365 DAYS

2011 turned out to be the year for accomplishing personal milestones!

-I travelled to great new destinations such as Montréal, Shanghai and Warsaw

-hanged around in more "familiar" places such as Tokyo, New York and Paris

-visited dear friends in places all over the world

-could welcome my family and close friends for nordic holidays at my home

-celebrated my 30th birthday beside the swimming pool

-got my driving license after an intensive driving course on the swedish countryside

-got double nationality belgian-swedish

-gave new life to my "Model Talk/Fashion Flash" cartoon (this time as an online blog)

-got a deal for monthly publication in Elle Belgium with "Model Talk", my fashion cartoon

-got a deal with Rabén&Sjögren -a major swedish book publisher- to illustrate the book covers for the "Vildhäxan" series by Danish writer Lene Kaaberbol.

-got promoted to a new design job within H&M, as designer for a new concept which will be launched next summer

-won the christmas tree design competition at H&M and got my design made, to decorate the H&M design headquarter here in Stockholm

-created a lot of new embroideries and illustrations

-and last but not least; won for the second time the Elle Gala dress design competition!

With other words: 2011 has been quiet an amazing year and I feel very blessed to be able to share it with wonderful people around me. I´m very much aware that luck and happiness is not always omnipresent all the time, yet I hope that 2012 will bring beautiful and happy moments too. That´s something I try to look and live for, but I also wish it to everyone around me! A beautiful life is like magic, sparkling stars that are there for you to look at, enjoy and share. To wish everybody good fortune, I´d like to send you all a star; a source of endless creativity, warmth, light, love, luck and happiness!

AND THE WINNER IS...

A while ago I send in an application for the H&M in-house Christmas tree design competition. To my delight, my idea ended up being the winning concept!
So today -after the Lucia choir brought us angel voices- my Christmas tree also got its moment of glory. The tree was called "Fly me up to Heaven", and the concept behind it was "thinking outside of the box" and "reaching for the stars". With this in mind we had attached dozens of midnight blue helium balloons to the tree. Each week it´s also a brand new color, with the return of the golden light as the climax to celebrate Christmas.
As a reward I also got a most amazing book about Tree houses, the perfect present, knowing that I´m just totally in love with tree houses and since ever dreamed about one day also living in one myself! This book will be the inspiration for many new projects!

MODEL TALK FOR ELLE BELGIUM, ISSUE 100!

FREEDOM

"Vodka Factory" is a Swedish documentary about the daily life of a russian girl who´s trying to pursue her dreams. To earn her money she has to work in the local vodka factory. But her dreams go far beyond; she wants to become an actress and move to Moscow. Yet, having a dream is one thing, turning it into reality another.

If eventually she´ll succeed will be part of the story of her life, but what she already did succeed with was that she learned not to be afraid. She didn´t give up, even when the whole world around her wasn´t particularly in favor of what she wanted to do.

Years ago I made the picture here below. To me it represents the same story and it made me realize; becoming a free person -in all the meanings of the word- is probably the biggest challenge one can ever have! It´s not the big blue sky that is the dream, but what it represents; ultimate freedom!

EARTH CHRONICLES - A COLLAGE ART PROJECT

"Earth Chronicles" is my on-going collage art project dedicated to Nature. Earth, Wind, Water and Fire play the leading roles. It´s our world as seen through a kaleidoscope. A place where darkness and light, destruction and new creation, meet each other in the cycle of life, death and rebirth.

Bellow a first selection of images from the project.

ELLE BELGIUM AND MODEL TALK

As a monthly contributor to Elle Belgium, you can now check out my latest "Model Talk" cartoon episodes there. Model Talk/Fashion Flash is a fashion cartoon which I started back in 2007. Main stars from the series are Babs and Trudy -2 superstar supermodels- and their daily adventures in their magic universe called "fashion wonderland". It´s a cartoon inspired by great designers, amazing collections, news and events in fashion land and funny behind-the-scenes one liners. You can also check out some more episodes on the Model Talk/Fashion Flash website, or quickly run to your nearest magazine and newspaper shop and get yourself the Elle Belgium november issue before the month is over!

ARCTIC DELIGHT ❤ JUDELOVESYOU

I love independent entrepreneurs who do their own thing, who make their own creations, who create something with a vision, who start their own brand or... who start an own little shop. My longtime friend Julie did the last. A year ago, she opened the doors to "JuDeLovesYou"; a fun little concept store -with Fresh Art Gallery connected to it- in the heart of Antwerp! In her shop you can find her own lovely Fimo jewelry collection and all kinds of cool gadgets from all around the world. The little atelier above the shop looks like Santa´s magic factory. With all the tiny small fimo creations waiting in line amongst thousands of small treasures, making that room feel almost more amazing than the shop itself! Pictures from this magic place and her super inspiring apartment will hopefully follow later with a next posting, but bellow are some of the lovely toy presents I got from her shop! To celebrate her first birthday there´s also a tag and win competition on the JuDeLovesYou facebook page, so for all of you who love little treasures; definitely take a look there! All I can say is; a happy first birthday!! ArcticDelight❤JuDeLovesYou!!!

ONE OF THOSE PRETTY UNEVENTFUL DAYS...

VERSACE FOR H&M

Today it´s all about VERSACE for H&M here in Sweden, with later on this afternoon runway show to start the weekend. The launch in shops will be next week, on November 17th. Lot´s of glamor, gold, swarovski´s and bright colors can be expected from the design collaboration. Looking forward to see a recap from Versace history on the runway, as the concept behind the collection was to remake iconic pieces from the brand´s glamorous past. The campaign images and the video are fun to see, and I guess that those who have some knowledge about all former Versace campaigns will see the references to those great pictures -from back in the days- with the original supermodels all dressed as goddesses in pieces from the Italian luxury brand!

