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copper

in Arts+ Crafts, Interiors, Ispiration, People

I ♥ Marco Barina’s sculptures

10 April 2018
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I was born in the region of Emilia Romagna in the centre north of Italy, in the Bassa Parmense, a very flat area of this region famous for the production of Parma ham and Parmesan cheese, for its castles scattered all over the territory and for the extremely humid hot climate in the summer and thick creamy soup like fog in the winter.

Even if I have lived most of my life in Rome, I feel emiliana. I recognize it as my homeland and it is the place of my family.

In fact it is the place where one day (no hurry) I will be buried.

In this area, genial and eccentric personalities have been born. Perhaps the extreme weather forges the passions of the people living in this flat part of the world.

One of my father’s cousins is, for instance, an incredible collector of posters, postcards and antiques. His collection is exquisite, professionally archived and is constantly utilized by local media outlets.

One of my cousins is a successful reportage photographer who spends months covering the struggles in place like the Democratic Republic of Congo, wins prizes but keeps away from the limelight.

During my most recent trip back I also met a very interesting and sweet interior designer who used to own a very cool design shop in Salsomaggiore and has decorated some wonderful properties in the area. She happens to be +deco reader as well, which makes me happy.

At Easter, I went to visit the Masone’s Labyrinth as well and discovered an incredible artist called Marco Barina.

Marco Barina makes ancestral anthropomorphic figures with things he finds in flee markets.

His figures that incredibly look primitive and futuristic at the same time, stare at you with different eyes!

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in Furniture, Interiors, Outdoor

About Chilly’s bottles and about blogging

26 August 2017
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The best thing about having a blog is that people write to you to present their products, their art-facts or simply to signal cool stuff. That is exactly what happened a few days ago when my stylish cousin Piero sent me a message with the link to Chilly’s bottles, saying that it might be good material for my blog and here I am, presenting these beautiful objects!

In the last few years, quite a few people have asked me information about writing a blog.

I believe it is difficult for a lot of people to understand just how much work is involved in keeping a blog until you do it. First of all you need to have something to present and something to say, you need interesting content.

Sometimes you struggle to find a variety of subjects to write about and sometimes you find a couple of great ideas in one day.

Then you need to source the photos or take the photos yourself. Often the images need to be post-produced a bit or at least cut. Of course you always have to acknowledge the author of the photos or at the least the source because sharing is caring if it is done in a fair way.

The next step is the text. I write in English and Italian which is a bit tricky because I have to be careful to not lazily translate from English to Italian or vice-versa but try to deliver what I want to say in the best possible way in both languages.

The quality of my writing depends on when I write a post as well, on how tired I am or how much time I have.

I get work through my blogging but I work as well for a production studio and as a freelance interior designer and personal shopper (even if all these things are really entangled).

When you have finished with the content, you need to put in all the key words otherwise nobody will find your post.

When the post is published, you enter the social media world and honestly it feels you need a full time staff just to do that properly.

Being significantly present on the social media requires a lot of time that often I don’t have so I do what I can.

So, in brief, blogging is time consuming. So before starting a blog, make yourself sure you really want to do it otherwise you will be discontinuous.

From this analysis, it is also clear it is easier to have a successful blog, when you have money to invest in the project and people working for you.  Still if your content is not captivating, you will never get there.

Me, I love doing it and I wish I had more time and funds to invest in it but so far I can say I have had a lot of satisfaction blogging, I have learnt a lot and I am proud of what I have done.

Obviously it has taken hundreds of hours and tons of determination but that is for everything I suppose.

 

in Furniture, Interiors, Ispiration

New hexagonal tiles

23 June 2017
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Hexagonal tiles have been a big trend in the last two years and a clever way to add pattern to walls or floors.

When I work on a project I always decide first which materials I am going to use. Sometimes the materials have already a big personality (for instance marble) so you don’t need to add much color. In this case, I like to add pattern, introducing differently shaped tiles or wooden boards.

Introducing a pattern in the scheme, allow you to keep the rest quite neutral without falling into boring; you can do that going for tiles of natural materials in different shapes.

Here are some examples of what you can do with hexagonal tiles. You can go for a mixture of wooden and marble floor tiles like in the top photo (Oak and marble floor by Idee & Parquet by Gazzotti), or simply go for simple grey tiles but in a hexagonal shape and combined with copper faucets (interior by Ambert Interiors), propose a wooden spectacular 3D wall (Timber Alexander tiles by Giles Miller) or provide a natural stone background to your bath like in the Porcelanosa catalogue.

If you feel braver, you can copy the solution in the bottom photo picturing the Cups Nine Cafè in Greece, and let the hexagonal tiles invading the wooden floor.

in Furniture, Interiors

Proper Copper Design

26 March 2017
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Haven’t you satisfied your whim for copper yet, the big trend of the moment? Get an handle on then…!

Proper Copper Design has a wide selection of all sorts of copper objects for furnishing including handles and knobs.

