Sweden

Inspiration for the Pink Cat Safety Reflector

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It’s amazing to see the eyes of little girls light up when they find the pink cat safety reflector among all our other reflectors. We’ve seen it become an instant favorite so many times. Not surprising though, considering my own excitement as a toddler for the pink cats my mom appliquéd on my ceiling light. I have to admit that I’m not really a cat person, but cats are cute, cat videos are fun and the graceful pet is a wonderful source of inspiration for any designer and artist. And although different than the cats on my childhood ceiling light, our funflector cat safety reflector was inspired by the style I grew up with in Sweden in the 60’s and 70’s. We realize, not every cat lover likes pink, but luckily, the cat safety reflector looks just as good in other colors. Currently, it is also available in gray, orange and light brown. 

The funflector cat safety reflector was inspired by the bold 60's Scandinavian style.
The funflector cat safety reflector was inspired by the bold 60’s Scandinavian style.

Ladybug and gray cat safety reflector on backpack.
Ladybug and gray cat safety reflector on backpack.

Get Some Pink Cat Safety Reflector to Support Human Rights

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Inspiration for the Pink Cat Safety Reflector Read More »

The Vision Zero+ Initiative

/ thoughts, traffic safety / , ,

The Vision Zero Initiative is not about nothing. On visionzeroinitiative.com we can learn that it is in fact a fundamental principle that requires ambitious work on infrastructure and attitudes:

“The Vision Zero is the Swedish approach to road safety thinking. It can be summarised in one sentence: No loss of life is acceptable. The Vision Zero approach has proven highly successful. It is based on the simple fact that we are human and make mistakes. The road system needs to keep us moving. But it must also be designed to protect us at every turn.”

Vision Zero Initiative
Vision Zero was initiated by a decision of the Swedish parliament in 1997 and I saw firsthand how road safety improved in Sweden until I moved to the US ten years later. It was a bit of a shock to come here and experience the car-centric culture reflected in both citizen behavior/attitudes and infrastructure decisions. I’m happy to see that the Vision Zero has attracted a lot of attention and several American cities are adopting it to improve safety for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers. Just a week ago, the first-ever Vision Zero for Cities Symposium (VZCS) took place in New York City – yay! There are a lot of needed improvements in infrastructure, but also in shifting attitudes among the general public. …

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Egg Coffee & Midsummer Queens

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“More Swedish than Sweden” was the title of an exhibition at the museum Kulturen in Lund (Sweden) many years ago. At the time, I was hanging out with mostly Americans, and curious about everything that tied Sweden and the US together. One of the display cases was jam-packed with coffee pots from the 19th century. The sign mentioned “egg coffee”.

Egg coffee by the funflector Blog
Egg coffee by the funflector Blog

Every Swede, or descendent thereof, knows Swedes drink a lot of (strong) coffee. But what was “egg coffee”??? I asked the staff but they had no answer. My American husband and I were on a quest to find out what “egg coffee” was (this was before google). We asked Swedes from Norrland, Gotland, Halland, Skåne and anywhere in-between but only got confused looks in return – for 12 years. Finally, after we moved to the US and visited Apple River Fort we found out. While the kids were making noodles, we chatted with volunteers in period costumes and we jumped high for joy when the conversation stumbled upon egg coffee. Egg coffee is simply what you get when you pour an egg over the coffee grounds in the pot to bind them and keep them from getting into the coffee cup. This was before coffee filters and French press. Today, “Egg coffee” gives 84,000 google hits and it is obvious from the comments, e.g. here, that it is truly a Swedish-American phenomenon, not a Swedish tradition.
Last Sunday morning, there was a stream of Facebook posts with adorable Swedish Princess Leonore being Christened at the Palace of Drottningholm. When I later that day arrived at the Swedish American Museum and the Andersonville Midsummer Festival in Chicago (two weeks before midsummer, but ok…), I was asked about the tradition of a Midsummer Queen. Midsummer Queen? My first thought that Sweden has a queen every day, so why a midsummer one? Swedish midsummer is about inviting family and friends to your summer cottage, about going to the neighborhood midsummer pole event and dance, about dancing all night during the night that goes directly from dusk to dawn and about girls picking 7 flowers to hide under her pillow to dream about her future husband ;). On midsummer eve, Swedish cities and towns are empty, very empty, and festivals or midsummer queens are only found abroad. (Watch “Swedish Midsummer for Dummies” if you don’t believe me.)
Princess Madeleine, Mr. Christopher O'Neill and Princess Leonore. Foto by H. Garlöv / Kungahuset.se
Princess Madeleine, Mr. Christopher O’Neill and Princess Leonore. Foto by H. Garlöv / Kungahuset.se

