Just a few new items from our dear brands …

In our next newsletter, due early june, we'll give you a midsummer special – promise!

P.A.P Leather Ipad, Iphone and laptop covers

We now offer a selection of beautiful swedish brand P.A.P:s leather goods. Simple, stylish leather covers for your tech-stuff and a great travel wallet.

A-Z Poster by Ingela

Following the nesting dolls success, Ingela Arrhenius gives ut this fancy A-Z poster!

Classic but new

A curbitz painted classic Dala horse but in both black and traditional red/orange!

Still from Att Angöra en Brygga

What is (positive) swedishness to you?
»Long bright summer nights when the sun never sets.«

Is there a shift from minimalism to more extravagance in young swedishdesign?
»Yes, there's more individual design.«

What image do you consider most representative for Sweden (from a film,perhaps, or just a nostalgic "postcard" picture ? whatever!)
»Our childhoods picture of Sweden is a mix of Saltkråkan and Fem Myror (childrens tv shows) …«

What market would you, personally, like to break in to ? and why?
»We'd like to be big in Europe. They would like us.«

What are your favourite swedish A) fine artist, B) music group /artist, C) movie, D) brand (apart from your own, of course ?)
A) »Ingegerd Råman« B) »Barbro Hörberg« C) »Att angöra en brygga« D) »Carin Wester«

Great news – we just found out that we got nominated for the Swedish Design Award (Svenska Designpriset)!

We are very proud of this, and invite you all to go and vote for Swedishness in the category 3B, "Identitet Webb" – the voting is open between 13 and 20 september – right here: Designprisets web site

Vi är nominerade i Svenska Designpriset!

Rösta på oss i kategori 3B "Identitet webb" – mellan den 13 och 20 september – här: Designpriset.se

THANK YOU FOR VOTING!

UPDATE!

We did not win – The Stadium (swedish sports gear chain) did.

We did land on a nice fourth place though (out of 15 nominated web sites) and this partly because of all your votes! SO THAN YOU ONCE AGAIN FOR VOTING!

I. NEW PRODUCTS!

II. COMPANY GIFT SERVICE

III. HOW TO … COOK THE PERFECT FRESHWATER CRAYFISH

IV. AUTUMN LOVE

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I. NEW PRODUCTS

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Wild Strawberry Soap

Pure summer beauty – all year round – from new Swedish beauty brand Bjork & Berries!

GO TO PRODUCT >>>

Woven Plastic Rugs

The perfect in- or outdoor rugs from the sisters at Brita Sweden: practical bliss!

CHECK OUT OUR SELECTION >>>

Animal Parade Puzzle

OMM Design continues making sense with this lovely 3D-puzzle!

GO TO PRODUCT >>>

Nesting Dolls

Ingela Arrhenius designed these great nesting dolls – comes in two variations:

CIRCUS DOLLS >>>

and

ANIMALS >>>

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II. COMPANY GIFT SERVICE

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To help out larger businesses with their company gifts we are now offering an extensive gift service. We work closely with suppliers and printers to make custom Boxes of Swedishness.

Of course, our main line of boxes are also available for larger quantaties!

CHECK OUT THE BOXES >>>

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III. CRAYFISH RECIPE FROM "VERY SWEDISH"

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1 kg (2.2lb) live crayfish

cooking liquor: 1 small onion

2 litres (2qt) water

50 g (3 and a half tbsp) coarse salt

1 sugarlump

1 bottle of beer, preferably dark

5-6 sprigs of crown dill

Serve with toast, västerbotten cheese or strong cheddar, beer and snaps

Peel the onion and slice. Mix all ingridients except the crayfish in a big pot with a lid. Rinse the crayfish in cold water and check that they are still living. Boil the liquid fiercely for 10 minutes. Extract the dill with tongs. Put half of the crayfish into the boiling water, cover and let boil 2-3 minutes. Remove the lid, and as soon as they float to the surface pull out the crayfish with the tongs. Repeat until all are boiled. remove the pot from the heat, put the crayfish back and let cool. As soon as the liquor is cool, put the pot in the fridge and keep overnight.

You can use the same cooking liquor for deep-frozen crayfish, but let them thaw first, then check their saltiness so you don't add to much salt. Put the crayfish in the liquor as soon as it has cooled. Frozen crayfish have already been boiled and should not be re-heated.

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IV. AUTUMN LOVE

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20% DISCOUNT ON OUR BERGMAN BOX AND COOKBOOKS! STARTING NOW!

GO GET >>>

That's all for now!

Mathias & Nina,

Swedishness.com

Midsommardans by Anders Zorn

Fourth in our 5 of The Same Questions series is Michael Elmenbeck, co-founder and creative director of Letterhead Media, that produces Bon Magazine and many fine custom titles for H&M amongst others.

What is (positive) swedishness to you?

