Janne presents Swedish traditions: 13 December Lucia

Hello.

Today I would like to tell you all about a special Swedish tradition. It is called Lucia and is celebrated on the 13 of December each year. Originally this was a day to remember a saint called Lucia who lived in Sicily in Italy a very, very long time ago. Some people did bad things to her so the catholic pope decided to make her a saint.

Today in Sweden, we don't think about that too much. For us it is more a day to dress up small children in white gowns and make them carry electric candles and sing traditional Lucia and christmas songs. Afterwards we all eat "lussebullar" which is buns with saffron, gingerbread cookies and drink something warm.

Here you can see me in a traditional stjärngosse outfit. A stjärngosse means star boy in english. In a traditional Lucia parade you will also find gnomes and gingerbread men. It is all very strange and confused, but we really don't care since it is all a lot of fun and something to do while we wait for Santa Claus to bring us the presents at christmas.

Below you can see a very traditional Lucia parade with young women dressed in white carrying candles. They usually go to various places like retirement homes, hospitals and such and sing. Very nice.

Janne in the Christmas tree

Merry Christmas everyone!

No, I am just kidding. It's not Christmas yet but I am so eager. This week we decorated the Christmas tree in the LipFish office and I really got in the right mood. It's going to be so nice with all the presents, good food and happy children everywhere.

Here is some fresh news by the way. Next year, LipFish will have a small collection of Christmas clothes. All red and nice with Santa's reindeer on them. But as I said, not until next year. Oh, I can hardly wait...

Take care everyone.

LipFish photoshoot

Hello!

Today I went to a photoshoot with LipFish. It was very fabulous, as these things are. There were models, flashes, photographers, stylists, take-away food and a very very trendy feeling.

Here I am with the photographer called "Sorken".  A rather strange nick-name. It's Vole or Field-mouse in English. In the background we can see the model Alvin showing off clothes from next years collection.

It was a really nice place to sit at.

Flash and the frog! Wow, these things are huge!

Viva Mexico!

Sweden is fantastic and I love living here. But - it is also very, very cold and dark sometimes. Like right now, in November. And I don't know about you, but if you ask me sun and warmth is always better.

So I decided to run away for a little while. To Mexico.

Here I am in Taxco, in the southern part of the country. It was very picturesque.

I also met some nice friends. They look a little scary since it was "Dia de Muertos" which means Day of the Dead. But, since they were dead, there were more crisps for me. Hurray.

Soon I will be able to tell you a little more about new stuff coming from LipFish. Stay tuned.

Ni hao Hongkong

Hello again! This time I bring news from Hongkong. Me and my friends are featured in a really nice looking magazine called Donut Magazine. It is all about children's clothes and other nice stuff for kids. I have some problems reading the words but aren't the pictures great?

If you look further down you can browse the magazine directly here in the blog. I love the Internet, you can make such marvellous things and meet such fantastic people.

Froggy hugs
/Janne

Hello Henri

Hey there little guy! You really look like one happy boy. Thanks for sharing your pictures with me, it always makes my day. Keep on growing and spreading love.

Froggy hugs
/Janne

Doris' new shirt and bed set

Hello again.

Today, I am a little bit jealous. My friend Doris got nice presents, but there were none for me.

Zeynep, 7 years, from Norrköping in Sweden has made a super nice shirt for Doris.

She even got a matching bed set. Look how happy she is.

It would be really, really nice if I could get something too. Please, pretty please?

(If you have made something like this, you are most welcome to send me a photo. Wouldn't that be fun?)

Janne in Brussels

Yesterday I went to Brussels in Belgium. A beautiful city. It rained the whole day but I didn't mind since I am a frog. Here I am with the most famous boy in the whole of Brussels -Manneken Pis. Someone must have thought that he was freezing since he had a blue blanket. Next time I will bring a cosy LipFish shirt for the little fellow.

Now if you excuse me, I am going to eat all the belgian chocolate that I bought. It might take a while. Yum, yum. 

Konnichiwa Kawaii

This is fantastic. One of the things I like about being the frog I am, that is that everyone seems to like me. People get happy all over the world. Here are some really cute japanese children enjoying their LipFish clothes.

Or as they say in Japan - Kawaii!

Belgian showroom

Showroom - doesn't that sound trendy and fashionable? I think so. Anyways, my super-nice Belgian distributor have just set one up. It's not all me there. There´s lots of other nice stuff there too. Unfortunately the showroom is not open to the public but I can show you some behind the scenes footage.

Yours truly. My head anyway.

And here's some new things that is coming soon. Can't show you what it is yet because it's a secret. Hush! You will have to wait a little while longer.

Photo: Manchild

Doris' diapers

I have a really nice friend. Doris the Monkey. She is very kind and likes kids a lot. But if you ever bring here home, hide your fruit. Because she will it everything. Don't let her smallness fool you.

Today we got some nice pictures from Ellen in Sweden. She and Doris got together a while back. Ellen decided to show Doris how diapers work.

Oops. Ellen thinks that Doris needs some help.

There! The diaper is in place. Now Doris has been well taken care of.

Thanks a lot for the help Ellen. You never know what monkeys can do when you don't look after them.

Wow - I am a TV-celebrity

Today I heard from Belgium that I had been on TV. Fantastic. Look up there. That's me. On this cool baby whose name is Mac. Awesome name by the way. I hope you like your clothes, dude.

I have no idea what they are saying, since it's in Flemish. So if you want to tell me, please do.

Here is a link if you want to watch the show. (I come in after 3 minutes...)
http://vtm.be/de-maandagshow/ontmoet-de-familie-di-bono-hanssen-0

Fantastic fan cakes

I am so happy!

Look at these fabulous cakes. Aren't they fantastic? I think so. They were made with love and care by Katia and her children, and they live in Belgium. She were kind enough to send an e-mail to LipFish with these nice pictures. Too bad she couldn't send some cake over the internet, because they look sooo tasty. 

This is me! With chocolate flavour I think.

This is Otto the Octopus. With some loving hearts.

And this is Sam the Shark. He loves cake. I know he does.

 And here is a picture of one of the bakers. With a LipFish shirt on. Adorable. You all did a great job.

If you have any LipFish stuff to share, please send me an e-mail. You don't need to bake. Or cook. It can be anything really. I would love to see what you do and show it to everyone here on the blog.

 Mail me at: janne@lipfish.com

(And if you don't want me to blog about it, you can say so. Then I will keep it for myself. )

Turkish delight

Some more pictures from my latest visit to Turkey. Even though we worked hard with the new collection I also had time to do some sightseeing. (The new collection will be really super-nice, but I'm not allowed to give you any details yet.)

Here's the bazaar where you can buy all kinds of things. Saffron is great for Swedish "lussebullar" but I didn't get any. It's not the right season for "lussebullar" yet.

Hey, look at the view from my nice hotel. It doesn't get any more oriental than this.

Back to the roots

Hello again!

Sorry for not getting started properly with this here blog-thing. I've been away. On a little business trip you might call it. Destination Turkey. Well, that's where I was put together back in the days. So it felt a little bit like coming home again, if you know what I mean.

Usually, I live in Sweden but it was reeeeaaally nice to get down to the sun for a few days now that autumn is coming. I'm not much for cold days and rain.

Stay tuned for more photos from Istanbul.

Janne Groda with a blog

Hello.

Time for me to get out here on the world wide web. The plan is to make new friends and let you all know what is going on with me and all my friends from LipFish.

More is coming soon. Now I have to get this here design sorted out.

Cheers!