The Human Empire - A design studio and a shop

Hello everyone, I have another shop presentation and another spot will be soon completing my little interior design map of Hamburg. The Human Empire is originally a design studio that turned into a shop in Hamburg. The shop is very well-known for the posters with their own design and designs from other designers which can be bought online too. They also sell a selection of items from very interesting designer, such as Donna Wilson and exclusive magazines such as Kinfolk Magazine *Kinfolk is a growing community of artists with a shared interest in small gatherings* and the magazine is really great, or the beautiful books from the Japanese editor Paumes as well as casual clothes for men and women. The TIGER print from my living room, that I presented there and there also comes from Human Empire. I wish you a wonderful and stress-free day and hope that this post will inspire you bit, maybe to redecorate your home a bit with a new print or find some original x-mas presents. xxx Elodie

Japanese interior books from édition PAUMES, animal plates from Donna Wilson, tea towels from Skinny laMinx, familien Matroschka from OMM Design, postcards from Human Empire Artist Series, wooden animals from Aeraware

Human Empire Schulterblatt 132 20357 Hamburg Mo. – Fr. : 12:00 – 19:00 Sat.            : 12:00 – 18:00

Eden Living - black, white and a bit of grey

Eden Living in Eppendorf is a very classic interior shop offering almost only black, white and grey furnitures and accessories, with a touch of neon of course.It is the perfect if you have a monochromatic interior and are looking for timeless, classic and natural design with a lot of wood. I am in love with their grey and black washi-tape. As I often say: keep it simple.

Eden Living Klosterallee 67 20144 Hamburg Mo. – Fr. : 10:00 – 19:00 Sat.            : 10:00 – 16:00

Lys Vintage - A classic among the interior shops

Follow my blog with Bloglovin You can't write about the loveliest Interior design shops in Hamburg, without talking about Lys Vintage. It is not a secret anymore, but if you are visiting Hamburg, it should definitely be on your list! Lys means light in Danish. The showroom in Hamburg is like a mini-design museum with furnitures, lamps and accessories  from normann copenhagen, Ferm Living, Hay and many more. The online shop is brilliant and I really like the blog part of the website, and the section "im echten Leben" (in real life), presenting the objects in the apartments of their new owners.

Lys Vintage Blog Facebook Fanpage Eppendorfer Weg 8 20259 Hamburg Mo. – Fr. : 11:00 – 19:00 Sat.            : 11:00 – 18:00

red & grey

I haven't much time for the blog lately, but I can promise, there is a lot in preparation. In the meantime, I wanted to share these simple flowers with you.I hope you had a lovely lovely week-end!

smukkeStore in Hamburg

Good morning,My quest to find the loveliest interior shop in Hamburg continues. Last week when I was on my scooter, I stopped by at a shop on the Eppendorfer Weg  and I really loved it:

It's called smukkeStore - home & fashion. Smukke means beautiful in Danish and you will only find Scandinavian brands in the shop

HOME: You will find some of the usual suspects of course, such as house doctor, Bloomingville  from Denmark but also some less famous brands like or House of Rym from Sweden or Rie Elise Lasen & lb Laursen, also from Denmark. In the shop, you will also find some young designers from Hamburg and some old pieces of furniture that have been restored in the workshop at the back of the shop.

FASHION: Among  the fashion brands, you will find Line of Oslo from Norway and Container & Ichi from Denmark. sameThe shop opened on June 15, 2012, and you should definitely pay a visit to the charming shopkeeper Miriam.

You can also find some LOVEly clothes in the shop:

And some antique furniture refurbished by Miriam:

A LOVEly reference to Sting in the  changing room!

If you go there in the coming weeks, you will be able to shop some lovely and not kitsch at all Christmas decoration.

smukkeStore Facebook Fanpage Eppendorfer Weg 174 20253 Hamburg Mo. – Fr. : 10:30 – 19:00 Sat.            : 10:30 – 16:00

Antwerp #3 - Where to eat?

Hello everyone,I have got a restaurant tip for you from our holiday in Antwerp with Mr. Love. I already gave you an overview of Antwerp by day and of Antwerp by night and now I would like to give a nice address for lunch, dinner or even breakfast. The restaurant Hangar Eenenveertig is situated on the docks and we went there by accident, while looking for a place to eat lunch and I had the most amazing grilled sandwich ever with grilled tuna and tapenade! The place is also beautifully decorated with dark walls & ceilings (chocolate colour), a very original wooden floor and some fancy lamps over the bar. Here are a couple of photos.

