Pattern | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Wednesday, May 15 2013

This week photo challenge by Sara Rosso is Pattern, I like it and I am taking the challenge. http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/weekly-photo-challenge-pattern

Pattern

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What is a pattern? Pattern has a different meaning for each of us.

In my world of design, a pattern might be:
A wooden model or paper drawing used to build a home.
A diagram, or model drafted for making a dress.
Artistic or decorative throw pillows with paisley and flowers, or a quilt made with left over fabrics.
A design of natural origin: wild bird formations happening in my plants every spring.
An assortment of Victorian cutlery on the dining table or the cutlery motifs painted on my decorative glass plate.
A Christmas light ball I turn on every night makes different designs as I turn the colored lights.
A person considered worthy of emulating, learning perhaps from a famous chef.
Pattern of things I see and intrigue me.
Traits or features characteristic of a recognizable individual: Sophia Loren.
Colorful hand-painted Italian ceramics and tiles.

Life is full of patterns. “Sans poésie on exist sans vivre” – Without poetry we exist without living.

Pattern of being thankful and recognizing friendship. I want to take this opportunity to thank two people who nominated me last month for two awards. I am so honored:

Tom at The Palladian Traveler http://thepalladiantraveler.com  nominated me with the HUG Award©.
When you contact your nominees for the award, please include a link to this page  http://ahopefortoday.com/2012/01/14/hope-unites-globally-hug-award-guidelines
I will nominate one person for this award Adam at http://unorthodoxepicure.com – Confession of an inspiring food snob.

Natalia at Postcard From Italy http://nataliasarkissian.wordpress.com nominated me for The Versatile Blogger Award.
I will nominated one person for this award: http://littlemisswordy.wordpress.com
Awards usually come with some rules.
1. Thank the person who gave you the award.
2. Include a link to their blog.
3. Name the bloggers to whom you would like to pass the award and send them a link to tell them you’ve selected them.
4. Finally, tell the person who nominated you seven things about yourself.

I wish you a productive and happy rest of the week. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com
http://valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2013 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian interior designer in business since 1990. She is passionate about colors and all expressive arts. She is a “colorist”. To her, selecting art means to bring out the best energy of her clients and nourish their soul. She is the author of three books available on Amazon and Barnes&Nobles.
Get your copy of her book on colors: Red-A Voyage Into Colors 
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

9 Responses »

 

Dress To Kill? Not Really | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Wednesday, May 8 2013

Dress to kill? Not really. It’s my desire to get out of the house well put together even when I am wearing very casual clothes. If my soul is happy I am happy too, if my eyes are pleased I am pleased too and if my attire can strike a conversation and produce business, I will be even happier. Yesterday, I was dressed as I look in the picture.
I was browsing in a department store, looking for curiosities nothing in particular. At one moment a woman approached me asking for my opinion about some clothes she was thinking of buying. She said “I was well put together” and that was good enough for her to feel confident the opinion of a stranger was going to have a weight on her buying decision.

I explained to her from the point of view of a designer (but she didn’t know it at that moment) and with simple words why she should have bought one thing versus the other. Then someone else was listening and she got closer to really listen in. Then another woman got closer and more women arrived I don’t know from where. Pretty soon I had a small crowd asking my opinion on a variety of decisions and style for them. I should have asked the store to hire me as their fashion consultant!

The reason my outfit attracted people and their interest, was not just the inviting, summer yellow color of my hat.
There are rules for dressing up as there are rules for decorating homes. One can use them to the letter in a strict way, or as guidelines. The important think is to know how to create balance, rhythm and harmony. Those women even without knowing the fashion subject, sensed it I had it all together and felt naturally attracted by my energy.

