In The Spotlight

Rather than being your full and extensive directory to your destination, the Cereal City Guides provide curated and carefully selected points of interest and venues that reflect the publisher’s values in quality and aesthetics, primarily aimed at a global audience of design and style-conscious travellers.

The beautifully minimalist guidebooks capture the spirit of each city through interviews with locals, combined with stunning photo essays that feature hotels, restaurants, shops and landmarks. It is all compiled into daily itineraries and maps combined with clever tips on what to pack.

Travel and style magazine Cereal was founded in 2012 by Rosa Park and Rich Stapleton in Bath in the United Kingdom. The personally vetted venues and landmarks of every feature have been compiled into the Cereal City Guides.

The Cereal City Guides currently cover the cities of Los Angeles, Copenhagen, London, New York and Paris.

The story of Alterlyset as we know it today, started in 1950 when Jens Andreas Dahl Hansen created a mould in which to make candles that would not require a candlestick or candelabra. Little did he know that the candles, initially named Hygge Lys, would become a preferred source of that emotional type of light required in churches.

Subsequently, Dahl-Hansen soon became a trusted supplier of stand-alone and hand-cast candles to houses of worship around the country.

Lighting candles is a deep-rooted tradition in the Nordic region, where candles are lit to celebrate just about anything.

In the Nordics, we light candles for Advent, Christmas, Easter, Walpurgis night, birthdays, weddings, funerals, christenings or just to create a cosy environment. In autumn and winter, the flickering light of a candle provides a gentle and warm respite from the long hours devoid of daylight. Lighting candles is a lovely way to slowly start the day on an autumn or winter morning and an equally perfect ritual to unwind and slowly bring a hectic day to an end.

Historically, the first candles were lit 2 500 years ago and in the 13th-century candle making was made into a guild craft in France and England. Candles, as we know them today, were preceded by very simple oil lamps, where the wick rested in an oil container.

Over the years, the humble candle from Alterlyset has been widely recognized. The simplistic and typically Danish industrial design is as timeless as it is practical, which has made the characteristic candles popular among design lovers.

The now-iconic Danish design classic is constructed with a wide base and it is meant to be placed directly on a table, bench or even on the floor, as a usable and luminescent sculpture. To this day, the Alterlyset candles are made of RSPO-certified  vegetable stearin and finished by hand.

The use of diya earthen lamps began thousands of years ago and continues to this day. Lit for all auspicious occasions – housewarmings, groundbreakings, weddings or the Hindu Diwali festival of lights – they are a celebration of life.

Lighting the diya, which is a ritual that is practised at dusk and dawn, symbolises one’s conscious attempt to move away from the darkness and step into the light. 

The diya’s soft round shape is designed to fit perfectly into the palm of a hand. The flame itself symbolises purity, goodness, enlightenment, wisdom and knowledge, while the oil in the lamp stands for the weaknesses in the human mind – hatred, greed and jealousy. When the cotton wick – the human soul – is set alight, it signifies that one is freed from selfish and materialistic thoughts.

The ‘Buenos Diay’ is brand Casegoods’s contemporary take on the traditional oil lamp and is cast in brass, a material known for its durability and humble elegance. Much of its beauty is found in the subtle variations of grain, figure and texture inherited from the material are deepened through use and patinate over time.

In 1962, the young son of Danish designer Ole Gjerløv-Knudsen set out for a short camping trip in the countryside. While preparing for his excursion, he started feeling slightly under the weather with a sore throat.

Gjerløv-Knudsen, who couldn’t bear the thought of his son having to spend the night on the cold ground, instantly got busy constructing a solution for the dilemma.

The result is the OGK Safari Daybed which, until today, still serves its original purpose of offering a comfortable resting place that is also lightweight and easy to carry around. Produced by Danish firm Skovshoved Møbelfabrik, the daybed consists of nine carefully crafted pieces that, with some training, can be assembled – without tools – in less than a couple of minutes. It comes in a canvas carrying bag with a shoulder strap.

We adore when real-life challenges result in designs that work, and that can also stand the test of time, both in style and functionality. The OGK Safari Chair is based on the same idea and concept as the daybed and is great for a quick dash to the beach.

Designer Carina Seth Andersson is a one-woman powerhouse in Swedish design and is possibly most known for her glassworks for Svenskt Tenn, Marimekko and Iittala. She is known for creating design icons such as ‘Dagg’ for Svenskt Tenn and ‘Pallo’ for Skrufs Glasbruk.

Photography: Pia Ulin and Bruno Ehrs for Nationalmuseum

She was also part of the team of creatives asked to be part of ‘NM&, En Ny Samling’, a contemporary collection of furniture, light fittings, tableware and other decorative objects that celebrate the reopening of Nationalmuseum, Stockholm’s National Museum of Fine Arts, for its re-inauguration in 2018.

When we first got started a few years ago, one of TypeO’s first loves was Hasami Porcelain, designed by Taku Shinomoto in Venice, California. He and his wife Keiko run Tortoise, a general store we hope to visit someday.

We first came across the stackable ceramic-porcelain blend tableware on one of those crisp and clear fall days. The location was San Francisco, and the time of day was early afternoon.

We had just had a long lunch at Nopalito on Broderick with some of our best friends and slowly made it back on foot to our temporary San Francisco abode. It was then and there we first saw Hasami Porcelain, in the window of men’s fashion store Welcome Stranger on Gough Street.

Since we introduced the Venice-born, Japan-made ceramics, Scandinavia seems to have been struck by a Hasami-love wave, as many of the above Instagram posts below show. So why can’t we, and many others, seem to get enough? We believe it has to do with the clean lines, tactile material, multi-functionality and the fact that it is timeless and cool, without being overly trendy.