Wednesday, October 29, 2008

If only...




If only we can change our sofa for special events...
The 1970 "Bocca Marylin" was created by Audrito, the founder of Gruppo 65 in Torino, group of four young architects full of creativity.
The sofa was inspired by a surrealistic portrait by Salvador Dali' of Mae West, with her lips looking like a sofa.  A character was born. Italian Pop Art?
The sofa is produced by Gufram, today part of the Gruppo Poltrona Frau.
Going back to my first sentence,there are other versions of the same sofa:
Pink Lady (fuchsia), Silver Lady, Golden Mouth... so there we have it for every season.

If only we can change sofa etc. etc.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Dark Lady

2008 Divano "Dark Lady"



Re-invented from the iconic sofa

1971 Divano "Bocca" as a tribute to Salvador Dali'

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Restaurant in Milan


And today on with the "New"
A famous chef and restaurant owner in Milan, Gualtiero Marchesi, who reinvented cuisine in the 70's and who was the first Italian chef to receive three Michelin stars, has now reinvented the way of setting a table, even possibly changing our way of eating (properly?).

He is designing new cutlery and knives in particular.
Meat set: "Forks have only two prongs to avoid making too many holes in the meat and the knife is very sharp and has an unserrated edge to avoid tearing the fibres".
Spaghetti fork has four very long prongs (not like the Scandinavian three pronged ones, quite short, which are very fashionable but useless for pasta dishes).
Fish knife will not be a knife anymore, but an elongated spoon, because Gualtiero says you don't cut fish, you break the flesh by pressing with the blade and the curved edge will enable you to spoon up the sauce that fish usually comes with.

Process of nutrition and the world of design now go hand in hand.
Marchesi latest creation is the restaurant "Il Marchesino" near La Scala Opera house in Milan and the chairs are upholstered in "rosso Scala" the same red hue of La Scala interior decor.


Slow Food movement was created in Italy and the concept of "calmness" and "serenity" is a very Italian idea since the Rinascimento (Renaissance) perhaps never followed much in the Italian political arena.
But it is true that even centuries later Italians still like to sit at the table, enjoy conversation, savour the food and as Italians do all the time, while eating they talk... about food.
So we eat pasta while describing a risotto, we have fish and we talk about the eggplants we had for lunch yesterday, if we have zucchine (please note the proper spelling) we talk about fish!.

So... old or new? Tradition re-invented maybe.
Modern Classic

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

My first Blog


Being my first Blog, better be smart or funny.
Actually nobody knows about my Blog (Oh yes, friends and family, do they count?) so it is good just to test the system and myself.
As you may know from my website I have a passion also for Old, being furniture, books, friends, movies, not always in this order.



Books: For years and years I refused to read a book printed only recently and I leave to your imagination how my friends used to call me when they suggested I read the latest hit to hear from me:"I only read books published at least 50 years ago".




Friends: even if I spend part of the year in Vancouver I maintain a strict relationship with my best Italian friends, many of them met in school, naturally since I keep adding to the list it becomes more and more difficult to manage letters, emails, telephone calls, visits from old and new friends around the world, but I want them all.

Furniture and objects: I love furniture consignment stores and I am a fan of garage sales. I am particularly proud of an exquisite "potiche" bought on a sidewalk for less than $ 50.00 just for its beauty.


At home I found the explanation of the mark on a book "Ceramica nei secoli" (Centuries of Ceramic) given to me by my father when I was about 20 years old (yes, love for antiques or old items runs in the family) and I discovered to my surprise that the potiche was made in France at the end of the XVIII century by a manufacture operating only for about 40 years (Veuve Perrin).

I am very proud of it. Priceless!


Grazie e Arrivederci.
 
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