Tasteful Minimalism Of The Simplicity

It's been three weeks since I came back from my trip to Germany and Sweden, and I'm snot even close to putting all the photos I took on the trip that I promised to show to my family and friends. I've never realized back when I was a teenager that with each decade new innovations would come - like photo cameras, gadgets, iPhones/iPads and such, that would result in us taking so much more photos that it would become a challenge to organize it all.

Back in the days, we'd take a few photos, then turn in the photo film at a drugstore and in a few days we'd pick up the print-outs - viola! Easy, fast, painless…But nowadays - it's a completely different picture. Now that we digitize everything, and with all the photo Apps we have - we store all our pictures on our gadgets for months and years to the point, where we loose any interest to dig that far back for the photos to put them up in the albums. That happens to me a lot - unless I take care of my photos right away, I'd never get to do it at all. What a pity. So many memories are stored in the memory of my iPhone and/or email boxes that don't get to see the light of a day…

This time, I've been trying to be better. I know I have five albums to take care of as of today: Montauk, Toronto, Gottingen, Berlin and Stockholm, so I'm planning on doing so this weekend…at least that's the goal. But now, going back to Stockholm…

So, I've been talking quite a bit about Nordic minimalism and how I adore it, and I promised to show you what I meant by the Swedish minimalism.

As you know - [and that doesn't just come from the fact that we all shopped at IKEA at one point or another in our lives] - Swedish design will probably always be synonymous with the tasteful minimalism of the simplicity, in which Swedish designers create the furniture, clothing, footwear, etc.

Acne, IKEA, H&M - they are part of our lives, or at least we know what they are and their style. And while, anywhere else in the world we only experience some of that minimalism, when you travel to the 'heart' of the minimalism - Stockholm, this prominent, the minimalist style can be seen in pretty much everything - from the exterior design of a residential apartment building to the interior design of a lamp store. From generation to generation, Swedish designers were able to maintain that minimalist look. There are, of course, a few designers that seem to want to add some variation to their minimalist looks, experimenting with the dramatic volumes, generous color and indulgent styling, but for the most part - the minimalist design was, is and will always prevail, because there's just so much of the variations everywhere else in the world that there's a need to have at least one place that offers a minimalist look.

When I was walking the streets of Stockholm for three days, I've indulged myself in the Swedish minimalism and peeked my nose in every single store, shop, design firm, cafe and restaurant to see it inside and out.

I've absolutely adored the minimalism look for a while. This is something I'm even trying to achieve at my new apartment - most of my furniture pieces are from IKEA, and not because they are affordable, but because I just love, love the IKEA style. Even when I come to shop at IKEA, I immerse myself into all its showrooms - they are so cozy, so stylish, so…me.

Again, just because I like it, does not mean - the others do as well. It's a personal taste.

Check out my personal photo-notes on the Scandinavian minimalism from Stockholm.