Cold blooded old times..

I still have a couple of things to arrive (they probably won't get here until the new year), but the rest of my Lundby Christmas gifts to myself arrived on Wednesday & in time for Christmas.  

I haven't deboxed anything yet, but I did have a peek in the boxes shortly after they arrived.  I'm looking forward to deboxing everything soon & having a play.

I'm still not feeling too great, depressed & hollow I guess, but I really hope anyone reading this is having/has had a lovely Christmas.  I'm definitely the Charlie Browniest this year.

❤

I wish A Charlie Brown Christmas would be on TV every year at Christmas here in the UK, but sadly not (must remember to get the DVD so I can watch it next Christmas). I love Vince Guaraldi's Christmas Time is Here & The Young People's Chorus of New York City did a lovely version of it on The Tonight Show recently.

Enjoy & Merry Christmas!

Cancelling Christmas: Death, Despair & a Random Lundby Sighting (+ Cats ♥).

I've been watching & enjoying the third series of  the Danish/Swedish TV series The Bridge (Broen/Bron) & have just 2 episodes (9 & 10) left to watch later today.  In the last 2 episodes (episodes 7 & 8) I spotted a modified Lundby house (I'm assuming it's a 1979 Gothenburg as I think it has brown doors & white trim).

It hasn't been revealed who the the Gothenburg belongs to yet, but it seems to belong to a serial killer, who is creating miniature versions of their killings in each room of the dollhouse. All the killings are staged to recreate artworks owned by a character named Freddie Holst, though all were originally owned by his x-business partner, Claes Sandberg. 

1. victim Helle Anker from Denmark, a lesbian gender theorist & owner of Copenhagen's first gender-neutral preschool, is found murdered with her heart removed in a construction site in Malmö, Sweden.   The tableau that has been created around a dinner table, is based on a fictional piece of art "De Perfecte Familie" by Waarheid.

2. victim Hans Pettersson from Sweden, police chief in Malmö (& lead character Saga Norén's boss) is kidnapped & has one of his hands removed, but found & taken to hospital, though he later dies.  His tableau is based on a piece called "The Nightmare". 

3. victim Lars-Ove Abrahamsson is found dead in a sun chair, with his penis removed.  Based on the title of an abstract painting called "A Day at the Beach" by Frank Nielson.

4. victim Håkan Ekdahl is found hanging with a broken barrel around him & a timer which has counted down.  Based on a piece called "Countdown to Disappointment" by Eduardo Paolozzi.

5. victims Filip & Inger Johansson are found in arm chairs around a Christmas tree, Filip with his brain removed.  The tableau is based on a piece of video art called "Cancelling Christmas" by Edward Cullen.

I believe they're all fictional pieces of artwork, though the artists names include a mixture of real artists (Eduardo Paolozzi) & characters from other works of fiction (such as Edward Cullen from the Twilight series).

 

& a video of the intro to the show, just because..  It's such a  good opener for each episode & I love the theme ("Hollow Talk" by Choir of Young Believers)

 

 

On the subject of Christmas.  I'm really not looking forward to the Christmas period this year. Things were pretty awful this time last year with my Grandad's health, & he was admitted into hospital for the last time before he died on December the 27th, when he was neutropenic, very sick, & died less than 3 weeks later.  

On Christmas day he was left on his own by the woman he shared a home with.  He was ill with myelodysplastic syndrome & a traumatic brain injury left by having a bran abscess, & vulnerable because of his health & age.  My Mum & I would have been with him if we'd have known, but had been told he was spending Christmas Day with the woman & one of her sons & family (where we weren't welcome).   It's going to be hard not to think about him & feel angry & upset that he was left alone & that we didn't get to be with him.

It'll just be me & Roux (my cat) at home as usual this Christmas + our new household member, Nemo.  Like Roux she's a rescue - she lived a couple of streets away & kept running away from home.  We found her originally in a very poor state (filthy, skinny & her long fur in dreadlocks) in mid-May, & she lived with us for a month until we found her owners, but she kept running away & found her way back to us again at the end of July, we took her home & within 4 days she was back to us & moved in for good.  It's taken a while to get her integrated with Roux (who's been living with us for nearly 6 years now) but we're getting there slowly.  

When Roux moved in he was just 6 months old (he'd been bought as a Christmas present for a child, & then thrown out).  It was pretty cold here in January/February 2010 & we kept finding him playing in the snow in our garden.  Nemo is tiny compared with Roux, but they're close in age (I think Nemo was born in April 2010, so she's about 8 months younger than Roux).

