Sleep in style in Amsterdam

 
I have the pleasure of working for the coolest interior magazine the Danish RUM. Sorry for not being more modest, but it's just a fact:-)

If you happen to be in Denmark you should take a look at the March issue, which focuses on the ever-interesting link between interior design and fashion. I have written about two very chic Amsterdam hotels, which take fashion to a new level. 
Like they say at The Exchange Hotel "Sleep in fashion, wake up in Style". The 61 have all been refurbished and dressed up as models on a catwalk. The design duo Suzanne Oxenaar and Otto Nan and a group of students have played with weird and wonderful ideas and a whole lot of fabrics. You can sleep under an enormous crinoline and go to bed next to a wall with sleeves. Prices from 100 Euros.
If you fancy a smaller guesthouse, which seems to be a new trend, you can check in at Maison Rika. Yes, Rika, the understated urban cool label with the star bags. The designer Ulrika Lundgren spotted a little star on the windows on a sweet townhouse gallery just opposite from her design studio and that was the a clear sign. She had found the right location for her two-bedroom guesthouse, which oozes of her playful and sleek style. Art, fashion, soft white beds, black wooden floors, quirky details as insect in frames all come together in Maison Rika. 
Price pr room: 200 Euros.

www.exchangeamsterdam.com
www.rikant.com

Photos from the hotel's websites.

The taste of a good punch

Winter + flu = missing a lot of fun things. And darn I missed the Danish Bombay musical before Christmas. But still in the mood for the Bollywood atmosphere I went to Dishoom. The name refers to the sound of a good punch in Bollywood film and it is also slang for mojo.

This first Bombay Café in London certainly has the mojo. The décor is in line with the urban style du jour – white tiles, modern furniture, open kitchen and the quirky Indian touch with old film posters and framed newspaper articles covering the walls. The food is tasty, spicy and fresh and it’s difficult to pace yourself when ordering all these scrumptious dishes that ranges from the house signature black daal to mango lassi. Persians coming to Indian founded the Bombay Cafés in Mumbai, so the menu is based on the traditional mix of these two countries cooking.

I tried to joggle all the small plates and bowls with my nine-month-old daughter on my lap. Naturally she tried to grab everything except the steamed rice ordered exclusively for her. My other lunch companion was luckily patient with my half sentences and constant interruptions – perhaps because she was so busy enjoying tender chicken Biryani, Naan bread and spicy lamb chops.

Actually we fitted right in and just added at bit of baby buzz to the already busy restaurant. It’s cosy, relaxed and the sort of place, where you would also like to hang out for breakfast or have a fun meal with a bunch of friends in the evening. A friend of mine recommended it after one of those nights, when long waiting in line turns into a magical evening and makes you a bit tipsy and high on life. Dishoom can certainly hit you with a great feeling.

And there is more to come. Check out Dishoom Chowpatty Beach Bar – a pop up beach bar on South Bank in the summer (opens 13th of May).

12 Upper St. Martin's Lane, London WC2H 9FB 
www.dishoom.com

Danish five star Bollywood Trip hits London

When the acclaimed Danish theatre Republique hits Southbank in London tonight we are supposedly in for an amazing five star performance.
Friends back in Denmark as well as critics have been raving about The Bollywood Trip. They promise chaos, comedy, love and spectacular Bollywood dancing.
Haroon played by the actor Janus Nabil Bakrawi is in a psychiatric unit in Denmark claiming to be a famous Bollywood star. Naturally the staff doesn’t believe him.
The director Rolf Heim has made a very modern musical and a love story with a twist. Danish musician Stephan Grabowski has composed the music and will be playing live with a band.
The Bollywood Trip is the first of three performances co-produced with Southbank Centre in London.
The Copenhagen theatre group comes to London at a time when Danish is a buzzword. The Killing is a big hit on BBC and has made everything Danish very cool.
I am sure the Bollywood Trip will just add new layers to the British love affair with Danish culture.


The Queen Elizabeth Hall from the 12th to the 18th December.
Www.southbankcentre.co.uk

A cool man in a cool museum

I really never get tired of the V&A Museum and it can be explored in so many ways. This week I went to see a fashion show with Peter Jensen and fell for the museum's little bookshop and wine bar, which have taken the best of the museums vibe and added a cozy neighborhood feel to it.
You feel a bit intellectual sitting on a low bar stool surrounded by interesting books, which makes The Reading Room a stimulating place to hang out on your own or sipping a glass of wine with a friend. Don't bother looking for the bar inside the huge museum itself (I tried that!). It's located outside and a little away from the V&A close to the other cafes and restaurants near South Kensington tube station. Go before or after a trip to V&A (check out the great postmodern exhibition about art and style in the 1970s to 1990s at the moment)…or just go to refresh with freshly squeezed lemonade and read a book or catch up on your text messages..
I went before and after going to a Fashion in motion show, which this week featured the brilliant Peter Jensen and his clever, playful design. He sent one fun, quirky and beautiful design after the other down the runway in the Raphael Gallery. He is the design world's most inspiring story teller.
And when Elvis stopped singing and the eclectic mix of weird and wonderful music faded away Peter Jensen himself just peeped out underneath the rabbit in neon light and quickly disappeared behind the wall with black and white interior details painted on. Very modest and very cool as always. He is a Dane to be proud of and he certainly suits the cool museum V&A, which has an amazing way of mixing progressive and contemporary new ideas in with ancient Greek Sculptures and arty gems from a distant time.

