We have completed two weeks of work at the café. It has been exhausting, exhilarating, and fun. Lots of great food, fresh fruit juices, friendly faces, and many visits. We have also launched our website, www.vonblum.com. Please come and see us in person if you can, and definitely virtually, and let us know what you think.

Working can be FUN

How to Work Better by Fischli/Weiss (1991)

We have had a great start in vonblum this week, and nothing better to sum it all up than this lovely find thru swissmiss
To all of you who have joined us this week, thank you for your patience
and for those of you who have not had a chance....COME!

P.S. and of course for those of you that live too far away pics will be posted soon

open

A very quick post to let you know we finally opened our doors...
and have not managed to stop since then!
Its great to see vonblum so alive
More news this weekend
Thank you all for making it happen!

Juices, juices, juices

Most of you dont know, but we at vonblum are a general mix of nationalities.
Predominantly we all have BRASIL in common.
Having told you that, now you might understand our excitement when we stroll thru a supermarket, and find a proper papaya, or a mango that is truly ripe.
Even encountering frozen acerola becomes a party.
We have been researching places to find all these fruits here, looking for new fruit combinations, keeping friends books for more info on what fruits to use for what function ( thanks TRUDE)
So, from Monday onwards for Breakfast, do try a fresh start with us :)

ladies and gentlemen

We are proud to present you two of our most illustrious vonblummers.
As many things you will find in vonblum, they will not only make sure you do not get confused in case you forgot the female/male symbolism.
They, will also keep you entertained with a lovely story if you happen to have to wait.
Come find out for yourself who and where they are.

interior inspiration

our found chairs after some paint and some inspiring decor ideas for vonblum
looking for a long table for the downstairs area

mixed tape

while we make sure vonblum will be opening its doors in a week,
sit back and relax while listening to a good old mixed tape!
Thanks swissmiss for posting about it.
If you want more music go check hers as well!

Happy Easter from Barcelona

Enjoy your Easter Sunday!
we are off on an egg hunt

photo from VON

Chair masters

Installation for the 8th International Istanbul Biennial
2003 by Doris Salcedo

We have finally managed to gather a whole bunch of chairs
thanks to our "chair masters" ( you know who you are!!)
so today we would like to thank you with a little bit of art knowledge.

Introducing Doris Salcedo, a Columbian artist, she creates sculptures and installations that re-contextualize everyday domestic items as she alters their physical properties.

Using mundane objects and transforming them into something magnificent.

The artist is a member of a new generation of young South American artists who are gaining international recognition while remaining in their home countries.

some more about her here and here

The menu...

As opening day gets closer and closer, there are many preparations to be made. "To do" lists are passed around, items crossed off, new items listed on...
The menu is getting its final touches before ingredients are ordered and our graphic designer sends it all to print. We would like to ask you to suggest names for our salads and sandwiches. We need a list of 12 names, or a category which you think we can look for ideas in. Something fun, which reflects what you would like vonblum to be.
The clock is ticking, and we count on you for suggestions!

Alimentaria Barcelona

We spent our Friday morning at Alimentaria ( the big food fair that happens here in Barcelona)
we made a fantastic order for vonblum, which we will tell you about in another post.
Found some very interesting breads, dressings, packaging.
The best of all was actually to watch how people loose all their poise when there is free food.

one hundreth post

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At vonblum we always find a reason to celebrate, today it's our 100th post!
So we got you a little something...
Click on the image above and save it to your computer on the size that fits your screen best.
Then you will have your very own vonblum Barcelona desktop image.
Enjoy.

P.S: Thanks Diego

If you would like to use the image for any other purpose than private do let us know
by emailing to info(at)vonblum(dot)com

Its our day

Congratulations to all of us
Photo from VON

Paper cut outs

Received this beautiful work as a forward email today.
Thought I should share it with you, but wanted to make sure about the work and where it came from. This interesting story followed:
Initially, and through the email these images were identified as part of a contest put on by Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art in Washington, D.C.
It hasn’t been until recently, through blog updates and corrections, that Peter Callesen has gotten proper credit for creating all the artwork displayed.
Clever viral marketing or luck? Nevertheless great work Mr. Callesen!

