The event is back

Would you like to spend a week with me in Milan for the 2010 International Furniture Fair?
(to know more about the Fair please go to I Saloni)
I will be leading a selected group of Designers or store owners of high-end furniture, with a maximum of 10 people, April 12 to 19, 2010.
It will be the most exciting week to discover new trends and a unique opportunity to be fully immersed in Interior design in the very capital of Design with the most amazing display of modern and contemporary creations.

A must for any Interior designer or high-end furniture store owner.

The city during the week will be transformed: a kaleidoscope of events, a visual and cultural stimulation that will give you inspiration for the year ahead and beyond.

Everyone in the Interior design business travel to Milan from around the world for that week, great surprises will be at every corner and it will be a tremendous opportunity to learn more about design, participate in a myriad of events all over the city, socialize and most possibly meet top international designers.
To diversify the itinerary visits to Mid-century historical houses, museums and other points of interest will also be part of the tour.

A night al La Scala can also be arranged for opera "Simon Boccanegra" by Giuseppe Verdi with

Placido Domingo.

The land portion will be CAD 4,480.00 per person (7 nights double occupancy in a 4 star hotel).

The whole experience for a designer will be priceless and it will help your business for years to come!
To learn more please contact: albarosa@brillantehomedecor.com


You may also like to read:

"Fuori Salone" Britishness
"Fuori Salone" Karim Rashid
Oh, Man, it's a Ray" at "I Saloni"
" I Saloni" Recession Style
"I Saloni" directly from Milan
"I Saloni" (The Satellite Salone)
Salone del Mobile 2009, Milano

Continue Reading... Label: Brillante Interiors, Events, I Saloni, Interior design

A gift

Sorry...I just wanted to catch your attention! the gift was for me...

I just discovered that I won another giveaway, this time from James at Garvinweasel, a blog I discovered by chance, while I was judging, with other designers, the interiors sent to Brooke at Velvet & Linen for the "giveaway of the year" and I was so attracted by the image he sent.
The blogosphere is becoming more and more interesting every day, discovering and connecting with new people, helping each other, learning from everyone, receiving and giving gifts...what a marvelous way to start my day! I will just have to wake up earlier and earlier every morning to keep up with all these amazing blogs.

Continue Reading... Label: Blogging, Books, Brillante Interiors, Give-away, Thanks to

Magic lights in Milano

The above image is "Luce sacra" a project by Jacopo Tiscar: the Milanese cathedral (Duomo) will become a source of light itself, creating fascinating effects on its stained-glass windows. Tomorrow Milan will be magically transformed by light. Not just by the traditional Christmas ones but by the first edition of the International Festival of Lights.
Once again Design will reign in the city because from December 6 to January 10 about forty LED installations by Italian and international designers will be adorning several areas of Milan.
LED this time is also an appropriate acronym for:
Light Exhibition Design
"Kiss" installation by Paul Cocksedge will consist in a gigantic dome of LED lights and a metallic mistletoe...every time a couple will go to the podium, kiss and touch the mistletoe the light will become more intense and will change color. At the same time 1 Euro will be donated to charity. The power of love!

Central Station facade, so rich in statues and decorations will be adorned by the lights of Alain Guillhote.

 

"Satelliti" by Paolo Rizzatto are lights suspended in the sky around Piazza della Scala, creating reflections on the buildings of the area, pictured here is Palazzo degli Omenoni (built in 1565) with its "big men".

"Spiro Gira" is the installation by Patricia Urquiola in Corso Vittorio Emanuele made of lights and shadows, full and empty shapes.

 

By Mario Nanni is "La luce della musica" or the light of the music. On Teatro alla Scala facade he will recreate part of the interior, breaking barriers between inside and out. December 7th, also the day of Saint Ambrogio, Sant'Ambroeus in Milanese dialect, patron of the city, is always the inaugural night of the season at Teatro alla Scala, this year the opera will be Carmen, by Bizet.

La Triennale will have on the roof lights recalling the gothic Duomo's spires, by Michele De Lucchi.

"Make it new" by M. Nicoletti will color in different hues one of the historic gates to the city, Porta Ticinese.