www.vam.ac.uk
www.vandareadingrooms.co.uk

Dixon's design paradise

Another great place worth visiting on a sunny day (as well as any other day) is Tom Dixon’s very cool kitchen and design studio. It’s right on the canal in Ladbroke Grove between Notting Hill and Kensal Rise and makes you think of the Otis Redding’s song Sitting on The Dock of the Bay. The restaurant The Dock Kitchen offers a new lunch menu every day and it’s inspired by season and the mood of the staff. The last part ought to add some surprises on the plates.
The front of the building is designed with huge windows creating a stunning effect, when the cool building reflects in the water.
While visiting you should check out the famous designers own design or Piet Hein Eek, Danish Made A Mano or Copenhagen Lab among others. If you are interested in design this is the place to go right now.
Should you find this too expensive or too design glam, you could follow the track of a local artist. When I visited him across the street from Dixon’s design temple, he took me to a local cafe just a few steps down the street and ordered jacket potatoes with baked beans and cheese.
That’s British style with a much more traditional touch than Tom Dixon.
You gotta love them both!

www.tomdixon.net
www.dockkitchen.co.uk

Sunshine & parsnip cakes

I had a baby a little while ago and all of a sudden my radar is fixed on cafes with easy access preferably with outside tables. Especially considering the gorgeous spring or more accurately summer weather we have been blessed with recently.
Petersham Nurseries just outside Richmond ticks all the boxes. You can sit outside on rusty iron chairs among blooming lavender, roses and all kinds of plants and flower.
Sorry for mentioning this place again. But it’s just a fab gem. Several new great things have happened, since I last mentioned the nursery with the cosy teahouse and popular restaurant. The chef Skye Gyngell has received at Michelin star for her superb seasonal, earthy and hearty cooking. I am so pleased for her, and it’s so great that the Michelin people are also starting to acknowledge that sort of more basic and personally cooking.
Secondly the teahouse is now serving food from the kitchen. I tested it with my good friend yesterday. She is probably Petersham Nurseries number one fan. We shared bruchetta with roasted tomato and mozzarella and spicy lentils with spinach. Very tasty lunch, but not very satisfying portions, as another friend added after having eaten there.
She is right. But I guess that is how a café makes you buy the cake too.
Everything they bake is delicious too – with a very homemade look and often made with vegetable. Who would have sort that you could make a divine cake with parsnips!

Sweet treats and swinging in Chicago

Windy City, The Second City, Oprah and Obama’s hometown or just the city of the year according to the magazine Wallpaper and others.
I have just been to Chicago for the first time and I also fell for the charm of this city and the interesting mix of architecture (a lot of Frank Gehry) and the perfect location right on Lake Michigan.
A very chatty taxi driver greeted me and told me that this city is a smaller and friendlier version of New York. I would never compare it to New York, but he was certainly right about people being friendly. I met my good friend from New York. She has been a loyal support, source and companion, when I researched and wrote my book I LOVE NEW YORK. Together we decided to find those cosy, cool and charming neighbourhoods. To be honest it wasn’t easy. But it probably didn’t do the city justice that the weather was a changing mix of chilly rain and freezing wind and temperature way below zero.
We did find some interesting up-and-coming areas with shopping like Marc Jacobs on North Damen Street and Barney’s Co-op on Halsted Street.
To be honest our biggest treat was Molly’s Cupcakes. OH MY GOD… totally creative and over the top cupcakes like cheesecake, tiramisu, German chocolate… We each bought two. Who could blame us? As if the decoration wasn't already extravagant enough, we could add extra colour and sweetness at the Sprinkle Station. We sat on wooden swings in “the bar” and one of the girls behind the counter revealed some interesting news. Molly’s Cupcake will take on Manhattan and open a shop on Bleecker Street, where a certain Magnolia Bakery (famous from Sex & the City) might as well prepare for some fierce competition.
I will be back with more Chicago tips…

Marc by Marc Jacobs,
1714 North Damen Avenue,
www.marcjacobs.com


Barney Co-op,
2209-11 North Halsted Street,
www.barneys.com

2536 North Clark Street
www.mollyscupcakes.com

How much is that doggie in the window?