Stick to these plates

For the plate collectors between us, these are the plates that have been missing.

These plates are the great idea of designers Ahnlund & Karlén
These are wall stickers that can be stuck on any wall and moved around as you wish.
Got one ourselves in Stockholm and are hoping to have them in vonblum for sale as well.
Ours is hanging at home between our paintings and family portraits!

Salad Satisfaction

we have some questions for you today.....is a salad enough to satisfy you at lunch time?
do you always eat bread with your meals?
oh and our favourite question - do you like the sauce already mixed into your salad or on the side?
Would be great to hear from you

photo Barbara Allain

one more because its sunday

and now look at this good use of a bird house
I found on emmas blog
enjoy your sunday bed side reading
appropriate with ken kesey's book ;)

more birdhouses

most beautiful bird houses by Tamar MOgendorff!
I could imagine them in vonblum :)
Thanks unruly.things for posting about it.

our cards

thank you Diego and Betsy!
Finally the card - we decided on the last shade of plum.

notice any difference?

we got our new logo and our pattern decided!
Colours and all.
tell us what you think?

sur la table

and now......where do we put all the tables?
Placing coloured buttons to figure out where and how many tables we have on the first floor of vonblum. Our tables are not as colourful as these, but our chairs will be :)

Sunday FUN

Today is Sunday, in Barcelona the sky is grey and it seems like it might rain any minute now.
As we go through all our paperwork, we decided to share some different paperwork with you.
Follow us to the website from David Balihar to make your own Dirkon pinhole camera.
Enjoy and let us know how it went.

searching for chairs

we are currently on the lookout for chairs.
Through the streets of Barcelona, the flea market in encantes and of course also through internet marketplaces
our idea is to have a colourful and eclectic mix of them.
If you have any left around or you find one around Barcelona do let us know!
vonblum is going to open in 2 weeks.

photos from VON

freeze for a while

random tuesday thought:
could you freeze for so long?!
We can't.
Thats why we are moving on fast forward to get vonblum up and running for you soon.

fortune chickens...

...are arriving!
We got our first batch of fortune chickens for vonblum
and just cant wait to see them.

for more info go to the website http://www.fortune-chickens.com/

teacups, mugs or what?

How do you like your coffee? or even your tea?
a dash of milk? lots of frothy milk?
two extra strong shots of coffee?
All the different ways of drinking our hot drinks.
Followed by the other question... mug, a tall glass or a old a fashioned cup and saucer.

With all this in our mind we are figuring out which diversity of cups, mugs etc we will be using
in vonblum.

This is our latest dilemma - any suggestions?

colours on the wall

We chose the paint colours for our walls
the top color on the left will be on the columns and 3 walls,
and the middle colour on the bottom is our predominant colour.

vonblum in white

Now the walls are all white, tomorrow we will be testing the other wall colour possibilties.
well actually, other shades of white.
What will bring colour and life into vonblum will be the beautiful products, the food and YOU.

Menu Tasting day

We finally had our first menu taste on Thursday
Roast beef sandwich with caramelized onions and pickels,
Cumin cheese in Black bread
Mixed salad with blue cheese sauce and Roast beef,
Watercress salad with strawberries and warm goats cheese
and to top it all up as a dessert our favourite passion fruit mousse.
We had a lovely time and hope you will enjoy these recipes next time when in Barcelona at vonblum!

we are getting there

these are the latest pictures taken with my mobile.
As you can see lights are in (not all on) lots of dust in the air but we are ready to start painting.
Kitchen has been decided upon and will be brought in sooner than later.
This week we will have the first menu testing lunch in our home in Barcelona
So expect to see pictures soon