Rice DK Autumn 2015 Preview

Rice - Denmark's brightest and most colourful design house - likes to be noticed. You can instantly
tell you've arrived at Rice HQ when you turn the corner on the small industrial estate in which they are situated and spot the wall painted bright pink. Rice have been a big part of our business since we started our small shop in 2007 and we've seen their collection grow and develop over the years, but never has it been anything other than bright, bold and colourful. Rice are now such an important part of our business that we have come to Odense in Denmark to preview Autumn / Winter 2015 as early as possible, and we're pleased to be here, not least of all because Rice share our ethical business principals.

Sometimes a place feels instantly like home - rarely does an office achieve that. Our visit is a chance to catch up with old friends - various colleagues at Rice we have worked with over the years greet us. Rice, however, has an ethic built around home comfort, family life, entertaining and friendship so maybe it should be little of a surprise that this is one office which manages to be comfortable and welcoming. Decorated typical Rice-style with a combination of old and new pieces of furniture, all set off by a huge amount of colour, the Rice office is a place to relax and play as well as work. The whole office is open plan so everyone is accessible. Even the staff canteen is a riot of beautiful colours. It quickly becomes obvious that design, colour and a happy environment inform everything Rice does.

But work is what we've come all this way to do so before long it is down to previewing the new collection for Autumn 2015. This year, Rice have nailed their Autumn colour range with a combination of rich purples and blues together with muted pinks. The new designs on the melamine are beautiful and quirky. Thrown into the Autumn colours are splashes of gold and rich blues. Quirky characters also feature in the collection as usual - playfulness is a key part of Rice's style and this season's striking illustrations by Andrea Letterie feature scarf clad polar bears and cups of whipped cream topped hot chocolate. It's almost enough to help you forget the beautiful summer weather and make you hanker for longer autumn nights in. 

Because a busy day always requires a hearty lunch, Helene and Maria take us to the Riceteria - Rice's new venture into cafe culture. It's a great new project in the centre of Odense - the perfect place to hang out with a cold drink on a hot day, full of young mothers and other lunchers eating and drinking Rice style. The Riceteria is a great showcase for Rice products with all the food served on them together with a shop area attached. Helene tells us that Rice are now franchising the Riceteria to several locations in Germany. 

_____________________________________________________

There are some great new designs coming to the new collection at Rice. We love these big candle lanterns and some of the quirky new illustrations from Andrea Letterie. It almost makes you hanker after the colder winter nights.

New Rice Autumn stock will be arriving soon at fig1.co.uk. 

Mother's Brewing

Mothers know best. This can be an annoying fact when it comes to Mother's Day. They already bake

Spring flowers by our local florist, Vera. Jug by Rice.

better, find better presents and wrap them more beautifully than any other member of the family. But then it isn't really about one-upmanship, more "feet up, woman!"ship: trying to get them to sit down, take a break and stop looking after everyone else for five minutes. My Mum spends her life cooking for and running around after the family.

Well here's a recipe which I like for being tasty, showy and actually quite easy, and which is also good for any time of the day. I harbour a suspicion that the phrase "breakfast muffin" was actually designed to market cakes at a whole new time slot, but these ones aren't too sweet and they do have fruit in. As an occasional treat they're pretty good with a morning cuppa, or they go down equally nicely with an afternoon brew. Pick your time.

But before I publish this I have a guilty confession to make. I've stolen this recipe from the woman herself. My Mum tends to make these for our birthdays, even once going so far as to turn up at my brother's office with a basket of them for him and his colleagues. So they may impress your Mum but they will be no use at all in one-upping my mother. Although I'm guessing she has never dusted her nose with icing sugar trying to get unusual photographs of them.

Lemon Curd and Blueberry Muffins

Muffin cases by Rice DK

Ingredients

335g self raising
220g caster
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten
100g melted butter
250ml milk
The zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
200g blueberries
10tsp lemon curd

Preheat oven to 200 degrees centigrade
Makes 10 muffins



Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, mix together. Make a well in the middle and add all the other ingredients except the berries into it. Whisk together, bringing in the flour from around the edges until combined, without overworking. You should end up with a stiff batter. Stir through the blueberries.

A third fill the muffin cases. Add a teaspoon of lemon curd into the centre of each, then cover over with more muffin batter. Remember the mix will expand so don't overfill them.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Finally, drench with icing sugar. And try not to get overcome with the urge to take ridiculous photos while you do that: a trap I unfortunately fell into.

Photographing muffins - got a little carried away.