Italian Shoes are the best but I am also attracted to these new designs for fall from Tory Burch...
Oprah Winfrey, O Magazine
Patricia Gray writes about Interior Design inspirations, emerging trends, and the world of Design.
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I am back from my one month magical Sabbatical in Italy but the memories linger on. I have been thinking about the end of my trip and the 5 days I spent in Milan. To start at the beginning of my sojourn in Milan, I checked into a Hotel recommended by Albarosa's niece Valentina (more about Valentina at the end of this post). Albarosa is a native Milanese who now resides in Vancouver and is a reader of my Blog. When she read that I was going to be visiting Italy she offered me travel advice, which I promptly took her up on. The Hotel recommended was appropriately called "Hotel The Gray" and is an ultra stylish Boutique hotel which among other things was very conveniently located between the Duomo and La Scala (one of the world's most famous opera houses). And best of all it is footsteps from the 19th-century Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, one of the largest and most famous indoor shopping malls of its kind and literally next door to "Hotel The Gray" was the famous, high end department store La Rinascente. The timing of my trip was fortuitous on three accounts: 1. July is the super sale time in Italy. 2. The Duomo and La Rinascente facades were sparkling clean and new refreshed. 3. All of the city had not yet closed down and retreated for their annual month long hiatus to the seaside which happens in the month of August. I now understand why the Italians exit their cities to find some refreshment because the temperature was hovering in the low 40's with about 60% humidity.
The Hotel Gray entrance. I liked checking into this \hotel and signing my name on the register. A view from the lobby to the bar (above right)
My room was beautiful and I loved the touch of the fresh green leaf in the Bathroom sink
The night of my arrival I dined in the Hotel's restaurant "Le Noir" which is very famous for its style. I had a very elegant meal, accompanied by a very fine wine from the Veneto region, but not an entirely romantic meal because I was dining solo. Oh well, one of the things about dining solo is that I get to fully observe my surroundings and even sketch on my napkin.
Super lounge chairs on the rooftop lounge of The Hotel Gray
The roof top lounge at The Hotel Gray
But now back to how I spent my Sunday in Milan. I was recommended to visit 10 Corso Como by Valentina and Albarosa. 10 Corso Como is a very stylish restaurant, boutique and book store. So I set out to get there by the underground. The subways in Milan are equally as forward thinking in design as the Milanese are in fashion and furniture design.
There was a series of fans blowing cool air that was scented (someone told me that the scent was to counter pollution). And there were big screen video monitors playing music.
By the time I arrived at 10 Corso Como I was ready to have brunch in the courtyard garden.
Sunday brunch - an omelet served with white rice and drizzled with Italian olive oil, which is simply the best.
After eating I spent some time browsing in the 13,000 square foot boutique and looking through the famous bookstore which has the best selection of Design, Fashion, and Architecture related books. While there I was very excited to see my friend Jackie Von Tobel's book on the shelves. Way to go Jackie!! I couldn't get pictures of the boutique or bookstore, but I would highly recommend a visit.
My next stop was The Bulgari Hotel designed by Italy's famous architect Antonio Citterio. It is the only hotel within the city walls of Milan with a garden. I thought it would be the perfect spot for an afternoon aperitif of Zucca, (my newly acquired passion) a refreshing Italian liqueur. Its base ingredient is Rhubarb combined with zest, cardamom seeds and other curative herbs. It has a delicate and pleasant bittersweet taste and is served mixed with soda water and ice. It became an afternoon ritual during my stay in Milan. To my dismay I cannot find Zucca in North America. If anyone has a source for it please let me know.
A picture of the Zucca bottle on the bottom right
The garden at The Bulgari is large, reportedly 4000 sq metres. The furniture is set on pads of pea gravel surrounded by grass. I love the crunchy sound underfoot.
The seating areas have these interesting twig screens. The top of the coffee tables is black glass which casts nice reflections.
A nicely detailed steel staircase takes you down to a private area in the rear of the garden along a pea gravel pathway.
The metal railing detail throughout the garden has an undulating ribbon effect. A view of the main facade of the Hotel in the background.
A view through the restaurant to the garden
Entering the lobby and adjoining lounge. The decoration of this Hotel has been described as: "a fashionable chocolate box of browns, blacks and whites". The furnishings have an unmistakable B & B Italia look, which is not surprising as the Designer and Architect Antonio Citterio does all the store design as well as designing furniture for B & B Italia.
The slipcovered chair in the background, the sofa, and the black leather chairs in the foreground are designed by Citterio for B & B Italia's - Maxalto Collection. There were stacks of books everywhere and comfortable places to sit and beautiful views out the windows.