It seems hard for some of my American friends to imagine kings, queens, princes and princesses being an everyday reality as it is in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and several other European countries. Maybe there is less need for “festival queens” when there is a charming royal family to pay attention to instead? Princess Madeleine, the youngest of the King’s children and mother of Princess Leonore, lives in New York with her British-American husband. I wonder what it is like to be a real princess in a country without princesses other than in fairy tales? Today happens to be her birthday; Happy birthday Princess Madeleine, enjoy it with your family in Sweden!
Elisabeth 

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The Quiet Tomte

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The Swedish hustomte (house elf/gnome) is a quiet little guy, dressed mostly in gray and red, living at your house or farmsted helping out by taking care of things around the house and keep everyone safe. You better be nice and serve him rice pudding on Christmas eve!” That’s the intro text to our pinterest board “Tomtar“. In the mid 17th century, the quiet Swedish tomte also took on the role as Father Christmas and became the Tomte with capital T. At dusk on Christmas Eve, the Tomte walks around to deliver gifts – in person! – to all nice kids.

Tomte with cat by Swedish artist Rolf Lidberg
A tomte and his son enjoying quiet company of the cat. Illustration by Rolf Lidberg.

The other day, I looked at our Pinterest tomte board just after putting down the book “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking” by Susan Cain.  (If you haven’t read the book, you should, or at least listen to Susan’s TED talk. Whether extrovert or introvert, it will give you an additional set of glasses through which to see the world and your near and dear through.) All of a sudden a lightbulb went off as I realized that the Swedish tomte is introvert while Santa is a fine example of the American extrovert ideal.
Search for images of “Santa” and you will find an abundance of photos and drawings of Santa where he looks straight into the camera, happily smiling and waving. He loves to be the center of the universe and knows all his power poses.

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Fly To the Moon

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Flying to the moon is a dream for many, reality for only 12. Buzz Aldrin, the lunar module pilot on Apollo11, is one of the lucky. On July 21, 1969, he walked on the moon following mission commander Neil Armstrong. The Swedish American Museum in Chicago is celebrating Buzz’s Swedish heritage with new permanent exhibit, “Exploration: Buzz Aldrin, Space Visionary,” at the Brunk Children’s Museum. They will blast into space for the first time on October 27th 2013 and children will be able to imagine what it would feel like to be an astronaut when they count down to blast off, collect moon rocks, and explore the moon. Click here for details about the Buzz Aldrin Exploration Exhibit Launch. Not only was Buzz’s mother’s maiden name Marion Moon, his Swedish ancestors on his fathers side came from Stjernsforsbruk, which means “The Mill at Star’s Rapids”!

Over the summer, we had our own blast off at the glimling office and launched a rocket ship funflector reflector! White and red rocket ships are available in the funflector webshop and at the gift shop at the Swedish American Museum. Hang them on jackets and backpacks to inspire big dreams and to increase your visibility in traffic at night. Reflectors are must-haves for Halloween and all other dark nights – and there a quite a few of them ahead.

Rocket ship safety reflector on jackets
funflector rocket ship safety reflector going for the moon and hanging on zipper pulls of fleece jackets waiting for the next neighborhood walk.

