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A day with Tobi Fairley

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My dear friend Ivan Meade has created a special occasion today generously inviting a small group of local designers to welcome the talented Interior designer and blogger Tobi Fairley on her first visit to Vancouver.
A wonderful day of sunshine, a delicious brunch in the luxury "Loden" boutique hotel, a gift for every guest plus a boutonniere to bring home, smart conversation and the opportunity to meet in person so many talented people.
Even if I knew already the work of Tobi Farley, Amie de Toro, Victoria Lambert (who shares with Kelly the blog Design Ties) and Kimberly Williams, it was a great pleasure to be introduced to them.
Echo Eaton, Patricia Gray and Michelle Morelan were already close to my heart.
Unfortunately my pictures did not result in a success, the only one barely acceptable, which does not even start to give justice to the beauty of the two ladies, is the one below the title (Tobi on the left, Echito on the right) but I am sure we'll see more beautiful pictures of the event on other blogs, so please click on each highlighted names to know more about our special day or to appreciate what each of these people create.
I felt so privileged to be invited, thank you dear Ivan for planning this event so carefully in every detail and thanks to beautiful Echito for helping organize it.
Tomorrow...brunch at the Vancouver Art Gallery!

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Prada for fashion

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Milan
Relating to my previous post (see below) Prada for Art Prada is obviously not just a Foundation for contemporary art but it is mostly known as a luxury fashion label.
Above is an image of the original store in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan with a sign saying: "Prada Brothers' luggage". Now a five-month temporary concept store will open in Paris at Place Beauvau. Architect Roberto Baciocchi is recreating part of the original Milanese store, as in the black and white marble floor and in the use of bronzed metal to link the present with the past.

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Paris

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Paris

First image by Albarosa Simonetti
Following images from an article by Hilary Alexander

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Prada for art

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Höller's 'Upside Down Mushroom Room' at the Fondazione Prada in Milan.
Prada is not just fashion but has lately become also a symbol of ambitious contemporary art projects. The following is an excerpt of an article on Miuccia Prada by Alastair Sooke:

"A former mime student and member of the Communist Party, with a PhD in political science, in the Seventies Prada reluctantly took over the family business, founded by her paternal grandfather Mario in 1913 (...). Over the following decades, she turned it from a sleepy store specializing in leather luggage for wealthy Italians into a fashion superpower (...).
Increasingly, however, Prada's interests have broadened away from the confines of fashion design to the subject of our conversation today: her passion for contemporary art. In the early Nineties, Prada and her husband, Patrizio Bertelli, a flamboyant Tuscan who is the group's chief executive, began to collect post-war and contemporary art. Today, visitors to their apartment in Milan, the same apartment in which Prada was born in 1949, can see pieces by important artists of the Sixties, including Lucio Fontana and Blinky Palermo (...)
But it is the Prada Foundation, their not-for-profit organization devoted to contemporary art, that has really earned them the respect of the international art world. Established in 1995, the foundation has realized ambitious projects with some of the most exciting names in contemporary art, including several celebrated Brits (Anish Kapoor, Steve McQueen, Marc Quinn, and Sam Taylor-Wood). One of the most popular installations was Höller's Upside Down Mushroom Room, in which gigantic, topsy-turvy toadstools slowly revolved from the ceiling. It was visited by 13,000 people in just a month (...)
"Miuccia's taste in art is more experimental than Patrizio's – which is also her role in Prada," says Germano Celant, the director of the Prada Foundation, which will soon occupy a new home, designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, in a sprawling industrial site in south Milan.
Miuccia has learnt from art that, in order to do new things, you need to go against your confirmed style. She likes people who are questioning (...)"
Below is Rem Koolhaas' project to enlarge the existing structure.
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Image by Flickr
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High Tea the Italian way

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Summer is here (in this part of the world at least) and we all enjoy the outdoors as much as possible, smelling the roses, walking in parks or on beaches, relaxing when possible, visiting friends and family. It would be lovely to be able to entertain my friends in real life in such a beautiful setting but I am just as happy to only do it virtually tonight!

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Glass stand "Odette" by Driade, Baccarat black crystal glasses "Unparfait" designed by Philippe Starck.

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Vases "Joker" in faceted porcelain from the "Object" collection of B&B Italia. Rug made of laser cut linoleum, paper lamps "Lamp" by Paola Navone for Gervasoni.
The gold chairs are the famous "Chiavarine" (remember to pronounce any Italian "CH" same as a "K"...) made in Liguria (Genoa region) since the beginning of 1800 and known for their exceptional lightness and strength, characteristics that have made them famous in the world. "A miracle of technique and elegance" was the comment of Antonio Canova, the famous Venetian sculptor (1757-1822) when he first saw one. And indeed they are still produced more than two centuries later with careful choice and treatment of cherry and beech wood.

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Table and chairs "New Antiques" designed by Marcel Wanders as a new interpretation of traditional furniture for Cappellini, simple but elegant zinc flowers containers by Ikea.

