Window Shopping in Venice

Window shopping is something I like to do - it is ispiring and joyful - and it does not cost much. Do you like to join me for a window shopping trip to Venice ?

Here we go :

illuminted lighting shop in Venice

See, the gondolier is waiting for us in the background ...

Venetian chandeliers made of Murano glass by Zanetti

a fancy shop at the end of Piazza San Marco

Can you see the red Murano glas chandelier ? (click on pic to enlarge)

Murano glass chandelier with a modern touch by Venini

Venini has a long history (since 1921 in Murano) and is famous for its modern classic style and great craftmen's skills

This shop in Mestre has more affordable products, and they are not less pretty

The pinkish Venetian chandelier is seducing, but ...

... these "Balon Venexian" caught my eyes - simply charming and affordable.

Maybe for the guestappartment's entrance that leads to the vaulted cellar?

And this artist shop caught my eyes too - love these baloons made of Murano glass !

Livio de Marchi is a Venetian artis who is famous for his carved sculptures.

Ferrari red pops up among grey and attracts the male shopper

A chair and a vase at Dolce& Gabbana ...

.... can't tell what I like better - the big stone vase with the tiny cactus is quiet interesting (having my terrace in mind)

Christmas decoration at D&G (12/2008) 

including reflections of Gucci 2m across the aley

Window shopping can be exhausting. I recommend an expresso or prosecco (anytime), cappuccino (before 11am), hot chocolat (in winter) or an aperitivo (before lunch or dinner) at Caffe Florian or Caffè Quadri, Piazza San Marco. If you feel you do not have to sit down, take your order at the bar and save some Euros. However, after a window shopping tour we can afford to sit down, right ?! Salute !

(Photo source: Palazzo Pizzo blog, all rights reserved)

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PS:

Thanks to Anita from 1richtungsblog who featured photos of our renovation project and an interview with me last week, I have received many more readers from Germany than usually. To welcome them and also just for fun I wrote a post in German language, my mother tongue. This was just a one time experiment as I do not want to loose any subscribers !!! And my German readers seem to not mind English. - Welcome back !

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Market Day in Vibo Valentia

Saturday is market day in Vibo Valentia. So, today, for a change, we went up the 'mountain' to Vibo Valentia - the birth place of my husband (!)

- lingerie is selling in front of the church -

In the center of the old town around 9 am the streets begin to fill up with pedestrians strolling around the market stands. Unfortunately, these Italian village markets nowadays sell lots of polyester clothes, underwear and cheap shoes from China, among the usual fake shirts, bags and perfumes.

To me, the market stall of the basket maker (above) was the most interesting and beautiful. It was the only one who sold real handycraft. These baskets are not cheap. But I will get something from him when my house is ready: Antonio Cosentino, S. Nicola Da Crissa, Calabria - intreccio vimini e canna


There also was some pottery. A few terracotta pots and vases. One stand sold handpainted plates (left), that make good sovenirs to hang on the wall. But the rest was of the pottery was mainly kitchy.



The Saturday market extends to the colourful vegetable market, that opens daily :

Southern delicacy : the sweet ognion of Tropea, la cipolla di Tropea (middle). We eat this ognion almost every day - with tomatoes, in the salad, on tuna fish ... - it has this sweet taste that you only can find here in the South. Also prickly pear, fico d'India, growing on a cactus (left) are eatable. However I prefer, the green figs, fici (right).


From the left (above): home made cheese, zucchini flowers (to be fried!) and black olives !


Important in the Southern kitchen are: chili (peperoncino) and garlic (aglio). Also with olive oil preserved vegetables are a speciality of Calabria. E.g. I love preserved sun dried tomatoes !

- sun dried tomatoes ! -

Look, what we have here ! Tiny yummy snails ! And a new scuba watch for 3 Euro ...


And here we have for la brava casalinga, the housewife, a nice selection of cleaning dresses. I think, I need to get one for me when I am going to clean my palazzo ...

For now these three tableclothes are mine ! I know, they do not really fit the style of my appartment in Germany, but they bring some Southern atmosphere back home !
And it was a great deal
...

Vintage Furniture designed for Kids

When a kids magazine (Beijing Kids) asked me earlier this year to compile an article about vintage furniture for kids I had to google about 'vintage furniture' as I only was familiar with 'vintage cars' - so far.

That's why the article goes like this:
"A car is considered a vintage car when it is at least 20 years old. The same goes with furniture. Vintage furniture may have the aesthetics of the colorful and playful ’70s or arouse a serene feeling from another time – one that was simpler ..."

The article with a list of addresses can be found online:
Classically Chic - Vintage Furniture designed for kids

It was not easy to find good addresses for kids' vintage furniture. Most finds were French shops - and my favorite address in France is Bianca & Family

Since I was in contact with them for the article I receive their newsletter about 'nouveautés' ...

I always wanted to make a small post about them. They not only sell their finds, they also restore old kids furniture, mainly old school desks and chairs (see first pic above), and they have vintage toys. I am really tempted to get one desk set for my son, although the desk space seems a bit small. Maybe a double desk. It reminds me of my childhood at school.