I'm hoping to treat myself to some items for my Lundby houses for Christmas.  I don't really celebrate Christmas (no decorations, no Christmas dinner, etc) outside cards & gifts for close friends & family, but I figure this year some miniature goodies mught soften the blow of what will likely be an emotionally difficult Christmas/New Year period.  I haven't ordered anything yet (i'm waiting for some funds to transfer) so it might be too late for anything to arrive before Christmas day, but *fingers crossed*.

New(ish) inhabitants, & coffee..

The Mame houses got some new inhabitants at the start of 2014 but I hadn't got around to taking any photos of them until yesterday.   I'm not sure how the Mames will feel about having to share their houses with 2 strange Ji Ja birds but I really like them & they're the perfect scale.  

Ji Ja birds are the creation of Mr Clement, an artist based in London, but originally from Hong Kong.  Ji Ja birds originally featured in his comic Ji Ja Café, & began to be released as figures in 2011.  They're made of PVC & just over 8cm high (about 3.25") with articulated wings & necks.  

"Ji Ja bird is a new character from my latest comic – Ji Ja café – currently available online on my website / facebook / flickr ....check them out! : )   they are a pair of little birds who are only able to say “Ji” or “Ja”. They are exploring the world between frames (comic frames), carrying a mysterious message in a tiny envelope to someone who is waiting for it. There are some stories to tell in every journey... You may not be able to travel as far or speak as much as them but you might have someone who is always waiting for a special message to be delivered. Ji Ja birds can do the job for you! A tiny paper envelope is prepared for each Ji ja bird figure. Just write what you want to say in the slip and put it into the envelope and then your Ji Ja bird can deliver the message for you. The envelope can be held firmly in its beak. Ji Ja bird will take any message for you. Like you may say “I love you” as well as “I hate you”...whatever! haha!."

Birds who can only say "Ji" or "Ja" seem the perfect creatures to live in Lundby houses to me. 

The white Ji Ja with the yellow beak was one of the first 2 released in November 2011 (along with another in yellow with a white beak) & there have been many others released since, usually in limited editions.  The grey one is the Noël Ji Ja which was released in November 2012 (ltd edition of 100).  

 

 

 

Inspiration : colour & metal framed chairs.

More inspiration from Elle Decoration (more metal framed chairs, & more bright colour <3).    This time from the January 2015 issue, which featured a small guesthouse in Bethnal Green, designed by the Danish designer Nina Tolstrup & husband Jack Mama of STUDIOMAMA, & some very dashing orange metal framed chairs which grabbed my attention.

I'd just been admiring Pepper's gorgeous orange kitchen for her Fenton Lodge & thought of her when I saw the chairs.

Love the Danish daybed/sofa (which reminds me so much of the 1958 Mattel Modern sofa) & the blue bench/coat rack.

I'd only seen one thing by STUDIOMAMA before - the On Off clock made for Lexxon in 2006, but lots more products & furniture can be seen at their website.  I really like their pewter bowls & love the orange Re-Imagine chairs they used in their guesthouse. 

 

For their Re-Imagine chair they took salvaged chairs that they found in a pile near their East London studio. The chairs were stripped down to their frames before new seats, backrests & armrests were added, then finished with colourful paint and upholstery.

Photos: by Ben Anders from dwell.com, via emilyescaped.co.uk, studiomama.com, & dezeen.com.

This morning I swapped out the windows from my new set - the shutters on my original house are a deeper & slightly less orangey red than the shutters on the new window + my original frames are a lot whiter, so I swapped out the panes from the new window & put them in my old frame with the original shutters.  I was a bit worried that in trying to get them out I'd crack the plastic or snap off the hinge nobs.  They were difficult to get out, but thankfully there were no breakages & the window is now ready to go back in the house.  One tiny step forward!

Catching up + Obsessions : Franz West Uncle chairs.

I have a pile of Elle Decoration from January this year onwards to catch up on, what with everything that has been going on since January I haven't had time or inclination to peruse them until now.

I got a replacement window in the mail today - my Lundby Dream House has all its shutters, but had a missing window pane, so now all the windows will be complete. 

As I'm getting back into the swing of things I've been thinking about things I'd love to try to make in miniature. One of them being the Uncle chair by Franz West.

 Photo: Christies

Franz West (1947-2012) was an Austrian artist & furniture designer. His Onkel Stuhl (Uncle Stool) were made in the 2000's & are brightly coloured synthetic straps woven over a steel tubular frame (86 x 51 x 55 cm).

