I really like the way Filippa K.'s mugs look and I have collected them for a few years until I had fourteen of them. Unfortunately, I've never really liked how they feel when they are filled up with some hot liquid. They tend to get a bit too warm for my taste, at least to begin with, and I have now decided to sell them.

Six of them (the pinstripe ones) were sold today and hopefully the last eight will be sold soon as well. It will free up some space in my cupboards for the mugs I have decided to buy instead — the thermo mugs designed by Verner Panton and Pernille Vea.

Since my sister-in-law already has them, I knew how they felt in my hand and that they would not get too warm. I think this will be a good switch.

Many shops, online as well as offline, are busy with their summer sales and I did take advantage of some of their offers:

A flowery blouse from Haléns, make-up from BareMinerals and the most recent perfume in the DKNY apple series, Golden Delicious, at wowhd.se. Kérastase schampoo and conditioner I buy regularly from FeelUnique and this time I did so at a discount due to their current Olympics offer. Last but not least, my sister-in-law and I decided to buy some (in her case more) coffee/tea thermo mugs from Imerco.dk at half price, which rarely happens. These has been designed by Verner Panton/Pernille Vea for Menu.

At the Höganäs Book Outlet I made a real find — or, to be honest, it was actually T. who made it. He found Ingegerd Råman's book, which turned out to be an amazing account of her philosophy as a potter and "form giver", for only 39 SEK. It's filled with wonderful photos of her work as a potter (which is primarily what she sees herself as) and a glass designer (or "form giver," which is the term she prefers). I have always found her minimalist work very interesting and, as I learned about the philosophy and the thoughts that guide her work, I found it even more intriguing. Ingegerd Råman's sense of balance, the serenity radiated by the objects she has designed, and the integrity she displays as a designer is truly admirable. I very much look forward to seeing more of her work in the future.

Her book, co-written with Lena From, can be found at Adlibris as well. The image of the black vase was found at Sweden.se, the "Lilla servisen" was found at Scandinavian Objects, and the Pond bowl "Trassel" was found at Royal Design.

Glöggmuggar, or small cups for Swedish mulled wine, glögg, are perhaps not what might seem appropriate in the middle of summer, but please hear me out. When T. and I had just met we explored new things about each other's cultures and traditions and just before Christmas one year I happened to introduce glögg to my in-laws and they really liked it. I also bought small cups for them and it happened to be these from Höganäs Keramik. This was a real hit and soon my sister-in-law also wanted a few, and later on relatives in the extended family also wished to have them. At that point they were no longer available in the stores and we were sad to have to tell them that this was the case.

Today, however, T. and I were driving around in the north-western part of Skåne and we decided to check out the outlet in Höganäs. We were very surprised, but also happy, when we suddenly discovered a large stash of the discontinued glögg cups and after phoning everyone we found ourselves buying 20 of them. I really like the simplicity of these and they fit very well in my hands. Happy!

I have worked on Macintoshes since the early 1990s and I have always loved both their looks and the OS. In the burglary in late April, my previous MacBook Pro was stolen. I had to find a replacement and here it is: a 13" MacBook Pro, with an Intel Core i7 Dual Core 2.7GHz processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 500GB harddrive that will hopefully see me through a few more years of pretty hard use.

Since the burglary I have borrowed my partner T.'s old 15" MacBook Pro, which is a great computer too, but it's a bit heavy and bulky for me since I prefer the 13" ones. It has been wonderful to be able to use it in the meantime, however, but now I'm also happy to be able to go back to the size I'm used to. The next step is to reformat the laptop, install MacOS Lion, and transfer all my documents from the 15" to what I hope will become my new friend.

There are so many webshops, but there is one I've followed since 2008: Perlan Living run by Pernilla Larsson, whom I've actually met, since we worked in the same city for a while. Pernilla, or "Perlan," is a photographer and designer of graphic art herself (her posters and cards can be found in her webshop), and has a keen eye for objects that go well together. Her favourite colour combination is black and white with a few vibrant accents, and this really shows both in her shop and on her blog.

