Kosmik Waterworks

Look at this well-designed overview page from last weeks' Kosmos magazine (coming with Suddeutsche Zeitung).


Vielen Dank for the mention Kosmos Magazine and Süddeutsche Zeitung!













Here's a close-up of the Waterworks-feature:

Lifesaver / Waterworks in Brigitte Magazine

Earlier this summer we were very happy with Waterworks being featured in German magazine 'Brigitte'.

If the caption is 'Life-saver', what's not to love about a publication?!

Here's a close-up of the text:

A designers' dilemma: The story of Stuff

This short film was made in 2007, and is still very relevant today. Even more relevant, i would say, with our collective cellphone addicition (the Iphone came out somewhere around the time this movie was made)(feels ancient, right?).

What to do as a designer?
Should we stop creating stuff altogether or is it our responsibility to keep designing, but do it smarter and make a difference?
Is that even possible?
Can we make a difference by adding more stuff?

More about this and more video's can be found on thestoryofstuff.org.
Feel free to share your thoughts.

North of The Bridge at the meeting place for ideas - Form/Design Center

photograph by Christian Beiwinkel via Wikipedia

Last (and only) time we visited Malmö it was February, and it was rather cold and a bit dreary. Nothing at all like the photograph above, which i picked from Wikipedia.

Anyway, our very energetic local tour-guide friend didn't care for frozen toes and happily led us to all design hotspots in the city. One of the best things on the tour was drinking a nice and hot cup of coffee in a design center with shop located in an ancient building, to be entered through a courtyard: Form/Design Center.

Photograph via Lillatorg

Form/Design Center is not actually a shop per se, but an exhibition-/meetingspace, run by 'Svensk Form' (The Swedish Association of Craft and Design). Like they state on the Form/Design website: "Form/Design Center is a meeting place for ideas and projects in the field of design and architecture"
There are regular exhibitions, a programme of lectures, workshops and seminars. All with the goal to "engage and educate about design and show its importance in our surroundings and our everyday life".

And in this center there's also room for a café where they serve the best coffee and tea and you can spend hours going through the vast collection of international and Swedish books and magazines dedicated to design.
Since you're all full of design-inspiration by that time, it would only be fitting you get to take a little design home with you: Enter the Butik.

photograph by Form/Design Center

And here, in this bulwark (yes that's a word, i checked) of Swedish and Scandinavian design, you can now buy Waterworks.
Truthfully: this is making us pretty proud.

FORM/DESIGN CENTER
Lilla torg 9
211 34 Malmö
www.formdesigncenter.com

Martino Design - Innovation and style in the midst of Medieval beauty

photograph via Wikipedia

Ah, Bologna, historical city of music and study in Italy. I visited the city once, 11 years ago, and remember archways, medieval squares, cobble stones and courtyards.

And in the midst of all that ancient beauty in an old Jewish neighbourhood, you can find Martino Design: a store dedicated to sustainable interior design, style and innovation. 

We're proud and happy Martino Design is the first Italian store to sell Waterworks.
Here are a few photographs Martino Design kindly sent us from Waterworks in their store.

For more information, check out Martino Designs' website and Facebook page, or this blogpost by UrbanMirrors about the designstore, and make sure to visit the shop next time you're in Bologna.

MARTINO DESIGN
Via Canonica 1/a
40126 Bologna
www.martinodesign.it

Click here for a full list of shops selling House of Thol products.
Photographs in this blogpost via Martino Design.

New Confetti & Fireworks & why we have jewelry in our collection in the first place

Confetti necklace | brass, enamel, gilt steel | 2016
photograph by House of Thol

Aside from interior products and design-solutions for the day-to-day, House of Thol designs jewelry.
Random, right?
Maybe i shouldn't actually say 'House of Thol designs it', since jewelry is really my (Jana's) background, and what i focused on when working under company name 'World of Driftwood'.

Confetti & Fireworks necklaces | brass, enamel, gilt steel | 2016
photograph by House of Thol

Taking the step to work together with Thomas meant that part of my 'World of Driftwood' projects would have to be put on the side-burner for a while. Which i didn't have a problem with at all.
But jewelry ideas kept popping up, and although we still haven't quite figured out how it fits in with everything, we decided to incorporate some of my jewelry designs into our House of Thol collection.

Short answer: There's jewelry in our collection because i couldn't help designing it. (saving possible unconscious significance for retrospection)

Right.
Glad we got that covered.
Now let's talk about the new Confetti & Fireworks necklaces...

Animated preview of the Confetti & Fireworks necklaces by House of Thol

ABOUT CONFETTI & FIREWORKS

Confetti & Fireworks is a new series of contemporary brass and enamel necklaces, similar to the Neotribal collection.
The speckled finish, bright colors and geometric shapes make Confetti & Fireworks a perfect modern accessory, both for the everyday as for a dressy special occasion.

Brighten up your day with the light and bright Confetti-necklace, or go for mysterious chique with the darkblue speckled Fireworks.

Fireworks necklace | brass, enamel, gilt steel | 2016
photograph by House of Thol

All Confetti & Fireworks necklaces are handmade with care in our studio in Zandvoort, at the Dutch seaside.

Each necklace comes in a sturdy cardboard giftbox and has a lengthy gilt ballchain that slips on easily.