If you have the chance of going to Antwerp, please visit this place for me! It is situated not far away from the Klosterstraat, the street with all the beautiful antique shops.

xxx

Elodie

Website: HANGAR EENENVEERTIG Sint Michielskikaai 41 2000 Antwerp

Blogst & Foodblogger-Event - my first post in German!

Hello everyone, I hope you had a lovely week-end! My week-end was just fabulous. I took part in a foodblogger cocking Event on Friday and in the German blogger conference BLOGST on Saturday and Sunday - and decided to write my first blogpost in German, as the topic is more relevant for my German readers ... I will come back to English soon. I promise! so there you go...I am so nervous. ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Ich weiss nicht warum es mich so nervös macht auf Deutsch zu schreiben. Für mich, kam das überhaupt nicht in Frage als Ich mit dem Blog angefangen habe, auf Deutsch zu schreiben. Deutsch ist für mich die Sprache in der ich arbeite, und mit der Ich mit meinem Deutschen Freunden rede, aber meine "private languages" sind Französisch (meine Muttersprache) und Englisch (die Sprache von Mr. Love). Es ändert sich langsam, da Ich jetzt ganz viele wunderschönen Deutschsprachigen Blogs täglich lese. Ich war am Wochenende, als Teilnehmer bei der Deutschsprachigen BLOGST Konferenz in Hamburg. Die wunderbare Lou von Happy Serendipity hat mich dazu animiert, jetzt auf Deutsch zu schreiben. Lou ist Italienerin, lebt in Frankfurt und schreibt meistens auf Englisch und ab und zu auf Deutsch, wenn das Thema besonders interessant für die Deutschen Leser ist. Wie Lou gesagt, das ist dein Blog, Du bestimmst die Regeln! Wie die tolle Danny aus Cozy and Cudly es schön formuliert hat: Dein Blog ist dein Zuhause! Ich schreibe normalerweise auf Englisch was es mir leichter fällt und weil Ich denke dass es gut zu meinem Multi-Kulti Lebensstill passt. Ich würde mich auch wünschen, dass die Leute die Kommentare hinterlassen auf meinem Blog, sich frei füllen, mich auf Deutsch, Französisch oder Englisch zu schreiben und sich kein Stress machen, weil sie denken, sie müssten unbedingt auf Englisch schreiben. Ich wollte heute ausschlafen, bin aber so aufgeregt noch vom Wochenende, dass ich seit 08:30 an meinem Computer sitze und an meinem Blogpost arbeite! Das ist auch das schöne an einer Blogger Konferenz. Es hört nicht auf am Ende der Veranstaltung, sondern, es wird danach noch berichtet, ausgetauscht und getwittert #blogst12

Neben sehr viel Input und interessanten Vorträgen, war es besonders spannend die Leute, die Persönlichkeiten die hinter diesen Blogs stehen zu treffen. Ein Rückblick über die Vorträge, werde ich an der Stelle nicht geben, das haben schon viele gemacht und ihr könnt es da auch nachlesen zum Beispiel bei Angelika Schaff oder Backbube. Wie die liebe Jeanny von Zucker Zimt und Liebe  in Ihrem Vortrag gesagt hat, "die Leser lesen keinen Blogs, die lesen Persönlichkeiten" und das ist es genau! Wenn man die Organisatorinnen Clara Tastesheriff  und Ricarda 23qmstil kennt und erlebt hat mit wie viel Leidenschaft die beiden animiert sind, hat man gleich doppelt so viel Lust deren Blogs zu lesen.

Ich habe auch Aurélie von Französisch kochen bei BLOGST endlich kennengelernt, eine andere Französin, die über Französisches Essen und natürlich auch über Macarons auf Deutsch blogt. Es war toll wieder Französisch und viel über Essen sprechen zu können. Wir hatten uns schon am Vortag, beim tollen France Bon Appétit Koch-Blogger Event kennengelernt. Das Event hatte die charmante Barbara von Finfint organisiert, die  über Schwedisches Essen blogt. Das Event fand im Kochkontor statt in Hamburg.

