Buon Anno! Happy New Year!

AUGURI...in Italian means greetings and we use it for birthdays, holidays, any occasion requiring it. For New Year's eve we can also say: "BUON ANNO" or Happy New Year!

A white and gold table, decorated with a variety of materials, expensive silver, simple glass container, white flowers and linens and of course sparkling crystal to celebrate with Champagne or a good Italian Prosecco.

Buon Anno!

May the New Year bring you joy and peace!

©2011 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!

Greetings from Genoa

The Italian hero Giuseppe Garibaldi looks far away for new adventures

Genova, correct Italian spelling, is a charming, elegant city in the Liguria region, close to Portofino and the Cinque Terre. Due to its glorious past it is called La Superba or "the Superb one".

Genova is in fact a city rich in art and a major seaport. The medieval old section, the biggest in Europe, is a labyrinth of alleys rich of ancient palaces, Romanesque churches, little piazzas and it was inscribed on the World Heritage List (UNESCO).

Palazzo Bianco

Palazzo Rosso

Un saluto da Genova!

Photography © by Albarosa Simonetti

©2011 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". 

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Cheers

 

To celebrate the holidays and the New Year a flute of Champagne or less expensive Italian Prosecco will be the best. If you have many guests these charming multicolored open rings will help them to recognize their glass.

 

The Party-rings by Tescoma comes in 12 vibrant colors.

A cheerful, useful, inexpensive last minute gift for New Year's Eve.

©2011 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".

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A game for designers and wannabe…

Until January I will be posting about simple, inexpensive gifts for the holiday season, great also as house warming gift or host gifts any time of the year.

During the Holidays all games are enjoyed by children and adults and it is a special happy moment of being together. This game is called 45 Design and it is a memory game created  to recognize and remember 45 “must” of design, iconic pieces of the masters from 1981. To win you need to memorize and find the appropriate twin card.
This brilliant game was created by the Milanese architect Daniela Galassi who teaches Interior design at Made in Interior school.

A game for designers, wannabes, for everyone interested in design and an inspiration for children who maybe one day will follow that creative path.
Available online at Feltrinelli

The best gift  is creating memories!

©2011 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.

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Brillante choice for the Holidays

Until January I will be posting about simple, inexpensive gifts for the holiday season, great also as house warming gift or host gifts any time of the year.

This is not just a tray to serve nuts but also a playful way of entertaining friends and family. It comes with instructions for the game and it would be a perfect gift for the Holiday season, bringing joy to the Christmas table.

By Sagaform …“Sagaform stands for joyful, innovative gifts for the kitchen and the set table. Indoors and outdoors. Joyful gifts for friends or family, or to spoil yourself with.”

The best gift  is creating memories!

©2011 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!

Laundry time

Until January I will be posting about gifts for the holiday season, great also as house warming gift or host gifts any time of the year.

For that special person who enjoys cleaning (I am sure there are many...) an eco-chic line of specialty detergent and fabric care to take the chore out of doing laundry is provided by The Laundress, from New York, with products made with 100% natural ingredients.

Sweater Stone, yes you guessed, it removes unsightly pilling.

Wool and cashemere spray, freshens yarns and naturally repel bugs

(we all know moths have expensive taste!)

Monogrammed Lint free cleaning cloths.

Baby Gift Set

Kitchen Soap Bar

The packaging itself makes you feel like washing by hand again or even invent new domestic chores…so beautiful these products are!

A nice gift for that special person who loves DIY at home!

©2011 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!

A unique gift for a special person

 
Until January I will be posting about gifts for the holiday season, great also as house warming gift or host gifts any time of the year.  Don’t we all love candles?  Any time of the year but especially at Christmas time, New Year’s Eve or during any holiday.

Their glow creates peace and beauty in any home.

For this holiday season and for a special gift to someone that has everything I suggest a candle  from France, by Cire Trudon (cires et bougies depuis 1643). The above images show their Paris boutique.

 

In 1643 a salesman named Claude Trudon arrived in Paris and became the owner of a store in Rue Saint-Honoré. He was a grocer but also a wax merchant and supplied his customers with candles for lighting their homes and for the parish. 
Fast forward…
1799- In that year, Napoleon Bonaparte became First Consul of France. In 1804 he became Emperor and with him Trudon entered the imperial court.