In my outfit I have all three elements. White is not a good color for my face, but it is needed in the summer to keep cool, thus to balance my figure I put it on the bottom part of my body. The white and dark blue stripes of my top create a rhythm because they go in three different directions; the ruched sides of this top are perfect to disguise and trick the eye just like the effect of trompe-l’oeil designs in homes. The top had to be long enough to cover my bottom, as white tends to enlarge areas where nature has played very generously. My purse, sandals and sunglasses are dark blue. However, without the element of surprise, that “vintage sunny yellow hat”, this ensemble would have been a common mise and it would not have sparked conversation in the store.

This is how I do it, I live my life with simple rules or common sense, as I like to refer to.

• Wearing a griffe on the clothes doesn’t make me feel more important. I know who I am and how I can help people, the griffe does absolutely nothing for me.
• Any common outfit can be dressed up with eccentric or interesting details.
• Personalize my mises as much as possible, not because I demand attention, my brain tells me it I am not interested in looking like everybody else.
• When using colors I keep it down to three and use only 10% of one of the three. In the outfit in the photo, my 10% is the yellow.
• Wear colors that exalt my personality and make me feel good, regardless of fashion dictum.

Designing to me is building. In designing a personal image I build personal style; in designing a home I built harmony and in designing food or tables I build flavors. Voila’ I am here and prompt as ever to help. Consultations on-line are available. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com
http://valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2013 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

 

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, working in the USA and Europe. Born in Italy and in a family of artists, style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience in fashion and interior designing led her to offer consultations in both specializations and now she can create your personal image or your private space. She is the author of three books. Get your copy of Valentina’s book on colors: RED-A Voyage Into Colors available on
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

10 Responses »

 

M for Mantel | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Wednesday, May 1 2013

Welcome to my A to Z Challenge on the subject of Home.
http://myatozchallenge.com/2012/02/20/welcome-to-my-a-to-z-challenge-2/

Mantel, mantelshelf or mantelpiece are the names used for a type of construction framing the opening of a fireplace and usually covering part of the chimney-breast in a more or less decorative way. It is the focal point of a home and the stage that tells a story.
To display only photographs on a mantel is a bit diminishing for the fireplace itself, since it is an opportunity to make a dreamy display vignette of antique objects found in flea markets, or during traveling. It is a place where colors can have a voice when a monochromatic color dominates the room, or a way to display arts and craft that perhaps you create. Then comes Christmas with endless possibilities and decorating a mantel becomes almost obligatory. In any case a mantel is something to cover, envelop and conceal the black hole of the hearth.

Italian Carrara Marble

Red Iron Stone and Jerusalem Split Face Stone

Italian Carrara Marble and Rosso Verona Marble

Niche over hearth

BHG Outdoor room

Salvage Mantel

Travertine Mantel

Mantels follow the architectural style of the house. I have seen many examples in Gothic, Renaissance, Louis XIV, XV and XVI, Empire, Marie Antoinette and so many more styles, but I think the most popular and pleasing is the Colonial mantel, both in the old and modern style. The Victorian mantel refers to the style created during the long reign of Queen Victoria of United Kingdom, a period stretching from 1837-1901. In Victorian times women sat by the fireplace to read, sipping tea or embroider with women, while men stood by the mantel to talk about important issues with men and various odd objects found their place on the mantel.

Victorian mantels today are standard design with many modern furniture companies and are popular with builders, as this style is linear, not too ornate, but elegant enough to mix with any mélange of décor. In today’s homes, often a huge black plasma T.V. is propped on top of the mantel, disturbing perhaps a beautiful room setting. Not always I win this battle with the youngest clients who like to stick the black monster plasma T.V. over the mantel.  Most people don’t know that when the T.V. is not on, the front black screen is easy concealable with a picture of your liking, remotely controlled to disappear into the T.V. casing made for this purpose. However, I rather see a huge mirror on top of the mantel to reflect the beauty in the room and enjoy the sound of a crackling fire with a book.

