Café Naïveté

Random post about wheather in England and flower giving tradition in general

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:50:00 +0000

Since I've got to London the wheather has been surprisingly nice and sunny. Pretty much everyone warned me about UK's horrible meteorological condition (though it must be said that most of the informators were italians) so consequently I was mentally prepared to face rain 24/7 for the next three years of my life. Luckily it has been great so far, except for few rainy days and the normal winter cold, bright sun has given me a good morning smile on most of the days I've spent here. Though not today. So instead of staying home and being miserable Londoners get their wellies on, metaphorically said, and get distracted by all the great things that their city offers. Like markets. You can find all different types of markets. After Brick Lane, Portobello Road, Covent Garden and Broadway Market, me and my friend decided to go to the Columbia Road Flower Market, one of the biggest in the city for the flower lovers. And we weren't disappointed. Unfortunately I had left my memory card in my laptop so no photos but we will go back there as it was very nice. And we live just around the corner from it. Here are some pictures of the gorgeous tulips I bought. Since I've got to London I've re-discovered the magic of buying flowers. In Italy the flower buying-giving tradition is not that strong, even on birthdays people do not give you flowers as in Estonia, on the other hand, I used to recieve at least a dozen of roses from all my friends and classmates each year. People should always give flowers to each other as it's such an easy way of bringing a little bit of simple happyness to your and other people's day. Well.. it came out to be a really random post.

Discover more about different markets in London on:
http://www.timeout.com/london/feature/996/london-markets

Dreaming Milan thanks to "Milan Dreaming"

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 11:44:00 +0000

I've been in Milan only once before moving to Rome, seven years ago. But it doesn't count as I spent the only night there freezing in front of the train station waiting to get my ticket to Rome. All this suffering because we thought that getting cheap flight tickets to Milan was clever. Couldn't be more wrong. On our way back we missed the flight and ended up paying triple as much.

In all these years in Italy I've heard many controversial opinions about Milan. Some say it's too grey and industrial, the weather is bad and the people are cold. But I guess this idea is particularly common to romans as there has always been rivalry in-between the two most important italian cities. Other's strongly contradict these negative opinions and absolutely love the vibrance and synergy of the italian most international and creative city. I am strongly intrigued by Milan and I am planning on visiting it properly in the near future. The 2015 Expo is the perfect excuse. The reason I am writing this post is the video above. Take a few minutes to watch it as it's worth it. Simple shots and frames, almost as if this clip was composed by "moving photographs". It is made by Francesco Paciocco. I wonder why I haven't heard of him before as his work is amazing! Check out his videos on vimeo. And now tell me, you who you have been or lived in Milan, how is it?

PS! My dear readers, if you like you can support me on facebook by simply likeing my page here! Thank you!

Preparing elegantly for a better, brighter and more successful 2012, in Ralph Lauren way

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 18:43:00 +0000

"One Fifth" is the name of the winter collection firmed by Ralph Lauren Home. Once in every 6 months I remember to check their website for some inspiration and once I do it I end up being carried away by their breath-takingly glamorous photos at least for a couple of hours. Ralph Lauren Home designs are easily recognizable as all the collections are mostly inspired by the late 19th, early 2oth century's anglo-saxon upper-middle class home decor trends. Undoubtedly a huge role is played by the ad campaigns which perfectly express everything the maison stands for: classiness, fabulousness and timeless elegance unreachable for normal mortals. Although I doubt I'd like to live 24/7 in this kind of perfection I wouldn't mind surrounding myself with this kind interiors in some special occasions.

On the website the collection is defined as feminine expression of glamorous deco style. I personally find it rather masculine and obscure. The only woman figure I could associate this collection is the fatal Sharon Stone from Basic Instinct. And yet I'm strongly seduced by the collection's hypnotic Art Nouveau and Egyptian vibe combinations.

New Year's Eve in the horizon, this collection could be a great source of inspiration for a special occasion like the one last dinner of 2011. Elegant, strong and memorable. Could you imagine a more fabulous and greater way of starting a New Year?

My absolute favorite item!

Grrrrreat design for a chair firmed by Ralph Lauren Home!!

Have you ever had a serious themed New Year's Eve party on occasion of which you've almost re-decored your rooms and bought some new home decor/cutlery/design items? Or if you're planning on having one this year, what kind of preparations are you doing?

Merry merry Christmas to you all!

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:27:00 +0000

For now all the gifts should be wrapped (I just finished my last ones), cards written and food cooked. Some of you have already eaten, some of you like me are still suffering in hunger! Unfortunately in few hours this slightly pleasant pain will be transformed into a heavy aching full of guilt and regret, just like every year. And just like every year, automatically "The serious diet" promise makes it into the Top Five of New Year's Promises-list. Whether you actually start it or not, that we'll discuss in the future, there's literally no space for worrying about that today. So here are my very deliciously fishy Christmas wishes to you all!! Let me explain that "fishy" is for typical italian Christmas-meal tradition as here all you eat before Jesus was actually born is fish, fish and fish. That means fish starters, fish pasta, fish steak and fish desserts! Kidding, no fish desserts but almost. That's all folks!

Merry Merry Christmas !!

Sincerely yours,

Merilin.