Sorry that is just such a cheesy song, which is extremely difficult to stop singing, once you hear it.
But I couldn't help myself, when I passed this little dog in a shop window in Marylebone High Street. Luckily the little Japanese shop, the Eclectic Gallery, will soon make you forget all about the song. It's such a delicate, beautiful, bright little place with Japanese sweets, music, art and design.


Gallery Eclectic
66 Marylebone High Street, london W1U 5JF
eclectic66.co.uk

Bill has arrived in London

Bill's Produce Store is one of my favorite cafes and shops in Brighton. I love the mix of New Yorker warehouse atmosphere, delicious organic food and sitting tucked away behind fresh vegetables, which are on sale in the deli in the front.
I don't go to Brighton that often. So it's great news that the Bill team have opened a restaurant in Covent Garden i London.

I need to check that out soon.

Bill's Produce Store,

28 St Martin's Courtyard (off Long Acre), Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9AB

Happy New Year

The snow has long gone here. Richmond and London are again looking quite gloomy. But I am uplifted and positive as ever. It's a new year, new beginning and lots of great new places are waiting to be explored.
Never the less - I will kick off my blog year with an old classic: Petersham Nurseries. I thought this snowy photo captures all the beauty and cozy feeling of this gem of a cafe and restaurant. I went there just before Christmas and good news. The cafe is still serving the extended menu with brunch and cream tea in January.
I can't think of a better place to curl up in stylish January hibernation with a scone and hot tea. And the thing about Petersham Nurseries is that the place always has it's very own charm no matter if it is covered in snow, rain, blooming flowers or faded fall leaves.


www.petershamnurseries.com

The Darkroom

London just have a way of hiding unique and cool shops in small pockets. Lambs Conduit Street is one of the places where a stroll will give you strange feeling of being in a small yet extremely hip village.

First of all let me lead you to the designshop THE DARKROOM, which changes decor a lot and displays arty design, which you don't find everywhere.

The next couple of months the parisians also have a chance to check out the Londons shops eclectic range of bags, jeweleries, art, fashion and interior decor.

For the entire months of November and December 2010, you can find The Darkroom as a pop up boutique in La Galerie Imaginaire, top floor of Paris's charming department store – Le Bon Marché.

www.darkroomlondon.com

Pop star in vintage disguise

In these X Factor times being a pop star seems to be the most desirable profession. But owning your own vintage shops is even cooler. At least according to the singer Lilly Allen, who has ditched her music career (for five years) to run a fab vintage shop with her half sister Sarah Owen.
Good thing she teamed up with her not so famous sibling. I was reading in an interview that people at flea markets instantly recognized Allen and charged her too much when she traveled around to find beautiful and unique pieces. She is now doing the buying more anonymously online.
The shop Lucy in Disguise is a beautiful and a nice edition to the already booming vintage shopping scene in London.

10-13 King Street, Covent Garden
www.lucyindisguiselondon.com

A Pippi Sandwich, please!

This café is not just for home sick Scandi people - al though you can buy all those traditional Danish, Swedish and Norwegian stuff that friends are always asked to bring in their suitcases when visiting “Scandi-Londoner's”.
Even Brits are buying their lunch there. No wonder because Skandi Kitchen is a café that is spot on the current eating trend - healthy, Nordic diet.
We are talking open face sandwiches with salmon, crayfish (when in season - sadly just ended), prawns and eggs and of course herring.
The homemade cakes are to die for as well. But that's another story. Rumor has it that Kylie Minogue is also lining up for the Scandinavian style sandwiches on Great Titchfield Street.

The atmosphere is great ( I am not just saying that because I am Danish) and the cafe and deli seems to be run by a philosophy of fun, love and a bit of Pippi Longstocking power.


www.scandikitchen.co.uk

For your nose only

Luxury is no longer in your face and over the top bling-bling. Real luxury is something you don’t find on each corner. But you can find it in Le Labo. This übercool brand offers high-end fragrances for very picky noses. The perfumes are so ”one of a kind” that the stores around the world each have their own unique scents. Even if you are not buying you should pop by to look at the cool shops decorated with romantic, old factory interior. The London shop is just off the great shopping and restaurant street Marylebone High Street, which just keeps becoming better and better. In New York you can find Le Labo in Elizabeth Street in NoLiTa – also surrounded with great shopping.
I can’t mention all the location. But it probably doesn’t come as a surprise that the Paris shop is located in Colette – the queen of cool concept stores.

www.lelabofragrances.com

A trip back in time

Haven't forgotten about my holiday and my promise about sharing some of the interesting things I came across. Although it doesn't take long to be back in the daily hustle and bustle.
Well I know you are not likely to be in the little Danish town Braedstrup, Jutland, that often. But if you happen to be and are interested in interior vintage from the 50s, 60s and 70s you should check out a very amazing garage sale.
It is like going back in time. The owner Sune has collected so much nostalgic stuff from Panton lamps to flowery duvet covers that I for a moment thought I was about to go camping in the early seventies.
My visit to the garage sparked so many memories about my childhood... well the pictures sort of speak for themselves.

