kris's color stripes

This blog has moved!

2010-12-06T20:48:00.005+01:00

check http://kristinaklarin.blogspot.com/ for updates!
Thank you

time to change

2010-11-23T09:46:00.000+01:00

after three years of blogging it's time for me to make some changes.The moment I started Kris's color stripes I was sure I would never make something fashion related again since my experience as fashion-designer working in the industry was exhausting, uninspiring and devastating for my creativity but slightly, thanks to this wonderful medium and your incredible support my teen dream to make beautiful things for daily life come back again. The decision to move from this blog was hard but I wish to enjoy every moment of this transformation and need time to concentrate on my work a bit more. I still find my colour palettes useful and inspiring so I will keep posting them on my new blog every Monday.
Thank you so much for your wonderful support and see you there on Mondays, to begin with.
Best,
Kris
p.s. Shop will be updated on December 1th, in the meantime you can find my necklaces in some lovely online shops like ShakShuka, Line+Liv or TinyBird

2010-11-19T12:17:00.000+01:00

Rorschach blots... :)

Have a nice weekend!

2010-11-17T12:59:00.002+01:00

as promised: Kimono

over the weekend...

2010-11-15T09:58:00.006+01:00

our Besta looks more like Piet Hein Eek's work now.I'm so happy with a result and only need to buy few nice wooden legs instead of these.

I used Studio Ditte wallpaper but Piet's wallpaper is so beautiful, too,
p.s. flower kimono is another thing I was working on during the weekend... will show you as soon as I hang it

2010-11-10T12:19:00.001+01:00

My dear friend and ex-roommate will stay at my place for a week, we are having so much fun working on few renewal projects for my home and dreaming a lot like in days when we were at school.
p.s. at that time we used to take a walk late at night on Wednesdays (it was a garbage day) and collect chairs, pots and lot of other stuff from the streets to repaint, repair and decorate our Indian inspired apartment :). I miss that, although I'm so happy we are not that penniless anymore
First on the list: chairs

2010-11-08T10:16:00.000+01:00

last fotos from my summer house

bye bye sea, see you next summer...

2010-11-03T13:51:00.000+01:00

I'm back! Collecting olives is much more difficult than I thought, so I slept almost all day yesterday and here are few photos from my working holiday.

p.s. shop is updated!

2010-10-25T08:02:00.001+02:00

I'm on my way to Croatia to pick the olives from our trees which has been abandoned for so long.We cut the weeds this summer and hopefully I'll bring back a lot of fresh olive oil.Our grove is here and there is no internet conection in such a place, so see you next Tuesday!

Just in case you love olive oil I think you might also love the idea of adopting an tree.Nudo oils are made from handpicked, cold-pressed and organically grown olives.Besides, this fabulos packaging is made of recycled materials.If I hadn't my olives Nudo would definitely be my choice
I wish you great week!!!

2010-10-22T11:22:00.000+02:00

Many wool fabrics for me this winter..:)))

it's a little gift I bought for myself this morning...I'm still deciding which one should be skirt and which one the top ,but I'm feeling so happy already just to look at this colors (and to say bye bye to my ugly jeans & black sweater outfits soon)

for a nice shoes to match any outfit I just discovered Shoes of prey and love it so much
and I wish gloves from this beautiful shop - Brinja

2010-10-21T19:06:00.002+02:00

so many things to do, but I just had to share this "autumn" day with you! It looks so fake but it was real, so much sun and blue blue sky..

silk painting

2010-10-18T10:33:00.000+02:00

I went to the small hobby fair yesterday and I really liked silk painting booth of an Armenian lady, you could 'try before you buy' every color and technique like batik, tye and dye, salt ... I tried only the basic one and here is my 15 minutes trial piece. It's so quick and easy, the only bad part is that I should cook it in pressure cooker to fix the color (I'm so afraid of it, are you?)

On my wishlist:

2010-10-15T09:06:00.002+02:00

Kenzo by Antonio Marras will be released on October 26 and I can't wait to put my hands on this book.
Pucci, Eley Kishimoto and Vera
Speaking of Kenzo, here is one of my favorite videos:

Kenzo PE06 Women from Frédéric Sofiyana on Vimeo.

I wish you a lovely weekend!