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And finally a spectacular display of the sweetest sweets (on the upper left the masterpiece of "Sicilian cassata" made with a base of sponge cake, filled with a mixture of ricotta, orange blossom water, chocolate, candied peel and enveloped in the most delicate coloured marzipan also called "pasta reale" crowned with delicious candied fruits).

Would you like to join me for tea? Leave the gun, take the cannoli...
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Maison Martin Margiela in Milan

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In keeping with the philosophy of being creatively happy following a vision instead of taking the regular route Martin Margiela, Belgian fashion designer, has chosen to open another Maison, but in a periferic area of Milan on the 9th floor of a big and anonymous building (of course the store is instead in fashionable via della Spiga).
From the windows you can see the Duomo (cathedral) and the Torre Velasca, but at a distance, like willing to keep some space from monumentality and from the noise of a city.

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The Milanese Interior decoration is inspired by the Paris Maison, romantic love for purity of white and an aesthetic of simplicity if not poverty. Maison Margiela fashion shows happen in parking lots, warehouses, subway stations.

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" That of Milan is one of the Maison, a place that carries the white following the breath of this city. 300 mq. of showroom sales and 80 mq. for the press, wooden structures similar to those used for the decorations of theaters, covered with translucent corrugated plastic to make high permeability to light. All white: white is the strength of the fragility and the fragility of the passage of time. An expression of harmony, purity and honesty. We have always used white as an expression of our House, our team and our work. White represents for us a strong element. It has never been just white, but all shades of white as possible. "
Martin Margiela years ago has chosen to hide his figure and create instead a collective name that tells a strong individuality, with the creative identity of many: "We are always talking in the plural in order to reflect better the reality of our work together. Although the final result is attributed to the creative vision of a designer and his team, we wanted all team members expressed in a transparent manner. The desire to communicate collectively materializes on the label of our clothes: white with numbers".

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In the background an icon of Maison Margiela, a white mannequin.

In April 2009 at Milano International Furniture Fair MMM introduced its concept of Interior architecture through an installation: Mat, Satiné, Brillant and gave lessons in style while talking about design. Furniture and accessories white and simple like:

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Table lamps in glass and fabric



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Lacquered wooden doll, similar to the Russian Matrioska



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Trompe l'oeil wallpaper.




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Magic transparent Boule de Neige filled with sparkling glitter.



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Ironic disco-ball with silver pailettes.



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Tromp l'oeil effect for rugs.



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Art and Design: daily objects like stands painted in white which become a sculpture-table.

These objects will be available at the Maison Martin Margiela stores by November 2009. For the collection of furniture we must wait until the end of 2010, but it's worth it. In October 2009 a book by Rizzoli will be published to celebrate the Maison's 20th anniversary.

Believe it or not this post was inspired by Diane Dorrans Saeks new jacket! If you are curious read the section "About me" on her blog.


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Il Circo

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Sofa "Cipria" by Fernando and Humberto Campana for Edra and balls "Lido" by Matteo Thun and Antonio Rodriguez for Alcantara® Design Museum.


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Pouf "Hiroshige" by Anna Gili for Byblos Casa, as the table "Mulier" by Alessandro Mendini


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Chair, pouf, pillows from the "Sushi" collection by Edward Van Vliet for Moroso.
Rug "Fleury" by Missoni Home.



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Sofa by Ikea, pouf "Red Big Bean Bag" by Richard Woods for Memphis.
Lamp "La La Lamp" by Kundalini


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Table "Fronzoni Color" (new coloured version of the historic table designed by Fronzoni in 1964)
 for Cappellini, chair "Grace" available at Mirabili.


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Quilts by Twils and chair designed by Fronzoni for Cappellini


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Chair "Shift" by Simone Micheli for Adrenalina, bookcase "Target" by Nendo for Arketipo, pouf "Blobina" by Karim Rashid for Meritalia

The artists portrayed are part of the School "Scuola di Cirko Vertigo" in Grugliasco (Torino) which in July is hosting the Festival "Sul Filo del Circo" in its 8th edition. About 100 international artists performing 30 shows.
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A Festival of virtuosity.
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And the winner is...

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As I said at the bottom of my previous post "Designer Drinks"
the lucky winner of Alessi "Mediterraneo" bowl is Kelly from "Design Ties" blog.

Lucky coincidence is that in the week-end edition of West Coast Homes (Vancouver Sun) the above picture had the same bowl on a table.
"The loft in the Terminus reclamation and conversion in Vancouver's Gastown neighbourhood has been transformed into an adventure in urbanity by Nancy Bendsten of Inform Interiors and the new-home project's interior designer David Nicolay of Evoke International Design."
Needless to say that Inform Interiors is the most refined concept store for contemporary furniture and accessories in Vancouver, with a wide selection of the best Italian design.

Lucky Kelly!
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