April Aromatics

A fellow mother at our son's Kita, Tanja Bochnig, makes 100% organic handmade perfumes under the name April Aromatics.

I have yet to smell them myself but reading the ingredients makes my nose twitch with curiosity! They sound beautiful and as heavenly as some of their names. This former model and yoga teacher likes to walk barefoot in all seasons (just like my husband), and she conjures with passion, heart and some angelic help, her sacred, scented creations.

Available through her own online shop and also at selected retailers.

Perludi design for kids

Oh my goodness, I am a little ashamed to discover that it will soon be a year since my last post! EEEEK, sorry my followers.

Well, in full parent mode now, and learning again what it feels like to have time to myself, the first post is about a wonderful little Austrian company Perludi that I discovered when I bought "Max in the Box" for our son Benedikt. He's been showing signs of wanting to sit down on a chair when he reads, and so the perfect solution presented itself.

Max in the Box is a modular set of cubic table and chair for little people. The company Perludi also makes a super looking bunk bed and then furniture for older little people too. Check them out. I am totally looking forward to sharing Max in the Box with our little man.

David Ellwand

I regret that my new-mama exhaustion forbids much posting here, but sometimes I find a way...

My husband and I were given the most stunning book for our wedding last year and it simply has to be shared: David Ellwand's book Fairie-ality Style. Using nature as his material he creates fairy dresses and furniture in a series of magical photographs. For any nature lover it is sublime, and teaches you to see the beauty around you anew.

When I need a dose of beauty I leaf through this book and my heart and spirit soar!

Semi-Domesticated

Semi-Domesticated is an initiative of Deidre Ritsche (Canada) and Anette Hansen (Norway), two friends who live in Kreuzberg Berlin. They are lovers of vintage, recycled, upcycled fashion, furniture and design, and curate (roughly) monthly Show & Sell events for young designers whose work fits this criteria, in their little boutique on Manteuffelstrasse.

Their recent Valentine's Day event was a treasure trove of vintage clothes, corsets, jewellery, naughty lamps, feather fascinators etc, showcased in a boudoir atmosphere, complete with handmade lingerie lightfitting!

The next event is Birds of Spring on 5th & 6th March. My recycled leather bird brooches are included in this next show and sell, which will take place while I am in hospital still, post birth! So, any Berliners reading, get to Kreuzberg and help bring spring to Berlin. I will look forward to seeing photos.

Manteuffelstrasse 58, 10999 Berlin-Kreuzberg

d.nik

d.nik spells "Kind" backwards, or child in German. This is the funkiest children's shop I have seen for a while! Full of beautifully selected design, toys & furniture for children, such as Scandinavian classic marimekko and American design genius Charley Harper (puzzles and counting books), it is bright, fun, playful and eco-friendly.

I fell in love with a knitted cubbyhouse, a cardboard castle, books and well, so many other things!

Wörther Strasse 14, 10405 Berlin-Prenzlauerberg
Open Mon-Fri 10.00-19.00
Sat 10.00-18.00

Cydwoq shoes

I have owned a much-admired pair of these gorgeous, handmade, ergonomic and uniquely stylish Cydwoq shoes for many years. That's one beauty - they last and last!

Available worldwide and still made by hand, using in-house vegetable-dyed leather, in a large factory in California, the Cydwoq company is a fine example of staying true to self. The founder Rafi Balouzian comes from a line of shoemakers and continued his family tradition out of his simple passion for walking and nature... and every foot deserves to walk in utter comfort and style!

http://cydwoq.tumblr.com/ (blog)

Tutti Klamotti

Goodness, I'm down to one post a month! Sorry, being pregnant and busy with little jobs for friends is taking up all my time.

I found a couple of days ago, just around the corner from home, what expectant mothers like me need: Tutti Klamotti, a 2nd hand baby shop with everything! All is in good condition and though not dirt cheap, I like the idea of recycling and reusing things... there's so much waste in the world.

So, I found some English books for our little one and a cute tee.

Emser Strasse 46,
10719 Berlin Wilmersdorf
030 - 50 36 59 24
Mon - Fri 10 - 19 Uhr

Australian Icons

So I'm not the only Aussie in Düsseldorfer Straße! In the next block is the shop Australian Icons, devoted to clever, beautiful design from Australia. Delights including Third Drawer Down tea-towels and pillowslips, recyclable shopping bags, Robert Foster's elegant designs and nifty and lovely Zaishu chairs/tables, amongst many.

