Marbelous Wood

Things are slowly starting to come together at the new studio. The butt ugly carpet has been ripped out and my roomie and I have painted our space. Big question now is what to do with the bare wooden floor?? While looking online for some inspiration and (low budget) solutions I came across this beautiful floor by Pernille Snedker Hansen, a Danish designer. She uses a combination of an old Japanese technique called suminagashi and a Western style marbling technique to create a wood grain-like effect in amazing colors.

   

Watch Pernille at work:

Definitely no low budget solution, but certainly inspirational...

Fossilized dog turds and chicken noodle masks

I lied when I wrote earlier that EVERYTHING was closed for three days in Copenhagen over Christmas. On boxing day the National Museum opened its doors again. We visited the section on Prehistoric Denmark, where we enjoyed Viking runic stones, coffins containing preserved human remains and clothes, and lurs, ancient Nordic wind instruments. But the high light for me were neatly displayed fossilized dog turds. 9000 years old!

Of course I couldn't resist paying a quick visit to the 'ethnographical collection', in my quest for more information about my masks. They had lots of masks on display, but alas... I did make a few quick sketches though. I especially liked this mask, as it appeared to be a chicken mask made from chopped up noodles!

Xmas in CPH

Happy New Year!! I hope your holidays were happy. Mine certainly were! In an attempt to escape the usual Christmas frenzy my beau and I spent Christmas in Copenhagen. Well we got what we bargained for! Because EVERYTHING shut down for 3 days. It was wonderful. 

Luckily we did mangage to do a little bit of shopping on the 23rd. We went to the Latin Quarter for some vintage shopping. Endless rows of Sarah Lund sweaters! (We watched the first episode of The Killing - Forbrydelsen in Danish - in Copenhagen and got absolutely hooked.) ∨

  

The Danes are fervent pipe smokers. A great chance for my boyfriend - a pipe smoker himself - to stock up on some exotic tobacco ∨

Even Tivoli, the charming amusement park in the city centre closed on the 24th and 25th, and closed early on the 23rd. A shame because I would have loved to wander around the park a little longer, with some gløgg (the Danish version of mulled wine) in my hand. I didn't even get to go on the 80 meter high carousel! ∨

  

But I was happy to sacrifice that ride on the carousel in favor of some Smørrebrød! It's the Danish delicacy of rye bread with i.a. cheese, shrimp, caviar, egg, red cabbage and (not in the picture) various types of pickled herring. Mmmm!! ∨

The rest of the days we spent on long walks exploring different parts of Copenhagen (and on emptying our hotel minibar..) ∨

And on doing some window shopping. Odd displays here and there.. ∨

 

I knew the little mermaid was going to be a bit of a disappointment, but it was a nice sunny day, perfect for a stroll along the waterfront. And besides, what else were we gonna do?! ∨

My stay with Arne

I'm writing you from the 10th floor of the -what was once- the famous Royal Hotel (now owned by Radisson Blu). I've got an amazing view of Copenhagen and when it gets dark (3.30ish pm!) two million lights underneath my window light up at the Tivoli Gardens. The Royal Hotel was designed between 1954 and 1960 by the Danish designer and architect Arne Jacobsen, ENTIRELY. From the exterior of the building to the cutlery, from the door handles to the furniture. The famous Egg- and Swan chairs were designed especially for the hotel. 

∧ a fervent pipe smoker, a real Dane: Arne Jacobsen!
By the looks of it they have just finished the paneling of our room here :-)

Although the hotel has lost a lot of its glamour and class of its early days, it still has Arne Jacobsen written all over it. They have kept one room in its original state, exactly like it was when the hotel was built in 1960: Room 606. It is available for bookings, and if it's not booked the less fortunate can have a peek. Luckily it wasn't occupied when we were there, so the concierge kindly took us up there. It was like a time warp!

 

I fixed Michael Jackson's nose

Yesss, I have finished sewing and mending the 'body parts' for the exhibition at Villa Zebra! One of my last tasks was to fix Michael Jackson's nose... 

It turned out to be a bit of a MJ-themed day, since I also came across a cover of his Baby Be Mine by Quadron - a blue-eyed R&B duo from Denmark. Their super groovy song Slippin' is on high rotation here at the moment.

 

Quadron - Baby Be Mine. Download it here. 

Quadron - Slippin'. Download it here.