Happy birthday to Ikea's Billy

Do you have, or have you ever had, a Billybookcase from IKEA?
The most famous IKEA bookcase Billy is celebrating its'30th birthday!

Now the iconic bookcase is celebrating its 30th birthday and Siobhan Toman at the BBC celebrates 30 years of with some fascinating facts:

... a behemoth of the bookcase world. Designed by only the fourth employee for Ikea, 41 million have been sold since 1979. The factory where the bookcases are made knocks out 15 Billys a minute; 3.1 million a year.Congratulations Billy!

and the pleasure comes with customising it for yourself.

And now, to celebrate Billy's 30th birthday, Ikea is bringing out a range of limited-edition graffiti-style bookcases, covered in Shakespeare quotes.(see below)



And for more inspiration, check out this link to see loads of Billy's in use.

Olympic Games 2016 in Rio de Janeiro

What a good news!Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's capital of fun and sports has won the right to host the 2016 Olympic Games, the city has the opportunity to channel this passion into a specific project.Click here to see the promo video of Rio.

Brazilians' devotion to sports is closely tied to national pride, which was put on show when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced its decision to bring the Games to Rio on Friday.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva burst into tears right in the middle of a press conference.

"This was one of the happiest days of my life, and I felt proud to be a Brazilian," said Lula.

However, sports occupy a special place in Brazilian life, and particularly in Rio.

City residents are masters and mistresses of the cult of physical beauty and its legendary beaches are for showing off physical prowess as well as sun bathing.

Thousands partied on the famous Copacabana beach into the small hours of Saturday, dancing to the infectious beat of samba music as they celebrated Rio de Janeiro's choice as the 2016 Olympics host.

"Rio loves you!" roared a crowd of 50,000 upon learning the IOC had chosen Rio over rival heavy-weights Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid.

The Kreative Blogger Award

A few days ago I was given The Kreativ Blogger award by Natacha from Mocca & Me. Thanks girl, it brought a huge smile to my face.



The Kreativ Blogger Award comes with some rules:
1 Thank the person(s) who has given you the award (Thank you Natascha)
2 Copy the logo and place it on your blog
3 Link to the person who has nominated you for the award
4 Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting
5 Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers
6 Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate
7 Leave a comment on each of the blogs to let them know they've been nominated


Seven Facts about me:
1) I'm addicted to smoothies these days. I started to make my own, fresh fruit smoothies a while ago and it seems I'm becomming better in this every day;-)

2) I'm a big fan of sports. I started running a few years ago and I even made it to run the New York City Marathon in 2005. That was a big achievement.

3) I love to spend most of my time with friends and family.

4) I live in the big city of Rotterdam but I just love the country side. The reason for this might be that I was raised there as well.

5) I love to travel the world as much as I can. I always want to discover new places and new cultures around the globe. On my wishlist are Australia and New Zealand.

6) I started to bake my own bread. Just found a lovely recipe from Jamie Oliver. Please send me an e-mail if you want to receive the details.

7) I can't get enough of good Swedish design. I love white interiors and I'm glad I found a great way to share it with the world via Urban Style Vibes. My dream is to become a worldwide web-based authority when it comes to travel, style and design.



The next seven 'Kreativ Blogger' holders I would like to pass the award onto are:








All wonderful bloggers with such fun and creative flair and a great writing style.

Nina in vorm

Happy Friday, it's almost time for the weekend. Today I will give you some new inspiration. Via some Dutch blogs I found Nina in Vorm. Nina is a Dutch designers and she is sellin handmade screen printed ceramics, screenprints and collages, as well as vintage 'redecorated' ceramics: beautiful vintage items.

The technique she use for her handmade ceramics is a combination of slipcasting (using molds) and hand shaping. Each item is made, decorated and finished by hand and therefore unique. What a lovely charming items. You can buy them online here.

Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer foundation

Hi lovely ladies (and gents of course!). Today I want to draw your attention to the Pink Ribbon foundation. As you might have notices I usually do not post about other topics than Travel, Design and Style but today, I would like to make an exception to this rule. Did you know that today it is the kick off of the Breast Cancer Awareness Month of the foundation. Every year in October, the foundation is hosting a variety of different events here in the Netherlands. Today there was a so called 'lintjesregen' (rain of pins) in the famous Carre Theater in Amsterdam. Five ladies received a pink ribbon pin for their work to fight against breast cancer in different ways. The event was a big succes. See below those powerful women who did an do a great job for he kick off of the Breast Cancer Awareness month.

If you would like to contribute to this good cause, you can buy some lovely products here. While buying these products a part will be donated to the good cause. I just bought the lovely bag hanger above and I will also buy some other products to support the good cause this month.

For all the international readers click here to find Pink Ribbon in your country.

Lovely light house

Today I would like to take you to the United Kingdom to show you the magical atmosphere that surrounds the Dairy House, designed by the architectural firm in Charlotte Skene Catling Sommerset. Layers of oak wood alternating with blocks of laminated glass on the walls are the key elements for this former dairy farm in the English countryside.

By filtering through the wood and glass, natural light produces an effect of mystery and seduction which is getting around the house during the day and at night casting a glow on the terrace. While in fact the building is functional in the privacy of those who live there, its boosting the relationship with the landscape, in a fascinating way. Isn't this a light house to dream of? So simple but so cool:-)

source: At Casa

Happy Monday!

Hi Lovely readers across the globe. It's Monday again and I'm so happy because I have a day off today. That's why I did some shopping in my hometown Rotterdam today. It's good to see that there is a lot of lovely autumn/winter fashion in store now. So tonight I will rearrange my wardrobe, including my new stuff so that I'm ready for the new season. Above you see some lovely images of the Marimekko Autumn/Winter collection. Marimekko Corporation is a leading Finnish textile and clothing design company that was established in 1951. The company designs, manufactures and markets high-quality clothing, interior decoration textiles, bags and other accessories under the Marimekko brand, both in Finland and abroad. You might already know this brand from it's popular flower design. Nowaday they are even selling Marimekko's clothes. Have a lovely week and enjoy reading Urban Style Vibes!!

X

Diesel Home Wear

With the recently launched Home Wear collection, Diesel wants to show us that it's selling more than only fashionable clothes. Diesel Home is trying to distiguish with a extra ordinary collection of design furniture that can be combined in any interior. What is your opinion on this home collection? Will Diesel be able to enter the Interior Design market?? Please give me your thoughts below.

source: FD Magazine

Happy weekend!

Hi everyone! How are you. I'm a bit tired after a busy week... Yesterday I went out with my best friends to discuss the 'goals' for the rest of 2009 and evaluated what we did so far. I can tell you that it was a lot of fun. We had diner at the beautiful Italian Restaurant Oliva in Rotterdam. And of course we shared our thoughts on the future. This all in co-operation with excellent food and Prosecco. So tonight I made a reservation for some recovery with a glass of rose;-) I hope to be fit again by tomorrow. Last but not least I would like to share some beautiful images of the Dutch Designer Piet Boon. His Piet Boon Zone collection is awesome. I just love the 'Heit' chair on the first image. What do you think of it? I wish you all a wonderful weekend! Take care!

Lise M.

images: Piet Boon Zone

Beauty at the Beach

This minimalist beach house designed by Pete Bossley, called T-house the name was taken because this built in the T-plan. It’s a single storey house with beautiful design and offers amazing beach front views. T-shaped structure with two wings perfect for the whole family to live in. The house design wasn’t only look cool but it also protects from ocean winds its outdoor spaces, which charm with the small level differences between them. It’s a beautiful minimalist beach house located near Tatapouri Point in New Zealand. Since I was born and raised close to the sea I think this is an awesome spot to live. Dream on Lise M!!...

source: Momoy