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FLEUX

30/6/2014

I stumbled across Fleux in Le Marais.

I walked in and found it filled with home wares and gifts. All contemporary, innovative, quality items, varying designs from clean, to quirky, and on the cusp of wacky. What makes Fleux different? They are all quality items not cheap knock offs. Some products were new to me in every way, and some familiar, but all put together in a bright vibrant space. I reluctantly left, only to find that next door there was another one, and it didn't stop there. There was a third shop behind the second, and then a fourth across the road! All equally alluring and all carrying different product, so basically you can find anything from gifts to home wares, to storage solutions, to hooks and furniture…and…well… pretty much anything you happen to be looking for.

Since coming back to my apartment I've done a little research and its the brainchild of florist Gaétan Aucher and architect Luc Moulin. Their range does include top labels and prices within the stores range from about 7 Euro and 7000 Euro. Brands include; Bloomingville, House Doctor, Fornasetti, Leblon-Delienne, Lexon, Lladro, Marteen Bass, Mr Marius, Muuto, Orla Kiely, Paper beings, U Shift and so much more…

Definitely worth a visit… a long, long visit… and preferably with an extra suitcase!

FLEUX / 39 Rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie, 75004 Paris, France / +33 1 42 78 27 20 / www.fleux.com
Images: ℅ Google images & Pinterest

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TOY WATCH

29/6/2014

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Toy Watch.

You've heard of it right? But did you know that it was created in Milan?

Marco Mavilla, a designer based in Milan, designed the concept for the first Toy Watch. A light, but oversized plastic watch inspired by high-design timepieces, Toy Watch is known for its unexpected and irreverent style. Toy Watch has become a highly coveted wristwatch and a "gotta-have" item. I must admit - I have fallen victim. The brand kicked off a firestorm in the fashion, design and accessories industries and has been heralded as a sensation by the world press.

The Collection has continued to grow and now has a whopping 22 ranges.

I bought myself a MAYA watch exactly the one in the image below. It is so bright and vibrate, and looks fabulous with my orange/red nail polish. It feels special - created in Milan and bought in Venice - two cities close to my heart. I also really like the 4 leaf clover in the GRAFFITI range, I consider myself very lucky, but I would't say no to a bit more! ;)

Just so you know, you can only get the full range including access to additional wrist bands in their flagship stores, and most of these are in Italy. Keep this in mind for your next trip.

TOY STRONG

TOY FLOAT

TOY CANDY

TOY MR HYDE

TOY VIPER

TOY CRUISE METAL

MONOCHROME

CERAMICA

TOTAL STONES

VINTAGE COLLECTION

TOY2FLY

TOY GRAFFITI

TOY GLOW

TOY SWING

VELVETY

MAYA

CRUISE

FLUO

TOY RING

METALLIC COLLECTION

ICON

JETLAG

TOY WATCH / www.toywatch.com
Images: ℅ Google images & Pinterest

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SO 820 C24 - Venice

27/6/2014

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SO 820 C24 is the title of the installation exhibition created for the Milan Furniture Show at the Rubelli Showroom. The exhibition, included in the SVie Art & Design event, presents 7 installations whose single common denominator is a thread of white silk.

Hence the title SO 820 C24, where SO stands for organzine silk and C24 is the code identifying the white colour.
Every designer at the Venice textiles company has created a personal work, based on a yarn – the basic element of weaving – in silk – the noblest of yarns and a permanent key feature in Rubelli creations – in white – a non-colour which everyone can use to “write” with total freedom.

I came across this when I had my appointment at Rubelli (and that is a whole other story and definitely post worthy). The pieces in this installation are so simple and beautiful. My favourite is Alessia Niero's "Ray-on" (4th one below). It is lit from the back which makes the optical fibres glow. It's really quite special.

Artist: GABRIELLA ZECCHINI
Title: Genesi
Material: Silk, cotton, linen and metal

In this exhibition/installation the artist wanted to express a very private dimension, rooted in her interest in surrealist poetics, in particular the work “Writings” by Max Ernst.

This is a creative process in art which refers to the block in creativity which a white sheet or blank canvas can cause.
The work by Gabriella Zecchini stems from the memory of a dream. The lead player was a sheer curtain which, filled with light and moved by air, swayed gently. A curtain which becomes a bridge between the home “inside” and the home “outside”.