2010-10-14T11:24:00.000+02:00

there was not much to be proud of my birth country lately...even if I don't feel patriotic at all, things like these hurt me a lot. To be completely honest with you I love and hate it, at the same time. Seeing this product design by Coba & Associates yesterday on theDieline make me feel more in LOVE

My favorite is Malena tube, liqueur with honey and fruits like sour cherry, raspberry and woodland strawberry made by RakijaBar .Great to have in your purse on a freezing winter day or to help you handle tough situations :)))
Love the chocolate with the street map, too

2010-10-13T12:55:00.000+02:00

I'm back on my feet! I discovered this lovely restaurant yesterday night and really enjoyed dinner with my friends.Thank you so much for your get well comments.

I've left my camera at home, so here are few shots from U Barba site.

p.s.I'm in love with a wooden fridge.

2010-10-07T11:34:00.000+02:00

painting, painting,painting...

and having a flu :(
I wish you a nice weekend!

2010-10-04T21:37:00.001+02:00

last post about Istanbul...Iznik tiles

and souvenir trivets for my red kitchen

2010-10-01T14:37:00.000+02:00

details of Turkish kilims

Istanbul

2010-09-28T15:48:00.000+02:00

I unexpectedly went to Istanbul to celebrate the birthday of my friend over the weekend! Three days just wasn't enough so I had to put my design related passions aside, but I'll go back as soon as I can, the city is wonderful, colours and patterns are everywhere and I just can't wait to go back there again.For this time a bit of

sacred...

and profane...

2010-09-23T14:42:00.000+02:00

it's fashion weeks time and although I'm not much interested in how we will wrap our bodies next season, I'm always so excited to see new colour combinations.Here are my favorite for now:

muted shades of gold, coral, pink, cinnamon and copper - Marc Jacobs

Jewel colour combinations of green and turquoise, purple and orange - Gucci

light, neutral colours with a single bands of orange or turquoise - Jonathan Saunders

fluorescent pink, orange, green and lime - Christopher Kane

walls...

2010-09-21T11:36:00.000+02:00

2010-09-17T13:23:00.000+02:00

fall

and winter

collection is now in the shop!
A very special thanks to some of you who bought the necklaces while I was still loading all the photos in the shop, you made me so very happy :)
I wish you a wonderful weekend!

lampshades

2010-09-15T11:19:00.000+02:00

are finally painted... I love the variety of forms and lines

2010-09-13T21:40:00.000+02:00

I bought these lampshades few months ago but still didn't have time to paint and hang them above my desk...

..here is how they looked before... at least the ugly synthetic fabric is off.

changing hues

2010-09-10T11:51:00.000+02:00

have a great weekend!

drying

2010-09-08T13:14:00.000+02:00

mixing

2010-09-06T17:46:00.000+02:00

2010-09-03T17:59:00.001+02:00

Been a bit quiet here, sorry for the absence. Replacing the entire floor in our apartment immediately after truly quiet and relaxing vacation was very stressful, but probably not enough for my dear husband :) He decided to give vent to all his repressed anger against old and ugly wardrobe we used to have, one month before the new one arrived.With wardrobe in pieces and surrounded with all my belongings I was too tired to think some new wall color for my working space...so I kept what already was there - light and dark green painted wallpaper from 1954, sky blue from 60's, misty rose from 80's and white from 90's.

Hopefully on Monday I will start making some new necklaces for the shop in almost finished apartment!Have a great weekend!

2010-09-02T18:56:00.000+02:00

working hard to ruin my walls...

enjoying the result on sunset...

celebrating hard work...

I'll show you tomorrow how it looks in daylight!

wood

2010-08-31T09:09:00.000+02:00

streets

2010-08-27T21:55:00.003+02:00

Empty streets on a very hot afternoon,That day I've met only the old lady and her cat boss...

...their window was lovely too, always updated on latest shoe trends :)

reflections

2010-08-25T08:13:00.000+02:00

Hello!

2010-08-23T08:46:00.000+02:00

My vacation on a small island is over, back to modern era and Internet access, I'll do my best to answer all the emails waiting in my inbox !

I hope you had great summer, too :)

vacation!

2010-06-24T14:07:00.001+02:00

I'll still be here the next few days sending last orders (thank you all so much) and packing my bags, but yacht of my dreams already shoved off :)

Wish you a very happy summer vacation, see you in August!

under the water

2010-06-21T11:13:00.000+02:00

2010-06-16T17:04:00.001+02:00

Just a quick note- the shop will be closed from June 23 to August 1 for summer holidays! :)

2010-06-14T15:02:00.000+02:00

pipe smoker

2010-06-12T08:35:00.000+02:00

Modulor sample box contains just everything I could wish for - metal, paper, cardboard, plastic, wood, rubber and so much more

paper stop motion - Carlo Giovani (via Modulor)
another incredible stop motion work - studio Dadomani commercial and backstage

2010-06-09T08:23:00.001+02:00

Summer collection

2010-06-07T15:30:00.000+02:00

Summer collection will be in the shop on Wednesday morning...hope you like these colors as much as I do!