»Freshness, clean design and good quality.«

Is there a shift from minimalism to more extravagance in young swedish design?

»Yes and no, lots of designers and brands try to experiment with more wild design but since the demand is still for minimalism they all end up there finally.«

What image do you consider most representative for Sweden?

»Inge Schiöler, Zorn, Carl Larsson... Old school painters.«

What market would you, personally, like to break in to – and why?

»Art, because art is life.«

What are your favourite swedish …

… fine artist?

»Miike Snow, The Knife.«

… music group/artist?

»Abba.«

… movie?

»Fucking Åmål.«

… brand?

»Josef Frank (even though he’s Austrian …) or Byredo.«

All pictures by Björn Studt.

Image: Jesper Waldersten (img src unkown)

Third in our series 5 of the same questions once again, to one of our beloved brands is Maria and Johan from wonderful cheeky baby clothing company The Tiny Universe

What is (positive) swedishness to you?

»This. That Swedes have managed to turn Swedish design into a brand of it’s own. Not to bad for a modest population of around nine million people.«

Is there a shift from minimalism to more extravagance in young swedish design?

»Maybe. But if so it’s probably just temporary. Swedes have been living in the cold and brutal darkness for 35 000 years, and our deep-rooted sense of style and beauty wont ever really change. At least not for another thousand years or so.«

What image do you consider most representative for Sweden?

»Well, if there was a picture of “allemansrätten” that might be a good place to start. Just imagine being allowed to put up your tent in somebody’s back yard, and not a soul would be able to do anything about it.«

What market would you, personally, like to break in to – and why?

»Almost everyone wants to be big in Japan. And everywhere else for that matter. But being a small new brand we’ve decided to start where we feel most at home. Right here in Sweden. We have some ideas though, but we’d like to keep them to our selves. Just for now anyway.«

What are your favourite swedish …

… fine artist?

Maria: »Jesper Waldersten«,  Johan: »Alex Schulman«

… music group/artist?

»Deportees«

… movie?

»Ha ett underbart liv, featuring Kjell Bergqvist«

… brand?

»Byredo. Simply for it’s timeless look and unique unisex fragrances.«

Pictured: Olle Baertling, "Davi" (1956), picture from Nordenhake

Second in our "5 Questions For One Of Our Brands" series is Catti from Tuss.

What is (positive) swedishness to you?

"It's a sense of pure and simple. Basic but not boring, more in line with getting the essence of things, 'cutting the crap' so to speak."

Is there a shift from minimalism to more extravagance in young swedish design?

"I don't think that there is a shift, I think that a lot of Swedish design has a reference to minimalism because there is a very long history of that, but at the same time I think a lot of design/designers are more experimental now and more prone to using new materials and forms that we have  not seen before."

What image do you consider to be most representative for Sweden?

"The Archipelago – endless water and islands or a landscape image with a typical red house and white details and pinetrees and birchtrees."

What market would you, personally, like to break in to – and why?

"We sell in quite a few countries abroad in both Europe, Asia, North America, but in Scandinavia tuss is not at all represented apart from our own store in Stockholm. So it would be interesting to aproach the closest neighboring countries and see what tuss does there."

What are your favourite swedish …

… fine artist?

"Olle Baertling"

… music artist?

"Olle Ljungström"

… movie?

"Fucking Åmål"

… brand?

"There are so many but maybe Acne for the whole concept"

First out in our "5 Questions For One Of Our Brands" series are Åsa Kax Ideberg och Karin L Kax from Emy Little.

What is (positive) swedishness to you?

"Swedes are ofte down to earth with a good sens of humour, thinking both locally and globally, caring about both environment and democracy"

Is there a shift from minimalism to more extravagance in young swedish design?

"In our case, yes. But generally, the minimal and the extravagant lives side by side. One doesn't have to exclude the other. Extravagance has to be complemented by somtehing toned-down to be really great."

What images do you consider most representative for Sweden?

"Breathtaking nature, pure water and fresh air. Apart from that, the royal family and design."

What market would you, personally, like to break in to – and why?

"We would like to develop more procuts for adults and market them abroad, mainly in Japan and Europe. When you're as niched as we are you need to reach bigger markets to expand. After all, we are both designers and entrepreneurs."

What are your favourite swedish …

… fine artist?

Åsa: "Ernst Billgren", Karin: "Alexander Roslin"

… music group?

Åsa: "Mustasch", Karin: "The Knife"

… movie?

Åsa: "Films by Killinggänget", Karin: "Early Jönssonligan"

… brand?

Åsa: "Odd Molly", Karin: "Tiger of Sweden"

All in favour of swedish design.

Sköna Hem

Hus & Hem

Gumtan 959

Desire to Inspire

Anne Sage

Nest Goodies

Salt, Teak & Fog

Fine Little Day

There are obviously more great style tips in these blogs – check them out, roll them around.

Cheerio.