Friday, March 30, 2012

My cup of tea

Tamara Taggart, CTV news anchor, at The Cross Décor & Design, sipping tea.

It is so rewarding to be invited to events as a designer, more so when it is a Media event and you realize, Oh wait a minute…I am part of Media too (well, sort of, being only a blogger and not pretending to be anything else).
So this morning there was an event at The Cross Décor & Design, in Vancouver, for Media only (see above :) to present a new collection, of course there was also an excellent assortment of fragrant teas and a lusciously rich banana bread, but the most fun was to meet new people and to reconnect with friends.








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Megan Close, Public and Media relations
and Stephanie Vogler, co-owner of the store.



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Tamara Taggart with Stephanie Vogler.

I invite you now to go to The Cross blog and enjoy the Video shot at one of the best mansions in Vancouver, The Hycroft, where I also had the opportunity in the past to  shoot some of my B&W photography.  The video is called “Behind the Scenes” and talented Janis Nicolay was the still photographer.

Here are some of my images from today (I admit, lately I am using my iPhone…so easy to record moments)


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A stunning textile for the drapery, a great collection of
art and design books in the background.



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Pastel colors for toss pillows and table lamp.



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Grey and beige, soft and elegant lines.



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Bright cheerful yellow upholstered ottoman and ranunculus
…finally a sign of Spring.



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Meet Josephine, part of the new line of furniture at The Cross Décor & Design,
with tufted arms ready to embrace you.

And don’t forget…The Cross was named “Retailer of the year” in 2011, not just for their extraordinary collection of furniture, accessories, lighting, linens…but also for the professional and enthusiast team behind it.

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©2012 Brillante Interiors writes about new trends, timeless decor, iconic pieces, design ideas, or at times just musing about "a certain Italian way of doing things".

If you need help to enjoy your home more, please send me an email.  It will be an investment in happiness at home, a well designed house is always a good part of a great life and a beautiful room will make you happy every time you walk in!

If you receive this post by Email and wish to leave a comment please click HERE and go to the comments section. You’ll make me happy!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Let’s travel to Pantelleria


To the south of Sicily, and closer to Africa than to Europe, is the so called black pearl of the Mediterranean, the volcanic island of Pantelleria, known for its wild beauty but also for its unique ancient houses.
On the island we can find about 8000 of the typical domed lava stone construction called Dammuso,  Pantelleria architectural symbol, created in the 10th century A.D. and evolved  in style until the 17th century. Most of the 19th and 20th centuries abandoned, but still functional, dammusi  knew a renaissance when some smart architects started to renovate them in the Sixties as holiday houses for discerning travelers.



dammuso
The construction shows a clever use of the territory and its resources, shallow foundations and exceptionally wide walls, some are 1 meter thick,  necessary to support the domes which are finished with a mixture of red tufo and plaster, a hard and waterproof surface. The shape of the rounded roofs serves to collect and canalize the rain into cisterns. The thick walls also keep the rooms cool in summer and warm in winter. As the dammusi are built with the natural stone of the island, they blend in very well with the landscape.
Below is an example of dammuso recently restored, leaving intact the architecture and using only local materials, stones, wood, lava rocks.


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A holiday house with rigorous lines: 
we can admire here the interior architecture, with high domed ceilings.



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Modern furniture, rattan and a few exotic elements. I love the lamps made of driftwood.
The concrete floor is polished to perfection.



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White on white and splashes of red.



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In the kitchen also counters and sink are masonry. Note the window size: to keep temperature constant inside the house the openings, doors and windows, are few and relatively small.



Outside in the breeze possibly sipping the famous Moscato di Pantelleria (on the island we can find the best Moscato grapes, but also exceptional capers and raisins are cultivated here and of course the cuisine is simple but very savory, being made with mostly local products).



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Very simple lines for the pool, surrounded by muri a secco and Mediterranean vegetation.



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On the island nature and silence reign… to restore body and mind.
I will leave you dreaming with the superb view from this dammuso.

Photography by Adrian Hamilton

©2012 Brillante Interiors writes about new trends, timeless decor, iconic pieces, design ideas, or at times just musing about "a certain Italian way of doing things".

If you need help to enjoy your home more, please send me an email.  It will be an investment in happiness at home, a well designed house is always a good part of a great life and a beautiful room will make you happy every time you walk in!


If you receive this post by Email and wish to leave a comment please click HERE and go to the comments section. You’ll make me happy!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Favorite textiles and gorgeous furniture


I have loved Rubelli textiles, founded in Venice in 1858,  as long as I can remember, my mother used them in our family’s houses and I have used them for my houses and often for clients. When in Venice one of the treats for me is to go to their showroom at Palazzo Corner Spinelli on the Grand Canal (you can see images on my previous blog “Rubelli in Venice” HERE) and of course there is a beautiful showroom also in Milan where I go often (images on my previous post “Rubelli in Milan” HERE).
In 2005  Rubelli bought Donghia, with its lines of furniture, textiles and lighting, founded by Angelo Donghia in the 60’s.