A path of LED lights creating a different vision of the city. Architects and designers are already in love with the new source of light, small, efficient, environmentally friendly, colorful and versatile like no other.
LED is here to stay.
But I also invite you to read Ingo Maurer Manifesto: "Statement concerning the light bulb" (click on Press on his website) with his dispute of the latest rules against the old incandescent lights, quite interesting and revealing.

Don't forget my "100th post giveaway"... to read the rules click here.

Continue Reading... Label: Brillante Interiors, Designers, Events, Lighting, Milan

The importance of lights and shadows

Do you ever pay attention to the shadows in your house?

People fall in love with a lamp and don't realize that it is very important to evaluate a house not only starting from light but also from the shadows created by it. Without shadows everything appears artificial and shallow.
Imagine stairs totally white and a light strong and diffuse from above, almost no shadows. It could be hard to descend those steps but if it was lit creating shadows at each step it would be easier to manage. Solution: wall light with precise shadows at the end of each step or different color of woods or carpet on steps (best solution will be to hire a designer who will help to establish the best way of lighting a space).

The image below represents an extreme example, which can be terrific or...tragic!

a better example

In a bedroom instead we need less shadows, they need to be soft and imperceptible, a strong ceiling light will create too harsh shadows and take away feeling of relaxation and coziness, but an halogen lamp directed to the ceiling will lit it indirectly and it will reflect soft shadows, and of course table lamps (or wall mounted ones) will always create atmosphere.

Many mistakes are made in the use of lights, especially when we don't pay attention to the shadows they create, just think for a moment about a beautiful painting with a shadow projected on it by a nearby piece of furniture, we'll always see only half of the painting. Pity!

Another aspect of lighting is that sometimes when you cannot find a solution in furniture placement the problem can be solved giving each area a specific source of lighting, which can help in reorganizing the space based on functionality. The cone of light will help to concentrate our attention without our eyes looking all over to find a reference point.
On the contrary in a passage area it is best to have many lights of the same lower intensity distributed along the path.

Everyone knows this but I want to say it anyway:

Direct light: think about a sunny day

Diffuse light: think of sun filtered through clouds

We often need direct light on a table

and always direct light where we work

but we always need diffused light near a TV.

He will agree...!

Naturally rules can be broken and personal preference is also to be taken in consideration, but the right source of light will create a better space, not to mention atmosphere or the chance...to relax and take a nap!

Don't forget my "100th post giveaway"... to read the rules click here.

Images from Canadian House and Home and from House Beautiful, last image from Stock.

Continue Reading... Label: Brillante Interiors, How to, Interior design, Lighting

The importance of paths in a house

This is a lovely image but who could sit comfortably on the sofa? can you see what the problem is?

Of course the photograph was taken for a magazine but still...

Have you ever bumped into an open drawer, hit a corner of a cabinet, had a hard time moving around your place with bulky items, finding it hard to pass to the side of the bed when a door is open, hit your head on a cabinet door, while searching for glasses in the kitchen?
The theme of the path in a house is one of the most neglected. When deciding how to decorate a home often we just fall in love with a piece of furniture, a color, a texture but we rarely ask the question: what's happening next. Inside a home, as well as in a city, we always find crossing paths, stops, curves, traffic. A good solution would be to live in a castle and solve most problems! But not everyone can do this and actually problems could also worsen, since having a bigger space most likely will increase traffic and divert it to the areas where we would rather be quiet.
We can see it every day when we drive in our cities: it is not widening the roads that we solve the traffic problem. The only way to solve the traffic problem is to reason about routes and width of the roads, on the types of alternative transportation, the types of movement and travel. In the city, as well as within a shopping center, a school, a cinema complex, an apartment.
How to figure it out? Simple, do what designers do (or better yet call a professional for space planning).

Draw a (even very simple) plan of your rooms and draw inside all the furniture or alternatively if you cut pieces of paper in scale, representing your sofa, your table, your bed etc. you can place those cards, instead of drawing.
Once you have placed all the furniture try to see how much space you need to deal with all the doors open, and with all the doors closed. Do not forget windows, drawers etc.
To give you an example: If a square table, card table type, occupies only 32" x 32", furnished with chairs and players occupies nearly 6'7".

