Olive Loves Alfie - London

We are very exited to receive a fresh press material from children’s store Olive Loves Alfie in London.  

9 years ago they opened their first store dedicated to kid’s world and last year they have launched a new store Olive Loves Alfie East in London's newest postcode E20. Perching on the edge of the Olympic park they have found an urban idyll. The store is run by interior design lover Ashlyn Gibson , creative director of two interior books. I presented you one of them here:  Creative childrens spaces. 

Don’t you think our Rafa-kids R toddler bed look so representative and beautiful ?   If you are in London, now is the chance to see and touch our furniture in this inspiring space. We could not be more proud. Please have a look for more details:  Olivelovesalfie. 

Les enfants du design magazine - Summer 2015

Rafa-kids is glad to have a long relation with Les Enfants du Design store in France.  We received a first letter from Sophie Edeine (owner of the store) almost 3 years ago, when Rafa-kids was just a few months old brand. We are thankful to receive support from such a beautiful store. During these years there were up and downs -  believe me, but that’s a part of growing together. 

Yesterday I received a link to their new

  “ Les Enfants du Design “ magazine - Summer 2015

and skim through pages with excitement. The “ Les Enfants du Design “  is such a unique place to get inspiration and to shop design objects for our kids.  In the 1st issue of the magazine ( which is now only in French - but in 10 days will be also in English  ) we can meet the lovely family of Sophie and Thomas Edeine and their 3 kids. The room of little April is just so absolutely adorable. I just wished to see their whole house! Interviews , well selected design and contemporary products for kids…with a personal and well curated hand of Sophie. Well done! 

Lloyd Industrials Rotterdam

Last week we bought two amazing lamps for our house. Yes, I am very proud of our new treasures… For the last four years I had to look at the hanging light bulb above my working space and in our library … but, you know, after having second child we had a bit different priorities. Now we are slowly getting back on track, fixing small things in the house that we never had time for before. It makes me very happy….

Coming back to these amazing industrial lamps. We got them from Lloyd Industrials, a starting business from our neighbourhood.  We both have our studio in the Hofbogen Rotterdam. All the lamps are coming from a factory in France and are brought back into their glory by hand. All the hard work is made with respect for details and high quality of the original, industrial design. Co-founder René has such a pasion and enthusiasm for his work, that taking these lamps to our house was definitely made with no doubts. 

TAK, a day in Copenhagen at Merci

Going to Paris is always a good idea to me….   

January is even more special ( maybe not the best time of the year for the cold rainy weather) but if you are in furniture / interior design sector or children's fashion industry, you can catch with two important shows :  M&O and Playtimeparis.  

At Merci store, till 7th of February there is a “TAK, a day in Copenhagen exhibition” …and you have to believe me, how much I regret I didn’t plan such a trip this year! well…we still can see some pictures, right? What is the exhibition about ? “ Furniture and objects of today rooted in a democratic culture of beauty and good desing.” 

A selection of 100% Denmark: coffee, beer, biscuits, flour and juice of all kinds come together on the shelves of the Merci store. Not forgetting of course the must Danish...DESIGN. I really like the part of the exhibition with the black desks in a modern school set up. Could you imagine such a class room ? 

Absolutely love the glass!  - you have to see how it is made here : silostudio

Hand Made / High tech: by Studio SILO created by Attica Aparicio and Oscar Wanless. 

photo’s ©Francis Amiand

Balouga kids store in Paris

I can’t believe I made my first post about children's shop in Paris called Balouga in September 2011! That’s a long time ago. I visited the store and really liked the collection, which is in short : an heaven for kids' design lovers. The only thing I missed at that time was a bit  more organized interior.  How great is to see now, that the shop changed the location and the space is much bigger and finally all the beautiful design product got some air and are well exposed . Congratulation Balouga . 

photo credits: Balouga lookbook, October 2014, styling C. Huguet © Julie Ansiau

Instagram find - kid's store Tea and Kate

“ .....I would like to think of Tea and Kate as a small emporium selling the best stuff! I have sourced collections from around the world, many of whom manufacture their goods in the traditional way and to their original designs. The products i source are often a little bit eccentric, sometimes indulgent and always charming but mostly inspirational.(....) Tea and Kate will continually strive to bring you new and exciting products some totally new to the market for you our customers to enjoy! ..."

This weekend I’m into kids’ shops on Instagram and today I would like to show you a very personal and cosy place - Tea and Kate based in UK. When I discovered this Instagram feed, I had the feeling that someone just invited me to her home and would like to show me all this beautiful little items she has in her store. Maybe that’s the secret of  this store Instagram success, since she reached 50.000 followers! 

Tea and Kate is a very cute, warm and cosy place,  filled with unique designs, and so well curated and shown. Instagram seems to me, such a direct place and being personal looks like natural part of it. 

Instagram find - kid's store Big&Belg

Are you on instagram ? I think it’s very strong social media tool at the moment. What’s interesting, that Instagram is not only used for putting personal pictures from your IPhone, but it's also used by companies and stores. I would like to show you one of them today. Big&Belg is a kids' store from Amsterdam, they have two brick and mortar locations, but they are not online! I really like their instagram feed, which gives you a feeling of the store itself, their style and the items they have of course out there. It’s cool, trendy and they let you see new fresh stuff straight away to you phone. They get a new products in store, make a set up and klick! a photo, and it’s out there reaching, some times thousands of people. Great work Big&Belg store! 

Big & Belg  two shops in Amsterdam.

 J.P. Heijestraat 83 & Ferdinand Bolstraat 168 

studiosnowpuppe & tas-ka

When small independent design brands decide to do something together, I'm getting exited. 

Dutch brand studiosnowpuppe, which you probably already know from their beautiful paper lamps and tas-ka , graphic and textile designer are both based in The Hague. This creative studios collaborated , and the story is very simple. Tas-ka designed a new wallpaper, posters and stationery, and studiosnowpuppe, used it , to make new lamps. Something fresh for studiosnowpuppe design, since their lamps had only solid colors. I personally really like the dark one, with the strong graphic touch. Tas-ka offers the paper poster separately too , so you can just frame it! They also just launched their new , refreshed website. 

Mjölk

There is so many things which inspire and fascinate me and which I would like to show it here, 

and they are not really related with kids. It's difficult to keep only children design orientated blog , believe me.  One of my interest goes to Japanese simplicity and handcrafts. When I discovered the kitka blog I just couldn't leave this place….

John Baker and his wife Juli inspired by their travels in Scandinavia and Japan, established Mjölk 

: a gallery and furniture shop in Toronto, Canada. 

‘We realized there was something interconnected between these places…they are both cultures that celebrate things that are functional and modest. We try and find universal qualities and translate them to a western audience.’

photo's: Titus Chan for Ceral 

" Mjölk ( Milk ) pure, honest, end essential. 
Nordic design & Japanese handcrafts