Rubelli-Donghia Venice 2010
Rubelli-Donghia Venice showroom


Angelo Donghia
From Donghia website: “ A fine aesthetic sensibility, discerning eye for quality and concern for comfort in the complete lifestyles that he created made Angelo Donghia one of America’s most influential interior designers. His style, characterized by simplicity of line, purity of materials, boldness of form and sensual textures and shapes, was sought after by many”.

In the 70’s “Angelo Donghia became so renowned throughout the country for his look that the Detroit News called him “the Saint Laurent of sofas” while Angelo Donghia himself noted, “The liberation we’ve achieved through clothing has happened to furniture.” He received many awards and he was also, posthumously, inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame.


Rubelli - Donghia Milan
Rubelli-Donghia Milan Showroom

A few images from I Saloni, Milan 2011, reflecting Donghia’s style.


Donghia Milano I Saloni 


Donghia Milano I Saloni 


Donghia Milano
Donghia furniture and lighting plus Rubelli textiles…
a winning combination of refined luxury.

©2012 Brillante Interiors writes about new trends, timeless decor, iconic pieces, design ideas, or at times just musing about "a certain Italian way of doing things".

If you need help to enjoy your home more, please send me an email.  It will be an investment in happiness at home, a well designed house is always a good part of a great life and a beautiful room will make you happy every time you walk in!


If you receive this post by Email and wish to leave a comment please click HERE and go to the comments section. You’ll make me happy!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

How to use mirrors...an ancient trick.

 An ornate, antique mirror in a contemporary bedroom. Jamie Drake design.

The use of mirrors to enlarge a space, to reflect objects and even to reflect upon ourselves…. is an ancient trick that never fails.
The mirrors used in ancient Greece or during the Roman Empire were slightly convex disks of polished metal,  reflecting light. More modern version were mirrors, either made of glass or cristallo di rocca (quartz), that were produced in the 13th-century but only during Renaissance they became more common. Famous became the mirrors produced  in Venice during the 16th-century, and after that the ones made in France and other European countries.


Leonardo da vinci
Camera degli specchi” at the Leonardo da Vinci Museum, in Florence, is part of Leonardo’s study of optic science: in this small space enclosed by 8 mirrored walls he discovered that you could see every side of an object put in the center without moving.


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Royal palace in Genoa, the Sala degli specchi built around 1650.


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Royal Palace in Versailles is famous for the magnificent  Hall of Mirrors (La Galerie des Glaces), 73 meters long…  built around 1650.

So we talked about ancient Rome, Renaissance, Leonardo,Venice, France in the 17th-century, but now fast forward to how to use mirrors in our houses.

Here are some splendid examples of contemporary use of reflecting surfaces:

House B. Josephine Sacabo 

From House Beautiful: "I collect beautiful time-ravaged mirrors, and when I saw this one in an antiques store in New Orleans, I fell in love. When I went in, it was sold. I pined for it. I left my number and went in every week for six weeks. Finally, the shop owner said whoever bought it probably wasn't going to pick it up, and I could have it for $600. It's a four-panel screen and very heavy. The glass is fogged and splotchy, the way glass gets, and there's a border around each panel with painted birds and flowers, all worn away. Everything that's reflected in the mirror looks unbelievable, like a poeticized version of itself. It gives every view a history." 
Josephine Sacabo, photographer.


house beautiful a.branca
From House Beautiful:  "Powder rooms are such an opportunity to wrap yourself in whatever indulgent feeling you want. The mirror that wound up in my Chicago powder room is 18th-century Venetian — sober, clean, not goopy, and it's from a neoclassical tradition that's so familiar to me. I love the dark wood frame and those beautiful etchings. I bought it 20 years ago in Rome on the Via Margutta, a street of antiques dealers, and it has followed me from house to house — living proof that if you buy something you love, you'll find a place for it."
 Alessandra Branca, Interior Designer


V Wolf House Beau.
From House Beautiful: "I've leaned a massive, over-scale mirror against the wall of my bedroom, as I do in so many houses. It's taking an architectural approach to a decorative object — like cutting open a wall onto a space beyond. It's also more casual and interesting to lean something than to hang it. Once a mirror is hung, it's isolated on the wall. But when it leans, the floor runs right into the glass." 
Vicente Wolf, Interior Designer.



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From Elle Decor: “Everyone knows that a mirror will make a room look bigger, but mirrored walls are considered passé. A nice alternative is the customizable Anichini mirror, designed by Vicente Wolf to lean up against a wall”.


Elle decor
From Elle Decor: “Mirror doesn’t have to be limited to walls; it looks great on furniture, too, giving the impression that the piece is not really there at all, as in this Chicago dining room by Douglas Levine, where a custom buffet stands in front of a wall where paned mirror on the wall reflects French doors”.