Bianca & Family
268 rue des Ecoles
35800 Saint Lunaire, France
Phone: +33 (0) 688 790238
info@bianca-and-family.com
www.bianca-and-family.com
Shipment worldwide upon request.

Two more cute French shops with vintage stuff for kids:
Petit Blanc d'Ivoire
Serendipity

Another good address not only for kids:
Maison du Monde

Alternatively register with ebay and define some long term queries and get finds by email - e.g. from Ebay (France)

Further more:
The German Architectural Digest (AD) magazine features in its November issue a 6 pages long article about the 'First four walls', stylish children rooms (Kinderzimmer).
The following brands are mentioned:
Bianca & Family, Richard Lampert, Habitat, Petite Boutique, Ralph Lauren Home, Petitcollin and Oliver Furniture.

More vintage kids stuff in blog land (with further links):

Harry's (New) Room by Anna Spiro


Vintage Kids Room for Pink by Di Overton


vintage furniture for kids by Danielle de Lange

Living with or without IKEA

When we moved to Bangkok (Thailand) with 2 suitcases only, I had to setup a household. Bangkok has never seen an IKEA shop. And I had the problem to find my kitchenware, dishes and bed linen around a town with never ending traffic jams. How I envied the colleagues that have moved to Singapore where they had a one stop shopping weekend at IKEA and they have been setup with their household.

When I moved to Beijing (China), I moved into a fully furnished house (mainly furnished with IKEA items). However I appreciated to have IKEA around. It was a 15 minutes drive to the biggest and newest IKEA in Asia. Sometimes you need a chocolate powder shaker or a nice new bathroom floor mat or just lingonberry sauce.

Now I live in Stuttgart (Germany). And today, I decided to go to IKEA to buy some storage containers for toys and clothes. This requires to drive on the German Autobahn... about 30 minutes. Somehow I am not used to drive fast anymore. Everything over 120 km/h makes me brake out in sweat. Mercedes, Porsches, Audis are over passing like rockets ... finally I reached IKEA and I was surprised that it is packed on a Monday morning. Maybe I did not get the special breakfast voucher buy one get three.

I did not find what I wanted - the toys container, yes - but IKEA has no air-tight containers for clothes and I did not remember the name of a clothes-rail I used to buy (Ryäkösnix...? nor its product number) as the lady at the information counter requested.

I wondered about some rattan products made in Vietnam that used to be cute tourist souvenirs from a South-East Asia holiday and now, going global, are to be found at IKEA for 50 cents.

After having filled out my application for a Family Card (with no significant advantages), I bought some lingonberry sauce and went home. Maybe my next IKEA trip (if there is one) will be more fun.

But, I could use an IKEA to complete my palazzo household (one day in the future). My new neighbours, in Pizzo (Italy), bought some stuff at IKEA. And when I asked them where they went (I actually hoped, they will tell me that a new IKEA has opened not far away), they said, they went to Bari... from Pizzo, this is a 3 hours drive, one way ...
'Oh', was my answer.
No more complaints.

There are 15 IKEA outlets in Italy. Mainly in the North. Spain (mainland) has less. France has some more. Germany has 3 times more IKEA shops than Italy and 2 times more than Sweden. Interesting.

I think IKEA is still new in Italy and not that popular as it is in Germany. Italians have a lot of well-designed and affordable furniture and like the classic style. Even young people usually decorate their homes with antiques, combined with some modern classics. And nowadays added with some Scandinavian clean chic items by IKEA.

PS: In China, I saw once a room decorated with stuff from IKEA, mainly in white, in an Art Gallery. It was an installation. It could have been anybodies room anywhere in the world. Globalisation. Uniformation. Levelling.

PPS: Where is your next IKEA? What was your last IKEA buy and experience?

Calabrian Textiles by Bossio

Last February I discovered a shop at the airport in Lamezia, that was selling beautiful textiles from local craft men.

I was fascinated from a white cotton bed cover with a simple red but decorative local embroidery pattern. I liked the shop and started to talk to the sales woman. She gave me a business card from the textile producer with a website address.

Some business men passed by, well dressed in dark suites, on their way back to Rome. One stopped at the shop and said to his colleague: "Look, this is what I used to have in my child's room. This is typical embroidery from my area. My Mamma used to have a lot of these...."

I was impressed. Although I used to come since several years to Calabria, I never saw them promoting local textiles. Of course local products are promoted, like local ceramics and above all local specialities like pepperoncini (chili), Vecchio Amaro del Capo (a herbal liquor that is served straight from the freezer), tuna, onions from Tropea, tartuffo ice cream from Pizzo etc.

Back home I thought I have lost the business card of the shop and all google researches never brought me back the factory name. Only a couple of weeks ago, in a side pocket of my trolley, I discovered the name card and now, I can present the name:

BOSSIO, fabbrica tessile
in Via P. Mancini, 3 - 87060 Calopezzati (CS)
(near Sibari)
www.fabbricatessilebossio.it

I wish I would have taken a photograph from the beautiful bed cover, because the website is not very professional. The pictures are too small and not very attractive. It looks a bit old fashioned (I guess it is) - but this need to be changed!

I think the shop at the airport, that presents some of the textiles is a good step forward. I wish I could be a little helper.

In the meanwhile I will post some of the pictures I have chosen from BOSSIO.