Her store offers many cool things, for instance a poster made by Pernilla herself, a citrus press from Blomus, lanterns from Tine K Home, a large Moroccan plate , earrings from Edblad & Co, and, last but not least, a pretty nice First Aid box.

We have recently received financial compensation for the things that were stolen in the burglary about six weeks ago and although it wasn't as much as we had hoped — I suppose it never really is — it is nevertheless enough to give me the opportunity to buy some new jewellery as a replacement. I do wish to buy something that will remind me of my grandmother in the same way the jewellery I received from her did, although I know it is probably impossible.

The jewellery left from my grandmother were most of them from the 1950s and 60s and since a lot of the work by silversmith Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe was created in the same time period, it might be a fitting start when thinking about this. I have always loved the three-dimensional quality of her designs... the Vivianna watch, the Möbius and Continuity shapes... I'm not sure what I'd like to buy yet, but I'm definitely considering the Continuity series or perhaps the colliers and the exchangable pendants in various natural stone materials.

An exhibition of the work of Danish lamp designer Poul Henningsen can be found at the local castle, Koldinghus, in Kolding, Denmark, until the end of August 2012. Most people are familiar with his Artichoke, which he designed in 1958, but his production is infinitely larger, encompassing streetlights as well as pendulums hanging over the kitchen table in many, many homes around the world. A really interesting exhibition in a very wonderful place.

What really got me going was the opportunity to take photos of PH's work from every imaginable angle, which resulted in some really cool images.

The sun is shining and although it is quite windy there is nevertheless a bit of Spring in the air. For some reason my "spring colours" tend to be green and blue and right now I'm most inclined to go for blue. I think it's lovely against the white, beige, brown, and grey of late winter/early spring.

Images from House of Hedda, Ellos, Iittala, Vanessa Bruno, Höganäs, Stelton, Geekologie, Renal Fellow Network, Cartina, Desi Fashion Guide, and my own photo of pebbles and seashells on a beach in Denmark.

Somehow I've always been fascinated by Aboriginal art and when T. and myself watched a television program featuring a number of Aboriginal artists it felt like a treat.

I can't claim to know much about it, but Doreen Reid Nakamarra's repeated pattern, that almost looks three-dimensional, is so beautiful. I've learned that the patterns are different depending on the tradition and location of the artist. Some work in stripes, some in dots, but the patterns are equally mesmerizing. I look forward to learning more about this. Perhaps we'll be able to buy something from the Aboriginal Artstore at some point.

Since I defended my PhD thesis many things have happened and I haven't really had time to focus on some of the formal aspects. The doctor's ring is one of those.

Most newly finished PhDs in Sweden usually buy the doctor's ring via the university, which usually have a ring (or several depending on the disciplines) in their own design. The university where I graduated has one that is fairly modern in red gold. However, when asking around I learned that it was also possible to design my own ring (or have it designed for me), and this is what I chose to do — primarily because I hardly ever wear red gold and I'd love to wear my ring all the time.

What you see above is the result: a ring in silver and white gold designed and made by talented goldsmith Kinna Sturesson. I picked it up today and I think it turned out even better than I imagined. It feels great to wear it too.

The house we live in is pretty neutral. All the walls except one are white, most floors and the staircase are made of oak, and the floor in the bathrooms, in the laundry room and in our hallway are tiled in dark grey. Neutral. And I like this.

There are a few exceptions, however: One of the walls in our dining area is wallpapered in matte turquoise and gold, and the kitchen tiles are light turquoise. The fact that the previous inhabitants have chosen an accent colour such as turquoise means means that we have to address it in some way. One solution might be to re-wallpaper the wall and change the kitchen tiles, another to simply go with it and embrace turquoise.

