Monday, April 29, 2013

Landmark Notes - Munich city guide

Just around the corner where we are living in Munich you can find the "White Rabbit's Room", a sweet and beautiful coffee shop where i found Landmark Notes a cityguide and notebook all in one.

This is the kind of city guide everyone always wanted to have. Full with wonderful tips, magic places that you normally as tourist don't even get the chance to know about (unless you know some locals) and with plenty of space to write your own notes.
While flipping through this guide you will find the places where young artists, designers and artisan craft workers present their work, nice little cafes, small interior and book shops, special vending machines and good food markets.

Another good thing in this guide is that isn't only written in German but also in English and you have enough space to keep some collectables from your trip such as cards, maps and other small papers. They really thought about everything while putting this guide together! Love it!
Take a look inside and if you want to experience something new in Munich this is definitely the guide to bring with you!

Have a great day!





























Friday, April 26, 2013

Home leave - Asia meets Europe

Yesterday I flew to Europe to spend a nice holiday with family and friends.
In total I will be here 7 weeks and I will be visiting 7 countries. Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Belgium and Portugal. Am I meeting you somewhere?





The thing about being a German-Portuguese couple, who was living before we moved to Japan in The Netherlands and in Belgium makes us already having to visit 4 countries, during our home leave.
My husband and I love Scandinavia, where we will be attending in Lund the wedding of our lovely friends Karin & Christian. And to get to Lund we have to fly to Copenhagen. Once there we couldn't miss the chance to visit this beautiful and inspiring city one more time, right?



Further I'm looking forward to see Vienna for the first time, to enjoy Lisbon and the Algarve as much as I can.
My holiday will end up in Antwerp, where i will be seeing Alicia Keys live on concert. This is definitely the cherry on top of my cake! Nice things to look forward to!



Images via Pinterest 


I guess being in Japan made me realize how lucky we are in Europe. Where every country is so close to each other with so many possibilities to visit them all.
If you want to see what we are doing here, follow my adventures @lendalia on Instagram.

Have a great day!

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

White cottage in Scandinavian Style

Isn't this 43m ² Dutch summer cottage in scandinavian style a beauty?
Now the days are getting longer and warming up, spending a long weekend or the summer holidays here, would just be perfect.

White, wood and shades of gray are the predominant colors in this house.
The light colors make it so bright and everything is particularly well thought and so functional that you almost forget that this cottage isn't that big. Love it!
Enjoy and have a great day!


















Images via Planete Deco.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Happy Monday!

Dream, create, inspire! Work is not a job!
After these great workisnotajob manifesto let me wish you a great week!

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Analogue Life - I






Last weekend I met Ian Orglas(Canadian) and Mitsue Iwakoshi (Japanese), the owners of Analogue Life in their lovely shop in Nagoya. I felt in love with their beautiful crafts right away when I first saw them featured on an interior design blog. I've been thinking about visiting the shop for a while and having to buy a wedding gift was the perfect "excuse" to finally do so.

Analogue Life is situated in Mizuho Ward, in a residential area in Nagoya and a definitely must see to everyone who lives in or visits Nagoya - and for those who like traditional Japanese products that are artisan handmade, handcrafted or produced by small studios and local manufacturers.



Analogue Life is a delight for the eyes and for the soul. As soon as you walk in you feel an imense flow of peace, giving it by the serenity of the airy space in a contemporary Japanese atmosphere.
The simplicity, the beauty and calmte that Analogue Life transmits make you feel at home right away. The idea of being able to turn your passion into work in such an environment, feels like heaven to me.
Perhaps also due to the contemporary look with Showa period architectural elements present in the building and the Japanese garden view which you are able to look at from the bright window.



Then you look around and you see even more beauty exposed on every single product.

The whole time I spent here I was wafting from one corner to an another. Once in a while I stopped and faced the window which looks into the Japanese garden, just to be able to assimilate every single detail and to enjoy that moment as much as I could.

I was delighted and so curious about the shop, the idea behind it, the concept, the webshop, the artisans and their products that I asked Mitsue if I could interview her.
And as open and friendly as Mitsue is, I could do it right away. And I did it!
You can read the interview here on the blog next week.












Ian & Mitsue

Fotos by Lendalia

Analogue Life Nagoya Shop is open Tuesday to Saturday 12-7pm.
Curious and want to go there? See how to get there Here.

Have a great weekend and if you happen to be in the neigbourhood visit it.
You gonna love it!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Happy Wednesday

Some yummy matcha tea to light up your Wednesday! Enjoy!

image: ByLendalia


Monday, April 15, 2013

Floating flower vase

This year I experienced for the first time the cherry blossom season in Japan. I can tell you it's beautiful and if you would ask me which time of the year you should visit Japan, I would definitely say Springtime.
Seeing all this beautiful cherry blossoms within a few days blooming, blowing away and even later seeing them laying on the ground made me think about all beautiful flowers you put in a vase and how lovely they look at that moment and how quickly they fade again.

That's why when I saw this beautiful flower vase, designed by Norihiko Terayama I felt right away deeply in love with it.
Floating water (2008) is a flower vase that is designed to equally appreciate beauty in the plant’s imminent death, as well as in its life, says the designer.



Don't you agree with me and think that this concept is brilliant? Two vases in one. One for the blooming flowers and the other one for the falling petals and leaves? You can even put some water in the low vase and already let some flowers floating. I love it!





Enjoy this beautiful Spring weekend, wherever you are!

Picture1,2,3

Friday, April 12, 2013

Japanese design principles


Scandinasian by Lendalia, would not exist if I haven't moved to Japan.
A few years ago I felt in love with Sweden and I started  slowly to appreciate more and more Scandinavia and all the interior design created there.
The exactly same thing is happening to me again here in Japan. I already appreciated Japanese design before, but now i start understanding more about the culture, mentality, way of life and what makes Japanese design so interesting and special.
What caught my attention first was the design simplicity.
After reading the Japanese design principles, everything, every object, every new design makes more sense to me.
Today I would like to share those principles with you.


The Zen principles of Aesthetics are derived from the Buddhism beliefs of Anicca or Impermanence where “everything, without exception, is constantly in flux, even planets, stars and gods".


THE PRINCIPLES:

KANSO (simple)
Elimination of ornate and things of simplicity by nature expresses their truthfulness. Neat, frank and uncomplicated.

FUKINSEI (imbalanced)
Asymmetry, odd numbers, irregularity, unevenness, imbalance is used as a denial of perfection as perfection and symmetry does not occur in nature.


KOKOU (austere)
Basic, weathered bare essentials that are aged and unsensuous. Evokes sternness, forbiddance, maturity and weight.

SHIZEN (natural)
Raw, natural and unforced creativity without pretence. True naturalness is to negate the naive and accidental.

YUGEN (subtle profound)
Suggest and not reveal layers of meaning hidden within. Invisible to the casual eye and avoiding the obvious.

DATSUZOKU (unworldly)
Transcendence of conventional and traditional. Free from the bondage of laws and restrictions. True creativity.

SEIJAKU (calm)
Silence and tranquility, blissful solitude. Absence of disturbance and noise from one’s mind, body and surroundings.





 




 
Pictures via Analogue Life & Source via Thinkingalaud.

Quote of the day

After a long pause it's time to continue where i just stopped.
It's never too late to start over again. So if there's something that it has to be done...Just do it!!!!

Source unknow via Darling, be darling