 

 One of their candles is appropriately called Empire and its description in the website is: “Pine, sage and hay are vibrating in the air of this Napoleonian camp with hints of cades and maquis. The joyful and indulging warmth of thyme, marjoram and rosemary ring like a fife. A moment of peace right after a battle between dog and wolf. An imperial tent exhaling the perfect scent crowned by the strength of laurel.”

Fast forward again…
Cire Trudon lits up the queen Marie-Antoinette once again, supplying candles for shooting Coppola’s film in Versailles.

If you live in Vancouver Provide store has a great selection of Cire Trudon candles, but I warn you: the hard part is choosing the scent to buy, they are all fantastic.

Cire Trudon, everything a candle lover can desire!

©2011 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".


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I love to hear from you!

A special gift

Until January I will be posting about simple, inexpensive gifts for the holiday season, great also as house warming gift or host gifts any time of the year.  In December ideas for gifts are flowing but we must remember that giving something made by us shows more affection and express our personal involvement. Here are some beautiful compositions taken from the

blog An Apple a Day written by Brooklyn, New York, florist Amy Merrick.

 

Let’s go hunting for branches, leaves, seasonal flowers, not forgetting chestnuts, pinecones, winter berries.

 

With them we can easily (hopefully) compose a wreath, a garland, a table centerpiece for our home or bring this  special gift to a dinner during the holidays.

The best gift is creating memories!

©2011 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!

Bagel Measuring Tape!

Why should measuring things be boring? How to have fun while doing it?

In my previous post, click HERE “Can you guess what it is?”

I asked to identify a strange object, go there if you like to read all the comments I received.

The Bagel Tape Measure is a fashionable object in different colors: orange, white or black.

It has a  donut-esque hole in the middle to make it portable since it functions as a strap hole, so easy to attach to bags or key chains and also provides a better grip for fingers.

• Portable donut/bagel-shaped designer tape measure 
• Colors: black, white or orange
• Size: 45 × 21mm (1.77 x 0.82")
• Weight: 290g
• Material: ABS resin

Design by Chiaki Murata for Metaphys and Made in Japan.

Congratulations to the first two readers who answered correctly:

- A Critic’s Eye, who is very knowledgeable in design and following my blog day and night :)
In fairness for my readers, since we already know A Critic’s Eye will answer promptly and correctly every time… the second timely correct answer came from

- Peggy at Peggy Braswell Design

Thanks for participating, it was fun!

©2011 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.

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Can you guess what it is?

Can you guess what this object is?

Is it a container for hamburger lunch?

Is it a yummy bagel?

Is it…referring to an apple a day?

Is it…?

Only hint I can give you is that the hole in the middle has a special function too!

Now it is your turn to write but remember, comments will be published all together next week, and the first to guess it right will not win anything…but will only have the “privilege” to be named in the follow-up post.

Please don’t spoil the game publishing comments on Facebook!

©2011 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.
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Virtual Valentino

 

I published a post on RED a year ago, around this time, and of course I was also writing about the

saturated, vibrant “Red Valentino” and you can read it HERE.

This Red Door is the entrance to a new Museum, the first of its kind…

opening on Monday, December 5, 2011. 

The mythical designer Valentino Garavani will have a computer generated museum showing his archives on this Virtual Museum. Giancarlo Giammetti, Valentino’s long time business partner and for many years in the past also life partner said about this project:

"Real museums need an enormous investment and the assurance that they will exist for years, even decades, and in a perfect way. This is difficult to achieve in today's economy. So I asked myself if it would be possible to create a vast computer-generated museum?
We have kept an organized archive since the seventies that represents an enormous testimony from these years. With expert designers, I was able to create an architecture that belongs to Italy and especially to Rome, Valentino's epicenter, which is described by light and shade, 'chiaroscuro', and at the same time is 'unbuildable' … an architecture only possible in a computer-generated world.
Animated galleries show a life's work, and hundreds of key dresses have been photographed revolving 360 degrees to show every line and stitch.
One click on the dress and the user can discover its history—who wore it, where, and when. Five thousand documents, photos, and 190 videos make up the Museum's database."

Jackie Kennedy’s wedding dress for her second marriage to Onassis.

Black and White Room

Red Room

I can’t wait to visit the museum on Monday and I hope you will too, clicking HERE.

Finally, when asked: “What should a woman never wear?” Valentino answered:  "Lady Gaga's clothes."

This quote says it all about Valentino’s style.

©2011 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!