When it comes dressing; dressing up, and the preferences that goes with it, it tends to be very cyclical for me. For most people I guess. So after some years of wearing minimal jewellery, I have strongly been enjoying to wear jewellery again, especially other earrings than just small studs.
So, quite suitably I was sent a very beautiful package the other day that made me very happy. It was from Anriikka, creator of True Blom Jewelry, with rose petals in a cool red tone, forever captured in bloom in resin.
True Bloom Jewelry is a Finnish brand that makes hand made jewellery out of hand picked flowers and leaves. The flowers are cast in bio resin that allows them to keep their delicate shape and natural colours. Bio resin is a plant based resin, which is more eco-friendly compared to other resins. It should also be a suitable material to those who are allergic to various jewellery materials. Making flower resin jewellery like this is a slow process - one piece can take several days or even weeks to make depending on how many layers of resin are needed! As no flower is alike each piece is thus unique. Anriikka can also make custom jewellery out of flowers that you have chosen or picked yourself.
Resin jewellery is light and not heavy on the ears at all, which is a plus for me - I had extension plugs in my ears during the 00's; and even if they grew together quite well after taking them out almost a decade ago, the holes in my ears still tend to be rather "long", so I have avoided heavy earrings due to that reason; they stretch the holes out too much. These I can barely feel.
Me, online: So, now that winter is coming and we're out on the countryside for good I should really get myself a pair of practical boot...- uuuh hello what are these?!
So yes; I am still trying to remember to get a pair of practical shoes, because I ended up with a pair of cute black velvet-y platform boots instead. Now ho would've thought.
Well, in my defence, if you can manage to drag 20 kilos of suitcase for three days in a row on the cobblestone streets of Prague they could kind of be labeled as "practical", right? But no, these boots with their flocked surface are indeed not for the muddiest days.
While on talks about the sliver lining (the one of clouds you know, that applies to events and situations) you can also talk about a golden edge in Swedish, which is applicable to anything or anyone that gives everyday life and existence even the tiniest sense of luxury. So this muddy-snowy-stormy November I'll let my gold lined heels act as the little golden edge of the day. Walk, at least. And thinking about it, I still have my old workwear boots from the harbour to wear in the countryside mud instead.
I had the opportunity to take part of a campaign by Bukowskis in collaboration with Indedays, to write a post about my experiences of bidding and buying from Bukowskis Market - you may recall that I have bought quite many items from the auction site during the years, and rather suitably I just bought home a big wardrobe from the early 1900's via Bukowskis Market!
Out on the farmhouse, where we stay most of the time nowadays, I hadn't had a proper wardrobe for my clothes; some I kept on a rack and the rest in a drawer, which basically meant they all hanged on a chairdrobe in the corner of the bedroom... So I needed a proper space to put them in, and as most furniture in the house is old I wanted to find and old one for this purpose as well.
Every time when I’ve wanted a specific piece of vintage furniture I've usually started with Bukowskis Market. I do check in on any other auction and second-hand goods sites as well, but in most cases Bukowskis will have what I’m looking for. It's rather fascinating actually - if they do not have such an item for sale the one day I usually check back in a week and there will most likely be something that suits what I've had in mind - but not that strange as the site does feature about 3,000 items of art and design. So there is a lot to browse and find. Bukowskis was the first of the large quality auction houses to launch their online bidding site Bukowskis Market (in 2010). Even though I've mainly scouted vintage furniture from there, which there is a lot of in different styles and eras, they also sell a lot of art, as well as jewellery and the occasional designer fashion item (like bags or shoes).
I've bought home items that I've specifically been looking for, like this three-arned lamp, one that I had been coveting for years and then found on my first try. Some years ago I set out to finda sofa, not sure what I was looking for, but found lots of options and ended up bidding on and winning this classic piece by Carl Malmsten.
(Sometimes I've worried if the items I bring home arent' really child friendly, but even though most people always seems to be in a horizontal position on this sofa it is still doing rather well.)
I've also stumbled on items I did not know I needed -that can be dangerous, but good for us that we have a big house to fill.... - for example, the 1930's lamp here in the corner.
Or the lounge chaise I also happened to buy. But it ended up being very useful (especially for the occasional random daytime nap)!
Buying from and bidding on Bukowskis Market is as easy, you give your max bid for an item and the site will automatically raise your bid if needed placing the smallest necessary bid at every time, up to your maximum bid amount. Because Bukowsis is a quality auction house, they will have evaluated each item before puttiing it up on sale, meaning you know with certainty what you are bidding on, which for me is a huge plus, obviously. Some designers and eras you can look up in their Bukipedia (kudos for the name); to find out more on the style of the piece or the art you are bidding on. There's also a wish list to save items on if you are not sure you want to bid on them right away. Bukowskis Market also features and estimated price to which the item is valued, which is a good guideline to check before/when bidding. The final price may end up way over the estimate if several persons start coveting and bidding on the item, but may as well sell for a lot less, if you happen to be lucky and scout an item others weren't that interested in. Bare in mind that there will be a commission on your winning bid which, depending on what country you are in, will raise the final price with about 20%. That, and the transportation of your item will make the final sum considerably larger than the winning bid so it is just worth keeping in mind all trough the process. Regardless of that I have managed to get a few items very affordably from the site.
I was the only bidder on this lamp for example- I am often on the look out for nice vintage lamps; you (almost) can not have too many armatures at home!-and got it for a very nice price. I am however rather competitive, and if somebody starts outbidding me I will raise my max bid several times if needed when I truly want something. For me it's not always just to be able to scout everything for a low price, if there is a piece of classic design furniture it is definitely worth paying for. Bukowskis Market has a mobile app which is easy to use that I recommend you download to your phone for easier bidding, bid raising and browsing.
Bukowskis will ship items between their houses in Finland and Sweden; shipping is between 60 and 80 euros and takes up to three weeks, after which you can pick the item up yourself. You can also arrange and order transportation to your home door yourself. Earlier the items I ordered to Helsinki had to be picked up from their downtown location but this year when picking up the wardrobe we got it from a warehouse in Vantaa, which was definitaly easier to reach with a van than a pedestrian street in the city centre. Bukowskis will give you eight days to pick the item up before they start collecting warehouse rent, so when you win an auction that is not in your location it is best to pay right away so you can order transport, for during which the eight days counting will freeze, and then start again when the item arrives.
So back to my wardrobe. After not winning the first wardrobe I bid on I found this Jugend style (Scandinavian art nouveau) piece on the site and the last moments of the auction did indeed get a little shaky as someone else had been eyeing the same wardrobe as well. But oh the relief when you win it!
The wardrobe could be transported in pieces (phew!) and then put back together at home again.
Like luxury ikea from a hundred years back.
Dag enjoyed his new hideout as long as he could, before the dresses took over.
And now my clothes have an actual place to lay in. Yey!
Disclaimer: even though this post is made as a campaign for Bukowskis all items featured have been bought and paid for by me and all thoughts here are my own.
