up and away

As Bruna mentioned on the blog yesterday, this is the stage of dreaming and imagining many things to come with out restrictions.

While we dream on ..... we can even climb walls.

Specially if these walls are all as fantastic as the work by japanese architects nendo at this fitness gym in Tokyo.

A sea of possibilities

(Photograph by Barbara)

Vonblum is at this fabulous dream stage right now, where we have a vision, but where everything is possible. I imagine a million details, colours, smells... There is still the freedom of having it take any direction. Soon it will be more concrete, with limits, time lines and a more defined life if it's own. But now I can still enjoy the limitless ideas and possibilities. I see different things every day, and my anxiety to see it finished grows.
Today, I see a place where you come in for breakfast, and you leave to work more inspired and in a better mood, because you spent a moment somewhere warm and comfortable. Maybe you will find "something you thought you didn't need", and take it with you for the sheer pleasure of finding the unexpected. Or an object will remind you of a friend, who doesn't have a birthday any time soon, but who deserves a spontaneous gift just to know that you care.
In any case, I believe that the reality which will follow this dream can only be better than what I imagine.

be our guest

Good morning!
just step right in....make yourself at home.

No (pause) your not the only one in here there is no reason to be shy.

YES, there is someone else here with us.

Have you met?

Well, this is Bruna as you can see on our "about" link.
Our guest will be working with us when we open our doors

so this is the time to get acquainted.

Rome wasn't build in a day

its blooming

With vonblum we have the good fortune of meeting lovely people also in the blog world.

One of our new acquaintances is Pam from Housemartin, a blog literally blooming with beautiful ideas. Now, just like us, she is in the process of opening her own store.

Ink and peat will be a floral and lifestyle store, filled with the beautiful flower arrangements in Portland, USA.

If you happen to be in Portland next spring, you know where to go first.

Meanwhile in Europe we continue reading your posts and receiving your floral notes.

Good luck!

Demitrios Kargotis

We would love to congratulate Demitrios Kargotis on his fantastic project at the Royal College of Arts.

Dr. Whippy, prescribes unhappiness with more quantities of ice cream.

"Employing voice stress analysis of the user’s answers to specific questions, varying degrees of unhappiness are measured and the counteractive quantity of ice cream is dispensed"

Think we could all use one of those sometimes.

Thanks www.we-make-money-not-art.com for the post

"Isn't she lovely like purple rain...."

Talking with a friend in Brasil, she mentioned listening to a song and always thinking of us.

Jabuticaba by bebel gilberto.

Unfortunately I couldnt even find a link to share it with you but it will surely be added to the vonblum playlist.

One thing lead to another and finally of course to a craving for the fruit.

So, today we would love to introduce you to this delicious fruit (and if you already know it, just take sometime and think of the last time you picked on that jabuticaba tree)

The Jabuticaba (also called Brazilian Grape Tree, Jaboticaba, Jabotica, Guaperu, Guapuru, Hivapuru, Sabara and Ybapuru) is a fruit-bearing tree native to Brasil.
The fruit is purplish black, with a white pulp; it can be eaten raw or be used to make jellies and drinks (plain juice or wine).

The fruit tree (named jabuticabeira in Portuguese) has red leaves when young, turning green posteriorly. Its flowers are white and grow directly from its trunk.

vonblum would love a jabuticaba tree, so we could pick them add them to one of our recipes and we all would rejoice on its sweet taste.

tea for you

Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage.

- Catherine Douzel.

Have a look at this fantastic work by Bethan Laura Woods
makes afternoon tea even more fun.
Click through the cup slides and enjoy your tea stains.

inspiring spaces

more spaces that inspire vonblum

not so secret recipes

If its not good for us, its not good for you. We have been trying out some recipes with family and friends, and are quite happy with the outcome ( cant get the taste of figs, spinach and goats cheese salad out of my mind). Finished an extensive research on different muesli recipes and filtered down to the two below. Now we are inviting you to try and test them yourself at home or simply get your taste buds going......make sure you come and taste it when we open.

stonesoup semi toasted muesli

The best thing about making your own cereal is that you get to add all the things you like and none of the things you don’t. If you can’t find rolled triticale or barley, just substitute rolled oats.

My favourite way to serve this is about half muesli mixed with half chopped fresh fruit (grapes are a current winner) and a generous splash of skim milk. It also makes a great crunchy topping to stir through your favourite yoghurt.

8C 800g rolled triticale
4C 420g rolled oats
4C 440g rolled barley
2C 130g shredded coconut
1C 150g sunflower seeds
2C 250g slivered almonds
1/4C 25g linseeds (flaxseed)
4C 560g diced dates
2C 500g apple puree or apple juice
2t cinnamon ground
pinch ground cardamon

Mix grains, nuts and seeds together. Remove approx 8C of the mix to another bowl and stir through apple puree & spices. Divide between 2 trays and bake at 150C approx 45 stirring periodically until toasted and dark golden.