If there is no fireplace in the house and you like to create the feeling of it, find an inexpensive mantel at architectural salvage yard and nail it to the wall, as shown in one of my garden photos. Of course, any salvage piece can have a second life as something else and not what was originally intended for. In the bathroom photo, in fact a mantel has been turned into an ornate towel holder, just by adding metal hooks.
Mantels over outdoor fireplaces often will be used to rest your guests drinking glasses.

Get creative with your own mantel vignette, this is an art form.  Anything goes grouped in odd numbers. I am here if you need help, my Skype line is always open. Ciao.
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com
http://valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2013 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian interior designer in business since 1990. She is passionate about colors and all expressive arts. She is a “colorist”. To her, selecting art means to bring out the best energy of her clients and nourish their soul.
She is the author of her book on Colors: Red-A Voyage Into Colors available on
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

13 Responses »

 

Going Up | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Monday, Apr 22 2013

Going Up

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Sara Rosso at WP came up with the theme UP.  http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/weekly-photo-challenge-up-2
How I can I forget where I grew up and where my roots are so firmly embedded to help me going up?

“You are not going to find it on the floor!” I heard it often from my father. It was his way to teach me to walk proud with my head high.

I wonder often why beautiful architectural details are not at eye level for everybody to enjoy, but up above our heads forcing us to walk with our noses stuck to the sky.
The streets of Italy are an open art class, walking is a real learning experience. Nude statues coexist well with people dressed in the latest fashion. Once in Venice, the windows of my hotel opened onto a beautiful nude of a man sculpted in marble. He was so real, I could see every veins going through his muscles and yet he sat on top of a church looking directly into my window, as sinful as he could possibly appear, almost saying: “I am here, enjoy me!”
Ah, Venice, the only city in the world where pigeons walk, lions fly and sexy men are stones!

In Italy, in one street alone, broken pediments and eyebrows windows, neoclassical and Romanic style, Moorish windows or Baroque style compete for maintaining a place in history and one might wonders what patrician people live there, but often commoners are the lucky ones and don’t even notice it.

Balconies decorate buildings young and old, they are the urban gardens so much sought after today. In reality space in Italy is limited, people live in flats, for centuries balconies have been seen as an escape valve from the four walls surrounding the lives of everyone. Behind those plants, we see, we observe and we keep the secrets of the neighbor’s life unfolding before our eyes.

If ceilings are not made of stones are highly decorated. In modern living often ceilings are the forgotten walls making the room looked unfinished. In Italy we like to eat under art, coves and circular shapes, the geometry of roundness gives vibrations of security and harmony.

In the southern parts of Italy, all the constructions are made with terrace roofs to enjoy eating ‘al fresco’ and soaking the Mediterranean sun without being seen, but in the colder north, the characteristic ‘comignoli’ chimneys line the sky. Many wealthy Californians have embellished their Tuscan style homes with copies of our Italian comignoli and ‘faccioni’ cherub’s faces stuck to walls as garden planters. The sophistication and elegance of those stone faces change any non-descriptive house into a classical villa of the past, however the Italians who are lucky to have an outdoor space, most likely will use walls, beams and stone heaves to dry produce for the winter.

My fashion school in Italy is an ancient building born first as a nunnery, then the state police made it its headquarters until in modern days it became a fashion school. Going up those marble stairs made 400 years ago, warped in the center I felt a great sense of respect towards history. All of us students walked on each side of the stairs to preserve them a little while longer.

I never did find it on the floor, except a few red cents, but mind you, every so often, one must look down. Someone might be paying a visit through the back door when no one is paying attention, as the Diesel advertisement on the wall of Largo Delle Stimmate says “you will eat better”…… I hope to have amused you.  Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com
http://valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2013 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Italian Interior Designer in business since 1990. Being Italian born and raised, classicism, stylish and timeless designs have influenced Valentina’s design work. She will create your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away your comfort. She loves to restore old homes, historic dwellings and she focuses on remodeling. Find her books on 

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

6 Responses »

 

Awards Month | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Monday, Apr 15 2013

Top Of The World

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How fun is this? This month two awards landed on this Home Designs Master site and one award on Valentina Expressions site. In this month of April, I have not said THANK YOU yet, therefore it is time to appreciate everyone who awarded me.
You have no idea how happy I am to have followers interested in the subjects I write. A few of you I have met in person and it has been a great experience to translate friendships from the virtual to real world, but due to distances and time, many of you I will never meet, unfortunately.

