The Round Pond outside Kensington Palace, a birds' paradise

​17th May

I feel I just have to return to the Amber Heard - Johnny Depp drama (see 20th Dec last year) still going on in the courts, in the US this time.
   Apparently, whatever Amber says, all the public's sympathy is with Johnny. Great! Because we are not stupid.
   Someone of the two must have had the wish to bring what is a very private matter to the public - and it can only be her. Just the idea to callously record his drunken bad behaviour (all other men are angels, never behaving badly when drunk, of course), which in no way proves that he should have hit her.
   All media love that - including The Sun newspaper. But is it really worth it, Amber?
​   The courts are not the right places to try to prove your talent as an actor, including your tears and sulky behaviour.
   We all love you, Johnny! Amber just wanted to shine in the reflection of your gloire. This was her last chance to get the attention she so craves for - but also that misfired very badly.
   By the way, that pink Kalush Orchestra hat must be the top fashion item now. It has almost sold out at H&M, for example.

Ditton Hill House in Surbiton, outside London
​Photography: Johan Dehlin

13th May

One of the contenders for this year's RIBA London Building of the Year prize is Ditton Hill House, designed by Surman Weston Architects. Specially mentioned in the judgment is the building's A-shape with reference to its mock-Tudor neighbours.
​   What strikes me however is what I would like to call its veranda-like architecture, just to refresh the thinking a little.
   But interestingly, the metallic Crittal-style glazing gives it an industrial feel. Which makes me realise how my concept can be varied. Even more so when digging into what Crittal means. It has been defined as a 'trending design element' by Grand Design Magazine; according to Livingetc Magazine this glazing would fit in a Scandi-style interior. I couldn't agree more.
   But Crittal-style is nothing new: it was in 1860 that Francis Henry Crittal, an ironmonger in Essex, invented the method to create steel-framed windows. Not long before the summer houses with their verandas started to appear in the archipelago of Stockholm then. Only that for the glazing wood was used rather than steel, of course. 
   I must be on the right track with my Veranda-collection. But not only that - it evolves with the times.

Charlotte Rampling, a style icon still going strong at the age of 76
Photography: Louie Banks/ES Magazine

5th May

The other day, I read a very interesting article in Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet by my colleague LL. She used to be a columnist in the fashion magazine Damernas Värld, writing about the latest trends. By digging deep, analysing, she managed to give the full picture: put into context why that particular kind of clothes appeared at that very moment. A great source of inspiration for all fashionistas then.
   In this article, she writes it is time to end ageism. I couldn't agree more (see the archive 5th & 8th April 2019). She clamps down on a fashion industry "that discriminates and excludes everyone who is elderly, in fact, the whole mature elite interested in fashion that Vogue once (before Anna Wintour took over as editor [of the American edition] in 1988) addressed itself to. And yet, this is precisely the kind of consumer that is of most interest for the fashion industry, making it financially viable."
   True, this is an age-group (born in the 1940s) with money to spend. But this is precisely why the topic gets interesting: what do we want to spend it on? When I look around at my contemporaries, I get the strong feeling that opinions are very divided indeed.
   At the end of the day, it is a question of what you feel most comfortable with; how you want to express yourself with your clothes. Your personal freedom, in other words.
   Besides, I can't help reflecting, looking even further back: it must have been in the late 1950s that fashion started to get interested in teenagers; they shouldn't dress like old ladies. Then, in the 60s' London, there were Mary Quant, Biba and Carnaby Street, a youth culture in full swing. Now many of us old ladies want to - not look younger - but have some fun as well. However, with elegance and clothes of good quality.
   So, please AW, go on filling Vogue with your youthful spirit. My Homewear collection would fit perfectly then...

Another example of going green, in the US this time: Amazon HQ2, called the Helix and designed by architect studio NBBJ, gets the go ahead to be built in Arlington, Virginia

Admiral Nelson's Trafalgar Square yesterday, when King George IV on his horse was looking down on "the big rewild"

​28th April

Being an eager promoter of greener cities (see the archive 4th Aug 2019 about the architect Luc Schuiten, for example) obviously, I had to rush to Trafalgar Square yesterday, when - sadly, for one day only - it was "rewildered".  
   The event was organised for the launch of the Innocent Big Rewild campaign that a section of the square was covered in over 6,000 plants, flowers and trees, the goal being to raise awareness of the benefits of restoring nature in the UK.
​   Which made me think: now that one part of Europe unfortunately is being attacked by the big beast from the East (see 24th March), how about showing the Franco-British entente cordiale by installing the same "rewilding project" on Place Vendôme, where Admiral Nelson's archenemy Napoleon Bonaparte is throning on a column.
   Then I discover that for the Olympic Games in 2024, the nearby Place de la Concorde will be transformed into a green oasis, the Concorde Urban Park, where some of the games will take place.
   I still vividly remember the reportage I did, way back in the 1990s, for The World of Interiors magazine about Luc Schuiten's projects, his vertical gardens, which he so skilfully illustrated in the Belgian surreal spirit, with greenery climbing over not just walls but colonnades, well just anything, even a motorway toll station. So full of fanciful spirit, yet it was very much based on reality: a proposal for his native city of Brussels.
   Back then I was so blown away, I just couldn't imagine this green revolution would really happen, but here we are today.
   Indeed, we are now looking at our cities with more eco-friendly eyes than ever before. These projects are "just a taste of the world going absolutely wild", as was proclaimed yesterday.

Part of an office building with  pergola-inspired additions, to be constructed in Sevilla, Spain

13th April

I felt so enchanted when I saw this project, designed by Danish architecture firm BIG. It is inspired by pergolas, but to me they seemed like wings, rendering a wonderful airiness to the façade. This is something I have also tried to achieve with my Veranda collection. See, for example, my kitchen design on 8th February: the candle wall scone inspired by a bird fluttering in the air.
   That goes for my imagination as well: I feel like a bird flying high up in the air. Yet, I have to remind myself that creativity is, after all, a capacity to see the old familiar in a new way. To bring the past into the future, which has been the credo when it comes to my design scheme. Better keep my feet on the ground then...

The Scandinavian blues: where the sky and sea meet in the archipelago of Stockholm

​4th April

There have been many chances to discover Aurora Borealis and its wonderful hues of green playing over the Scandinavian sky at night. All the publicity has even inspired me when decorating a former entrance hall (see photo at 20th Dec 2020).
   However, there is so much more about the Scandinavian light and the colours it shows off - during the day, that is.
In fact, this pure light captures our souls, to the extent it is almost a hallucinating experience. Happily our senses flutter away. No wonder it affects us deeply.
   I have been thinking of what I wrote on 26th August 2019 (in the archive). After having read Surprised by Joy by C S Lewis, I was convinced there is far more about this Northern light than catches our eyes. Indeed, yes: a magical mystery tour then. I just love it!
​   See also picture at 3rd June last year.

Expressions of sympathy for Ukraine scribbled on the wall outside the Russian embassy in London, making me think of another wall, in Berlin, when it came tumbling down, such happiness it brought in its wake; how times have changed

24th March

On 28th May last year, I wrote about the Nazi’s siege of Leningrad, today’s Saint Petersburg, during WW2, causing much suffering to the people living there. Visiting the beautiful palaces there gave some comfort.
   Ten years later, a certain Vladimir Putin was born in the that city, when memories of that period were still fresh. Growing up, he must have heard harrowing stories.
   Now, the very same man is causing terrible pain to the brothers and sisters of Mariupol - but the destruction is much worse: there certainly are no beautiful buildings left to comfort the soul.
   "Oh, when will you ever learn?" as Peter, Paul and Mary sang in Where Have All the Flowers gone. Indeed, yes.
   So, of course Mr Zelensky, with reference to your speech last night: we, the whole free world, support you full heartedly - as well as Russia, judging by all the protests; those brave people risking their freedom, and soldiers forced to risk their lives to fight against freedom.
​   Soon enough your security agents will come and get you, Lilliput. That is how you seem to me among all the grandeur of Kremlin, a reminder of what great country Russia was - and will be. The people lived a good life, but thanks to the sanctions that is now gone. Freedom is knocking on your door as well.

Bellman chairs on the veranda-like platform at Sundborn
Photography: Adam Inczedy Gombos

​1st March

Oh, I just feel that I have to come back to what I wrote here below. It turned out that the February issue of The World of Interiors magazine is such a trip down memory lane: on its cover there is the Bellman chair, named after the poet, songwriter and composer Carl Mikael Bellman (1740-1790).
   It was already in the mid-90's, when the Gustavian style was flourishing that people eagerly asked me what was to come next. FL, the then editor of French Elle Décoration, went a step further: she reminded me of Sundborn, the home of artist Carl Larsson (1853-1919). There, at the end of the drawing-room, is what to me now with hindsight seems to be a veranda like platform - and where some Bellman chairs take pride of place.
​   Indeed, the story of the veranda has its interesting twists and turns, but it certainly goes on.

Out in the cold - and the wind as well these days: Gustavian medallion chairs on a London high street, Bayswater

​21st February

I still remember the moment I called Nobilis (see 6th Jan 2021). Pretending to be a customer I asked whether they were still selling my Gustavian furniture. “Oh non, pas du tout!” was the answer. That was the confirmation of what I feared: the trend was over.
   Or was it? At about the same time, I had discovered a magazine called Veranda, full of Gustavian furniture. This hopeful message brought me on the creative trip I am still on.
   Only that this was over 20 years ago; when I look in Veranda now, no Gustavian furniture in sight. The veranda has moved on to modern times; I feel my mission even stronger.
   I am referring to present day's reproductions, of course. The original Gustavian furniture is another matter.
   What joy then to discover the February issue of The World of Interiors magazine (see the archive 15 Sept 2019 as well as 18th July 2021): not only was a veranda featured on its cover, in a reportage about a summer house in the archipelago of Stockholm I saw some skrattstolar, laughing chairs, so called due to the design of their backs that resemble wide smiles. A Gustavian chair I had totally forgotten.
   The magazine’s editor RT certainly knows where the trendy winds are leading us at the moment. Indeed I am on the right track with my Veranda project.

A checkered future thanks to my Veranda collection

8th February

Can a crave for checks be inherited?
   Thinking of Josef Hoffman (1870-1956) I just wonder. Nicknamed Quadrati Hoffman for his love of geometrical forms, the grids and squares became a signature feature of his furniture. No surprise then he is someone I truly admire.
What fascinates me even more, is the fact that he was one of the co-establishers of Wiener Werkstätte. This was in 1903. The year after, its Swedish equivalent Nyköpings Verkstäder was founded, and eventually, many years later, my father DH became its director.
   In my mind, I look at this coincidence as a heritage I am proud to follow up.
   Still, when it comes to my designs, often the straight lines are softened by billowing forms, like some legs of my furniture - or the candle wall scone, inspired by wings, underlining the airiness of the interior.
   Also, as one might discern, my designs are drawn on paper, the old, traditional way. To me, forming lines into designs is like a handicraft: building a dream, a visualization of a place where I want to live.

Les Espaces d'Abraxas with its Neo-Classical columns, built in 1982 and situated in the Marne La Valée region near Paris

22 January 2022

The great Spanish architect Richardo Bofill has died.
   I still remember standing there in front of Les Espaces d'Abraxas in Marne La Valee outside Paris. Having just arrived from Sweden, I felt completely awestruck. I had never imagined anyone could live in a building like this.  With the exception of those few living in a palace, of course.
   Judging by the appearance of the man with his baguette under his arm, those here were just ordinary French people.
   This was in the early 1980's, and Postmodernism was flourishing; the architect's interpretation was clear: signalling that Classicism was to replace Modernism. He insisted that a building needed to have a monumental and symbolic character. And indeed it did.
   For a lover of Classicism like me, this was heaven on earth. Even more fascinating was having a peek inside one of the entrance halls. There, over the subtle grey concrete were shadows and lights playing, exactly how one would imagine in a grey Gustavian interior. In fact, I could very well imagine some grey Gustavian furniture in there. 
  Considering what was to come: the introduction of the Gustavian style in France, it felt like a welcome.

​New paint on the crossing presented on 26 January last year. Yes, design is in full swing on Kensington High Street

​20th December 2021

On 21st July last year, I wrote about the Amber Heard - Johnny Depp very public brawl. Already then I couldn't help reflecting on what was on stake: the careers of two very public figures. In spite of witnesses from two exes of the contrary, Depp was labeled a wife-beater. Now the bitter courtroom drama can be seen on demand on the Discovery channel; in two parts: one from his point of view and the second from hers. Up to us to judge this time.
   I find it astonishing that still today there is a preference to regard the man as the villain and the woman as the poor victim. After all, there are always two in a relationship. Men are the tough guys, not softies being beaten - even if not physically, mentally rather - by women. Time to reflect.
   Anyway, I am glad to see Depp in Christmas ads now on television. You survived apparently. Good for you. 
   Frank Capra's Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life (see the Archive 19th December 2018) celebrates 75 years. Hurrah!

My rock-ococo silver tray, to outshine the chrome of everyday objects such as the lamp and the laptop on the desk

7th December

I have written before about turning luxury into something lustrous, and I suppose I should live as I preach, so here is my abode at LHA London (see 1st Nov, 23rd Oct, 3rd Sept and 4th Sept last year).
   Even in the most well designed room, with the proportions right, among the straight lines, stripes and checks, I need something that rocks me.
   Since I belong to the rock 'n' roll generation, it must be rock-ococo, with flowing curves reminding of that 18th century style.
​   So in here, there is a silver tray that gives that lustre and a shape that rocks my soul.
​   Then of course, there is the thrilling contrast between the cool of the silver and the fiery colours of the fruits. I am in my element.

Fisherman's luck: look what I have got! he seems to say, showing off his treasure from the Serpentine for not one, but two photographers

​13th November

I have just learned that Dame Joan Collins has won Harper's Bazaar's Woman of the Year award. Apparently, at the age of 88, she is still very much the darling of the press. Indeed, we women of a certain age go strong. (See also 5th Oct, 27th June and in the archive: 5th April and 8th April 2019.)

My proposal for a redesign of the reception of a LHA London Hostel; a concept to be adapted to the architecture of the different entrances of the chain of hostels

1st November

Entrance halls are fascinating - or should be, rather. On 20th December last year, I showed the entrance to my former flat. How guests were greeted by the warmth of fire, or candle-lights, rather. Indeed these rooms are so important: it is the first thing people see when visiting, and this first impression counts. But furthermore, since we don't spend much time in there, we can be brave, do all we can to entice people, blow their minds away, make them feel welcome, even surprise them.
   The latest target for my concerns is LHA London Hostels, where I currently live (see below 23rd Oct, 3rd Sept and 4th Sept last year). The entrance hall is so bland, so I have now made a suggestion of refurbishment that in fact only means repainting the walls. But regard them as a canvas. Yes, I want to make an artist's impression with the elements in the room. In doing so, I also show the company's green ambitions.
   In here, I have played with lots of different green hues, the same way as Mother Nature does. The brown doors have become tree trunks among all the lush foliage. Indeed, bringing the outside in is still so much on our minds, for all the good reasons.
   I must confess I was inspired by David Hockney's Yorkshire dale drawings. Furthermore, I wanted the walls to become 'alive', in the same way as we, our minds, capture nature, bouncing in the wind.
  Also on 20th December last year, I wrote about the Danish word 'hygge'. I have now learned that its warmth has fueled a revival of Danish design. Good for them.

Congratulations Kensington High street, the message is clear: wellness is what makes us go forward; what a recovery

23rd October

Now also LHA London Hostels (see 7th Sept & 4th Sept last year) are suffering from shortages of staff, most of them coming from EU-countries. So, it is about time to admit that Brexit was a big mistake.
​   In spite of its name, there is certainly nothing green about the Tulip, but now the government, Michael Gove more precisely, has given the go ahead for its construction (see the archive: 6th Jan, 25th Feb & 9th May 2019). at the same time the Garden Bridge (see 3rd August, the archive: 25 Feb, 16th March, 28th June 2019) is mentioned - again, as a bad example due to spiraling costs.
   However, I have information from VB, one of those involved in the project, that all costs were well funded, so there should be no problem building it. No, the real scandal was that so much money was invested in preparation of the build - without the opportunity to seeing the bridge stretch its beautiful wings over the Thames - full of greenery. A real symbol for climate change.
   So Boris, do I have to remind you that when you were mayor of London, you approved the bridge? 'Green is good', you said the other day, so go for it. 
​   Above a picture of the premises on Kensington High Street also shown on 19th May 2019 (see the archive). Indeed the future looks bright.

My fabric with checks blue as the sky, in silk

​5th October

The future looks bright - and another confirmation that I am heading in the right direction: in order to capture the optimism associated with 2022, bright skies is named colour of the year by Dulux paint. All along, when creating my Veranda-collection, I have been a great fan of hues close to the cyan blue. the sense of bright skies, fresh air, underlined by the white background. Just look at my fabric above, in silk - to bring out the lustre. But of course, remember lustrous? (See 7th September last year.)
   In the past I have promoted the importance obtaining a relief, the play between of light and shadow in interior design (see 9th June last year), so why not also on a sample of a fabric. 
   Now during Paris Fashion Week, Dame Helen Mirren, 76, was on the catwalk for L'Oreal. The future for us ladies of a certain age does look very bright indeed. (See also in the archive Dame Joan Collins 88 on 5th April and Jane Fonda 84 on 8th April.)

A brook deep in a mysterious jungle? No, in Hyde Park

17th September

What a lucky man. Tomorrow my friend A is leaving the UK to work from home on a Greek island, where his family originally come from. So yes, it would be a real homecoming. As I have written before: finding your roots, who you really are, is so important. I am certain he will find inner peace and harmony there.

Kensington High Street in a creative mood

9th September

There has been a lot of talk about returns to the new normal,  which very much includes the future of the high streets. It prompted a to return to Kensington High Street (see 26th Jan last year and 19th May, 7th July 2019). Among the newcomers I discover two promoting wellbeing: Roar Fitness and UP Fitness. So the street now not only promotes culture and design but also wellbeing - both physical and spritual, since there is St Mary Abbots Church as well; what more can you wish for.
   Exactly what I have been promoting here for my Veranda-collection. What a coincidence.

Kensington cares for the little ones, including a cuddly rabbit dropped in the street

7th September

So ABBA is reunited, with new album coming and live appearances, sort of. Yes, we baby-boomers are super troopers, we are certainly not retiring. If we are lucky to be healthy that is.
   No desire then to end up in a home for elderly people, at least not yet. That is why the LHA London Hostels are such interesting alternatives (see 4th September last year). There you mix with young people, and all overhead costs are included, such as electricity, water and the internet. Indeed you are taken care of as if in a home. A treat for a nomad like me, free to roam the world - if it hadn't been for the pandemic, that is. 

The fabric below is part of my Veranda collection

Seabass with saffron creme by chef  Matteo d'Angelo 

10th August

​I am so excited, thanks to a culinary collaboration I can now show what I meant when, on 11th November last year, I wrote about fabrics specially designed to enhance the experience of a meal. I would like to go even further: it is about creating a dialogue. After all, we eat also with our eyes, or at least we make our taste buds excited at the sight of a delicious meal like the one shown above. So, yes design can do a lot of good also in this sector. Not the least since chefs seem to be turning into designers as well.
   The Mound has now opened again. Since it will be at Marble Arch until January next year, why not make some spectacular New year's Eve fireworks sprouting out of the Mound like an erupting volcano.

The Mound at Marble Arch; now temporarily closed for further work - and making it more appealing, hopefully

​3rd August

Since vertical gardens have been featured quite frequently here, last time on 6th July, I didn't intend to show the new Mound at Marble Arch, but then it was temporarily closed down for not matching people's expectations, and compared to the never - or at least as yet not - realised Garden Bridge (see the archive: 25th Feb, 16th March and 28th June 2019), and I just couldn't shut up.
​   By now, there is nothing new about vertical gardens, even if one prefers to call it a mount. But the Garden Bridge would be one of a kind, never seen before. So Boris, since it was approved when you were Mayor of London, certainly, now as PM, you can use your power and see to it that it will be realized at long last. 
   By the way, one of the problems with the Mound was the sedum turf not appearing healthy. This is a recurrent problem with vertical gardens. On 4th July 2019 (see the archive) I wrote about a reportage I made for The World of Interiors magazine about the Belgian architect Luc Schuiten and his project to introduce vertical gardens. What made it so special was the technical solution behind, resolving the problem of irrigation: an intricate system of tubes would prevent the vegetation to dry and ultimately die. 
   How about making something spectacular of the Mound, never seen before: When finished, it should be celebrated by a grand opening with fireworks sprouting out from the top, like an erupting volcano.

Look what I discovered this morning appearing among the trees in Kensington Gardens: horses; not for the first time, but these were different, belonging to a new attraction, a carousel, until 3rd September

​25th July

I must admit I find the poster below quite captivating, not only for what I wrote on 6th July about personal responsibility, but most of all for the memory it brings back from last spring of a policewoman who chased me away from a park bench by shouting that people were dying in hospitals because of me.
   Such worrying times, so easy to get paranoid, certainly not only when it comes to the police.
   But times and attitudes are changing: hopefully, during the pandemic we have learned to take care of one another, meaning wearing facemasks when necessary, for example.
​   'So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but greatest of these is love' (1 Corinthians 13:3).
​   Or: 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself '(Mathew 22:39).

'Please take personal responsibility' the police now encourage us in Kensington Gardens

Checked Gustavian fabric

​21st July

After having seen yesterday's interview on television with DomCum, I think the nation should thank Carrie for making him exit Downing Street with his cardboard box.
​   The other good news is that travel restrictions to amber list countries such as Sweden seem to be loosening up, so visits to Svindersvik would be possible (see below).
   In the aftermath of the Euros, one memory is so much on my mind: the English flags covering all the façades. It made my mind spinning; they are so light and airy, reminding me of the striped and checked fabrics - always on a white bottom - that covered the Gustavian furniture, like the slipcovers on the sofa and chairs on the picture here below. An airiness that is so much part of my design concept.

Cover of one of my many reportages for the magazine; top: another interior at Svindersvik, a small drawing-room with trompe l'oeil painted wainscots and panels
​Photography: PeO Eriksson

​18th July

So Boris, you blew the whole redecoration budget on treating floorboards in your Downing Street flat.
   It makes me think of all the oh, so beautiful floorboards in Gustavian manor houses, of which you can see an example above. They are called skurgolv in Swedish, meaning that the untreated wood is regularly scrubbed clean with soap and water. Just as simple as that.
   Svindersvik, featured on the photos above, is one of the earliest Swedish summerhouses. situated on the outskirts of Stockholm, and open to the public though guided tours.

Poster at Notting Hill: out of this horrible tragedy, hope will grow in the form of a vertical garden

​6th July

So interesting: Now he has said it. On the press conference yesterday regarding the future of Corona restrictions, Boris encouraged us "to exercise our personal responsibility". I know I have heard that before.
   On 4th April last year, I quoted Swedish PM Stefan Löfven who in a televised speech mentioned the importance of taking responsibility seven times. So, the penny has dropped. Congratulations Boris.
   I felt so happy to discover the above poster; yes, life goes on. Read what they write at grenfellreborn.net, but also what I wrote on 4th August 2019, in the archive, about vertical gardens. Indeed, trends come and go - and come back again, stronger and stronger every time. But this one is definitely here to stay.

Together as one, by Adalberto Lonardi, mural shown during the Kensington and Chelsea Art Week, see 12th June, that celebrates the power of the Notting Hill community and not the least: our need to look at our past for our future

​27th June

Am I too soft on people trying something, unheard of to some, called kindness? It has now turned out what I was calling sleaze here below, on 19th June, regarding DomCum's tweets, might have a grain of truth, after all.
   But since I am on the subject of spreading misinformation: a week ago on ITV, a Piers Morgan interview with Joan Collins was broadcast. On the subject of her husbands, the star mentioned only briefly "the Swede", which intrigued me and made me start digging into my memory.
   I remember only vaguely PH topping the Swedish charts with 'Monia', which he sang in some kind of falsetto. Then, nothing, no news.
   Until a letter arrived to GW, the then editor of VeckoRevyn, at the time, early 1980s when I worked there. It was anonymous, signed Swedish ladies in Hollywood. They felt obliged to inform that PH was in fact a gigolo. It seemed obvious that the nasty letter was prompted by rumours that PH was dating Joan Collins.
   Normally, GW absorbed all gossip without questioning, but this time she hesitated. A check showed that he was working as a crooner, singing in bars and nightclubs on the Riviera, but no hint of anything else. However, since the letter most certainly was sent to other parts of the Swedish media as well, the story would come out, so the magazine published the it anyway.
   One could suspect that the source of inspiration was the 1980 film American Gigolo, in which Richard Gere cut a dashing figure in Armani.
   Indeed, fashion has ben flirting with harlots as well. In the 1970s, Yves Saint Laurent made a collection influenced by rue Saint Denis, the street in Paris where those ladies were waiting for clients. Interestingly, some dresses were quite similar to the one the mannequin wore on the picture at 21st January last year.
   Then I read recently that it was a sex tape that made the Kardashians rise to fame.
   Oh dear, where are we heading? Like when the skirts are so short they almost disappear - then they become long again. Or, in other words: a return to the Christian road to contentment.

Another golden early morning among the trees of Hyde Park

​19th June

Considering his recent try to liberate Northern Ireland from the UK, I think I was right calling Emanuel Macron 'de Gaulle le Petit' (see the archive 14th April 2019). I am thinking of a speech the late president held in Canada in 1967, in which he exclaimed: "Vive le Quebec libre!'.
​   It wasn't well received either.
   This in turn reminds me of a Sunday morning in 1990, when I happened to pass Place de la Concorde in Paris, where a giant replica of the type of radio used during WW2 had been erected, with the voice of de Gaulle beaming out a message to the French people not to give up hope for freedom. On the deserted place, it felt eerily strange, but later I found out it was a recording of a speech on radio he made in London in 1940, which was now retransmitted on the occasion of the 50-year commemoration of this moment in history.
   For someone who has always taken freedom for granted, it was a mind-blowing experience.
   But the question is however, whether the French appetite for liberty would ever go as far as leaving the EU - with precisely Northern Ireland and its protocol problems as a warning. No British sausages.
   Even more interestingly, will the British ever admit that leaving the EU was a bad idea, now that they finally realise the consequences?
   Oh, France, with all these Corona border restrictions, you seems so far away.
   And now DomCum even hopes to earn a fortune by throwing sleaze at Boris & Co. His blog will only be available for paying subscribers.

Frightening reality: protesters gathered at Shepherd's Bush, London, demonstrating against the Covid vaccinations that thankfully will save our world
​Photography: Anthony Vandoros

​12th June

'So very sad that people are suffering from mental health issues now during the pandemic. As I wrote on 11th January, we in the creative industries seem to have escaped; the time spent in seclusion might have been fruitful even.
   Yes, inner harmony is so important when designing, streaming from our brains down to our hands into our creations, such as interiors, for example - full of wellbeing.
   Even more so, creativity has spread its wings. Now during lockdown, people seem to have discovered the benefits, like a mental exercise, a trip into themselves - for their own good, as an antidepressant even.
   Already long before, during boring conversations or meetings, as a distraction many of us used to scribble figures on pieces of paper, so this is nothing new, just a little more concentration might be needed to feel the real fulfilment.
   Kensington High Street is indeed a creative high street (see 26 Jan last year and archive: 19th May, 7th July 2019). Awaiting Kensington and Chelsea Art Week, from 24th June to 4th July, when over 100 events will be taking place across the borough, already now art is radiating from the walls of Kensington's high streets. If you can't go there and experience, look at www.kcaw.co.uk/high-street.

Early summer morning in the archipelago of Stockholm

​3rd June

How wonderful that the BBC now, at long last, admits that the graphic designer, who faked the documents in the Princess Diana interview scandal, was wrongly made the scapegoat. He has now received an apology. At the time, it was regarded as the easiest solution to severe the ties to the weakest link, the freelancer, whose professional life would consequently hang in the balance - and sweep the rest under the carpet. 
​   Not the first time this has happened in the media, I can assure you. I should know. I was also a whistle-blower, and I certainly had to pay for it.
​   These days, my comfort is that as long as people still know about it - and they do, the truth won't go away.
   Just compare these colours of the North, on the photo above, with the Mediterranean ones. No wonder it is so rewarding to sit and contemplate on a landing, regarding the horizon. The true colours you see, pure and refined. 
   Like looking at the world without a filter.  Oh, I think I'm getting carried away now.

The splendour at The Hermitage Palace in today's Saint Petersburg

​28th May

So if DomCum didn't drive to Barnard Castle to check his eyesight, which no one believes - and he now has said he regrets. Well, why did he go then? Could it be so that in these times of doom and gloom, he felt an urging need to cheer him up with the beauty of yore in the castle. 
   What inspired my theory was the siege of Leningrad during WW2 when, due to famine, bodies were indeed piled high in the streets. During these horrendous times, people took comfort in visiting the cities beautiful palaces.
   So, how about celebrating the end of this dark period in all our lives by visiting the castles of National Trust. We all know now how the beauty of nature in the parks and gardens improves our wellbeing, the same could be said about castles and palaces.
   In the same way as the beauty of our churches lifts our spirits to God. However, I wonder about their Sunday church services now that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have separated (see the archive, 26th Aug 2019). Anyway, Justin Bieber's name can now be added to the list of celebrity church goers. It is getting longer and longer...

I first showcased the Gustavian style in a Parisian art gallery
Photography: Ingalill Snitt

​21st May

Brilliant news! We are on our way back to Regency times, I have read in the June issue of British Vogue, out now. Even more interesting: whether it is British Georgian or French Louis XVI - or, as I prefer to call it, Marie Antoinette style - or indeed the Gustavian style, the corset is back, as seen on the catwalks at Givenchy and Alexaander McQueen.  Which makes me think of the shepherd-dress with corset I wore in the Gustavian setting at Fåfängan (see 4th Dec last year).
​   Yes I know, I have written in the past about letting go of the corset to embrace more comfortable clothes, but when the pendulum is in full swing, why not do as I did, wear the corset over a white T-shirt.  
​   Obviously, this step back in time will be mirrored in the rooms as well. I am well prepared. 

My bookcase separated to become both a console and a bedhead
Photography: Jakob Wästberg

​22nd April

Since I wrote the piece here below, my head has been spinning. After all, we all live together on this earth that God has created for us. Furthermore, there are so many examples of the fruitfulness of cultures, different people meeting, in the arts, design, architecture. Just think of the beautiful Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba. 
   Imagine the priests in Christian churches quoting the Koran in the same way as they refer to the Bible of the Jews, the Old Testament.
   Imagine the religious expression in society changing to embrace all faiths.
   Imagine peace in the world, in the Middle East to start with, not thanks to politicians but religious leaders.   
   Imagine dreams coming true...
​    Who am I to write about such things, you might think. It is just that learning about that meeting with leaders of different faiths at Windsor Castle gave such hope, seemed to open the door to such possibilities that indeed, my imagination went amok.

Detail of T-shirt with God is love message, bought at Alhambra, Spain

​16th April

Now that we all are mourning the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, we discover not only how loved he was but his achievements as well. One that struck me in particular was Prince Philip's involvement in 1987, on the Queen's instructions, in an important meeting between leaders of diverse faiths at Windsor Castle.
  It makes me remember other moments of mourning, the memorial services of the victims of the Grenfell fire (see 13th June last year). There, in front of us at S:t Helen's Church, they were standing together, the leaders of the different faiths of the victims. It all seemed so obvious, united in grief.
   Could it be so that during this pandemic, a time of grievance and reflection, which we are in together, would unite us in more ways than we might imagine now?
   Or, as I got the impression, when I read back in September, in an article in The Spectator, by Ed Husain, that we might in the future look at religion in a different, transgressive way.
   The reportage describes how the philosopher Basam Tibi, who has been fighting Islamist fundamentalist ideas, met in Germany in the 1960s two Jews, Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, the founders of the Frankfurt School of critical thinking. They wanted to find out why, after the Enlightenment, with all its logic and beauty, humanity in the 20th century was 'sinking into a new kind of barbarism'.  
   Tibi then met a third Jew, Ernst Bloch, who wrote about Ibn Sina, born around 980, in the golden age of Muslim civilisation, who had plenty to say about human equality and the intertwining of Arabic and western thought. He even stated that the Enlightenment started in medieval Islam.
   It has been written and said over and over again that in order to go forward, we shall learn from what happened in the past. With so much going on, maybe there is hope for a new era of Enlightenment.
   Above I show a detail of a T-shirt I bought in Spain because I thought the Islamic design on it was beautiful. But it was in a shop here in London that the revelation came: the man behind the counter stared at my T-shirt like transfixed, then said he could read "God is love".
   So there might be more that unite us than we know. Just look at the text here below.

On the altarpiece one can read Gud är kärlek, God is love

​8th April

I thrive on memories, this is a recent one: Easter Sunday's resurrection. The Swedish Church (see 2nd April) reappeared in its glory, or at least so it seemed to me when I watched its service on line.
   The gold on the panels and columns, which seemed lifeless on God Friday, were glittering, lustrous even; the joy of life was here again.
   Another lesson the Bible has tought us: how can we fully appreciate those golden moments, if we hadn't endured the somber parts of our lives.
​   Something to keep in mind now during the pandemic.

A garden among high-rises at Paddington wishes us a happy Easter

​3rd April

I have learned that online logistics centres, buildings that house large corporations' computer systems, are now the most sought after commercial estates. Will this be the future of our towns and cities?
   With all artificial intelligence about to take over our lives, I think we will need God more than ever.
   And the Bible. Oh, I forgot to tell, on the same page as the world's hatred, which I wrote about here below, one can read how we should "love each other as I have loved you" (John 15:12). Indeed it contains birth and death, love and hatred - and everything in between.
​   To me it is the book of life. It gives me so much.

