravit, wall shelf "L-Cube” the winner can choose the surface in which the wall shelf is to be produced.

8. Living with children: prize from Hülsta, footstool "Birdy", colour blue

9. Working at Home: prize from Tojo, cantilever chair, colour white/green

10. Other forms of housing: prize from Thonet, side table "S18” 

This post is written in collaboration with ‘VDM ‘The Association of the German Furniture Industry’ 

  

Data protection and legal recourse:
Responsible: The Association of the German Furniture Industry e.V. (VDM) is the organiser of this competition and is responsible for data protection. real communications will run the competition as an authorised service provider and handle the personal data entered or left behind by the participants in this campaign responsibly. If you have any questions, you can contact the data protection officer of the association at info@moebelindustrie.de .

The essentials in brief: Personal data requested from participants in order to participate in the VDM competition will be processed primarily for the purpose of running the competition. The processing of personal data takes place lawfully on the basis of the DSGVO, namely - depending on the purpose - for the fulfilment of a contract or the execution of the competition. Only our service provider real communications has access to the data, which is only used for sending the prizes by post. We do not receive the data ourselves and do not pass it on to other third parties within the meaning of the DSGVO without our consent. We delete the data records as soon as the winners have been determined and notified, the prizes have been dispatched, no complaints or complaints regarding the competition are to be expected and, above all, insofar as there are no individual obligations under commercial or tax law to retain data. The latter may last up to 10 years.
A cash payment of the profit is not possible. The profit is not transferable. Legal recourse is excluded.

An amazing headboard and more ideas on how to use wood at home

I have been saving up some images on my laptop lately, not knowing what for actually other than I liked them, the pictures below are in my folder for quite some time, one of them shows the kitchen from a project by Claire Cousins Architects and I think I loved saving it as it reminds me of one of my favourite tables  spotted at imm last January.

I had to think of them and the use of wood to complement furniture that we use every day, after seeing the picture above at Fantastic Frank where a huge headboard is made out of narrow wooden slats, it adds some casual chic feeling to the room, don't you think.

At the project by Claire Cousins Architects semi-circular strips are used aound the kitchen island. The first time this kind of strips caught my eye was at Habitare in Helsinki where I made some picture of a wall in a room styled by Anna Pirkola, pictured below, someone told me they bought the wood at the hardware store where they are sold per meter...

Pictures 1-2 by fantastic frank | 3 via Claire Cousins | 4-5-vosgesparis

An organized kitchen while renovating | w/ Style shoot

During the last months while designing a new kitchen I have proven myself that organizing is a real art. With no countertop and no cabinets left I had to improvise a lot around the home, something I am quite good in actually. Luckily my metal table was a perfect replacement for my missing countertop giving me lots of space to cook my daily meals on a small portable induction cooktop.

Most of my ceramic pieces I stored in a cabinet that is to heavy to move and add into the storage. It has doors and is perfect to keep out most of the dust that plastering and all other work in general brings. When doing a kitchen remake that looks to end in a small makeover for the whole home, it is important to organize things properly. What will you need and what can be stored for some time.

I was without a fridge for a week or two, finished most of the food and kept some things in my freezer. For all other things I would use on a daily bases I had my industrial metal cart, which is easy to move around, a plastic storage container and an old wooden beer-crate. Can you imagine how pleased I was to style and shoot the perfect wooden containers by bulthaup  

The wooden containers are a beautiful minimal addition to your kitchen when you are looking for some extra storage space. Ideal for fruits and vegetables but also for everything you love to keep in sight. The containers come in different sizes and fit perfectly into the bulthaup pullouts if you are the lucky owner of a bulthaup kitchen.

As w/ Style we work for the second year in a row with Kitchen manufacturer bulthaup to style and shoot their accessories line, something we really love doing. Not only on the blog but also on social media our pictures are shared by bulthaup retailers in different countries, something we are really proud off. Here you can see all our work for bulthaup so far. Stay tuned for another bulthaup shoot next month! 

This post is written in collaboration with bulthaup | Pictures © w/ Style | Concept w/ Style | Photography Wen van Woudenberg | Styling Desiree Groenendal

Discovering Japan through Instagram & Tokyo city Guide by Kinfolk

I don't know about you but for me visiting Japan is high on my bucket list! Following the Stories on Instagram from people being in Japan is something I really enjoy especially if design is involved. Norm architects, as did Staffan Holm worked with Ariake during workshops in Morodami, South Japan posting beautiful pictures off including some on the road.