A close up of the cantilevered glass shelf shown in the second above picture.
After this refreshing visit I had at the Bulgari Hotel it is time to get back to my Hotel and change for supper. I am being taken out to dine at Dolce and Gabbana's Gold Restaurant by new Milanese friends, Valentina and Davide, who are both Architects and work for the famed Italian Pomellato stores. (Valentina is the niece of my friend Albarosa in Vancouver). Valentina is VP in charge of Marketing and Davide is chief Architect designing their new stores. Currently Davide is overseeing the completion of their new store in London. In true Italian style, Valentino and Davide arrive to the restaurant by motorbike (their car was in the shop for repairs). Valentina is the picture of beauty, fashionably dressed and beautifully shoed in elegant heels. There is something so magical about Italian women. They always look wonderful and feminine even when stepping off of a motorbike. We had a marvelous evening and my only regret (well two regrets) is that I didn't get a picture of us together, and that the evening wasn't long enough. Valentina and Davide were wonderful hosts and gave me a great list of things that I needed to see and do the next day.
The above pictures of the Gold Restaurant are the "Bistro" located on the main level. This is where we dined in one of the circular banquettes. The food is international Italian — simple, seasonal dishes and the wine we had with dinner was superb. The décor, a kind of midcentury modern with a bling injection. Gold is used everywhere from the golden bamboo bathrooms down to the water-bottle labels.
Upstairs in the Dining Room Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's iconic ‘Brno’ chairs have been customized with metallic fringing. Not for the faint of heart, the decor of this Restaurant "more is more" is typical signature Dolce and Gabbana. I wonder how Mies van der Rohe would feel about the metallic fringing on his chairs as his famous and most quoted saying is "less is more".
Patricia Gray writes about Interior Design inspirations, emerging trends, and the world of Design.
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2011 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™
After coming back from Italy and navigating the Internet in a foreign language I realized how important it was to be able to read articles in my native language. It made me think of all my foreign visitors who may want to read my posts in their own language. So for all of you whose language of origin isn't English I have added this nifty "Translator".
Please let me know if your are using this feature and if you find it helpful........
Patricia Gray writes about Interior Design inspirations, emerging trends, and the world of Design.
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INTERNET BUYER BEWARE!!!!
I feel I have a responsibility to my readers to tell them of my experience and WARN them about booking a stay at the Hotel Mascagni in Rome. I wrote about my trip to Rome and my anticipation in staying in this hotel (see the post here) This Hotel came recommended to me by a client and, although I was satisfied with my stay, I am extremely unsatisfied with the way they handled my booking and their discounting of room rates via the Internet . I booked this Hotel online 3 weeks prior to my arrival In Rome and two nights before I was set to arrive I went online to send an email to the Hotel to confirm my reservation, and to my surprise I found that the room rate had been discounted ENORMOUSLY!!! In my email to the Hotel I brought this to their attention and requested the new "lowest available price". This request was ignored by the Hotel in their email reservation confirmation back to me. When I checked into the Hotel, I again enquired about the lower rate posted on the Internet, and I was told to talk to the Manager the next morning. Well for the next three mornings the Manager was not available and finally upon check-out I again requested to speak to Mr. or Ms. Manager, but this time I clarified it by saying that I would not finalize my bill WITHOUT speaking to Mr. or Ms. Manager. Miraculously Mr. Manager appeared. When I requested the lower Internet pricing that was available before the time of my check-in, I was told it was not available..... It seems that they have RULES (that are curiously not posted on their web-site), and as I apparently did not know "THE RULES", I was out of luck and out of pocket. I was told that THE RULES are:- "I should have canceled my reservation for the higher rate on-line and re-booked at the lower rate on-line"! This would have put me,the customer, in a precarious position of traveling to a foreign country and not knowing for sure if I would indeed be able to re-book my room. I expressed my dissatisfaction with this Unwritten and therefore Secret RULE, but was met with a blank stare and silence!! It was like I was being dismissed by Meryl Streep in the movie: The Devil Wears Prada" with a curt "That's All"!
So I would like to duly warn all of you readers of my Blog:
" BEWARE OF UNSATISFACTORY INTERNET BOOKING PROTOCOL for the HOTEL MASCAGNI ROME"
In North America I am used to booking rooms online and being guaranteed the "best available rate". But dear reader, please beware that this does not Apply for the Hotel Mascagni in Rome.
Patricia Gray writes about Interior Design inspirations, emerging trends, and the world of Design.
