Tuesday 22 March 2011

Playing with light

Now where was I? As you may remember Polly Line looked at some Arne Jacobsen furniture in Spook House and she did buy quite a lot. Because of many deadlines at work in January and February she wasn't able to do any home decor until recently, but here is finally the result.



As you can see she bought two limegreen swan chairs, which she thought looked great with Annina's sofa. And while she was at it, she got herself a new carpet as well.



A short break.



She also bought four seven chairs and a new lamp.



Can you spot the statue of Liberty on the credenza?



Some other souvenirs from her travels with doctor Whatson.



The whole room.

Polly had hardly finished decorating the living room before Karl Edo asked her to help him out. One of his contacts, the Danish company El-Salg, wanted his help with settings for their lamp catalogue. He had already asked Nora and Helmer who had said "yes of course!" and now he wondered if he could use Polly's house too and perhaps make use of the spare room as well. And of course she agreed to help him out!

They arrived early one Sunday morning and spent the whole day taking pictures, Boline from El-Salg and Claudi, the photographer, who were both very sweet.
Claudi and Boline asked Karl Edo, Polly Line and their friends to take part in the photo shoot. They all felt a little bit like models!

The result can be seen on the El-Salg homepage as well as here:




























Apparently Polly Line lives in nr 24.



I think Claudi did a great job, don't you agree?


Sorry for my long absence, but I have been really busy at work, and I'm even in the middle of decorating my guestroom/dollhouse room. (More on that later). And after a while the silence takes on its own life:



Credits: I was contacted by Claudi on behalf of Boline, who had the idea for the photo shoot and had found my blog. It was great fun working with them, much because of their enthusiasm.
Here they are at work:




The painting over Annina's sofa is a miniature aquarelle by me, based on a photo I shot in Venice 20 years ago. The Arne Jacobsen furniture is by Minimii. The carpet is a fabric sample from the office, and the lamp is an altered playmobil floor lamp.

37 comments:

My Realitty said...

Love it! Well you have been busy! Cheers C

Ann said...

Love the new pictures.. and congratulations to Polly and friends in appearing in a catalogue! I do wish those lamps were in miniature though ;-)

Petra said...

Oh what a shame! At first I thought all this wonderful lamps are in our lundby-scale. I was so happy, but then....

But I'm so glad you are back and showed us theses nice pictures. I especially like the white chairs in the wooden furniture - very stylisch.
Hope you have time to rest now. Best wishes!

rosanna said...

Fabulous!! a real catalogue shot in your house!I love this. Congratulatons and welcome back, Rosanna

Pubdoll said...

Thanks C! Yes, I have been busy, there is even more fun I haven't told you about yet and I'm also working myself around the house, tidying up after two years of neglect due to blogging.

Pubdoll said...

Thanks Ann, we were all really honoured to be asked! And I too would have loved those lamps in miniature!

Pubdoll said...

Thanks Oese, it's good to finally be back, I have missed you all, and you especially! I can't wait to get my dollhouse room in order again, so I can take pictures of the basement room with your masks, they look so great in there!

When I was younger I dreamt I had a shrinking gun, so I could make a lot of miniatures, and seeing these 1:1 scale lamps in my dollshouses really reminds me of that dream.

And I love the Minimii furniture, can't get enough of them :-)

Pubdoll said...

Thanks Rosanna, it's good to be back to such a warm welcome!
And not only in my house, but also in my houses! :-) It was fun watching them work, they had so many gadgets and lights to help them, and I got a few ideas. I think they had fun too, especially Boline who picked the dolls and clothes for the shoot.

TreeFeathers said...

Wow, congratulations on the catalog, Helene! That is so cool! Also I love Polly's living room, it's really beautiful. Good to see you back! :)

- Grace

Pubdoll said...

Thanks Grace, yes it was quite cool, wasn't it? :-) I hope you noticed some of your fabulous books in the shelf? I love them so, and so does Polly!

TM said...

Just awesome!

*annina* said...

B R I L L I A N T !

Pubdoll said...

Thanks TM! Nice with a new face!

Pubdoll said...

Thanks Annina, you make me feel lighthearted :-)

Daydreamer said...

OOOHHH, Helene! WOW! I LOVE it! I wish those BUG lights were minis!!! Your dolls look fantastic! What a fun and awesome project! Congratulations! It is an honor.... but SO well deserved as your houses are SO perfect! I love the one with ...is it Nora at the piano???? She looks SO elegant! I just love them ALL..... Karl Edo looking in through the doorway.... such great theatrical touches! Well Done!

callsmall said...

OK, OK, so I guess you had some very good excuses for being absent! How COOL is this??!!! So creative and the photos are really excellent. And what a keepsake and record of your dolls' modern lives, huh? I hope they were happy with the outcome!

Pubdoll said...

Thanks Betsy, it could have been fun trying to make these bug lamps in miniature :-)
And you spotted the family resemblance, it's Noras mother Glenn Closenough who's playing the piano. She used to be a Vaudeville artist in her youth :-)
It really was an honour to be asked, who would have thought blogging would lead to that much attention?
I can't take credit for the posing, the dolls were put in place and instructed by Claudi and Boline. I just tried not to be in the way. (A bit hard since it was so fun to watch, but they spent 6 hours including lunch, so I got to watch them a lot anyway)

Pubdoll said...