Ein sehr inspirierendes Gespräch hatte ich auch mit der wundervollen Thea, eine der zwei Schwestern von Sistermag. Es gibt Menschen mit der man sofort eine Verbindung spürt, und das war so mit Thea. Ich freue mich so sehr Thea und Toni wieder in Stockholm bei Meet the blogger zu sehen!

Unsere Hamburger Blogger Fraktion  war auch da natürlich, mit zum Beispiel Antonia von Behind the Gorilla oder Susanne von Lieschen heiratet und wir haben viel Spass zusammen gehabt wie immer! Ich habe auch zwei anderen Hamburgerinnen kennengelernt und zwar, die liebe Mel von Gourmet Guerilla und Stefanie von Genuss sucht. Ganz am Ende der Veranstaltung, habe ich auch Heike von Relleomein und die tolle Katharina von Essraum, die wunderschöne Food-Fotos macht.

Hier sind ein paar Fotos,  zuerst von unserem Foodblogger-Event am Freitag und dann von BLOGST.

Wir haben zuerst zusammen gekocht

und dann zusammen gegessen und getrunken von 10:00 bis 17:00! Ich habe mich wirklich wie in Frankreich gefüllt.

 ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Für die Blogst-Fotos, habe ich mich entschieden einen kleinen Spiel zu spielen, ich habe tollen Bloggerinnen von Hinten fotografiert weil die so schönen Frisuren hatten. Könnt Ihr die zuordnen? Habt Ihr Lust mitzuspielen? Einfach als Kommentar die Nummer und die Bloggerin daneben schreiben. Ich hoffe die betroffenen sind mir nicht böse, aber ich fand die Frisuren so schön, dass ich nicht widerstehen könnte!

Pfff! ich hoffe es war alles verständlich. Speak to you soon!

Elodie

Das siebte Zimmer - Welcome to paradise

Hello everyone, Have you ever heard of das 7. Zimmer (the 7th Room) in Hamburg? I think this is the most poetic place I have ever seen in my life - and this is one of the reasons why I was happy moving to Hamburg. A lot of German interior magazines, such as Living at Home or Schöner Wohnen work with this shop and when I read them when I lived in Berlin and came across a piece of furniture I liked, a lot of the time it came from das 7. Zimmer. So when I moved to Hamburg, this is the first shop I visited - and now I live just around the corner.

If you have never heard of the shop, you can pass by a hundred times without noticing it. The shop has a tiny (and usually beautifully styled) shop window in the Hegestrasse with a sign indicating the opening hours and a note saying: there is more  to see in the barn on the other side of the street. The actual shop is situated in the attic of a very old building in a courtyard. The stairs are very steep and there is not much heating but it is definitely worth it! The place is just magical and full of candles with some loud classical music in the background giving the place an incredible atmosphere. Everything there is unusual with a lot of French antiques and a couple of original Eames and Tolix chairs here and there. You have the feeling of being all of a sudden in another century. I hope you will visit this place if you have the occasion to. Please let me know your thoughts on this very unique place!

Das 7. Zimmer Hegestraße 7 20251 Hamburg

Monday   : 13:00 - 19:00 Tu. – Fr.  : 11:00 – 18:30 Sat.            : 11:00 – 16:00

Micro to macro bouquets

I was very inspired on Thursday on my way back home and came back with a bunch of very different flowers in the pink-purple colour palette with a touch of black. I decided to make not one but 5 bouquets out of it from Extra-Small to Extra-Large. 1- The XS-Bouquet

2-  The S-Bouquet In a beautiful white Moroccan vase I brought back from my trip to Antwerp.

3- The M-Bouquet

4- The L-Bouquet Simple and monochrome

5- The XL-Bouquet Tall and elegant in my favorite Japanese vase

So I am curious to hear about your opinion now. Which size do you prefer? Which bouquet is your favorite? Talk to you soon. xxx

Elodie

Antwerp #2 - The city by night

So I hope you enjoyed seeing this beautiful city by day, here are a couple of night shots to complete my impressions.I am lucky Mr. Love is very patient and shares my passion for photography! We had a lot of fun walking in the streets of pretty Antwerp with the Camera and the stand. Here is the result:

I will be back soon with the best Bed & Breakfast I ever stayed at.

xxx

Elodie

Antwerp #1 - The city by day

So, Mr. Love and I came back from our fantastic trip to Antwerp and Amsterdam on Tuesday and had to get back directly to our daily lives and jobs. I was looking forward to this weekend in order to be able to sort out my 800 pictures and prepare my blogposts. I will start with the beginning of our trip and the days we spent in the beautiful city of Antwerp in Belgium.The most interesting landmark in Antwerp is the train station. I completely fell in love with it - it is just spectacular. The perspectives and the lines are really breathtaking. It is these kinds of spaces that make you regret only having a 50 mm with you and not a wide-angle - but I tried my best!

