Fresh from the printer: the Russian edition of our second book Plant Tribe. As you can see, it has a slightly different cover and title, OK Jungle!, while the content is exactly the same as the English edition. Grab your copy now via MIF Books, in Russian bookstores, or find it at local retailers who might sell it soon too like Änta’s in Saint Petersburg, Krapiva Krapiva in Moscow, Plant Me Moscow and others.
Photography by Änta’s Plants and MIF Books
Our recent trip to Zagreb, Croatia, was a plant-filled experience with green spots across the town but also with two special Urban Jungle book events. We were invited by the creative team of Dnevna Doza biljaka, Leon and Tomislav, to host an Urban Jungle book event and meet and mingle with the Zagreb plant tribe. The green evening was hosted in the cool Figa Garden bar and framed by a beautiful live performance by Croatian singer Nika Turkovic.
We really loved the incredibly positive vibe in Zagreb! We never imagined that the Croatian captial has such a thriving green community of plant loving people. During our book presentation more than 50 people squeezed into the bar to listen to the beginnings and journey of Urban Jungle Bloggers. Additionally, we were honored to announce that the Urban Jungle book is now available in Croatia through the publisher Dominovic.
The wonderful green evening was possible because of the restless effort of the duo behind Dnevna Doza Biljaka, Leon and Tomislav. They organized everything – from the venue, to the plant decorations, sponsors, drinks and tidbits to please our palate. We are also grateful for all the great sponsors who made this evening possible: Authentic Beauty Concept, Kote Living, Römerquelle water and JYSK as well as the Tourism Organization of Croatia for bringing us to charming Zagreb. You can also find our green Zagreb travel guide HERE.
We were very happy to meet some of our plant friends from Instagram in real life and chat with the Zagreb plant tribe. Also we were thrilled to see the Croatian media interest in Urban Jungle Bloggers and our book. You can see some of the media coverage HERE. We want to say a big HVALA (thank you) to everyone who came to the book presentation in Zagreb, to all the sponsors, and above all to Leon and Tomislav from Dnevna Doza Biljaka for being such enthusiastic and professional hosts. Here’s to the Croatian plant tribe! Zivjeli!
Photography by Marina Cumbo
Almost one year after we launched our Urban Jungle book in English and German in the Botanical Garden in Munich, we were very happy to finally present our book in French! In the past months we received so many messages from French speaking plant lovers asking for our book in French, that we’re delighted that it’s finally here! We worked with the team of Editions Eyrolles to translate our book into French and make sure it would look pixel perfect. They did an excellent job and holding our book en français (and seeing it in French bookshops!) really makes our heart skip a beat. As you know, we both have a very special bond with France 😉
Last Thursday we presented our book to French press and bloggers at the perfect Urban Jungle Bloggers location: Mama Petula, a botanical concept store in the 14th arrondissement in Paris. It’s a little bit off the beaten track, located on the site of a former hospital. Mama Petula is a green lush shop where you can find the most gorgeous selection of houseplants, plant accessories and garden plants… and our Urban Jungle book of course. If you’re lucky you may even be able to get a signed copy!
Mama Petula opened their doors just for us! We were so excited to welcome our guests at this planty location, and see them impressed by all the greenery. Definitely a must-visit when you are in Paris. Please note that Mama Petula is only open on Saturdays and Sundays (check their Instagram to find out more about opening hours, as they may open during weekdays soon!).
We spoilt our guests with delicious plant-based food from Wild & The Moon. Wild & the Moon is based on the simple belief that food should be good for you, good for the planet, and delicious. They go for wild, local, gluten-free, ethically sourced, seasonal and plant-based ingredients, that bring a little bit of nature in our busy lives. We took a few photos before the guests arrived, because this disappeared quickly, it was so yummy!
With the plant-based treats come plant-based drinks: all night we sipped evian fruits & plantes and their new evian x kusmi tea. For these new evian fruits & plants recipes, the world-renowned evian mineral water is mixed with lemon & elderflower, raspberry & verbena and raisin & rose, that create light and fresh drinks. The evian infused x kusmi is a remarkable mix of 95% evian mineral water with infusion kusmi tea and fruity, botanical and floral aromas. These new evian drinks are not too sugar-y, but have interesting flavours that come in cute little bottles:
Look how well our Urban Jungle book blends in with the planty decor at Mama Petula:
Our friends at Lovely Day Botanicals sponsored the event by providing some of their wonderful beauty products (that we wrote about earlier here), like the Coco Gloss hair serum and Mermaid After-Sun Spray. Lovely Day uses premium botanical oils and essences and fruit acids for their small but refined product range. Their beauty products are not only natural, they are also vegan. No animal products whatsoever find their way into their products, neither do perfumes, alcohol, nor any other synthetic ingredient.
Plantshelfie perfection:
A few months ago we found out about GreenMa, a young French lifestyle brand that proposes organic and herbal teas and recently launched a range of artisanal soaps and candles with organic essential oils. And besides making delicious products that make you feel better, GreenMa also focuses on packaging with a low environmental impact. The teas and candles come in fumé glass bottles that are anti-UV as well, and refills are wrapped in craft paper. All our guests left with an artisanal GreenMa soap and the RELAX, DREAM and MAGIC candles made Mama Petula smell heavenly all night long!