However, reading and learning from all of your experiences and situations, getting amused with some of your posts, or knowing to have companionship through your blogs is all very precious to me and it makes feel less lonely at times. Thank you for being here.

The Dragon Loyalty Award came from Katrina Perkins - http://katrinaperkins.wordpress.com – a beautiful actress “A force of Nature, with intense acting skills”. Thank you Katrina, sorry for being so late, I didn’t forget it.

The rules are as follows:
Display the Award Certificate on your website.
Announce your win with a post and link to whoever presented your award.
Present 15 awards to deserving bloggers.
Drop them a comment to tip them off after you’ve linked them in the post.
Post 7 interesting things about yourself.

I grouped a few things about myself in a short video of my past.

* I have always liked being on stage, not for some strange self-admiration, but because I really like theatre and all the stage representations. The first time I was on stage, I was five, a few centuries ago, for a solo Christmas recital.

* In that occasion, I met Santa Claus for the first time. He intimidated me when I received some candies from him. Only now I know that under those Santa’s clothes there was a teenage girl.

* I never made to be an actress, but I became a theatre goer and I conduct business with humor.

* I was born Italian and have been a Francophile all my life. My first car was a French-made red-orange Citroën Diane 6, made for young people, fun and snazzy. The shift gear was on the face of the dashboard instead of the driver’s side and windows slide back and forth instead of rolling down. Miss it so much!

* I love sun, sea and colors. I am in the sun winter and summer at least one hour a day to play in my garden, exercise at the park, hanging laundry, cooking, or goofing off. I don’t burn in the sun and I look tanned all year around. Pardon the legs, the photographer wanted to take a full advantage of his lens.

* I never forgot my Italian roots and where I was born. In my home we eat Italian food, anywhere in the world my home has been and whether I have company or not. At times, I wear a chef hat that in Latin reads “Dux Coquorum” (leader of cooks) and the apron that reads “Lavator Amphorum” (amphoras washer). It confuses people enough to question me which I like the best.

* Love to wear hats and they do not have to be expensive, as long as they look good and mean something.

Well, I better leave something for the end of the week, when I will thank more people. This is fun.

Here are my 15 nominees: 
http://taylorjorjorian.wordpress.com – Photographic Surreal Impressionism

http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com - Stories and photographs of her travels

http://leannecolephotography.com - A landscape photographer from Australia

http://myhomefoodthatsamore.wordpress.com – Food for thoughts and thoughtful food

http://greendoorhospitality.wordpress.com - Adventure within everyday entertainment

http://jobryantnz.wordpress.com - Freelance writer from New Zealand

http://hillsofherchastity.wordpress.com - Inspiring poems

http://imeldaevans.wordpress.com - Author and storyteller

http://wheresmybackpack.com - A traveller who has fun getting there and being there

http://shareandconnect.wordpress.com – Those who do not travel read only one page

http://nataliasarkissian.wordpress.com – Postcards from Italy

http://zenandgenki.com – Wellness in body and spirit

http://bluefishway.com - Thoughts from a divorced father

http://50yearproject.wordpress.com – Her goal is to visit 192 countries and read 1001 books

http://astronomybythecosmos.com – Cosmos never appeared so interesting

Create a great week. Ciao.
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com
http://valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2013 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

 

Valentina Cirasola is a trained 
Interior Designer 
in business since 1990. She is the owner and principal designer of her company: Valentina Interiors & Designs. Being Italian born and raised, Classicism and timeless style influenced Valentina’s design work. She will create your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away a comfortable living. Author of three books available on:

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

 

 

 

 

9 Responses »

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Color | By Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Friday, Apr 12 2013

Color

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Great challenge this week.
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/weekly-photo-challenge-color/

Where there is nature there is color and art.
Where there is food there is color and health.
Where there is color there is music and happiness.
A house without colors is a stale home.
A fashion without colors is a boring attitude.

