Private Plates – The Recipes

Hi all. As I read a comment on our Private Plates post on friday you are may be interested in the recipes that came along with the evening. The menu was as following:

Starter:

Chickpea Salad from Jamie Oliver (picture from David Loftus)

Main:

Ratatouille with couscous:

Photo: Sheri Wetherell

This recipe isn´t realy one. I don´t have anything in writen form. But I try to give you a short describtion of how I do it usually. Just follow the links and you can download the instructions in german or english.

Dessert:

Rasberry Trifle with Cantuccini Crunch from essen&trinken.

Have fun when you try it out!

Private Plates. Second Edition

Yesterday was a big day for Beuteltiere: the second edition of Private Plates (see first edition here). We invited again some guests to come to our shop to better get to know them and to connect the guests with each other during a nice dinner cooked by Katrin. This time there were eight people who work in different fields.

Here a quick introduction:

Jenny Brosinski, illustrator and artist

Michael Bartos, developper for online-shops

Hans Enz, owner of a wine shop called Weinwinkel in Dunckerstraße

Alexander Bothe, shoe and bag designer

Doro Martin, founding a new publishing company (she is blogging as well and already wrote about Private Plates this morning)

Melanie Rosenthal, lightning architect

I hope everybody enjoyed the evening as much as I did. And thanks Katrin for the great food.

If you want to come on our list to take part in one of the following Private Plates dinner, please write a comment! There participants will be chosen by the lot.

(pics from Marsupialia)

I Love… Passionate Stories on Thursday

Today’s ‘I love’ post is about a feeling: feeling excited, feeling fevered by an upcoming event. I don’t mean the feeling of stage fright, I mean the pleasant anticipation of a date e.g.. Let’s say it’s a second date: you found out that you really like the other person and you are looking forward to the next date. Do you know this feeling?

Today I am looking forward to another ‘Private Plates’ dinner (see the first edition here). I am in the shop, tidying up, cleaning, preparing everything while Katrin is cooking at home keen to get to know our guests. Read more about tonight’s dinner tomorrow.

(pic from Jenny Downing, linked to its source)

May I introduce you to the Miller family

After I’ve introduced you the Tom family last week, it’s time for you to get to know the Miller family of Property of…. today. I like the Miller family a lot, because it has the same name than I have. Well ok, my name is a bit more German written with an ‘ü’ instead of the ‘i’ in Miller, but it almost sounds the same. Millers are made of a slightly glossy heavy nylon twill that is of course very easy to clean, robust and lightweight. Finished with some leather details Miller is the perfect laptop-bag for frequent travellers (men as well as women) who love to have a chic bag.

And the Miller kid is a very talented multi-pocket day bag.

(pics from Marsupialia)

How to Wear Scarfs and Shawls – Anti Bad-Hair-Day

Hi Girls! Back again to show you another way to wear your scarf. Today’s topic: Bad-Hair-Days. To be honest: I have them too. Everybody does, right? So here is the perfect possibility to escape from noticing glares:

And see how Barbara did it last week:

If you want to see more ways to wear your scarfs and shawls click here and here.

My new self-made necklace

Last week I completed my new necklace, yeah! How it came that I made a new necklace? Well, I was at the Tendence in Frankfurt beginning of July with my friend Nadja. Nadja is a goldsmith and we went together to the gemstone retailer stand and I couldn’t resist to by some tiny little faceted stones (garnet, aquamarine and cairngorm). After three threads of stones I could diciplinate myself and stop me from buying more which was really hard.

Now the necklace is done: I invented a necklace where I can add some more threads of gemstones if I want or if I won’t be able to resist to buy one time. And Katrin helped me to realize it with her professional goldsmith know-how. Thanks Katrin! Have a look at some pics of me and my necklace.