Swedish Church in London: the altar prepared for the Good Friday online service, with five roses symbolising Jesus' five wounds

​2nd April

When I now during Easter read in the Bible what led to the crucifixion of Jesus, one thing strikes me that I haven't thought of before: Pontius Pilatus knew very well that the religious leaders had arrested him out of envy (Matt 27:18). 
   We all know that there is only a very thin line between envy and hatred, which makes me think of what is written about the worlds' hatred (John 15:18 and onwards). 
   I just wonder if this could not be regarded in a wider context. Just think of all trolls that now petrify the world, in particular those among us that dare to speak up, be true to ourselves rather than just go with the flow, agree with what has already been said or done.
   Nothing new and exciting would happen, if there were not those brave willing to break the mould - and take this risk of being the target of hatred. 
   Looking at these pictures of two churches from the north of Europe here below makes me think of how our attachment to nature also is mirrored in our religious lives. At the Swedish Church in London one has gone one step further by bringing the outdoor in. That wonderful green makes me think of the deep, mysterious forests of the north of the country,

Another altarpiece with an opening into Mother Nature: in Dädesjö old church, in the county of Småland, southern Sweden; the side altars  and the stone benches along the walls as well as the wall-paintings are all original from when the church was built, probably in the 13th century

​27th March

​Early on, when writing this blog (see the archive: 15th Dec 2018) it was about mindfulness, yet the illustration was a church. I must admit I mixed things up. There was this voice encouraging me to let my thoughts drift away to a clearing in the woods. Already then, I must have asked myself: couldn't God be there?  To fill a void. Without God my mind is not full.
   Even if linked to Buddhism, couldn't mindfulness offer us all something true and good? Perhaps here, embraced by nature, all faiths can meet in mindfulness. ..  
   It will help us all find something that is higher than us, and in return God will give the peace of mind we are yearning for.

Finnish wedding chapel, designed by NOAN, overlooking the Tervajärvi lake; the view forms the altarpiece, heralding God's creation: nature
​Photography: Essi Nisonen

​22nd March

I am back on royal territory, thinking of The Lost Son in the Bible. But when I read Luke 15:11-32, I am not so sure it would be Prince Harry. I am certain he is dearly missed on these shores, so no one can imagine him coming back as a loser, broke. Even if some might wonder what he is up to.
   I go on in my search for God's wish to bring hope to those separated: there is the Christian message of atonement, but also of redemption and forgiveness to be found in the Bible. As well as repent, and not the least reconciliation. 
​   They are all there, the words needed - for all of us. 

Seabirds on the landing of the Serpentine, waiting to take off into the lustrous spring

​16th March

With reference to what I wrote here below on 11th March, I learn that the other day, when Prince William defended the Royal Family, impromptu on camera, for not being racist, it was regarded as against protocol.
​   But when we see archive footage, I can't help reflecting: isn't it against protocol to wear black, except when mourning? The Duchess of Sussex wore it, from top to toe - even when next to the Queen. As far as I know, it has never been commented on. Yet it can be regarded as a sign of what was to come...

Andy Warhol's Marilyn looking on scene from a marriage between the ascetic Jan Dranger, symbolised by the glass cabinet of his design, and his flamboyant wife Lou, who possibly was the one who put the leopard print throw over the sofa

​13th March

When I wrote about IKEA on the 8th March and further back in time, it evoked lots of memories.
   My collaboration with the company started already in the early '80s, when I worked as a living editor at the Swedish weekly VeckoRevyn. One of the topics was 'living on a small surface', and in their studio at Älmhult an interior was built on that theme. Before I went down there, I had to pre-order the furniture and other objects I wanted to appear in the shoot. Looking at the high number of items I had ordered, people were wondering how on earth I would be able to put all that into the indeed very small space. But I did! The trick was to let it all disappear into an extremely limited number of hues: two, mainly white with some black as an accent colour.
   There was some advertising as well,  but my most cherished experience occurred after the Stockholm catalogue, when I was invited to give a lecture to IKEAs stylists, those involved in the company's regular catalogues. The theme was the personal home. What a wonderful trip down memory lane: a recollection of the reportages of houses I have made during all those years working for different decoration magazines.
   The photo I have chosen to illustrate it brings up a conundrum: personal style is easy when you live alone but how about couples? So many marriages and partnerships are put at risk due to decoration squabbles. However, it can also show off a harmonious relationship - even between two opposite personalities - as seen here.
   It also gives me the opportunity to display a cabinet by Jan Dranger (1941-2016), one of my favourite designers. He collaborated with IKEA as well, with a collection of inflatable furniture. Flatpack brought to another level.
​   By the way, the armchair on the cover of House&Garden, published on 2nd September, was designed by Jan Dranger.

Another view of my former living-room, where comforting shadow conjures, underlined by very dark green floorboards; with all the light streaming from the big windows, a lagom​ balance is created - harmony then

​11th March

So, Piers Morgan, you are sulky now. Diana, Princess of Wales, invited you to lunch at Kensington Palace, but the Duchess of Sussex did no such thing, and certainly no invitation to the wedding. Adding insult to injury, you missed out on the interview that Oprah got.
   Your negative comment about the duchess' credibility has caused you quitting ITVs Good Morning Britain like a loser. 
   I can't help speculating: if it had been you interviewing, would you had dared confronting her with your doubts? 
   Suicidal thoughts must always be taken seriously, you never know. Unless you are a psychiatrist, that is.
   It is obvious that the American media outlets are in favour, while the British are not. Cheer up, Piers, you may not be the only one feeling left out.

One of the rooms I decorated for the catalogue of IKEA:s Stockholm series; the armchair was designed by  Thomas Jelinek
Photography: Peo Eriksson

​8th March

​Today is International Women's Day, and it has made me think of what I have written here in the past (see 25th July). I do hope and think things have improved. But still, today is a day for reflection - for both men and women: knife-stabbing in the back is so useless; rather, let's unite to bring things forward. 
   As to backstabbing and The Interview: it seems to be another Shakespearian drama. The Bard must have had sources of inspiration in real life - so the story just goes on.
   Those saying they are not going to see the programme, broadcast on British television tonight, are lying.
   With reference to what I wrote below about my participation in IKEA:s Stockholm series, I show one of the interiors I decorated. My aim was to fill the rooms with ambiance as well as make them feel alive. That was why a teddy-bear was on the floor, as if dropped by a child who had just left the room. 

The façade of the Gustavian manor at the exhibition, with its pediment-like middle reminding of Classical architecture; below, I also designed a  royal pavilion, the furniture from Lammhults

​6th March

I just have to come back to Karin Mobring (see here below and 31st Jan). People all over the world must have enjoyed furniture of her design, yet there is no Wikipedia about her. Even more intriguingly, her furniture seem to sell well at auction, far above the original price. An investment for the future then, one can assume.
   Why not? After all, Ingvar Kamprad thought she was Sweden's best designer.
   Then I discover that I must have been inspired by one of her chairs. Seen from the side that is, from above my armchair resembles the so called Adirondack chairs, often seen by the pool, connecting to the veranda's indoor-outdoor theme then. 
   Yet it was Karin's furniture in IKEA:s Stockholm series, which I fell in love with. I was involved in styling the catalogue, which gave me the chance to study them close up. 
​   Unfortunately, the project dragged on, so I had to leave it for another commission. On the occasion of a visit to Paris by King Carl Gustaf of Sweden, I was invited to show a Gustavian manor house at an export exhibition of Swedish products. What a wonderful adventure: there it was, including a drawing room, a dining room and a bedroom, among Volvo cars and Electrolux vacuum cleaners. 
   Memories I cherish; not the least now that the Gustavian style serves as a trampoline into the future.
   The Oprah interview is served as hors d'oeuvres. The whole world is waiting for more. However, when the smörgåsbord is finally broadcast, maybe there will not be much, only crumbles left to digest.

The architecture of the IKEA store at Kungens Kurva, south of Stockholm, by Claes Knutson, was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum in New York
​Photography: IKEA

​3rd March

What I wrote on 30 January about IKEA has made me think of a meeting with its then marketing manager LE, when he said about the seemingly reclusive Karin Mobring: "Of course, no one has seen her house". I could then proudly inform him that indeed I had.   And I was far from the only one. Karin confided in me that also IKEA:s founder and then CEO Ingvar Kamprad (1926-2018) used to come up there for a chat.
   Anyone thinking that a man visiting a woman that lives on her own would mean anything else than a good friendship would be disappointed, in this case at least. No wonder women, me included, appreciate the friendship with gay men, no ambiguity then. 
   Why I find the idea of them, the happily married business magnate and the designer, meeting in secret so compelling is rather that it symbolises to me the success - and may be even the soul of IKEA. Lots have been written and said, including jokes, about the flatpacks, while it is its approach to design that makes the company stand out on the low-price market.
   I even think that Ingvar Kamprad knew something, which entrepreneurs not always realise: that the best designer is not necessarily the one that shouts out the loudest, occupies the centre stage, but rather the silent one in the corner, and you have to nurture such a relationship.
   This kind of collaboration - in harmony - between designer and management tells us more: about the importance of design for a company to thrive.
   But it also reminds us all in the creative industries that brilliant ideas -  in the form of designs, for example - lead to nothing without brilliant business leadership as well.
   Awaiting the already infamous Oprah Winfrey interview our thoughts go to the Royal family, of course, but that should include Prince Harry as well. After all, he has given up a lot. Was it really worth it? For a place in the sun - and the media. Just don't shoot the messenger.

Gauzy fabrics: creating a light, poetic touch to a table runner, above; below, as a fresh lick of colour updating three French 18th century engravings

​11th February

The secret to get through lockdown, I have just learned, is to listen to birds song. I couldn't agree more, just see in the archive what I wrote on 22 January 2019. Now there is Soundscapes for Wellbeing on the BBC Sound Effects website. Indeed, how the natural world improves our wellbeing now doctors agree to, even recommend as a relief from pain. 
​   Is it really so that a lockdown was necessary for people to discover the most obvious? Come to think of it, already from the start, on 15th December 2018, I wrote about the influence of nature, even how colours it provides us with fill our minds and imaginations, to find peace of mind - mindfulness that is.
   On that day, I also wrote about the window of my childhood room, how it was framed by voile curtains creating a dreamy feel to the view of the sea. I know I am in psychological deep water, but still, I do wonder if that is the reason why I have this kind of Marie Antoinette mania: explaining why gauzy fabrics have invaded my imagination? 

Mural by Kjell Mobring; the photo must have been taken in the '50s, not long after the wall was painted
Photography: Stig Hellman

​30th January

The table on the photo here below was created by one of the Swedish designers I admire most: Karin Mobring (1928- 2005) worked for the furniture giant IKEA from the '50s until the '90s, In particular, it was her part of the design of the Stockholm series that impressed on me, its link to the Gustavian heritage. 
   Yet she is almost an enigma. Or, so she seemed to me, when hearing the talks at the IKEA HQ at Älmhult in southern Sweden. Therefore, the fact that my cousin BH knew her, made me think that a reportage of her house would become the journalistic scoop of my career.
​   My chance came when BH and I, together with her younger sister BH (yes!), on our way to our annual skiing holiday up at Åre got the chance to visit her home on the island Frösön. We were greeted very welcome - until Karin spotted something bulging under my jacket: it looked suspiciously like a camera. She then embraced the sisters warmly, while I only got a glance. Anyway, over coffee and cake they chatted, exchanging cake recipes. Eventually, she must have thought she should be polite to me after all, and I got the chance to say how much I admired her work.
   After that she became very friendly and told us among other things that one year, IKEA had sent her to Milan to catch up with the latest trends at the Furniture Fair. But no, she went to a museum instead.
   She relaxed to the extent that I was allowed to take a picture of them together. However, she didn't realise I had a zoom lens. So that when I stepped as far back as I possibly could, the whole room appeared in the camera.
   Of course, I sent the photo to The World of Interiors magazine, and a reportage was commissioned. But sadly, Karin said no. Still, I will never forget that house, in the local vernacular style, so beautifully situated on a slope towards the lake Storsjön. The whole place, all the rooms were filled with harmony - which in turn was transmitted to her furniture designs. And indeed, she seemed to live a very happy life up there, where the clocks had stopped, far from the buzz of designer gatherings. 
   It would be tempting to publish that photo of her living-room, but even now I want to respect her privacy.  Instead I show a mural that her brother Kjell Mobring, an arts teacher, painted in the home of BH, the elder that is.

Another shot from my former flat on I:le St Louis in Paris, referred to below, with part of my bookcase transformed to a console table; the chairs are designed by Josef Frank for Svenskt Tenn, the table by Karin Mobring for IKEA; the chandelier is 18th century Gustavian

​27th January

The words shelter and shielding have got wings. Now during the  pandemic, we have all learned what they mean - and how to achieve them, whether with the help of facemasks or transparent screens. But the more I think of it, the screens I showed on 10th September would come in handy as well - to create a sanctuary in your home, a corner just for yourself, whether you work or just enjoy reading a book.. . or staring on a computer screen, of course.  
   A snug then, but not the way we are used to see it. After all, in the open spaces, where so many of us have been living, there are no nooks and crannies. Now, it would offer not only that, but the best of two worlds as well: by dividing in this way, with the help of semi-transparent fabric, we could be surrounded by people, family, yet have a private space of our own. Wellbeing, again.

A day of celebration, painting oil on canvas by Fanny Brate 1902

​21st January

How wonderful to see the new President of the United States kiss the First Lady yesterday. Last time we saw that must have been quite a while ago. I have no memory of ever seeing it.
   With the exception of Royal nuptial kisses, of course; the TV-cameras loved them, and so did we.
   This time, it was a 78 year-old and his wife.  A very good sign for the future. We wish Joe Biden and his Jill all the best.
   Life goes on, it certainly does; what a difference a kiss could make. Soon spring will come and we all will be vaccinated, Boris, you promised. It reminds me of the iconic photo V-J Day in Times Square by Alfred Eisenstaedt of a US Navy sailor kissing a girl on Victory over Japan Day in 1945. One day, we will also be celebrating the victory over a deadly enemy.
​   I was thinking of what I wrote below about mixing cultural expressions. This includes styles as well, of course, and the Gustavian style would then be the perfect example with its blends of Italian Neo-classicism, French Louis XVI, Swedish lagom and the Northern light added to it.
   As well as a whiff of Marie Antoinette (see 30th Aug 2019, 28th Nov and 4th Dec last year). This was specially apparent when it comes to curtains, made of mousseline, to let in as much as possible of the daylight, as the picture above shows. And could be seen in my former living-room as well.
   Interestingly, now with the turn of the 20th century verandah, the British Edwardian style would be added as well.

Old meets new at the reconstruction of the Baroque Berlin Palace, formerly home to Prussian kings and German emperors, now to house the Humboldt Forum museum
​Photography: Alexander Schippel

19th January

"Met officers will be taught the 'cultural history'of the area of London they will be policing as part of a Scotland Yard drive to improve the way it deals with people from different backgrounds", I read in yesterday's Evening Standard.
   I have been banging on politicians, including Boris, about the importance of culture, including design, in our lives; how it should be a priority on all political manifestos and agendas.
   After all, culture is the fabric of our society - it defines who we are. It can make barriers between people of different backgrounds, separate us, but it can also unite us, mix us together thanks to cultural expressions, whether it is music, ballet - or indeed design and architecture.
   Furthermore, new culture, like modern architecture, when put together with the outlines of past styles, can make the beauty of a bygone age stand out, as the above picture shows.
   Of course, all this has been proven right through history, but still, it is so interesting to see what impact it can have on our daily lives, not the least in a multi-cultural city like London, as the above quotation shows.

Winter's tale; a scene in front of the Serpentine Bar & Kitchen

​11th January

I would like to return to the excellent little book Les 100 mots de luxe (see 24th and 29th Dec last year). It is one line in the introduction that caught my eye: "Luxury is also solitude". I couldn't agree more, but in these Corona times, when being on your own gives you a sense of isolation the experience gets trickier for many, not the least young people.
   Luckily, much thanks to Prince William in the lead among those bringing up the subject of mental health, today we can talk about it openly and hopefully get the help and support needed. And not, as I wrote about on 29th October, someone's mental state to be used spreading rumours, true or false, in order to wreck people's careers and ultimately lives.
   Interestingly, I have learned that creativity is an important activity to combat depression. That might explain why we in the so called creative industries seem to thrive, speculating about and looking forward to the new world that will emerge when all this will be over. A certain optimism then, making at least some of the dark clouds disappear.
   This morning, I read in The New York Times: "The Corona virus, a force of death and destruction, is also pushing artists and musicians to be more creative". I would like to add designers as well.
   That is also why, even if we all very much respect what Professor Chris Whitty tells us, I am not quite certain his assertion this morning on BBC Breakfast that we will go back to the life the way it was before Covid struck will come true. I actually hope not, and there seem to be more than me thinking there is a chance this world might be a better place.
​   With reference to what I wrote the other day, here below, it has turned out there is an intriguing, spooky even, link between the events on Capitol Hill and the French Revolution. Activists belonging to the network QAnon, with absurd conspiracy ideas, were among the crowd storming the Capitol. Its theories that the world is governed by an underground elite have roots in the late 18th century France. 
   The only elite I can think of are those guys in California shutting down Donald's accounts, not very underground. And now QAnon is facing the same crackdown.
​   Melania has now turned up, not in real life but on The White House website, where she condemns what happened. "It's inspiring to see so many are passionate and enthusiastic about their participation in an election, but one should not let that passion turn into violence", she writes. However, the question remains: where is she? Not beside her husband.
   Most importantly, I do hope there will be no more parallels with the French Revolution. But the signs are no good.

After the mob attack on the grille in front of the Palace of Versailles, and the golden cage broken into, the Royal sun would set

​9th January

Not long ago, on 4th December, I likened the Trumps' lives to those of the French Royals. Afterwards, I thought maybe it was a little too much to compare the King Louis XVI to the other Donald. But the reason was that I had been informed that 'king' Donald had decorated a copy of Versailles in his Trump Tower in New York. Obviously, I haven't seen his private apartments, not even any pictures,  but the idea intrigued me, not the least since I have in fact been into the building. In those days way back then, anyone could enter, hardly possible today, I suppose.
   I must admit I was impressed by those rolling stairs leading to heaven, it seemed, clad in gleaming brass. And from where, high above the admiring crowd, the 'king' to be would announce his candidacy.  
   However, recent events have made me reflect even more on the comparison. It struck me, when I saw people gathering outside The White House - even if they didn't manage to enter like the hungry mob did at Versailles in October 1789. Then was the storming of Capitolium and the same thing happening on 14th July when Bastille was captured.
   But the comparisons end there. After all, one head of state was the target, the other one ignited the storming. One mob fought for democracy, the other tried to overturn it.
   However, still today, people sleep in the streets and rely on food banks to survive.
   Furthermore, could the finale of the other 'king' be the end of the celebrity culture? I sincerely hope so. 
   This last week, one person was missing from the scene. But Melania, have you already packed your bags and left? 
   Just one last reflection: It has always fascinated me that people living in countries without Royals - like indeed the US and France - how they seem to appreciate them, of the past and present, as if something, or someone rather, is missing... 

Parts of my Gustavian furniture collection for Nobilis Fontan
Photography: Nobilis

​6th January

During my years working for various decorating magazines, I came to understand that people didn't read them only for decorating their homes, rather, seeing these often palacelike interiors was a way of dreaming away, to imagine living in these fantastic places, including Gustavian castles and manor houses.
   So, it wasn't only about the furniture then, something else as well, which fills the air that surrounds them, the wider picture: a vision.
​   All along it was my ambition to bring this extra into the home. That is why I rather than decorate prefer to talk about animating a space. One step in that direction was the chance to make a Gustavian exhibition at the Swedish Cultural Centre in Paris (see 7th May last year). A furniture collection for the French company Nobilis Fontan, see above, brought me even closer: the sensation of being in a Gustavian manor. 
   It was this idea of animation that made me think further: how wonderful it would be to live on a veranda, the ideal place to sit and dream...
   By the way, I have just learned that the Swedish Church Christmas market (see 2nd Dec last year) was such a success that for this year both an indoor and outdoor market  are planned, with online sales as well.

A poster on a former bank at Notting Hill Gate; a sign that the walls of the dear high street are now at risk to become just advertising boards 

​3rd January 2021

Today, the eco-warrior Greta Thunberg turned 18, and to celebrate the occasion she was interviewed by the Sunday Times. She then declared that she will not be buying new clothes. But the bad news Greta is that even if you rely on buying second hand, at the end of this chain someone will have to buy new. After all, we do wear them out.
   On 3rd November, I showed my 19 year old T-shirt, getting more and more threadbare by every wash. So, even if we wear our clothes as dear old friends, the way I do - after all, they embrace me and keep me warm - the moment will come when we have to say goodbye.
   But it isn't just T-shirts I wear for ages. In the past, I have also been buying luxury fashion, quite frequently in fact. But not only for its designs, which makes me feel special, but also because the high quality makes the clothes last long. Very eco-friendly then. And as we know by now, fashions come and go - and come again.
  Indeed, luxury seems to be in focus these days. The poster I showed on 14th November has been replaced with the one on the photo above, with the same theme. The small text reads: "BEYOND FASHION BEYOND LUXURY".
​   Yes, we are moving on...

I imagined  Marie Antoinette dressing a 20th century Parson table 

​29th December

When I wrote here below about influencers, I might have ruffled some feathers. Indeed they are very important. However, the way people look at this phenomena might not quite correspond with how I do, in a much wider context that is. But how would the world have developed without influencers? How would cultures have met - of different times even? After all, these encounters are so crucial for creativity, to develop and flourish.
   And not the least to me when creating the Veranda project. I have already mentioned the influence of Marie Antoinette and her flowing dresses in fabrics almost as thin as air, but above all, coming from those designers who have moved the past into our times, like the architect Ivar Tengbom (see photos at 3rd December).
   There would have been no Gustavian style without King Gustav III. Come to think of it, as to Western style, nothing would have happened without the Romans - or the Greeks.
   At the other end of this chain with roots deep into history are today's influencers. Among them I would like to include Per Wästberg, author of Mälaröarna (The Summer Islands) describing life in the summer houses in the archipelago of Stockholm (see also from the archive: 13th September 2019). Then of course, Christian Blanckaert and his books on the subject of luxury, see below. 
   There are lots of others that have influenced me as well. Only time will tell who the winners are. Since, in today's world not the least, there is a web of influencers, one thought leading to another; history will then be the judge, who we will remember.

My card with wishes for a very merry Christmas - and that we all will overcome the hardships of these times
​Photography: Publicis EtNous

​24th December

,I thought the above photo would be suitable as my Christmas card this year. Yes, I know, the armchair is empty, no Father Christmas sitting on it, and Rudolph is nowhere to be seen either. But as I wrote on 2nd December, due to all travel restrictions they are working from home, and the huge demand for Swedish Church's Christmas hampers meant they were so busy sending them off that they didn't have time to appear in any photo shoot.
   More seriously, in order to promote my design project I wrote the following to the French decoration magazine Maison Française: "When the Gustavian style was introduced in France, I was told (being Swedish) that the style was found cold and austere. To me it seemed strange, since at the same time, the whole of France admired photos of exteriors covered in snow. When I think of it now, perhaps it would be even more interesting with the picture of a house under snow except for a window where, in this dark hole, the flame of a candle shines. This is an image that sings both dramatic and sublime tones, which has lead me to a new way of appreciating the style, more elaborate. Furthermore, it seems as if in the past one of the four elements with which the Gustavian style plays has been forgotten: apart from the grey of the soil, the blue in the air and the water there is of course the fire."
   Not long after, a couple of months or half a year maybe, the above photo appeared in an ad for a French luxury brand. Yes, I do think I am an influencer, after all.
   When looking at this photo, what also strikes me is a kind of simplicity, not associated with luxury, at least not of the past. It makes me think of what the former CEO of Hermès, Christian Blanckaert, author of many books about luxury, wrote in Les 100 Mots de Luxe: "In order to be juste - which I translate as lagom, luxury should find again the road to simplicity. This era oblige modesty and discretion. Why not  propagate the humble luxury?"  Very interesting.
   So, perhaps one should ask oneself who is inspiring who. The war of the influencers is on, quite exciting. Hopefully, it will bring us forward to new heights of creativity.
​   But does it really matter who has influenced who? 

The entrance hall in my former flat, with the shine of fire and the Nordic sky painted on the wall, the chairs' green inspired by Aurora Borealis; the orange fabric is part of my fruit collection

20th December

Since now is the time when fires pulls us in, I would like to show the entrance hall in my former flat; the feeling of welcome when entering into this warmth - and how easy it is to achieve: just a few tealights hidden behind pots and urns​.
   Or maybe I should call this warmth hygge rather. But this was in 2012, before the publication of the book The Year of Living Danishly, which brought the word into the limelight. In fact, warmth, not only the cudly one but also fire, I have been missing since the Gustavian style was introduced in the 80s, which I also wrote about in the introduction to my Gustavian exhibition at the Cultural Centre in Paris (see 7th May).
   So, animation is not just for verandas, but to conjure a fireplace as well, with the chest of drawers as imaginary fire logs. But there is even more in here: inspired by the northern light, or aurora borealis more precisely, the walls on either side have been painted dark blue with the chairs in front in one one of those green hues dancing on the dark northern sky. 
   But there is a confusion when it comes to the so popular northern light. There is also the one at Skagen that I described here below. Even more interestingly, if one goes to the far north of Sweden, not only one finds this strikingy clear daylight that makes colours vibrate but also the aurora borealis by night. 

Interior with Clematis by Danish artist Anna Ancher
​Photography: Skagens Museum

​12th December

I have repeated it over and over again: rather than just looking at computer screens as some kind of crystal balls into the future of design, for our wellbeing we need to incorporate the past as well, our cultural roots, either from where we were born or where we currently live - or both. It makes us feel at home.
​   That was why I, on 4th December, wrote about the art historians as our gatekeepers. We are after all in treacherous territory, a minefield even: a step in the wrong direction and an object might turn out as kitsch, or a pastiche.
   But opinions differ among art historians. It makes me think of my dear friend, the late HDL, an art historian firmly into modern design. We had many fruitful discussions. Her colleague LS, on the other hand, sees the styles of the past as untouchables; decorating rooms must conform to how it was shown at that particular period of time. No mixing of styles, and certainly no modern design. Playing it safe, in other words. It has convinced me that nothing is clear-cut when it comes to interpretations of the history of styles.
  Then opinions change over time, not the least concerning women's role in art history.  At about the same time as the Impressionists in France, there was a colony of Scandinavian artists at Skagen, a small town situated at the northern point of Jutland, Denmark, where the winds from the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea meet, creating the clear northern air with its inspiring colours. One of the most heralded artists among them was Michael Ancher; influenced by his traditional training he combined realism with classical composition. But then the work of his wife Anna led him in another direction,  inspired by her way of exploring this light and colours. Nowadays however, it is Anna who is considered to be one of the great Danish pictorial artists.
   So, with reference to what I wrote below about Marie Antoinette, maybe it is the same with her: out of the shadows of history, she is the one who stands out today, rather than her husband King Louis XVI.

Stockholm City Hall in Nobel lighting, inspired by the discovery of the black hole in space by the laureates of this year's Nobel Prize in Physics
​Photography: Pontus Lundahl/TT

5th December

... And she still does today. I am thinking of what I wrote yesterday, here below, about Marie Antoinette being an influencer. Just think of Sophie Coppola's 2006 film titled Marie Antoinette.
   Apparently she never said: "Let them eat cake", with reference to the starving Parisian mob, rather Marie Antoinette's style and influence have come to mean more than we, women in particular, have ever thought of. After all, she turned her back to the constraints of the formal court to design the free life she wanted, which her free-flowing dresses came to symbolize. A path that, via dropping the corset in the early 20th century and Armani's comfy suits later on, leads up to today's free life working from home in T-shirts and sweatpants. We might long for dressing up during the festive season - but nights in are the new nights out - at least for now. That is why I look forward to showing my Homewear collection. After all, we want that easy-going life, but with some elegance - and fun maybe.
   Also, since I wrote about the Nobel Prize (see 3rd Dec), I should clarify that this year, due to Covid, there will be no awards ceremony at the Concert Hall, but via video-links instead, so the winners can receive their medals and diplomas in their respective home countries. However, to celebrate the event the facades of Stockholm are lit up with images symbolizing the work of Nobel prize winners and others. 'Nobel Week Lights', created in a collaboration between light-designers, artists and scientists, starts today and will go on until 13th December. 

​Dressed as a shepherdess in the spirit of Marie Antoinette; I thought it was fitting in my role as hostess at a lunch at Fåfängan (the Vanity), a pavilion at the 18th century Beatelund manor in the archipelago of Stockholm
​Photography: Foulques de Villoutreys

​4th December

I think what I wrote on 28th November about Marie Antoinette and her entourage living the free, luscious life at her mock-farm the Hameau de la Reine inspired me more than anything else about the Gustavian style. It kick-started my search into this bygone era to find something new and exciting.
   Maybe it inspired the Swedish King as well when briefing his architects and decorators. After all, it touches parts of the basic concept: simplicity marrying elegance, even the exquisite sometimes.
   There may be art historians shaking their heads in doubt, but Gustav III did visit France and Versailles. Anyway, I am in happy fantasyland now.
   To feed my imagination there was also the love story between Marie Antoinette and Axel von Fersen, the Swedish count and lieutenant-colonel in the army of King Gustav III. There is nothing that hints at their affection being anything but platonic. Still, I belong to those Swedes, who want to believe that the Queen's second son, called Louis XVII by the royalists after the revolution and the execution of his father, was in fact half Swedish. After all, the morning he was born, Louis XVI wrote in his diary that the Queen had given birth to a son, as if the King had nothing to do with it.
   The Marie Antoinette style, see caption below, is again a product of my imagination, but why not, women's lib. There is a Queen Anne style. Yes, I know, she reigned over the UK. But the Queen of France must have been the greatest influencer of her time - certainly more than the King, even though the Louis XV! style was named after him. I can see the art historians raising their eyebrows now.  But I can't help wonder if it wasn't so that King Gustav III was more interested in design than his French colleague? 
   Furthermore, the King and Queen of France could be compared to the Trumps today: they lived totally separate lives. Like Melania in the Trump-tower, Marie Antoinette created her own universe. We all admire the Palace of Versailles; the whole world comes and takes inspiration. However, in the north-eastern part of the park there are gems, including Le Hameau, very worth visiting as well. 
   Oh, now I get swept away by history, but I do think the past and its fantastic adventures can be a great source of inspiration when designing into the future. 
   As to the art historians, they are our gatekeepers, keeping an eye on us creators - and we should be grateful for that. 

My version of the gilded but simple décor, Marie Antoinette style, in one of my former flats on the Ile S:t Louis in Paris; the mini-bedtable I designed was inspired by the undulating forms of the past - yet again

Stockholm Concert Hall where the Nobel Prize award ceremony is held; it was designed by Ivar Tengbom in the Nordic Classicism style of the 1920s
​Photography: Sten Jansin

​3rd December

What wonderful news that a vaccine has arrived in the UK today.
   But I am thinking of the committee that will decide next year's Nobel Prize in Medicine. With the strong competition going on among those who try to save the world from this pandemic, this might be a tough task. We now know which firm will be the first, but still, should the decision be solely based on that merit? Considering all these very bright brains having worked overtime, there might be quite a crowd on the podium receiving the prize. Will be interesting to see.
​   Science has never been so much in the spotlight as now. At long last.

A selfie: my tracksuit bottoms worn with black lacquer loafers

​2nd December

Does anyone remember when David Cameron encouraged us to hug the hoodies? Well, it was a while ago. Now we are supposed to hug the government's new poster boy, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak; a photo released by the Treasury shows him dressed in - yes, a hoodie.
   But what I find exciting is that he is wearing the hoodie over a white shirt and tie, a style concept exactly in the spirit of my Homewear collection. 
​   It inspired me to kick off my sneakers and put on my lacquer shoes, to wear with my tracksuit bottoms.
   Den som väntar på något gott väntar aldrig för länge, is a Swedish adage, roughly the same as ''good things come to those who wait'. Thanks to being in tier two, on 12th & 13th December from 12-18pm the Swedish Church Christmas market will, at long last, be open, for the first time outdoors in Harcourt Street (see 31st Oct and 7th Nov). 
   More exciting news: one can buy Swedish Christmas delicacies online by ordering a Christmas hamper, go to www.swedish-church-in-london.myshopify.com.
   But of course, Rudolph the Reindeer is also aware of times changing, doesn't have to travel anymore, works from home in Lapland, which means helping Santa Claus to take orders online and then send the goodies anywhere. 
   Childish, me? Well, yes (see 29th Dec 2018).

The curtain and pelmet in my former living-room playing trompe l'oeil with some extra help from the vertical blinds

​28th November

I like gauzy fabrics, the way they conceal but not quite, creating a kind of depth. In my former living-room depicted here, the slip covers on two Gustavian chairs and a stool hint to a past thanks to the semi-visible old fabric underneath.
   In my memory is stored an exhibition in Versailles, at the manor of Madame Elisabeth, sister-in-law to Marie Antoinette (see 30th August last year), showing the free-flowing mousseline dresses worn by ladies playing shepherdesses with the Queen at her Hameau in the lead. This also inspired me when doing the slip covers. An attempt to capture the spirit of that very particular late 18th century pre-revolution era, a relaxed life in a glorious setting - another kind of luxury; a lustrous one, as I would call it (see 7th Sept).
   But as we know, the semi-transparent fabric can also open up: there were the big windows, what a pity it would be not to let all that wonderful light in. The problem was however a busy road outside, rather than a lovely garden. That was why I not only used normal, white translucent fabric but also applied green tulle (think ballet dancers' tutus) on the lower part, to give the illusion of greenery. And since I was on the go, I also put turquoise tulle on a pelmet to enhance the blue sky (see also pic at 28th August). Brown vertical blinds would then not only help to further keep the boring reality out of sight but also give the impression of branches of trees.
   The photos from another flat of mine (see 10th Sept) show how semi-translucent fabric also can divide an open space without making intrusion in its airiness. 

