Crafs such as …

Burnishing technique, making metal smooth by hand with a special burnishing tool …

Weaving …

Watchmaking, on the photo a dial is fashioned

and Silversmithing … in the picture silversmith Hiroshi Suzuki at work raising or forging a silver bowl.

One starts with hammering on a circle of Sterling Silver so the silver raises, in between the hammering rounds the silver is heated by a flame to make it soft again. One bowl takes days of hammering.

My partner Jan Kerkstra and myself are besides Jewelry makers also Silversmiths. We do sterling silver pieces like candle holders, silver bekers and Christening spoons mostly made on order.
The Fries Museum located in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands carries 5 big silver pieces in their permanent collection, made by Jan and me .

Via

In this Swedish design consultant agency NO PICNIC  …

… and in this D.I.Y. Basket NEON dip dye … click here for the manual …

In fashion …

And even in NEON Easter eggs …

The idea of using masking tape to decorete Easter eggs is by Nelleke Langius, please take a look at her blog for more (handmade) ideas and thoughts about interior and exterior design!

Arne Nerjordet from Norway and Carlos Zachrison from Sweden in a video to promote their knitting pattern book and the way they live.

The design duo Arne & Carlos started by knitting sweaters and accessories in traditional Scandinavian knitting patterns.

Forced by the crisis the designers put their thriving Fashion Label on the back burner, moved to the countryside and went knitting Christmas balls.

VAGABOND JEWELRY uses it to make less traditional adornments …

Kest Schwartzman graduated from Massachusetts College of Art with a BFA in metalsmithing.

Kest has her own studio called VAGABOND JEWELRY and works in copper.

“I love copper. I love its color, and the way it moves, and the way it feels. I love how easily it forms to the imagination, and how grounded it will always remain. While silver calls up images of moonlight and mystery, and gold conjures sunshine and warmth, copper thinks in terms of earth and peace. Consequently, copper achieves an approachability unequaled by other metals. Copper begs to be touched, to be worn, when all other metals only desire to be seen.”

I think the masks are great looking and very intriguing to say the least …
and I imagine it’s big fun to make them.

More of Kest’s work on her blog, on VAGABOND JEWELRY or Flickr.

Once upon a time I lived in Amsterdam. I was very young, had a room to live in, a bike, lots of books and a small dog. Wherever I went the dog went with me,
also on the bike.

This is not me, I never looked this stylish but you get the picture…

And this is certainly not me, imagine having 4 terriers!

Aah … this is me with my two dogs!

And if you don’t go for the real thing … just click over here to see the dogs of Scottish designer Domenica More Gorden.

First photo via

Here is the concept … young designers come up with knitting patterns for woolen beanies, scarves, tube shawls and mittens, the knitting is done by Grannies who love to knit. With your knitted item you receive a picture from
the maker.

Sometimes it is that simple.

All knitted items are for sale through web shops.

Grannies are knitting for you in the following countries: France: Goldenhook.fr, granniesinc.co.uk in England, in Denmark it is mormor.nu and in The Netherlands it is called: Grannysfinest.com

And  if you like the look but don’t wear animal products, Lombardi also sells vegan versions of her designs.

Please take a look at the site of Manimal for all the products of Kristen Lombardi.

Recently Erica started experimenting with printing on felted wool …

she makes wonderfull felted vases …

…

and great colorful clothing.

Erica’s work was shown eg in the Dutch Textile Museum in Tilburg and several times at Gallery Help-u-zelven in Winterswijk, The Netherlands.

Hogenbirk Knitwear can be purchased online on Erica’s site and on eg BlueCaravan, Boxed Online, Etsy and My Homeshopping. Erica also keeps an active blog.

If you click here you will find an article I wrote last year about Hogenbirk Knitwear on this blog.

Most of her pieces are small sculptural objects often based on found natural materials, like this commission for a Christening Spoon.

I was given an old spoon, found on the road and probably bent over by a lorry, to turn into a Christening present for a little boy called Louis –

The spoon was embedded in a two part cement casket…

and encased in a crochet coat.

Christening Spoon, by Susanna Bauer
(cement, elastic bands, spoon, cotton yarn, approx. 11 x 14 x 3 cm closed up)

Jacomijn van der Donk uses twigs, pebbles and paintbrushes in her beautiful jewelry.

Snurk produces wonderful bed linens and recently also cushions

This is Bob. Bob loves sniffing around, walking, not listening and stealing sandwiches from the kitchen sink. But most of all Bob loves sleeping.

Vroonland is led by designer Sjoerd Vroonland and product developer Arjan Vaandrager (V&V), operating their label since 2010, with chairs as a thread.

Actually V&V their stand was on the Woonbeurs, an interior design event what took place at the same time in the same building as Meesterlijk.

The ‘Saddle stool’ is inspired by the handcrafted leather bicycle saddle.
Vroonland recently won an award,  the YNG TLNT Pin, for their design.