What I also loved in Antwerp is the very pretty art nouveau district called Zurenborg which is full of beautiful houses - we stayed the first days in this neighborhood in the very cool and affordable hotel Sir Plantin. If you decide to stay there, you should insist on having a quiet room, not facing the main street. Apart from that the hotel is really good and the rooms are really stylish. You sleep under huge reproductions of portraits by Flemish masters.

Zurenborg and the gold and silver buildings:

The amazing architecture, the fashion scene and the many antique shops on the famous Klosterstraat are not the only interesting things in the city. Antwerp is also a famous harbour, and you can admire the big ships just a few steps away from the old town and the cathedral. I love harbours since I have been living in Hamburg and I think it really gives cities a special flair.

The old-town of Antwerp is also definitely worth visiting, with the beautiful cathedral, the guild-houses and the cobblestoned streets.

So this is the first post about Antwerp. I hope you can't wait to visit the city now! Don't worry, I have a lot more to tell you about the city: a couple of images by night, a hot Bed & Breakfast tip, a very cool restaurant and a lovely Belgian interior design showroom. So....stay tuned and talk to you soon!

Elodie

Lovely scaffolding

Yes, scaffolding can be lovely! You read that right.Today I want to share something I saw in the streets of Hamburg, just before my holiday in Antwerp and Amsterdam. I am still working on the photos and thinking about which stories I want to tell you about. They are currently working on the building of the beautiful gourmet food shop "Viola" in Hamburg Eppendorf and instead of disappearing behind the scaffolding, the shop-keepers had the lovely idea to just decorate the scaffolding with ribbons and Japanese washi tape. I think it is a fantastic initiative for a shop to do something like that, it makes the customers curious rather than letting the shop become invisible behind the scaffolding.

By the way, I love this shop and there will be a blogpost about it soon, to complete the "lovely Hamburg" series. I will not let Viola disappear behind the scaffolding, I promise!

Speak to you soon!

Elodie

Red berries bouquet

In autumn, I like to do bunches of berries. The last longer than flowers and look beautiful with a little bit of sunshine.

lovely still life #1

Still life photography is the depiction of inanimate subject matter, most typically a small grouping of objects. Still life photography, gives the photographer more leeway in the arrangement of design elements within a composition. This is the definition given by Wikipedia. In this series of photos, I only used ornamental apples, in a Japanese bowl I received as a gift for my engagement from my dear friend Fabienne.This is a first try, but this is the kind of photography I enjoy, I hope you like it too!

I found the little black stand at the hello handmade market  on Sunday in Hamburg. It is from the label 3PUNKTF. I visited the market with my Hamburg blogger crew: the lovely Clara from tastesheriff, Susanne from Serendipity and  Maria from villa ♥ stoff - and came without my camera, but all I was thinking about was my blog! and I found some pretty cool props for my photo shootings!

Richard - A lovely shop indeed

As I had rented a wide-angle Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM last week-end and had my tripod with me, it was the perfect occasion to do something I have been wanting to so for a long time: a photo session at one of my favorite shops for interior design in Hamburg: RICHARD, in the Neustadt in Hamburg.I went there also with my Canon EF –  50 mm f/1.8. So some of the pictures are taken with the wide-angle lens and the close-ups with the 50 mm lens. It is obviously easier to do a couple of pics with the smartphone, but Mr. Love was kind enough to come with me and help me carry the material. Thank you Mr. Love!

It is the second blogpost I write about this district of Hamburg, the first one was about the lovely Japanese shop Akiko. They are both situated in the very cool Wexstrasse in this very creative part of the city. Richard is a shop with a  fantastic atmosphere and a wonderful mix of old and new. I am particularly in love with the beautiful vintage globe collection. The dark walls and the candles, give the shop an extremely cozy and inviting atmosphere and the prices are very affordable.

