On May 4th at SIR Stage 37 in New York, celebrities, fashion elite, and media gathered to celebrate the future of fashion at Fashion Loves Animals hosted by and benefiting Farm Sanctuary. The event also honored VAUTE Couture President and Creative Director Leanne, Mai-ly Hilgart, who has been hailed “the rebel of Fashion Week” by CNN.

The evening started off with cocktails and vegan food created by Jay Asafa which was accompanied by music by DJ Princess Superstar. The main highlight, the runway show, featured some of the hottest labels in vegan fashion including Love is Mighty, Brave GentleMan, and Matt & Nat. Hilgart was actually the first to showcase an all-vegan label at New York Fashion Week with her Vaute Couture brand.

After the show, an action was held where guests were able to bid on prizes such as VAUTE Couture pieces, a gift basket by the Body Shop, and the opportunity to have Chef Jay Astafa visit your home to cook for you and friends. All the proceeds went to the Farm Sanctuary and their amazing efforts to rescue and protect animals.

It was a very inspiring evening to see guests come together for a common cause and to hear the motivating speech by Hilgart regarding the launch of her already successful VAUTE Couture line. The future of fashion is quite exciting.

Photos: Farm Sanctuary Media Relations via Max Gordon Photography

Swedes can now enjoy luxury hacks for IKEA

A new kind of home design company opened its doors this week in Sweden allowing people to revamp their existing IKEA furniture to look like a higher priced designer furniture. Introducing Superfront, a company who now offers “luxury hacks” for IKEA furniture frames. Their product line offers fronts, handles and legs for all of Ikea’s existing cabinet bases. Scandinavian designer furniture costs easily 5x or even 10 times the price of IKEA furniture, and now with Superfront people are able to get the custom look with Superfront’s several options for the price that may double the IKEA furniture price but still is way under the high street designer prices. All of the Superfront products are made in Sweden.

The concept is quite brilliant allowing you to revamp your old IKEA furniture or get a custom look for less. Superfront has 9 fronts, 8 handles, 8 legs and 12 different colors to choose from making it maybe difficult to choose from but easy to get a custom look. The prices are inexpensive, for example the blue “hack” above with sides, legs and handles is around 500 dollars, and for less than half of that you can upgrade a furniture with new legs and handles to get a custom look.

I love the idea of Sweden-made high quality products for cheaper but the concept of luxury IKEA hack is still a little shaky to me. I love the idea for IKEA kitchens or wall closet systems that otherwise might be very expensive to replace, however I have owned enough many PAX-closet systems to know that they might not be worth a makeover, and investing in a better quality might still be the most cost effective hack in the long run.

There is no denying though – the gorgeous look and relatively inexpensive price will make Superfront difficult to resist for IKEA and Scandinavian design fans.

New from Finland: Kauniste

I’m so excited to share design news from Scandinavia that are not from Sweden, but from Finland. Kauniste is a new multi-designer brand from Finland, and their shop in Helsinki was one of the hottest new gift shopping spots in the city for the Holidays I hear.

Kauniste was created by uniting young Scandinavian graphic designers and craftsmen to combine fresh design and traditional screen printing skills and with emphasis on using eco friendly materials, for example use water based, solvent free inks, and linen mix fabric as the linen makes the fabric durable, and it absorbs well moisture and dries fast. Linen leaves practically no surplus waste in production, and it’s qualities only improve with time. The ecological approach is seen in everything Kauniste does – if there is access fabric from production, they will just create a new product with the access fabrics. This idea has been used by Finnish Marimekko for centuries, one of their stable products, the small coin purses were born from scrap material and the idea of using it all.

You can shop at the Kauniste products in their webshop. My favorites are the pillow cases and the trays.

Editor’s note: welcome Jeroen Gulickx as our new guest contributor telling about a new art concept GH, Editions, and about exciting new trends in art and art collecting.

Why is Art such an interesting subject of discussion?

There is no handbook to art. If there was, the value of art would be nowhere close to where it is today. Still I would like to define art, because it is not just a category any more, it is an industry, an investment and it’s here to stay.

Many have tried describing art but always come back to art history, principles of design and appreciation, as in facts. Your relevance to the beauty of art can only come from your own findings or thoughts.

