Sisaret is the Finnish word for sisters. This print is dedicated to Esa’s late mother and all other sisters. In the 60’s and 70’s there was an unwritten rule in some churches that women shouldn’t cut their hair but wear it in a topknot (pingstknut in swedish), the tighter the better. To get the right feel for this print we took pictures of timber in the Finnish countryside. These are the first prints of Sisaret and there is more to come! If you would like to carry one of these rare beauties, you find them at Supermarket or Signerat.

Camp meeting in the late 60’s, Finland.

A few years a go we bought some purple poppy seeds to spice up our cooking. After a while we found out that some bugs also seemed to like them so we thought “let’s give the poppy seeds to the birds”. It was in the middle of the winter and they could need some energy. We threw them in a flower box, but the birds weren’t interested at all. We forgot about the poppy seeds, but in the spring time they all of a sudden started to grow. The flowers have embellished our balcony all summer and now we have new poppy seeds which we can plant next year, if we haven’t used them in the kitchen.

We just got back from a great week in Copenhagen biking around Vesterbro, Fredriksberg, Nørrebro, Østerbro, Christianshavn, Amager, Ørestad and the City area taking 1165 pictures, 365 of these will soon be urbnCal 2011. It is really one of the best cities to bike in and we learned that the Copenhagens bike 1,2 million kilometers daily! Since we had our two kids with us (aged 1 and 3) we also spent time in some nice playgrounds and discovered another dimension of the city. The city planning and the architecture seems to be on the forefront.

We have been working in a bigger studio at Västberga industrial park for two weeks, where we tried out some new prints based on sketches from our sketchbooks and photos from the Finnish countryside. The two weeks flew by and now we have left with new prints in our screens and our sketchbooks filled with new ideas! The sun was shining and some of the days ended up with a refreshing swim. You can see pictures from the process at our Facebook-page and sooner or later the finished prints will show up here.

After two days in Helsinki we spent the rest of the week in a cottage without electricity and running water. We really enjoyed the contrast!

Right now we are very much into annual rings and to our delight the neighbors had cut down some forest, so we spent some time taking pictures and fighting the mosquitoes.

We just got home from a trip to Finland, the first stop was Helsinki, a really nice city.
We walked around in the design district and of course we noted some nice bicycles and numbersplates (and did some PR).  Maybe urbnCal 2012 Helsinki…

We say goodbye to this years exhibition at Konstfack (University College of Arts, Crafts and Design) in Stockholm, but it is still possible to get a glimpse of it here.

One part we specially remember is Care for Cows, if we keep the cows indoors at least we can care. One other is Margot Sucksdorff Barolos work which is about “production” and its complexity. And finally Christian Brandt an his alphabet.

Good luck to all the talented students!

Now is the best time for picking stinging nettles! (at least in sweden).

Stinging Nettle has a flavour similar to spinach when cooked and is rich in vitamins A, C, D, iron, potassium, manganese, and calcium.

We were out picking some this week and made a fantastic soup in the evening.
Just remember to have a pair of gloves with you when you are picking.