Capri Style
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Imagine a villa on Capri—white and flower-bedecked, clinging to a hillside with sweeping views over a deep blue sea, cool interiors and interesting furniture. Now imagine that you’ve been invited inside.
Mariella Gardella has persuaded 23 Caprese villa owners to throw open their doors for this lush book. Superb photography captures the essence of Capri—its terraced gardens, sailboats, cliffs and coves and most of all, its color. As she tours these enchanting private villas, Gardella draws readers to the heart of the home, the kitchen, sprinkling traditional local recipes throughout the book.
Walk-ins Welcome
Italian Storage Does Double Duty
Friday, September 07, 2007
Italian furniture design firm Porro has applied its signature clean lines, regular forms and functionality to the storage dilemma.
Designed by Piero Lissoni and appropriately called “Storage,” the system can hold and display different items by changing from cupboard to walk-in closet. Coplanar electric leaves make the opening movement faster and easier while transparent glass leaves enclosed in a thin iron profile allow for a clear view of the interior while satisfying those who prefer a walk-in closet.
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Il Bagno Bello
Bathing Italian Style
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
We love contemporary Italian bathroom design. And the aptly named Agape is one of the best practitioners of the art. Their Spoon bathtub is, you guessed it, spoon-shaped: wider at the top and narrowing to a delightfully smaller curve at the foot. According to the company, the tub’s inclined concave internal profile allows optimal water distribution. We love it for its clean, sculptured lines.
A different kind of curve shows up in the Chiocciola shower in the form of a nautilus-like spiral, suitable for free standing, corner or recessed locations. Access can be from the right or left and the screen wall can be transparent or translucent.
The Ufo is an extra-large stainless steel bathtub that uses industrial components adapted for use in large bathrooms. Available in polished stainless steel or with a white enamel interior and black enamel exterior, it does rather resemble a flying saucer. The company likens it to a space-age version of traditional cast iron tubs.
Agape also gives a contemporary twist to a traditional material with their Woodline tub in waterproof birch plywood with light, medium or dark oak veneer. The ergonomic interior section is modeled as a chaise longue.
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Working for Scale
You've Never Seen Marble Like This
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Scagliola, the venerable art of engraving intricate designs on slate or marble, is alive and well. Scagliola comes from the mineral selenite, a variety of gypsum that in its natural state appears in the form of thin plates or scales (thus the name scagliola, from the Italian word scaglia or scale).
After the mineral is cooked and ground to a fine powder, it is mixed with pigments of colored earth and glues to form a thick paste. The colored paste is applied into designs carved in slabs of marble or slate.
For elaborate decorative motifs, subtle gradations of color are added in diluted scagliola applied by hand with a fine paintbrush. Lastly, the slab is polished with polishing stones, wax, and lacquer.
Scagliola’s complex twists and veins go deep into the stone, providing a durable surface which is far more permanent than faux surfaces that are painted to resemble marble.
In the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, scagliola was also very popular in the United States. Artificial marble furnishings at that time were created chiefly by itinerant plasterers, men who kept the details of their fabrication process a secret. After the 1920s, however, techniques of fabrication were forgotten. Scagliola virtually disappeared from American architecture.
Today, the use of artificial marble has again revived. This resurgent interest is the result of four factors: a new appreciation of marble-like finishes, a dissatisfaction with the limitations that real marble places on design, the unavailability of traditional colors and types of marble, and the rising costs of quarrying.
Scagliola is inherently beautiful and can duplicate the appearance of any type of marble, and it can be molded into any shape. Decorative, three-dimensional motifs impossible to produce in marble can be fabricated in scagliola. Because the artificial stone is less expensive than its marble original, it is a particularly attractive option for interior design and decoration.
The premier practitioners of the art are the Bianchi family of Florence. Among their clients are the likes of the Agnellis, Prince Michael of Kent and ZaZa Gabor. But you too can have your own little piece of Bianchi scagliola—prices start below $500. Make an appointment to drop by the workshop or showroom if you’re planning to be in Florence, or view their catalogue online.
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The Past Perfect
Amazing Reproduction Italian Ceramics
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Craving a 15th century Italian urn? You can get the next best thing from Manetti & Masini.
Fantastic is the best word to describe the work of these Florentine artisans who craft reproductions of 15th to 19th century Italian ceramics. Vases, pitchers, plates, tiles, tureens, tables, even garden statuary and fireplaces, are made identical to the originals by using the same kind of clay and glaze, and by giving special attention to their aging.
Their wares are strictly handmade using plaster mold or lathe, painted with glazes and paints composed in their bottega artigiana. They also do restorations as well as custom orders.
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On A Lighter Note
A Unique Twist On Contemporary Lighting
Monday, September 25, 2006
Venetian glass isn’t all colors and curlicues. Some of Venice’s glass makers are famous for their simplicity. Oty Light is one.
Founder Eugenio Pamio became known in the 60s for his innovative take on residential lighting. With sons Simone and Andrea, Pamio now produces some of the most daring interpretations of contemporary design.
Oty light fixtures are primarily about form, their clean, sculpted lines pared to their essence. Light seems to float in the company’s Ita sconce of extra-clear, transparent ground crystal plate glass in a brushed steel frame. It flows from the curves of the Kim and Les ceiling fixtures. It glows like a lollipop on a brushed steel stick from the Kio chandelier, as much sculpture as fixture. And the Kioto series is a striking hand-blown clear crystal diffuser wrapped with strands of molten glass. Designed by Paolo Crepax and Silvio Zanon, it’s brilliant contemporary design.
Oty’s highly refined pieces are representative of the innovation in both technique and design that keeps Murano glassmakers at the forefront of their industry. In their hands, contemporary means creative.
Oty light fixtures can be found locally at Glow.
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