A bit of a 'salesy' text? 

That's possible, part of it is taken from Crowdyhouse, where Confetti & Fireworks will premier this Monday. - CHECK IT OUT

Get in touch for prices, high-resolution images and retail-information.

Messe to Zoo: visiting Cologne

The IMM/Passagen in Cologne seems ages away already, although it's only been five days.

We came back late Sunday night, pretty knackered from our lovely long weekend in Germany.

In hindsight, bringing the kids probably wasn't the best idea: it made Saturday and Sunday very much about entertaining them and very little about seeing any design. Well... The Zoo was pretty nice too.

Luckily we had a chance to run over the actual fair on Friday (i took over 23.000 steps that day - thank you Iphone), but we sadly missed most of the Passagen-programme due to lack of interesting stuff for three-year-olds.

Aside from the great weekend away and the lovely reactions in the shop, we received a more tangible token of appreciation from the city of Cologne, or -more specifically- from the 'Kölner Stadtanzeiger', a local newspaper. 

We were pretty happy to be featured in their Weekend-special last week. (Click on the photograph to enlarge it.)

And a few snapshots from the Weekend:

Kokino: Waterworks & the Flower City

photograph by Johan Martens for Goesting Magazine Oost Vlaanderen

Apparently the Belgium city of Ghent is also known as the 'Flower City' (because the largest part of the Belgium Flower trade is located in the area), how very fitting that Ghent shop Kokino is now selling Waterworks.
Kokino might not be located in the city centre, but that's not a problem for the shop: last December they celebrated their 20 year anniversary!

photographs by Kokino

For more about the shop, check out their website, like the Kokino Facebookpage to stay updated on current events.

KOKINO
Kortrijksesteenweg 1092
9051 Gent - St Denijs Westrem
www.kokino.be/

Click here for a full list of House of Thol stockists.

IMM / Passagen - all set up!

Passagen / IMM 2016 has started and we're all set up at Salon Zwei in Ehrenfeld, Cologne.

If you're visiting the IMM, don't forget about Ehrenfelds' design parcours, and -more specifically- make sure to visit Salon Zwei at the Gutenbergstrasse.

Here's a close up of the little map from the Passagen booklet, showing where you should be (#76):

Don't just look through the window, but walk in for a closer look of our latest projects: The first chapter of our stoneware glazing experiment Off the ground and the Confetti & Fireworks necklaces.
Also, many of the products are for sale. Some of them only during this week.

We're having a little soiree with music and drinks this Thursday.
Will we see you there?

Geschenketipps by Das Rote Paket

photograph by Das Rote Paket

Das Rote Paket in Leipzig sent out this last-minute gift guide last weekend, with this first chapter 'fur Gartenfreunde' (for garden friends).

Thought i'd share the lovely styled photography they made especially for the newsletter. - Also: great tips!

Read the full gift guide here.

Grüner Daumen hoch! | Waterworks at Das Rote Paket in Leipzig

Photograph by Martin Kindworth for Das Rote Paket

We got to add our very first German stockist to our map last week: Das Rote Paket in Leipzig.

Any store that describes itself as follows:"Nice people, interested in design, who rejoice in great materials and shapes." is a store we're happy to connect with.

Here's a photograph of Waterworks in their shop window:

photograph by Das Rote Paket

And how about this lovely listing in the Das Rote Paket webshop:

Screenshot from das-rote-paket.de

"Der Wasserspender WATERWORKS der niederländischen Designer House of Thol ist so einfach wie gut aussehend"

We couldn't have said it better ourselves :-).

Das Rote Paket
Gottschedstr. 22
04109 Leipzig
www.das-rote-paket.de

Click here for a full list of House of Thol stockists.

Us & the World - a map

still from our website - click for interactive version.

A little over a year ago we launched our first product Waterworks, and now there are House of Thol stockists in The Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and the UK.
To keep track of those stockists and to make it easier for you to see what store is closest to you, we used the tool mapbuildr to create the lovely map pictured above.

For an interactive version and a list of stockists, check out this page on our website.

Waking up at Mirlo's

photograph via buitenshuis.com

Lately we've been seeing a lot of coffeeplace/conceptstore combinations popping up everywhere.
These 'little shops around the corner' are often brimming with personality, becoming an extension of the character (and living room) of the owner, who is usually pooring the coffee herself.

photographs via buitenshuis.com

Mirlo's in Antwerpen is a fine example of a lovely place to have your coffee, breakfast and lunch. With loads of character, a clean interior design and a welcoming owner (Merel).
And now, aside from all the edible and drinkable goodness, you can also visit Mirlo's to buy Waterworks!

photograph by Mirlo's

For more information, visit Mirlo's website (more should be coming soon), or visit Mirlo's Facebook page.

Mirlo's
Verbondstraat 1
2000 Antwerpen
Belgium

For all HOUSE OF THOL stockists, please visit our website.

Waterworks in Drömhem & Trädgård

Waterworks was featured in this issue of Swedish magazine Drömhem & Trädgård, or 'Dream Home and Garden'.
Here's a close-up of the photograph they used, Click here for the full publication (in Swedish).

Click here for an overview of House of Thol publications.

Waterworks picture perfect by Zetas

Lovely photographs of Waterworks in the Zetas webshop (Sweden).

All photographs courtesy of Zetas.se.