Colors emanate positivism, project a positive image towards others and put others in a good disposition towards us.

One of my clients says I designed an edible house for her. She wants to eat it every time she comes home. Her color scheme came from a food list I was supposed to buy for myself that day.

Spread colors in your home, in your garden, on your dinner table and in your wardrobe. Enjoy each day color by color and if colors intimidate you, ask me, I am here to help. It’s easy when two people row the boat. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com
http://valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2013 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola has been in business as an interior designer since 1990 improving people’s life by changing their spaces. Often people describe her as “the colorist” for a reason. She lives in a colorful world, wrote a book on colors RED-A Voyage Into Colors and loves to color her clients’ environments by creating the unusual. Her deep interest in food led her as an autodidact in the studies of food in history, natural remedies, nutrition and well-being, then finally she wrote two books on Italian regional cuisine. Find Valentina’s books on
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

6 Responses »

 

Nuts And Bolts | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Sunday, Apr 7 2013

I was called to visit a single male’s flat for a design consultation. The place was strangely decorated, but nonetheless intriguing. The first things that struck me were some very creative furniture pieces made of various steel and metals. A marvelous glass top coffee table with the base made from a huge metal wheel of a truck was the living room center piece. As I was getting familiar with the flat’s lay-out, I discovered more abstract and out of the ordinary items: a coat hanger shaped into a metal tree made of nuts and bolts, a bookshelf made of brushed stainless steel with blue glass panels and many smaller objects scattered around.

I was curious about the discovery unfolding before my eyes. I thought the interior was typical of a single man, loaded with grey and black colors, linear shapes and glass mixed with cold material.  Later, I learned the man who became my client was in the metals scrap business and used his craft ability to shape unattractive metals into submission. He created something unusual every time, changing things into  imaginative objects. You see, things don’t have to stay the way they were born.

As the project in the flat evolved, he asked me to decorate the bedroom into a jungle scene, in fact I surnamed him Tarzan (get it?  A single man in jungle looking bedroom…..), I was waiting for him to ask for some lianas hanging from the ceiling, instead  he required that his W.C. fixture would be made of stainless steel.

It wasn’t hard to find this “piece of art” ,  I guess there are enough prisons around, but when it was installed, I wanted to pull my hair out!!! Pardon the picture, but it was necessary for this post. Often I keep my Clients happy in their wishes, but when the requests are absurd I end up not taking any photos of the project. Look at some of the findings in my video and think what you can do with your nuts and bolts. It is even possible to create striking custom jewelry.

If you have challenges with any material ask me, l shall be glad to help you. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com
http://valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2013 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola transforms and creates spaces realizing people’s dreams in homes, offices, interiors and exteriors. She infuses your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away a comfortable living. 
She offers design consultations on-line through Skype and the traditional in-house consultations, helping people with their design challenges anywhere in the world. She is the author of three books, all-available on

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

 

6 Responses »

 

C For Corbel | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Tuesday, Apr 2 2013

Welcome to my A to Z Challenge on the subject of

http://myatozchallenge.com/2012/02/20/welcome-to-my-a-to-z-challenge-2/

(Corbel Arch of Septimium Severus – Rome)

Korbel with a K is a California winery producing traditional Méthode Champenois sparkling wine in the United States, but the Corbel with a C, of which today I am delighted to speak, is a projecting stone or a piece of timber carved block supporting a beam or a eave. Just as exciting as the bubbly Korbel, the corbel with a C  has been a feature in universal Architecture since almost the dawn of time. From ancient Rome to ancient China, corbels supported magnificent balconies, window sills, projecting parapets, or exceptionally elegant entry ways. In the Medieval time corbels appeared as gargoyles and the Paris Notre Dame Cathedral is showing off its beautiful examples to these days.