The word on the street is not so much about what art actually is, it is more about maybe a painting or an artist and the meaning of the piece. But the meaning is so different for every person, in fact that might just be the reason why it is so interesting and inspiring to discuss art. But even though the newspapers are highlighting art as an investment rather than a bunch of company shares, it is still not recognized as such. Only a few, perhaps a fortunate few, realize that the return on investment of art is potentially safer and larger than shares or bonds.

Again of the subject, still no definition of art. But we are getting closer. We know it can be an investment. We also know that it means something different for everybody including the artist. Meaning is a great term, the core of what the description of art or the artist would be. So why don’t I try, with meaning, a desire to convey meanings, a meaning to life a meaningful illustration of a subject or belief, and can I add to that a self-rewarding activity and means to express.

Art can and will be sold on and on, from individual to individual. Everybody can and probably will own a piece of art, a poem, a piece of furniture, a sculpture, a painting, a photograph, music and we can go on forever. You need to treasure that, tell people about it, or simply keep it as your unspoken love, or well-kept secret.

GH, Editions – Art becomes personal

What are the trends to follow, one might wonder. It clearly comes back to meaning. That is exactly why a unique art concept has been discovered, called GH, Editions. A US and Sweden based team of art collectors and admirers, who started their own publishing company in 2012. So is this art books?

It clearly is books, or is it not? It is a collection of art books with work from highly recognized artists, musicians, photographers, architects, and a small story of their life, how they see meaning. One new limited edition is published each month. The two artists already part of the collection are photographers Arthur Meehan and Jacob Felländer. The first three pieces in the collection were books with photography by Arthur Meehan, and the newest limited edition by Jacob Felländer will be available on December 6th, 2012,

GH, Editions is art and limited art, just like a chair or a painting. The limited books are a collection, they will not be reprinted and owning one will make any person proud, whether you want to reveal your precious possession or keep it entirely for yourself. GH, Editions takes pride in having the most incredible line up, revealed only when the contents of the art book are entirely sublime. And in line with the exact meaning of the artist.

Finnish design company Artek turned 77 years old earlier this month, and one of the iconic Artek products, which achitect Alvar Aalto designed even before forming Artek, the “Stool 60″ turns 80 years next year. To celebrate this mark in time, designer Nao Tamura created this special version of the Stool 60 to be auctioned at the Design Trust’s 2012 Art+Design Benefit Auction on November 7th at Ralph Pucci International in New York City.

The stackable stool 60 was created in 1933 by Alvar Aalto represents the quintessence of functionalist furniture design. The simple idea behind this now-classic stool is based on three bent legs and a round seat. Nao Tamura gave this classic stool a new old look – old meaning that the seat portion looks like a cut tree with the year rings showing representing the 80 years since the designing of the stool.

Contained within a single tree is its unabridged chronicle Year by year, never skipping a beat, it records its history slowly. Some lines speak of seasons of plenty, while others cry of famine. The size of the rings are never the same. Each engraving bears witness to battles waged in the name of survival. To observe such is to humble ourselves to nature’s love of life.

This celebration was created by layering upon the chair’s beautiful geometric shape, a complex and organic graphic of life. My hope is that the Artek “Stool 60″ will evoke the bounty of nature as seen by the passage of 80 years of time.

Nao Tamura

Artek – Finnish Design Supremacy

Artek was founded in 1935 by four young idealists, Alvar and Aino Aalto, Maire Gullichsen and Nils-Gustav Hahl. The business idea of the company was “to sell furniture and to promote a modern culture of habitation by exhibitions and other educational means.” The founders of Artek advocated a new kind of environment for everyday life. They believed in a grand synthesis of the arts and wanted to make a difference in town planning as well as architecture and design.

The core of the Artek product range consists of Alvar Aalto’s furniture and lighting pieces. Today Artek is looking to extend the range and for example acquired the rights to Ilmari Tapiovaara’s furniture collection. Artek also continues to work in close collaboration with prominent international architects, designers and artists, such as Eero Aarnio, Shigeru Ban, Naoto Fukasawa, Harri Koskinen, Juha Leiviskä, Enzo Mari and Tobias Rehberger.

Here are the top 10 modern design products for home that I like and recommend.
Did you read What is great design and why it matters, where I also took a few pictures of some of my favorite design products and objects in my home? Here is a better look into products mentioned and a few more to present you top 10 great design products I recommend. These products stand the test of time, they are timeless and modern at the same time, and something you can proudly leave for your kids too. The Barcelona chair is really the only product here that is outrageously expensive, and you can find the Barcelena chair, the Eames chair and the Le Klint pendant as reproduction copies for much less. Of course the quality isn’t the same then.