“Air and Light”, “Dream”, “Wave”: three great panels of white silk yarns which run vertically, crossing through layers of thought. With the intent of enlivening, a concept dear to Max Ernst, the passage of many weaves under and inside threads of white silk, bringing them to life in a play on light and shadow, and which reference the invisible link between us and others.

Artist: ALBERTO PEZZATO
Title: Il sogno di Giacobbe (Jacob’s Dream)
Material: Silk yarn and Japanese paper

The work by Alberto Pezzato stems from a children’s game which, almost by magic, makes strips of paper three-dimensional. Just like we did as children, folding shooting stars. Transferred into the giant ladder of fabric, this “technique” has served to create a textile sculpture where the dream of every fabric designer comes true: that of leaving behind two-dimensionality.

The artist’s thought goes further, when it realises one of his unconfessed dreams, that of becoming a sculptor.

The word “dream” returns in the title of the work which, in the artist’s eyes, takes on the appearance of a ladder. The ladder which in the biblical tale of Jacob’s Dream, one of the most famous dreams in the history of mankind, rises up to heaven.

Artist: ALESSIA NIERO
Title: Ray-on
Material: Silk yarn and optical fibre

The work expresses the eclectic nature of the artist. In “Ray-on” Alessia Niero in fact sought to create and succeeded in creating a mix of classic and contemporary, starting from a fabric she made when she first started work with Rubelli: the damask “Mocenigo “ which won the prestigious Navette D’Or award at the Biennale des Editeurs in Paris in 1994.

The absolute key feature of the work created for the exhibition / installation is the light which gives shape and substance to the decorative motif.

In this new hi-tech version the artist, instead of using the original natural yarns for the weaves, adopts optical fibre: a wire which, appropriately powered, lights up, defining the areas of the decorative pattern of the work itself.

The result is a textile creation that covers and contains the artist’s training and professional career, in a “luminous” fusion of past and present, with a glance towards the future.

Artist: MARCO MARTINUZZI
Title: Mea Pausa
Material: Silk yarn and cotton weaves

The work by Marco Martinuzzi takes its inspiration from a photo which he took and which narrates an unusual, almost surreal, experience. Made with silk lampas, the work is made up of simple shapes and lines, played out on black and white.

A true experience: a different route by car off the motorway and along a minor road in the Apennines which is suddenly interrupted. Right in the middle is a block of granite. An old armchair, worn but lightweight, tones down the drama of the scene. Regeneration: a sudden wish to climb up the rock and enjoy, in the quiet setting, the landscape from a new viewpoint. External, yet which looks inwards.

At the sight of so much beauty the artist feels at peace and thinks to himself: “Mea Pausa”. “The work of art” on the road, created by a nameless artist, transformed the motorist into traveller, gifting him with a taste for wonder and self-discovery. Today, sharing this experience with us, the artist invites us to stop. Let’s give ourselves a break.

Artist: FRANCESCO ZAMPIERI
Title: Textum
Material: Silk yarn and cotton weaves

The white page is the medium for writing. Writing conveys ideas, emotions and “wonders”, but writing is also form, a graphic sign that becomes decoration. The Million, i.e. the Book of the Wonders of the World, is the tale of the journey in Asia along the Silk Route by the Venetian merchant and traveller Marco Polo.

The title that Francesco Zampieri chose for his work is “Textum”, from which the Italian word “testo” or “text” is derived. “Textum” comes from the Latin “texere”, i.e. “to weave”, to describe the “interweaving” of words that make up speech.

“Textum” is the reproduction of a text on two panels of white silk satin: two pages of an edition of the “Book of the Wonders” with signed annotations by Christopher Columbus. Two great travellers come together in this way on the pages of a book: a virtual encounter as we would say today, but above all and once again an “interweaving” whose charm, centuries later, still wins us over.

Artist: FRIEDERICKE RAAF
Title: Milchstraße (The Milky Way)
Material: Pure silk yarn

White. Elegant. Simple. Light. These are the keywords for “reading” this textile installation which sets out to represent a journey of growth and improvement: from a heaviness verging on clumsiness to the utmost in lightness. With simplicity too. Almost a metaphor of life.

Just like the swan which, out of the water, moves over the ground awkwardly, weighed down by its own weight, but which then, when in flight, gains a dimension of elegance and levity in the air.

