Elle Decoration publication

We almost missed this publication in last months Elle Decoration.
Luckily a friend texted me, and we were just in time to buy ourselves a copy!

Wallpaper scrapings + pitchblack walls

Finally!
From May 1st onward we're officially moving the House of Thol studio to classroom 6 in the old Mariaschool in Zandvoort. (old as in dating from the early 20th century)
Updated address-information will follow soon, but let me tell you: it's a lot closer to home.
Did i say a lot closer? I mean: from 45-minute drive to 4-minute walk.
Imagine all the time we'll have!

Luckily the municipality (who owns the school) was kind enough to give us the key to our new abode two weeks early to fix the place up, which means we've been spending the last 10 days doing just that:
We took down the immensely large cotton sheets hanging from the ceiling (not sure why they were there in the first place); steamed off all the wallpaper (painting over it was no option) to have it reveal pitch black walls, filled gazillion holes in the walls, and are now in the process of painting everything white.

This is all pretty straightforward stuff, except for the fact that the walls are over 4,5 meters tall, which makes painting them (and the ceiling) rather... challenging.

We should get back to it, really...

Kit's first run

We're beyond excited about the latest addition to our studio inventory: our brand new Ultimaker 2 3d-printer, a.k.a. Kit!
Here he is on one of his first runs, printing out the House of Thol logo:


Kit's first run from House of Thol

Two very very happy people were watching that logo grow!

Since i know we're a generation of people who have problems with attention span, i sped up the video a bit (4x) so you can all witness the magic of Kit's efforts without getting bored.
And watch it again.
And again.
And again...

This will not be the last you're seeing from Kit!

The first terracotta samples...

Not so long ago we received the first glass samples, which were nice, just not completely perfect yet (remember this blogpost?).

When the package of terra-cotta samples arrived, again we were over the moon about it (no learning curve) and i couldn't wait for Thomas to get here so we could open the little box together.

A quick glance and i thought these samples were perfect.
Of course they weren't... Sadly enough Thomas pointed out there were quite a few flaws to be discovered.

No worries though: it seems like the mould the factory made is fine, so the flaws should be easy to fix, and new samples are already being made. -We'll keep you posted!

Bathtub on Dutch Design Only

Dutch Design Only is 'an international platform connecting Dutch Designers with the rest of the world' (their words). And amongst their selection of 'eccentric, innovative and breathtaking design products that leave the observer enthralled' (again: their words), can now be found... (drum roll...) the Evolution Bathtub by Studio Thol.

We just thought we'd let you know, since it's a pretty decent collection and we're happy to be a part of it.
Read more on the Dutch Design Only website.

Noviflora's 'Forty&Forward experience'.

Noviflora (a Dutch plant export company -click-) organized a 'Forty and Forward-experience' in which they didn't only show the latest in plant fashion, but also made room for green innovations and designs: Enter Waterworks.
Obviously we jumped at the chance to be part of this and introduce Waterworks to a whole new market.

There's something about being in a greenhouse all day: the tranquility, green atmosphere, the smell of all the greenery and the natural light....
It might have had something to do with the level of organization and catering as well, and the styling of the event certainly made a difference, all extremely well taken care of by Mirakuleus.

The word that best describes the event is 'lovely'.
Lovely plants, lovely products, lovely activities, lovely tea, lovely food, lovely people, lovely everything...
Here's a little impression of what was going on:

Ok, and a not so lovely purple light...

The first glass samples...

Sooo, we received the first glass samples last week.
Obviously we were eagerly awaiting their arrival, and when the package came in, i actually shot so many photographs of Thomas opening it, that i could make a stop-motion film.
Which i did, just to illustrate how excited we were:



However... Obviously the samples weren't perfect yet.
I guess we were both so exhilirated about the package in the mail, we kind of forgot these are only the first samples and were bound to have a few things wrong with them.
Truth be told, we did feel kind of deflated when the glass reservoirs turned out to be similar to the prototypes we made, but not yet exactly the same. And not completely perfect yet.

Oh well...
Since then Thomas made a detailed list of the things that need to be changed and the manufacturer is making new samples as we speak. This time he uses a mold to help with the shape, and since we've also been a bit more specific about what we're looking for, we have high hopes for this batch.

Again: we'll keep you posted!