Lovely Day Botanicals Coco Gloss and Mermaid spray:
Yep, we are two very happy and proud authors:
Always happy to sign a copy of the Urban Jungle book:
Wild Dutch clover:
Mama Petula is open on Saturday and Sundays, but make sure to check their Instagram for updates!
On Saturday we had a second event in Paris for everyone that wanted to join: we hosted a plant hanger workshop at the beautiful Welcome Bio Bazar. A shop that specialises in bio and organic products for home and kitchen, in the same street as their organic grocery shop and restaurant. They also have a small café with the best chocolate cake we ever tasted and in the back you have a large corner with a selection of plants from Mama Petula. This is where our workshop took place:
In two rounds of workshops we knotted dozens of plant hangers and had a lot of fun. Plant hangers are such an easy way to decorate your home and create a nice dynamic in the room without taking up precious floor space. You can find the DIY instructions of the plant hanger (and more DIYs!) in our Urban Jungle book!
A big thank you to our publisher Eyrolles (and particularly to Julie, Géraldine, Camille and Eric) and Mama Petula for the dreamy location (merci beaucoup Zoé, Masami et Caroline !), GreenMa, Lovely Day Botanicals and evian for the planty products, Wild & The Moon for the delicious food, Welcome Bio Bazar (particularly Galyord, Rebecca and Julie) for hosting our workshop and to all the press and bloggers and plant lovers that made the launch of our French Urban Jungle Book into such a joyful celebration! Merci beaucoup !
Photography by Madame Love (photos 16-17-18-19) and Urban Jungle Bloggers
After the beautiful and heartwarming #urbanjunglebook launch in Munich’s botanical garden, we have launched our book last Thursday in the brand new Urbanara showroom in Berlin. We were delighted to present our book to a very hip and cool Berlin crowd comprised of friends, bloggers, journalists and other creative folk. Luckily, one of our dear friends and super blogger Jules Villbrandt of Herz & Blut was willing to take some pictures so that we can share the very warm summer evening (despite it being in mid September) with all of you.
Berlin was really good to us! The weather was glorious with sun and summer temperatures and the Urbanara showroom was packed with wonderful and positive people – ranging from just born babies to happy families and creative individuals. We were very happy to meet some good old friends as well as meet many new ones. At 6 p.m. we started our presentation after a short intro by the Urbanara founder Claire Davidson, as well as Christian Tesch from our publisher Callwey. Then it was our turn: We talked about the beginnings of the Urban Jungle Bloggers community, the idea for the book and the entire book creation process. We shared some anecdotes and behind-the-scenes moments and at the end all attending people had the opportunity to peek into their own book.
Later it was all about fun and relaxed chats with good food and drinks. We signed quite a few copies and had a great time catching up with the lovely people. The entire Urbanara team in Berlin made an extra effort to make this evening special: The showroom was beautifully decorated with plants, and outdoors lounge area invited the people to enjoy the balmy temperatures, yummy food and good wine was served to keep the spirits high. Thanks again for everything – to both the Urbanara team (especially to Anna-Marie and Nina) and to our publisher Callwey
Last but not least thanks to the more than 60 guests (many of who came in adequate botanical fashion) who joined our Urban Jungle book launch in Berlin. It was thanks to each and everyone of them that our evening was such a beautiful and unforgettable experience. And now we hope you will all enjoy some quiet and inspiring moments with our new Urban Jungle book! Happy reading!
Photography by Herz & Blut
Finally day X has come: Last Friday we have launched the Urban Jungle book in Munich’s botanical garden. What a wonderful day it was! Not only were we both full with happiness and green love, but we finally had the chance to show our books to a wonderful audience comprised of journalists, bloggers, home owners and partners. Both books, the English Urban Jungle book as well as the German version “Wohnen in Grün” were available for a first peek to the audience: For the first time they had the opportunity to peek into the book and discover the five home stories, the plant portraits and the numerous plant styling and DIY ideas.
We were honored to have many friends and dear people in the audience, too. One of the home owners joined us too – Fem flew in from Istanbul and made our day even more special. We also had many contributing bloggers in the audience as well as our partners and our talented friend and photographer Lina Skukauske who took these amazing photos and captured the fun day for all of us. The day was glorious in one word: The weather was amazing and the location, the botanical garden in Munich, a divine green backdrop for the book’s presentation.
We decorated the room with handmade macrame plant hangers by Judith (the DIY is in the book) and guided the audience through the book with some very fun behind-the-scenes shots too. Our presentation was rounded up with green goodie bags for all attendees and a very informative and inspiring (yet super hot) guided tour through the cacti and succulent collection of the botanical garden. The tour included even the growing greenhouses that are not accessible to the public. After the full-force green input we all had a relaxed lunch in the botanical garden’s restaurant.
After our presentation the attendees enjoyed more fun and information: A fabulous trend presentation by Gudy Herder about spring/summer trends for 2017 as well as a floral styling workshop with Anastasia Benko. We want to thank the team of Callwey for this magnificent day, especially Laura from the PR team who took care of every detail and made the day extra special to all of us. Thanks also to the botanical garden for being a fantastic host and opening their doors to all of us. And thanks to all who came to make the day special with us. We are so grateful and happy!
Stay tuned for the next book presentation: Coming Thursday we will present the Urban Jungle book in Berlin! More to come soon!
Photography by Lina Skukauske