himmeli and me
January 7th, 2011
I’m having a little obsession with himmeli lately. Yeah, I didn’t know what they were either. I only found out what they were after I made one. Well sort of made one. Remember my geometric straw ornament? A himmeli is made out of those basic shapes, but some are big, some are small and it is strung together as a mobile. I fell in love with them after I saw this picture:
The photo comes from the home of Momo Suzuki a Japanese designer who has more style in her little finger…
These are various himmeli from around flickr (click on the photo for sources). The red one is made from coffee stirrers! Elizabeth Abernathy has a tutorial for making them out of handmade paper straws. There is an amazing thrifted traditional straw one on puhti. Himmeli are so perfectly airy and light–just right for the new year, though mine might not get done until the next new year.
If you’d like to know more about things I like (and hate) you can head over to Smile and Wave. Rachel so kindly asked me to do an interview for her Handmade for Kids month. And who says no to an interview? Be warned though, I am verbose.
Lovely! Thanks for including my project in your roundup :-)
The himmeli is traditional Christmas decoration here in Finland. They’re traditionally made from rye straw and hung over the dinner table to ensure a good rye crop in the coming year.
I hope your himmeli will ensure lots of creativity for the year. :)
that is a wonderful idea–to have something lovely around that will ensure a good crop of creativity all year long! Thanks for stopping by Eerika!
I need to try this – these pictures are very inspiring, indeed!
I loved reading your interview – especially the part about creativity and inspiration – I feel the same way (I still sort of giggle when I pronounce the word ‘studio’ referring to my messy table and closet ) and taking a walk really works for me too!
oh and thanks for mentioning my place – a very nice surprise in a very nice interview!
xo, P.
thanks for reading (and liking) the interview. Mostly I was trying not to stick my foot in my mouth or sound like an ass. Luckily I got to edit it or I would have don’t both profusely!
hi, did you know that this is traditional decoration called “puzuri” in Latvia and made of reed sticks and symbolizes the universe. They contain old signs and symbols. It’s still a living Latvian tradition to make ‘puzuri’ and decorate the house .
http://www.google.lv/images?q=puzuri&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=Ww4uTc2ZJoGhOobsjdQK&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCEQsAQwAA&biw=1280&bih=630
These are very cool- I liked the one you made, I hadn’t realized there were other types. Very neat.
I’d never seen them before… they’re gorgeous…