When you start learning about design you can start to see the difference between a design piece and it's copy. It's not always easy though and at other times very obvious but one decides it's not important. The main reason one chooses the copy generally is the price. It's simply a choice.
I recently bought the coat hanger from Tiger for just 4 euros. I couldn't resist simply because I had seen the Charles Eames version live for the first time earlier that day and saw that it cost 250 euros. After having bought the Tiger coat hanger I went into Lagerhaus and saw that they also have a copy, (that I thought looked much worse than the Tiger one) for 14 euro. So I was very happy with my 4 euro budget coat hanger.
When it comes to the Moooi lamp, well it's a gem! It is truely beautiful. BUT I decided to make my own! I bought 400m (yes you need all of it) of plastic string used for wrapping presents, a yoga ball (that can obviously be cleaned and re-used) and paper machè glue. It took about 2 days all in all once I had everything I needed. A few hours to wind the string and a day for it to dry. Anyway, I'll do a detailed blog entry about that later on!
When I was in Malmö, Sweden this Christmas I did a bit of shopping and had a nice browse in the shops. I have to say that design is much more accessible in Sweden. With that I mean that it's much easier to find design stores in the center of town or even normal furniture stores where they might sell special items. Also it's much easier to find cheaper copies of things, making design accessible to everybody.
My favorite design store in Malmö is Olsson and Gerthel on Engelbrektsgatan just behind Lilla torg. They have the latest fashion design and furniture-wise. They only have the originals and as expected everything is quite expensive. But it's a delight to just stroll through the shop and get inspired!
Formargruppen just across the street is a shop/gallery with a lot of handmade and unique items. They have a lot of pottery, sculptures, glasses etc. which is always nice to look at .
Form and Design Center just off Lilla Torg is a must. They have 3 floors of Gallery space, shop and café. You can find furniture, kids toys, unique fabric, glasses, cuttlery, etc. Obviously it always changes from month to month and always have some great gems to look at.
I was also pretty impressed by Bolagret. They have affordable furniture, carpets, picture frames etc. I have to say what they had in the store was very "up to date": i.e. COLOURFUL!
I was also at Charlotte Trend which had a few gems. One of which was this lamp by Herstal which can be found in various colours.
The herstal lamp for 399kr at Charlotte trend on Balzaargatan.
I loooved these playfull clocks that I found at Olsson and Gerthel on Engelbrektsgatan!
Also these lovely scandinavian chairs and table were found at Olsson and Gerthel.
Lovely wooden lamp that looks very scandinavian and solid at Form och Design center (behind lilla Torg).
A lovely black wooden table at Form och Designcenter!
These are one of many copies of the Random Light by Moooi that can be found. This particular one is at Bolagret and can be found in 2 different sizes. The biggest one is 899kr and the smaller one was 699kr I believe. They also sell the huge lightbulbs and the fabric electric rope in case you want to make your own (like I did.. instructions here).
Some colourful storage boxes at Bolagret (gågatan).
The Sigrid stool at Bolagret for 299. I thought it looked very cute.
Some of the different colours of the Sigrid stool.
A bench sold at Bolagret.
The bench and folding table sold at Bolagret. I talked about these kind of tables in an older entry "I always thought you were odd". Here they sell the sawhorses for 179kr and the benchtops for 695 or 895kr depending on the size. Obviously if one wants to make this kind of table by themselves they can buy the sawhorses in most hardwear store (such as Hornbach where I think they only cost 149kr, or Ikea for 249kr) and then put any benchtop on (you can even use an old door that you take of it's hinges when you need an extra table!).