In my former living-cum-rose garden (see pic below), the slip covers on the Gustavian chairs are inspired by the shepherdess' dress, at least the way it was depicted in the 18th century

​27th November

How interesting to notice changes of hearts. Yesterday, there was a complaining front page headline in the Evening Standard: "...a lockdown that never should have been". Then there are Conservative backbenchers now standing up against the new restrictions coming next week. And at last week's PM:s Question Time, an MP referring to Sweden's freer attitude as the role model, which, of course, Boris didn't seem to hear.
   Meanwhile, in Sweden the government is taking control (see 18th Nov). They are now in charge of the press conferences. And the restrictions, so for example, no alcohol is allowed to be served after 10PM. I think  have heard that before. 
   However, the death-rate per capita is still higher in the UK than in Sweden.
  I note that The Crown has created a longing for past regal styles, which I salute. But it won't make me see the series though. Real life dramas are more than enough for me.

In the living-room I wanted to create my own rose garden with the help of Parson tables from IKEA, by positioning them in rows like flower beds and cover them in pink lace as some kind of tablecloths, glued to the surfaces with the help of varnish 

​25th November

I can't remain silent any longer. I'm thinking of the Home Secretary Priti Patel's bullying. Today at PM:s Question Time, the subject was brought up again. Can anyone remember a male minister being accused of bullying - and that in such a public, disgraceful way? I can't, neither here in the UK nor in France, or in Sweden for that matter.
   Maybe it is so that men still have a problem with female superiors.
   Anyway, if you are dealing with brilliant people leading us forward in one way or another, be it an editor-in-chief or a CEO or indeed a minister in Her Majesty's Government, sometimes a thick skin comes in handy - as well as forgiveness. I know that of experience when dealing with 'difficult' bosses. 
   Also, when accusations like these spread in the form of rumours, how easily they get out of control. With tragic consequences. I know about that too.
   Who doesn't; but the question is: in these times of fake news, should the truth behind such dramas be kept under wraps? I don't think so. More important than ever.

Another shot from my former living-room, the Gustavian chair dates from the 18th century, the same as the Rococo sofa and the porcelain plate on the wall from Swedish manufacturer Rörstrand

​24th November

     "You, you might say I'm a dreamer
      But I'm not the only one"

Now it has been said on national television, BBC London News this time: "Constructions of offices in the City have fallen to half". What I think of high-rises is no secret, that they are an anomaly in a city like London has been repeated over and over again in this diary. 
   Indeed working from home is now being more and more regarded as a normality. So those that would like to live in a tower can look forward to our existing offices transformed into living-spaces.
   Never mind mindfulness, I have admitted to being a daydreamer, but now I hope that John Lennon's words quoted above from his Imagine will inspire more people than me. Hand on heart, haven't we all been dreaming of better times? Even more so now that multiple vaccines are on the horizon giving it a silver lining.
   And working from home means no more waiting for jammed buses or trains in the (now at least) very dark early morning rush hour. 
   This new life is supposed to mean less air pollution and consequently a stop to climate change as well, but I suppose patience is needed. This morning, I discovered snowdrops in Kensington Gardens. On 20th January last year, I complained that they had turned up so early; in my native Sweden it used to be in March.
   Of course, I could take a photo of the snowdrops, but it would be the same as last year, the same tree.  In fact, I think I have published enough photos to make my point clear, now the pandemic has helped as well to make us appreciate our parks and gardens.
   I have learned that when we are in contact with nature the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, functioning as the body's brake, reducing our level of stress; it even conserves energy as it slows our heart rate. Luckily then that we are allowed to sit down and relax on park benches when out jogging. Remember how it was during last lockdown (see 28th April).  

Another snapshot from my veranda-cum-bedroom; on the 18th century Gustavian chest-of-drawers a plaster head representing me as a four-year old by Swedish sculptor Martin Holmgren, the slip covers on the chairs were made of old pillowcases

​22nd November

We all know what rip off means; to me however, it is not about cheating someone, financially in particular, but rather the exciting trip back in time by ripping off layer after layer of wallpapers to let a house tell its story. 
   In the turn of the 20th century house from which I have shown lots of pictures lately, there turned out to be only one layer, but I took it as an encouragement to add my own contribution instead, which can be seen above. It is this dialogue with the old building that fascinates me. 

To make the windows in the veranda-bedroom extra interesting, they were covered in multiple layers, so behind the muslin curtain there were venetian blinds, and old sheets lined at the bottom of the curtain serve as radiator cover, but also old ruffled pelmets were attached underlining this trip between past and present; not only that, again billowing forms meet straight lines

​21st November

The bedroom shown here, in the flat I wrote about on 28th and 30th August, turned out to be the perfect backdrop to advertise the possibilities with the Veranda project. Not the least thanks to the big windows - which it has in common with most modern flats.
   So in the bedroom I could roam free dreaming myself to be in the verandas of the houses in the archipelago of Stockholm when they are in winter hibernation ((see 20th Jan 2019), with furniture covered in white dust-sheets. That is why all the upholstered furniture have slip covers made of old sheets. Even the curtain is lined with sheets at the bottom to serve as a radiator cover.
   I wanted to flirt a little with French Haute Couture by embellishing two of the chairs with some extra layers of ribbons and laces. Yes, I know it is les petits mains who work in the ateliers sewing everything by hand. This time it was moi, which meant that the sewing-machine came in handy. But anyway, I hope it is a sign that I try my best to raise the bar to a luxurious level - no sorry,  lustrous rather (see 7th Sept).

Another part of my imagined veranda-cum-bedroom; below detail of the slip cover on the armchair to the left

​20th November

Oh, I forgot to write yesterday that similar fluid lines that can be seen on the table also inspired me when designing the sofa, part of my collection, seen on the drawing of 9th November. Or more precisely, it was my sofa in the Rococo style, next of kin to the Gustavian style, that was in my head.
   Interestingly, when the Gustavian style was introduced, the decoration magazines, in their enthusiasm, mixed both the Rococo and Gustavian styles referring to both of them as Gustavian. The reason, I assume, was that the latter style was something never seen outside Sweden and consequently more sensational.
   Furthermore, in the 18th century, when the style was created in Sweden, this didn't mean that furniture in its precursor, the Rococo style, were not moved out of the drawing-rooms, rather the two styles were mixed.
​   And still today, I find it so exciting to play with straight lines and billowing ones when designing. Yes, I know, I have already written about all this, both on 30th August and 15th September last year.
   Anyway, not to risk the Swedish art historians cringing this time due to this mix up of styles, and to give a creative freedom to the following-up, this project has been labelled Veranda instead, not the least to include the interesting turn of the 20th century period as well.

​Close-up of the slip covers on the chair below

​The same table as below used as a dressing table in another home

​19th November

I have repeatedly made references to the past, pointed out the importance of being connected to our cultural roots as well as integrating it, whenever possible, into contemporary design. That is why I want to show the table in the pictures below and above, to compare its outlines with the design of the bookcase that can be seen on the cover of The World of Interiors (see from the archive: 15th September 2019).
   I have just listened to an interesting Zoom talk, organised by Decorex and titled 'Design With Purpose; Legacy Without Ego'. Not surprisingly it was about sustainably, different creative solutions to achieve it.
   But what caught my attention above all was another step back to the past. How the old-school way of doing things was lauded; eco-friendliness from a time long before anyone had heard about it.
   With satisfaction I could state that thanks to my intention to mainly use wood, natural fabrics and other materials, the collection will fit into that goal: taking part in the circular economy. 

​Instead of selfie, a portrait of me by Madeleine Pyk, behind a 19th century table, its outlines serving as source of inspiration 

​18th November

I am now not only washing my hands but my mouth as well. If a mouthwash contains Cetylpyridinium Chloride it kills coronavirus, the scientists have found.
   Hurrah for them. Not the least now:  every time that Boris & Co get the question about life after lockdown, what will happen then, they talk and talk without saying anything. They look like rabbits caught in the headlights.
   Meanwhile, the scientists have come up with plans, so it is about time the spotlight is directed mainly on them. Suggesting that two families would be allowed to meet rather than limiting the number to six people, which has been the law, is just one example.
   Which makes me think of Sweden, where all press conferences concerning the Corona virus are held without any politicians in sight; only specialists who know what they are talking about are present. 
   By the way, I assume it was noticed how well-designed Boris was during the televised PM:s question time today, when, due to his self-isolation, he was working from home, Stylists must have invaded Downing Street. The choice of grey and white clothes made him fit perfectly into the grey-white background décor, a wallflower then. 
   Below I speculated about the possibility of Melania divorcing her Donald. But of course not, she must take into consideration the prenup, as well as his plans to participate in the 2024 elections. The show will go on.  

The home office in my former flat, with the animation of being in a lush summer meadow forgetting boring November outside the windows 

​14th November

I am jubilant! It has been confirmed, both orally and in writing. Remember what I wrote on 24th July 2019, about a lady in pink standing among the crowd welcoming Boris into Downing Street. Yes, I meant Carrie (since Boris wants to be just  Boris, I assume the same goes for his fiancée) and I predicted she would be the modern day Madame de Pompadour, King Louis XV:s very politically influential mistress. That her role in the recent power struggle at the court of Boris has been made public is a historical moment: at long last women's often important role in the shadow of men has been officially recognized; something that after all has been going on through history.  Just think of Lysistrata. Influencers long before the word was invented.
   The reason why I am so enthusiastic is not only because this important, mostly feminine role, has been totally neglected in these times of women's lib, but also on a personal level: this where I thrive, in the shadow. And I am not only thinking of men in a relationship but women as well, as my boss that is, even when working as a freelance. I can hear some scoffing now. But I have worked for many publications.
   However, I also remember a lunch I had in the café at Fenwicks; chosen because the editor's mother used to take him there, I was told. Which made me think I could be his professional mother. I mention my little reflection here, since I happened to tell someone about it, as a joke. Which it was back then - before our present influx of influencers, and all you say become so deadpan serious. 
   By the way, that the other Donald will be moved out of the White House with the luggage was predicted, but the important, compelling question is: once out, will Melania divorce him then?

Bananas are next to be included among my fruit designs; this photo, where light and shadows play, is serving as a source of inspiration

​11th November

On 22nd August, I wrote that the fruits on my fabric designs were arranged to form a regular grid, as can be seen on the drawing below, showing how they harmonize with the wallpaper behind, also part of my collection, as well as the sofa and table.
   In fact, even the glasses depicted on the drawing are included: yes, to confuse things there is not only a homewear collection in the Veranda-project but also homeware such as glass and plates. Together with some striped and checked fabrics, they are specially designed to enhance the experience of a meal or drink. 
   So there is a lot to look forward to, indeed.

​9th November

On 29th October, I wrote that I had been on mental holiday, not quite true. I had also digested all the digital outpour of design and fashion talks and other events, now that the possibility of physical presence is limited.
   So for example I learned at the London Fashion Week that apple green will be the colour of the spring/summer season 2021. Which immediately made me think of my apples, as part of my fabric designs featuring lots of fruits. An apple frock anyone? Even if, as the above drawing shows, it was rather sofas and other furniture I had in mind - or why not cushions (see 22nd August).

​Last rays of sunshine touching Kensington Palace, where the infamous interview with Diana, Princess of Whales took place

​7th November

We live in uncertain times, but this week has been more bewildering than usual. Last Saturday, I wrote about the great news that the Swedish Church Christmas Market would turn up as a street market outside the church. A few hours later, Boris announced the lockdown, and with all restrictions in the spring in mind, suddenly the project seemed less likely to go ahead. Then on Wednesday, I suggested here below to visit Sweden's numerous Christmas markets instead. Since then, Sweden has been deleted from the list of go-to countries - and anyway, we are not allowed to travel except for business.
   This morning, I visited the farmers' market at Notting Hill Gate. There it was business as usual: delicious delicatessen flirting with me. One could assume this would also mean that, in spite of the lockdown. the Swedish Christmas Market in Harcourt street will happen. After all, both are outdoor markets. Not so, the government and Westminster Council disagree. Bewildering was the word. But there is hope: if the lockdown ends early December, we will have the opportunity to enjoy the Swedish market by the middle of that months.
   Also Denmark has become a no-go country, due to the their mink farms spreading the virus, even though the animals have now been killed. There are mink farms in Sweden as well, even if in far less numbers. But as usual, the country's approach is different, self-isolation has been proclaimed - for the minks. Even if 80% of the animals would be culled in November anyway, the rest of them will be spared and placed together in bigger cages. Seems like social distancing rather. Hopefully, they will behave well.
​   And Johnny Depp has now been judged a wife-beater (see 21st July). One question remains unanswered though: since Amber Rudd claims that already before the marriage she felt her life was in danger, why did she marry him then?
   The truth about how the interview with Princess Diana came about has now been revealed. It is interesting to notice that somehow the truth has a tendency to always emerge, even if, like in this case, it takes 25 years. I was in France when it was first broadcast, and interestingly, not long after, a French TV channel made a reportage about the third person "in the marriage', so it was a little crowded", the then Camilla Parker-Bowles. Several old friends painted a picture of a wonderful, warm person; one of them enthusing over her qualities was Sir Nicholas Soames, the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill.

Picture on a T-shirt bought in Dallas in October 2001, featuring fire-fighters at the Twin Towers on that fateful day a month earlier

​3rd November

We, the whole world in fact, are now waiting for the results of the US elections.
   It made me think of an old T-shirt I use when out jogging. Its message, God Bless America, is as important today as it was when I bought it back in 2001 travelling in the wake of 9/11, which I wrote about on 29th October.
   I would also like to come back to what I wrote on that day for another reason: the story about a young woman who had had a mental break-down. It was because a boyfriend had left her, or so I was told. Yet, all she said over and over again was that she wanted to go home. One day GW, the then editor of the fashion magazine Damernas Värld, where she had worked at the time of her break-down, came to visit. On her way out, GW leaned towards me and whispered: "No it isn't her boyfriend, it's the building", referring to the Bonnier House, where most of the magazines belonging to the Bonnier Magazine Group were located at the time.
   I still remember the relief and sense of freedom I felt when, after 15 years, I left my employment and started to work from home. No more sharp elbows pushing me, rather the joy of meeting up with magazines editors for my freelance work: the immensely stimulating creative exchange during a few hours, then just leaving behind the intense atmosphere in there. 
   Now I read about people complaining they will miss the camaraderie when working from home. But wouldn't it be more fun meeting up in the pub instead? When they are open, that is. No, I sincerely think this pandemic has shown us the road into the future. And eventually, no one will look back.
   On BBC News this morning, a travel expert was interviewed about where it would be safe to go when/if the lookdown will be over in December. The only two suggestions he could come up with were Gibraltar and parts of Greece. "Well, there is Sweden as well", he added, "but not much sun there". True, but as we all know by now, in Scandinavia there is 'hygge' instead, giving us the warmth. 
   Now that Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park has been cancelled, and a dark cloud in the form of a question mark is hanging overplans for the Swedish Church market in Harcourt street, which I wrote about below, it would indeed be a good idea to go to Sweden.
   All over the country, there are lots of Christmas markets to chose from. The two most famous are in Stockholm: one is at the open air museum Skansen; the other one, in the Old Town, was started already in 1837, making it Sweden's oldest. Both markets are steeped in history, which would mean the chance to experience an authentic yuletide atmosphere. To see them all, go to www.visitsweden.com and look for Sweden's festive Christmas markets. 

The coffee shop at Notting Hill Arts Club, Notting Hill Gate

​31st October

 There is no doubt about it, this pandemic has made creativity fly into new territories. Not the least when it comes to the troubled high street (see 26th Jan this year, 19th May and 7th July last year).
   So for example, in the doorway to Notting Hill Arts Club a coffee shop has opened, tempting passers-by with coffee and other drinks as well as cakes and ice cream. Indeed, not much is needed for a new enterprise to spring up.
​   Maybe it is wishful thinking, but it seems as if health, wellbeing and sport are about to become the new themes at Kensington High Street. A recent walk there gave hints, taking into account not only the shops that seem to survive but also some newcomers.
   While there, I saw an enchanting exhibition at Japan House called Architecture for Dogs. Another example of creativity without borders. Anyone believing that architects and designers only keep to accepted formulas will think again. Until 10th January 2021.
   Furthermore, the good news has reached me that on 21st and 22nd November 12AM to 6PM Harcourt Street in Marylebone will for the first time become the Swedish Church Christmas Market. Not only that, Christmas hampers will be sold online (see 28th June).

Mysterious lady in black walking in the Italian Gardens; another whiff of times past

​29th October

I have been away on holiday, a mental one that is. With borders closing and opening again, and then maybe closing again, I thought it would be wiser to to take a trip into memory land. 
   Luckily, my storage is well fed; I have been able to travel a lot in the past. Not the east after 9/11, when no one wanted to fly. A ticket to New York cost the same as one to Stockholm, so of course I went to the US instead. It was in Miami I had an eureka moment, when I saw all the luxury condos raising towards the sky. The flats, with big windows toward the sea, looked like verandas to me.
   I was a little surprised, I had expected villas decorated in some kind of Marbella style. So, I had to go to Marbella to check; and there they were again: luxury condos (see pic to 9th June). I knew I was on the right track when upgrading the Gustavian style.
   My travel memories have helped, been fruitful even, when working on the project now during lockdown. 
   What worries me though, is reading about mental health problems during the pandemic, especially among young people. Of course, many certainly have reason for concerns about their future.
   In the past as well as now, I have been helped by my own version of mindfulness: daydreaming. "Oh, you just sit there", my mother used to say, when I escaped from reality for a moment. Maybe it is a way to repair your soul, give it a respite, like a holiday, strengthen it when times are tough. At least that is what I think, when I now learn of different methods to mentally relax to get away from the stress of daily life. 
   To me it is about finding harmony within myself. After all, I am my best friend, to trust and love.
   All this makes me think of when I was working as a graphic designer. Briefly, since the magazine I had been at had closed down, I was at a central pool at the Bonnier Magazine Group, making one-off publications. One day I was contacted by the company's doctor. He asked me to move away from the room where several of us were sitting together to a separate one to accompany a young designer who had just had some kind of mental break-down. Since I was regarded as the most mentally stable among us, I was asked to sit there and just be kind to her, hopefully calming her down. "She should be sent to a mental hospital", the doctor said, "but I don't want to ruin her career. Rumours about mental illness spread so easily". 
   It is a good thing that we talk openly about mental health issues today. Hopefully, the stigma that follows in its trace will eventually go away. 
   Popping the question is no longer about 'will you marry me?' but rather 'will you form a bubble with me?', I have come to understand. Oh, what a lovely Christmas that would be.
   Indeed yes, under these circumstances, love and compassion is more important than ever. To carry us into the future "like a bridge over troubled waters".

Like phantoms from a glorious past, equipages appearing out of the early morning fog in Hyde Park; autumn has come

​26th September

BBC2, the channel of wisdom (see below the 23rd), has struck again: yesterday evening, in his very interesting programme The Romantics and Us, Simon Schama pointed out the importance of modern man to have a connection to his past, his roots, which I have written here about several times, starting on 4th February last year. Which in turn has made my Veranda project, with its connection to the 18th century Gustavian style, even more viable, important even.
​   

Decoration gone wild: pigeons embellishing the bridge between the Long Water and the Serpentine

​23rd September

Now it has been said on national television, BBC2:s Politics Live more precisely: today, Andrea Leadsom, conservative MP and former Secretary of State, confirmed that the government with its new approach trying to avoid national lockdown has been inspired by the Swedish model (see 4th April).

Actress Jamaala Jamil dressed up for the Emmy Awards 
​Photography: Daily Mail+

​21st September

As I wrote on 5th April last year, originally I designed my Homewear collection for what I called late bloomers, ladies of a certain age, not the least since we are supposed to spend more times at home - rather than in an office, in any case. Then, with all people working from home, I started to look at it from a new perspective, bringing it closer to all our daily lives.
   But now, what do I see, leisure wear has struck, appearing even at the Emmy Awards ceremony. It was the British actress Jameela Jamil, who had opted for comfort for this year's virtual edition by wearing a pyjama.  Homewear certainly is in the winning category these days. 
   One could say It was the American artist Julian Schnabel, who started it all in the 80s by walking out in New York wearing a pyjama, and in doing so turned homewear inside out - as well as made it his signature.
   That is what is so fascinating with the decoration and fashion cycles. They seem to roll on independently, but they both thrive in the same reality. Both have softened the border between interior and exterior, with the veranda in between, making my collections viable.  
   In fact, I started the fashion part inspired by the design concept for furniture I had already worked on, which turned out as clean geometric lines now moulded on the human body. Some of the clothes even seem part of the interior, harmoniously they melt together with the surroundings.
​   What I miss when I see Ms Jamil's outfit though are some nips and tucks (see 15th Sept), it would appear more elegant, but she is clearly very proud of it anyway.

Doctor Zhivago's mansion in the snow and its frozen interior below; the prisms of the chandelier hanging like the ice drops on the exterior

​20th September

Recently, I have listened to very interesting digital talks, replacing the Maison&Objet furniture fair. I am now looking at my notes. It is quite obvious that I have been cherry-picking, written down what I wanted to hear, phrases, expressions that were music to my ears. So for example, the 'emotional landscape' was mentioned, to include protection, wellness and mood boosting. Yes, we are in a care-taking mode, reflecting on interior design as well. Also 'elastic living' turned up, which made me think of the daybed I had designed and written about in the past, starting with horizontal architecture (see 7th Jan last year and then 26th March and 11th June).
   Indeed the bed is the place where you can both work and relax; where I write this now, by the way. It is in fact my workplace. Much better than sitting at a table.
​   Even better then with a piece of furniture specially adapted, that was my thinking. But the upholstery is crucial for wellbeing; can one use eiderdown these days? I am thinking of eco-friendliness, of course.
   Also, I learned during the conference that we are indeed heading towards maximalism, which I hinted at on 10th and 13th September. That was what the Gustavian style loved; when, in the mid 80s, the pendulum started swinging, from spareness, manifested in the Shaker style, towards the brashness later on in the decade, finding harmony in the balance in between, ​lagom in other words - and leading to the misconception that this was also a minimalistic style. Or maybe it was the beautiful bare floorboards in the reportages about Gustavian interiors that inspired.
​   And now it is about to happen on the veranda. So, here we go again, let the pendulum swing.  
   This afternoon, I watched Doctor Zhivago on BBC2. I have seen it many times, but the scenes with the oh, so loving couple Omar Sharif and Julie Christi in that frozen house in the wilderness that is oh, so inspiring - as a designer that is. Very much in line with the houses in the archipelago of Stockholm with their white dust covers, waiting for the summer to arrive (see 31st August).

 Dressed for Vogue in 1984, in my tracksuit and yellow and mint-green sneakers
​Photography: Madeleine Pyk

---

15th September​

As I wrote on 11th June, leisure wear was flying off the shelves, which was good news for my Homewear collection. Since the road back to office seems quite rocky, who would give up our friends the T-shirt, the sweatshirt and the sweatpant now that we have been even more used to their comfort? Only a few sartorial nips and tucks to make them more elegant are needed.
   This makes me think of my meeting at British Vogue with its living editor LH in 1984. I had not officially left Sweden, was very much going to and from, so this was new and exciting. I could imagine all the elegantly dressed ladies in the office towering on their high heels. How could I compete with that? To start with the shoes, since I am 186 cm tall, I don't need any addition to my height. So, instead I decided to put on my sneakers, bought recently in Stockholm. The problem then was that I couldn't decide which colour, yellow or mint-green. But my friend MP, who was with me, solved the problem. Since she happened to have the same shoe size, she offered to by a pair for herself. And then we could switch, so we both would wear one yellow and one mint-green shoe. Brilliant idea. She is a celebrated artist, so her shoes became immediately the talk of town. Encouraged by this. I saw myself, when waiting for the appointment at Vogue,  stretching out my long legs to impress the passers by.
   But the problem didn't stop there. What to wear? Just a couple of years before, when working as a living editor at the weekly VeckoRevyn in Stockholm, included in my job was to commission freelancers, and now MZ, who was working at American Vogue, wanted to see me. I remember very well it was in the middle of the winter; it was even snowing outside the window, and there he was in the doorway, fully dressed for a safari, khaki-clad from the short trousers to the safari hard hat. So I thought that now, at the British Vogue, I also had to dress to the nines. 
   Well, that story started in the 60s, when I attended a business school. Among my class mates was AL, who had just come back from the US, and out of his briefcase, like the magician pulling out his rabbit, came a garment that was the very latest over there. But I had certainly seen it before, used as underwear. "Oh, no", he explained, " this is worn instead of a shirt, in fact it is called T-shirt." It stuck on my mind, and later on when I saw Calvin Klein men wear them under jackets, it inspired me to a photo shoot, a Roman feast, in the best Neo-classical style, with the diners laying down around a table covered with black and white floor tiles, and the men wearing white tuxedos with white T-shirts underneath. Which somehow must have inspired me to put on their cousin the tracksuit for the Vogue meeting. 
​   Memories that feed my imagination still today.  Now that the new man wears sweatpants to jacket, skirt and tie - for Zoom meetings.     

Cormorant dancing on the Long Water in Kensington Gardens 

​13th September

The other day, I wrote here below about minimalism, and that it is time to move on. This needs further explanation. The thing is, I am not even certain what the word minimalism means anymore, in the same way as our perception of design, what it can achieve is changing. So much go on under the surface, minimalistic or not. Just think of the iPhone, all that it can do for us. 
   Design is moving on. Our needs are changing in the same way as we discover new issues to focus on, like saving our planet. Or wellbeing: how the smooth lines of the iPhone cut the corners. Cutting edge design with a new focus then, to make us feel - well.
​    But can we always keep it all under the well designed cover? 
   A minimalistic interior can be so beautiful, full of elegant lines, with light and shadows playing around freely. Yet, as a journalist, I have met house-owners not quite at ease with their newly designed and refurbished minimalistic homes, the need to keep their life, their belongings stowed away in cupboards. It became apparent that not all of us can cope with that. For some, there is a need to connect with objects you can relate to. I remember other house-owners showing an object or piece of furniture with a special pride, for no reason other than that they meant something special to them, evoking childhood memories, perhaps. Like Citizen Kane's rosebuds, if anyone remembers the film.
   But what is minimalism? If I add some decorative details, to achieve the lagom balance I have written about, last time here below, it is no longer minimalistic, I suppose. That is why I prefer to write about simplicity, you can combine it with whatever you wish - it is still simple, but made more interesting, hopefully. More livable even.  

Screens separate my mini-loft
​Photography: Pascal Chevalier

​10th September

On 30th and 31st August, I wrote about the 'indoor veranda'; the expression just popped up in my head on a whim when realising  that people now during lockdown long for a space of their own, not the least since they work from home in such great numbers.
   It might seem like this idea of rooms in the room was something I came up with now as well. Not at all, already in another former flat in Paris, also featured in The World of Interiors magazine, I showed enclosures made of of semi-transparent fabric. The ribbons glued on made them less flimsy and indeed look like window panes - verandas then.
   I also wanted to show how this concept works in many different settings, not only in a turn of the 20th century house or a modern one but also like here in a 17th century building. Its rough walls herald another feature of the Gustavian style: it is not only its attachment to nature that stands out but also the contrast between austere and elegance, opulence even. But keeping the balance between the two - lagom, in perfect harmony, is important now as well; neither too much, neither too little.
   It makes me think of the Danish film Babette's Feast, which won both the 1987 Best Foreign Language Film award at the Oscars as well as at the BAFTAs. What makes it stick on my mind, is the contrast between the barren setting in a remote part of Jutland and all the delicacies a French maid offers these pious people, a feast they could never have imagined. I don't want to reveal too much, it is worth seeing, to rent at Amazon, Netflix, you name it. But what I remember also was the excitement with which my French designer friends told me how the film had inspired them, making their heads spin of creativity. Like so often when two cultures meet, but this north-south collision is extra exciting, two extremes show their attributes. Just don't get me started on cultural appropriation again (see 4th Feb last year). 

Autumn poetry: fog engulfing pavilion in Kensington Gardens

​7th September

I have found it! The word that could replace luxury (see 12th August), or at least luxurious: it is lustrous; in particular for my Veranda-collection it would work very well. It gives many associations to the design concept. To start with, it makes me think of lusthus, the Swedish word for pavilion, and all wonderful times spent in those, often bordering the sea in the archipelago of Stockholm, eating with friends, our crayfish parties in August, or just simply sit and admire the setting sun, oozing wellbeing. 
   But I have rather been mentioning verandas all the time. The reason for this is the extra advantage of not having all sides open or glazed like in a pavilion; the sense of safety it gives to have your back covered by the house behind. In fact, it is a primal instinct that makes us appreciate the veranda: a human need of protection but at the same time being able to take in our surroundings and any potential danger.
   Then there is the French word lustre ​meaning chandelier.  On 7th May, I wrote about a leaflet accompanying a Gustavian exhibition at the Swedish Cultural Centre in Paris; its introduction was about the regent of the silent forests, King Gustav III of Sweden meeting the elegance of the Court of King Louis XVI of France. It was not only a cultural shock but most importantly the essence, at least how I see it, of the Gustavian style. And then I don't only mean the wood to all the furniture the forest provide. But also Swedes' close link to nature in so many ways that the frozen drops of winter trees can be seen as transformed into the crystals of Gustavian chandeliers.
   Above all, it was the dictionary that convinced me. Lustrous means a gentle, soft glow, not too much glitter or sparkle, in other words. Seems quite poetic to me and very lagom: neither too much of either world mentioned above, nor too little; the two extremes have found the balance, melted together harmoniously, so Gustavian. 
   Working from home as a digital nomad, meaning wherever it would please you as long as there are a phone and an internet connection, which I have written about extensively, is now indeed becoming a reality.  Seeing this as an opportunity a number of countries have introduced a Digital Nomad Visa to enable overseas visitors to live and work from their country. Bermuda was one of the first to introduce this year-long visa scheme, followed by Barbados, Anguilla and Estonia, also Croatia is considering joining. But as I wrote on 19th July, the problem is where to choose for this new exciting life when the whole wide world is opening up.

Closeup of bookcases with painted window panes, part of the Veranda collection, also included is the fabric on the cushion, with almonds printed on

​5th September

The bookcases shown on 28th August are based on the same design as the one featured on the cover of The World of Interiors magazine (see 15th September last year). It is meant to be a basic design, which can be reconfigured into many appearances. The one on the cover has doors provided with gilded metal mesh and lined with silk behind, inspired by those seen in many libraries of the past.
   The three bookcases in my most recent living-room, a detail of which is shown above, have painted glass panes instead, and a colour-scheme quite close to the one on the House&Garden cover shown on 2nd September. 

Another glorious morning on a golden lake, the Serpentine

​4th September

Back to old normal: the roads are jammed again. I am getting used to wearing a face mask, so maybe I had better wear it when out walking as well. Against the pollution, I mean. Wonder whether it would work. The new normal might open up roads towards wellbeing - for small children not the least, so exposed to those dangerous fumes.
   Yesterday, I bought a pair of luxury leggings at Sainsbury's, for only £10, a bargain - and it was not on sale.
   Due to events out of my control, I currently live at a hostel (yes, I love living on a small scale in the middle of a big city, see 19th July) belonging to the LHA London Hostels. They offer luxury rooms. I can't remember now who it was, Kanye West probably, who is now investing in luxury hostels. In the same way as there are now boutique hostels, designer hostels.
   Indeed, the term  luxury has got its twists and turns lately (see 28th August)).
   The cover photo here below was taken by the photographer-cum-artist Peo Eriksson. It evokes many good memories; we have collaborated a lot, starting in the early 80s, when I worked at the Swedish decoration magazine Sköna Hem. Now, I discover on his website www.peoeriksson.se that I was in illustrious company when explaining my unsharp photos on 23rd April. What an extraordinary experience to look at Peo's fuzzy but great racing photos. An example that stands out is the one of Joakim Bonnier with his wife Marianne looking worried at him. She had reason for it: in 1972, he died in a crash at Le Mans 24 hours race.

​Photography: Peo Eriksson

​2nd September

Those glimpses of my former flat here in Kensington, which I showed on 28th and 30th August, made me think of a feature, a flat of mine, published in House&Garden about my last home before I left Sweden. It also popped up on the cover, but not only that, when the magazine celebrated 60 years in 2007, they made a collage of the best selling covers from all those years - and there, bang in the middle, was mine from back then. Also, as recently as in 2017, it turned up again at the magazine's 70 years celebration; it was then regarded as one of its 100 best, as well as the best of the year it was published, in 1985. 
   Now, comparing that cover, its colour-scheme, with my former living-room and bedroom, makes me think something must have stuck on my mind - and continues into my Veranda collection.

This year's Notting Hill Carnival takes place online, but we still live in reality, which means that the partying goes on and boarding up as well, like this real estate agency

​31st August

I think I have to further explain what I meant with 'indoor veranda', which I wrote about yesterday here below. So, for example now during lockdown many seem to have realised that open spaces are no longer on the wish-list, privacy rather, a space of your own, especially if you are working from home. It was even mentioned at the video-seminar organised by Designscape (see 12th August)
   White semi-transparent 'walls', like the ones around my bed below, would then be the answer, giving seclusion but without reducing the light of the room.
   Loft-living replaced by living on a veranda, why not?
   Also, when decorating the flat, I was eager to keep the original wallpaper in the bedroom. As I have pointed out here before (see for example 4th Feb last year), cultural roots are important, even for our wellbeing. I was pleased then to also learn during Designscape's video-seminar that I am not the only one who have realised the importance of a connection to the building we live in, its cultural history.
   What better way then to try to keep as many elements as possible from its past. In the living-room however, the original wallpaper was no longer there. But I just can't imagine plain white walls in this kind of building. That was why I chose this subdued hue, keeping a balance between turquoise green and turquoise blue, harmonising with both green and blue.
   But I had no problem adding white in the bedroom, as my own contribution. Not the least since the romantic me was thinking of those abandoned rooms in the villas in the archipelago of Stockholm - dating from about the same period as this building, with furniture covered in white dust sheets, waiting for summer to arrive. Hence the slip covers made of old sheets in there.

