Oh oh oh oh oh… London!

Oh my Gurkenhobel, I thought I would take a little blogbreak and now it’s been a month already!
Hopefully this incredibly long blogpost (which maybe took a week to make in itself) will make up for this lack of visibility.

This month I’ve been up to my ears in assignments and plotting and planning my exciting new venture Urlaub.

The plotting and planning actually had a really nice side to it, when Mr Rockstar proposed a trip to London, to check out other small spaced concept stores (this included us leaving for London on Valentine’s Day: aaaaaw).

 

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

 

Before I give you my London city guide I’ve got an official announcement to make:

I Finally fixed the send-blogposts-to-my-inbox-thingy!

If you would like to have my blogposts e-mailed to you, you can subscribe via this very impressive newsletter button to the left of you, up in the sidebar.

 

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

 

And now for: Oh oh oh oh oh… London!

 

Why did I never visit you before? So close and yet we never met!

 

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

 

Thanks to tweeps Karlijn (daily dose of LOL in your timeline guaranteed) and Not so Stuffy (London-know-it-alls) I had access to the best adresses.

For all of you peeps that have had enough of cliche blogger city guides… I’ve tried to spice things up with some lovely no less cliche OMG-this-cool-blogger-has-been-to-the-coolest-city-ever photos. Hehe.

 

Notting Hill, Portobello Road, Ottolenghi

Chique and trendy neighbourhood, as well as home to loads of cute shops selling bric-a-brac and antiques. We went there on Friday morning, to avoid the Saturday hoards.

As far as Ottolenghi’s concerned: Best. Bite. (nuff said)

 

london portobello road

photo Inzumi

 

london ottolenghi

photo Culy

Covent Garden

Covent Garden is quite the touristy spot; so clean and shiny it almost blinds you. Finding Neal’s Yard, tucked away in small courtyard, was a bright and colourful surprise. London felt like summer when we were there, so at Neal’s Yard we took the time to enjoy some sun. The Orla Kiely and Kid Robot shops are nice visits (I’m not so much into Cath Kidston, but if you are, that’s supposed to be a real nice one too).

 

neals yard london

photo Wanderlust Europe

 

Regent street, home to Anthropologie and Liberty

I should’ve could’ve taken pictures of Anthropologie, but hey, I didn’t. I just enjoyed. The Regent street store is incredible. So much attention to decorating. It makes you fall in love and spend way too much money (probably the point to all this hard work).

Liberty‘s is the wickedest old age department store. An amazing old Swisslike building (we saw more of those around Abbey Road) with impressive antique wooden stairs inside: make sure you take those stairs when you’re there!

 

photo Liberty

 

Ma main love East London: Shoreditch, Brick Lane, Spitalfields, Broadway Market, Columbia Road

East London has been such a discovery. Filled with the most creative little venues, concept stores, thrift stores, second hand clothing markets, food markets, etc East London you’re the dog’s bollocks (also picked up some slang)!

Broadway Market is where I met my pikapeep Claire Brewster for a nice lunch. She’s probably going to kill me for posting a picture of her.

 

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

 

South Bank, Tate Modern

Finally we walked the South Bank all the way from the Big Ben up to the Tate Modern, where we looked at art, bought books, enjoyed carrot cake and were blown away by the surprise of night time video art.

Best concert of this trip: Flame Proof Moth (see fifth picture below ;))

 

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

 

Best Block Calender Ever: “De Scheurkalender”

scheurkalender by sanne-bloem illustrations by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

 

Last week I got me-self the good ol’ Block Calender (“de Scheurkalender”) I participated in.

I swear, everything that comes out of Sanne Bloem’s hands just oozes authenticity.

 

Sanne can be called many things.

First of all you should learn Dutch, just to be able to pronounce her name:

“Sanne Bloem”

(meaning “Sanne Flower” – pronouncing it North European style; ouch, so hot it hurts)

 

Sanne Bloem is the Dutch queen of handmade.

Sanne Bloem is the princess of mastering the art of doing what you love.

Sanne Bloem is the maiden of having too many jobs to count on TWO hands.

 

But. What I like most about Sanne is that she isn’t about polishing, she is about rough edges, being real.

 

All this makes for the Best Block Calender. Ever.

 

You can buy your – Dutch – copy of the Block Calender (“de Scheurkalender”) here.
(and I know a month has passed by already. but do we ever do things the way people say we should? nope…)

 

scheurkalender by sanne bloem text by patrick meijer

scheurkalender sanne bloem illustration by argibald mime

scheurkalender sanne bloem illustration by de rustende jager

scheurkalender sanne bloem illustration tregging by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

scheurkalender sanne bloem illustration yoga by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

Party Hard

planet fur_party hard_ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

“Party hard” is what Miss Planet Fur wished us innocent creative souls at the start of 2013.

Boy, were we in for a surprise.

 

Intergalactic powers, she has.

 

Last week I was invited to no less then five openings and one lecture in two days time!

I slept through was too busy to visit the lecture (soooo sorry, Mr Van Gaasbeek…) and made it to three of the five openings.

 

First up:

Elle Aime!

Big wow factor. Big standard set for my own shop-in-the-making.
Elle Aime is dedicated to the crafty types among us.
The shop is filled with all kinds of craft materials as well as finished products (so much nice stuff…!).
Make sure you go there asap and do enter one of the workshops. You will have a great time for sure.

 

elle aime shop lisa manuels__ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

 

Second stop:

MamaMarketing!

MamaMarketing is THE Dutch platform for women that are starting their own webshop, although I can recommend it to anyone starting out as entrepeneur.
Their website is the place to go for advice on a number of subjects, including branding, SEO, etc.
The party I was invited to actually was a launchparty where the Mamamarketeers launched a productline, ranging from worksheets to workshops.
I can’t wait for their app to come out (soon!) which will also include a Quote Coach (love that)!
(you can read all about MamaMarketing in their mini magazine)

 

opening party mamamarketing webwinkel minimagazine_ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer copy

 

Third up:

Fred & Guus!

Fred & Guus sell art by young designers (including yours truly) and also offer a stage for the most amazing vintage finds.
In a short timespan they have managed to make an important mark in the Utrecht art scene.
Their taste for art is impeccable.
As is their taste for great parties!
(Which they promise to throw once every month!)

 

opening party fred en guus shop galerie_ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

 

You can’t visit a party without gifts, don’t you agree?

So I decided to give everyone a Dutch Dwelling of their own city.

This meant designing two more Dutch houses: Rotterdam and Den Haag (also known als ‘s-Gravenhage).

They will be added to my Etsy shop shortly, for all of you Rotterdam and Den Haag lovers out there.

Tell me when you feel like your city has been left out and I will try to make some time to include it!

 

dutch dwellings hollandje huisjes rotterdam_ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

Are you as curious as I am about the missed lecture by Mr Van Gaasbeek?

Watch Utrecht’s Creative Mornings channel at Vimeo. Very soon his video will be uploaded!