Kitka is now Mjölk Journal
Thank you for following us on our journey!
The time has come to archive Kitka. In an effort to upgrade our blog aesthetic and integrate it with our business Mjölk, we will be continuing more enthusiastically on our newly launched Mjölk Journal.
[EDIT: It has come to our attention that many of you value the RSS feed, so we are looking into how we can add this feature to the new Journal. Thanks for your patience. Also, I have turned commenting off due to spam. If you would like to reach out to us please message us via Mjolk]
We want to thank you all for your continued support and readership. It means a lot to us to have had you be following us for the last 10 years.
Kitka will remain exactly where it is, as an accessible resource.
Not that you need a nudge over, but:
Follow along on the Mjölk Journal to see how we nurture this beauty of a Georgian stone farmhouse back to life.
A quick note!
Hello! It may surprise you to know that we haven’t forgotten about you. We have been so quiet for the last two months because we’ve been patiently waiting for our new Mjölk JOURNAL to launch. Unfortunately with these sorts of things, a quick job turns into months of waiting. The wait is almost over…thanks for hanging in!
A few nice things
Today is our 7 year wedding anniversary! The fact that I remembered is monumental and indicative to the fact that we didn’t participate in IDS offsite this year. This is in part because we needed a little break, but also because in February we will be putting our efforts towards a showroom refresh.
These photos have nothing to do with the above facts.
Coffee Table vignette pictured above: Cube sculpture and black water dropper by Masanobu Ando, antique Japanese Buddha hand, Acorn vase from Svenskt Tenn, Mjölk brass incense holder, and finally, one of my Christmas gifts from John, a leather key ring from one of my favourite local makers, Hoi Bo.
I’ve been coveting this purse by Emma Olbers for Palmgrens in rattan and vegetable tan leather. Makes me excited for summer.
John Baker: In The Morning
Hello everyone!
After a very long break from music I’ve finally released a solo EP entitled “In The Morning” with the kind help of my friend Afie Jurvanen, who was the executive producer.
It was very scary getting these songs out. Honestly they wouldn’t exist without Afie, so thank you again for getting me back into music and adding all sorts of magic to the tracks.
Finally, thanks to my wife Juli whom all of these songs are about.
Here are the links to listen to the songs:
Itunes:
itunes.apple.com/us/artist/john-baker/1330439924
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/753JygOfgwVnbiCdZdRfSR?si=p-r8_rIYSTeOF2TmBNBnHQ
Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/music/album/John_Baker_In_the_Morning
Here is some Press speak below:
The first EP from Toronto based singer/songwriter John Baker is a reflection on growing up, starting a family and the gradual changes of a long-term relationship. In The Morning is comprised of a collection of first person love songs with a foundation of sixties slow rock and nineties alternative always with a subtle undertone of loss and melancholy.
In the Morning was executive produced by Afie Jurvanen (Bahamas).
The songs were roughly worked on in John’s basement stripped to just John singing and playing guitar with Afie accompanying on the drums and adding backing vocals. Once the songs were polished they recorded the EP over two separate recording sessions where the songs were allowed to materialize quickly and spontaneously.
Thom Fougere Fire Tools Prototypa talk at iidex 2017
A few weeks ago Thom Fougere was invited by Swedish design firm Form Us With Love to give a talk at their Prototypa forum at iidex Toronto. It was an opportunity to have an intimate discussion about the process of design and production. From initial sketches and working through the form three dimensionally and materially, to finding manufacturing solutions, there are a lot of steps to bring a product to the retail market.
The first step was a loose exploration of form in charcoal.
Sketches along with the stand prototype in foreground, and finished product in background.
The various stages of the poker (foreground) and shovel (background).
I managed to capture some snippets of the talk.
Thom talks about how far along into the design process he was when he spoke with John and Juli from Mjölk about the project.
Thom talks about his unique shovel design.
Here he talks about process when designing a new product.
The booth set up, post talk. Thank you to Form Us With Love for inviting Thom to talk about the fire tools. It was such a great way to discuss all of his and our effort in bringing these tools to life.
Børge Mogensen Cabinets
The back end of our kitchen has always been up for debate. During the early process with Studio Junction we had planned on having built in cabinetry and a bench but as the project wore on we did away with the idea–we were never fully sure of it and financially it was no longer feasible. Since we moved in we had a nice glass topped cabinet along this wall but the proportion wasn’t quite right and it didn’t provide nearly enough of the right kind of storage.
Recently we acquired three vintage Børge Mogensen cabinets, which we’ve always admired. Their proportion fills the space better and they provide ample storage for anything from dish towels to the dreaded tupperware drawer. As a bonus, they compliment all of the other Mogensen furniture we have.
The brass hardware is such a knock out.
The third cabinet is slightly different in scale, which is a bit annoying but so far it is serving as a great way to contain the kid mess. They each have a drawer for finished work, and then there is a drawer for paper, one for workbooks etc, and one for other materials. I think the point with this area is that it is fluid. As the children grow, the kids table and kitchen will go and the corner will most likely become a space to do homework.
The view of the cabinets when you come up the stairs (minus Howell photo bomb).
We have a lot of accessories…good thing we have a new project coming up so we can thin them out! Stay tuned!