I was thrilled to learn that I'm right next door, for those homesick moments...

Düsseldorfer Straße 76
10719 Berlin
030 8639 3668

Eva Blume

Our gorgeous friend Eva, with smiling eyes, is doing our wedding flowers. She has a tiny Blumen Laden (florist shop) called Eva Blume in the hip and groovy Graefekiez in Kreuzberg. As flowers are living things, you can visit her to see them (no pics on her homepage).

Eva's flowers are lovingly and artistically combined into posies, bunches of take home flowers or potted creations.

Touch wood rings

our rings are African Blackwood outside and lined with greyed Maple. The rings pictured below are examples of other possibilites amongst many!


Being true nature sprites, my husband-to-be and I chose to have beautiful wooden wedding rings (top picture) handcrafted by David Finch in Canada. He and his charming wife Nicola run Touch Wood Rings and live in a natural oasis where they are really careful to tread lightly on the Earth.

We are thrilled with our rings which are acclimatising to German air temperature at the moment from their flight over the seas, before the big day.

For the warmth and beauty of wood, and for those willing to care for their rings like they will their marriage, these are a beautiful option for an alternative wedding ring... There are many woods to choose from and inlays are possible too.
http://www.warmthofwood.blogspot.com/

Word Play

I just discovered this forward-thinking Berlin-based language school, Word Play, founded and owned by Adrian Iselin (pictured). Word Play is committed to ecological, sustainable living and teaching the English language to people & children from all backgrounds here in Germany. They run Eco Camps in English to get kids back into nature and away from computer screens, where let's face it, many of us spend more and more time these days!

This really is the future to me, companies that think like this and have as their goal: togetherness, inclusive communication, ecological awareness and fun to boot! What a great example to follow.

Baumraum

Thanks to the Mono Kultur blog I discovered this wonderful site BAUMRAUM about Treehouses! Oh, I always wanted one as a child, and I say it's never too late to dream and make that dream a reality one day. Good to know where to go when I find the tree...

Social Designer

I just entered the latest competition (Freedom) on Social Designer. It's a website that "curates and creates smart products that tune into the greater good. You can join the cause by submitting designs for our competitions, weighing in with your opinion, purchasing goods or just simply talking about them. After all, every good idea (and every good cause) starts with a conversation – the more, the merrier." Social Designer is brought to you by the New York office of Felissimo, a global company that strives to promote social responsibility through good design.

They conduct competitions to design t-shirts and tote bags to support worthy causes. Go on, have a go and enter one!! And if you could imagine my design above on a t-shirt then please vote for my design... thank you!!

Christopher Hanlon cosmetics

I was introduced to Christopher Hanlon's divine all natural, organic, incredible smelling cosmetics, established in 1994, through a wonderful healing friend of mine Paie. I honestly cannot live without my beloved face cream from Christopher, and so now that I've moved to the other side of the world, I rely on good old Australia Post or friends visiting to bring me supplies... My Australian skin feels very happy when smeared with this fresh, smooth, skin-nourishing potion that is Visage Silké. I can highly recommend his hand cream and body lotions, and the men's cosmetics are amongst the largest range available!

Contact Christopher through his site for orders and enquiries - he's more than willing to help!

A quote to inspire...

"The planet is some kind of organized intelligence. It's very different from
us. It's had 5- or 6-billion years to create a slow moving mind that is
made of oceans, and rivers, and rainforests, and glaciers. It's becoming
aware of us, as we are becoming aware of it, strangely enough.

"Two less likely members of a relationship can hardly be imagined -- the
technological apes and the dreaming planet. And yet, because the life of
each depends on the other, [we have] a feeling towards this immense,
strange, wise, old, neutral, weird thing, and it is trying to figure out why
its dreams are so tormented and why everything is out of balance."
- Terence McKenna

Bassike

I love these t-shirts, designed in the northern beaches suburb of Avalon, Sydney Australia, my home town. The Bassike girls, Deborah Sams and Mary Lou Ryan, create a basic wardrobe for men and women, and they use the highest quality organic cotton jersey available. The shapes and colours are always spot-on!

http://www.mycatwalk.com.au/c/fashion/bassike.html