It is kitsch, cool, great design finds and best of all much cheeper than if you went into a similar shop in Copenhagen or New York.

Retro Garagen, Søgade 22, Brædstrup, tel. + 45 75782266

Open: Saturday and sunday 11-15
(or call Sune to make an appointment)

Dolls in wolves clothes

Well, that was a long holiday. Hope you had a good one. I certainly did and I came across some interesting places I would love to share. Some cool art in the South of France and a to die for collection of 50s and 60s interior stuff in a garage in a tiny town in Denmark.
I will come back to that.
But now I am just so excited to be back in London and thinking about this month, which will be all about design and art, when the London Design Festival kicks off.
First thing on my agenda is an extremely exciting exhibition "In Wolves Clothing: Re-imagining the Doll" opening at the SHOWstudio.com Shop on 1-9 Bruton Place this week.
Fashion photographer Nick Knight, designer duo Viktor & Rolf, Laurie Simmons and Peter Jensen and the Danish artist Lone Sigurdsson will be showing.
She is making some fascinating sculptures and works closely with fashion and has sculptured dolls and dresses for the designer Hussein Chalayan.
I am looking forward to meeting these dolls in wolves clothes, Barbie and Rubbish Finger Puppets.

9th of September - 30th October
www.shop.showstudio.com

HOLIDAY!!!!!!

Have a great summer.
See you later...
Kx

It's all about the shoes!

I got this photo and message from a good friend:
"Thought you'd appreciate that an entire Selfridges window had been dedicated to a single pair of shoes..."

I might add that the shoe is designed by the fashion hero du jour Alexander Wang. So I thought you might also appreciate this photo.

Bohemian Brighton - part 1

Brighton brings out mixed feelings in a lot of people. It's partly a tacky beach town wrapped in candy floss and sweet and sticky Brighton Rocks. But it is also a very charming and bohemian town with good cafes, vintage shops and flea markets.
Not to mention all those quirky and very laid back people, who own a little vintage or record shop. The kind of people who oozes of living the sort of life where they don't get going until noon.

A couple of years ago I was introduced to Brighton by a very good friend, who used to be one of the city's many students and know all the good spots.
Last weekend I went back for a day trip.

Here are a few great stops when you are hungry...



NIA
A perfect local café a bit away from the hustle and bustle on South Lanes. None of the table match and they serve an excellent brunch and divine smoothies and juices.
87–88 trafalgar street.


BILLS

All relaxed, modern and funky restaurants seem to have their own deli. So does Bills. And the fresh fruit and vegetables by the entrance gives the place a nice Mediterranean feel. Rustic fresh food and fantastic cakes are served on wooden tables in a cool industrial looking room.

The Depot
100 North Road
www.billsproducestore.co.uk

INFINITY FOOD

Very well stocked organic supermarket on the corner of North Road and Gardner Street. Great selection of homemade bread. Check out the café on 50 Gardner Street, North Laine.

Cool summer reading

I just watched An Education on dvd yesterday evening.
Such a lovely film and it inspired me to change my life and go to Paris, smoke cigarettes (even though I have sworn never ever to start that bad habit again) and talk about literature all day long before getting glammed up for the opera at night.
But perhaps I don't have to go to the drastic life change.
I believe you can have everything, if you settle for small amounts of each thing and don't except to do it all at the same time.
With that home made life philosophy in mind I have decided to forget about the cigarettes and opera and just read some books.
And the other day I found myself in (not Paris) but a little green park near Chelsea Habor. With an extra hour to kill I camped in a shady spot on the grass and started reading ONE DAY by David Nicholls,
London has all those lovely green spots and amazing parks. Even my little local Terrace Gardens i Richmond have deck chairs.
Perfect spot for a picnic with books (just don't go after school hours).

My books for this summer are:

Juliet (Julie in Danish) by Anne Fortier. Modern Romeo and Juliet story written by a fellow Dane in English. And it is coming out in US this fall. Anne is already being treated like a rock star by her publisher Harper Collins. Can't wait to read it.

Purge by Sofi Oksanen
I am not really into crime novels, but this one should be really cool. And the author she is Finnish and totally goth.

How did you get this number by Sloane Crosley.
I read about it in Grazia and it is about life i NYC. Need I say more?

I will cook some of Sophie Dahls delights from
Miss Dahls Voluptuous Delights. When I am too lazy to figure out the English cups and pounds, I will get my hands on the Danish translation Sophie Dahls Frydefulde fristelser.

and I will also travel around Europe with Jamie Oliver and his latest "Jamie does...". It's great.

Finally I will move into the super cool "The Selby is in your Place".