WHITE

WHITE...........the extreme end of the visual spectrum

WHITE.....................................clouds, flowers, snow

WHITE..........................symbolism, cleanness, purity

november 9th 1520....................Stockholm Bloodbath

november 9th 1967....1# issue Rolling Stone Magazine

november 9th 2011...............still NO snow to be seen!

but here nevertheless some white interior pictures to get in the mood!

ALEXANDER MCQUEEN

Today I was watching the video from Alexander McQueen´s Fall-Winter 2010/2011 collection. The pieces were nothing new for me, but I hadn´t seen the full length video from the show yet. On the website from the designer you can see the entire collection, giving you the opportunity to admire the beautiful embroidery work in detail! The delicately embroidered birds, tigers and medieval motives -with gold tread, pearls and sequences- are from an amazing quality! What touched me with the video from the show was the total focus on craftsmanship, detail and passion for the creation, besides the heart and dignity in the setting. Given the tragic death from the designer few weeks earlier, this intimate and small scaled presentation was as a tribute. But to me it wasn´t only as a tribute to the designer, but also to all the very talented persons behind those creations; the unknown hands who helped create such wonderful designs.

A great artist is someone who makes you dream, but who´s also skilled, knows craftsmanship and has eye for quality and detail. To me, all those elements are the heart and the soul of a creation. When working with so much passion on something, then the creation takes over part of that energy, this love, that the creator puts into it. I suppose that this is also what feels so special to me with couture pieces -no matter if it´s a haute couture creation or an embroidered folk costume- to actually unconsciously capture those energy vibes... the soul from the creation!

all images are from www.alexandermcqueen.com

MOSHI MOSHI

Nowadays -with internet showing everything on the very second something gets presented to the public- it´s sometimes hard to still feel surprised when seeing new trends. But Tokyo manages to keep that element of innovation and fun. A lot of brands also have limited edition collections which are only sold on Japanese market. So yes, I have to agree with everybody else; making a trip to futuristic Tokyo is totally worth its money.

Unless previous seasons, Japanese fashion had turned a little more low key this time around. Tsunami, earthquakes, nuclear problems and bad economy are most probably the main reasons. Meaning; less Harajuku & over the top rock´n roll glam, but way more preppy all American. But for what´s concerned the street styles, I mostly liked those wide traditional Japanese trousers, the slightly seventies inspired flare trousers, the new color settings with light pastels versus bright details, and of course the 5 billion different types of accessories!

LIFE IN A DAY

Today I was watching a documentary called "Life in a day".

On july 24th 2010, thousands of people all around the world could upload videos of their day on YouTube to take part in "Life in a day". Idea behind this cinematic experiment was to make a documentary with footage from a single day on earth. It´s a nice documentary to watch, even if it in the end comes down to one thing; people all around the world are united with similar habits, needs, dreams and desires. Watching this film made me realize that we all want to feel special, that we all want to give love and feel loved, that we all want to feel like our presence matters.

ONE YEAR AGO;

EÍNARR WAS STILL A LITTLE KITTEN, 4 MONTHS OLD

IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL AUTUMN DAY IN STOCKHOLM

I VISITED "AQUARIUM" WITH MY FRIEND AGATA&HER SON

In the end we need to make every day special for ourselves. It doesn´t matter if it´s world changing events, or just small nice moments, as long as it makes you feel happy about life!

PEARL HEART

Last few months have been mostly about working on new embroidery couture pieces. But since pictures from that will have to wait for the day when the collection shall be ready, hereby meanwhile another embroidery piece which I made; the pearl heart for Josephine Bornebusch´s couture dress. The dress was called "waiting for my love", and told about a girl -in a dark nordic country- who was waiting at the edge of the dark cold sea for her long lost sailor, with nothing left but a broken heart and a memory of true love...

I LOVE DESIGN DIARIES

I love making little design diaries. Time and money might be a limitation to create everything in real, but to me those design books are like small stories... Designing is ideas, music, movement, nature, psychology, history, pop culture,... all melting together to one new line on the white paper. While drawing I feel like being in another reality, where those lines are alive... like an actual entity walking around in its own small universe; the bubble I created in my imagination, where -for that one moment in time- everything came together to a small sparkle of ultimate life. It´s the prime moment where sight, sound, movement, surrounding and design had their supreme moment of sublimation... Just like a raindrop making it´s journey through the sky; a small bubble of imperfect perfection, which will live it´s short moment before turning into the life energy for a new creation.

creating is my oxygen, my life.

LEGENDS OF THE FALL

Same-same but different. Even when you think you know something, then it can still totally surprise with mood, colors, light and feeling!

Today Wikipedia learned me "autumn" used to be called harvest (like herfst in Dutch). But, when people moved from country side- to city life, autumn and fall made their introduction. Fall is supposed to come from the Old English fiæll or feallan and the Old Norse fall. Both mean "to fall from a height", and are a contraction of Middle English expressions like "fall of the leaf" and "fall of the year"…

Well anyway; harvest, autumn or fall, each season brings its own story board.. and with the return of dark evenings, a cozy evening at home with "Legends of the fall" -a childhood favorite movie- could actually be fun! Just as a landscape can look totally different, am I also going to watch the movie with a new color now, 16years after I saw it for the first time?

What´s your favorite autumn movie?