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I love doors and have saved this picture in my files for awhile. I am now looking at it with renewed interest after being in Italy for a month and seeing old and ornate and colorful doors there (see my posting on some beautiful doors and windows from Florence here). This modern contemporary door is holding a new fascination for me.
I love how you are being led into the house and how the gate echoes the detail around the door. The grass growing between the paving stones, the two potted plants beside the door are all very welcoming and invite you to enter. Front doors are the first impression the world has of your home and as the saying goes: You never get a second chance to make a first impression. What first impression does your front door give to the world? In Feng Shui (click here for an interview on Feng Shui) the energy of your home starts at your front door. Maybe it is time to repaint it, or put some new door numbers up, some new lighting, new door hardware, or maybe some fresh potted flowers?
Photo Architectural Digest Santa Monica via Carolina Eclectic
Patricia Gray writes about Interior Design inspirations, emerging trends, and the world of Design. While you're here, subscribe to this feed so you don't miss out.
![[image[8].png]](http://lh4.ggpht.com/patriciagray1/SH906A4UdBI/AAAAAAAAEp0/QBOaFMvPSmY/s1600/image%5B8%5D.png)
On my recent trip to Italy I was fortunate to visit Turin for the day, which was the capital of Italy before Rome. My Professor Maddalena Coccagna arranged a private tour of the museum of "Casa Mollino". Napoleone Ferrari, an Italian Architect has his office in this space and maintains it as a private museum. Napoleone was kind and generous enough to spend several hours with me showing me the space and explaining about Carlo Mollino's life and work. And so begins my fascination with this now deceased Icon of Italian Design....Carlo Mollino:
Casa Mollino
In 1960, on the Po river in Turin, Mollino took possession of a villa, the 'warrior’s house of rest'. The magically surreal and mystical flat that Mollino occupied during the last fourteen years of his life, was a place away from the luxurious apartment he shared with his devoted housekeeper, but he never spent a single night there. His purpose may now be obvious: it was known to him that Kha (the tomb of the royal architect Kha circa 1390-1352 B.C.E, found intact in Deir el Medineh by the Egyptologist Ernesto Schiaparelli during his excavation campaigns between 1900 and 1920) decorated his own future tomb in his spare time, and that’s what Mollino did with his 18th century apartment.
Mollino probably identified himself with Kha, and as the ancient Egyptians, he thought that the soul is made up of many different parts. Not only is there the physical form, but there are semi-divine parts that survive death. Mollino, a lively and highly creative person loved life so much that he wanted to replicate every aspect of it and carry it to the kingdom of the dead.
Casa Mollino is his private pyramid. An eclectic space, carefully created by his own aesthetic sense, made up of reminiscences of his life that appear among mirrors, lace curtains and velvet. The apartment was Mollino’s physical space of eternity, decorated only with things to be taken along and accompanied by spiritual messages.Today, Casa Mollino is owned by Fulvio and Napoleone Ferrari, who recreated the original state of the interiors.
Carlo Mollino, Casa Mollino
Carlo Mollino, Casa Mollino
Left: Tiled entry foyer & view down central corridor to bedrooms. Shoji screens to left open to living room & dining room. The corridor is hung with heavy velvet curtains and the end of the hallway is mirrored so the effect is one of the hallway extending to infinity.
Carlo Mollino, Casa Mollino
Carlo Mollino, Casa Mollino
Mollino salvaged doors from the theatre that was being renovated in Turin and used them throughout the suite. In the living room he lined one in mirror and created a miniature marble fireplace that acted more like a shrine. On either side of the fireplace he enlarged photographs of landscapes and papered the walls. the chandelier is Murano glass. You can see the shoji screen on the right picture that separates this room from the entry foyer. The velvet curtain can close off the dining room from the living.
Carlo Mollino, Casa Mollino
Carlo Mollino, Casa Mollino
Left: view of his favourite leather sofa
Right: one of two large shells that flank the door going to the patio. Zebra carpet - Mollino was fond of curves and organic shapes.
Above photos: Inside Casa Mollino
Carlo Mollino is a real genius of modern architecture and furniture design in Italy. Born in Turin 1905; d Turin, 1973. He was trained as an architect, the son of the engineer Eugenio Mollino (1873-1953). He studied at the faculty of architecture of the Politecnico, Turin, graduating in 1931. Among early influences were the 'second Futurism' of the post-war period and a close friendship with the painter and scholar Italo Cremona (b 1905). At the beginning of his career Mollino collaborated with his father but also worked independently, producing such notable designs as the headquarters of the Confederazione degli Agricoltori (1933-4), Cuneo, and particularly the headquarters of the Societ Ippica Torinese (1935-9) in Turin. In the latter Mollino interpreted the doctrines of Neo-plasticism* and Rationalism** with great freedom, adapting spatial, material and technical ideas with complete originality. His first experiments in furnishings also date from this period, including promotional stands, residential rooms and individual items of furniture.
