Month: December 2020

Heart of the Home: The Kitchen

Daniela Lee

As we spend more time enjoying our homes, the kitchen has become the heart of the home now more than ever – for many of us serving as an office, dining area, gathering space and more. This time of year, especially, it is at its coziest!  The air filled with the warm scents of bread or cookies baking in the oven, while holiday crafts or gift wrapping take over the kitchen table.

Our food and kitchen accessory areas are full of objects that will add to the warmth of the kitchen and enhance the cooking and gathering experience. Lots of great gift ideas too!

Here are a few of our favourites:

Cookbooks 

When you are having trouble deciding where to start, cookbooks are a great way to get inspired in the kitchen. We have so many to choose from, but I’m especially curious about is Canal House: Cook Something by Christopher Hirsheimer. This title houses 300 simple recipes perfect for the newbie home cook and is also a great reference for those already comfortable with their chef’s knife. A favourite of mine over the years is Everything I Want to Cook by Jessica Koslow which has *The Best* biscuit recipe aptly called Flaky Ass Biscuits. If you want to go deep into the science of fermentation, The Noma Guide to Fermentation by René Redzepi is an amazing (and beautiful) book filled with things you may (or may not) want to adventure and make!

Tools 

Once you have made your decision about what to cook, then you need to get your batterie de cuisine ready. We all love the John Pawson pots by Demeyere. If you’ve ever drooled over John Pawson’s cult cookbook (yes, he is an architect, but he made an amazing cookbook in the ’90s called Living and Eating), then you would have seen the pots in his beautiful kitchen and now, these can come home with you! Bonus is that they work as well as they look.

FD Style Tools — these sleek black handtools (peelers, openers, graters) are a subtle way to introduce beauty and comfort into your daily cooking prep.  

Setting the Table

New in the store: the custom-designed cutting boards and spoons by local woodworker Steelwood.  These pieces use reclaimed wood to create joyful pieces for serving and entertaining.

We carry a few select pieces from local cult ceramicist Janaki Larsen. These unique pieces will bring panache and style to your table for any occasion.

Ikebana vases by Jaime Hayon for Fritz Hansen. These vases come in three sizes and make flower arranging a snap. I especially like using them with botanicals that can be dried to really max out my arrangement.

Gropius wine glasses for Rosenthal. These glasses are spectacular; they make drinking any wine (or even just sparkling water) feel special.  

If you are ready to upgrade your dishes, the porcelain collection designed by Stefan Diez for Japanese manufacturer 2016/Arita is absolutely stunning.  

Puddifoot Cassini flatware. This cutlery from local manufacturer Puddifoot is perfect. Well designed, good weight, and an excellent price.

Stelton Cylinda Line teapot. For teatime, there is no teapot that functions better than this stainless steel one by Stelton. Designed by Arne Jacobsen, there won’t be a drop spilt when you pour your tea and it looks so good!

Alessi A Tempo dishrack and tray. After your meal is done, the experience in the kitchen continues.  The A Tempo dishrack is round, which is unique as it works well for both plates and glasses at once.  

Gourmet Treats

Because this is 2020, a year like no other, we have decided to expand our offerings in the store to include some Gourmet Delicacies from around the world.  

We have incredible Truffle Mustard from France, Infused Honey from BC, Candy from Sweden, Nancy and Niels’ special blend of coffee, Beta 5 chocolate bars and more!!  

Please come in or browse online to see all our amazing offerings. And of course, if you want to overhaul the entire kitchen, Carissa would be happy to talk to you about our beautiful Boffi line of kitchens.

Re: Lighting

Daniela Lee

As we all settle into the cooler, darker days of Fall, there is a natural urge to nest and ‘cosy-up’ our homes. One of the most rewarding ways to make a huge impact in a space is to re-think your lighting. Changing a single source of light can have a huge impact on the overall look and feel of a space – without changing any of the furniture.

I personally am a huge fan of non-direct, bounced light.  Rather than strong overhead lights in a space, the atmosphere is softer and more controlled when using smaller lights around the periphery of a room.  Another really important element in controlling your atmosphere is to have lights at a variety of heights — floor level, reading height, and ceiling level all produce different effects.  

Bouncing light off a wall or ceiling produces a beautiful effect that illuminates without glaring. Staying away from bare, open bulbs softens the light, as well as making sure the light temperature of your bulbs is warm will also help make the space feel cosy.  

Luckily, there are so many options of beautiful lights out there to help create exactly the type of ambience that you are looking for.  Here are some solutions and suggestions for common issues.

 

Adding individual light sources to tables can be a romantic way of bringing attention to certain areas without illuminating the whole room. And with rechargeable LEDs becoming more and more prevalent, there are a number of wonderful options available. Davide Groppi Tetatete is one of our favourites. As well as Ingo Maurer’s digital take on candlelight with My New Flame. Menu’s Carrie light is also a transportable and rechargeable light that can go anywhere with you!

We often see spaces that don’t have adequate lighting for really seeing (which is, after all the whole point of lights!) and so sometimes you need fixtures that will flood the space with light. The Toio by Achille Castiglioni for FLOS is a wonderful light that is powerful enough to illuminate while remaining flexible and providing bounced light off the ceiling.

Another great option is the Parentesi which can adapt as necessary to fill a whole space with light, or come down to reading level.  This fixture is a nice one to play with Philips Hue bulbs to create different colours and feelings depending on the day!

Sometimes what a space is looking for is some texture. Lights can be clean and sterile, but they can also provide drama and depth to a space.  The team at Apparatus lighting are masters of creating fixtures with drama and je ne sais quoi.  The Horsehair sconce is a great example of a fixture that functions both as a lighting element and as a sculptural piece.

Lindsey Adelman produces pieces that are sculptural and delicate, lending a decorative, jewellery-like quality to a space.  Her Cherry Bomb series is especially evocative.

Bocci has always used glass in unique and exciting ways.  The 28 Table series remains one of my all-time favourites for its soft, diffused light, pops of colour, and ability to control.

A really fun and affordable light is the Mayday by Constantin Grcic for FLOS. With a long cord and a hook, it can be casually placed just about anywhere!

FLOS has also recently re-issued Mario Bellini’s Chiara light.  This sculptural piece reflects the environment around it while providing a soft bounced light from within.

I could go on and on as there are just so many exciting options out there (ANDLight, Louis Poulsen, RBW, Gubi, &Tradition, Tom Dixon, oh my!) that I haven’t even touched on.  If any of this has got you excited about changing things up, please get in touch to talk to one of our design consultants who would love to help you illuminate your space.