I actually had a few turquoise items before we moved here. A pillow here, Kivi candleholders from Iittala there, and some striped bedlinen in blue and turquoise from H&M... In addition, the ongoing sale at H&M prompted an order for four new turquoise velvet pillows. What I don't have, but like, is the Dot bowl from Stelton, the knitted sit puff from Glad saker, the wine opener from Sagaform, and the wonderful Prince Wladimir tea from Kusmi Tea. I guess it shows what route I chose...

I love brown leather and wood in combination with crisp white and dark grey (and perhaps an accent colour) and this is what can be found in our home in various ways. Searching the shops for dark brown items I came up with this display, some of which we have or have variants of, and some of which I'd like to have some day.

The bed linen set from H&M T. and I actually use at the moment, and the quality is very good. We also have various baskets (these can be found at Granit), candleholders from Holmegaard similar to these called Cocoon, and trivets from Trip Trap. The photo of the amazing organically shaped wooden bowl was found at Tradera (a version of eBay and an auction I unfortunately did not know about until it was too late). The decorations balls were found at IKEA and the olive wood kitchen utensils were found at Salt and Pepper.

T. and I have been creative and made some additions to our home. Some of the results you can see above: a bedside table in oak (well, there are actually two of them) and a lampshade (there are actually two of them as well). I really love the bedside tables. They are small, but large enough for what needs to be there, and they are also very slender and light despite being made of massive oak. I decided to make the lampshades simply because I didn't find suitable ones in the stores, but it was actually a fun job — although a bit messy because of the glue — which I might attempt again should the occasion arise.

Eighteen years ago I received my first pair of Iittala Festivo candleholders, five-ringed. I've always liked them, but I kind of forgot all about them for a while. Browsing Tradera I stumbled upon other sizes and I suddenly envisioned a new way of using them. Iittala Festivo candleholders are available in the sizes one-ringed to eight-ringed and I realized they look great grouped. I managed to win the auctions on four more (one one-ringed, one two-ringed and two four-ringed) and I have decided that I will keep an eye open for yet a few more in larger sizes.

A reproduction of this painting called Lys min väg (Light My Way) from Demofia Design found at Signerat now hangs on our wall. I love the motif, the colours, as well as the humour in it. We don't need that much new for our walls, but it is nevertheless fun to check out new pieces of art.

Today I also found the Nordic Art House, which might give me some more new ideas.

To match the new theme and desktop on my new computer I decided to create some personas for my Firefox browser. The result can be found (and used on any Firefox browser) here.

An amazing silversmith, an avant-garde artist, and a fascinating woman... When reading Ann Westin's biography earlier today my image of Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe was confirmed. She was born in Malmö in 1927, educated at the university college of arts, crafts and design, Konstfack, in Stockholm just after WWII. Travelling widely, she lived in France, Germany, Indonesia, and Denmark before her death in 2004.

Among Bülow-Hübe's most famous work is the watch, Vivianna, and the Continuity jewelry series, both of which are still in production and very sought-after at Georg Jensen.

New or old, colourful or more subdued... I find all of these snippets of inspiration... well, inspiring.

A bowl, "Skyn", and small vases, "Lantställe", are new items from IKEA. The beautiful image bottom left is borrowed from Denise Grünstein's book 59 buketter från min trädgård — och lite till. Joseph Bentley's planting tools were found at Garden Home, Ingegerd Råman's light bulb at Shoppinggatan, the beautiful bowl and plates come from Mateus, the olive soap from L'Occitane, the sofa from Ilva, and, last but not least, the Ester necklace and the JellyBean cake-dish are both from Design Online. The photo of the cherry blossoms were taken by me last Wednesday. Spring is really here.

Friday evening. It has been another busy day at the end of yet another busy week, but it has been a good and productive one. Today's topic no doubt mirrors my feeling of having had a bit too much to do and my wish to take it easy for a while. I do think the whiteness and the organic shapes of sarapaloma's beautiful Nesting Bowls, which can be found on Etsy, have a calming and relaxing effect. Aren't they wonderful?