Allow to cool before combining all remaining ingredients. Pack in airtight containers.

Honey toasted fruit Muesli

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Put 5 cups rolled oats into a large bowl. Add 1 cup unsalted sunflower seeds, 1 cup slivered almonds, 1 cup triticale (see above note), 1 cup shredded coconut and 2 tablespoons sesame seeds. Stir to combine.

Heat 3/4 cup honey and 4 tablespoons vegetable oil in a saucepan over low heat. Pour the warm honey mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until they are well coated.

Spread the mixture on a baking tray and bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Add 1/4 cup finely sliced dried apricots, 1/4 cup finely sliced dried apples and 1/4 cup finely sliced dried peaches (heidi note: I used dried papaya). Toss to combine. Store the muesli in an airtight container.

Makes 12 servings.

Taken from The Essential guide to the Kitchen by Michele Cranston (september 2005)

Thank you 101cookbooks and stonesoup for sharing these

it's in the print

jobs couldn't have immortalized the flora better
textiles one should keep as art
something we would love to have at vonblum

Saturday fun

this is what came out for vonblum

You Are The Sun

You represent the best of life - vitality, success, and truth. You tend to have a strong, centered, balanced personality. Inspiration and discovery are your fortes. You are very mentally strong. A talented mind, you tend to excel at math, philosophy, and music. Your fortune: As well as you have done in the past, the future is going to be filled with more success. A new creative project is coming your way. Feed it, and it will grow into something huge. Great riches, recognition, prosperity, or happiness is coming your way. And it's possible that a fantastic vacation, or a new baby, is coming sooner than you think. now its your turn What Tarot Card Are You?

feast for your eyes

these are

the kind of

sALads

we would love to have

its like music to my ears

Most of us will agree that music plays a big role in our lives. We can go as far back as feeling the first kiss if we hear the same song that was playing in the background. Remember that summer song? or the sad song remix you made to survive your heartbreak? Take all of those remixes and moments and help us build up a play list for vonblum.

We have started compiling some of our favourites into different categories such as:
breakfast, after lunch, rainy days, booster, and winter blues.

We will start adding some music on the side of the blog as videos to give you a taste of what we will be playing in vonblum and maybe even brighten up our days with it!

So enjoy the music and let us know whats a song we can not life without in vonblum.


P.S. talking about music, today we lost one of the great tenors - lucky for us he did not become the soccer star he dreamed of becoming as a kid- and left us with a fantastic repertoire, to LUCIANO!

connect the dots

vonblum should be about connecting.

the connection between the café and the design shop.
the connection between all the languages that will be spoken there - yes its time to learn Catalan.
the connection between the people in Barcelona and abroad.

Well - you got the picture.
As mentioned when writing about the Stockholm shop in Gamla Stan, it would also be great to connect through events with different shops and cafés so we have a synchronized happening.

Just imagine:

A week of "treasure hunts" in Stockholm, New York and Barcelona.

A guerrilla appearance of the shop in Holland simultaneously exchanging with us from vonblum Barcelona.

our "famous" bi annual pop up tea party....so, lets start connecting.

Spaces

sometimes images are better than words

typography

Looking through all different brands and logos and trying to decide on how to portray vonblum space with use of a nice font. The thing is the choice of the typeface used shall incorporate the identity, enhance the visual aspects and basically be compatible to the whole design concept of vonblum. Quite difficult considering the vast options around us and the small space the word actually takes to comprise all that in one.



Going through all these different typefaces I encountered the lovely work of betsy dunlap.

My favourite by far has been this sample above.

Again, as i mentioned in another post, the idea of vonblum is also to work with interesting people who help define the "soul" of vonblum.

Betsy´s work is not only lovely but judging by the small email exchange we had, she also seems like a very interesting person to add to our club.

Of course we are open for suggestion - so, what do you think?

a lovely place

The summer is almost over, and I am thinking about all the lovely places we have visited.

The most inspiring place was Rosendals in Stockholm.

Its not only a playground for gardeners but also an idyllic surrounding for a afternoon tea or a stroll through the gardens.

Organic food labeling? - no need for that - you know by the lovely backyard that most of the things served in their cafés have been picked there. A walk around there made all of us wish we had an apple orchard in our home ( I never even knew there where so many different species). The shop was closed, but the display from the window filled with lovely pottery and bits and bobs you know you don't need but end up buying...

If vonblum manages to get the slightest whiff of Rosendals to Barcelona urban life, I would be very content!


P.S. worth looking at the site even if its all in swedish! ROSENDALS