But... the poker players, at a certain hour will also rise, passing behind the chair and reaching in the fastest way the fridge or the bathroom.
Keep in mind that a more linear path is less likely to find obstacles along the route.
Consider also that in order to move smoothly with bags, coats, pots, lamps, suitcases, guitars and...at this time of the year... Christmas trees,

we need "streets" wide at least 32" same as the doors from which we pass.
Finally, remember that even at home, same as on a road, round curves are always better to manage, especially if we want to preserve hips, knees and head and most importantly if we have little rascals (kids, puppies, husbands?) running around.

Lighting can also help to achieve smoother paths in a home, but I will talk about this in another post. In the meantime have a safe journey around your house!

Image source
Don't forget my "100th post giveaway"... to read the rules click here.

Continue Reading... Label: Brillante Interiors, How to, Interior design

Velvet & Linen giveaway

Brickmaker’s coffee table.   Top with waxed rust base.   Size and height may vary slightly.

59” length,  43” width, 17” height.

Mark Sage, owner of BoBo Intriguing Objects and designer of the Brickmaker's coffee table will generously donate three tables as a giveaway on Velvet & Linen blog.
Brooke received 170 entries, meaning pictures of her readers' rooms where they thought the table would look at its best! I said 170 images...overwhelming task...so she asked a selected group of designers-bloggers-friends to help and we all happily put our head into this.
Each of us had to choose 5 rooms where this table would look best, believe me it was a hard decision, then only the 10 rooms with the highest score will be posted today, Monday, November 23 on Velvet & Linen blog.
Three lucky winners will receive the table but Brooke still needs your help, since she now has 10 rooms selected by us, but only three to be chosen, and the final decision will be made by you, readers of our blogs, so please go to Velvet & Linen and vote, you have time until Sunday morning, November 29th, 8:00 AM.
It was great fun for me to look at each image (170) and figure where the table would look best:
creating contrast or blending in?

I will not tell you, because you'll be the judge this time!

Have fun!

If you want to participate also in my giveaway please read 100th post giveaway

Continue Reading... Label: Blogging, Brillante Interiors, Furniture, Give-away

A new house for a couple

Have you ever been to London trendiest area, Clerkenwell,

famous also for "White Cube"

Damien Hirst's Gallery?

Well...there is a new home for Moroso and Flos who now live together (happily ever after) to show furniture and lighting perfectly matching and to further promote Made in Italy.
Their new house? a 600 mq. distributed on two levels.
The trait-d' union is Patricia Urquiola, a very talented designer who for many years has created for both brands and who has designed the mise-en-scene, starting from the street windows: "It was necessary to catch people attention, so they will know there is something not to pass by". She also wanted to keep the original space without much alteration, giving a sense of spontaneity to it. White is the dominant "color" also for the steel tubes creating some division in the space.

Sofa "Misfits" by Ron Arad for Moroso and lights "Arco" by Castiglioni (whose picture you could see in the background). The chair on the right is by Urquiola and it was first presented at Salone del Mobile 2009 in Milan (as part of the Fuori Salone "M'Afrique" installation)

Different areas look just like a real house, where the "couple" is ready to entertain.

On the floor Urquiola wanted a PVC carpet with round holes to cover the preexisting floor, a simple solution.

Left: Foreground chair "Bohemian" by Urquiola;

Right: Sofa "Lowlands" by Urquiola and lights "Tab" by BarberOsbergy

Left: Chairs are "Tropicalia" by Urquiola, "Soft Heart" by Arad, "Steel" by Franzolini

Right: light Taccia by Castiglioni and "Il Cubo" a wireless system of light control.

Left: "Super Archimoon" by Starck

Right: on the cables running between the two levels "Parentesi" lights by Castiglioni are alternated with spheres covered in "Sushi" textile by Edward van Vliet for Moroso.

On the left Floor lights by Dordoni and in the center two chairs "Juju" from Sushi collection.

Next stop for the "couple" will be probably Shanghai and Beijing where the two companies are planning to open flagship stores in 2010.

Best wishes for a couple's new house!

You may also like to read:
Lighting by Castiglioni
Achille Castiglioni studio-museum
Oh, man it's a ray
Images from AT casa

Don't forget my "100th post giveaway"... to read the rules click here.

Continue Reading... Label: Brillante Interiors, Designers, I Saloni, Lighting