At this time of year you can't enter a supermarket without tripping over piles of chocolate advent calendars. For a more traditional way of marking of the days until Christmas, invest in a Scandinavian Advent Candle from John Lewis.
Tag: Swedish
Mr Perswall 1960s-style ballad mural
Here's something for your walls that's a bit more interesting than your average floral wallpaper: the sixties psychedelic style of Mr Perswall's Ballad mural.
Clover coasters from Pryl design
These clover coasters from Pryl design are almost too eyecatching for resting your cup of tea on.
Designed by Julia Nielsen for the Swedish company, the classic four leaf clover is transformed into a psychedelic design which looks like it has been drawn from the late 1960s, rather than 2011. The clover design comes in three eye-popping colours, all printed onto triangular laminated birchwood – perfect for cheering up a dull table or desktop.
A set of three costs £12.
Buy them from Hunkydory Home
Ingela city prints from Lagom
Ingela Arrhenius has been a frequent visitor on this site recently, from her alphabet print to her dish cloths design. However, how can we resist showing you more when she keeps coming up with designs as attractive as these city prints, available from Lagom?
She's produced prints, illustrating the delights of three of our favourite European cities. Each shows some of the city's landmarks and unique charms, as seen through the eyes of a Swedish illustrator and executed in her retro style. The baguettes, macaroons and Mona Lisa of Paris is shown in the print above, while you can check out London's pubs, punks and city gents over the page. The third city? Some Swedish style courtesy of Stockholm.
Each print is limited to 200 and cost £45.
See them online
Ary Circular Alabaster tray from Hus & Hem
Hus & Hem have just ordered in a great selection of Ary trays – the classic range of patterned birch wood trays that have been made in Sweden since the Fifties. The selection includes patterns from the Arts and Crafts movement and Liberty fabric designs but it was this circular Albaster tray that caught my eye.
It's another take on the 70s-style folk flowers that are just about everywhere at the moment. This is made interesting by the playful patterns created with the black outline against the white of the tray. Indeed in their product blurb, Hus & Hem say it reminds them of another retro classic – the Spirograph!
The tray costs £21.50
Pre-order it online
Ingela P Arrhenius nesting circus dolls
We've previously shown you the retro-style artwork of Ingela P Arrhenius and here, with this set of nesting circus dolls, her colourful designs are translated into 3D.
The set is a new take on Russian nesting dolls with five figures that each fit inside each other. The difference here is that they're all based on circus characters – including the lion tamer, the lion and the clown – from one of her prints. Made from wood, the resulting toy has a very traditional feel and is almost too nice to hand over to the kids.
Each set costs £18.95.
Buy the set from Hus and Hem