(pics from Marsupialia)

May I introduce you to the Tom Family

Did you ever look for a bag for a man: a bag for a man that is not tooo sporty like those from Crumpler or Freitag are and that is not so much business bag like a normal Samsonite or a Tumi work bag? That’s a really hard job. Not all men want to have colourful, sporty bags or black laptop bags like management consultants usually use. That’s why we are so happy to having found the bags from Property of…, a Singapore based bag company that produces bags for men with a well designed, serious and sporty character in high quality.

Today I would like to introduce you to the Tom family of Property of… which was one part of the big parcel we’ve got from Property of… recently. These are bags with lots of inner and outer pockets made of easy to clean rough waxed cotton cloth with nice details and straps in leather,  that are available in black and moss (a greyish olive green) at Beuteltiere again. There is daddy Tom, the big travel bag, mummy Tom, the medium sized work bag, and child Tom, the small day bag, for everyday use.

The Tom family

Tom Travel bag in moss

Tom Work bag in black

Tom Day bag in black

Leather straps

(pics by Marsupialia)

Get a postcard – Get 10 percent off!

Keen on doing a new marketing promotion Barbara and me thought about something special. And here it comes:

We put some stickers on our Beuteltiere-postcards. The label says: “Get 10% off. Just show us the card!”

We will hand out the cards to different shops nearby in the Stargardener Street. Fashion shops, shoe shops etc… Let’s see which shop-distribution-location is the most effective one! The promotions period is from now on till the 30th November, so be quick to get one of the vouchers as well

About leather. Part 7

Today’s topic of the about leather series is  leather care. A subject that touches everyone, because we nearly all wear shoes or bags made of leather.

Leather Care

Leather is because of modern tanning and finishing processes a very easy to care material and does not need a lot of care. For the best care of each leather it is necessary to know which kind of leather you want to care. An easy test is to apply a drop of water to an invisible piece of the leather: If the wet spot gets a dark border the leather is absorbent and delicate like Anilin leather or Nubuck leather. Leather with a fine lacquer finishing or a coating is more easy to care.

Leather, if not coated with an impermeable covering (patent leather) it is porous, permeable to air and water. That is why leather easily absorbs dirt and fat. Leather care protects the leather form defilement.

Each care process starts with thorough cleaning of the surface to remove dirt and old leather care products. With leather care you want to make the leather “as new” and you want to equip it with a dirt and water-repellent product. Most leather care products only treat the surface. Used regularly they increase the life of a leather product.

According to their intended use we differ care products for smooth or hunting leather. For smooth leathers there are more different leather care products: shoe polish, leather sprays, washing emulsions that improve the look of the surface and protect from dirt and water (only on surface). Leather oil, wax and leather fat are products that penetrate into the leather to improve the soft and smooth characteristics of the leather and improve water-repellent effects.

Aniline leather:

Regularily dust it with a soft cloth. Remove insistent dirt with neutral soap dispersed in warm water.

Nappa leather:

Clean carefully with neutral soap dispersed in warm water. Make sure that the leather isn’t imbued. After drying the leather use leather care milk and polish with a soft cloth.

Suede, Nubuck, Hunting calf:

For sanded leather you can not use fat, wax or ail. They will paste the surface and stain it. Preventive use of an impregnation spray is recommended. For removing heavy dirt or greasy parts the use of a fine scratch brush, sandpaper or special erasers for leather is recommended.

How to care your leather handbag

Basically all leathers are finished with a protective coating. After first dirty parts you start with the leather care: rub the leather carefully with a damp cloth. If this is not enough than try a leather cleaning product. But please make sure that you try out leather products fist at a non visible part of your bag. Apply the leather care product quickly to a large area to avoid blur and rims. Never apply leather care products directly to the leather! Always apply it with a cloth on the leather. Polish it afterwards.

How to Wear Scarfs and Shawls – The Shoulder Wrap

Continuing our little series about the how-to-wear scarfes and shawls, we today want to show you one styling which Barbara is dedicated to: The shoulder wrap. She is easily freezing between her shoulders and if she isn’t wearing her shrug I once made her (read the post here) she needs an quick alternative. And here it is:

And that’s how it looks when you wear it:

If you want to see what we showed last week click here.