Changing handles or knobs on cabinets or wardrobes is one of the easy and inexpensive ways to update your house.

Copper has a lovely warm color and copper handles and knobs will surely add interest to your storage areas. Statement knobs and handles drift the attention away from the actual piece of furniture, changing them into something more sophisticated or original is a good trick when the cabinet or wardrobe is nothing special.

I really like the ones in the second photo from the bottom in Fine Matt -Lightly Brushed finishing.

Apart from handles and knobs, Proper Copper Design proposes taps, light pulls, tablet holders, candlesticks and various other accessories.

Moreover the name of the company is a wicked title for a post.

Images from Proper Copper Design website
in Furniture, Ispiration

KnIndustrie cool pots and pans

27 September 2016
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Pots and pans are a predominant part of a kitchen’s decor, we use them almost every day and if they are quality objects, we have them forever.

Unfortunately we don’t often think it is necessary investing in pots and pans when actually it is, because if you buy the right ones you will only buy them once and if they look good you won’t rush to tidy them up but you will be happy to leave them around.

KnIndustrie is an Italian brand established in 2011 and created with the intention of building solid, good looking, eco friendly handmade  kitchen instruments and utensils.

The glass see-through pasta pot is the most exciting piece visually but the Beyond Basic line (second image from top) with walnut handles that you can use for many other KnIndustrie casseroles is also a must have.

I find the chopping boards made of  steel, ceramic and wood very beautiful as well, they remind me of the amazing tiles Déchirer designed by Patricia Urquiola for Mutina.

Just to give you an idea of prices, the transparent pasta pot costs around 200 dollars. An Ikea standard pot costs around 40 dollars but it is just not a lasting kitchen item you will want to show off, is it?

 

 

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in DIY

7 easy DIY copper planters projects

29 August 2015
2 Comments
As you probably know by now, I want to move to a bigger apartment soon, so  I am desperately trying to resist the temptation to renovate the flat where we are at the moment. Our current abode needs a serious repaint after three years of serious toddler fingers making their mark on the walls and in my book also a general restyling. Sometimes, in these circumstances, one needs a little D.I.Y project.
These 7 D.I.Y projects to make copper planters give a bit of sparkle to your house and are easy and low cost.  
I particularly like the first one from top, and you?
da The Jungalow
da Homeyohmy
da Wedding Chicks
da Homeyohmy
da The Anastasia Co.
da A Bubbly Life
da Poppy Talk
in Furniture

Precious Kartell

30 June 2014
4 Comments
This is going to be a short one because last night I went  to another cool party hosted by my fabulous friends Mire and Marco (this year they are in very good form, it is the third one in less than 2 months) with Alex and my cousin Piero from Milan and today I feel very rough. The fact that Giulio, bless him, woke up at 5, fresh as a daisy, wanting to play and watch “Madagascar” didn’t help, I suppose. 
Anyway, you have probably noticed that gold is back, strongly back. People have started wearing gold jewellery kept in the safe since the Nineties and  golden tabs have made an appearance again.
I am a big fan of Kartell because they master how to make plastic look cool. Their pieces are beautiful, practical, comfortable, resistant and competitive. Of course they couldn’t be left behind in gold rush and they came up with the Precious Collection, including the version in metallic colours of some of their iconic designs. 
And you? Do you like gold?
in Furniture

Some of the best free-standing baths

13 March 2013
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Io by Flaminia.
Vicchensw by Cheshire.
Montefresco by Albion.
Morphing by Zucchetti.
This is one those posts that I struggle to publish because the more I think about it, the more I research the subject, the more things I find that I would like to show you. I don’t have the space to fit a free-standing bath in the house I live in now and I am not even a big fan of baths having a restless personality (my husband says “I have ants in my pants”) but I love the way they look. I have picked different styles but they’re all very sleek, my favourite being the Monfresco.
From the top: Io by Flaminia, Vicchensw by Cheshire, Monfresco by Albion, Morphing by Zucchetti.
in Furniture, People

Tom Dixon’s elegance

3 March 2013
1 Comment
+deco_tom_dixon
What should we expect from a guy with such a catchy name, born in Tunisia to a French mother and a British father, a former leader of a punk band, who started designing furniture because he was passionate about welding? Nothing less than a prolific and brilliant career to date. Tom Dixon is one of these people I would like the have as a guest for dinner, I don’t know if it is simply because he seems to be a nice bloke or because I hope to see some flaws in amongst an abundance of qualities.
Among the dozens of beautiful things he has designed, I have chosen some objects that describe one of the most interesting trends of the moment, black and white with touches of gold, the colors of  new elegance. 
Gold is back in interior design and in fashion (you should see the golden nail polish I have painted on my toes!).
From top left clockwise:  Screw Table large and small, Cast Shoe Black and Cast Shoe Copper from The Eclectic collection, Wingback ChairBlack Legs, the Lustre Lights, the Beat Vessels and the Black Beat Lights all by Tom Dixon (pictured below).
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