Bed curtains made of thin mousseline; the original wallpaper was still there, except behind the pillows and the 18th century Gustavian chest-of-drawers where the walls were painted

​30th August

The building I wrote about here below dated from the period when the verandas started stepping out from the houses into the gardens, which of course wasn't lost on me when decorating the flat.
   In the bedroom, it inspired me to make an 'indoor veranda' of the bed, with straight bed curtains - no folds as one could have expected, like window panels rather, so airy that one didn't feel closed in. 
   Yes the veranda is on my mind. It is a concept with unexpected expressions sometimes. One can apply it in so many ways: it is after all about breaking boundaries, and not only between outside and in.  

The same living-room, with the walls in the back part, below, painted in a darker nuance of the same hue, much brighter around the big window, above; bookcases with glass panes on either side give a veranda-like feeling to the room

​28th August

As I pointed out on 3rd June last year (for example, one of several occasions), the success with the Gustavian style when it was introduced was not only thanks to the furniture but the whole concept - the one I am updating now. It included an airiness, often interpreted as minimalism. But it also meant a fresh feel to striped and checked fabrics, when based on white; a theme I followed up with my prints as shown below on 22nd August, letting the fruits and berries float in a white airiness (with the exception of the oranges and grapefruits).
   Yes, we long for fresh air now. Yet, when I learned on 12th August listening to the video-seminar organised by Designscape that safety is the ultimate luxury, this made me think further. 
   It reminds me of when I was living, not that long ago, in a building constructed during the last breath of the Victorian era, meaning, as I described on 30th July, the dark interiors were opening up towards the Edwardian times, with big windows to let the light in.
   What made these rooms so special was the kind of depth they provided: at the same time as bright and airy, there was a sense of cosy security in there; a cocoon providing wellbeing, in other words.
   This I underlined in the living-room by letting the walls get darker and darker the further away you were from the window.

Melania's redesigned Rose Garden at the White House
​Photography: Mary Jordan

​26th August

I have just listened to Melania Trump speaking at the Republican National Convention. She was well prepared. The Rose Garden, where the speech was given, had been redesigned, meaning that all colourful flowers as well as the cherry-trees had been removed.
​   So yes, now there are white flowers at the White House (see  26th March of last year), along with some timid pastel ones.  
   This far more restraint version has caused an uproar on social media. Whether her twittering husband, the other Donald (see 29 December 2018), has given his opinion, I don't know; but after all, he threw out her furniture when she redecorated the White House. Moderation is not an attribute one would associate with this the most powerful man in the world. 
   However, earlier this year, he expressed his admiration for classical architecture in a proposed draft order to require all new federal buildings to be built in the style. Unsurprisingly, it was strongly opposed by the American Institute of Architects. No voters there in his favour in the upcoming election.
   But this love of Classicism would mean there is an 'entente cordiale' over the Atlantic with another admirer, reigning at 10 Downing Street.
   This might soon be lost love, if the other Donald loses the election that is. But he has already signalled that he will not accept that outcome, calling it election fraud, which he did already in 2016 - when he won.
   Both sides are building defences, and there is a new battleground: now that Hillary has entered the campaign, encouraging Joe Biden not to acknowledge an eventual loss before the counting of the postal votes, this might very well be another War of the Roses. On 11th June, I wrote about her dragging, in the middle of the Monica Lewinsky scandal,  a sheepish President into the Rose Garden for Saint Patrick's Day celebrations. 
   Those two First Ladies, one present and one former, seem to have one thing in common: a fighting spirit - but in their own ways. So there might be a War of the Roses 2, remembered by history as well: a blockbuster honouring all women who, during centuries, have stood behind and supported men.

Fruits galore: above, 19th century engravings of pears covered one wall in my former living-room in Paris, also featured on the cover of The World of Interiors magazine, see 15th September of last year; below, test prints of my fruit fabrics

​​22nd August

The Daily Mail columnist Dominic Sandbrook has been to Sweden; in today's paper, he reports from the land of freedom. In the article, with the headline NO lockdown. NO masks. NO hysteria... NO PROBLEM, he reports that not only is the death rate in Sweden lower than the one in the UK but also compared to those in Belgium, Spain and Italy - all of which did go into lockdown.  
   The other day, I wrote here below about my still life now during the pandemic. But we all know what still life means: those wonderful 17th century Dutch paintings featuring fruits and on wards through art history. (I have a special soft spot for Cezanne's 'Still life in Blue with Lemon'.) I don't know what to call those blown up photos of fruits that supermarkets, at least here in the UK, excel in. But we certainly have a taste for fruits.
   I have just learned that the dress of the season, by Kosovo designer Lirika Matoshi, has strawberries strewn all over it.  And Instagram is now a garden full of fruits and berries, on dresses coordinated with tablecloths.
   I am very pleased: as part of the Veranda-project, I have designed nine fabrics with fruits and berries - so far, to mix and match. All of them form a regular grid, so they work harmoniously with my squares and stripes, an important part of the design-concept.
​   Even our recent love of dots comes in handy; only that those who appear here depict either a fruit or a berry, as well as reminds us of the wellbeing when eating them.

The Swan is homeless now, has to do its morning toilet outside, while the heron has been in there for days and days in a row occupying the space in exactly the same position; strange bird

​20th August

Now, during the pandemic, life has stopped, come to a standstill; but with a still life, an idyllic picture I can walk into: nature. 
   I have been thinking of what I wrote in the caption below about the pandemic. Thanks to my daily excursions out into Mother Nature, in London's parks and gardens, not only have I had the possibility to enjoy noticing life going on there, the way I have learned and described on 5th August, but also that my senses have become more receptive to the harmony in nature and then transmitted into my inner self - even spilled into my designs as well, I hope.
   Yes, I do think it is a very good idea to take a step out of myself from time to time and notice what is going on around me. Whether it can be called mindfulness, I don't know, but it gives so much back.
   Not only that: being present in the moment in this way makes me feel happy. I have now learned that there is a medical explanation: going out, immersing yourself in nature trigger the hormone serotonin to stimulate your mood and contributes to wellbeing and indeed happiness. 

The new luxury: enjoying in splendid isolation the glorious early morning sun at the Lido in Hyde Park

​12th August

Early on, when I presented my design project, I described it as luxury, but then I realised it was completely misunderstood as something brash, bling, while I was thinking of lagom to keep the exciting balance between a little gold or silver and simplicity (see 23rd April).
   But then I remember reading the book Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Lustre by Dana Thomas (available on Amazon), and yes, I saw there was a huge risk of misunderstanding. Since then I have been thinking of a word to replace luxury, without finding one.
   I shouldn't have bothered. Today, I have listened to a video-seminar organised by Designscape, one of the topics being the new luxury.  It then became clear to me that the young generation sees luxury in a new way; one could even call it a new philosophy: rather than displaying your wealth strive for what money can't buy, such as good health. Even more so, the inner world, our inner self, should be reflected on our outer world. Also the experience of being in a natural surrounding should be brought into the home; the inside-out connection in other words (think verandas). 
   The pandemic has had an impact also on this sphere, since even the possibility to disconnect was mentioned: the importance to have a space of your own.
   One thing was certain: ostentatiousness is something of the past.  Rather, safety is the ultimate luxury.
   Look at www.designscape.eventnetworking.com; the seminars will be available on demand for a month.

Gym out in the newly  refreshed air in Kensington Gardens

​5th August

On 25th July, I wrote that I am a graphic designer, yet here I promote a design collection. It only shows that once you have got involved in design, got the knack of it in one dimension, the field is open for new opportunities, as a furniture designer, for example, and I am certainly not the only one to have changed road into this field.
​   Hopefully, now during the pandemic, this kind of free-thinking spirit has gripped others as well. 
   Also, what often happens is that suddenly you are writing about this your favourite subject, and the possibility for another career as a journalist is open.
   Of course, there are schools for this as well. My education lasted only ten minutes though; it could have been shorter, but thankfully there were traffic jam and red lights on the way: It happened when I was in need for a taxi and went down to the reception in the Bonnier House, where I worked. There she was, the renowned journalist and columnist Bang (pen name for Barbro Alving), just on her way to step into one. She looked at me with her friendly eyes and said: "You exude taxi. Come with me, jump in." And off we went. "Oh, look at that", she exclaimed, "and that as well, and that, how interesting!" Enthusiastically, she waved and pointed to the left and right. During this short trip to downtown Stockholm, she made me discover another world, hidden in our everyday life; details encouraging my imagination to sail away towards unknown horizons, to find stories where I least expected.
   In fact, that was what enabled me to discover my stories about London's park and gardens.

A shot from a video accompanying the Filthy Lucre: Whistler's Peacock Room Reimagined exhibition at the V&A museum

​30th July

Oh August welcome, I am so pleased that one of my favourite museums, the Victoria & Albert, will reopen, at long last, on the 6th.
   So wonderful just to stroll around, and important as well: as a designer to learn about the past, our cultural roots, and to include it in our works, for our wellbeing not the least, as I wrote on 4th February last year. 
   And to discover and connect with other cultures as well, which the museum displays in abundance. At the risk of being accused of cultural appropriation, I still think it is important to all of us to take it in, as a means of integration into our own culture, not the least in a multicultural melting-pot like London. Something design can express, and It wouldn't be the first time in history.
   On the 27th, the Filthy Lucre: Whistler's Peacock Room Reimagined exhibition will reopen and go on until 23rd November. I saw it before the closure, which made me in peacock mood - not for the first time: As I wrote on 26th September last year, I have already been into the Leighton House and admired the façade of the Peacock House, both near Holland park and the peacocks there.
   What caught my eye here was, among other things, an accompanying video featuring the original room, where the artist James Abbot Whistler painted peacocks in 1876-77, then at Princes Gate, near the museum, but now transferred to the Smithsonian in Washington DC. Skilfully the video-maker had let the birds on the walls fly freely in the room (see pic above). It made me think of the period of change that was about to happen, when, during the late 19th century, the interiors started opening up; bigger windows - as well as verandas were introduced in earnest and the sense of free-flying freedom that came along.
​   The exhibition showcases an installation, a new version of the room by the American artist Darren Waterston, expressing a tension between client and artist,  the reason being that Whistler had only been expected to touch up some ancient panels but, to the horror of the owner, peacocks started to turn up, taking over the walls. 
   Waterston's room appears in a state of spooky decay, as if collapsed under the weight of its tumultuous past with stalactites, barnacles and moss taking over, accompanied by mournful music and muffled voices. 
   Somehow, even if it may seem far-fetched, the installation makes me think of my own rather complicated relationship with my client when designing a flat at Neuilly, outside Paris, which I described on 11th September last year. But like Whistler, whose peacocks we would not have seen if he had not insisted, it shows it is worth being rebellious. At the end of the day, my client was so satisfied and felt so well in the flat that I believe that was what led me to start thinking seriously of the importance of wellbeing when it comes to interior design.

At distance I thought it was a swan trying to find something to eat, then to my horror, I discover it is a plastic bag sailing on the Serpentine; how can anyone ruin our beautiful nature by throwing around garbage, not the least plastic, it beggars belief

​25th July

I have been soaking in the BBC series Mrs America about the women's lib movement. The first episode evoke bad memories of my own struggles during the late 60s: In order to enter Grafiska Institutet, a school to become a graphic designer, I needed practice from a printing plant, but as a woman it was very difficult. The official version was that there were no changing rooms for women, but above all, strong trade unions didn't want us to take men's jobs. Finally, we were two who were accepted at a big firm, and there my love of books started; not only their contents and graphic design but also the 'perfume' they exude (see 31st March). The practice should not only include printing but typesetting as well. But I was the only one allowed to continue. Since the other woman was married, the boss thought it would be a waste; she would have children and never work anyway, was the opinion.
   Later, my practice came in handy, since my first work included discussing technical issues such as printing. But it proved just as controversial. "I don't talk about technique with a woman", I was once told.  And I didn't need a secretary, it was thought - after all, I was a woman.
   But like in the BBC series, there were ups and downs. I was indeed the first and only woman at that department, and the experience of being surrounded by men (except the secretaries, of course) meant that I felt secure; when things became tough, they came to my rescue. Well, that I was young, only 23, might have helped, but there was a great camaraderie that I never experienced later as an employee.
   So no wonder I found it very interesting, that fleeting moment in a later episode of the series, when one of the ladies in the pro-Equal Rights Movement sullenly remarks that Mrs America, on the other side of the divide, was supported by her husband.
   I guess I have one leg on either side. Much has been done for women's lib, much still needs to be done, not the least when it comes to equal pay.
   But to join the men's club can be a very good idea. As to envy, for example, interestingly, men and women in general react differently: while a woman wants to simply destroy the competitor, the man either thinks that the target of his envy might be useful for himself and decides to join, which also means that if he helps someone, he feels confident that in return he will get support when needed - rather than a knife in the back. Or he decides to beat the person by getting even better than him.
   But the most interesting thing is that many women who have succeeded have indeed acted like men. Mrs Thatcher was a Mrs America I suspect, supported by her husband; she even abolished the women's lib movement, when she came to power. Mutti in Germany is supposed not to be a fan neither. And didn't Bill support Hillary? I think so.
   But I am looking forward to the next episode. Mrs America seems to outshine her husband. I wonder how he will react to that.
​   As to myself, I keep to my Veranda-project, it gives me such joy. That is also a divide: whether you want to stand out just for your own sake or stand up for something you strongly believe in - that will improve the world.

Heron overlooking the Long Water in Kensington Gardens on top of the imposing Arch sculpture by Henry More

​21st July

As a former journalist, I just can't resist reflecting on the Amber Heard - Johnny Depp brawl.  Or, rather the fact that the actor has sued the Sun, and now, thanks to this, we know all about their poisonous former home life. People love sleazy gossip (well everybody except you and me, of course). No wonder if newspapers like the Sun will sell even more copies. So that, even if the paper will have to pay Depp, at the end of the day, it might be worth it all.
   For me, involved in interior design, the subject of celebrity was a sensitive one: the curious look into the privacy of famous people, rather than showing a home purely on its design merits, wellbeing included; what would the reader prefer? I just don't want to think about it.
   However, I can reveal that I never made a reportage of a home purely based on the owner being a celebrity.
​   But since I at the same time worked as a stylist, it has happened that I redecorated a home - of someone famous or not - if for example the architecture of the place was the reason for the feature, but the interior design didn't quite match the outer lines.
      Oh dear, now I have revealed secrets of the trade.
   But with all the zooming that go on at the moment, celebrities, politicians or just you and me, what do we all want to show off? A well-designed background, framework to our lives, of course (see also 17th April). 
   Indeed, I am learning that now during lockdown people have been more interested in decorating than ever, including installing a home office, as well as showing off their homes in the best way possible on social media. This is also where youngsters have gone wild in search for interior design inspiration.
   It seems as if a new virus, home craze, is on its way, a healthy one this time, lifting our spirits.

A statue never to be brought down: children playing with Peter Pan  in Kensington Gardens; something the little boy's creator, J M Barrie, must have appreciated

19th July

When given the possibility to work from home, there is a huge dilemma, I have discovered. Where to live? Basically, thanks to the world wide web, indeed the whole world is wide open. I am spoilt for choice.
   When I left Sweden in the mid 80s, I knew what I wanted: something small bang in the middle of a big city; so just a tiny flat on Ile Saint Louis in the middle of the Seine, in the middle of Paris (see pic at 16th - 18th April of last year) was the perfect choice.
   The studio was so small that it was about the same size as the entrance halls of the apartments, where most of my friends lived. Indeed, when they entered my home, they thought they were in my entrance hall as well, looking in desperation for doors to the the rest of the flat. Well, the only one was to the bathroom. But this way of living gave me the freedom - and money to pursue a nomadic life. 
   So I could enjoy both the bustling city and the calm of countryside. But how about now?
   We are not supposed to travel anymore, or at least not in the same way as before. However, the good news is that, thanks to the web, the whole wide world is at home instead, making it much more important. An inspiration as well as a challenge for interior designers.
   I can't help it, my imagination takes me into uncharted territory. It is so tempting, the future seems fascinating. The industrialisation changed people's lives; suddenly they were flocking to the cities. To me it seems obvious that this new era will influence us as well, meaning that our city dweliing, the way we have known it,  will have a new concept.
​   Not the least when it comes to all the empty offices (see 14th July). 
   Furthermore, I have just reread what I wrote on 7th January last year. There is now the possibility that the one who said London needs high-rises because we can't build houses all the way to Manchester will be proven wrong.
   The exodus has already started (see 21st June).

No risk to life any longer by walking out into the traffic for social distancing where the pavements are being taken over by scaffolding

​15th July

What a new world we are welcoming: pedestrians, cyclists and birds (see pic on 31st May) are taking over London.  Ducks have been spotted on M25; they had to be rescued by the police, while some had unfortunately been run over. 
   Maybe one should do as in the small town of Skanör, in the south of Sweden, where there is a special road crossing for geese, with a road sign to indicate it. (Well, the good deed isn't long-lived; they will be eaten at Mårten Gås, a special feast at St Martin's Eve, 10th November.)
   Furthermore, in order to encourage walking, jogging and cycling in London, cars will be banned from driving through a number of Royal Parks during weekends. The changes will be trialled for six months.
   Indeed, the parks have been a lifeline for Londoners during the pandemic, and these trials will be a chance to enjoy an even better alternative with new car-free areas. I clap my hands for joy (Psalm 47:1) -  and gratitude.

Vive la France: celebrations in spite of corona virus et all
Photography: Mail +
                                                                                                                                                                                        14th July

Now my friend M, who plans to move back to France (see 21st June), has told me that the French seem to be abandoning London. The removal firms she tried to contact are so busy that they don't return calls or answer emails. Working from home is here to stay.
   It is pure logic, why would any employer want to spend money on office space, especially expensive ones in the City of London, if it can be avoided.
   Unfortunately, Boris doesn't look at it that way. He now encourages people back to the workplace. He is worried that homeworking is wrecking the economy due to empty centre shops and restaurants. 
   But Boris, Matt Hancock agrees with me and many others: working from home has become the new norm. He has even said that "there was a big argument that home working has raised the productivity."
   Furthermore, I think it would bring an interesting solution to the problem with the dying high streets, a subject close to my heart (see 19th May, 7th July of last year and 26 Jan). Obviously, people will miss the camaraderie of office life; that is why new local bars and restaurants as well as recreation centres will now offer that community spirit instead - located on the abandoned local high streets.
   Boris has other ideas: he has announced that the conversion of empty shops (as well as bars and restaurants, I suppose) into homes will not need planning permission. 
   Something has been lost in transition - or will be.
   Come to think of it, maybe shops and restaurants won't have to relocate, following people to their home turf in order to survive. If those empty offices in the City were transformed into luxury condos instead, that is.
   But with all the desks and chairs gone, the premises will look even more boring, in desperate need of animation (see below); a new vision: transformed into verandas, of course. 

---

Summer on the Serpentine is here, at long last; staff measuring social distancing for those in queue wanting to hire pedal boats 

11th July

Below, on 6th July, I wrote about the Serpentine Swimming Club, making a comparison with the Riviera. Well, a little far-fetched maybe, but then I came to think of Paris Plages, the Parisian quays transformed into beaches, indeed like the ones stretching out along the shores of South of France (see 25th May last year).. 
   Or the one in Bournemouth, which we have recently seen totally overcrowded.  No wonder then that Londoners would prefer the calm waters of the Serpentine.  But with all the new members, maybe it would be a good idea to extend the area fenced off for the club - and install a London Plage by adding some chairs, parasols and sand instead of the gravel. Et voilà, we are on the beach!
   Come to think of it, the armchairs I designed for the Veranda collection would fit perfectly. They are partly inspired by the Adirondack chairs, originating poolside in the Adirondack Park, upstate New York. In fact, the daybed I described on 26th March is a prolonged version and would fit in perfectly as well.
   Evidently, the materials used have to be weather resistant; apart from that they totally conform with the idea behind all the furniture of the collection, whether it is bringing the outdoor in - or, in this case, the indoor out, transforming a space into a  living room.
   Indeed, the club at the Lido would be a private one: more than swimming; a real social hub, but in the open air.
   Maybe the sand wouldn't be needed after all. I just brought up Paris Plage as an interesting example of how one can animate a space, make us dream far away, especially in troubling corona times, and transform it into reality. That is the magic of design, or set design more precisely. After all, we live on stages, where our lives unfold.

Happy days are here again: celebrations going on in Hyde Park

​6th July

There was confusion whether swimming in the Serpentine was allowed or not (see caption to picture on 24th June).
    In fact, it was allowed for a while, but applications for membership to the Serpentine Swimming Club, which runs the Serpentine Lido, a 100 metre long stretch of the Serpentine where swimming is allowed, swelled to 2,000. For a venue with 1,700 members, suddenly having the number more than doubled is quite something. Social distancing turned out to be impossible, so it had to be closed. Now, in consultation with Royal Parks, swimming will soon be allowed again, but the club has been obliged to temporarily suspend membership applications.
   Apparently, due to travel restrictions, people seemed to be looking forward to vacation on the Serpentine rather than on the Riviera.
   Come to think of it, the phrase is somewhat outdated, the South of France sounds better these days. But "I am an old fashioned gal", as Eartha Kitt used to sing, her fabulous voice still resonating in me. But how many of today's youngsters know who that singer was? Luckily, Google can come to the rescue. Black Lives Matter, and should not be forgotten.

Ravens looking forward to a sip of milk from the bottles outside the Serpentine Bar & Kitchen, not yet open for the day

28th June​

But of course, Sweden will be among the EU countries not exempted from the two week quarantine rule when entering the UK. The news was first presented on BBC as if this should have been because Sweden has higher rates than the UK. Since then somebody must have done some fact checking; this false accusation is not mentioned anymore when delivering the sad news.
   The latest figures are: UK 43,550 deaths in all, or 0,064% of the population, Sweden 5,280 deaths or 0,052%.   
   With great fascination, I am studying the politicians' new hair styles (see 31st March). I must admit that I have never regarded former Labour leader Ed Miliband as a poster boy. But this morning on the Andrew Marr Show, oh boy, what hair. No wonder Sir Keir Starmer, the new leader, is squeamish about not having had his hair cut. He looks like a gangster, even if a very sleek and smart one.
   What God thinks in these critical pandemic times, is certainly not up to me to tell. But one interesting fact is that thanks to all online services, God's words are spread like never before. At my local church, Saint Peter's in Notting Hill, we attending today's service were asked whether there were anyone from outside the area, and indeed there were - even as far away as Australia, both from Melbourne and Sydney. 
    The dynamic of the Web, appreciated as never before, has inspired me to suggest to the Swedish Church to sell online the products of its famous Christmas market - the best in London. I am certain also people all over the country would very much appreciate having the chance to enjoy the delicacies of the Swedish Christmas smörgåsbord, including Rudolph the reindeer: oh, so special; but don't tell the kids what they are eating. I am looking forward to see the enticing website in the planning.

What seemed like a sunlit dream, a mirage of yore: a young lady on her way to a swim in the Serpentine; now it has become reality again - or so I thought, wishful thinking, it turned out

​24th June

In the wake of the Corona virus pandemic, we designers are now encouraged to engage in humanitarian activities.
   In the list of people taking part in one of those projects I discover NC. It reminds me of once when she exhibited at Decorex, and since it was opening night, she was there in person. When approaching her stand I saw that she spotted me and started walking towards me. I didn't know her personally, so I was quite intrigued. Then, at the moment she passed, without a word, using the strength of her body weight, she pressed into my foot her heel, sharp as a nail, it seemed to me, then turned it around. And walked on as if nothing had happened. Even I have learned to keep the face, or stiff upper lip rather, and didn't show the excruciating pain I felt, but of course not. 
   Could one hope that, instead of collegial envy transformed into hatred, showing kindness, the new mantra, will penetrate into the decoration world as well?
   Indeed, that these new initiatives will bring us together with a common goal: to design an environment where man is on the mantelpiece - and I don't mean as an Oscar statuette.
   Anyway, with wellbeing one of the pillars of my design project, I do think I am already well prepared for a more human approach. After all, how to integrate it into our houses, our rooms is something that has been on my mind for quite some time now, since the early noughties, in fact.

Swan family out and about on the Serpentine today

​21st June

A friend just told me that her British employer has realised the benefits of working from home, so she can now go back to her native France and work from there.
   Real estate agents have also confirmed: the flight out of London has begun. Indeed what possibilities working from home offers, to live where you want, town or country. And with the spread of broadband, as Boris has promised, we will also look at travel in a different way in the future.
   Yes, thanks to the pandemic, what was already in the making will now come to fruition considerably earlier than one could ever have imagined. All that I have already predicted here on this subject is now on speed-dial. 
   After all dramas, something to cheer us up: there is a serious chance the world will be a better place.
   The challenging task for designers is now to manifest, or simplify rather, this at home: a new way of thinking, a concept for this new life, where conviviality merge with working, alone mostly, in the same open, airy spaces we now seem to crave for.  And this in a harmonious way, like the 24 hours rhythm of our bodies, changing from one moda operandi to another.

​13th June

Tomorrow, three years will have passed since the Grenfell fire. On the two previous anniversaries, I attended a memorial service at St Helen's Church, North Kensington, not far from the Grenfell tower. 
   Both times, the experience was so strong: the vivid emotions expressed by the survivors of the fire and those mourning the 72 dead, yet it was also very dignified; even more so, it was as if in this church packed with people, the togetherness, the prayers, the singing gave us all, in spite of the grief, a sense of hope. In the same way as the white doves, freed outside the church after the ceremony, took to the skies, we could lift our spirits and thank God for giving us the strength to look forward to the day that will come tomorrow.  
   In fact, already a month after the fire, there was a memorial service, when the emotions were very raw. In my memory, I still have the picture that captured me that day, of a little girl patting her mother's skirt to comfort her, when she told of her experience during that horrible night.
   Of course, this year with the pandemic there will be no service in the church but online. At 10:30 AM we can watch live at:
    sthelens.online.church
or if you have problems at www.youtube.com/StHelensW10 
​

Swan Lake indeed, the Serpentine early this morning

​11th June

I have learned that Hillary is very much the name of the moment. With a new book about her, Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld, as well as a documentary may be it is not so surprising. Or rather, by reading her own autobiography, What Happened (see 29th Dec 2018 and 11th March of last year), I am not at all surprised. As a woman so steeped in politics, her honesty and sincere determination to change the world for the better must be regarded as sensational.
   The more we learn about the other Donald (see 15th April of last year), the more we realise we need someone like her - and that anywhere in the world. At least it is my hope, and others as well, apparently. Indeed she belongs to those baby bloomers I described on 5th April last year.
   Not the least since it has been revealed the impressive amount of time spent on make up and fixing her hair during the campaigns. But of course, any weapon is permitted in this fight.  
   Also, I remember still, vividly, how she, in the middle of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, dragged a sheepish President of the United States into the White House's Rose Garden to celebrate S:t Patrick's Day.
   While Bill and the other Donald may be fading into the history books, she will be honored, not for breaking that glass ceiling, but providing the firm shoulders for the next generation to stand on in order to reach it. We will be grateful for that. And after all, she won the popular vote. 
   On that same day, the 5th April last year, I also wrote about my Homewear Collection, fashion complementing my veranda themed project. I now read that, with everybody at home, leisure wear is flying off the shelves - online. My collection, related to that theme, was created out of the conviction that we would work more and more from home and that consequently the way we dress would change for ever. The pandemic has only hastened this development.
   It is as if, with these recent developments, what I have anticipated, like horizontal architecture I wrote about (see 7th Jan last year) resulting in my day bed (see 26th March), it all comes together, fits in, all the bits and pieces of my collection. 

Shadows on the facade of a luxury condo in Marbella, painted bright blue by the Mediterranean sky

​9th June

   "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
​
What I wrote below on 6th June, made me think of this line, Genesis 1:1, we know so well. Does it not make God the greatest designer of all? I think so.
   But more than that, it is the beauty of the words, the way they are put together.
   Yes, God has given us beauty, to fill the churches, so we open our minds and spirits, to reach up towards him.
   Not only that, those, the first words in the Bible, make me believe that God also wanted us to have poetry, such bliss for our souls. It can be found everywhere in our daily lives,  lurking in the shadows, as I have written before (see 7th May, 21st April and 3rd Oct of last year).
   The Gustavian style, with all its shades of grey (no reference to any literary work or film, absolutely not), has fantastic possibilities to express poetry.
   Indeed, the northern light, which inspired the style, has an advantage: the slow way the sun sets in the Northern Hemisphere means that shifting hues play out in a way not seen in the south.   
   But despair not, whether north or south,  poetry is always there: on a plain wall, its colour is transformed by reflections from other surrounding hues - as well as the shadows, as the picture above shows. So there is a lot to play with, once we let our senses wide open to take it all in. 

Like in the ballet, on this swan lake, the Serpentine, there is a black swan as well

6th June

In these pandemic times, the park has become my outdoor living-room - in the most positive sense of the word, where there is free room for fresh (well, less polluted anyway) air to not only fill my lungs but to enliven my spirits as well. 
   The black swan above reminds me of the still of a sunny morning in the Gatchina Park, outside Saint Petersburg, where I was sitting by a lake, and it was as if the tones, the music from The Swan Lake came dancing towards me on the shimmering water.
   I was there on a commission to make a reportage of the Venus Pavilion on that White Lake for The World of Interiors magazine. The music must have been still in my head when I started the text by writing that I thought I was at the Swan Lake. "What nonsense"', wrote a reader to the editor. My defence was that there is rhythm both when it comes to design, architecture not the least, and music. Grudgingly, it was admitted I might be right.
   And there is a Swan Island on the lake. Even more intriguingly, later I learned that it was quite possible that the composer, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, had taken inspiration from the beauty of this site.
   Come to think of it: since architecture is often referred to as frozen music, maybe its furniture can sing then, in a choir of many chairs around a table, for example, or a solo performance by an object of great design. 
   These ideas turn up when I get carried away by nature, the freedom my imagination feels in this room for life and what it offers. It is all there, the design, the rhythm - and the colours, not to forget.  
   Last but not least: it is about harmonies, in nature as well as in music - and design, of course.  To create wellbeing, how wonderful.

Hyde Park at dusk: now in corona times, birds are taking over, but hopefully we are not in a scary Hitchcock scenario

31st May

I think I must clarify what I wrote below. As we know, the police has never turned up in people's homes.
   According to a newly published research from SAGE - the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies - only around 50% of patients who developed virus symptoms followed orders to self isolate. Draconian laws don't seem to work, even less so with these new track and trace systems then, when people may not be ill. 
   Doing things voluntary - like in Sweden - could be more effective after all.
  Interestingly, once they are in it, people seem reluctant to leave their bubble.
   Furthermore, even if restaurants have been open in Sweden, still there are distancing regulations, and if not followed, they have been forced to close, like a bar and a cafe now during the weekend.
   Something for the UK to ponder now that we are approaching freer times? The Swedish model, I mean. Better late than never.

 Taking photos seems to be a big thing now during lockdown 

​​28th May

Interestingly, the UK is now only asking people to self isolate according to the new test, track, trace & isolate systems (or whatever, there seems to be a confusion with regards to the naming). This means that the country is getting closer to the Swedish soft approach. No police knocking at the door it has been promised.   
   Furthermore, rather than, as in the past, be referring to the Government, now the NHS and its specialists are at the forefront, just like the Swedish 'model' (see below 19th May). Or, at least this is the first sunny impression given - by the Government.

 With the egg gone, the swans seem to consider trying again, while another suitor is being turned away 

​19th May

Confinement has unexpected consequences. I think I have become addicted to figures.
   So, today 35,341 had died in the UK according the press meeting at Downing Street. But then again (see below 15th May) there was this expert with other figures, from 8th May this time, showing 39,071 deaths, or 0.057% of the population.
    In Sweden, a panel consisting of experts from different health and wellbeing authorities informs the press about the situation in daily briefings. The toll of dead had today risen to 3,743, or 0,037%.  
   At the meeting, Richard Mille, a journalist at the Financial Times, referring to their coronavirus tracker that shows Sweden at this stage of the 'epidemic' has the highest death rate in the world, wondered whether that was worrying the panel. The reply was: "Of course, every death is not something we take lightly, but we have not seen those data".
   The old proverb "Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones", comes to mind.
   The disease is frightening as it is. But with all these divergent numbers whirling around - as well as rumours, scaremongering even, the situation seems even more critical. I think I had better stop listening and just be grateful I am well, touch wood.

The mischievious Boris look-alike Emil in Lönneberga 
Illustration: Björn Berg

15th May

On 11th May, I wrote about Swedish Vice PM Isabella Lövin's comment that Sweden treats people as adults. However, the British Government seems to have misunderstood. Now that children are expected back in school next month, a minister said on BBC Breakfast this morning that they should behave like adults, or rather that their parents should tell them to do so in order to keep the 2m distance. Good luck with that.
   Meanwhile, most Swedish schools, with the exception of higher education such as universities, have been kept open. Which automatically brings me to those so important figures. Today's death toll is 3,646 deaths or 0.036% of the population.
​   As to the UK, it is getting more and more contradictory by the day. On 12th May, I wrote that we, the public, had been informed that by 1st May more than 36,000 had died, which has been extrapolated to the present as about 40,000 deaths, or nearly 0.06%, with the true death toll believed to be even higher. Meanwhile, the daily briefing here insists on far lower figures, 33,988 deaths or 0.05% today. Why is that? To confuse the public?  
   By the way, when seeing Boris during Prime Minister's Questions the other day, I wondered whether Carrie had used on him the old trick to cut children's hair by putting a bowl on their heads and cut around it. Only that in Boris' case it has got to be a Roman urn, of course.
   This made me think of Emil in Lönneberga, featured in several children's books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren of worldwide Pippi Longstocking fame; it was his likeness to Boris that struck me. However, Emil got his head stuck in a soup tureen. Just a warning.