We can’t write about Swedish astronauts without mentioning Christer Fuglesang. He was the first Swedish citizen to go into space when he blasted off with the STS-116 Space Shuttle mission on December 10, 2006. He was also the first engineer and physicist in Sweden with a rock star status, which was amazing to witness. Even preschoolers knew everything about Christer’s space walks and his record of keeping a frisbee floating longer than anyone else. What an inspiration for kids who hadn’t given much thought to science and engineering before!

Christer Fuglesang greeting Sweden, Norway and Europe from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral.
Christer Fuglesang greeting Sweden, Norway and Europe from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

We have one more amazing image to share below! Look (you might need your glasses) how the earth and our moon are hanging out together with no close neighbors. It’s taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft close to Saturn.
Dream big and stay safe!

The funflector team

Earth and moon from Saturn. Image courtesy of NASA.
Earth and moon from Saturn. Image courtesy of NASA.


SaveSave

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Visible or Scary?

/ neat stuff, traffic safety / ,

In its native Sweden, H&M isn’t just a store for the latest fashion, it is also where parents get pretty good and inexpensive basic clothes for their kids.
When I visit Sweden I usually get PJ’s (all cotton and no flame retardant chemicals) and outerwear (most with integrated reflective strips) and cotton socks. Sizes up to 180 (16 y) is a big bonus when your kids are tall!

Reflective jacket

Safety reflectors and reflective strips have been integrated in children’s outerwear for a long time, but what I found the other day is taking it a step (or two!) further. The entire fabric looked reflexive, so I had to take a photo with flash to see just how reflective it was.

Wow, look at this:

Reflective jackets at H&M
Same jackets without and with camera flash.


Had to buy this reflective jacket and can’t wait to get back to my Chicago suburbs and play around with them. Do you think drivers will be too scared to drive safely or relieved that they saw the pedestrian?

Elisabeth

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Summer Solstice

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The long Scandinavian twilight summer nights peak today, June 21st.  Swedish Midsummer Eve always falls on a Friday close to the old Midsummer Eve on June 24th. After long winters and slow springs, Midsummer is when Swedes head out to their summer cottages, invite friends over, eat herring, small fresh potatoes and strawberries, drink and dance all night long. If you are a tourist in Sweden, make sure you understand how closed down everything is and I mean EVERYTHING. Restaurants, coffee shops, stores, currency exchanges, and pretty much everything else. I got married on Midsummer day. One of the foreign guests had to borrow money for a taxi since they had not managed to get Swedish crowns. “I didn’t think it would be THAT closed”. Well, it was. Watch this if you don’t believe me!

Swedish midsummer pole and celebration - funflector blog
Midsummer in Sweden

This summer, I have the fortune to be working and blogging from Europe. Early summer is a lovely time when nature erupts with leaves, flowers and sweet scent of lilac and “hägg” (prunus padus).

Lund style Swedish student cap by kortgalleriet.se
“Congratulations to Your Exam” – greeting card by kortgalleriet.se

Last week, I had the pleasure to to show my kids what a Swedish high school graduation looks like. The white caps “The Student Caps” originated among college students in the 1840’s to mark the affinity to their universities. At that time they were used daily, today they are rarely used outside of graduations and college ceremonies.

Swedish highs school grads with the traditional Lund style student cap
Highschool graduates in Lund, Sweden

Happy Midsummer!
Elisabeth

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Take a Walk

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We got one warm day with pouring rain and now the temperature is heading south again. At subzero temperatures (Farenheit), sitting inside reading and pinning about walking feels healthier than going out for a walk. New to me is ChiWalking, walking with mixed in elements from Tai Chi, yoga and Pilates, which I will have to try. I also found a lot of interesting research on the benefits of walking that I thought I’d share with you:

Winter walk with sled and kid
Winter walks are fun with good gear (including safety reflectors). Just remember to check temperature and wind chill first.