The silk cloth, four metres long, is composed of forty layers which become increasingly thin in their rise upwards. White. Elegant. Simple. Light. Increasingly light. Almost impalpable.

Artist: ANNA CANDELU
Title: Kandhi
Material: Silk and metal khadi

“If we have the 'khadi spirit' in us, we would surround ourselves with simplicity in every walk of life”.
M.K. Gandhi

The artist uses a quote by Gandhi to introduce us into a spiritual dimension. This sentence in fact holds the entire philosophy of khadi which, more than a fabric, is a symbol of non-violence.

The work by Anna Candelù is a white dress with simple lines. It is created by overlapping three silk khadi cloths, mounted on single panels and presented in a sequence played out on the various sizes of the polka dot pattern, produced with metallic weaves. The final effect is one of luminous transparency.

Khadi is the king of fabrics, the noblest in the world. Thin yet strong, humble yet refined. The result of patient labour. It is the custodian of the world’s wisdom. For the artist khadi is transparency, super-fine lightness, intrinsic sensuality, extreme softness: an emotion which touches the deepest notes of the soul.

SO 820 C24 / Exhibition 6 June - 31 October - Rubelli - Venice
Images & text: ℅ Rubelli website & Google Images

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COLOROVA - Patisserie & Salon de The

26/6/2014

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Georgi and I had two days in Paris. We have very similar interests so we planned out all the things we would see together. We squeezed a lot into each day. On our way back to the hotel to grab our things to leave, we discovered a fabulous coffee shop called Colorova, possibly the best I'd seen and it was in our street. I couldn't believe we'd missed it! It's everything I love. The interior is colourful and inviting with many unique elements, and the cakes are stunning and all made on location by it's fabulous young chef and co owner Guillaume Gil.

Colorova means multicoloured in Polish and that is exactly what this place is. The furnishings, walls and of course the dynamic cakes are all popping with colour. It is a space that is inviting and vibrant and lures you in. If it wasn't for our lack of time I could have settled in for a cosy for hours sampling teas and cakes. I believe that the menu also offers brunch during the week and weekends. I'll definitely be heading there when I go back to Paris over the coming months.

COLOROVA / 47, Rue de L'Abbe Gregoire, 75006 Paris / 01 45 44 67 56
Images: ℅ Google images & Pinterest

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MURANO GLASS - Italy

25/6/2014

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Anyone who knows me, knows that I Iove Murano glass. I owned a few small pieces long before I had a home to put them in. Once I did have a home, they became a feature in each room. Last week I treated myself to a full day in Murano. I was focused on visiting big name brands Venini (founded 1925) and Nason Moretti. I found a couple of inspiring pieces at Venini (above) but upon walking into Nason Moretti I really started to smile. Fun, bright, beautiful glassware and pieces for the table.

NASON MORETTI (founded 1923)
NasonMoretti products are hand crafted by master artisans in stunning, classic and refreshingly modern styles and part of the great tradition of Murano crystal, glass, and stemware. They are everyday objects designed for people who seek and love to be surrounded by an atmosphere of true elegance. Each piece is signed and numbered and is as precious as a jewel.

I continued to wander around the picturesque island and found a few new favourites; Simone Cenedese and Barovier & Torso.

SIMONE CENEDESE (founded mid 1970's)
I had the pleasure of being shown through the entire Simone Cenedese showroom, the workshop, and meeting the designer. It was very inspiring. The product lines are interesting, vibrate and at times quite entertaining. I was drawn to the later, but they also create stunning lighting in both traditional and contemtporay designs and colours.

BAROVIER & TOSO (founded 1936)
Barovier & Toso specialise in creating decorative lighting solutions in Murano glass. They are all characterised by a personal and unique style. They describe their lighting solutions as being "destined not only to furnish ambiances, but also to create emotions, transmit positivity, making each room unique." They work with designers on significant projects throughout the world.

VENINI / www.venini.com
NASON MORETTI / www.nasonmoretti.com
SIMONE CENEDESE / www.simonecenedese.it
BAROVIER & TOSO / www.barovier.com
Images: ℅ Google images

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FLEUX

TOY WATCH

SO 820 C24 - Venice

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FLEUX

TOY WATCH

SO 820 C24 - Venice

COLOROVA - Patisserie & Salon de The

MURANO GLASS - Italy

AUTHOR

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