From tomorrow, we will be allowed to enjoy all the flowers in  our parks and gardens for as long as we want, like these in Hyde Park

​12th May

Now new figures have turned up in the UK: they date from 1st May indicating that on that day 36,697 people had died from Covid 19 or 0.054% of the population, so recent information has been far too optimistic. Meanwhile, today's figures in Sweden show that 3,313 have died or 0,033%. (See below as well as 4th, 10th, 21st, 29th April and 7th May.)

The situation as of yesterday: swan near boathouse one egg, while swan on the opposite side of the Serpentine had six eggs

​11th May

I wonder if Boris has been informed about Swedish PM Stefan Löfven's message to the nation I wrote about on 4th April, in which he encouraged people to take responsibility, further underlined on the Andrew Marr Show 3rd May, when Vice PM Minister Isabella Lövin was interviewed. She said: "In Sweden we treat people as adults". Of course, Boris couldn't quote a foreign colleague word by word, but still the penny must have dropped. In his message yesterday evening, he asked people "to stay alert", and since no one quite understands what that means, he actually left the decision making to the British and their common sense. Wise
   In fact, this morning on BBC Breakfast, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab did encourage people to use common sense. Naively I thought that had been evident all along. That was why I had a chat with my friend E, when we met in Kensington Gardens yesterday, keeping the 2m distance, of course. It was not until that Boris speech in the evening, I understood this would not be permitted until Wednesday. 
   So, muddled messaging indeed yes.
   I had been so worried about my friend the swan in Hyde Park, it had not laid any eggs. Could it be due to the harassment by the moorhens? Meanwhile, another swan on the other side of the lake had produced six eggs. So what joy yesterday, when I discovered one egg in the nest. Then horror this morning, it was mysteriously gone.
   Maybe I should report the theft to the police that is supposed to 'take care of us' in the park? They seem to have nothing else to do than just circulating.
   Sometimes irony is the best remedy to keep the spirit up. Especially when common sense does not prevail, after all.

Swedish forest engulfed in fog, as well as poetry
Photography: sweden.se

​7th May

In a leaflet, to coincide with a Gustavian exhibition I made in 1989 at the Swedish Cultural Centre in Paris, I wrote : "It was a real cultural shock, the regent from the country with the silent forests, King Gustav III of Sweden, meeting the elegance of the Court of King Louis XVI."
​   But that was fake news. Now, thanks to mindfulness, I know that forests are never completely silent: not only there are the singing of birds but also the soughing of trees, orchestrated by the wind to accompany them. 
   Anyway, a little further down in the leaflet I now read that "the Gustavian style is achieved by contrasts, which give tension and vigour to the creation: simplicity and the exquisite; colours chilly Nordic and the warmth of a candle or a fire (hygge, see 22nd Dec 2018, 4th July, 30th Aug and 3rd Oct of last year); smooth wood and the shine of gold. And then the crystals, like the trees' frozen drops they hang in the chandeliers of the Gustavian rooms. Swedes' profound attachment to nature enters castles and manor houses, as well as the poetry it transmits." 
   The text ends with these lines: "The reign of Gustav III lasted only 20 years, from 1772 to 1792. Still, these few years were the start of something new: a road forward for creative thinking, a road that leads up to our times. The Gustavian spirit lives on".
   Indeed, yes. These strangest of times offer opportunities. Days not only for reflection but also for discoveries, old papers I had forgotten.

The mirror hall at the Haga Pavilion in the outskirts of Stockholm; what wonderful source of inspiration for the veranda concept
Photography: drottningholmpalace.se

Fake news are no good news, but neither are no news. This is the reason why I am updating the number of deaths due to coronavirus (see 4th, 21st and 29th April). In the media, the Swedish figures have been compared with those of other Scandinavian countries, where they are considerably lower. However, I would find it far more interesting to compare with those in the UK. Contrary to what is going on in Scandinavia, of which I have little knowledge, like all others in this country, I know very well how the situation is here. So why is it not made then? Could it be that the figures speak in favour of the Swedish 'model', so derided?
   The latest figures are: UK 30,615 deaths, 0.045% of the population; Sweden 3,040 deaths and 'only' 0.03%.  
   Meanwhile, Swedes' appreciation of nature (see above) has paid off; they are are out and about in parks and gardens as never before: those activities have risen by 82%, according to mobile data from Google.
   Yes, we feel there is comfort to be found in nature as well, in its beauty. Wellbeing at its best.
   By the way, we now have the chance to value quality of life, to prioritise it; something we hopefully learn during the pandemic. After all, lifestyle is so superficial, so yesterday. 

As this poster shows, Swedes are encouraged to wash their hands for 30 seconds; while the Brits for only 20, so Sweden is more ambitious
​Photography: Henrik Montgomery/TT

​29th April

With reference to the figures presented on 4th April relating to deaths due to coronavirus in Sweden and the UK respectively, today's figures are even more staggering: Sweden 2,462 deaths or 0.025% of the population while for the UK the figure is 26,097 deaths or 0,038%.
​   Swedes' confidence in the State and what it says pays off. Trust at its best, in other words. The reason being that we were taken care of for such a long time - with very strict regulations. And it worked. Does it seem logic? Perhaps, but who wants to catch the coronavirus anyway.

Now it is getting personal, the moorhen couple chasing away the swan

​28th April

 
Viewing the above chase reminds me of all the police men and women not letting people sit peacefully on park-benches - alone, including me. "People die in hospital because of you", I was told. We are all in it, together, scared; animosity does not make the situation any better. 
​   Not the least since we now have learned that the coronavirus spread more easily in confined spaces, not outdoors - not surprising.
   However, very important: outdoor exercise is not only for our physical training, keeping fit, but also for our psychological wellbeing. I do hope lots of stressed people will now discover the joy of being in a park or garden, the chance to enjoy the beauty nature radiates, channelled by mindfulness. 
   Important indeed, now that concerns about mental health problems due to the self isolation have been highlighted. 
   But obviously, if we are only supposed to rush around in our running tracks, we will never get this excitement in our lives.
   As well as the chance to appreciate the inexhaustible source of inspiration for a creative mind, but of course. 
   I have a feeling I have written that before - but I also think that being immersed in this universe you might suddenly discover a creative side of yourself you never thought existed before, and that is real therapy - or even more so: a designer talent might be discovered in the process.
   This obsession with parks and gardens, there is the obvious explanation for it: after all, Mother Nature is God's creation, so when we design, we are merely cherry-picking from it, to transform into our own creations. It is all there for us.

Wall paintings in an 18th century manor in the Swedish countryside
Photography: François Halard

​23rd April

​There might be those that have an opinion about the quality of my photos, not exactly what you see on Instagram these days - or on other blogs for that matter. But there again, I want to capture a special kind of poetry, in images that are more sensual than what you normally see.
   Interestingly, there was also a kind of imperfection that fascinated when the Gustavian style was introduced in the 1980s. Maybe it was no coincidence then that the British, with their shabby chic, were the first to jump on the trend.
   I think they saw the poetry: the traces of time written in the faded wall-paintings; the painted Gustavian chairs, during centuries worn by human touch. 
   Then of course, it was the concept to combine it with gold, which the photo above shows. "How you can control yourself", as MH, the then editor of The World of Interiors, expressed it. Yet, it is the British, who are the masters of self-restraint or stiff upper lip; in Sweden we call it lagom (see 4th July, 30th August, 12th Sept and 3rd Oct of last year).  
   This is also the way I want to refresh the Gustavian style, as I wrote on 10th April, by adding some details in stronger hues than we are used to see - with the gold in equally lagom measures as well. So, while not forgetting the traditional Gustavian red, green, blue and yellow colours why not a hint of something less traditional, adding an extra kick, like parakeet green (see 3rd Jan and 24th Jan, 5th March, 30th March of last year). 
   Yes, why not. After all, the birds are foreign contributions to the fauna in the Royal Parks. (See 3rd Jan. By the way, I wrote that they came when filming African Queen; one theory of several, perhaps not the most probable, but I like the film.) This is certainly nothing new. Thanks to foreign influences, styles have evolved, one example being the Chinese input during the 18th century, which can be admired in the Chinese Pavilion at Drottningholm Palace outside Stockholm.  

Two riding police women in Hyde Park behind the Italian Gardens

​21st April

 Today, the police was out in full force in the park, in two cars and on six horses - but no one also on a bike, as is usually the case. They were controlling that we behaved well. We did. 
   Meanwhile, German scientists applaud Sweden's more easygoing approach (see 4th April). 
   For years and years, I took snapshots of interiors in preparation for reportages in decoration magazines. No people in sight there. One might think that explains why they now in my shots from the park appear reduced to mere minute details, like on the photo above. 
   In a way it might be right. But also, we are just a small part of this world. For ages, we have tried to dominate nature, but still, it is stronger than us. Like the situation we are in now with the coronavirus pandemic.
   So when I want to capture the poetry in nature, yes, I might see people like very small elements then, as in the picture on the 4th April: the red coats of the Household Cavalry appear, to me at least, like small flowers in the scenery. (I do hope they don't mind being reduced in this way. On 25th Jan of last year, there is a photo that show them better.) Yet they play a role in the picture, it would be dull without them.
   These are important lessons, when I try to design poetry. In a haven of peaceful hues, a more punchy colour can play a vital role. Without it, the whole creation might look boring. That was why I put a cushion with a yellow ribbon on the armchair in the picture on 11th September of last year. 
   I have been thinking of what I wrote about poetry on 3rd October last year: the play between light and shadow, so prevalent during the Gustavian 18th century era. In the past, they certainly mastered the art, just think of all mouldings, as seen on the picture above featuring urns in the Italian Gardens, dating from the 19th century.
   Indeed the light is playing hide and seek with us. Poetry comes in so many forms, designs and disguises. The trick is to be observant, reach out with the help of mindfulness, for a sense of fulfilment.
​   Add to it the sense of invincibility when finishing a run in the park, and life isn't so bad, not at all.

The story goes on: bye, bye swan and a moorhen is there immediately

​19th April

I wish there were a bird psychologist-cum-ornithologist, who could explain this obsession: this morning. when the swans were leaving, a moorhen was there again to take over the nest. I have even seen one trying to contribute to its construction by adding a twig; only it was too big to carry, so the poor bird lost it. 
   It isn't only man who dreams big, too big sometimes. Still, trying to take over the neighbours' grand house when they are not home is quite extraordinary. Envy exists also in the animal world, apparently.  

Moorhens in waiting: they don't give up, well aware that the swans will have to leave their nest for their daily exercise and get food, just like you and me in these times

​17th April

Following what I wrote below, on 12th April, I have been asking myself whether beauty is important in our lives, or rather: how important it is. Since the beauty of nature is used as a tool to approach mindfulness, how we are encouraged to envision it (see 15th Dec 2018), there must be something endearing about it.
   And to get the full experience this include sounds as well as smells: new Swedish research shows that not only the perfume of flowers but also the smells of trees and plants, leaves and even straw are of great importance. Or, how about needles: just think of the smell of the pine tree, so Christmas.
   So one can only hope that all these exercises in our parks and gardens will give a taste for more - for ever more. And that beauty will be put on the pedestal where it belongs, now that it has been proven it comes in all forms and shapes.
   Design, that is. But why is it always on my mind? Because it is everywhere, of course. And it can create beauty. 
   Talking about gardens, the favourite place where politicians used to be featured on television when out of office was on a sofa with a bit of a curtain and a glimpse of the garden of their country estate behind.
​   Now, since even they work from home, all is on Skype these days, and the setting has changed: there must be a desk in front, for the computer. Mostly there are books in the background, lots of them, for obvious reasons, since a desk is often in a study. But it is also good for the image, to show off an intellectual profile.
   However, the winner so far is the SNP leader in the House of Commons, Ian Blackford, who managed to get into picture lovely newborn lambs outside the window of his Scottish farm house. Whether it is because he has moved his desk, the story doesn't tell.
   Health Secretary Matt Hancock has a portrait of Her Majesty on the wall behind him while fighting for Queen and country to get those 100,000 coronavirus tests that he has promised.
   Come to think of it, with this new life working from home, a new profession has emerged; something for decorators and stylists to ponder: arranging background settings to improve someone's personal image when on Skype or Zoom.

Easter morning glory in the park; the swans have got their home back

​12th April

There has been much speculation about the wonderful world we will live in when all this is over, now that we have learned to be kind and say thank you so very much to the NHS.
   Our hearts and minds are on an unprecedented journey: indeed, appreciation may be a new theme in our lives - of our our parks and gardens not the least. How important they are for our well being. I think I have never seen as many jogging as now. They may discover how rewarding it is running outdoors, for both body and soul; how it opens up all senses. 
   Maybe it's all there, in our garden of life, we just haven't thought of it before. This time of unrest has given us the possibility to reflect on what is most important in our lives.

Drama in Hyde Park: swans' nest (see 26th March) is now occupied by a moorhen couple; not for long though, one of them is already leaving

​10th April

I have a feeling I need to explain further my weird way of showing pictures. All those blossoms is one thing, lots of garden lovers do that, I suppose. But the same kind of blooming trees three times, really?
   However, they are not only a source for contemplation, which I wrote about below on 5th April, but also part of  a creative  design process: I have been comparing the photo of 18th February, its dominantly subdued hues reminding of the 18th century Gustavian, with the one of 31st March, where there is also the green of a lawn added. Like an updated wall painting, it kicks us into our times.
   This is how I want to proceed with the Gustavian, refresh the style by adding stronger hues to its original faded colours (as we see them now; they were certainly much stronger way back then). 
   Latest figures regarding the fight against the corona virus (see 4th April): the UK 8,958 deaths - Sweden 870 deaths. 

Oops, more blossoms in Kensington Gardens, sunny, happy this time

5th April

One might wonder why I show all these photos from Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park; of course, they are a wonderful source of inspiration for a creative mind, all these designs, all these colours. But showing the same kind of blossoms, not only today but also on 18th February and 31st March, isn't going a bit to far? 
   Not so, they have also been great sources for much contemplation, in the same way as the Japanese celebrate their cherry blossoms, then turning up in art and other cultural manifestations.
   The first photo I took, in February, with mainly pink and brown hues against a cloudy sky, makes me think of the colours one might find in a Gustavian 18th century room, faded by the passing of time. 
   But many might prefer the photo above, sunny like a postcard. But how come then that the Gustavian style, the very opposite, with cloudy grey as a dominant theme, was such success when it was reintroduced in the 80s? I have been thinking of this a lot since.
   The Japanese cherry blossoms are likened with clouds, so I feel I am in good company - or the Gustavian style rather.

The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment practising in Hyde Park

​4th April

I would like to thank the British for their good spirit; everything here is 'nice', which under normal circumstances sometimes made me cringe but now feels comforting. 
   Then to see a corona-stricken Boris turn up outside his bolthole at 11 Downing Street clapping his hands for the NHS gives me the same we-are-in-it-all-together vision as photos of the Royals visiting ruins during the Blitz. 
   Luckily for the Swedes, there was no Blitz, but now, according to some, the fact that the country wasn't directly involved in WW2 should explain a softer Swedish approach to tackling the corona epidemic. Due to their peacetime minds, the authorities are not supposed to understand the danger.
   On the contrary, being surrounded by countries in war brought people together, in solidarity, and this could be reflected still today in the debate about the virus, is another, more credible theory.
   There is an interesting paradox: in a closed-for-business UK, Conservative Boris has now imposed nanny state rules, while Sweden, well known for its cradle-to-grave overprotecting practise, has given its inhabitants advice only, with most shops, restaurants and cafes open as usual.
   In a televised 5-minute speech last month, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven mentioned taking responsibility - seven times. He is leading a Social Democrat government, which took care of the Swedes for most of the last century, especially after the war. Now suddenly, people are encouraged to stand on their own feet and take responsibility.
  Apparently, Sweden is the only country in the world with this other, more relaxed approach and consequently has been accused of putting peoples' lives at risk.
​   Of course, only time will tell. But for now a least, there are figures that speak for themselves: Sweden with its 10 million inhabitants has 373 deaths, while the UK with 68 million has 4,313 right now.
   Now I have learned that the real explanation might date much further back: in the Medieval times, when the feudal system reigned in the rest of Western Europe, Scandinavian farmers were free and could agree on laws without anyone meddling from above. But to achieve this there had to be trust  and solidarity.  Democracy in its prime.
   So, in order to have the freedom to design your own life you have to trust and respect others, especially in times of trouble, like now. The Swedish model might work then, in the long term as well. If history has anything to say, that is. 

Winds in the blossoms; a tranquil pause between the storms in Kensington Gardens

​31st March

We over 70 are cringing, we are not 'elderly'. We are rock n'roll, the ABBA, Beatles and Rolling Stones generation; including of course Bob Dylan, who, at 78, now has released a 17-minute ballad. Some kind of record, I suppose. Yes, like a rolling stone we move on. 
    Of course, we are grateful for the consideration to keep us indoors, like other venerated creatures, like cats. I like cats, meow.
   Since the barber shops now are closed, it will be interesting to see all long-haired men. For us, not so old oldies, it invites to a trip down memory lane, to those times when there was a sense of total liberty, everything was possible, before being squeezed into suits and what else that might be regarded as acceptable.  Perhaps, with those retro hairstyles, the days of freewheeling thinking will be back.
   Even more intriguing is the question whether politicians cheat and have their hair cut in secret. Otherwise, perhaps Downing Street won't have to look for weirdos; this might unleash among themselves new potentials no one could have imagined existed.
   A real matter of concern, on the other hand, specially for a book-lover like me, is the closure of all libraries; it is a missed opportunity. They were struggling for survival already, and now, with so much free time, I suppose everybody is reading e-books. Instead, when out shopping, we could have popped into a library and rediscovered the joy of books: when turning over the pages, the sensation, the smell of ink, the paper under our fingers, sometimes smooth, sometimes rough; well designed, they can ooze with poetry, disregarded of what is printed on the pages - and in doing so, enhance the subject even.

Dream drenched by the sun: a flotilla of pedal boats waiting on the Serpentine for better days to come

​28th March

What an optimist I was, when I wrote about Megxit (see 21st Jan and 1st March); how I thought the Sussexes move to Canada would boost the Commonwealth 'brand'. Not so, now that they have moved to La La Land, it is obvious that will never happen.
   When I in my blog made a reference to Diana Princess of Wales dancing with John Travolta, I intended to add: "I've danced with a man, who's danced with a girl, who's danced with the Prince of Whales", a song from 1927 about the future Duke of Windsor, who, as we all know, run away from his royal duties with an American divorcée. At the time, I thought that mentioning it was maybe going too far. Indeed, not so anymore. 
   After all, they could have made a difference - a compromise that might, at the end, even have pleased the Queen, who seems to care so much about the Commonwealth.
   In my head, pictures of the Duchess of Sussex wearing black, breaking with Royal protocol, turn up in my head. Was it a warning of what was to come? The sorrow she would cause, in the heart of more than one.

Anticipating the brooding season soon to come, swans are busy making a nest, sheltered by one of the boathouses bordering the Serpentine 

​26th March

Alarming news, Victoria Park in London has been closed, the reason being that people gathered in groups. But in Hyde Park, the threat of closure seems to have worked wonders. We all behave like well brought up children, keeping the distance. But of course, this is historic grounds: here horse carriages used to parade; now, running in their tracks are off-springs of that highbrow top hat brigade with polite nods to the left and right, or so we may think.
   Even in these desperate times, there is some light at the end of the tunnel, One thing is certain, when all this is over, life will never be as before - on a positive note. With people not having much else to do right now, they discover the benefits of jogging, how it improves our well-being. And Boris being our leading star working from home at Downing Street, it will turn out to be a very good idea indeed. Thanks to the internet, horizontal architecture has arrived, promoting the bed (see 7th Jan of last year), or why not like Madame Récamier: the chaise longue; that is what I imagine for myself. I have designed one, by the way, as part of my collection.
   Yes, we are grateful for the digital age, proven to be a necessity. How could we otherwise reach out of our closed doors? So Boris, more efficient broadband, please. When hardship strikes, it is our virtual hands that stretch out around the globe, to embrace us all.

Apart from a mother and her two children, Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park was abandoned this morning 

​23rd March

The very worrying news has reached me that there is an imminent threat to close London's park and gardens. Now, that most tourists seem to have returned to their home countries, I just can't understand why. The only people out this morning were joggers and those with dogs.
   We are encouraged to go out and exercise, for both our physical and mental well-being, but if these spaces would close, where would we do it then?
   I think you need some fresh air, Boris. So, how about jogging in the Hyde Park or Kensington Gardens, and you will see for yourself how very unnecessary this ban would be.
   So far, we have trusted you would make the right decisions; but it is so easy we might to turn against you, especially if you start taking away from us one of the few things still left to cheer up our boring everyday lives.

One of very rare photos of Prince Bertil and Mrs Lilian Craig during their 33 years of courtship, with the press respecting their privacy - those were the days
​Photography: Kungahuset.se

​7th March

What I wrote a week ago, see below, reminds me of the love story of the 20th century; no, it wasn't the one depicted in the film with the same name, neither the one featuring the combat of wills between Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind. This one was in real life, starting in London during the Blitz, when King Edward VIII:s abdication for the woman he loved, Wallis Simpson, an American divorcée, was still fresh in memory. Now, Swedish Prince Bertil had met a Welsh divorcée, Lilian Craig. Since his brother, Prince Sigvard, already had lost his title when marrying a commoner, it seemed as if history would be repeating itself, not the least since the same thing happened to another brother, Prince Karl Johan.
   Making matters worse, a further brother, the heir apparent Gustaf Adolf was killed in an airplane crash, leaving his one year old son, the present King Carl XVI Gustaf, taking his place in line to the throne. So Prince Bertil was the only one left. It was the worst kept secret in Stockholm that he lived in 'sin', or rather as sambo (Swedish for living together without being married) with the lady of his heart; even more so: together they were a very popular couple on the social scene.
   It was not until 1976, when King Carl Gustaf himself married a commoner, Silvia Sommerlath, that Prince Bertil could do the same. So, the same year, Sweden got Queen Silvia and Princess Lilian, Duchess of Halland.
   When Prince Bertil died in 1997, I happened to be in Sweden and took part in the very long queue of people at the Royal Cemetery wanting not only to offer our condolences but also show our affection to someone who became the prince of our hearts as well. In a time when divorces seem almost as frequent as marriages, it makes one believe in everlasting love. Indeed reality can beat film fiction.
   But I must confess, since his burial place is situated on an island at the Haga Park, it gave me reason to also visit a building there, in my heart as well: the Haga Pavilion (see 4th Feb and 15th June of last year). And a wonderful source of inspiration for my collection.

One of Hästens' beds; its fabric, designed by Bernadotte & Kylberg, has a tactile structure that resembles saddle cinches, a homage to the firm's heritage as master saddle makers

​1st March

So, Sussexroyal is no longer royal (see 21st Jan), and the Duke himself has made a u-turn: he is now in just-call-me-Harry mode, disappearing into the anonymity of Canada - or so he thinks.
   But sometimes it works. I wonder if anyone, who, like me, passes almost daily the Hästens store in Notting Hill, knows that one its designers of beds and bed-linen is His Royal Highness Prince Carl Philip of Sweden, Duke of Värmland. Together with his co-patriot Oscar Kylberg he forms the internationally recognised design duo Bernadotte & Kylberg. 
   Yet there is a royal shine that seems to follow in his tracks: one year there were rumours at the London Design festival that a Swedish Prince had visited. Prince Carl Philip himself follows in the footsteps of his great-uncle, the celebrated designer Sigvard Bernadotte. He was born Prince Sigvard, but due his marriage to a commoner, he was stripped of his title. Those were the days.
   But what made him stand out was based on his own merits. The same with Prince Harry; he seems more popular than ever, walking on Abbey Road like a Beatle, 

Blown' in the Wind: blossoms in Kensington Gardens struggling on towards spring

​18th February

On 21st January, I wrote about how we girls in the art department of the Swedish weekly Året Runt celebrated the sex revolution of the 1970s.
   For someone who even remembers when the mini-skirt was introduced in the 60s, showing the knees was a big deal. I thought I will never wear such a shocking outfit, but of course, half a year later that was exactly what I did. Now that we have reached the vagina, at least according to Gwyneth Paltrow, there is serious reason to ask where will this end. 
   Surprisingly, Phoebe Waller Bridge's priest-cum-lover in Fleabag might lead the way: the vagina would then be the opening to a new Christian future. Hopefully, how this road to a richer inner life came about will soon be forgotten
   Since we know that the trend pendulum swings from one extreme to another, and now that the Church of England has proclaimed celibacy before marriage, maybe the priest could be the influencer. If there will be a sequel, that is.
   Myself, I mostly go to the Swedish Church in London, but I think I will abstain from asking their opinion on this matter.

 Climate change in Kensington Gardens: this flood sign has never been seen before, at least not as far as I know, and I have been jogging here for years

​10th February

Oh, Garden Bridge, you are still on my mind. Or may be I should call it the Boris Bridge (see below 4th Feb), since we are talking about legacy now.
   Even more importantly, during this upcoming mayoral election campaign, I do hope that who the real culprit is will be obvious to everyone, responsible for, as things stand now, wasting the £40 million or so already spent on the bridge. After all, it was the present Mayor who decided to abandon the project.
   As to the Tulip, it would only be one of so many 'watchtowers' constructed or being in the pipeline, like one of Battersea Power Station's four chimneys to be provided with a glass viewing pod.
   But there would be only one Garden Bridge. Now that the Climate Change issue is heating up (not funny), all the trees and other greenery planted on it would indeed be proof of the ambition to solve the problem; a symbol, a reminder for future generations of a time when we thought life on earth, as we know it, would be gone for ever - and young people, school children even, stood up against politicians, forcing them to action.  Even extinction Rebellion would be pleased to be remembered in this way.
   Of course, all this we know, but the day will come, hopefully, when we will have reason to be grateful for what they did as well.

Singapore-on-Serpentine: heron dancing in the reflection of a skyscraper

​4th February

I had decided that enough was enough, no more about the Garden Bridge (see 25th Feb, 16th March, 28th June, 7th July, 26th Oct of last year) . Then I read that the Tulip (see 6th and 22nd Jan, 25th Feb, 26th March, 9th May, 16th July of last year), dismissed by Sadiq Khan in the same manner as the bridge, had been granted a review. What is even remarkable is that the bridge seems to pop up in the most unexpected discussions as a warning example of taxpayers money spent for nothing. Well, how about letting the taxpayers get value for their money, and we all can enjoy this beautiful bird spreading its wings over the Thames, rather than the image of Singapore-on-Thames to become even more dominant, including this Tulip towering over our heads. 
   The bridge would become the symbol of the eco-friendly, climate changing city that London has the intention to be.  
   Instead of, and this is what I fear most, letting the cost of the bridge become an argument - for all the wrong reasons - during the mayoral election campaign, now heating up. 
   So Boris, now as PM you have the chance to slam the fist on the table and decide this wonderful bridge will be built, please. After all, you mentioned it briefly during the election campaign. 
​   So, let's get Boris Bridge done!

Creative pedestrian crossing on Kensington High Street, organised with the nearby Design Museum as part of last years' Bauhaus centenary celebrations, and created by Pentagram  

​26th January

I am so excited, tomorrow I will attend a meeting to discuss Kensington creative high street (see 19th May and 7th July of last year). Making a window display should not be a duty, it is a pleasure. Sometimes, when walking around looking at windows, I wonder if someone has had a bad day. 
   When it comes to saving the high street, it is all about the experience, it has been said.  I would like to go one step further: experience excitement.
   I remember as a young girl, when my parents took me to town to see the Christmas windows at NK, Stockholm's Harrods. That was when my fascination started. Then I had the honor to make a window display myself at NK. I was working as a stylist and journalist at the weekly VeckoRevyn, and they had made a deal with the department store to repeat an interior published in the magazine, which I had made; it featured a party, involving both furniture and fashion. And there in the window was a big sofa shouting out a shocking pink hue with mannequins sitting and standing around it.
   Talking about mannequins, years before that, in the late 1970s, I worked as a graphic designer at another weekly. When the arts department was refurbished, we wanted to make the decoration more fun with a mannequin we got from a shop that had closed down.  
​   And indeed we had fun. Once the then editor-in-chief SB and his then deputy BV came back from New York, bringing with them the sensation, hamburgers (the first outlet, a McDonald'.s, didn't open in Stockholm until in the early 80s). Obviously, we at the art department felt the urge to outdo them. So before the party started, we managed to smuggle in the mannequin. A nearby sex shop had provided us with the perfect outfit to appeal to the boys. Attached with it was a sign: "what do the girls in New York have that we don't?" Signed with our lipstick kisses.
   We thought the editor was away a little too much, so in order to make him stay in the office more, once, before his return, we had let our scantily clad friend stretch out on the sofa in his room, this time with the sign "Bei Mir Bist Du Schön', with reference to the German song, which we in Sweden have a tendency to translate as "Bär ner mig till sjön" (Carry me down to the lake). I should point out that Året Runt is a family magazine, very respectable. And so were the above mentioned gentlemen, we all in fact. Or it wouldn't have been any fun, would it?
   We were quite daring, at least that was what we thought. Not any more: today, you can buy what we thought very risqué lingerie not only at Agent Provocateur and Victoria's Secret but at most department stores as well, apparently.

I have no idea why these ladies visiting the magazine found it interesting to look at my designs, while the main attraction was behind them, on top of the cupboards, happily swinging her legs in the air 
​Photography: Kamerabild 

​21st January

In these Megxit times, comparisons have been made with Swedish Royals living abroad. How they could leave the country without any fuss. But they have not tried to 'trademark' their status. Now the Sussex Royal brand is the centre of this storm, it seems, so sad for everyone involved.
   On the other hand, when the post-Brexit hangover will set in, after the 31st January party, this way of spreading royal shine on the Commonwealth will be very welcome.
   Whatever future is waiting - maybe the post as governor general for Prince Harry, it will be free in 2022 - the huge interest in the negotiations at Sandringham guarantees that they will never be forgotten. And unfortunately also mean they will never be able to hide away from the media attention, even if that is what they wish. 
   Not the least since this magic cocktail of Royalty and Hollywood celebrity they represent is something unprecedented, intoxicating. Indeed Prince Harry follows in the steps of his mother: Who can forget Princess Diane dancing with John Travolta. Now we know, the glamour she brought to the Firm was only the beginning.       

Parakeets having a New Year feast with a friend in Kensington Gardens

​3rd January 2020

On 22nd January last year, I wrote that I never use my headphones. I prefer to listen to the sound of nature when I am out and about. Now, I have learned that in order to get some kind of mindfulness you should record the above mentioned sounds, so you can listen to them in your headphone. Mind-boggling.
   Also, I have learned that my darling parrots are called ring-necked parakeets, and you can actually find them all over London. A theory is that the birds escaped from the set of The African Queen, when it was filmed in Isleworth Studios in 1951. This is the part of west London where they were first noticed. But that didn't happen until the mid-1990s. Where were they hiding for 40 years? The mystery remains.

Christmas greetings from the two cuddling bears at the fountain in Kensington Gardens 

25th December 2019

Oh sorry, I haven't updated this blog, but I have been out campaigning. No, not that one, even if I wish Boris lots of success now that he has even won in former Labour land.
   In the past, I have written a lot about politics, but I hope that by now it is clear that this blog is after all bout design. However, these two fields of interest are not as far away as one might think. In fact, design play such an important role in our daily lives that the subject should be high up on politicians' manifestos. Which I have pointed out to our present PM (see 3rd July) among others. But I fear it has to be repeated over and over again until the penny drops. So volunteers are much needed to bang on about this oh so important issue.
   Furthermore, this must be the ideal moment, now that Boris seems to promise anything, including broadband to those far-flung former Labour strongholds; maybe as a consequence budding designers might turn up where you would least expect to find them.
   Anyway, I have of course been promoting my own pet project, explaining how it is not merely about design, rather very much about culture as well, the same way as we look at styles of the past, like the Gustavian style. Even parts of culture closer to our present time have served as sources of inspiration, such as Einar Hylander's flat, which I wrote about on 15th July. Another book by Per Wästberg, Sommaröarna (The Summer Islands) with photos by Nino Monastra, depicting the houses and their verandas in the archipelago of Stockholm, has also influenced me a lot. How I hope this wonderful book could be translated to English and published coinciding with the launch of my design project.

Autumn shine in Hyde Park

​27th October

Wellbeing is now entering our homes in earnest.
   "We explore the way in which design might contribute to a healthy home and a more mindful sense of being", Ekkist, a development consultancy based in London, declares.
   The firm specialises in advising on the Well Building Standard, the world's leading human-centric building standard.
   Together with Studio McLeod they have designed the Ori House, claimed to be the first home that enhances your health.  
   This means orientating rooms to maximise natural light flow, which in turn limits the need for artificial lighting and benefits healthy body rhythms. Furthermore,  a circadian lighting system is synced to inhabitants' body clocks to improve sleep cycles and productivity.
   Still, the environmental considerations are there as well: breathable clay plaster walls regulate moisture, saving over one tonne of CO2 compared with other paint options.
   The building is clad in larch and built from rammed earth, hempcrete and timber. Thanks to its link to improving moods and stress reduction, sustainable wood is also the predominant material in the interiors.
   Yes, wellbeing is at home; not just an ad gimmick any more.

Rendering of Ori House designed by Ekkist and Studio McLeud

​26th October

Probably I had been brainwashed into thinking: just let's have it over and done with. I was so disappointed, thought we were entering the dark ages of Brexit.
   Then the sun rose for another day. Now, still in the EU, I am actually looking forward to Halloween. I can't imagine how they are going to sort this out - ever. I suppose no one can, wonderful.
   The lovely Garden Bridge has been in the media again (see 25th Feb, 16th March, 28th June and 7th July). A new report claims that the risks with the project had been downplayed to keep Boris happy. Well, who wouldn't be happy to see it appear in real life - except Sadiq Khan that is. 
   From a source close to the project when it was in its heyday, I have received  assertions that it was well funded when the go-ahead was given. Also a "charity" was formed to help with maintenance; even sponsors were already in hand for some of the gardens and areas within the bridge. There were also various other fundraising and sponsorship initiatives. Indeed, the team would not have worked on a project of this magnitude on "spec".
   So, why was it abolished by the present Mayor? Only to make headlines about the unfinished project costing the taxpayers £21.4 million. They would also have looked forward to see the bridge stretching out its beautiful wings over the Thames - and so would all the tourists flocking to it.