Top 10 Modern Design Products for Home

1. Eames Molded Plastic Dining Chair with Wood Dowel Base by Charles and Ray Eames ($399) was originally designed in metal, and entered as a prototype in MoMA’s 1948 International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design. The chair evolved with the times and today the Eames chairs are made of recyclable polypropylene. The chair is beautiful but you truly understand why it’s great design once you sit on it. This chair is my personal choice also as a desk chair for every day work.

2. Le Klint Pendant 172 ($519.75) was designed by Danish Poul Christiansen in 1969 and it stands the test of time as a timeless design that works in any space.

3. Alvar Aalto vase is probably one of the most iconic Finnish design objects designed by the most famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, and it comes in several colors and sizes, but what reminds the same is the iconic rounded shape. A design classic that can be used in almost any room of your home, great gift item and timeless beautiful design.

4. Juicy Salif Citrus squeezer by Philippe Starck for Alessi ($100) is one of the most iconic products by Italian Alessi, and it was deisgned by Philppe Starck who originally drew it on a napkin on his vacation in Italy in the 1980′s. Like freshly squeezed orange juice on the mornings? Just put your glass under this one and squeeze your oranges directly into your glass. When not in use this makes an impressive design object in your kitchen or dining room.

5. Barcelona Chair by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ($5,068) was originally designed to serve as seating for the king and queen of Spain already in 1929 and it has become of the design classics. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed the Barcelona Chair and Stool to furnish his German Pavilion at the International Exhibition in Barcelona. The Barcelona chair is a great example of modern design that is easy to decorate around with, whether your taste is minimalistic and modern or traditional.

6. Block Lamp by Harri Koskinen designed for Design House Stockholm ($129) is one of the newest products in this line up. Harri Koskinen designed the Block Lamp in 1996 and it’s been a design classic ever since winning several design awards. The lamp that looks like a light bulb inside a chunk of ice is a design object and a functional lamp that doesn’t just light up your room, but also your smile.

7. Unikko print designed by Maija Isola for Marimekko in 1964 is one of the most copied prints of our times. The cheerful poppy print comes in several colors, but the original red and white still reminds the most popular. The print is utilized in hundreds of different products over the years. One of my favorites is the coin purses, which are made from the left over fabric when other products are produced. Another true icon of sustainable design.

8. Lempi glasses by Matti Klenell for Iittala (starting $32 for set of two) is a new product for 2012, and bound to be a design classic used for years to come. It took years of designing to create a beautiful glass that is multifunctional in a way that it can be used in everyday use for milk and water, but also for wine in special occasions, and on the top of that you can stack for easy storage even in smaller kitchens. This is my use-everyday-for-everything glass.

9. Stelton Vacuum Jug by Erik Magnussen ($69.95) is a coffee thermos, yes, but it still stands out in its sleek form, and functional design as one of the modern design must haves. You don’t have to open the top to get coffee out, no dripping on your table cloth when you pour the coffee, just like a coffee thermos should work.

10. Tripp Trapp Highchair by Stokke ($214.17) is the only chair you will have to buy your kid. On the top – it’s one of the most inexpensive things you’ll ever buy your baby considering how many times it will be used. My 12-year old daughter still uses hers daily – now it has just moved from dining room to accompany her school desk. The Tripp Trapp highchair was designed to last from a baby to grandparent and grow as the baby grows, and it’s a family heirloom for sure.

What did I miss? What is your modern design favorite?

What is great design and why it matters

We often tend to look at trends in home decorating and fashion, and often confuse pretty with good design.

To me there is only one type of great design: it’s functional that serves a purpose, it lasts for a long time thus it’s high quality, and it is beautiful to look at.

If any of these elements is missing, it’s not great design to me.

When it comes to price tag of great design, yes, I admit, it sometimes is expensive to purchase, but it actually is often inexpensive in use. With high quality comes long term usability and with timeless design that goes beyond trends and fashion, you can have something that you will use for years to come. Great design matters for ecological reasons – we buy (and consume) less when we buy long lasting design. Great design matters for aesthetic reasons – we feel better when we are surrounded by beauty and what we like to look at.

Let me give you an easy example. The thought of buying over a $200 highchair for a baby is ridiculous to me, but when it’s great design, hey, I’ll take three please! One for each one of my kids. High chair that’s great design will grow with my child, is beautiful to look at and will go from dining table to office table and my kid will take her chair to college when she moves out and her kid will sit on it too. What a bargain!

