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Thursday, September 25, 2014

New wool makes me happy...

Especially when it's ecological wool from this amazing company... 

Comprare lana nuova mi rende felice...
Soprattutto quando si tratta di stupenda lana ecologica di questa fantastica azienda...


 ...and when buying it is an excuse to end up in this beautiful place...

...e quando andarla a comprare è un'ottima scusa per farsi un giro qui...

 (Arona, Lago Maggiore)
 

Sunday, September 21, 2014

This is absolutely fascinating...

Matthew Simmonds is a stone carver that recreates historical architecture out of blocks of marble. He carves the interiors of churches and other classical architectural spaces within marble blocks, and by leaving part of the rock untouched, he creates a contrast between natural roughness and irregularity and man-made smoothness and proportion.
The sculptures are beautiful, and somehow make me think of the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum in Malta, where, around 3000BC, a temple was recreated underground by carving through stone. In that amazing site, the builders imitated the temples that were built outside using huge slabs of rock by carving the shapes and ornamentations in the earth underground.
As is stated on his website: "Simmonds makes a play of architecture and ornamentation on a small scale, but the spaces created give the same feeling as in the buildings themselves; a place to rest, a place to travel with the eye and maybe find a moment of tranquillity. The marble is opened up, and inside is a space within a building that only exists in the viewer's mind. What you sense is the significance of space".

Take a look for yourself...http://www.mattsimmonds.com/

Fragment II, 2006

Romanesque Stone, 2003
Tivoli, 2007

Rotunda, 2007

Gothic Stone, 2003
Lebanon, 2001
All images via.

Monday, September 15, 2014

London


I just came back from a very quick trip to London to visit a friend. Since it was such a brief stay we had a very non-touristy vacation, we didn't go to any of the city's main attractions (most of which I had already seen anyways) but instead got a chance to roam around some beautiful and more quiet areas I had never been to. For instance we went to the Spitalfields market, a lovely market where you can find some pretty incredible booths with local designers selling their work (be it clothes, prints, jewellery, ceramics etc.) and where the atmosphere is more relaxed, and less hectic and trendy than in Camden town. I bought a gorgeous light blue  handmade coat and a beautiful blue vase by ceramic designer Maria Bendixen. These goodies will remind me of this trip and of the beautiful market every time I use them.


Sono appena rientrata da una brevissima vacanza a Londra dove siamo andate a trovare un'amica. Dal momento che avevamo pochissimi giorni abbiamo fatto un giro molto poco turistico, saltando le zone classiche (che avevo comunque già visitato precendemente) e scoprendo invece tutta una serie di posti più tranquilli ma ugualmente affascinanti.  Ad esempio siamo andate al mercato di Spitalfields, un bellissimo mercato coperto con una interessante serie di bancarelle dove designer locali espongono la loro merce (dai vestiti, ai gioielli, alle ceramiche, alle stampe ecc) e dove l'atmosfera è più rilassata e meno frenetica e alla moda di Camden. Ho comprato un cappotto azzurro ed un vaso della designer di ceramiche Maria Bendixen, entrambi i quali mi ricorderanno questa gita ogni volta li userò.


I also ended up going to the screening of the movie Wish I was here by Zach Braff (I wasn't initially supposed to go but a friend was ill and gave me her ticket). I loved the movie, it is the perfect balance of sad, sweet and funny, kind of the way real life is a combination of the three, and the characters are relatable and very well portrayed.  There is also a lot of L.A. in the movie, a beautiful yet sometimes lonely L.A., and it made me miss the city and really want to go back! Zach Braff is really really funny in real life as well; the Q&A session at the end was both very interesting and absolutely hilarious.
Go see the movie, it is definitely worth it!


Siamo anche andate a vedere lo screening del nuovo film di Zach Braff, Wish I was here (inizialmente non dovevo andare ma un'amica si è ammalata e mi ha ceduto il suo biglietto). Il film mi è piaciuto molto, era triste, dolce e comico nella giusta proporzione, una combinazione bilanciata di questi tre elementi, così come avviene nella vita reale, e i personaggi erano credibili e ben rappresentati. C'è molta Los Angeles nel film, una L.A. scenografica ma a tratti malinconica e il film mi ha fatto venire nostalgia di quella città e messo una voglia matta di tornarci!  Zach Braff fa pisciare dal ridere anche nella realtà; la Q&A alla fine del film è stata molto interessante e tutti si son scassati dal ridere, ed è un vero peccato che il film non uscirà nelle sale in Italia...vale veramente la pena vederlo! 



Sunday, September 7, 2014

F.O.: Burgundy red cloche hat

And here we go with the first fall/winter items of the season...
This is a cloche hat I made in a lovely sueprwash merino yarn. I love this dark red color and the way the leaf pattern came out, I kind of made it up while knitting, it was a bit of an intuitive process and I like the result.
Details on my etsy page!

E si comincia coi primi capi autunnali ed invernali della stagione...
Questo è un cappellino che ho fatto usando una lana in puro merino irrestringibile. Mi piace moltissimo questo colore bordeaux intenso e il modo in cui è venuto fuori il punto a foglie che ho realizzato improvvisando man mano che andavo avanti... 
Dettagli sulla mia pagina etsy!







Friday, September 5, 2014

Around here...

It's hot, the thunderstorms have finally stopped, the sun shines most of the time, but it gets chillier in the evenings, and things like this are starting to pop up everywhere...


I hate the end of summer, especially this year since we hardly even had a real summer, but I am looking forward to some things from fall: warm coats, wool sweaters, tagliatelle with mushrooms, strong red wine and yellow trees.