​19th October 2019​​

A sad day to remember:  a demonstrator lurking among the dark trees in Hyde Park's Rose Garden; a glimmer of hope after all

​12th October 2019

Last week, at Decorex, another design exhibition at Olympia, I recognised a streaking feature I already saw at 100% Design (see 11th and I9th Sept): a confirmation of a very welcome return of leather, but not the boring way we have been used to see it on sofas and armchairs, plain without any pattern. Now the leather has been given a new spirit - by digging into the past: the bossed and printed leather of the 17th century reappearing. Not as replicas though; the same magnificence but in new exciting interpretations. 
​   I am so pleased, not the least since printed leather is also part of my collection. 

Leather screen designed by by O'Hare & D'Jafer at 100% Design and Decorex
Photography: ohare-djafer.co.uk

Also last week, the winner of the 2019 RIBA Stirling Prize was announced. For the first time, the design of a council estate was honoured; and, at least one could hope, this would mean the final blow to social housing as we have come to know it: people piled on top of each other in high-rises. Rather, the Goldsmith Street estate in Norwich, where social connectivity as well as environmental issues are heralded, shows the way into a very promising future. "A beacon of hope", was how the RIBA president Alan Jones described the project.

The Goldsmith Street estate, designed by Michael Riches and Cathy Hawley
Photography: Tim Crocker

There are now two deep throats, it has turned out. Only one was enough for the impeachment of Richard Nixon. But rather than enduring the shameful procedure he preferred to resign. Maybe something for the other Donald to ponder? 
​   By the way, the 'graffiti' wall I showed on 12th September has now been painted back to how it was: plain white. What relief.
   And Boris, for 31st October, do you have a trick up your sleeve? Or are we in for a treat? To remain, I mean. May reason win.

Poetry in Kensington Gardens bathing in an early morning sun, magnified by the fountains' water in the Italian Gardens behind  

​3rd October 2019

This is the National Poetry Day. "Poetry has always been under the world's skin", I have just learned on the BBC News. It seems like upgrading from mindfulness, which would open our minds, make us more receptive to poetry.
   An appealing idea. Not the least when it comes to interior design. Incorporating poetry into my design scheme has a high priority, as an important part of achieving wellbeing. It would mean taking into account factors such as how the light enhances shining surfaces and caresses smooth ones, to contrast with shadows lingering in crevices, nooks and crannies; or it would just underline the design of a piece of furniture, for example.
   However, it requires a special kind of simplicity, in lagom doses: not too much, crammed, neither too little, with object crying for company - harmony in other words.
   The green promoted by Dulux as the colour of 2020 (see 10th Sept) has been criticised for not being bold enough. Obviously, people have in mind those stronger, punchier hues we have seen a lot of, got used to.
   But poetry doesn't shout. Rather, it is ears and eyes that have to be reconfigured into a special receiving mood, encourage stimuli to open up the senses, make them finely tuned to take in delicate tones. Indeed, mindfulness might do wonders.
   Also, from today on, no more scrolling, unless one wants to see what I have written in the past, for example about mindfulness here below.

THE ARCHIVE:

15th December 2018

This is my moment of mindfulness: the soft voice encourages me to close my eyes and let my thoughts drift away. For a compulsive daydreamer like me, this is music to my ears. Pure indulgence.
   So when asked to let my thoughts wander, I happily come along. "A clearing in the wood", is suggested, yes, why not, I can see it, "or a room". A room? Well, I'm in one, so maybe I could let a picture on a wall lift my spirits. But then I would have to open my eyes, and that would be cheating. No, this is about my inner self, my breathing, my wellbeing even, so I take a deep breath and enjoy the ride.
   I come to think of my childhood room with a view of the sea. Framed by white voile curtains, it had a dreamy feel, so maybe that would do. "A seashore", the voice then suggests, as if reading my thoughts. My mind wanders to the terrace down below, where the view is better, to let my thoughts float on that magic water, reflecting the moods of the seasons, from a glittering carpet, as if studded with diamonds, to the brooding hues of dark blue to almost black, like the work of August Strindberg - no, not so much his plays as his paintings this time.
   Then of course there was the moon dipping its rays into the black water. And still I can remember those nights, when the light from a single window shed a feeble reflection on the water. It came from the cottage among the fir trees on the other side, where the writer Kar de Mumma fled the noisy Stockholm to work in the still of the forest. Above it, the lights of the city made the sky glow like an aura.
   "What a wonderful world", yeah Louis with your trumpet, you were so right.
   But it can not only have been my fascination with the aspen trees on the other side of the courtyard, their leaves flickering constantly, with a plethora of wonderful colours, from spring's fresh Carl Larsson greens to autumn's golden shimmer, that made me prefer the veranda rather than the terrace. After all, this was where we spent most of the time. Protected from the elements, we could bring winter's indoors activities out into the summer, with its blooming scents and singing birds.
   Since the voice on the CD wants me to let all my senses on full alert, I hope it will forgive this trip down memory lane.
​   "Come home to the moment", I am urged now. Time to open my eyes as well. 

The artist Carl Larsson excelled in wonderful green hues. This wall-painting is in Sundborn church, near his home in Dalecarlia, Sweden
​Photography: Adam Inczedy Gombos

16th December 2018

Oh, mindfulness, you certainly are on my mind. However, there is something I don't seem to grasp. We are encouraged to concentrate on our breathing. This will reduce our stress and anxiety. But why would I then have to think of other places, travel in my mind? Could it be because when I close my eyes there is some kind of emptiness? I look into, well - nothing. We always need a vision.
   That is also why "coming home to the moment" means different things depending where you live. When you open your eyes and look into greenery outside your window or, in the case of living high up in a skyscraper, looking into this nothingness makes you dream of other places, or look on television, programs like 'Escape to the country'.
     When the wonderful world is far down out of reach; with only treetops reminding of what we are missing.
   This is where the interior designer has an important task, not just to decorate a place, but animate it rather, to compensate what is lacking outside the window. We can create, not a garden, but the impression of one, for example. Paint a decor with the help of fabric and furniture, which would enhance the experience of living in this particular space.
   Furthermore, this is when the veranda as a design concept becomes interesting. It blurs the lines not only by bringing the inside out, like in the case of the house of my youth, but it can also make us feel outside when in. 
   Even more so now, when the architecture of our new buildings provide us with big windows, they open up the spaces towards the exterior in the same manner as the veranda does.
   With so many holed up in those high-rises, suspended in this kind of nowhere - and even more predicted for tomorrow, indeed it is about time we open our eyes.
   After all, this is about finding wellbeing not only  inside our bodies but outside as well. "A safe place where you feel pleasantly relaxed and fresh", as the voice tells me. Sounds like the veranda then.
   Designs from a mind full of new ideas, that is what the CD brings to me. Thank you for that.
   

19th December 2018

I have just learned that the film It's a Wonderful World has won the vote as the best Christmas film ever. What wonderful news; it is such a positive film, about life: a lesson how it can be turned around in the most well, wonderful way. I should look at it now and then keep this in mind for the year to come. And yes indeed Louis, you were so right, what a wonderful world. If we only would take care of it well - and get the chance to enjoy it in full.

The veranda of my youth with the aspen trees to the left, but without their dazzling leaves

22nd December 2018

I have a confession to make: The veranda on the opening picture is not the one from my childhood, which I described on 15 December. It is not even mine. Rather, this picture is in memory of a veranda that exists no more but also of a wonderful friendship. How we used to sit there, embraced by its walls, comforting each other; both of us being in difficult relationships, we realised the importance of having real friends in difficult times. 
   The veranda also made us look forward, to the sea. As one can see looking through the window in the picture, there was a view of the sea here as well. Not surprising, the house was in the archipelago of Stockholm with its 20,000 islands or so, depending on how you count.
   Talking about figures, I was rather miffed when the Danes won the war when it comes to warmth, cosiness; something I have written about in the past: how the Swedish 18th century Gustavian style was often misinterpreted as cold, austere when it was reintroduced in the 1980s, not taking into account our fires, mostly in the form of candles. Now it has turned out that indeed the Danes burn more candles than the Swedes, so one has to accept their 'hygge'.
   There are those who claim that 'hygge' is out. If so, what is far more interesting is what will come in its wake.
   Where was I now? Yes, the veranda with a view of the sea. Just to show that I wasn't making it all up about my childhood home and its views, I enclose some photos, or snapshots rather of faded memories.
   

My c​hildhood room with its view of the sea

View from the terrace with the writer's cottage on the other side of the water; the sailing boat to the right, Aurora, still lingers in my mind

29th December 2018

This day is another day, a bad one. The Christmas bubble doesn't protect me anymore. It is at moments like this we need films such as It's a Wonderful Life more than ever, to remind us of times when anxiety has flown out of the window. This is also when meditation, mindfulness or a jog in the park would help; yet these are the last things I can think of right now.
   Maybe I suffer from Disney deficiency. As an expat, I haven't, like almost all other Swedes, been sitting on Christmas Eve at 3PM with eyes glued to the screen watching Disney comics; the same ones that have been shown on television every year since 1959. Donald  Duck and friends over and over again. 
    In order to feel well we need light and warmth in winter's dark and chill; but being a little childish as well would help: a temporary return to the innocence of a child, far away from the troubles of the world. It could be seen as a way of engaging, in a profound way, with the reason we are celebrating Christmas: the birth of a child, Jesus Christ. 

Some Donalds in a souvenirshop at Disneyland Paris

As to mindfulness, I come to think of Hillary Clinton's advice in her book What Happened, how to recover from losing a presidential election. She calls it "breath work", alternate nostril breathing. She writes: "Sit cross-legged with your left hand on your thigh and your right hand on your nose. Breathing deeply from your diaphragm, place your right thumb on your right nostril and your ring and little fingers on your left. Shut your eyes, and close off your right nostril, breathing slowly and deeply through your left. Now close both sides and hold your breath. Exhale through your right nostril. Then reverse it."
    This practice allows oxygen to activate both sides of the brain. As to the right side, the source of our creativity and imagination, I am not sure it is a good idea, at least not in my case: free flows have in the past carried me away into uncharted territory, often into trouble as well. My left side on the other hand, controlling reason and logic, would need some encouragement.  
   Come to think of it, this advice might serve as a remedy against the other Donald. In these times of populism, if I had to choose from America's two most famous ones, Trump and Duck, I know which one I would vote for. Oh I forgot, there is another one as well, McDonald's, in a league of its own. Or maybe not, duck is delicious, McDuck then. Better stop now.

Diana the Huntress statue in Hyde Park's Rose Garden

6th January 2019

Diana is my new friend. Or sort of, rather stone-faced, or bronze more exactly, but the way she points her bow and arrow towards the cranes ruining the skyline, I discovered that we must have an interest in common, or goal rather: these giant creatures are a signal of what is to come, so instrumental in even more high-rises being constructed, and consequently destructing the London we love.
   Every city has its own features, which we admire. But why should London look like New York, Hong Kong or even Dubai?
   So the even more interesting question is how its skyline would look if more female architects were involved in the planning and design. Hopefully less testosterone fuelled buildings being erected would stop Sir Christopher Wren  turning in his grave.
   Indeed these towers have been likened with phalluses, symbols of great ambitions, reaching higher and higher up in the sky. Now the latest planned to adorn the City is the Tulip. These flowers are best enjoyed in abundance in gardens in the spring. But maybe I shouldn't write this, it might give ideas. Anyway, I hope it won't turn out like the Dutch tulip mania in the 17th century.
   Or perhaps one should call it tower mania this time, since the motivation for the new attribution is that in order to attract more overseas visitors, we need more of them. A competition frenzy like now at New Year's Eve when every city around the globe flexed their muscles by showing off more and more impressive fireworks. At least that was very exciting. But a new tower every fourth or fifth year to stay ahead, is it worth it bearing in mind the risk to lose the soul of this great city, which is so enticing in itself?
   At the same time, there is only one Eiffel Tower, in Paris at least, and turning 130 this year. I remember its 100 years birthday party, what a treat. Since then lights and colours have been playing around its slim, elegant structure; a message board for Paris' happy events. A true icon. Indeed sometimes less is more.
​   Yes Peter Murray, chairman of New London Architecture, in your column in the Evening Standard of 29 September last year you wrote about more attention to be paid to hidden gems in the Square Mile, such as the Guildhall, part of London's identity, as well as its churches - but why not all London's places of worship, showing how architecture can open our minds towards God. So why propose another tower of Babylon then?

​Tulips in the park at the Palace of Versailles

​7th January

I have also been informed that we need so many high-rises in London, or we would have to build houses all the way to Manchester. But I think that would be a brilliant idea.
   Tech City, introduced by David Cameron's government, is the London hub now for the digital evolution, but spreading around the country as well. And anyway, once connected, do we need to live in a city?
   Interestingly, crossing this vertical architecture trend there is now the horizontal architecture - of the bed. A professor at Princeton University School of Architecture, Beatriz Colomina, has launched the idea that in this digital age the bed will be given a new significance. According to Wall Street Journal 80% of young professionals now want to work in the bed. This means that working in an office, at least as we know it now, would quite soon be over.
   So instead of towers, a relaunch of the village as a new design concept to be spread out over the countryside could be something for architects to ponder on. Or why not on beautiful Antiqua, a place in the sun many are dreaming of. Now in Brexit times, when the Commonwealth has become the focus of attention, this far-fetched idea might become reality. Everything is in the balance anyway, maybe opening up possibilities we never thought of.
   Perhaps the city, as we perceive it today, will then disappear. Obviously great ones, like London, will always be there as a beacon, attracting tourists and entrepreneurs. But how unnecessary then to destroy its image with what might become ghost towers, only for foreigners to invest their capital in.
   I think a people's vote about how we want to live, in town or countryside, would be in place. After all, it is a very important issue, involving all our lives, the same way as Brexit in fact. 
   But then I come to think of what is happening to the proposed demolition of Holiday Inn tower in Cromwell Road and building of a complex including two towers of 30 and 21 storeys. Nearly 1000 residents and numerous local associations have protested the plans, which would ruin the skyline even more in this conservation area. Also the scheme was refused consent by the council of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Now the democratically elected Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has intervened with the possibility to let the project go ahead anyway.
   "We must respect the will of the people", that phrase and its variations have been repeated over and over again in recent months. A myth, I have just learned.
​   But more Fawlty Towers, yes please! So British.

Winter shine on the Serpentine

15th January

While the other Donald (see 29th Dec) was having a McDonald's party at the White House, I was enjoying ducks, the real ones, in Hyde Park.
   It was my friend H, who helped me solve a conundrum. Of course you can have your eyes open while practising mindfulness - if you have something beautiful to look at that is. She sits on a bench overlooking the lake Siljan in Dalecarlia Sweden, while doing a variation of Hillary Clinton's alternative nostril breathing: close your right nostril, inhale through the left one, then exhale through the right one while closing the other and do the reverse. Go on for four minutes, it will lower your blood pressure, she claims, or The New York Times Magazine rather.
   So I took a break when out jogging, sat down in front of the Serpentine, and there it was: the glittering sea of my youth, with ducks and other birds in abundance.
   This sense of harmony, between one's inner self and the surrounding, isn't this what one should strive to achieve? As a designer, not the least.
  It is moments like this that make life worth living.

Snowdrops in Kensington Gardens

20th January

I also have my own breathing technique, which I learned years ago. It is cartwheeling. No not really, rather that after finishing my jogging, while taking a deep breath, filling my lungs full of air, I wheel my both arms in opposite directions, then exhale. I repeat until I feel as if my breathing gets connected to the rhythm of my heart. The rather exhausted me suddenly becomes a harmonious machine that can go on and on just on the engine of my lifted spirits. Whether it is mindfulness, I don't  know, but it is a wonderful feeling of invincibility, ready to conquer the world, or at least Carpe Diem.
   That was when I discovered them, the snowdrops - in the month of January! It reminds me of a long time ago, in my native Sweden, when they, in March, popped up like here among dry leaves of days gone by as a promise of what is to come. Perhaps on the veranda there were some chairs, forgotten during winter. Now they would have been be covered with ice, slowly melting; milky whitish, it would drip away in preparation for a lovely, blooming spring and summer. 

​A summer house belonging to friends, in the archipelago  of Stockholm
​Photography: Marianne Ström

​
​22nd January

My friend M noticed, with well concealed astonishment, that I have never used the earphones of my iPhone. In the early 80s, I walked around with my Walkman, feeling so trendy. But now when out jogging I listen to the songs of birds instead. Twitters, no not those of the other Donald, there are enchanting tweets as well, now fill my soul. Even more so since they give me hope of a spring to come.

Among the tweeting friends in Kensington Gardens there are even swarms of parrots these days

   I have noticed with satisfaction that the Mayor of London may stop the construction of the Tulip skyscraper because it would "cause harm to the historic environment", and the 305 m height seems unjustified. But he wanted to permit the highrise in Cromwell Road, in a conservation area, against the will of the people and the decision of the council of Kensington and Chelsea to stop it. Where is the sense - and sensibility to people's wishes?
   And Gwyneth Paltrow, I must admit I join the choir: No, people don't do yoga thanks to you. Were you even born in the early 70s when I tried it? But it is true that trends, when they are declared over, only take a pause in order to come back, stronger than before. To take advantage of this new wave, good for you, the brand - and indeed yoga.

Horses are also our friends, these parade In Hyde Park

​​25th January

The other day, I called a bird a friend. Which made me think: what is a friend, or rather, who is a friend? If you want a friend, get yourself a dog, is the advice given to politicians in Washington. Does the other Donald have a dog? Is someone who stabs you in the back a friend? Someone you collect on Facebook?  Someone you worked with intimately for years? Someone you met briefly and felt connected to? Someone you befriended, lost contact with and meet again many years later; still, it was as if no time had passed? Would that qualify?
   Oh yes, its warmth is the steam, the engine that will keep the friendship going, make it stand the test of time. Because it takes time for it to grow, to forgive and forget.
   How about love? But of course, we all know that, the 2nd commandment: You shall love your neighbour as yourself (Matt 22:40). No one would deny that - or?
   Why would I put this into question when even a serial womanizing president acknowledged the importance of it. No, not the other Donald, but the other one, Bill.
   Now one might think I would start rambling about what is love. I won't, it would only dilute its fragrance.
   But can a room, a veranda, make you feel friendship, unite, in happiness as in sorrow, the way I described on 22 Dec? I do think so. It can not only shelter but also nourish. Even more, design can make us come together, feel conviviality, indeed improve our wellbeing. Not as a new way of living; we know that: we should exercise, eat well, even vegan. Rather, now it is the setting of our lives that would bring us to a new level; make us feel joy, even more so: joie de vivre.

Man walking with his best friend into the sunset at Kensington Gardens  

​​31st January

There is now a crowdfunding campaign, launched by Chicago-based New World Design and published in Dezeen Daily, for a golden picket fence to be erected around the other Donald's compound in Palm Beach, Florida. This special attention to his security will make, if not America, at least him great again.
​   The person who thinks so isn't me, though. But who knows, one day he may wake up and, rather than being a victim of delusion, realise that he has a dream as well.

​King Gustav III:s Haga Pavilion, outside Stockholm

​4th February

This cultural appropriation discussion going on surprises me. Isn't it a little late in the day? "Think of what the Romans did to us", a Greek friend recently complained half-jokingly, when the subject came up, "we were under Byzantine rule then". Yes, whatever today's architects and designers might think about Neoclassicism, the style has been one of the pillars of Western culture, a heritage inspiring generations of creators.
   And just think of the important role African art has played in the culture and history  of the world, including Cubism for example. This makes me think of when I was involved in introducing the Neoclassical Gustavian style, championed by Swedish KIng Gustav III in the 18th century, and quickly interpreted as a kind of monastic minimalism by stylists and designers. What made me squirm though, was when an African colourful fabric was used as a tablecloth on a simple grey Gustavian gate-legged table that I had designed. Now with hindsight, I find the idea quite interesting, appealing even.
​   As to the latest squabble about biryani wrap: I remember when my godson turned up with a pizza topped with bearnaise sauce. Just the sight of it made me almost sick. A crash-course in Italian and French cuisine didn't change his mind; he liked it, so what? The same now, the attention to the biryani wrap is good publicity for M&S, but plundering a civilisation's heritage, well, it seems very far-fetched. India is after all now a rich country.
​   The worrying thing, however, is that mixing cultures might be misunderstood as cultural appropriation. Now that the integration of all those immigrants streaming into Europe is so important; their different contributions being planted in the cultural soil of the host country should be the way forward, inspire to new, exciting artistic expressions, making people appreciate the value of this new fabric: a rich life of togetherness.
   But it doesn't stop there. Being connected to our own individual cultural roots are also important, as a way of feeling at home, not the least in a foreign country. This is why I am convinced that these cultural references, Neoclassical or whatever, when appearing in design also play a crucial role for our wellbeing.

When I was involved in introducing the Gustavian style, in this showroom I put striped fabric on the walls, as imaginary pilasters,  to hint at its Neoclassical ancestry

25th February

"Our city is at its strongest when we are building bridges, not walls," wrote the Mayor, Sadiq Khan, in ES Magazine of 7 to 8 February. So why then did he stop the plans for building the beautiful Garden Bridge? After all, it was approved by the former Mayor, Boris Johnson, but according to him the project was then cancelled for political reasons.
​   I was present at the inauguration of Christo's London Mastaba and remember how Michael Bloomberg boasted fantastic figures, showing how this floating assemblage of oil barrels in the Serpentine would contribute to London's tourism. Yet it was only meant for a short period of time.
   To keep our top spot as a tourist destination we must be competitive and invest in new amenities, according to London and Partners, the Mayor's promotional agency. So Sadiq Khan is keen to enhance the city's attractions then.
   Now, when I look for information what happened to the Garden Bridge, all I read is about spiralling costs spiralling out of control. The project's reckless demise, accompanied by staggering figures for the taxpayers to pay, was reported on BBC London News as recently as 13 February. 
   Interestingly, perhaps the Londoners, given the chance, would not mind spending an extra penny on a wonderful creation like this, the way they already do for keeping up the city's other parks and gardens, I suppose. If it is to be built that is.
   Which automatically brings me to another proposed creation, the to-be-or-not-to-be? The Tulip. But London already has towers with observation platforms, and more are to come apparently. 
   Indeed, if one compare the two projects, which one would stand out as unique in its kind? Hardly the Tulip. But the Garden Bridge, spreading out its elegant wings over the river and topped by abundant vegetation, would be something the world has never seen; its uniqueness further enhanced by its antipollution, climate changing features, signalling what London stands for.
​   My hope is now that the new Mayor, elected next year, will relaunch this very important project. I would vote for that.

With the help of some acrobacy, parrots are feasting on spring blooms in Kensington Gardens

​5th  March 

I have been thinking of what I wrote above. This little mental exercise convinced me even more that the battle to attract more and more tourists to London is not won by constructing higher and higher buildings; rather, how important it is to underline, bring forward the city's singularities, making it stand out from the rest of the big cities even more. And as we all know, there is much more than red telephone boxes, double-deckers and Big Ben that make London unique. But I have the impression that one big, defining feature has not been presented enough in this context: this is after all the garden capital of the world.
   Paris is known as the City of Lights, so why couldn't then London be the City of Greens, alluding to the fact that this expression would not only be due to all its lovely, lush parks and gardens but also to the ecological and antipollution features this brings along.
   Also very much contributing to this reputation are the British world famous green fingers, shown off so brilliantly at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and all other shows in and around London.
   Not only that, London is going greener also in the street: Next month, the toughest emissions charges for vehicles in any city n the world will be introduced.
   Yes, London is the greenest city in the world, in every sense of the word, so what better way to magnify this impression than building the Garden Bridge, nothing equal to be seen since the Hanging Gardens of Babylon - and that was quite some time ago.
   Not the least important, in order to keep ahead of all these efforts creating greener places, which goes on in other parts of the world right now, be it vertical gardens, roof gardens or whatever, indeed the Garden Bridge would make a crucial contribution.
   And it goes without saying that taxpayers - and future voters - would prefer to pay for a beautiful Garden Bridge they can enjoy, rather than now, having to spend money on something never to be seen. 
​   Besides, when presented in a more positive light than has been done lately, I am convinced there will be sponsors willing to pay for this exciting project - like there were when initially presented and approved. So at the end of the day, there will be no extra costs for the taxpayers then.

Mallefougasse up among the clouds

11th March

I have written about the importance to have something  to look at through the windows (see 16 December). Then I saw the late great Zaha Hadid's architectural masterpiece, the only private residence she designed, high above the treetops. The briefing from the Russian client was that in order to feel free, he needed to see only the sky.
   Which in turn made me think of the winter I spent high up in the mountains in Haute Province decorating a mini-chateau, at a place called Mallefougasse, where apparently the villagers were not good at baking fougasse, hence the name. 
   Up there, my thoughts and imagination were totally freed from any constraints; flying high to the extent that I had a definite feeling I was not just a designer, no rather the great artist the world hadn't had the chance to discover yet.
   It was the leaves that had captured my creativity again, dry ones this time, fallen the autumn before. What poetry presented before my eyes: their all those brown hues seemed reflected, almost like painted, on the wheelbarrow next to them,  making it stand out as a piece of art. A urinal was a fountain, but I am not Marcel Duchamp, so a wheelbarrow is still a wheelbarrow, even if rusty, so my moment as an artist was very short-lived indeed. 
   Every time the French try to challenge me whether I know la France profonde, the real rural France, I tell them about my time up there and the they nod: "Ah oui!" It seemed like a magic world, but also forgotten: even if I was the one who would have needed a yellow vest back then out on my daily jogging tours, "il faut courir vite, Madame", the hunters shouted among the trees, out shooting wild boar, making me  speed up to avoid their bullets; still I wonder if they today belong to les ​Gilets Jaunes, trying to make their voices heard in this era of globalisation. I hope they do.

The poetic wheelbarrow painted by nature

   In her book What Happened Hillary Clinton describes how she, starting already in 2013 and 2014, had been paying attention to improvements such as better education in equally seemingly forgotten areas in  Appalachia, hit by declining coal production. In her campaign for President, a recurrent theme was the need to help these distressed communities to a more sustainable economic future - the same people who the other Donald now tries to promise a bright future by blocking the Climate Change Agreement.
   An important part of the efforts - and success - in those mountains was making schools wired with broadband and homes connected with fibre.
   Now that also struggling towns in the UK have been promised help, as a last minute bargain chip to please MPs voting tomorrow, I hope that on top of the list of improvements will be getting the best possible internet connections.
   The more the world gets wired, the more we will be able to live where we want, and as a consequence forgotten places could be turned into wonderful hideaways.  
   Ultimately, this gives an opportunity to rethink the relationship between city and countryside. 

Diana the Huntress in Hyde Park on night watch, still keeping an eye on those cranes ruining the city's skyline 

16th March

Peter Murray, chairman of New London Architecture, I have seen you on national television: you live in leafy suburbia. Still, you want us others to live in high-rises. Or do you? In the Evening Standard of 13 March you write: "In the past, planning was just about buildings. Today the discussion is increasingly focused around people." That is wonderful, it really warms my heart.
   But what about those record-breaking 541 skyscrapers that are planned? In Dezeen Daily of 7 March you are quoted saying: "This year's research confirms that tall building are now an established component of London's development programme."
   A little further down in the article I read that tall buildings have come under scrutiny in the major cities, where the race for height isn't delivering the kind of homes that people, particularly those with children, want to live in. Time to stop and rethink maybe?
   Not the least since the Internet has already transformed the high street. No one seemed to see that coming. Will the next victim be the high-rise, when people, hopefully,  move out to green pastures?
   The industrial revolution started in the UK, which changed the way most people lived. Not to the better however - except for the factory owners that is; a flurry of creative activity resulted in extravagant palaces. But for the rest it was rather grim. Now these rows of buildings stand up as towers. They might be architectural marvels, but still, people are not given the chance to live the way they prefer.
   With the World Wide Web in full swing, invented by the British Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a radical change is indeed going on. So why could not this country show the way this time as well? For the better.
   But there seems to be a new trend emerging. A report, co-authored by Richard Blakeway, ex-deputy mayor for housing under Boris Johnson, propose plans to build new towns in the commuter belt circling London. But he warns that this proposal will be controversial with environmental campaigners as well as Mayor Sadiq Khan's London Plan with its commitment to protect 'the lungs of the capital', its green belt. Land which, according to these new plans, requires to be built on - in a sustainable way, of course.
   I just can't get this into my head: this green belt land, a significant chunk of the designated area being scrubland - which the public is barred from accessing anyway, in order to save it, according to the Mayor's Plan, people would be forced to live in high-rises. Shouldn't their wellbeing be even more important, so why not let them breath these fresh 'lungs'.
   It is about time the inhabitants of London have a say in this. What better way than letting it become the key issue in next year's mayoral election. In the past, I have repeatedly informed politicians that design and architecture,  the way they form the framework of our lives, are very important issues that appeal to voters, including those that would otherwise not be interested in politics at all. In fact, it should top their manifestos.
   On 25 February, I expressed my wish that the Garden Bridge project should be included in the election campaign. Together these issues would strengthen the message that London is the greenest city in the world.
​   Yesterday, New York's latest landmark, a honeycomb structure, bridging the gap between architecture and art, was officially unveiled. I can imagine the testosterone levels in London are soaring now. But as anyone can see, this is not another building towering over surrounding skyscrapers. There are other ways to let ingenuity flourish, which the British architect Thomas Heatherwick so brilliantly showed with this masterpiece - again, since he is also the designer of the Garden Bridge.
   How important then to let this project have a second chance. Even more so, when I now learn that media mogul and investor Barry Diller has promised a renewed effort to build another Heatherwick creation in New York, 'treasure island' Pier 55 on the Hudson River, despite abandoning plans last month.
​   So why couldn't this happen here as well? Would the Londoners accept a green island being constructed in NYC, while not getting the chance to show their cards?
   There must be someone on speed-dial to investors - in preparation for the upcoming election.

Vessel, the honeycomb sculpture that opened to public yesterday in New York
​Photography: Michael Moran for Related Companies

18th March

When the Gustavian style was showcased last time, the kitchen was mainly forgotten. In those late 18th century days, when the style was originally created, the kitchen was separated from where people lived. Mainly it was in the basement, sometimes even, due to the risk of fire, in a separate building, with the servants scurrying to and fro.
   In the castles and manor houses, that is. But  interestingly, one could compare today's living areas with farmer's kitchens, where so much activity was going on.
   Indeed, if one think of it: for quite some time now, the living area and the kitchen have been getting closer and closer, in the same room. But still, as to design they are two separate entities. 
   Now when the Gustavian style is knocking on the door, wanting to enter into our lives again, but in a new appearance, still the kitchen is nowhere to be seen.
   On my imagined veranda there are kitchen items such as taps and oven fronts appearing here and there, but basically the kitchen has disappeared into the design scheme.  This is all about conviviality, being together, cooking together, feeling good enjoying a meal. Added to it is some 'hygge', but interpreted differently this time. It is not just candles and fire that can create that comforting, warm atmosphere.
   In the same way as the digital world, laptops, mobiles have made us communicate, interact without limits, it has also isolated us. So this is also a way of getting out of that lonely chamber. It is about time any boundaries disappear from our homes, to connect us in real  life.
   Come to think of it, what a wonderful source of inspiration the past is - help even, in bringing us into the future.

19th century country kitchen, in the county of Hälsingland, Sweden

20th March

 Today is the day of International Happiness, according to BBC Breakfast. Which makes me wonder: are people happy in their high-rises?
   To many this is a lifestyle choice, those who want to live in the middle of a city, feel its vibrant pulse - and those who don't, but still, for professional reasons need to be near, on a reasonable communication distance, which the green belt could provide.
   Lately, this possibility has been presented as some kind of poor man's alternative, affordable housing, in other words. But I do think there is much more to it than that, the choice to live near greenery, of course, but also, in these times of globalisation, when, from that perspective, we get smaller and smaller, urban villages make us come together - physically - not just via Internet.
   As to all the 541 high-rises I mentioned on 15th March, apart from those 76 to be constructed this year, I do hope they have not received planning permission yet, so most of them can be stopped after next year's mayoral election.
   Indeed it is about time people will have a chance to vote, have a say how they want live. A first, I suppose - but about time.
   I also hope the result will give a shiver down the spine of all politicians, including our present PM, who, I have been informed, has also blocked the development of new towns on green land.
​   It should be the most natural and sensible solution that when cities grow, they do so not vertically but horizontally - when there is land available, not always the case, but as to London, yes indeed. 
   Now that this tower-mania has gripped the world, I fear the French are abandoning their regulation that new buildings should be adapted to their surrounding architecture; when, on the contrary, it should have been introduced here in London. 
   In his book On History & Other Essays, the political philosopher Michael Oakeshott expresses his "disdain for human willingness to sacrifice individuality, culture and quality of life for grand collective projects". He attributes this to "fascination with novelty, persistent dissatisfaction, greed and lack of self-reflection". It was published in 1983, not long before Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko uttered the words: "greed is god" in the 1987 film Wall Street, which came to symbolise that decade. But this modern retelling of the story of The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) resonates even now.
   Today the United Nations' annual World Happiness Report was published: the UK ranks 15th out of 156, while Sweden came 7th. In a statement I read that the report "offers the world's governments and individuals the opportunity to rethink public policies as well as individual choices, to raise happiness and wellbeing". And we all want to come first, don't we? Which was Finland this year.  