2010-06-04T13:30:00.002+02:00

nature does it best.

I wish you a great weekend :)

2010-06-03T11:21:00.001+02:00

picnic season...

.....yesterday was such a beautiful day, eating with friends, relaxing in a tree shadow, watching pheasant who was watching the bugs....I could spend every day like this until Autumn...I hope you had nice Wednesday, too

2010-05-31T17:22:00.001+02:00

Look what a beautiful home one of my mushrooms found!

Thank you Kate for treating him so well!

2010-05-28T11:56:00.009+02:00

'For me each nuance of a color is in some way an individual, a being who is not only from the same race as the base color, but who definitely possesses a distinct character and personal soul...Nuances can be gentle, evil, violent, majestic, vulgar, calm, etc. In sum, each nuance of each color is definitely a "presence," a living being, an active force which is born and dies after having lived a sort of drama of the life of colors.'
Yves Klein

Have a lovely weekend!

2010-05-26T10:25:00.000+02:00

'He who knows how to appreciate color relationships, the influence of one color on another, their contrasts and dissonances, is promised an infinitely diverse imagery'
Sonia Delaunay

2010-05-24T09:27:00.000+02:00

'If one says "Red" and there are fifty people listening, it can be expected that there will be fifty reds in their minds.And one can be sure that all these reds will be very different'

Josef Albers

color study

2010-05-20T09:43:00.000+02:00

2010-05-18T10:51:00.000+02:00

My sister got married and had the most wonderful weather on her wedding day...

I had awful weather, but equally beautiful wedding with my dearest friends and family...

...ten days of pure joy and fun :)))

2010-05-10T19:53:00.000+02:00

My necklace is having fun in a wonderful company...

and I couldn't be happier, thank you so much Harinder!!!

Dale Frank

2010-05-05T16:12:00.000+02:00

Huge thanks to anonymous reader who introduced me to the beautiful work of Australian painter Dale Frank...I love the colors and I can imagine my small worlds everywhere in these paintings.... You can see more of his wonderful work here.

2010-05-03T10:14:00.000+02:00

Thank you for all your Mama and me orders, there are still few necklaces left and they will be available until Wednesday.On Thursday I'll be going home to celebrate my sister's wedding :)))!

Mamma & Me

2010-04-29T15:45:00.001+02:00

Mama & Me necklace set is now in the shop in three color combinations!

2010-04-29T13:04:00.005+02:00

shy little helper came to my home, she will show you her neck very soon...I hope :)

2010-04-28T13:54:00.001+02:00

Lovely creatures of Mister Finch

Finch is an incredibly talented jewelry designer (just take a look at his site), and he just launched his etsy shop. His inspiration comes from lost, found and forgotten, I love the bird houses made of antique cutlery boxes, vintage hardback book covers and broken jewellery Here is a sneak peek into his studio...oh, I hope Finch will start a blog too, so that we can spend more time in this inspiritional place!

yellow and dusty blue

2010-04-26T13:34:00.000+02:00

2010-04-23T17:17:00.000+02:00

The last few random photos from Fuorisalone.I wish you a beautiful weekend!

2010-04-21T12:22:00.000+02:00

An idea for a very, very long weekend with your kid, if you have one...

This magnificent castle was in the front of Dedon showroom during Fuorisalone.It makes me wish to have
at least three kids instantly so that we can make this castle for the rest of the week.

spazio Rossana Orlandi

2010-04-19T11:56:00.000+02:00

This is my favorite place in Milan, I always find all the things I adore like Visitors by
Frederique Morrel
Vegetables by Scholten and Baijings

Mezzanine by Constance Guisset

a Drop of Water by Bas van der Veer

Autarky project by Formafantasma studio

fuori salone

2010-04-16T14:32:00.000+02:00

Few things that caught my eye and a bit of last night atmosphere....

I wish you a lovely weekend!

2010-04-14T10:52:00.000+02:00

My home is on The Design Files today, thanks to the Lucy who will be reporting from Milan's Salone del Mobile.