The word comes from Latin corbellus or corvus (raven) apparently because it resembles the beak of a crow. In Italian is called mensola and in French is called cul-de-lampe, I like this last one.  To disguise the load baring function, a corbel must be highly decorative, the eye wants to see something pretty too, not just functionality, that’s the reason of the existence of  so many variety of styles and sizes through history from Corinthian design to animal head, cherub’s face to a king’s face and the very popular woman’s face or pineapple, symbol of prosperity.

Materials and functions have varied from medieval castles to modern-day homes. Wood, gesso, plaster, resin or even steel have been carved, bent, twisted or shaped into submission according to the wishes of the ruler of the moment.

Today, they have become more simple and straightforward with the purpose of decorating modern houses already quite simple in their shapes, except a few décor ideas that want to give the appearance of being important.

I encourage you to be different and to try something new. My black corbel sometimes holds a candle, or a picture and some other time my friends’ glass  of wine. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com
http://valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2013 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola transforms and creates spaces realizing people’s dreams in homes, offices, interiors and exteriors. She infuses your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away a comfortable living. 
She offers design consultations on-line through Skype and the traditional in-home visits, helping people with their design challenges anywhere in the world.

As an author of three books, she is now a public speaker and teaches style, colors and image. Find her books on 
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

8 Responses »

 

Daily Prompt: Local Flavors | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Monday, Mar 25 2013

The idea of Local Flavors by http://biancadventures.wordpress.com  gives me an opportunity to show some of the local flavors my group of curious travelers will experience as soon as they land in Italy this coming April 15 with me. That’s right, I am taking a group to Puglia, South East of Italy on the Adriatic Sea. In 2012 American soap opera running on T.V. since 25 years ago “The Bold And The Beautiful” filmed eight episodes of the main protagonist’s wedding between the towns of Alberobello, Polignano a Mare and Fasano, a very quaint area of the region.  
I didn’t even know the existence of this soap opera until I spotted this video, now I just hope Hollywood’s influence on the region doesn’t help raising prices for the locals.

Local Flavor

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Don Antonio the fruit vendor, truly an Italian charmer, always offers the typical afternoon glass of bubbles (Italian Prosecco) with familiar shoppers that come in after 6:00 pm. He knows how to keep the shoppers faithful to his merchandise and how to keep them in the shop. It is a ritual while shopping there for produce to get a glass of Prosecco and a taste of something delicious his wife prepares daily with his fruit and vegetables. They are two delightful people who can steal your time blindly if you don’t watch the clock. Often, Italian shops are daily meeting points of people living in the neighborhood. They buy whatever product the store sells while they indulge in gossips, news, business or even planning future activities between each other.

My local flavors include the show all the fishermen put out on the seafood bank along the promenade in Bari, the main city of Puglia. My group will enjoy watching them opening live shell-fish, will get a real amusement hearing them making loud and colorful comments on who has the best fish of the Adriatic Sea and will feel enticed to try some of those delicious morsel of row fish, wine and bread. Puglia is the only region in Italy where people are accustomed to eat row fish, even if the price is as high as 50-60-70 Euro per Kilo.

As a local born in those parts, my work as a tour guide into art, architecture, history and local flavors will be easy. I am planning to show the area on foot and by a private bus. Walking around the streets is the best way to learn the customs of a country. My group will admire the beautiful Mediterranean architecture and learn some insight of the local history. They will learn that balconies are not just an appendix of their flat, but also places for eating outdoor, gardening and exchanging a conversation with the next neighbor. They will admire fashionable people, pick up some folkloric slang or……a lover. Well….., Italy is the country that will enrich you in every sense.