The Woodland Chapel by Gunnar Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz 

​23rd March

Architecture and design is about creating harmony, for people to feel well, live well: wellbeing in other words. But to achieve this human interaction is of course important. 
   Which inspired me to come back to what I wrote on 16th March, to clarify that it wasn't my intention to point finger at Peter Murray. Obviously, that would not have been a nice thing to do. And why would I? Now that a change in is underway. We have opened our minds. We do care, I think, for how other people want to live.
​   Anyway, he is far from the only architect who doesn't live the way he or she has preached. The lineup is quite impressive, I suspect.
   Sometimes there is even a preference for stately homes built way back in history. In Sweden there was architect Gunnar Asplund (1885-1940) who lived, at least for a while, in an 18th century manor house, Långängens Gård at Stocksund, north of Stockholm.
   The house is situated just around the corner from my childhood home, so I remember it well, squeezed among villas, most of them built around the turn of the 20th century. Leafy suburbia, in other words. 
   However, Asplund never designed any skyscrapers. This chapel at the Woodland Cemetery outside Stockholm, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was the first building that brought him recognition, even on an international level. 
   Now, exactly 100 years later, I discover in Dezeen Daily a house with a striking resemblance, to be constructed in Massachusetts, designed by the American studio WOJR. The cabin has even been named House of Woodland, which makes one suspect that indeed the Woodland Chapel might have been a source of inspiration. Beauty of yore always seems to make a comeback. What joy!

Rendering of House of Woodland, soon to be built

25th March

After moaning about the towering creations reaching new, wuthering heights that ruin the London skyline, it is about time to also look at the bright side.
   Peter Barber designs homes that Londoners love. For 30 years his firm, Peter Barber Architects, has created friendly mid-rise houses. Often the facades are clad in soft brick, a favourite building material in the past; sometimes they are provided with arch-like recesses, for people to use as outdoor spaces, to sit and contemplate life or passers by, socialising, or for barbecues maybe.
   The houses are inspired by a wide range of sources: jumping centuries from the courts in medieval London to early 19th century working housing. Also the concept of Victorian terraced houses has made a new appearance. Other references are pre-war model housing in London, notably Peabody Estates.
   They were often entered by an arch - then as now. Even turrets have turned up; a recurrent feature on top of the grand homes of the industrial era's manufacturers. In modern times, it is for another type of residents to enjoy.
   An Englishman's home is his castle - now at long last.

26 homes around a central courtyard in Stratford, London, design Peter Barber Architects; the notched roofline provides each home with a small terrace
​Photography: Morley von Sternberg

26th March

I was looking at Good Morning Britain with Piers Morgan when it suddenly struck me: the other Donald hasn't got a dog (see 25th Jan), he doesn't need one, he has got a friend.
   Actually, I am upset. After all, he threw out the furniture the First Lady had decorated their home with in order to show off his own gilty pleasures. Isn't it enough to reign over the United States of America?
   I am going out now to enjoy London in bloom. Are there any white flowers at the White House as well? 
   Apparently, The Tulip is now on track to be given planning permission after all (see 6th & 25th Feb). It was designed by Foster + Partners, lead by Lord Norman Foster, who, in spite of all high-flying, futuristic creations the firm has produced during the years, interestingly also prefers to live in the past, a chateau in Switzerland.
​   But where is the Mayor, Sadiq Khan, in all this; he who promised to stop the Tulip project, in hiding?

Kensington Gardens in white bloom, on the ground, bushes and trees

​29th March

With the trees now turning green, the parrots will disappear, as well as another parrot - from 10 Downing Street, repeating the same message about Brexit, over and over again, totally ignoring what her critics say, in Parliament and anywhere else. Tellingly, "The Unlovable Theresa May" is a headline in The New York Times this morning.
   The petition to Revoke Article 50 is now approaching six million signatures; it is not just about expressing a wish to remain in EU but more importantly the only way now to show discontent - in concrete figures - with the whole ongoing process. That we are no fools, having to accept one person's stubbornness and that peoples' livelihoods - lives even, are left in limbo, our wellbeing in other words.
   Indeed this is a way to show the need to look at this so important issue anew, with fresh minds.
   Then, if an extension will be granted until well after the end of May, which now with this chaos seems a likely way forward, the outcome of the elections to the European Parliament will be an interesting indicator of where people stand. Nigel Farage has declared he would be a candidate. And once again, the Remainers would have a chance to raise their voices as well. An interesting battle now that we know what Brexit actually means, all the consequences. Far more than the parrot's empty phrase "Brexit means Brexit". 

Parrots in Kensington Gardens disappearing among the green leaves

30th March

I have just learnt that one can go all the way to the High Court to complain. So being given planning permission is not the last word. A lady in Shepherds Bush has managed to have plans for a new hotel scrapped because it would block daylight to her and her neighbours' homes.
   Imagine if we all did that, now that so many houses will be living in the shadow of all those towers in the pipeline. Once a high-rise is planned in the neighbourhood, time to make an appeal - crowdfunded, of course.
   Yes indeed, the time is so critical, one has to stop this  building frenzy before it has changed the London we love forever, disappearing among those flats put on top of each other high-up in air, with no connection to its surrounding architecture.

Coal Drops Yard, by Heatherwick Studio, to the left two of the gasholders that used to dominate the skyline at King's Cross, now containing homes, by Wilkinson Eyre Architects
​Photography: Hutton + Crow 

​3rd April

The new shopping centre at King's Cross' Coal Drops Yard is another example of how exciting London can look. Two Victorian warehouses have been brought into the future by Thomas Heatherwick's Studio. Curving roofs now connect the buildings, with shops and restaurants underneath.
   The Tulip has been approved by the City of London,  so it is now up to the Mayor, Sadiq Khan, who in the past (see 22nd Jan) has stated that Foster + Partners has breached planning guidelines, to show he is someone that stands by his words and reject its planning permission. 
   One positive outcome of Brexit is the Parrot's repeated message about "the will of the people", how it is paramount. This means that it also should be taken into account when it comes to housing and architecture. 
   The petition "Revoke article 50 and remain in the EU" is the most signed ever received on the House of Commons and Government site, well over six million by now - and the figure is mounting. Even better: it is open until 20th August.
   The Electoral Commission has now made preparations for the UK to hold elections to the European Parliament. So even if a 2nd referendum has been turned down, the chance is good there will be a People's Vote (see 29th March). Hah!

Fashion shoot in Kensington Gardens, with old bloomers, trees, from where petals snow, to adorn the grass below

​5th April

The brilliant news has reached me that the fashion world is now reaching out also to other age groups than the millenials, who, I suspect, rather than spend their money on clothes should be saving for a future home.
​   Indeed this is a good idea for many reasons, not the least since this other group of fashion fans have more money to spend than these young ones.
   Personally, I am very pleased as well, since these, the baby boomers in particular, are the customers I have in mind when designing the Homewear collection, originating out of and inspired by  my veranda design scheme.
   In the past, baby boomers have been supposed to disappear into some kind of nothingness, not to be noticed. But now when 70 is the new 40, baby bloomers might be a more appropriate label. Still, that doesn't mean we want to look like pop stars in the making.
   Elegance redefined by youthful eyes - and the future looks suddenly exciting for us late bloomers.
   Just by looking at the May issue of Tatler magazine with Dame Joan Collins, on the cover as well as some fashion photos inside, I suddenly feel young again, a wonder cure.  In particular her eyes, the spirit they exude, no photo retouch can make it up.
   No make up can dupe: someone with old eyes that have lost their sparkle, giving up a battle against time; to compare with the ones that looked at me from those pages, mirroring a life at full speed ahead, at 85 years of age. About time for change of attitude.
   It's the Beluga caviar, darling. Could it be good for wellbeing? I am inclined to think so, still based on what those eyes tell. On baked potato, I read, her favourite dish.

Swans on the Serpentine, not belonging to the Queen, as  widely assumed, not here at least, but still royal the way they move though the water, gracefully, heads high 

8th April

So, tomorrow the Parrot will be going to France and Germany to ask for a prolongation, so the UK won't crash out on Friday; an idea she once supported. Then on Wednesday the 27 EU memberstates will decide the fate of Britain. But is it really so? A judgment by the European Court of Justice on 10th December last year gave the country the right to "revoke unilaterally the notification of its intention to withdraw from the EU". How about that? Take the initiative. And it would give ample time to rethink, without any meddling from another country. The UK's sovereignty granted, wasn't that what so many wanted? 17.4 million to be  exact.
   To be fair, I should also mention that Jane Fonda, 81, is now gracing the cover of British Vogue (see 5th April). There must be something other than promoting plastic surgery going on. At the same time a survey has revealed that more than a quarter of women over 50 claim to be invisible. Cheer up ladies, the future is ours.

Even bushes flourish, without any flowers, in Kensington Gardens

​14th April

All along at the Brexit debates in Parliament, the only news seems to have been which necklace the Parrot wears. Or indeed her outfits at all the eternal hand-shaking photo ops, like this week in Brussels, when both she and Mutti wore jackets in the same EU-blue colour. Remainers must have been hopeful, for a very brief moment, until the new dates for departure were presented.
   However, the threat that the British would be punished like unruly schoolchildren by de Gaulle le Petit was luckily averted, but by whom? Mutti one could suspect; she is still strong on the playground, with the French President waiting for her planned departure to show what more he can be up to. This was premature though. 
   Yes, we need mothers in politics. I just can't help coming back to what would have happened if the other Mum, Hillary Clinton, would have won, not only the popular vote, which she did, remember, but would also got the Electorate College on her side. Love and kindness was a resurgent theme during her campaign; she even finished her speeches with: "Love trumps hatred".
   Well, it didn't at the end. The other Donald won by filling a spiritual vacuum, which he did in his own way, by letting people vent a smouldering anger.
​   There was a crossroad here: one way forward that might lead to religious belief; the other, in a worst case scenario, to terrorism. One opens hearts, the other closes them, to minorities, to immigration. Yet it is interesting how close the candidates were, which gives hope for the future.
   Still, I wonder if the sartorial aspect of politics has been sufficiently explored, by designers, not the least. As to men, their weapon by preference in the battle seems be the tie. At least it is their most visual embellishment. It has been hinted that it is the length of the tie that counts. But I find the choice of colour far more interesting. So for example, how come that the other Donald prefers the same as Neo-Lenin, the Leader of the Labour Party - red?
   Equally intriguing is the choice by Athos, one of the founding Brexiteers: for the launch of his new party's participation in the upcoming elections to the European Parliament he wore a red-blue lilac tie, as if he didn't know where his preferences were, when in reality he is very focused indeed.
   Anyway, this gives the Remainers the opportunity after all to take up the fight, show the will of the British people, now when it seems as if a 2nd referendum will be denied them  (see 29th March & 3rd April). 
​     

A corner for contemplation in the park at Versailles

16th April

My heart is bleeding. Notre-Dame's Gothic presence has had a great impact in my life. During 15 years, I passed it almost daily on my jogging tours along the Seine. These were my busy years, when I thought it was enough knowing God was with me, would lead me along the path of life. So my visits into the Cathedral were rare. Then came the Sunday when it decided to reach out to me instead. When  passing I discovered a large screen outside that featured the celebration of Mass; so I could sit down on a stone bench on the parvis in front and take in the words of God.
   I have always been interested in churches though, their architecture. I think of the words of Victor Hugo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, about the thought written in stone: that it was through architecture that poets could express themselves in those days when the Cathedral was constructed, before the Gutenberg printing press arrived. But in the book he also wrote that "Great edifices, like mountains, are the work of centuries." With that in mind, today's promise to rebuild makes sense.
   You take comfort in History, not the least as a Christian, yet you live in the present.
   Another monument historique, the Palace of Versailles, is very much heading forward. Thanks to the Town Hall and its Mayor, François de Mazières, it is surrounded by a real tech hub, so that the past, present and future merge in harmony.

Notre-Dame on fire,  with my beloved Île S:t Louis, where I used to live to the right, and further below the Cathedral in its former splendour
Photography: Marianne Ström 

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​18th April

Now that an international architect competition to design a new spire to replace the one that was destroyed has been announced, Notre-Dame is indeed on its way into the future.
    Since we are in the Holy Week: like the Crucifixion, it was love coming out of death - or in this case the ravages of fire. Friends have now reported how, during the evening and night, the whole Paris was on its feet; people standing for hours either in complete silence or singing.
   Sadiq Khan, Peter Murray and other gentlemen (no ladies): this is what it means to be an iconic building; the Tulip will never come near such a distinction. So, rather than  building towers with no connection to the city and its past, how about paying more attention to the treasures London have instead.
   Maybe Notre-Dame can serve as an example. About a year ago, I saw an exhibition at La Conciergerie, Paris' first royal palace for medieval kings and queens, where later on Queen Marie Antoinette was imprisoned and also situated on Île de la Cité. It showed plans, not only for how to accommodate all visitors, but also in order to, in a gentle way, update this whole island, so steeped in history.

Early morning joggers in Kensington Gardens, where a skimmer of tiny  spring leaves is now transforming the scenery

​23rd April

After hearing Greta this morning, I am proud to be Swedish, or rather, it is an honour to come from a country with such a representative of a young generation with lots of gusto -and at home on the world stage.
   However, if only Extinction Rebellion would start a US branch, gluing themselves to the fence at the White House. That would be something for Fox News to report or sorry, CNN maybe rather.

Bird's nest consisting of twigs, a flower - and plenty of plastics

​24th April

An open letter, signed by well known international figures such as professor Noam Chomsky, author Arundhati Roy and actress Pamela Anderson has been sent to Prime Minister Stefan Löfven demanding action to have Swedish IT expert Ola Bini released. For two weeks he has been in prison in Ecuador accused of hacking, even though the real crime seems to be his connection to Julian Assange.
   The irony is that on his website Bini writes: " ...working on privacy enhancing technologies seems the best use of my time." Assange has one or to things to learn from his 'friend'.
   Maybe a place in the sun is not always a good idea then. Yet that must have been what Assange had in mind when he walked into the Ecuadorian Embassy that day in 2011 to escape conviction. Only that he hadn't thought of how to get to the airport. He just couldn't turn up again red-haired in dark glasses, the way he entered.
   But these high-profile cases show where the world is heading: seeking your own spot of paradise for you and your computer. Who would like to live in a high-rise then? Once again: city-planners, architects, investors and politicians take notice. The urbanism as we have known it is slowly becoming something of the past.
   Furthermore, I now learn that New York's Mayor, Bill de Blasio, has banned the construction of glass and steel skyscrapers as part of a Green New Deal. This brilliant news should reach London and his colleague here. Not the least since it has turned out that high-rises require a large quantity of energy to run. "The number one cause [of greenhouse gases] in this city is buildings, not cars", de Blasio said at a press conference on 22nd April, Earth Day. "Putting up monuments to themselves that harmed our Earth and threatened our future, that will no longer be allowed in New York City", he added. I do sincerely hope these very wise words will be on his mind, when Sadiq Khan makes the decision with regards to the Tulip.

In a free world, fences are for flowers to cling to, like in Hyde Park

​27th April

This was the moment I have waited for so long: I have now filled in and sent the form which will allow me to vote here in the UK in the elections to the EU Parliament.
   I am certain I am far from the only one who look forward to have a say, at long last, when it comes to Brexit, which regards us all - EU citizen included, not the least since we seem to have ended up stuck in a revolving door, in our out? Which makes this election so crucial (see also 29th March).
   Many like me have left their home countries a very long time ago. Even if I still am Swedish, identify me as such, I have a very strong bond, feel a real affinity to my country of adoption. A love story of sorts, which means suffering - not only on a personal level - when the UK goes through such a difficult period of time right now. 
   Still, I can't help feeling the decision to leave the EU was made above our heads, as if we EU citizens were just a bunch of unruly children. This time, we are more than three million who might very well change the outcome.
   Even if this result will be just indicative, it should show the road ahead, and consequently open the door to a new referendum; if that is what the outcome will point towards. 
   Furthermore, I think this will reveal why the Parrot and all other Brexiteers in the Conservative Party are so against the idea of letting people have another say, now that we all know more about the consequences of leaving EU.
   Yes, this election will be very interesting indeed.

Plastic in nature, this time recycled, I suppose, as a temporary installation in a garden at Versailles

​1st May

So, Neo-Lenin won't come to the Queen's banquet to meet the other Donald. Obviously, he hasn't learned the lesson: the closer you are to the enemy, the more damage you can cause. At least he would have been given the possibility to kick the other Donald's legs under the table. Or they might have more in common than their red ties (see 14th April).
​   This makes me think of what I just read in Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet. "SD doesn't even have to campaign", says Leif Ekström, a local politician in Älvdalen, referring to the far right Sweden Democrats, "they win anyway. So what's going to happen to us", he asks the tattoo on his left shoulder depicting Social Democrat Prime Minister Olof Palme, assassinated in 1986.
   They certainly don't like immigrants here, and at least in 2015 it seemed mutual, when a group of assylum seekers made headlines also in the big national newspapers by at first refusing to leave the bus that had brought them to this remote place in western Sweden. Anyway, now they have all  left. What was the point when there is no work.
   The Social Democrat party, which whole existence was based on the workers' movement, now seem more interested in middle-class families in the cities. At least this is what people seem to think, especially in a former S stronghold like this. But no gilets jaunes protesting, as in Paris still today, here they go to the gym to work out their frustration and anger.
  However, under their feet there is, if not gold, so at least porphyry. The former quarry is briefly mentioned in the newspaper article as a tourist attraction. But in the past it certainly was much more than that. In the early 19th century, Älvdalen porphyry was specially launched by King Karl XIV Johan, as part of the Karl Johan style, the Swedish version of Empire.
   Here comes the conundrum: rather than fight it, the widening gap between rich and poor is something people here should embrace. The rich are those that can afford the magnificent vases and other objects made of porphyry. So why not put new contemporary interpretations into production, and this part of the world flourish again. 
   The porphyry appears in several hues. My favourite is black, seen below. It makes me think of an image of the Universe, the  wonderful, mysterious depth it exudes. 

A pair of Älvdalen porphyry vases, ca 1810, sold at Chrisites London in 2008 for £12,500 

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Giant vase in porphyry in front of King Karl XIV Johan's Rosendal Palace at Djurgården in Stockholm
Photography: Panamino

​4th May

A week ago, I read a weird article in the Daily Mail about Greta Thunberg (see 23rd April), trying to explain that this brilliant girl's success on the international stage, making people in more than 100 countries go out and demonstrate for climate change, should have been made possible because 10 years ago, her mother participated in the European Song Contest. Since then I have come to understand what must have inspired this article was, as so often these days, sleaze distributed on the internet. Journalism at its lowest, in other words.
   In fact I didn't know, or maybe have forgotten, that Malena Ernman sang in that contest. But I know that she is a celebrated opera singer, who also on occasions switches to a more popular genre. "I am first and foremost a mother, and I see that my daughter is happy, it was a long time ago she was that", Ernman said recently in an interview on Swedish TV4 channel. Isn't it wonderful?
   Neither do I know whether this success story has anything to do with Swedes being on the front line in the fight against climate change. Legislation has been passed in Parliament to make Sweden carbon neutral by 2045. The UK has been advised to achieve the same by 2050, but no definite promises as yet.
   Or as eco-warriors. Myself, I cannot remember when I started recycling. It must have been introduced a very long time ago in Sweden. During the 1990s, waste bins with blue lids turned up on the streets of Île S:t Louis (see 16th April), but it seemed as if I was the only one who got the message that these were meant for recycling newspapers and plastics. So they disappeared, and I was obliged to run around the whole island to find one. Well, eventually they did return; I suppose the French are now as obedient when it comes to recycling as anyone else.
   But caring for our planet is close to Swedish hearts. Now the recycling revolution has been proclaimed. A new 'circular economy', supported by the government, aims at developing products that can be recycled completely, so Sweden, known as the caring cradle-to-grave society, would in the future be known as cradle-to-cradle, producing no waste in the end.
   In line with this, Swedish company Tarkett has launched a new material called IQ Surface with the ambition to be continuously recycled, presented recently at the Milan Design Week.
   Since I am in warrior mood, inspired by Greta: When the results of the local elections showed that the Conservatives have been given their worst drubbing in a quarter of a century, the Parrot just repeated her message about continuing with Brexit. Not impressed by the fact that the Lib Dems have had the best result ever in local elections, while steadfastly keeping to their wish to remain in the EU and promise to have a second referendum. The British have spoken, about time to listen to their message - at long last.

The British do love flowers, to the extent even hard hats are used to make construction sites flourish, this one is at Notting Hill Gate

​6th May

On 4th May, I wrote about UK's commitment to stop climate change, or lack of it. In fact on 2nd May, a blueprint to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 in the UK was launched,  with Scotland expected to reach the goal in 2045 and Wales a 95% reduction of greenhouse gazes by 2050. 

Rendering of The Tulip by Foster + Partners among the other skyscrapers now 'adorning' the skyline of London

​9th May

A new offer has been made tempting Sadiq Khan to give the go ahead for the five star hotel with serviced apartment and conference centre in Cromwell Road. Its planning application had been turned down by the council of Kensington and Chelsea (see 7th Jan). Now it is proposed that all 62 flats planned for the development will be available for affordable housing, rather than the 11 already part of the scheme. The reason for intervention by Mr Khan was that the borough has consistently failed to meet its housing targets. Well, since this is a problem overshadowing the whole city, it would be better to make The Tulip also available for social housing then; not the least since the Mayor is about to have a final say about its construction as well (see 6th Jan and 25th February).

​13th May

Athos (see 14th April) has been renamed Mini-Donald. I saw him on the Andrew Marr show yesterday. The way he lashed out on the Beeb, exactly as the other Donald has done towards the media, made me so upset. Add to it his grin, so sarcastic, as if saying: I don't have to answer any questions, say anything essential, only go on about the Parrot and her government having failed to leave the EU, and his plan to just simply crash out. He seemed so certain he is going to win anyway, whatever he says.
   Nothing about how to sort out this mess once out of the EU
   Indeed the messenger is the message.

Boarded up store fronts like this one should be something of the past

​19th May

After visiting the Design Museum in Kensington High Street, you want to to let design sing to your heart and soul (yes, I saw the European Song Contest yesterday evening) even more wouldn't you?
   That is why I have suggested to the Council of Kensington and Chelsea, as part of its campaign to revive the high streets in the Royal Borough, to transform Kensington High Street into Kensington Design Street, where eventually new, enticing designs - be it furniture, fashion, table ware or you name it - will beam all along the street.
   After all, the death of the high street is greatly exaggerated. Rather, we are on our way into a new era, where nothing is as one would expect it to be. How exciting. 
   Talking about singing to heart and soul, on Thursday the 23rd I will go to the Swedish Church in Harcourt Street, Marylebone. Starting at noon, there will be a concert with the guitarist Jonatan Bougt. Interestingly, he will play on an instrument I think I have never heard before: the theorbo. He will embark on a musical tour, from early Italian 16th century to the court of Louis XIV.  Afterwards, there will be a soup lunch for £6 in the hall below.
​   Then I will vote, of course.

Theorbo, a large lute used for accompaniment in the 17th and 18th century 

​25th May

The other day, I learned that Anne Hildago, the Mayor of Paris, is aiming to allow swimming in Seine by 2024. Since 2002, there has been Paris Plage along the Seine for sunbathing Parisians, but any dip off limits. Something for the Mayor of London, with the upcoming mayoral election in view, to consider? Maybe a Garden Bridge with stairs for people to plunge into the Thames?
   A far-fetched dream maybe, but not for someone like me, having grown up where swimming in the middle of the city is only impeded by strong currents. In other parts of Stockholm it has been popular ever since the 19th century.
   Stockholm has been called Venice of the North, but so has S:t Petersburg. Indeed there are many cities with waterfronts; Copenhagen and Oslo might feel a little miffed to be left out, not to talk about Helsinki - the list could be very long, so making any comparisons are tricky.
   Yet one could without any doubt say that Stockholm, being built partly on islands (remember those 20,000 islands making the archipelago of Stockholm, see 22nd Dec; this is where it all starts), is a city surrounded by water. Perhaps this dominant feature explains the recurrent water theme among the activities Stockholm has been known for.
   Stockholm Water Prize has been presented annually since 1991. A ceremony for this year's laureate, Dr Jackie King, awarded for her game-changing contributions to global river management, will take place at City Hall during World Water Week at the end of August. This is an event growing year by year. In 2018, it brought together around 3,600 individuals and 380 convening organisations from 135 countries.​ The theme this year will be 'Water for society - Including all'.
   In fact, Sweden is the top performer on the Water Indicator, measuring drinking water quality and access to drinking water. The country has also been on the forefront of technological innovation for wastewater treatment. This explains how pollution, which had made swimming forbidden in certain parts of Stockholm in the 1960s, disappeared in the 70s. Since then there has only been clear sailing - I mean swimming; well, there is a lot of sailing going on as well. 
   Climate change and air pollution are very important issues (see 4th may). But so is water, and thanks to Extinction Rebellion it is now a political hot potato as well, heralding the UN Sustainable Development Goal: water for all by 2030.
   No wonder I am so fascinated by a particular blue: whipped clean by the Nordic pure light, it appears crisp and clear; a reminder of fresh air and water, the wellbeing it brings to our lives. 

Stockholm between air and water, with the City Hall, by architect Ragnar Östberg
​Photography: Henrik Trygg

​3rd June

Come on London, don't be so sulky. I didn't mean to embarrass you (see above). Even if the idea of diving into the Thames would never cross most people's minds, you have got all the lovely parks, and in Hyde Park you can even swim in the Serpentine, not to talk about Hampstead Heath's swimming ponds.
   And now, with all the flower shows going on, spilling out into the streets even, my mind is flourishing: it even provides soil for design ideas. So for example just a simple bouquet of white flowers mixed with red, different hues from magenta to ruby, made me think of some simple stripes I have designed.
   When the Gustavian style was introduced (see 4th Feb), it was not only the furniture that fascinated but also the striped and checked fabrics. They had certainly been seen before, but the simple choice of colours: red/white, blue/white, grey/white etc less so. They underlined the sense of freshness, airiness the style showed. I have worked further on that design concept, especially when it comes to stripes, tuned them, made them play, vibrate like strings on a guitar. 
   Now the London Festival of Architecture begins, what a treat. "The world's biggest annual architecture festival in the world's capital city of architecture", as it is announced on the official website. So, being the garden capital of the world, which I proposed on 5th March wouldn't be enough. OK London, you are the greatest, you must be pleased now. And all this creativity truly lifts my spirits.
​   "Duck! Here comes Donald" is the headline on today's Evening Standard front page. Yes, the other Donald has certainly landed (see 29th Dec). Or should it be "the eagle has landed"; he would be very pleased then, wouldn't he? But not only the Greeks know the danger when wings, even gilded, fly too high, near the sun, so we'll see.  As long as the Mueller report hasn't fallen asleep in an archive.
   It makes me think of the 1994 film Burnt by the Sun. Even if this was during the Stalinist terror, it might give an idea of what happens when you deal with Russians, Donald. In case you didn't know. Or, in this era of fake news it could in fact happen anywhere.   

Shops decorated with flowers in Elizabeth Street, Belgravia
Below detail of my inspiring bouquet of white and red flowers

​15th June

I have now learned that showing "the world's biggest annual architectural festival in the world's capital city of architecture" (see above) isn't enough for London. It has now also declared itself to be "the world's first National Park City". Suddenly there were echoes in my head: hasn't Stockholm claimed the same? So I forwarded the question, and yes, it has the world's first 'national park established in a city' - since 1995.
   Anyway, after further investigation, the distinction between 'National Park City' and  'national park established in a city' seems mainly to be a play with words. These are two cities that are fortunate to have green spaces in abundance, and furthermore, their aims are, broadly speaking, the same: 
​   To encourage people go out and enjoy this nature situated just around the corner, as well as the conservation of the natural environment. 
   While in the case of London, this includes obviously its eight Royal Parks, Stockholm has gone one step further by giving the official name Royal National City Park, with reference to Djurgården, a former Royal hunting ground, where Rosendal Palace is situated (see 1st May) as well as my favourite, the Haga Park, where Gustav III:s  Pavilion is situated (see 4th February). 
​   The Haga Park was designed by the landscape architect Fredrik Magnus Piper as a landscape garden, which he had studied in England. In Sweden, as in so many other countries, this type of garden is called English park. 
   Well, wasn't that what one could call Britain being first in the world, by creating a much admired style that spread all over Europe and beyond? Which we can enjoy still today.

One of three 18th century Copper Tents in the Haga park, buildings with monumental entrance facades in the form of stage curtains, inspired by Roman army tents, and originally intended for housing the King's guards and stables; this one is now a restaurant and café
​Photography: wwf.panda.org

​21st June

A sad day for democracy: the Mayor Sadiq Khan has now, against the will of the people, granted planning permission for the Cromwell Road project (see 7th Jan and 9th May). Still, some of the local councillors fought so vigorously on behalf of the residents against these proposals.
   I have just read Building Height in the Royal Borough, a supplementary planning document from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which states, among many other important informations, that "tall buildings must be considered in relation to their local context".
   A boring read one would think. But in spite of its very formal language, it can only be interpreted as a love letter to the borough and the aim to keep its unique character.
   So, for example, affordable housing doesn't necessarily mean flats piled on top of each other into high-rises. With the creativity London has in such abundance these days, it should be easy to find alternative ways of living in a big city.
   Indeed, between the lines of that document there might be very interesting solutions. Once again: bringing a heritage into the future.
   Compact-living in the form of an imagined veranda is my suggestion: its airiness fools the eye, so that even a place crammed with objects and furniture has the possibility to stand out in a beautiful way.

​One of the winners, Collective on Carlton Hill, Edinburgh, by Collective gallery and architect Emma Fairhurst
Photography: Tom Nolan and Susie Lowe 

28th June

The 54 winners of RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) National Awards have been presented. "I am particularly heartened that more than one third of our winners have creatively adapted existing buildings", says RIBA President Ben Derbyshire. Among those is Coal Drops Yard by Heatherwick Studio (see 3rd April). Indeed yes, the past is being brought into the future, so promising. 
   Furthermore, now that the Mayor Sadiq Khan and TFL have decided to pause the expensive and improbable Rotherhithe Crossing, another bridge over the Thames, will the £12.3 million it has already cost taxpayers be shouted out in the media the way the beautiful Garden Bridge, so mysteriously stopped, was named and shamed (see 25th Feb and 16th March)? Originally from the Mayor's press office, I suppose.
   Maybe this is the dark side of democracy: new leaders, new ideas, also when it comes to design. In the same way as the Garden Bridge project was scrapped by the new Mayor, I have learned that the plans to redesign and bring the historic Île de la Citè in Paris into the future (see 18th April), introduced during the presidency of François Hollande - French presidents are very eager to show off their legacy in the form of brick and mortar - has now been abandoned by Manuel Macron. So apparently, any Grands Projets should be introduced early on, giving them time to be realised during the President's time in office - or Mayor's, for that matter. Or the designs will be dropped into the wastebasket. 

Rendering of the new Museum of London at the market in West Smithfield

​2nd July

In the World Cup fight to become the number one tourist spot I think London is into something: in 2024 the new Museum of London will open.
​   Currently at the London Wall, where the new plans will be revealed to the public on Friday, this is where the story of this great city is revealed, from pre-history to present days. 
   At what was once a market at West Smithfield, the structure of the old building will be the framework for the design of the new museum. Done before, one may think, but wait: the aim is also to, quite literally, dig into the history of the site, reaching down to the Tube lines and the buried river Fleet deep beneath. There are even rumours of a sunken garden. So British.
   Also a café and bar will open where there used to be a 19th century coffee house with the original Victorian tiles still in place. Can't wait to order a hot chocolate in the former - and new  - Cocoa Rooms.  

​3rd July 

I see before me the sun in the form of a mop of hair. This Sun King to be is not to reign from Versailles, like Louis XIV; rather it will be from 10 Downing Street.
   As a relative newcomer to the UK in 2008, I was so fascinated there was a politician named only by his first name, and even more astonishingly, he had a fan club with 200,000 members, more than the number of members of the Conservative party today. Something made me want to contact him, may be it was because he was a journalist like me. But with that fan-base the likelihood he would see any message seemed slim. Better to send him an email to his address as an MP, I thought. I didn't know you are only supposed to contact the MP in your own constituency. Neither did he, it seemed. Within a couple of hours I had an encouraging reply to my complaints about my misery in a country that didn't seem very keen on my presence.
   It was odd, since homes of my design, including my own, had been published in British decoration magazines; also, for many years, I had worked for one of them as a regular contributor.
   Perhaps it was because back then my ideas about how interior design could improve people's wellbeing didn't go down well among my design colleagues. To make matters worse, I had written about how buildings only were regarded from the outside, judged by their outlines, not how it was for people to work or live inside; a criticism that didn't make me popular among British architects either. Maybe I should have pointed out that it was based of my experience from Paris, where I had participated in an exhibition at La Grande Arche de la Défence, one of President Mitterand's Grands Projets (see 28th June) and felt how this magnificent building, to be admired from afar, was inside like a void, not to be used by humans.
​   That was why a few words from someone called Boris meant so much to me. 
   Since then it has been pointed out that the message must have been written by an assistant. Well, what followed next puts that into question. Encouraged by his reply, I started writing letters about my favourite subject, design; how important it is in all our lives, so that it should be on all politicians' manifestoes. I do think that when someone manages to misspell my first name so completely, which I after all share with the Queen of this country, it can only be Boris Johnson. In his reply to my next letter he did get it right though.
   I then started to write to other politicians as well, something that goes on to this day. No one has replied in person, except one, Lady Victoria Borwick, former MP for Kensington. However, the office of the then Leader of the Opposition, David Cameron, did. They wrote how my contributions were appreciated, and even helped me in a difficult situation I was in then.
   I only write this, since I think it is unique for the UK to have the possibility to address yourself to politicians. The Idea to do the same in my native Sweden has never even entered my head. The same in France, where I, like here, have the possibility to vote in local elections.
   Would answering letters qualify Boris to become PM? Of course not. But somehow Jeremy Hunt makes me think of the guy who does all the things right, but still doesn't get the promotion. All along he has supported the present PM, so maybe that would only make him a new can-kicking Parrot. By stepping down as Foreign Minister, Boris showed his discontent, and he has promised to provide the whole country with broadband (see 11th and 16th March). Does it make him a PM? I would hope so.
   Then the UK will happily sail into the sunset - as if no Brexit has happened. With 31st October approaching at full speed, at the very last moment, Boris will suddenly remember that other column he wrote as a Remainer but was never published, before writing a new one as a devoted Brexiteer. He also changed his mind when he realised he didn't want to be bulldozed protesting a third runway at Heathrow. And now that brother Jo, having expressed his wish for a new EU referendum, has turned up on the campaign trail, well we'll see indeed.   

