Showing posts with label favorite finds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label favorite finds. Show all posts

 The thing you need to know before coming to Estonia is this: they are not the most outgoing bunch, these Estonians. A tiny little detail that I just couldn’t wrap my head around when I first got here and one that I tend to ignore like a pro nowadays. After all, overwhelming them with all my joy and love was how I got most of my Estonian friends. The fact that it took quite some time to convince them that I am not a crazy person, on the other hand, is also something I like to ignore like a pro.

So you can imagine how weirded out Krõõt Kukkur, the funniest Estonian illustrator and designer I have met so far, was, when I found her booth at a design market and got a little too excited about her products. After our Papetri Paperworks post I’m sure all of you know that Lena and I take our designer hunts seriously. And that we can get a bit overjoyed when we find something we really like. Well, Krõõt didn’t know that. All she knew was that a random girl asked her out for coffee to talk some more about her designs after coming back to her booth a billion times and touching her amazing backpacks twice as much. Amazingly enough, she agreed to meet up with me anyways, once again proving that my approach of just overwhelming them with emotions can work sometimes.


Picture: coucou.ee

Speaking of overwhelming situations, I’ve spent the last two hours trying to figure out how to fit everything there is to say about the girl with the thick black stripe tattooed around her arm into one blogpost. Because to be honest, I wish I could just put our whole hilarious conversation up on here. During our one hour long chat a couple of things happened: 1) the sun was shining – worth mentioning because this doesn’t happen that often in Estonia. 2) I couldn’t stop laughing about her funny comments on her own life. 3) Turns out that Krõõt has the most random things to tell about herself. Exactly my kind of person. 

She carries a board game with her wherever she goes. Quit art school due to a lack of interest in perfectly parallel lines. Doesn’t consider herself a crazy cat lady but is scared of her own cats’ – who sometimes think they are dogs – anger. Loves making people uncomfortable with her postcard collection of road kills. Has the most amazing bike. Doesn’t only design backpacks and illustrates whatever she can – from beerbottles to CD-covers – but is also working on a career in the tattoo industry. (I’ve got a feeling I need to support that…) And she doesn’t care about marketing and promoting her products. She just creates. I think that’s my favorite thing about her. And that she made me feel better about being lazy sometimes. Apparently this happens to the best of us.

Picture: coucou.ee

But speaking of Krõõt’s creations: let’s “briefly” talk about why I got so excited when I found her booth. First of all, her illustrations are super cool. I know, that is probably the worst description you’ve ever heard. But in lack of the right art vocabulary, this is what you have to deal with for now. I’ll work on it. In any case, I’ll just give you a list of my favorite things in her collection:

  1. Her backpacks. Because they are completely made by herself. And because the inside is covered in one of Krõõt’s prints. And because they just look cool. Again, amazing vocabulary, Kathi.
  2. Her packs of cards. Because each card has a different illustration of some person’s face on it. And because the joker is a cat. And because every time I look at my pack – of course I bought one – I am reminded of that time when I was playing cards with Lena and her family – and L lost. Let’s just say she is not good at loosing. To be fair, I had been warned by her brother. And her mom. And her dad. So just take this as a warning from me. If you want to have a nice afternoon in the sun with L, don’t bring any games. Might ruin the atmosphere a bit. (I love you, Lena!)
  3. Her “Why did you cut down the tree…”-collection. Because she says she doesn’t fight for our planet being saved while she actually raises awareness with more than one of her collections. And because she does it in such an easy way. And because cute animals staring at you, asking you why you destroyed their home really does make you think.
Photo: coucou.ee

That was the longest and most rambling post I have written in a long time. I hope you got a glimpse of the awesome person behind the name Krõõt Kukkur. If you ever want to meet her, she works in one of Tallinn’s best restaurants. Not going to tell you which one, though. You’ll have to find out yourself. Or hit the next design market. Or check out her homepage or instagram and contact her on there. Don’t forget: Overwhelming them with emotions works best!

Have a lovely Monday, everybody!

xx Kathi

P.S.: Due to a lack of photographic skills I didn't feature any of the pictures I took of her. I want people to like me, after all.

In a country with the highest top model per capita ratio in the world, where the Prime Minister is mostly known for his brightly colored socks and the President is never seen without a bowtie, nothing surprises me anymore – at least fashion-wise. This being said, everything was different when I first moved to Estonia. All I knew before coming here was that 50% of Estonia is covered in trees. Nobody ever mentioned an obsession with bowties.

So I was quite confused when I started school last September and saw a couple of people wearing bowties every single day. Was there a secret uniform I didn’t know of? Frankly, I didn’t care. All I wanted to know was exactly where these amazingly stylish pieces came from. Why they are so special, you ask? They are wooden - because when in Estonia, you should take advantage of all the trees – and oh-so pretty.