I'm very excited about Fuori Salone and I hope I'll have some nice photos to share with you soon!

colors and proportions

2010-04-12T11:28:00.000+02:00

Thank you!

2010-04-08T12:58:00.003+02:00

your orders went far beyond my expectations! Thank you so so much!

I wrote a post once about the importance of packaging.One of the things I learned in the meantime at my own expense as a seller and as a buyer is how important is for your lovely packaging to arrive at its destination.It might seem like a very banal lesson, but here is what made me think: Recently I purchased few items from various small shops through Etsy and mini cards from MOO.Believe me or not none of these items ever arrived.I sent the emails and received an answer and replacement from MOO in 24 hours.I'm still waiting for a reply from other shops, and don't get me wrong I know how it feels when you have to answer one of those mails- let's say it's not the first thing you wish to do in the morning...and even less in the evening :) But when people from MOO answered, all my disappointment disappeared, I felt loved and cared for, and I was completely convinced that they are the best place to buy all my business stationary in the future...It's not necessarily truth, I'm sure that the small shop owners care even more, but the psychological impact of their approach makes a big difference.I would love to hear your thoughts...
few interesting links- here and here

2010-04-06T10:20:00.000+02:00

Spring collection is out, I hope you like the colors!

2010-04-02T09:44:00.000+02:00

floating on calm waters of old walls...

Happy Easter to those who celebrate

2010-03-31T09:11:00.000+02:00

blooming...

for more colour inspiration click here

in the middle of nowhere...

2010-03-29T09:48:00.000+02:00

2010-03-24T07:48:00.000+01:00

The pink Danube...

2010-03-22T09:10:00.000+01:00

Vintage fashion...

Cover is missing so I don't know the exact year and name of this Italian magazine, but I like the drawings a lot.

2010-03-19T10:56:00.001+01:00

Things I like about my home city...
Traditionaly this honey dough hearts was handed out as love tokens by young men...wouldn't it be fun to see your man with one of these tokens these days?

2010-03-17T11:03:00.000+01:00

Things I forgot to share with you...
...before and after pictures of my dark entrance.It's still dark but I love the way light transform the green.

pastels and silver

2010-03-15T08:43:00.000+01:00

2010-03-12T17:39:00.007+01:00

The shop is updated, and these are the last necklaces until spring collection (coming out in April).Huge thanks to SeeSaw, Oh Joy!, Lushlee, Design Crush, Livlig, Ermie,Simple Lovely, Morning by Foley and Anmutig for spreading the word.
I wish you a wonderful weekend !

2010-03-10T11:58:00.001+01:00

Searching for inspiration...

p.s.thank you so much for all your purchases! Next shop update will be on friday night.

2010-03-08T09:39:00.001+01:00

Waking up with a sea monster.....

luckily he is friendly..

2010-03-05T10:51:00.000+01:00

Playing and experimenting...

I wish you an inspiring and relaxing weekend!

2010-03-03T17:53:00.001+01:00

One of those childhood dreams that will never come true - jumping in a tin of paint. Have you ever had similar dreams?

2010-03-01T14:23:00.004+01:00

Little voyage with me at Prèt à Voyager, thanks Anne!

2010-03-01T10:57:00.001+01:00

Spring is here, mainly in my room, making it look more like a flower shop rather than a functional working space.I usually avoid to bore you with the flowers I buy, but these are so beautiful that I couldn't help myself!

p.s. The shop is now open!

2010-02-24T14:20:00.000+01:00

Many necklaces will be in the shop on Monday.The sun is finally out after so many days of rain so, I will spend a rest of the week out, taking lots of photos for the book. I wish you all a great week and weekend!

2010-02-22T11:54:00.000+01:00

My surprise parcel from Abigail & Ryan arrived on Saturday - four beautiful tea towels! Soft, unbleached cotton and Abigail's delicate drawings are a perfect combination, they are hanging proudly on my kitchen wall now, next to Atelier lzc.

book

2010-02-19T13:19:00.001+01:00

Since many of you asked for a book of color stripes, I start making it with Blurb, two weeks ago.I added a proportion part as well because I think it's very useful. Here is one of many pages I've been working on..