To register for my trip click here, I still have room for April 15, 2013 : http://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-2
Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com
http://valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2013 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola will host two trips a year to Italy with the intention of showing Italy with the eyes of a designer born in those parts and let people experience the ”wheel of emotions” don’t even know exist. She will take her groups to the non-commercial Italy, areas not beaten down by massive tourism. Valentina will guide the tours through art, architecture, food, shopping and special adventures organized for people who want to live it up!

Check out her books on
Amazon – http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

12 Responses »

 

F For Fainting Moments | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Monday, Mar 11 2013

Welcome to my A to Z Challenge on the subject of HOME.
http://myatozchallenge.com/2012/02/20/welcome-to-my-a-to-z-challenge-2/

What do the Récamier, Méridienne and Fainting Sofa have in common? Three reclining chairs of the past and present home décor that have in common one idea: Relaxation. Ancient population understood the benefits of relaxation and included it in their daily life.


For Egyptians, Greeks and Romans the idea of relaxing often on the ‘kline’ – a type of day beds – was part of the daily routine as early as the 8th century BC. The modern Greek word ‘symposion’ or “symposium” means ‘to drink together’ in a party atmosphere with music and conversation while even conducting business. The Romans adopted the daybed for reclining in the daytime and during meals and at night they slept on. This type of daybed was widely used in the Orient as well, where there was no distinction between sleeping furniture and daytime furniture.

(Madame Juliette Récamier above)

Récamier Sofa (above) took the name from Madame Juliette Récamier, a French society leader, whose salon drew Parisians from the leading literary and political circles of the early 19th century. After Madame Récamier’s guests were well fed, she would preside over the discussions while reclining on a sofa, usually wrapped in a yellow shawl. That’s how Jacques-Louis David depicted her. It seems that a bit of gossip is appropriate with a Récamier: Madame Juliette Récamier married at the age of 15 Jacques-Rose Récamier, a rich banker nearly 30 years her senior and a relative of the gourmand Brillat-Savarin, who wrote a few books on the philosophy of cooking and taste. Fantastic books, I read them all and strongly suggest them. A rumor arose that Jacques-Rose Récamier was Juliette’s natural father who married her to make her his heir. The Récamier marriage was never consummated and Juliette remained a virgin until at least the age of forty.

Méridienne – a type of asymmetrical day-bed (above) – has a high head-rest, and a lower foot-rest, joined by a sloping piece. Every grand house of France in the early 19th century had one for every room. Its typical use was for resting in the middle of the day, when the sun is near the meridian, a practice still in use in the South of Europe and Mediterranean basin.

(Edouart Manet above – Fainting Sofa)

Fainting Sofa has a back raised at one end, often wraps around and extends along the entire length of the piece. Fainting sofa deserved separate rooms in the 19th century home décor, only used by women to faint on, due to their tight corsets restricting blood flow. However, another peculiar use of this chair made it go down in history. Sex between married people was intended only for procreation. Society’s false modesty prevented  women of high social background from taking care of  their men’ frivolous sex desires, it was considered an indecent behavior left only for prostitutes. That constricted way of thinking caused female hysteria, considered a real ‘disease’ that needed to be treated by home visiting doctors and midwives through manual pelvic massage. It was a recurrent need often requiring hours for the intimate procedure to work, thus creating a room for privacy and a chair for comfort was of the utmost importance.

(Méridienne in my client’s home)

We cannot build our future if we don’t know history. Today, when possible, I like to place one Méridienne chair or Fainting Sofa in my clients’ homes and I can’t help smiling…..Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.Valentinadesigns.com
http://valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2013 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola has been a lifetime designer in fashion and interiors. Her extensive knowledge of colors and materials led her in both directions successfully. She is well-know for designing custom furniture. She cares to make spacious and functional pieces, but she doesn’t forget to introduce the element of surprise, sinuous lines, attractive shapes and colors in the style fit for each of her special clients. She is the author of RED – A Voyage Into Colors, Check out her three books on

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