I have updated my LOVEly map of Hamburg, if you want to have an overview of my shop reviews in the blog so far. I am still working on a PDF version of the map.

RICHARD Wexstr.32a 20355 Hamburg

Monday   : closed Tu. – Fr.  : 11:00 – 19:00 Sat.            : 11:00 – 16:00

my living room or I'm not a minimalist

So here are some more photos from this week-end photo shooting with the wide-angle lens. I hope you like them: The lovely cat sitting in front of the lovely bookshelf Our bookshelf comes from the Scandinavian shop bolia. We have been researching a lot, before buying this one. For me it was very important, to have a bookshelf that can fit books, magazines and records. I also love the colour of the wood. The only problem is its weight, when you need to move...

The lovely grey wall We thought a lot about the right shade of grey for the wall. I think dark walls give a very intimate atmosphere to rooms and give you a very good background for displaying art and playing with light. The fabulous Tiger print on the wall is from the fantastic design shop in Hamburg Human Empire.

The lovely home cinema I really love not having a TV in the living room. I think that they just look pretty ugly, even the wide-screen, expensive ones. The beamer is still in the middle of the room, next to the sofa, but I think that you can much easily forget it than a big television.  If you have the possibility to hang your beamer in a corner of your room opposite to the screen, you want to project to, it is even better. It really transform the DVD nights in a cinema experience.

What do you think? Do you like grey in general and grey walls in particular too? Do you also hate televisions? What do you think about my wide-angle lens? the room looks huge doesn't it? I am sure that estate agent use that type of lens when they do pictures of a flat to make it bigger!

Speak to you soon!

Elodie

Oh the lovely living room - The wide-angle experience

As I told you on Sunday, I rented a wide-angle lens this week-end: a Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM  from Calumet Photographic in Hamburg. It was really easy and cheap - 23 € for the week-end instead of 722 € if you buy it.I would recommend anyone interested in photography to rent a lens from time to time. It  is such a great option for trying out different type of photos, like portraits, still life or interior photos. I wanted to try a good lens for interior design photography. My living room is very narrow and long, and it is pretty tricky to take good pictures of it with a standard lens.  The result is quite good, but it was not a revelation like the first time I used a  Canon EF -  50 mm f/1.8. So there you go, here is a picture of my grey living room with Mr. Cheds right in the middle sitting on his throne as usual!

and another one from another perspective:

madame love loves: La cerise sur le gateau

La cerise sur le gâteau (Cherry on the cake) is a beautiful French brand from the talented designer Anne Hubert. Anne is pretty famous in France, and her house has been featured in various interior design magazines. Her screen printed creations such as cushions, tea towels and pretty bed linen are very fresh. She uses a lot of neon colours and animal prints.

You can find some of her stuff at my perfect sunday in Hamburg (I got a gorgeous tea towel) or via her e-shop (in English and in French)

The very talented photographer Coco Amardeil has produced this very cute video for the launch of her new autumn/winter collection: NORMAL IS BORING - and I just love it. What about you?

Normal is boring by La cerise sur le gâteau collection automne hiver 2012 from La cerise sur le gâteau on Vimeo.

My street: metallic flowers and a friendly dino

Did I already mention, that I live in paradise? And what do you have in paradise?

• a lot of flowers
• a lot of trees and
• some friendly animals.

I have all of that in my street, but some of the flowers are metallic and last all year long and the biggest animal in the street is a dinosaur called "Spekulantenfresser" - which means that he is there to protect a building and its inhabitants from the evil property investors, and is ready to devour them.

I had a beautiful week end. I rented a wide angle lens for my camera, and took a lot of pictures of the flat during the week end. I am excited to show them to you soon on the blog. I wish you a wonderful week. Speak to you soon.

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Magic mushrooms

I am sorry I have been away for a little while, but I had a nasty tooth operation and was so down that I even lost interest in blogging! It was so bad that I couldn't even taste the cake that Clara baked on Saturday for the Blogst Workshop. But I am back now.Look at what I found during our little walk on Sunday afternoon. I discovered a little mushroom family with red and white spots, well hidden under loads of autumn leaves. Red is one of my favorite colours for decorating - and I love the red and white combination: very Swedish! My kitchen is completely red and white.

 I have alway been a fan of polka dots, and those mushrooms, are just perfect. You just have the impression that they come out of the kitchen of a famous French chef patissier, even if they are most probably very poisonous.