Surround yourself with beautiful design

I was invited to participate to a fall refresh campaign with Dyson, and do some design spotting this week. I don’t personally own a Dyson Hot + Cool fan heater, but the Dyson Hot + Cool fan heater is a great example of great design. It’s high quality, it heats the room in winter and cools the air in summer for year-round use. Easy to clean and it looks awesome – so it was a no brainer for me to jump on the opportunity to work with Dyson, and do some “design spotting” and share some of my favorite design objects.

I have been out and about and taking some photos of design objects that I like and which would be perfect for refreshing my fall. I’ll feature some of the design items I’ve been spotting next week, but today I’d like to share some of my favorite design objects from my home. The photos are just my Instagram photos because I didn’t want to do any extra styling nor extra photoshopping – unedited from my home, because great design stands out even when I haven’t vacuumed, styled and propped and photoshopped.

When everyday items and things we use are not just functional but beautiful – you don’t need a whole lot of decorative items in your home. Let the great design of the furniture and the everyday items like lamps and light fixtures you have shine.

I admit, as a nomad who moves every 6 months to 3 years (yup, 3 years has been my record of living longest in the same place the past 18 years), I haven’t always decorated my home the way I would like to. We used to at least buy our houses and I would renovate and remodel them and make them how I wanted. Now we just rent. When we moved to a yet another rental house the past spring, I wanted to make this place look great with minimal effort.

We sold everything when we moved from New York, and we are leaving Sweden in a couple of years, and I don’t even know which country we will move to. But it didn’t stop me from bringing great design home, I just did it with minimal effort.

And you know what – sometimes that’s all we need: minimal effort to make our homes look beautiful. Often less IS more, and it is better to buy less of things you really need and want than surrounding yourself with clutter.

Our walls are white, our floor is wooden. It’s all very simple and no frills. Yet when we have surrounded our home with beautiful design objects that are beautiful look at, it has been quite easy to make a beautiful home that I like to spend time in, and I can feel good about. In fact, when picking only a few selected designer items and letting them shine our home can easily to give the illusion of being a well decorated.

We own less and less each move, and many of our furniture even now is rented (oh how I’ll miss you rented piece of a Barcelona chair), and I am very selective what I buy nowadays, and that’s why I much rather buy less but things I really like.

What can I say, even my design dishes just make me happy when I eat my breakfast on the mornings. What does great design mean to you? Are you refreshing your home with some great design this fall?

Fall refresh with Dyson

This post is brought to you by Dyson Hot + Cool fan heater. Dyson Hot + Cool™ fan heaters use Air Multiplier™ technology to provide the fastest even room heating in winter and smooth cool air in summer for year-round use. There are no fast-spinning blades or visible heating elements, so it’s safe and easy to clean. Learn more at www.dyson.com/hot+cool.

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Dyson via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Dyson.

Ivanka Trump’s Apartment Photos in ELLE Decor

The latest issue of the ELLE Decor has a feature of the real estate mogul’s daughter’s, Ivanka Trump’s, New York City apartment. The 10-room apartment on Park Avenue is only a short walk away from the Trump-tower and Ivanka’s work. Read the entire story at ELLE Decor and what Ivanka said about the long renovation and decorating the apartment and see the interior design details and products. The interior designer Ivanka worked wit is Kelly Behun.

Compared to several other Park Avenue and celebrity homes I think Ivanka’s home looks more like something “normal” people live in. The dining room and the bedroom look very New York, but the den and living room, and the nursery has features that you could see in suburbia as well. The home is done very tastefully, it’s an elegant mix of sophistication and modern minimalism and plays with colors nicely, and it definitely gives inspiration for us normal folks too – in a way that our wallets can actually handle too.

The living room was designed by Kelly Behun, and my favorite is the light fixture is by Downtown – it gives a nice industrial addition to otherwise very elegant room.

In the dining room I love the painting and the bold mix of gold and black contrasting with the Mies van der Rohe white and silver chairs.

The silver tone wall mural is absolutely gorgeous! And again great contrast with the table. This is a great example to try something bold – but yet get a very sophisticated look when staying with a more calming color palette.

This bedroom is simply stunning and I want to copy it! I wish I could also see her view from the window!

The living room looks the easiest to copy and the look is something that you could easily move from New York to any cul-de-sac.