I quote Mollino directly from his writing entitled "Architettura, spazio creato" (Architecture, Created Space): "Only when a work is not explainable other than in terms of itself can we say that we are in the presence of art. This ineffable quality is the hallmark of an authentic work. Whoever contemplates it receives a "shock" that is unmistakable and, above all, unexplainable - a shock that he or she will try in vain to explain in rational terms. There are no reasons. If there were, we would have a way to build a convenient machine for making art through logic and grammar....."
Furniture Design
A world record price for a piece of 20th Century Furniture was set in June 2005 when a piece designed by Carlo Mollino was auctioned by Christie's New York in June 2005. An oak and glass table for Casa Orengo, 1949 sold for $3,824,000.00
In the 1940s and 50s there was an explosion of design in Milan that established the sleek, fashionable and modern image of Italian furniture. On the other side of that movement, coming out of Turin, was Carlo Mollino (1905-1973), working from natural and animal shapes-- tree branches, animal horns, the curve of the human body-- to establish the "streamlined surreal" series of furniture designs. These pieces, evolved from an appreciation for the shapes of Art Nouveau and the architect Antoni Gaudi, were more expressive, and often more sculptural, than those being produced in Milan at the same time. The changes in his style over the years responded to the evolving technology of bending and working with wood.
He interpreted the doctrines of neo-plasticism* and rationalism** of the period with great freedom, adapting spatial, material and technical ideas with complete originality. The figure or the form of the human body is an element which is always present in Mollino's designs.
The furniture that Carlo Mollino designed was often one-off pieces produced specifically for the client whose house he was decorating. so many of his pieces are very rare today. His large range of prototype furnishings were made in the studio of Apelli and Varesio in Turin.
1950 Apelli and Varesio Studio in Turin
Furniture for the "Lutrario" ballroom
Interior Design
He began producing furniture, like his 1937 "Milo" mirror, shaped like the Venus de Milo, and designing interiors, like the Miller House (1937). His interiors during this period were characterized by their use of draped fabric to divide a room and by the use of sensuous upholstery like padded velvet. The Miller house also had an innovative lighting system, a mounted fixture on a track, which curved around the ceiling. His other well-known interior was for the Minola house in 1944. The pieces he created for them included a radio-gramophone and a small glass table.
Casa Miller 1937 Milo Mirror 1937 Museo Casa Mollino - Torino
La Casa e l'ideale - Per la rivista Domus, 1943 Casa Ada e Cesare Minola - Interno - Torino, Italia, 1944
Photography
Mollino was also an outrageous photographer. Each shoot was a sort of ceremony, he incessantly controlled every aspect of these remarkable images - although the negative, that is born perfect, for him does not exist. Mollino made use of retouching techniques in order to create a certain fantasy he had already constructed in his mind's eye. "everything is allowed, imagination is always saved" wrote Carlo Mollino.
* Neo-Plasticism was an art movement that came during the years between the two World Wars and to some extent, was an reaction on the part of their founders to the irrationality and chaos of "the war to end all wars." Neo-plasticism sought to impose upon art a sense of careful, compositional, and chromatic order. It was an austere exploration of design elements to the exclusion of all else. Neo Plasticism was the brainchild of Piet Mondrian. Artists such as van Doesburg, Severini, Lissitzky, and Arp teamed with the Bauhaus school, hoping to see adopted a universal language of art, and its integration into every aspect of daily life. The movement worked (with considerable success) to influence everything from painting to architecture, furniture design, interior design, consumer products, advertising, and even urban planning. It was utopian. It was socialistic, and it had a strong influence in Germany. Ironically, though it collapsed in disarray amidst the turmoil of Hitler and the Second World War, it was not without influence amongst the utopian planners of the Third Reich.
** Rationalism The intellectual principles of Rationalism are based on architectural theory. Vitruvius had already established in his work De Architectura that architecture is a science that can be comprehended rationally. This formulation was taken up and further developed in the architectural treatises of the Renaissance. Progressive art theory of the 18th-century opposed the Baroque beauty of illusionism with the classic beauty of truth and reason.
Twentieth-century Rationalism derived less from a special, unified theoretical work than from a common belief that the most varied problems posed by the real world could be resolved by reason. In that respect it represented a reaction to historicism and a contrast to Art Nouveau and Expressionism.
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