...then yesterday , I heard that the new issue of Bloom -my favorite trend forecast magazine is finally out and I saw the cover this morning...this coincidence made me so happy!

update

2010-02-19T12:18:00.001+01:00

The Fair was beautiful and the necklace had success! (something similar will be in the shop next week ,as a part of my "unbreakable" project) I was not aloud to take photos, but I ordered some fabrics that I found particularly inspiring.All of them are printed with kind of hand painted watercolor effect. I hope parcel will arrive next week, can't wait to show you.

necklace

2010-02-17T08:19:00.006+01:00

I'm going to Milan Textile trade fair today.Besides being great occasion to see new tendencies, colors and lot of wonderful fabrics, it's also unique occasion to see all the people you would never ever like to meet again ,like my previous bosses from this, this and this company. My outfit is poor but at least I have a super powerful, colorful and giant necklace to protect me :) wish me luck!

p.s. Mushrooms have their own page now.

2010-02-15T13:43:00.001+01:00

I'm not quite sure what will my new unbreakable project be..till now it's very colorful and fun...and wooden!

turquoise and brown

2010-02-12T12:41:00.000+01:00

I love this video report about colour trends for 2010!
Happy weekend!

Fragile soul...of mushrooms

2010-02-10T11:20:00.000+01:00

After discovering that few of my mushrooms arrived at their new homes broken, I decide I'll not sell them online anymore.Probably they don't like long trips so they end up hurting themselves in some stupid way (I'm sure it has nothing to do with thougthful postmen, I can just imagine how carfully and lovingly they treat our parcels)
There are four mushrooms left if you are interested, I promise I will test packaging in a very aggressive way!

p.s. 2010 Calendar is on sale now

2010-02-08T11:09:00.001+01:00

My friend's vintage shop is a colour and pattern heaven!!! Be sure to check it out if you ever come to Milan.

2010-02-05T11:30:00.000+01:00

imagining small worlds was my secret hobby since childhood, so it makes me really happy you liked small Venice that much

Wish you all a lovely weekend!

small Venice

2010-02-03T09:29:00.002+01:00

While I was taking photos of petals, the other day, I didn't even notice that they look like a small gondolas until I saw curtain reflection on the table , I drew few figures and voilà: Venetian sunset for all of us to enjoy!

playing with petals

2010-02-01T07:31:00.000+01:00

2010-01-29T12:11:00.001+01:00

A big thanks to Emmy Toonen for featuring my blog in her article for Feeling Wonen-Gael Maison, Belgian interior decorating magazine.Emmy is one of those people that makes you laugh instantly... I would really love to grab a coffee with her someday....hm, maybe Belgian hot chocolate would be even better!

Wish you a great weekend!

taking risks in decorating

2010-01-27T13:00:00.008+01:00

Ever since I saw this photo in Milk Decò few weeks ago, I became obsessed with the idea of doing something similar in our bathroom.We have some 80's tiles , so one coat of paint can't harm.

Initially I made the same beighe but it reminded me too much of color of tights some old ladies love to wear here.So I added a little bit of red...in a worst case I can always submit photos here ... hopefully not, fingers crossed :)

Le SAPE-Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes (Society of Tastemakers and Elegant People)

2010-01-25T14:47:00.003+01:00

a bit of inspiration for my designer friends in black and gray, from a beautiful book Gentlemen of Bacongo by Daniele Tamagni

A Congolese Sapeur is a happy man even if he does not eat, because wearing proper clothes feeds soul and gives pleasure to the body.

their elegance and color sense feeds my soul, too.

2010-01-22T09:56:00.002+01:00

few cheerful colors...

for your happy and cheerful weekend!!!

bye bye trees

2010-01-20T12:25:00.001+01:00

I was thinking a lot about writing this post or not.We are all watching these days people who lost their homes and their loved ones ,so losing a tree doesn't seem such a big deal.Still it doesn't make me less sad.Respectable expert informed us that six trees in front of our building are very ill and that there is a serious threat they will end up in our dining room while we are peacefully eating...here is what remains...I can't see a single sign of illness ...I even wanted to go downstairs and hug a fallen trees but I was too afraid I'd become a LOG LADY for my neighboors :)

2010-01-18T10:08:00.000+01:00

...walking and sneaking in other people's building halls...

2010-01-15T13:54:00.001+01:00

the best mushrooms manage to get into the shop!

Have a nice weekend!

2010-01-13T13:49:00.001+01:00

2010-01-11T10:04:00.001+01:00

back from holidays and back to my mushrooms (shop will be updated on wednesday, if they agree,two of them commit the suicide by falling off my desk this morning, so we'll see)

A few picks from exibition about folk costumes of Eastern Europe, I couldn't take better photos but I hope you will be able to see this loborious work anyway

party before melting

2010-01-09T12:02:00.001+01:00