Christmas Romance in Rome

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 09:23:00 +0000

The other day I went for a quick Christmas-shopping in the center and took my camera with me. First of all I went to the fancy italian food boutique called Castroni. Castroni was first opened in 1932 on Via Cola Di Rienzo, just around the corner from the Vatican. You can find absolutely everything in Castroni - from oriental spices to scandinavian gingerbread! And, as I discovered this time, also english shortbread, which my mum insanely loves! I bought the ingredients for the cookies I planned on making later on and then I head to Via Del Corso, the main shopping street that links to the Spanish Steps. Once my shops were made I continued on wondering around the small streets, or vicoli, as they are called in italian, and taking some pictures.

"Torrone in vetrina" - torrone is the typical italian Christmas white sweets. It's made with honey, sugar and hazelnuts.

Via Cola di Rienzo.

Via del Corso. It wasn't as crowded as I expected it to be.. I even managed to take a picture of it!

The piazza that links Via del Corso to Via Condotti, the most exclusive shopping street in the city, at the end of which there is Piazza di Spagna. There were, strangely, two Christmas trees. The nice and fat one you can see on the picture, and then the taller, skinnier tree which you can sightly see from the left edge of the image.. I wonder if the shape of the tree has something to do with the fact that it was infront of the huge Fendi department store... hah!

The chestnut seller! I love chestnuts!! They taste like potates only they're sweeter. In Italy chestnuts are a typical Christmas treat.

Piazza di San Lorenzo in Lucina had this very strange christmas decoration.. Huge christmas packs with names of the shops on the piazza on top of it.. function? ...

Ciampini is one of the most famous Caffès-bar-ice-cream shops in the center. It is known for its very "prestigious" clients like politicians &co.

Oh how kitsch!

Via Condotti.

Via Condotti towards Piazza di Spagna.

This is a parallel street to Via Condotti. This is the back-entrance, which hasn't been in use for years, of the famous and probably one of th emost expensive bars in Rome called Il Caffè Greco. The coffee is told to be served in golden cups.. probably a myth but apparently a good one as it results to be in the top twenty tourist attraction list.

Piazza di Spagna.

And finally at home...

Preparations for my bisquit-cooking-mission! (Never have I done it before in my life... )

Almonds.. chocolate..

Cooking time boreness...

And tadaaa!! They seem delicious - I haven't tasted them properly, have to wait until the 24th!
These bisquits are called in italian "i fiorentini". You can find different recipes, I read four different ones and at the end invented my own version. I used cream instead of eggs and powder sugar instead of normal sugar. Also I added some grinded orange peel in the mixture which goes perfcetly together with dark chocolate!

Quick visit to the cinema withmy little sis! The Puss in Boots is such a hilarious cartoon, i recommend it to everyone! I think it was great that Antonio Banderas did the dubbing in italian too so it didn't lose its initial groove..

And finally here I am with my family enjoying our Grinchy Christmas!

Some real gingerbread cookies from Estonia which look better from the actual taste..

Oh how I had missed my home and Rome... it feels so good again walking around the city, discovering new and old, eternally charming small streets and piazzas, especially now in the holiday spirit! And then those cozy moments at home with family, friends and with your loved one!

I'm wishing you all, my dear readers and followers, relaxing, happy and warm Christmas! Eat, drink and laugh a smuch as you can!!

The "Hybrid" project exhibition at the Marylebone campus

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:48:00 +0000

This exhibition was held a little time ago but due to my hand-ins and family/friend's visits to London it is only now that I found some time to post them on my blog. Now.. that I am finally at home.. in ROME! People, yes, after three months of groovy adventures in da city jungle I am back in the chaotic yet static Eternal City. And I couldn't feel any better! But about that later because there's a massive amount of stories and pictures waiting to be published, so firts things first.

So this was the exhibition, that I wrote you about in the previous post. As I expected the chair designs were all awesome. Unfortunately they hadn't made enough publicity so you could count on your one hand fingers the actual "visitors" of the exhibition. I included some photos of me and my team mates in the workshop.

Kawther and Huzaifah.
The designer is on the left, it was his design that was chosen at the end!

Tom admiring the design.

The Dreaming chair. This was my favourite design of all.

About my Playboy chair and the exhibition

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 04:56:00 +0000

It has come time to show you, finally, what I have been doing at uni so far. Re-capping fast: my course is divided in practical and theoretical lectures. From Monday to Wednesday we have practical skills which include materials such as Introduction to Architectural Design and computer Skills. And then on Thursday we have theoretical lectures in Cultural Context and Introduction to Technical Studies and usually there is an afternoon lecture held by someone interesting on some specific subject. Friday is off for indipendent study. Although the time spent at design studios and tutorials isn't that much there is a lot to do indipendently.

So basically in Architecture Design studios we do small design "exercises" and in each task we go through the whole creation process- from simple sketches and idea development to technical drawings and realisation. Our third task was called Hybrid. Every group of six people had to choose two chairs to cut in pieces and re-assemble in a new design and eventually two were built. We have been building the new designs since Monday and today, at 5pm, there will be an exhibition at the Marylebone campus (if interested, print the invitation above and step by). About 40 chairs will be on show (Julia, I've been thinking about you btw!!!). In addition here are the pictures of my chair proposals and my final proposal which wasn't chosen, but which was, in my humble opinion, the cutest of them all!! :)

This one of the chairs, it was given to me by my friend Marian (thanks!), it's actually from Ikea. You don't know how hard it is to find a cheap chair in London - