The non slip trays is in simple and traditional design but very well-proportioned as a characteristic . The trays trays fit a variety of different needs, beside serving e.g. as display for favorite items such as pens, nail polish in beautiful packaging, pebbles and ? proceed yourself…..

Rigetta Klint

I’m sure that you all know that I love my daily cups of coffee – they are my breaks and my self-indulgence. And not least, I love beautiful and functional equipment for coffee brewing. The latest addition is this very fine one-person thermo press-coffee-maker cup from Kinto, I’ve tested it for about a week and it is highly recommended. As a curiosity the filter looks like a peace sign, hence the title of this blog post –

Peace, love and coffee could more seriously be an appeal to you to buy your coffee from a Fairtrade producer and in that way take responsibility, not only for your own needs and pleasures but also for the role you play in the big picture.

Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries to get better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to exporters as well as higher social and environmental standards. It focuses in particular on exports from developing countries to developed countries, most notably handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit, chocolate, flowers, and gold.

Rigetta Klint

La mode se démode, le style jamais. Or in other words:  Fashion will pass, but style will last, said by Coco Chanel – my favorite fashion quote, and exactly what the striped breton t-shirts are about.

It seems as if they have always been there, they have dressed fishermen, Pablo Picasso, Kirk Douglas, Jean Paul Sartre, Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe and Petrine among others.

The stripes in SLOWFASHIONhouse are from Armor Lux, one of the best known manufacturers of Breton shirts, founded in 1938 by a 31 year old Swiss-German entrepreneur.

The genuine striped Breton shirts are made from 100% pure cotton and the collection, now as then, is made in France.

Worth noticing: Apart from the enormous range of striped tops, Armor Lux is known for their ethical and ecological stance: promoting fair trade and using certified organic cotton.

Rigetta Klint

The original aluminum stove-top espresso coffee maker is a style icon from the age of Art Deco and in my opinion the best tool for making  a great tasting espresso at home.

The coffee maker is also known as caffettiera or macchinetta del caffè (literally “small coffee machine” in Italian) or “Italian coffee pot”. It was first patented by inventor Luigi De Ponti for Alfonso Bialetti in 1933.

The macchinetta is most commonly used in Europe, but also in Latin America. It has become an iconic design, displayed in modern industrial art museums around the world. The original design and many current models are made from aluminium with bakelite handles. The one featured in SLOWFASHIONhouse is from La Cafetière.

How to make espresso in a macchinetta:

• Fill the bottom chamber with cold water up to the steam release valve (overpressure plug).
• Insert the funnel filter (cone) and fill it with espresso-ground coffee, smoothing it without tamping.
• Make sure the flat round filter plate and the rubber gasket are in place underneath the central column of the upper part of the macchinetta.
• Screw the top on, but not too hard.
• Put it on the stovetop with enough heat to cover the bottom, but not so that it heats the handle.
• When you hear the macchinetta gurgling, remove it from the heat and allow it to sit for 30 seconds.

enjoy your coffee break, Rigetta Klint

Ballet flats, called Ballerina shoes, are derived from a woman’s soft ballet slipper, with a very thin heel or the appearance of no heel at all. The essence of the ballet flat has existed since at least the 16th century when men wore a similar shoe, then known as pompes. In mediaeval times, ballet flats were popular with both men and women. They only went out of fashion in the 17th and 18th centuries when the high-heeled shoe came into fashion after Catherine de Medici requested that her cobbler add two inches to her wedding shoes. Heels went out of fashion quickly after Marie Antoinette walked to the guillotine in a pair of heels.

Ballet flats took off again when Audrey Hepburn wore them with skinny jeans in Funny Face in 1957.

Ballerina shoes or ballet flats are very practical, comfortable and yet very chic and not least easy to use, and in my opinion a very good and emancipated alternative to high heels  – I mean, who can run fast in a pair of high heeled shoes!

Ballerina shoes are traditionally made from soft leather or canvas on the outside and have a cotton lining, and so are our ballerinas from Italian Anniel – beautiful  high quality nappa in dark blue, kaki brown or taupe, or suede in a beautiful dark green, all with cotton lining. The ballerinas have leather soles that are very comfortable, but you can add a rubber outsole if you prefer –

Anniel is a family business in Montebelluna near Venice in Italy which has produced sports and leasure footwear since 1976. The sport shoes and the ballerinas from Anniel are authentic Made-in-Italy creations, produced by a skilled workforce with advanced technologies in order to bring you unparalleled comfort.

Rigetta Klint

— For years, Lina Christensens’s collection has included the wonderful earrings in silver with gold and enamel, beautiful for all occasions, and for all ages.

I other words, not a new item but an item that  renews itself before my eyes each time I look at it – exactly what I love about the Windows earrings and about all other products which possess an inherent design quality which makes them long lasting –

Enamelling is the fusion of a special powdered glass to metals. The glass can be applied using different techniques, but all methods use heat to melt the powder.

In the past, I connected enamel with life-like Art Nouveau flowers in gold and enamel, a technique perfected by the jewellers of the period (and I love that period). Lina Christensen’s Windows enamel earrings are spare and modern, based on the experience of seeing light shining through a glass mosaic in a church. The enamel is burnt onto silver, and on top is yet another tiny square of 24ct gold. Square on square, the gold and silver break the light in different ways so that the colours come out differently. The scale is composed with inspiration from the colour theory of Goethe.

Rigetta Klint

Simple Life is a collection of towels from a traditional and well established Turkish producer of Spa and Hamam textiles. Sebnem Berker and her sister Meltem Berker usually present their brand with an old quote : “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”  – and we quite agree.

The towels are also called pesthamals  and are traditionally used in the turkish hamam. The process involved in taking a Turkish bath is similar to that of a sauna and ancient Roman bathing practices and serves as detoxification, cleansing not only for the body but for the mind too.

While the body and skin are getting rid of toxins, the mind and soul relaxes. It has great health advantages such as increasing the circulation, thus strengthening the immune system.

Though I love beautiful towels, I have never gone in for Hamam or Sauna. But when I wrote about the sauna from Add a Room in our Home Sweet Sweden Magazine I became curious – and I think that next time I go to Paris I’ll follow a recommendation and go to Turkish bath.

The collection From Simple Life is obviously useful for Hamam and Sauna as well as for your bathroom. The terrycloth and the honeycomb give a luxurious back to basics feeling, while the simple peshtamals are ideal also for traveling – they are thin but absorb water as fast as a towel and dry much faster. But the peshtamals can also be used as tablecloths and napkins – I love the small ones with the blue stitch as napkins when using the indigo blue Fauta Cloth from Zaâma Esprit Nomade as a table cloth.

Rigetta Klint

When reading our brand new MAGAZINE  turn on the music in the buttom menu and listen to: Dream (A Good Day, 2008) by South Korean Priscilla Ahn, I just love this song and it’s an obvious choice as an apropos to our young issue.

Growth emerges as the central theme of Priscilla Ahn’s album When You Grow Up, a stunning 12-song set produced by Ethan Johns that exhibits Ahn’s profound growth as an artist and a songwriter. Ahn wrote or co-wrote all but one of the album’s songs, threading a loose storyline through life’s ups and downs, her angelic voice narrating the experiences through which we grow.

enjoy listening and reading, Rigetta Klint

Louise Breyen is new in SLOWFASHIONhouse, read about her and her “Tribute to Paper” in MAGAZIN issue 11 apparing May 9

Rigetta Klint