With the colours & patterns created with the straps they remind me a lot of African textiles - they're very much like nwentom/kente cloth, a fabric made by the Akan (from West Africa - Ghana, the Ivory Coast & Benin) which is made from brightly coloured interwoven silk or cotton cloth strips.

 

Photos: Artforum magazine cover, October 2009 via Tumblr.

I particularly love how they were used in this kitchen, designed by India Madhavi in this Parisian loft apartment.

 

Photos: by Matthew Salvaing for admagazine.fr

I'm wondering if I could make some from wire with paper or flexible plastic in bright colours for the seats & backs (I'm sure these 2 tutorials would be very helpful - 1 & 2).  Something to think about..

Where the heart is..

I thought I'd take some quick photos of the most recent house I added to my little collection - it's the same as Caroline's Home made by Barton, but came out some time in the 80's after Lundby took over Barton in 1984 & sold as "The Dream House".  I bought it about a year & a half ago & haven't done anything yet, other than cleaning it up a bit, but I think it'll be a good place to start.

It's probably silly, but i'm so nervous about redecorating & making a mess of things, but this house is screaming out for some TLC & attention.  It's not in horrible condition, but it's far from mint, so I don't feel precious about it which helps my nervousness.   I'm thinking of totally redecorating not only the inside, but the outside.  I love the red door & shutters, but i can imagine the exterior could look great with some work.

The first dollhouse furniture I ever had was actually Caroline's Home furniture by Barton.  I didn't have the Caroline's Home house, but I clearly remember having a number of the items made for it when I was very little (5 or 6 years old).  I had the bedroom set (wardrobe, dressing table, bed), a sideboard & bearskin rug, pots & pans, plates of food & a pink tea set, a rocking horse, & maybe a pink & black bathroom set (bath, toilet, sink, which I think might have been Lundby rather than Barton), a cot & grandfather clock.  I'm not sure what happened to my first dollhouse or the furniture & accessories I had for it.  My Mum & I lived with my Grandparents until I was 6 years old. I can't remember the dollhouse coming with us when we moved & have no idea what happened to it.

 

 

 

 

I think I'm going to swtich the layout of the downstairs - most often I see the ground floor room on the left as the kitchen, with the larger room with the stairs as the living room.  I think the bottom left room works better as a kitchen when it's in the version of Caroline's Home with a window on the back wall, but for this version I think it will make a better living room/snug, with the larger room being a big open plan kitchen/dining room.

For the upstairs I know there's going to be a main bedroom & bathroom, but I'm not sure what the third room will be yet & I'm not sure what the layout will be like, that will all depend on where the furniture fits best.  At the moment I think the third upstairs room might be an office/craft room.

Anyway, yet another project & lots to do.. I haven't bought any of the furniture I want to use for it yet, I have pieces in mind for the bathroom, & kitchen/dining room, but I have no idea what i'll use yet for the living room & bedroom.   

A little inspiration..

A Dolls House - I completely missed out on this when it was actually happening in 2013 (during the period I was without a computer & internet access), & only found out about it more recently, but felt very inspired when I saw some of the doll houses made for the project.

In 2013 Cathedral Group asked 20 architects & designers to design & build a dolls house.  The brief was to make a house suitable for a 750mm x 750mm plinth & include one unique feature to make life easier for a child with a disability.  The completed houses were auctioned by Bonhams in November 2013, with the £90,000 raised going to the disabled children's charity KIDS.

The designers who participated in the project were Zaha Hadid, Rogers, Stirk, Harbour + Partners, David Adjaye, MAKE, AHMM, FAT, Studio Egret West, ShedKM, dRMM, Duggan Morris, Morag Myerscough, Glenn Howells, Mae, DRDH, FCBS, Guy Hollaway, Amanda Levete, Phil Coffey, Amodels and HL, alongside other collaborators who worked with the designers & architects.  The project was inspired by Edwin Lutyens 1924 dolls house for Queen Mary which more than 1,500 artists, designers & craftspeople contributed to.  In the same spirit, Cathedral Group challenged the 20 architects & designers to work with their own artist, designer, and furniture-maker collaborators to make the end products even more special.

My particular favourites are the AHMM, Duggan Morris, & Coffey houses, followed by the Mae, SHEDKM, & Adjaye Associates houses. 

  

 

 

 

All photos from cathedralgroup.tumblr & adollshouse