Here are eight good reasons to start walking as summarized by CNN:
1. A brisk 30 minute walk is good for your heart.
2. Walking lowers breast-cancer risks
3. An afternoon walk helps you sleep better
4. ChiWalking can reduce aches and pains.
5. Walking makes you happy because your body produces more endorphins.
6. Walking keeps you slimmer
7. Walking helps ward off Alzheimer’s disease
8. Walking makes your bones stronger
If you are a man and want to lower your lifetime medical bills: start walking! Extreme Longevity reports on a Japanese study that shows that even if walker live longer, they spend less on medical care. Women walkers also live longer, but don’t necessarily save on medical care during their life time.
You have a good reason to worry when an elderly friend or relative slows down their walking speed. Walking speed has shown to be a good indicator of life expectancy independent on age, race and height.

Kids need to get moving on weekends as well as on school days to learn and to be able to focus.
Kids need to get moving on weekends as well as on school days to learn and to be able to focus.


Walking is not only good for living long and healthy, walking also helps learning while you are young. If your kid’s school doesn’t have a walk-to-school program, you should start organizing one. A Danish study (in English here) found that students who walk to school learn and concentrate better that those who go by bus or car. In addition, walking keeps the air around schools fresher than cars.
Exercising is all about making it a habit. It takes some work to make it a habit, but after a while you notice how good it makes you feel and you’ll miss it when you don’t do it. In summary, it is pretty simple: Open the door and get out. Start slow and short and build up. Get a good pair of shoes. And don’t forget pedestrian reflectors if you get back after dusk. Here are some resources with more details on how to get started:
The Mayo Clinic walking advice
The Walking Site


Elisabeth

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Lucia

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Imagine early morning before sunrise when all is dark. All of a sudden, there is a faint singing in the distance and the doorway is lit up by a woman in a long white gown, wearing a wreath with candles on her head. Lucia, her maidens, and the “star boys” follow and bring light, joyful singing, coffee and sweet saffron rolls.

Saffron Rolls
Saffron Rolls (in a re-purposed Polarn O. Pyret hat)

Christmas and the advent weeks is when we feel the most homesick, but we are lucky to live in Chicago, where the Swedish community is big enough for my kids to participate in one of the many Lucia celebrations. Today, the Chicago Lucia will be at Daley Plaza at 11:30 and in Andersonville, the Swedish neighborhood, in the evening. (See the Swedish American Museum for event details.) We had the pleasure of seeing and hearing three Lucia processions a couple of weekends ago at the Swedish American Museum Christmas Market where we had a funflector booth. It was a joy to see my 10-year old twins as “tärna” (maid) and “stjärngosse” (star boy) and my 13-year-old as Lucia with all their friends from Swedish School. It felt like being back in Sweden with the right music, food and ambiance – and parents taking pictures.

Lucia by the Swedish School in Chiago, 2012
Lucia celebration by the Swedish School in Chicago

Lucia by the Swedish School in Chiago, 2012
The older girls and the Lucia get real candles. They are very focused on standing still…

Lucia by the Swedish School in Chicago, 2012
Photo op in better light and a better view of the “star boys”.

Watch today’s Lucia on Swedish Television. It is available until January 11th, 2013.  Enjoy!
Elisabeth

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Happy Midsummer!

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Happy Midsummer everyone!

Sweden is closed today. Very closed. It is midsummer eve. Check out this funny and accurate video Swedish Midsummer for Dummies if you want to know what Swedes are up to!

Here in the lower 48, the nights are not nearly as long and bright as in the Scandinavian countries or Alaska. Instead they are dark and warm, inviting to outdoor activities while the blasting sun is in hiding. Pedestrian safety reflectors are a must-have.

The International Space Station flying by in June 2012
The International Space Station passing by Chicago, June 21st, 2012.

Last night, we were out to watch the ISS (International Space Station) passing by Chicago at sunset. With a crystal clear sky and a sliver of a moon, we were amazed that we could see its prolonged shape.

An angel has landed ;)
An angel has landed 😉


We also discovered that a funflector® wrap, our slap bracelet reflector, looks like an angel’s gloria when you use it around your head, which reminded us to let you know that we now also have angel safety reflectors in our webshop!

funflector guardian angel safety reflector
Angel reflectors are now available in our web shop.

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