Thanks callsmall, I guess that means I'm forgiven :-)
Yes I think the photos are really great, I wouldn't have thought a non-miniaturist could take that good photos. And I loved the idea, only problem was I had to get rid of all my lamps from the rooms to make room for theirs, and many of my lamps are quite well attached to ceiling and walls.
Who were happy with the outcome, the customer or the dolls? :-) I think they both were. At least Claudi reported back to me that both Boline's boss and the ad agency were very pleased with the photos and of course the dolls were happy too. It's fun being a model for a day :-) And as you pointed out, I'm pleased to have the rooms as they are now documented in such a great way.

Ingerid said...

Et ord, på 3 bokstaver; W O W !!!

Utrolig kult, heldig! : )

Pubdoll said...

Tusen takk Ingerid!
Jeg har hatt det litt hektisk de siste månedene, så jeg glemte å svare på det siste spørsmålet ditt om Lundby dukkehus.
Du kan finne endel her:

http://www.swedish-dollshouses.com/Museum.htm

og hvis du ser under linkene mine til høyre, finner du også en link til "The history of Lundby of Sweden", hvor det er mange fine bilder av gamle Lundbyhus.

AMCSviatko said...

What fabulous fun and great photos! I, too, wish the lamps were available in miniature...

Pubdoll said...

Thanks TSS, yes it was great fun, both to watch them work and to see the end result!

dalesdreams said...

Welcome back, Helene! Seems a few of us had taken breaks.

How exciting it must have been during the photo shot!

I love how your rooms look so realistic. :)

Pubdoll said...

Thanks Dale! Yes, I realized when I wasn't blogging, how much time I really had spent on it.
Realistic rooms is the best compliment I can get, but for the photographer and the client it was very important that one also could see it was infact a dollhouse.

Modern MC said...

Oh! I'm so late to the party, man! This is utterly fantastic!! I really love the photos. The rooms look great. Congrats! Congrats! Congrats! This is so very cool.

Pubdoll said...

Many thanks MC, and you're no more than fashionable late. Early or late you are always very welcome you know! And I was quite late myself :-)

Sans! said...

My dear dear Helene, how I have missed you. There were many occasions when I wanted to email but thought when one needs a break from blogland, she must get them :). I know you have been so busy at work and since the start of the year, I have been a bit preoccupied as well. :)

First, congratulations to being featured again :). This must be so much fun :). And after seeing Polly's room , it is really no wonder that you should be asked again and again. I love that room and I have to tell you, the thing that really caught my eye was the artwork that you did. You have shown it to me before in an email :). It is perfect where it is.

Love that clip you had on "pause " haha. I am finding it hard to get back into the swing of blogging after I am back. Mainly because I am up to my neck with things I have to do. :) But reading your blog (and Dale's) , I am going to try :). If you can do it, I can :):). So darn right about silence and pause taking on its own life if we just let it :).

Pubdoll said...

Dear Sans, I have really missed you too! And thank you, you know you're the only one who has commented my painting and the video :-) Yes, the video was spot on how I felt. And everytime I thought I'd write a comment it was like I too had "forgotten the entire English language" (at least how to use it) And the downside is, the more you postpone writing, the more catching up there is to be done. It can be quite overwhelming, so my advice to you is, don't stress, just blog as much/little as you feel like. After all, blogging is supposed to be fun!

Btw, did you notice how the insect lamps had the exact angles as the fabulous red heart chair I got from you? I think the photographer did very well and it was both fun and an honouor to be a part of this project!

pueppilottchens-spielzeug-blog said...

Congrats to you and the pubdolls, too :) Looks like all our Lundby folks become famous ;D Great!

Hugs, Nicola

Pubdoll said...

Thanks Nicola, I just hope the fame doesn't go to their heads! I think especially Karl Edo easily could get used to this :-)

Mini Dork said...

Holy Smokes Helene! If this is what happens when you disappear please go away more often. :P Wow, your room is just stunning, love the new Arne furniture and all of your incredible decorating touches. The photo shoot and page layout for the lamps is just fabulous. You are going to help them sell a lot of lamps. :) Congratulations, what an exciting project! Glad to have you back!

Pubdoll said...

Thanks Megan, with response like this, it's a pleasure to be back!
And I love the Arne Jacobsen furniture too, I've just bought some more...

Jess said...

Since I purchased an Emerson house, I'm particularly interested in the 1:16 and 1:18 scale, which are not so prevalent in the U.S. Just wonderful and so inspirational. The stone & wooden table with the little decor items is fabulous.

Pubdoll said...

Thanks Jess! So nice the Emerson house has led to more people working in the 1:16 scale! I wanted one Emerson house myself, but it's not easy and very expensive to ship it to Europe.
But at least we have easy access to Lundby houses and furniture in that scale. And now Minimii has begun producing Arne Jacobsen chairs in 1:16 as well.

The stone and wooden table was made out of bare necessity, since there were so few modern tables to be found in this scale (it has improved the last years). It was made for a dollhouse fair in Stavanger were Karl Edo was asked to contribute to the exhibition :-)

Johanna Janhonen said...

congrats, see http://minitreasures.pbworks.com/w/page/38838073/mtw_two_years

Pepper said...

Congratulations!

Fabulous rooms and I adore the souvenir table and the trinkets displayed there.

Pubdoll said...

Thanks Pepper! It was a lot of work preparing for the photoshoot, but well worth it, and I must admit I'm very fond of the the souvenir table myself :-)