Well, it turned out that one of my fellow Student Council members and friend, Kristjan Oro, is the source of this amazingness. About a year ago he co-founded his own company – ŠIKK – with his best friend, Ats Jõgi, dedicated to crafting wooden bowties in all sorts of shapes. After six months of rummaging through his magic box of bowties over and over again and giving everybody the same present for Christmas – you guessed it, ŠIKK bowties – it was long overdue to sit down with Kristjan and talk about his startup journey, the biggest struggles of being an entrepreneur and his plans for the future.
Photo: ŠIKK
The two major things I learned during our extremely serious chat were these: When in business with your best friend of eight years, yell at each other every now and again. Helps you clear the air. And stay sane. And friends, for that matter. It seems to work for Kristjan and Ats. After a year of yelling at each other, they are still best friends. They even like to spend their free time together – if they have any. Which leads me to the second thing Kristjan taught me, this being how to manage your time and simultaneously not to get completely confused by to-do lists. (Something I really need to work on.) I quite like his system: A to do list classified from A – if you don’t do this immediately, you’re fucked to D – tell somebody else to do it.

But all jokes aside, I am sure that these two have a bright future ahead. I am not just saying this because Kristjan is my friend. I truly believe it. Because their bowties are just too cool not to love them. And because the personal touch the products come with is amazing in this impersonal world. And because in just one year, they managed to be featured in the Estonian Song Contest and the Estonian version of “Got Talent”, thus making ŠIKK bowties something that is worn by stars. Next challenge: The President.

For everybody who really wants one of these unique accessories now, it is your lucky week. ŠIKK will be launching their brand new online store in the next couple of days and they are shipping anywhere in this world. But you should be quick; I am planning to fill up my suitcase with them. Can’t guarantee there will be any left when I’m done shopping.

Show them the flying floordrobe love and check out ŠIKK's Facebook page and its Instagram account to see more pretty photos of the bowties and to be up to date on the exciting new product that will be launched very soon!

Photo: www.facebook.com/sikkdesign/
Have a great week, everybody!

xx, Kathi



Back in New Hampshire, when I had known Lena for approximately two weeks, I told her that she was one of those rare people I can see myself fighting with. I usually hate arguments with my friends. I’m just not good at fights – those with my sister not included. But with Lena, I thought, I could really enjoy a good argument every now and again. Boy oh boy, was I wrong.

How wrong I was with this assumption, I didn’t realize until almost two years later, when we went on a girls-trip to Budapest. Now, imagine four girls, each one with her own, very strong personality, sticking together for three days straight. You know as much as I do that something was bound to happen. Couldn’t agree on where to go? Not our problem. Hangriness? Not that either. It was the German language that got us started. The article of the word dumpling, to be exact. I am not even going to go into the whole thing again, or I’ll have to call Lena right now and start discussing this again. The argument went on for quite some time, ended in tears and I soon realized: I hate fighting with L.

Why I’m telling you this? Because I want you to know about Mimi. And Mimi came at the perfect time, reminding me that I love this girl from Upper Austria to bits, even though she frustrates the hell out of me sometimes. So who is Mimi? 

She is our first favorite find and the reason why we started flying floordrobe, but most importantly she is my favorite artist and an incredibly talented person. Mimi owns a not-so-little-anymore company called Papetri Paperworks and creates amazing notebooks, cards and as of last year, she also designs diaries for dm Hungary. Her illustrations are the cutest thing I have ever seen and her notebooks too precious to ever actually use them. Can you tell I’m in love?

We found Mimi the day after the dumpling incident, strolling around Budapest’s amazingly beautiful Jewish quarter and browsing a few market stalls that have been put up in one of the passages connecting Király utca and Dob utca. (Remember those names; you don’t want to miss out on Budapest’s Design Street – which would be Király utca – and all the courtyards and passages around there!) Naturally, the two of us got excited about pretty much everything – as long as it was handmade and special somehow. But then there she was, in a dark corner, showcasing her work.

how can you not love these illustrations?
I think Mimi was a little scared of the two crazy people jumping up and down in excitement just because of her notebooks. And I think that our fellow travelers were a little annoyed at how long we took just because of those notebooks. But Lena and I were in our own happy bubble, our day having been made a little better just because of Mimi’s notebooks. It also made me realize that I probably won’t ever find another person again that goes as crazy for those little things as I do.

I don’t have to mention that we fell in love with her stuff right then and there, but when we started talking to her we loved the company even more, because Mimi turned out to be a lovely person. Of course we bought some of her work that day. We also got her card, tracked her down on Facebook, went to see her when she was at a street market in Vienna, obviously bought some more of her stuff and are currently working on a very exciting project with her.

So that’s the story of how we found Mimi. If you want to check out her stuff – trust me, you want to – have a look at her Facebook page and her Instagram feed. And don’t forget to check out Király utca if you ever find yourself in Budapest. But bring enough money - you willl want to buy everything. Don't tell me I didn't warn you!

xx Kathi

Photo taken in: Budapest, Hungary
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