The golden medal winner Viking Cruises Lagom Garden at RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2019
​Photography: RHS Neil Hepworth

​4th July

Among the winners at this year's RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is Viking Cruises Lagom Garden, awarded a gold medal. Of course this pleases my Swedish heart in particular, seeing the lagom​ concept, cherished already during the 18th century when the Gustavian style was created, out in the gardens as well. This one, with a garden room as a focal point, oozes the particular harmony, wellbeing even, when the perfect balance is created, nothing too much, nothing too sparse, austere.
   To me this is a kind of victory as well. As I wrote on 4th February, when the Gustavian style was introduced, it was quickly interpreted as minimalistic. Obviously, all stylists and interior designers are allowed to make their own versions. But now at long last, we are letting the style flourish, in gardens and indoors as well, with this asset well on display.
​   The timing is perfect, now that the new interpretation of the Gustavian style is about to appear (see also 18th March).

'Let's fill this town with artists', suggests Cass Art, an art supply shop on Kensington High Street, near the entrance to Holland Park

7th July

On 19th May, I wrote about my suggestion to the Council of Kensington and Chelsea to give Kensington High Street a new, bright future by transforming it into Kensington Design Street. But it became Kensington Creative High Street instead, which meant it could also include the Kensington and Chelsea Art Weekend at the end of June. Banners will now fly high until after London Design Festival in September. How clever, this also highlights the way art and design rub shoulders, intermix even. 
   The Council will work with the high street's cultural institutions and business forum to highlight the unique qualities of Kensington High Street, it has been told. Hopefully one thing will lead to another, so that, rather than empty shops, a cultural high street as never seen before will emerge.
   Furthermore, I have just learned that Boris Johnson's bid for prime minister has lead to a new interest in the Garden Bridge that would highlight London's profile as a heaven of parks and gardens (see 25th February, 16th March and 28th June). 

One of all the banners flying in the wind along Kensington High Street

​14th July

What I wrote above has made think of a quotation by the great Italian designer Gaetano Pesce: "Today, design is an art and because of that must express not only practical content, but also content related to a political, religious, philosophical and existential reality." Indeed. So, hopefully politicians will eventually see how important design is, the pivotal role it plays in our lives; designs our lives, in fact.
   Not only that, how it all mingles, is interconnected. Like in the Bible, when Jesus stood up and cried out: "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water", (John 7:38); when reading this, somehow the design process turns up in my mind. It convinces me that design is not something superficial, rather it must come, be created, as a flow from within us. After all, God is the greatest designer of all, having created this wonderful world, its nature, colours, forms, you name it (see 15th December).
   In these exciting times we live in now, we see just the beginning of a flow of new ideas and perceptions: how we look at design; how our minds will flutter into areas we never thought of before in this context - including wellbeing, of course.

Gargoyle on the facade of Cathedral Saint-Gatien, in Tours, France
Photography: Marianne Ström

​15th July​

 Not only that (see above), it has also been revealed that among us there is a designer in a masterclass of his own: the future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. When Mayor of London, Boris inspected the design of the new facade of London Bridge Underground Station. He found it boring, so he suggested adding some gargoyles, which apparently caused very raised eyebrows. 
   Myself I am ecstatic, there is someone else who sees the value, importance even, of bringing the past forward in time. By applying symbols of the past onto a new building, as he suggested, rather than the more common other way around, rebuilding an old edifice, the concept has been given a new twist.
   However, I think where he needs the gargoyles most would be on the facade of 10 Downing Street, to protect him against all evil, a Trump card against threats from the Beast of the West, the other Donald, not the least.
   Also in this election heat, the letterboxes have turned up again. I surprise myself by remembering, it must have been in the early noughties, when Jack Straw, who then served in Tony Blair's government, expressed his discontent not seeing the face of some who came to his surgery, meaning ladies in burkas. There were some headlines, but not to the same extent as now, yet the message was basically the same. But then of course, his way of expressing this subject was different. There is only one Boris.
   To paraphrase a now popular catchphrase:  Brexit means Boris; but does Boris mean Brexit - really? (See 3rd July.) After all, it could mean he would lose his new job. Anyway, Boris means Boris, certainly not boring.
​   Whatever will happen to Brexit, he won't walk into History as another Parrot. God for him - and for us. We should all wish him luck with this extremely difficult task. 

Swans at the Serpentine in Hyde Park as background props to a wedding shoot

​16th July

This is a day of jubilation. The Mayor Sadiq Khan has decided to throw out the Tulip, which would have become the second highest skyscraper in western Europe (see 6th and 22 Jan, 25th Feb, 26 March and 9th May). "It would provide very limited public benefit", he says. He even goes as far as recognising that it would harm London's skyline.
   As my friend K said when receiving the news: "New York is a city of skyscrapers, London is not". He should know, he lives over there on the other side of the pond but has spent a considerable time here as well.
   Every city has its own character worth celebrating. Hopefully, this will be an important turning point for London.
​   Now I will go out and enjoy life at another pond, in Hyde Park. 

The moss wall at Atelier d'artiste in Avignon,  by Gilles Jauffret 
​Photography: Amaury de Villoutreys

​17th July

An exhibition showing installations by the Danish Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson has just opened at Tate Modern. Among the  exhibits there is a wall of moss, a type called lichen, native of the northern regions (including Iceland).
   It made me recollect a wonderful moss wall I saw in Avignon in Provence a few years ago. Which in turn made me even more reflect on  art and design,  as I wrote about the other day (see 14th July) - is there really a difference? Not the least since you find art not only in museums and art galleries but also, as we all know, on people's walls.
   So the moss in Avignon must be a work of art as well. Even better, you can enjoy the wall yourself; the flat is for rent, here is the link: https://www.le-complot.com/atelier-dartiste/?lang-en

Cranes and a builder seemed threateningly close to Kensington Palace as well (see 6th Jan and 16th March), but I have now learned that Lancer Square, under construction behind, will be only six stories high; this is after all the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

​24th July

Dear Boris, (see 3rd July) many congratulations to the appointment as Prime Minister. I am thinking of a nickname for you as well but can't find one. Boris is Boris, indeed everyone's Boris - and certainly not another Parrot.
   However, one must look to the future, so I would also like to congratulate Jo Swinson to the appointment as Leader of the Liberal Democrats. A true Remainer, so better watch up, Boris.
   Interestingly though, I noticed that the EUs chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier is today wearing shirt and tie in the same colour as Boris (see pic at 3rd July). A soul mate then? 
   When leaving, the Parrot suddenly became Mother Theresa; today at her last Prime Minister's Question Time, she told Neo-Lenin (see 14th April) to stand down as well, waving a finger the way parents do. A complice in not sorting out the Brexit mess, he should have taken the responsibility - and consequently, with that Brexiteer out of the picture, the sight ahead for the party would have been clear, and ready to join another Remain force. 
​   But sometimes the rescue is where one wouldn't expect; so how about the lady in pink standing among the staff to welcome Boris when back from meeting the Queen, maybe she will be the one to save the - so far still - United Kingdom from the abyss. It won't be the first time in History the woman behind the man has something to say; she could be our Madame de Pompadour. 

The new Serpentine Coffee House, by Mizzi Studio, inspired by the Japanese tea House, with the brass coloured undulating canopy like a smiling stingray that flies from the lake down below

​1st August

There have been some miffed hints that I have misspelled verandah, from the  British that is. But due to the Brexit anxiety, like so many others, I now take precautions, which in this case means that I made a deliberate choice to spell veranda without the 'h', the more international, American at least, version. This is also how the word Is spelled in Swedish, and not far from how the French, so close to my heart, spell it; they only add the accent aigu to véranda. But if the UK wakes up and realises common sense, which of course means remaining in the EU, I might change my mind. One should never give up hope.
   Not the least now, when there are plans to pour two more billions into preparations for a no-deal. Rather than asking those who will eventually have to pay all this 'show-off-to-Brussels' money about their opinion; after all, no one could have predicted this very critical situation.   

Ballet at Swan Lake, aka the Serpentine, in an idyllic postcard setting

​2nd August

Oh, dear Britain, of course I love you too (see yesterday). But this no-deal talk I find heartbreaking; even more so: it scares me. 
   But who can not love your parks and gardens, as I have shown by publishing all those photos, with the lovely flowers, not to mention the swans and other birds.
   Admittedly, it is not kind of the EU to refuse renegotiating any deal, withdrawal agreement, back stop etc. But you see, they love Britain too. They want us all to go on being one big family.
​  And with yesterday's Lib Dem win in a by-election clearly indicating that you the British are starting to think so as well, it is about time for Boris to reread that other column (see 3rd July). After all, it becomes increasingly obvious that a u-turn will not only save his job but the party as well, I mean prevent MPs from deserting to the Remain devoted Lib Dem party - by offering the country a second referendum, in other words.
   That is often how trends start, whether it is in design or politics or whatever: after a small wave comes a bigger one and then one even bigger. The first signs of a shift came at the elections to the European Parliament, then this by-election, so what next? What billions to a no-deal crash can't hide: the real state of affairs.
   A recent headline in Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet comes to mind,  'The British agree about one thing: "Going to be worse".

A recent drawing by Luc Schuiten, 'the Resilient City', showing how existing buildings can be adapted to ur primordial needs by optimising rooftops, balconies, terraces and public spaces for installing hen houses, vegetable gardens, orchards, green houses, even vertical gardens to be used for producing food

​4th August

I am thinking of what I wrote above about trends, how they change; the pendulum in full swing, as we see in politics from populism and extremism to the left and to the right - and then a reaction to all this, when it stops more in the middle. At least what one could assume with regards to what is happening now.
   But what I find even more interesting is how, when it comes to design for example, trends start and then disappear when we think we have had enough. How for years, decades even, we might think they are gone for ever, just to reappear stronger, sometimes more elaborate, with more depth perhaps, or more clarity, technically more developed.
   Also, how art and design concur (see 14th July), even when it comes to trends, as if encouraging each other, take inspiration, sometimes only as mysterious signals in a common universe. At least that is how it seems to me with regards to the moss wall by Olafur Eliasson (see 17th July). It was initially presented in 1994. A year later, I saw some drawings of vertical gardens, by the Belgian architect Luc Schuiten, for a reportage I was about to write. Whole façades clad in greenery, even on a skyscraper, they seemed like some kind of utopia, not meant for this world.
   But now, many years later, here they are in London as well as all over the world, and what's more: by absorbing CO2-emissions, they contribute to making our city lives so much, much healthier.

Vertical garden at the pub Churchill Arms on Kensington Church Street

​5th August

I have a confession to make: I am not a trendy person, or more precisely, I prefer to analyse trends rather, in order to look to the future. But you need keep an eye on what is going now as well.
   And I see flowers, lots of them, not only in the lovely parks and gardens but also in fashion; now that their seeds have also blown into decoration, I am purring with satisfaction,
   So must the British do as well. The pendulum has swung, the Scandinavian style has been pushed out, maxi has replaced minimalism, meaning clutter is in. All their beloved pelmets, valances flourish; ribbons and ruffles dance on curtains. So, nothing is new, but more ameliorations than last time, more fun maybe, a style in eternal change (see yesterday).
​   However, that would mean shutting out the northern light. But in the spring, when the sun tries to penetrate those thick, velvety curtains, the change will come. That is why one has to start preparing already now.
​   Yes what I find fascinating, is what is coming next. That is what I focus on. Those seeds that are growing out of public view. Also what is important when a new trend comes along, is to put it into perspective. That is when old age, or experience rather, plays an important role. We have seen it all, lived through it all: the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, the 90s. When a reinterpretation of these past decades - or even further back in time, like the 18th century Gustavian style, a period I haven't lived obviously but a style I know well, since I have worked on it, I can then extrapolate it into the future.
   Come to think of it, this reminds me of another period in history when the velvet curtains came down: the turn of the 20th century, and the veranda started to appear in earnest, letting the light flow, all the way into the house, opening it up. So this is the time to let the veranda become a style concept.
   But no doubt it is worth looking around, so when I saw the lagom concept in a flower show this summer (see 4th July), it was a confirmation I was on the right track, like a natural flow forward (see also 4th February and 20th March).
   Furthermore, the news has reached me that the construction of what was to be the City's tallest building, the Trellis, has been put on hold, since a key investor has walked away. Does it mean skyscrapers have lost their appeal? Indeed, it is when trends are changing, life gets exciting.

The entrance pavilion to the Eriksberg Hotel & Nature Reserve in Blekinge, southern Sweden, by the architect studio SandellSandberg 
Photography: Åke Eson Lindman

11th August

What joy to discover recently in Dezeen Daily this pavilion, named Outdoor Eriksberg, at a nature reserve in southern Sweden.  It has the form of a giant cabin, clearly inspired by the Scandinavian red barn; a vernacular architecture given a twist. Or, as I have hinted at several times, two of my favourite aims when it comes to design: highlighting our cultural roots and bringing the past forward in time.
​   But it gave me another kind of kick down memory lane as well: a discovery, like that magic moment when I first saw Luc Schuiten's drawings (see 4th Aug); this time, it was when going through sack after sack of contributions to a design competition at a Swedish weekly magazine where I worked, and a drawing of a postmodern room turned up (this was in the early 80s), which just blew me away. It was by a young student in architecture at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Thomas Sandell - one of the designers of the red wooden curtain pavilion above. Needless to say, he won.

The Church of Light, by architect Tadao Ando, built in 1989 in Osaka, Japan
​Photography: Archdaily 

​13th August

When trends change, it often seems to be not only because we are tired of the same thing but also as a protest. Imagine the relief when women were no longer forced to wear corsets. Myself, I remember when the bra was dropped as part of the feminist movement.
   I hope it is the same with minimalism, now that we are moving on, looking for greener fields.
​   I don't know whether it was the bare wooden floors shown in reportages that made people quickly interpret the Gustavian style as minimalistic, when in reality it is more lagom (see 4th Feb and 4th July).
   Of course, minimalism can be very beautiful, just look at The Church of Light. But as a home, it might be a different matter. I remember in the 80s, when the trend started, the term monastic was frequently used, forgetting an important ingredient: the spiritual influence, the presence of God in a monastery; it could feel rather empty otherwise.
   Even if we put the blame on our stressful lives; still, could it not be so that we have turned to phenomena such as meditation and mindfulness (see 15th Dec and onwards) to fill that void? Or indeed reach out for God.
   Obviously, this does not mean that God will leave us when we upgrade to lagom. He and his Son, Jesus Christ, will take care of us ever after.
​   Furthermore, the scene on which we live will then be less of a showoff, more homely. Objects that are important to us, memories maybe, but don't fit in a bare room, where every item stands out, can suddenly thrive, hobnobbing with designer trophies in a more relaxed way. Still, and this is important: the northern airiness is present even now, but more balanced, in harmony with the objects we want to be surrounded with. 

Inflatable boat on the green, green grass of summer in Kensington Gardens

I must admit I truly admire Greta Thunberg (see 23rd April and 4th May). Now she is about to sail over the Atlantic. Has she sailed before? I don't think so. And it will take two weeks, oh dear. What courage.
   But most of all it is the confident manner in which this very  young lady expresses herself, the way she presents her opinions. Not even when a reporter tried to corner her by asking how to achieve the goals she promotes, she flinches. "It is up to the adults, the politicians", she says, "we young can only point to the problems that will arise".
​   Yes indeed, she inspires me to express myself with confidence here on this site, with the conviction that what matters is what I think is important - and that comes from my inner self.
​   The gusto I need to move things forward by creating a living-space without any constraints - but with lots of conviviality, in the spirit of lagom. Wellbeing, in other words.

Rendering of Flux Haus where screens would replace windows

​23rd August

So this should be the future: I have just read in Dezeen Daily about Flux Haus, a parasitic housing scheme, meaning that single person pods would engulf five existing buildings in Hong Kong. What struck me most was that each pod would be complete with artificial ventilation and sunlight simulator, designed so that the pods do not need windows. Instead the walls would be made up of screens that can be changed to form any desired backdrop.
   A solution to the problem with looking into nothingness outside the windows in skyscrapers, which I wrote about on 16th December? I do hope not.
   "Horrifyingly dystopian, laughably unrealistic", are comments from other readers. Very comforting.
​   Somehow I have a feeling that visions of our future like this will only make us even more attached to Mother Earth and its wonderful nature, appreciate it even more.
   And, as a high-rise medication, it would make my veranda-themed design scheme appear in an even more favourable light.
   A remedy for nondescript places, linking them to history,  giving them interesting features, a narrative of your own life embedded with those of others. Design can tell untold stories.

Kensington Temple right now, during the Notting Hill Carnival, with the banner 'Real Life Real Love' and underneath "God is love and all who live in love live in God & God lives in them 1 John 4:16' 

​26th August

I think I am trendy, after all. I am keeping up with the Kardashians, you see. Considering that I have never seen the programme, it might seem surprising, but I have learned that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are Christians like me. Obviously, since they are no ordinary church-going people, they organise their own Sunday Service with the rapper star performing himself. 
   Still, I do think this is not just a coincidence, something very interesting is going on: not only does Stormzy rap about his Christian belief, even the underground, controversial drill music, normally accused of inciting violence between gangs, are now using gospel truths in their lyrics, as a way of reaching out to young people with friends who have been victims of knife crime. 
​   Recently, I read Surprised by Joy by C S Lewis (1898-1963), of Narnia fame, about his way to God. Interestingly, it seems to go via the North. He describes how "Pure 'Northernness' engulfed me: a vision of huge, clear spaces hanging above the Atlantic in the endless twilight of Northern summer,  remoteness, severity..."
   Could it be the same Northern light that has inspired me in the creation of my design project: a pure light engulfing my imaginary  veranda? 
​   Anyway, later on he also writes: "I was at this time living, as so many Atheists, in a whirl of contradictions. I maintained that God did not exist. I was also very angry with God for not existing. I was equally angry with him for creating a world."
   Yes, who else could have created, designed this wonderful world? A question I seem to come back to repeatedly.
   Even when he described a stab of Joy, it was an arrow shot from the North. However, yes this was only the road, finally he writes: "But what, in conclusion, of Joy? To tell you the truth, the subject has lost nearly all interest for me since I became a Christian."

Garden at the estate of Madame Elisabeth, not far from Versailles; together with her sister-in-law, Marie Antoinette at her rustic retreat le Hameau, she adapted a lifestyle free from the restrictions at court, with a landscaped garden and flowing mousseline dresses, yet the corset was still on

​30th August

When writing this blog, it surprises me how one thing leads to another, often in very unexpected ways. Who would think what I wrote on 15th June about landscape gardens has something in common with what I wrote on 13th August about bras being dropped. Well, there is one link: our desire to protest against restraints, whether it is what we wear or what catches our eyes.
   So the free-flowing landscape garden can be seen as a way of turning the back to the formal Baroque garden. But as to the bra, dropping it didn't last very long. And now with the #MeToo movement and all sex scandals, women certainly want to keep all their clothes as well as underwear on.
   So apparently there are reactions and then reactions against the reactions. Which somehow brings me to lagom again, not the least when seeing the formal Baroque gardens at Versailles now, in some parts at least, filled with flowers in abundance. It shows how one can combine restraint with the free-flowing, a lagom bit of both, to create a harmony.
   This gives another interesting dimension to the design process, and what I found so appealing when it comes to the Gustavian style. Way back in the 18th century, when it was introduced (see 4th Feb), this didn't always mean that, in order to keep up with the new trend, people threw out all their Rococo furniture with their billowing forms to be replaced by the straight Neoclassical lines of the Gustavian style. Rather, they were put together, a cohabitation that created a kind of play between these different forms, such as the Gustavian channelled legs and Rococo's elegantly curved cabriole legs, creating a new  dynamic expression in the room.
   If you don't believe me, just look at ballet, the fluid movement of a pirouette: the way one bent leg twists around another straight one. 
   Since one says that architecture is frozen music, perhaps one could say that interior design is frozen movements then, to accompany it. At least in cases like this.
   Working on the continuation of the Gustavian style, what I find most interesting is getting this balance between straight geometric forms and free-flowing ones, lagom in other words - again.

Baroque garden at the Château de Versailles, full of blossom

​31st August

I must tell about my meeting with an impressive giant, in all senses of the words:
   Yesterday, the industrialist Hans Rausing died. I had the honour of making a reportage at his home in the English countryside. Having been to many houses talking to lots of people that I didn't know beforehand, I must admit I have rarely felt so relaxed as on this visit. Which proved that in spite of the palatial dimensions of the house, this was indeed a family home. Even the fact that there was to be a reception for 80 people that evening didn't impede the laid-back atmosphere.
​   Like in so many other Swedish homes, the kitchen seemed to be the centre, but not only that, it was the master's favourite room in the whole house as well. His wife Märit confided to me that before marrying she had made it clear he had to be the cook. Obviously, he didn't mind, in here he was in his element.
    Together with the photographer, I was invited to lunch, so we were very lucky to enjoy the fruits of his culinary skills.
   Afterwards, the two of us lingered at the table. Impressed by the grandeur around us, the photographer asked me where all the wealth came from to be able to build a house on this scale. I pointed to a package of milk. His gaze seemed to sink into the packing, as if he was asking himself how it would be possible to earn so much money from this everyday object.
​   At the time, it was not well known - this was before any appearance on any Rich List - that Tetra Pak, then co-owned with his brother Gad, had, during Dr Rausing's reign as a CEO, been transformed into the world's leading food packaging company.
   Later on, I was driven to the railway station by the packaging magnate himself. He pointed out that in England, if you are in a Rolls Roys, you are expected to be driven by a chauffeur. But since his own had gone home for the day he didn't mind being behind the wheel. 
   Why did he say that?
   On the day that I will never forget, maybe I had met someone who did not always act according to the rule-book. Rather, in order to achieve what he wanted in life, had realised that he had to put into question the borders of convention. How inspiring. 
   At the station, when I opened my bag to get my ticket, he spotted my hybrid, a typewriter in transition to become a laptop; this was 30 years ago, and the contraption was what I suppose many journalists used before we were connected to the internet. At the risk of missing my train, he wanted to have a closer look.
   In the wake of his death, I have today read a lot about the great man, including his wide range of interests. To confirm that, I would like to add a seemingly insatiable curiosity, at least judging by the intense way he studied this little machine.
   Oh, by the way, I did catch the train, of course I did.

European flags at Marble Arch today, fluttering full of hope for the future  

​6th September

Oh Boris, what a mess. In a way, I can understand your insistence on leaving end of October. Go on squabbling until end of January next year will not change anything. Not the least since rumours from Brussels tell that you have not come up with any new proposals that will please them there. And now that it is becoming evident that crashing out will not be an option, what remains? To remain, of course.
   You have been to Scotland today, so you must have heard it over and over again.
   So please don't turn into another Parrot, which seems to be the case, repeating your message about leaving end of October, when it is apparent it will not happen.
​   Rather, the best thing for you is to find that column you wrote a long time ago, about remaining in the EU, remember? It will make an excellent speech, I am certain. And it would save your skin. After all, you so much like being Prime Minister, don't you?
   Even if it means that your hair gets ruffled in the winds blowing from all directions. Well, it gets tousled anyway, the way you scratch your head all the time.

Autumn with its wonderful colours is slowly coming to Kensington Gardens

​10th September

In today's New York Times, its fashion director Vanessa Friedman reports from New York Fashion Week: "It's been a long time since a New York designer displayed real riotous ambition - ambition that doesn't have anything to do with instagram or likes or serving here-today-gone-tomorrow desires."
   Something seems to be going on in the design world, some self-flagellation serving an important purpose, or days of reckoning rather. A few days ago, on the 5th, I read in Dezeen Daily a story with the headline: "Should architects design provocatively ugly architecture that does not conform to Instagram's æshetic conventions?" Its author, Will Jennings, writes: "Instagram fetishes the temporal over the long term, and studies suggest that certain uses of Instagram may negatively affect personal well-being..."
   Interesting read for someone like me, who for years have gone even further by putting into question forms designed merely for the skyline. What is important: The architecture we look at from the outside, in the form of Instagram maybe, or its inner beauty; how it is to live or work in that building? I know what I prefer. 
   I am also pleased to notice that Dulux has nominated a pale green, called Tranquil Dawn, as its Colour of the Year 2020. It is very close to some of the greens of Carl Larsson's colour palette, as seen in his watercolours, I wrote about on 15th December. 
   "A new decade heralds a new dawn and the hazy pale green tones of Tranquil Green are calming and comforting just when we need it most in our lives", wise words from Marianne Shillingford, creative director of Dulux UK. Yes, indeed.

For years, the colours of Carl Larsson have inspired me; these are two examples of hues I have made, both quite close to Dulux Tranquil Dawn

​11th September

What I wrote yesterday has made me think of a flat I was asked to design in Paris. I never took on these kind of commissions (I might explain later why, at the risk of ruffle some feathers), I was so busy as a journalist and working on a Gustavian furniture collection. But since the American client had lived in Sweden and even owned some Gustavian furniture, I thought it would be an interesting project and decided to go for it.
   While I first wanted to analyse the flat, the architecture of the rooms, the light coming in, morning, afternoon sun etc, it soon became clear that the client first and foremost wanted to discuss the latest fabrics. So before I had any chance to make a real presentation, she run around to all the big éditeurs de tissus collecting samples, which she put in front of me. I tried to explain that I will come to that later, but she was very insisting. So this became very much an on and off project, me refusing to give up on my initial ambitions. But somehow, mainly due to my insistence, we managed to come to some kind of result.
   Then came that Sunday morning, when she called me. "I just want to thank you", she said, "I don't know what you have done, but the whole family is now gathered here, and we feel so good."
   I must have done something right. In fact, I have been thinking of this ever since, not the least now that wellbeing, also when it comes to interior design, is finally coming into focus.
   But there is a catch here: no photo can give it full justice, this feeling how it is to be in a room. That is one of the reasons why I don't publish any photos of the flat; the other being that the client has now moved to Geneva, and we have lost contact. Before publishing any photos, I obviously want her consent. 
   By the way, during London Design Festival, starting the 14th, a chair called Latis, designed by  Samuel Wilkinson for The Conran Shop, is shortlisted for the annual Wood Awards and will be displayed at 100% Design at Olympia, which begins on the 18th.
​   It reminds me of many years ago, probably in the early 90s, when I was invited to a reception at the Stockholm firm Nordiska Galleriet with the latest from Milan Furniture Fair. There on show was a very similar chair, also featured in an elegant catalog, the type that the big Italian firms excel in. I just couldn't resist exclaiming that I could find the same at a Parisian brocante for a fraction of the the price. One of the decorators present replied that they certainly didn't have the time to go out and try to find one. In truth, it would have meant that a return flight ticket to Paris had to be included in the price. While I had just walk over to the Left Bank quay opposite my flat on Île Saint Louis and find one, seen repainted on the photo above.
​   Only to show how our favourite designs have a mysterious way of popping up again and again, in new disguises, bringing the past into the future, how exciting.

Today's street art in the making by Global Street Art, but if one looks further down the alley, it turns out to be an advert for Tommy Hilfiger

​12th September

Today, I first thought this was street art, until I discovered it was an ad for Tommy Hilfiger.  After all, we have got used to street art, even appreciated it, not the least with regards to those giant sums spent on the works of certain artists.
   When I see façades like the one above, I do wonder even more where we are heading with discussions about architecture and its outlines (see 10th Sept). When big money dictates everywhere, towers are just show-offs and advertisements take over whole buildings, any æsthetic point of view seems futile.
   Since I am on the go, I might as well explain why I have been hesitant to take commissions, which I wrote about yesterday. When I worked at a weekly in the early 80s, I was asked to design the entrance hall of the magazine. This was when everything Italian, Postmodern or not, was all the rage. The hall looked as if Italian ice cream had been used as paint; its colours dominated the whole interior. I was very pleased, and so was the editor-in-chief. It lasted half a day. During the lunch-break all the secretaries and other staff in the hall rushed out to buy geraniums in brown plastic pots. Horrified, I complained to the editor, but she only said that after all, this was their working-place, so they were allowed to bring in what they wanted.
   Since then, trends and what people really do like has been a conundrum to me. It has happened, as a journalist, that I have interviewed proud home-owners in their newly decorated, very trendy flats, and I have looked into their eyes wondering whether this is how they really want live. Sometimes you need to be a very strong character to withstand all pressure from decorators, for example, to follow the very latest. 
   As to fashion, you always take off your clothes in the evening, but where do you go, when you don't want to go home?
   However, I have a feeling things are changing. At least when it comes to the oh, so appreciated minimalism, there seems to be a limit now. When I read the critics in Dezeen Daily the other day of a flat designed by the renowned architect and designer John Pawson, who has made minimalism his signature, I just wonder whether, a few years ago, anyone would have expressed these kind of opinions - or dared rather?
   Now, I read that minimalism has gone too far, too empty. Someone called Jacopo wrote: "The clutter as long as it is not overpowering add to the idea a sense of life."
   So why not lagom then, keeping the balance between too little and too much. Wellbeing anyone?  

The living room-cum-installation in artist Einar Hylander's flat
​Photography: Lars Pehrson

​13th September

Indeed, a decor in a home can express so much, mean so much.
   News about a cultural scandal has been surrounded by silence, or so it seems, since the information that an installation in artist Einar Hylander's flat was emptied last year has not reached me until now. The sale of the flat, in the high-priced inner city of Stockholm, meant there was no any other option left for the Modern Museum, to which its contents was bequeathed after the artist's death.
​   In the flat, design, art and architecture melted together as an expression, not only of happy times, but also, more pointedly: in the dark shadows of all grooves in the woodworks, painstakingly executed by the artist, were memories of a difficult childhood in a bourgeois milieu he didn't seem to fit into.  
   Comfort was to be found in the adventure novels, which he, when the family had disinherited him, managed to bring with him on a turbulent voyage through life, ending up on the shelves in this flat. But even more importantly, he turned to them for his art, sometimes appearing as short quotations on collages, inspired by the German artist Kurt Schwitters. 
   Luckily, childhood summers in an Art Nouveau villa gave him a sense of freedom; memories he would return to when creating his installation. 
   The author and member of Swedish Academy Per Wästberg knew him well writing in the book Frukost med Gerhard (Breakfast with Gerhard): "He depicts the glazed life on the summer veranda, where the wind, the tinges of the lights and the flights of the birds come from the outside, filtered through a membrane, in the same way as the impressions from the surrounding world were filtered through adventure books, old newspapers and illustrated magazines."
   He continues: "After ten years, the rooms were ready: a handmade paradise in innumerable hues of oil paint whites. A reflection, but not an imitation, of the summer life and the fretsaw architecture, its interactions between apertures, mouldings and window frames."
   Shortly before his death in 1989,  I was fortunate to meet Einar Hylander for a reportage about his home. A frail gentleman, I think he knew his end was near; his work was finished, now he wanted the world to walk into this piece of art.
   Still, the last words come from Per Wästberg, a description of a friend and his life's work: "Einar was the director's son, who, during the night, in a suit and white shirt with tie, approached containers in the middle of the city to collect pieces of wood for a lattice to cover a radiator, an attachment for a curtain, a knob for a drawer. With unflagging intuition he got out of his way to try among paints and materials until he got it right."

The bedroom and study, with books from the artist's childhood, full of adventure
Photography: Albin Dahlström/Moderna Museet 

Photography: Thibault Jeanson

​15th September

It might not come as a surprise that Einar Hylander's installation was an important source of inspiration for my veranda project, which the above cover of The World of Interiors magazine from my flat in Paris bear witness.
   Yet, it took quite a few years until the penny finally dropped. When making reportages of other houses with verandas, often with Gustavian furniture, the idea started growing upon me. It seemed a natural way to follow up of the concept. 
   Also, it was a happy period of time, when the verandas started appearing in earnest: the heavy, dark curtains of the 19th century went down. The turn of that century was indeed a new beginning, with rooms filled with light, caressing the dark furniture painted white.
   This has in turn given me happy times at the drawing board.
   The bookcase on the photo above I designed as part of this new collection. It shows one way of playing with straight lines, squares in this case, inspired by the windowpanes of the veranda, and billowing forms, like the bottom part, which in turn is interacting with the table's cabriole legs (see 30th Aug).

Debenham House with tiles on the façade, near Holland Park, also called the Peacock House, built in Arts and Crafts style in 1905-07

​19th September

Yesterday, I went to 100%Design at Olympia. On the way back, with so many impressions whirling around in my head I thought it was full, but not at all: I discovered this house with green and turquoise tiles on its façade. It must have been inspired by the interiors of the nearby Leighton House, built earlier, in 1866-95.
   The peacocks in Holland Park certainly have something to answer for, a wonderful colour scheme. 
   By the way, on Sunday the 21st, the museum, the former home of the Victorian artist Fredrick Lord Leighton ((1830-1896), will be taking part in Open House London, so entrance will be free. 

                         Latis armchair designed by Samuel Wilkinson 
​                         Photography: conranshop.co.uk                         

​22nd September

On the 11th September, I wrote about designs we love, how they seem to pop up again and again, but in different disguises. However, it is not only colour that gives them different expressions, also the varying materials they are made of. As an example, I mentioned then how a similar one to my own armchair, in rattan with metallic frame and bought at a Parisian brocante, is the Latis armchair, in steambent wood with Vienna straw, presented now during the London Design Festival. Another one with very similar lines made also its debut during the week: designed for the company Cam Ce Kam, it is part of a collection made specially in order to revitalise Indian local craft, including cane weaving, a heritage from its colonial past.

                          Design by Jehanara Knowles, camcekam.com