A new chérie in town: Saint Germain opens its doors in Amsterdam

During the Amsterdam Fashion Week (AFW) – that has started today – a brand new concept store & creative agency is opening its doors on Friday 27th of January: Saint Germain. Part of the opening event are the exhibition LET THEM EAT CAKE, featuring two upcoming artists (fashion photographer Violette Hoogakker and designer Yvonne Kwok), and a shop-in-shop of fashionlabel Charlotte Kan.

Rory Teng is founder and owner of Saint Germain. I asked her some questions:

How did you came up with the idea for Saint Germain?
“Basically the idea for Saint Germain was born when my boyfriend took me there for our first of our many Paris trips. Saint Germain is inspired by the style and flair of Saint Germain des Pres in Paris: the people, the culture, the food, the architecture, the small cafes, the jazz, the opera and the fact that people do as they please and nobody tells them what to do.
Inspired by this way of living, I felt the need to challenge traditions and habits and push them forward to new ways and times. At Saint Germain, as a boutique and a creative agency we strive for a balance between old craft and modern design.
The Creative Collective of Saint Germain currently exists of four people, but will slowly expand, based on project and client needs. As the initiator of Saint Germain and skilled skin fashion and PR, I promote and represent the vision and mission, the soul of Saint Germain. Together with a strong team of individuals with each their own expertise in the fashion and art industry, we want to produce as many inspiring and fun projects, products and services, based on the needs of our customers and market demand.”

The term ‘conceptstore’ is very often used lately. Can you explain what your concept is really about?
“Saint Germain is ambitious to recognize talent and push artists & creatives to pursue their professional career. In our gallery, emerging designers and artists get the chance to display their individual works. Our goal is to launch them in a unique way, giving them the right exposure by using our in-house marketing, PR and production skills. In the simplest of putting it; we think, create, connect and launch in order to offer ‘a wardrobe’ that fits perfectly. Whether that is redesigning a brand’s identity or creating it from the ground up, our approach is the same: create (visually) engaging solutions & events that will bring forward a fresh, aesthetic and memorable experience.”
Furthermore we are committed to bringing a fresh retail concept in the city. We work closely with other creatives and artists to develop projects that appeal to our like-minded friends and clients. In our work we wish to close the gap between fashion, art and commerce by creating a synergy between different working fields and visions, resulting in a unique service or product.”

What do you sell more next to the shop in shop collection of Charlotte Kan?
“And Beyond, Julia Kaldy, Filles a Papa, Marcha Huskes, Niki Mens, Roparosa, Monday March, Led Object, Marloes Blaas, and more… After our official launch we will start with a segment for home interior.”

Not only on Valentine’s Day

Seen on Etsy.

DALANI HOME AND LIVING

Recently I received an introductory voucher of DALANI HOME AND LIVING to spend on their website. I never heard about it and when visiting Dalani.nl, I first didn’t become any wiser. Curious as I am, and as it’s for free: I became a member. After logging-in I saw an attractive offer with massive discounts on brilliant BODUM products and other fine cooking and interior goods.

I got in touch with the company and found out that the concept of DALANI HOME AND LIVING is brand new in The Netherlands, but that the concept has already been successfully introduced in September 2011 in Germany and after that in other countries all over the world. Founder of DALANI is Delia Fischer, a former editor of Germany’s ELLE Decoration and ELLE. It was her goal to introduce a ‘members only’ website with selected homeware goods for attractive prices that can be 35 – 70% cheaper than the regular retail price. The website combines sales with an online magazine to offer inspiration and to get a glimpse of the interiors of designers, photographers and other creatives.

Power breakfast for cold days

In my pregnancy the iron levels in my blood were low. I asked my acupuncturist what to eat to increase them and she sent me a long list of blood strengthening foods*. She also advised me to breakfast with millet porridge. Millet porridge? It didn’t sound yummy to me at all! And after preparing it with water and later soy milk, I almost… Well, let’s keep it tasteful here.
It did cost some time to prepare a delicious porridge of millet: a gluten-free grain that is rich in iron and silica. But I succeeded and love it ever since!

I cook millet flakes in rice milk to get a creamy texture. Unsweetened rice milk, sometimes called ‘rice drink’, has a mild sweet taste by itself. To add some bite to the porridge I combine it with grated coconut, raisins and walnuts.
A great meal on cold winter mornings or whenever you need some extra energy!

Season’s Greetings

I wish you a very cozy Christmas & a blissful, inspiring, creative and joyous 2012!
Let it be a year of positive changes in which hopefully our world leaders will also understand that the old economical value systems don’t work for the NOW anymore and let them introduce solutions that are also effective on the long term.
Let 2012 be the year of a great new start and not of ‘the apocalypse’ as some religions predict.
My new year’s resolutions are to smile more to strangers and to judge less about situations and people.
In stead of that I would like to take more things with gratitude and to focus on ‘what is’ instead of ‘what should be’.

See you all back soon!

PS: What do you think of my recycled Christmas tree? He stayed over on the balcony for one year! Despite the fact that I gave him water often and spoke kind words to him, he lost some of his needles. Nevertheless he’s still handsome, especially after being decorated by my boyfriend. Next month he will be back in nature. I promise!

Liquid indulgences by VON EUSERSDORFF

It is no secret that I am a fan of cult perfumer VON EUSERSDORFF. I am also proud of the label, because its roots are partly Dutch, and it houses in in both New York and Maastricht offices. In the last called city you can also find the VON EUSERSDORFF FLAGSHIP STORE. The extraordinary scents, however, are created in perfume paradise Grasse (France).

Maybe you remember my previous post about the VON EUSERSDORFF Classic Patchouli? Well, in the meantime it has become the favorite scent of my boyfriend. So almost every morning (afternoon in the weekends) our apartment is kind of soaked in the rich, spicy fragrance. That is quite surprising, as I never expected that my boyfriend would like something as patchouli in his aura. He is not the type of guy that uses, for example, day cream or things like that and when I am burning incense sticks, he often asks me to open the balcony door. But it turned out that he dares to experiment with the way he smells. When reading about patchouli on Wikipedia, I found out that according to the online encyclopedia “from the 1960s until today, it is a favored scent by members of the counterculture“. Aha, that explains all!

VON EUSERSDORFF really appreciated the attention on Kiki’s Collage and this year they kindly spoiled me by giving me some other lovely members of the growing VON EUSERSDORFF family as a present: the eau de toilettes Amber, White Musk and Ensence and later also Classic Mimosa, another eau de perfume.