Monday 13 July 2015

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. 


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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.