Photos: Eric Piasecki for ELLE Decor

Whether you dream of traveling to London, or want to remember your last trip to London, or are one of the lucky ones to call London home, here are several amazing London illustrations for you to enjoy.

Many of these are on sale as posters or other products, a few just for inspiration and for eye candy here at Skimbaco Lifestyle. When you are thinking of decorating your home with the London vibe, remember to check out the post about decorating with Union Jack.

Limited edition London 2012 poster by Have a Gander.

London Olympics art poster by Dieter Braun

Greetings from London greeting cards by Hello Lucky Press.

This is by Esther Aarts and also available as a post card.

More London Illustrations Eye Candy

Monster Riot

Another one from Monster Riot

A visitor’s guide to London for the year 1963. Presented free with the compliments of the Barclays Group of Banks. Cover design by “>E.W. Fenton, A.R.C.A.

Charlotte Trounce for Jamie magazine

Midsummer fest in Scandinavia

Midsummer, or midsommer in Sweden and Juhannus in Finland, is one of the biggest Holidays in these two Nordic countries, right there with Christmas in popularity. Midsummer occurs on the weekend closest to June 24; midsummer eve is always a Friday. It’s a great time to travel to Sweden or Finland and experience it – but be warned – most of stores and businesses are closed in Sweden and Finland during Midsummer, giving employees time off. You’ll be better off renting a summer cottage for your stay – you can start booking now for next year, that’s how popular the summer cottages are at this particular weekend.

Many cultures recognize midsummer, but people especially in Sweden and Finland celebrate the longest day of the year (especially since the sun never sets during summer in northern parts of Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Norway). The typical way to spend Midsummer is to have a huge party in your summer cottage and enjoy food, drinks, dancing, singing and just hanging out with friends (read here how to host a Scandinavian style summer party). Cities empty as people go to the country side, but you can also find people celebrating in some city squares and parks.

A key tradition in Sweden is creating and raising a midsummer pole covered in fresh flowers and birch leaves. Midsummer crowns are made, too. Pole dancing has an entire different meaning in Sweden, and the entire family dances around the Midsummer pole. And you’re lucky if someone is also playing accordion or acoustic guitar.

In Finland going to Midsummer sauna is a must do tradition and they also make birch branch bouquets, which are used in the sauna – you use them to hit in your back with and it’s good for your circulation and the scent of birch also makes the sauna experience nicer. In Finland you can see birch branches used to decorating the front doors and welcoming people in. Finns sing and dance little less, but they never skip the Midsummer sauna and swim in the lake or the sea.

Everyone dines on fresh strawberries, pickled herring and boiled new potatoes with dill and sour cream or butter. The BBQ grill is in constant use for meats, sausages, fish and fresh veggies. In Sweden the elderflower drinks and schnapps flow freely and in Finland the drink menu consists of juices, beer and vodka.

Midsummer isn’t anything without magic, love and romance. The old tradition is doing some type of magic, usually naked, to either see your future spouse, predict your marriage or just simply get married faster. If girls pick seven different kinds of flowers and put them under their pillow, they’ll dream about their future partner – nowadays boys do this too, and kids join the flower picking fun. If you roll around naked in the fields on the Midsummer morning, you’ll have a great marriage. If you look into a pond water (naked) during the Midsummer night, you’ll see a reflection of your future spouse – and so on. They are all sorts of old magical believes regards romance and Midsummer night, but the most common still is to pick the flowers under your pillow. All sorts of magic is believed to happen on the Midsummer night, and it is believed to have fertile powers as well. But I still doubt it’s the magical powers that result that there are more babies born 9 months after Midsummer than in any other month in Scandinavia. It probably has more to do with the running around naked.

Join IKEA for Midsummer Buffet

Enjoy the traditional Swedish Midsummer meal in the IKEA buffet on June 15, 2012. An all-you-can-eat Swedish buffet is served at your local IKEA for $2.49 for kids under 12, and $9.99 for adults. Seating is limited, so hurry in to get your tickets. (Hours vary by store. Midsummer buffet not available at IKEA Houston.) IKEA Food of course is perfect for stocking up with Swedish food items to create the feast at home as well.

Disclosure: This content was provided by the courtesy of IKEA and we wanted to share it with you because we thought you’d like it and we love shearing anything Scandinavian and Swedish. The sauna photos are from our friends at Weranna’s. Nobody paid us, we just love and live this stuff. If you liked it too – why don’t you subscribe to our feed to get more goodness like this.