The Beat That My Heart Skipped – A blog dedicated to daily design inspirations. By Rohini Wahi.

Today Nina a 27-year-old Dutch student also known as Ninainvorm will be sharing a colourful day with us in her home. I’m a big fan of Nina’s delicate and bold ceramics and I love visiting her cheery blog so I’m really excited to step inside her world today. Thanks Nina!

I’m all into vintage and contemporary ceramics, both collecting and making. I sell my handmade ceramics in my online shop. Ninainvorm is my art/ craft/ design/ interior/ fashion/ ceramics/ etc-blog. I blog daily about things I consider beautiful and worth sharing.

Hello my name is Nina Van Goor, I make a few different things: I make my own ceramics but also screenprint on vintage ceramics, and also I make screenprints and collages. I love to work with vintage materials like old tableware and combine it with fresh modern screenprinting. I also use vintage papers for my collages.

I live in Den Bosch, this is a city in the South of the Netherlands, about a one hour drive from Amsterdam. I live in a quiet residential area that’s only a few minutes walk from the historical city centre. We live very close to a large city park and there’s a lot of green and old trees surrounding the appartments here, so I feel living here is the best of both worlds: both quiet and green and close to the shops and bars from the centre of the city. Den Bosch has a beautiful city centre, it’s a bit similar to Amsterdam but much smaller.

In fact there aren’t many ‘typical days’ in my life, cause I’m always working on a lot of different things at the same time so no two days are the same. There are a few things that are always the same though, like starting the day with a good cup of coffee… I always try that!

Then I usually sit behind my computer catching up with mails, orders from my shop and reading comments on my blog. My studio isn’t very big, but it’s a cozy and colorful place to work. I have my own kiln there for the firing of my ceramics. I always have a lack of space in there since my studio is also the place for all my collected materials: lots and lots of old tableware, vintage books that I use for my collages, fabrics for when I work with textile… I could definitely use a larger studio, but I have this place at home and I think it’s comfortable for me right now working at home. But that may change in the near future, cause sometimes I’m definitely longing for a large open space…

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I’ve been after the girls at stylish London florists Scarlet and Violet to do a Day With for us for months now and finally they succumbed! I am so, so glad to have Clare at Scarlet and Violet share her busy day with us, beginning at the vibrant Covent Garden Flower Market at the break of dawn! Clare writes so lyrically that it seems to me beautiful words must come naturally to someone that deals with just as beautiful things all day.

[P.S I've included a screen grab of their website below because it's just so pretty]

The alarm goes off at 4:15.  It’s an early start today, made unnecessarily earlier by the fact that i couldn’t quite bring myself to wash my hair before I went to bed last night, and can’t quite face a long day ahead with hair that defies the laws of gravity.

By 4:45,  I have fed Sid the cat, had my first cup of coffee, thrown on some clothes, and seen to my barnet.  At 5am I wait for Vic outside the house, and realise that any efforts made to make me appear more human may have been in vain; it’s pitch black outside and the weather is like something from a Hardy novel, heavy unforgiving rain and rude wind. in less romantic terms, this is frizzy hair weather.

Vic arrives a short while later, and i hop into the warm van, and immediately find myself with a  serious case of the verbals – almost as if the night has been some sort of word fast and I have to get as much said as possible in case I explode.

This morning the topic of conversation is sleepless nights, concerns about buying flowers for a wedding I’m doing  at the weekend [will it all be there?], and the inevitable conversations about boy problems. Vic listens patiently, laughs often and gives the most wonderful advice; you have nothing to worry about, the wedding will be absolutely fine, and, you are a grown up not a child talk to the boy. Excellent.

We get to New Covent Garden Flower Market at about 6:00am, park outside GB Foliage, it’s our regular spot.  We sit in the van for a few moments, gathering our thoughts, making a shopping list, and waiting for a break in the bleak weather before we head into the market.

Our first stop is with a stand that solely sells flowers grown in the UK, we say our hellos, and for the first time this morning Vic is asked if she only employs tall people [We are both over 6ft], we settle on some bright yellow narcissus and some pretty pheasant eye.  Next stop is Allen’s, because Vic goes to the market so often [4-5 out of 6 days a week], the boys have set aside some of the things they think we’ll like.  they’ve done well, and make our job really easy, all I really have to do is find the bits for the weekend wedding.
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Sometimes I miss my old personal blog which used to detail the quiet and inspirational moments of my daily life. Also, cecause of the professional design-led nature of this new blog, I also don’t post large articles on the mere inspirational value of other blogs unless they are relevant to an artist or creator.

However, due to the lack of A Day With feature today I thought we could break from the norm and enjoy a look at the sweet blog, Nestled In. Nestled In is a blog that gives us a peek into the gentle lives of Finnish couple Katja and Minna who moved in together in December 2007 and blog about decorating their own home.

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I’ve written about the fun work of wonderful Spanish artist Verónica de Arriba also known as Depeapa – many times, I love her melancholy illustrations and quirky accessories – all so original! Welcome to her day with…

My name is Verónica de Arriba, I´m an illustrator and graphic designer. Since 2007, however, I’ve been using the name Depeapa, and I’ve been re-shaping my illustrations into handmade acessories. These creations, which are made of felt, wood, paper…travel around the world to find a new home where they stay to live.

I live and work in Granada [Spain]. My apartment is also my studio. It’s little, but have a large terrace that I love! My neighborhood is like a village in the middle of the city. And this is my day a day…

I start my day with a cup of tea and a toast. Normally all the morning I check and replay emails and work on some illustration projects. After spending almost the morning at the computer, some days I go to a market near to my home to buy some food. Today is one of those days. I love the atmosphere and colors of this market…
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Hej! Welcome to join me for a day in my Swedish ceramic studio in the heart of Stockholm.

My name is Mia Blanche and I am a ceramist. Ceramics have been my hobby for many many years and for a few years now it has been my business. I love creating my own things, and to be able to experience that I can actually sell them is a great feeling. Other people obviously like the same things as I do! My old routine at the Migrant Appeals Board [my last job] seems so far far away.

In Sweden we are given payed parental leave for 12 months and after being at home with my fourth child, I felt I had enough of being involved in a law practice, so I quit my job and tried to start production of textiles for children. Instead, a year later I found I was a member at the ceramic studio K2 and before I knew it, I began to sell my own ceramics!

What a fantastic sunny morning! The view from my home is great. I live with my husband and kids on Södermalm. Stockholm is built on seven islands and this one is the most south one – ’söder’ means south.

I normally get up at 7.30. My daughter’s school starts at 8.30, but she is now 10 and walks there by her self. It is only a few blocks.

I feed the birds every day now that there is so much snow, I also have a ceramic bird feeder filled with nuts. Today it’s minus 9 degrees outside.

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