KIOSK HELLO

It is a Kiosk kind of day with all the world coming together over hot dogs, newspapers, candies, water, magazines, cigarettes, chips, metro cards, gum, deodorant, socks, vodka, lottery tickets, souvenirs, coffee, conversation, cherry brandy, pastries, bananas, rolling paper, phone cards, ice cream, maps, bug spray, bike parts, notebooks, stamps, etc etc it goes on and on. Many thanks to Joanne and Jonas and Elsa Lam for the images, fantastic.

Jason Rosenberg who had the “Plastic Bag Happening” Mini-Exhibition sent over a great list of Amsterdam suggestions for our friend Jonathan. I asked if we could share them here and he did not mind, here you go! Happiness

Noordermarkt – great square in the Jordaan neighboorhood. has a great bio farmers market on saturday, and a super great
antique flea market on mondays. also on the square is ‘winkel’ – a favorite cafe of mine which serves famous apple cake with whipped cream!

Rent a bike at either Frederic, Brouwersgracht 78,  or Bike City, Bloemgracht 68-70. both nice places and their bikes are unmarked so you dont look
like a tourist (too much)

with a bike then you can go anywhere really fast – Vondelpark is nice. also the neighborhood known as ‘de Pijp’ is really great and fun.

Visit the raw herring stand at the Albert Cuyp market just south of Fredinand Bolstraat… thats in de Pijp..

Houseboat full of stray cats : Poezenboot at Singel 38 near brouwersgracht..

Amazing simple lunch : Buffet van odette, Herengracht 309

maybe try to get a reservation at de Kas for lunch or dinner too. havent been but always try to. gotta book in advance!
www.restaurantdekas.nl

De Looier is an indoor antique market that is quite intriguing, its on Elandsgracht 109

Sauna Deco? Herengracht 115 . havent gone, meant to…

Hema is hollands kmart, but quite good i think. i like their socks, personally…

Great great great antique book market on fridays at the Spui..

‘the nine streets’ is great shopping area…

obviously, the museums are amazing here. but check out the smaller ones too, like Anne Frank Huis, and the cat museum, Het Kattenkabinet,
at Herengracht 497..

Provence, France continues to be the center of lavender production in the world and Sault one of the three primary locations in Provence.  Even so, lavender growing was only established in Provence jut prior to World War I to stem the exodous of farmers. The almond orchards were pulled out and many of the lavender fields you see today were established then, although the plants themselves are generally changed every 10 years.  Lavender has a long and quite odd history, Queen Victoria was a great fan of lavender. She went so far as appointing a “ Purvey of Lavender Essence to the Queen.” Obsessive…

In July we spent some time with the distiller who produces the lavender oil we have at Kiosk. They are a small  family operation but even so they process approximately a ton of lavender a year. The lavender comes from their own fields and three other farmers, one of which we get our lavender oil from. The process is fairly simple although not what I expected. The flowers and stem are put into what is essentially a gigantic steamer, the vapor is then trapped and sent through the distilling process, the oil in the vapor being separated along the way. The plant remains post-steaming are put into the fire which heats the entire operation. The whole place smells like a odd cross between baked goods and massive quantities of lavender. Walking away we were coated in the odor. Henri inherited the distillery from his father-in-law, he has passed it onto his son-in-law but still directs all the action. His granddaughter is working away at the counter. It is of course all very charming and lovely but being they are small producers also means they are in dire straits. It was great visiting and telling them how much people really appreciate their product at Kiosk. It made them super happy to hear their product is loved. here are some photos of the process and Henri with Marco.

Look what we found in an antique store in Stockholm! None other than our very own birdhouse – a tried and true design that has housed birds in Sweden for generations!

For two weeks this summer we worked on a small Provencal collection, some of which will be only available online –  as soon as I can get to writing the text. We visited a bunch of makers while in France,  including a potter who lives down the road from Marco’s father, his objects have been in the family house and our house for many years. Here are some images of his studio plus one of his bowls.

Imagine all the flavors you could possibly want in candy in one! Kryptoniter is SOUR cherry, SWEET after the first layer, and SALTY licorice in the black stripe. The packaging takes the cake! The down side is you have to travel all the way to Sweden to get it. These bad boys can be purchased at any old convenience store. Well… there’s some incentive for you.

so long!

hit the sand and sun with the kiosk beach chair!
Illustration courtesy of Victor Kerlow

check out the flying turtle and have a blast- like this fine lady at… KIOSK!

look at this guy, he is a blob fish…no joke.