Some more examples of illusion that mirrors can give: in this flat of only about 500 square feet, in London, the use of reflecting surfaces can give you the impression of a much larger space, almost as doubling it.

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Mirrors here hide cabinets, closets, kitchen gadgets so even if the space is limited everything is orderly.


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Notice also there are no handles on cabinets, another trick for the eyes.


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In the bathroom even the door is mirrored and the walls reflect light and enlarge the beautiful floral Bisazza mosaic wall.  (Mackay and Partners project).

I can go on forever and I am sure you have many more ideas on mirrors but I will end with a cautionary note about mirrors above fireplaces, not my favorite place, in many cases mirrors there or above a bed as in the image below, reflect only a plain ceiling so I suggest you hang them not flush to the wall, to create a more interesting reflection of the room.

This is perfection…

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Alex Papachristidis Interiors

So, no matter if you live in a castle or in a small studio the use of mirrors can be magical, can sometimes make you dream and at times can even help you to… reflect !


©2012 Brillante Interiors writes about new trends, timeless decor, iconic pieces, design ideas, or at times just musing about "a certain Italian way of doing things".
If you receive this post by Email and wish to leave a comment please click HERE and go to the comments section.  I love to hear from you!


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Vittoria Marisa Schiaparelli Berenson!

Marisa Berenson in Chanel

Marisa Berenson seated in the back seat of a Rolls Royce, wearing a Chanel pant suit, photographed by Arnaud de Rosnay, 1969

Berenson was born in New York, the eldest of two daughters. Her father was an American career diplomat, her mother, known as Gogo Schiaparelli was a socialite of Italian, Swiss, French, and Egyptian ancestry. Berenson's maternal grandmother was the fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli.  Her younger sister, Berinthia, became a model, actress, and photographer known as Berry Berenson, she tragically died in the first plane crashing in New York on Sept. 11, 2001.  Marisa is also a great-grandniece of art expert Bernard Berenson, so obviously art, fashion, culture are the true background of her life.


Marisa Berenson by Irving Penn

Wearing a  brocade dress with matching long stole by Sophie, photographed by Irving Penn, for Vogue, 1965  in the New York apartment of Vincent Fourcade (French interior designer who once said: “Outrageous luxury is what our clients want”  and founder of Denning & Fourcade with his life partner Robert Denning).

 

Marisa Berenson in Valentino dress

In white lace top and a loosely pleated skirt by Valentino, photographed by Henry Clarke for Vogue, 1968. The floor is Art Deco concrete glazed hexagonal tiles, so fashionable in the 1920’s and 1930’s and luckily still preserved in many European houses.


Marisa Berenson

In a white organza dress embroidered in flowers with plisse on the sleeves by Valentino, photographed by Henry Clarke, Vogue 1968. The diagonal pattern on the floor is very graphic and greatly contrasting with the antique furniture and the contemporary art piece leaning on the sofa.


Marisa Berenson
A 1970 photograph taken by her sister Berry.


Marisa Berenson by Irving Penn
Wearing a colorful silk dress by Gino Charles, in the Op Art style of the Sixties,
photographed by Irving Penn for Vogue ,1967.


Marisa Berenson

With Emilio Pucci’s bags, photographed by Bert Stern for Vogue, 1965.

Look at those eyes!


Marisa Berenson
A beautiful photograph by Bert Stern for Vogue, 1965. She is so fresh and young!

But Marisa Berenson is known not just as an icon of beauty and fashion of the 60’s and 70’s she is also an accomplished actress, she started her acting career in Morte a Venezia (Death in Venice)directed by Luchino Visconti  and continued with Barry Lyndon by Stanley Kubrick plus many other roles.
Fast forward through many decades… Berenson was recently a major character in the superb Italian movie Io sono l’amore (I am love) (you can read more about it and the extraordinary house it was filmed in HERE).

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The poster for I am love, truly one of the best movies I have seen lately
and not just because it was filmed in Milan!


I am love, Milan 
Marisa Berenson and Tilda Swinton in the streets of Milan.

In 2010 a book titled Momenti intimi (which I can translate as Intimate moments even if I believe it is not yet translated in English…) was published in Italy as her autobiography of a life full of love, celebrities, art, adventures, fashion, beauty but also tragedies like the death of her beloved sister Berry.


marisa-berenson
In Milan, November 2010, to present her book, wearing Moschino…even now she is stunning and elegant as she was then, a timeless icon!

And now the announcement: In my previous post “Can you guess who she is?” several answers were right but the first correct one received came from

Peppa Martin of Truth and Beauty photography Studio and Gallery in Vancouver.

Take a moment to enjoy her website.


©2012 Brillante Interiors writes about new trends, timeless decor, iconic pieces, design ideas, or at times just musing about "a certain Italian way of doing things".

If you receive this post by Email and wish to leave a comment please click HERE and go to the comments section.  I love to hear from you!
 
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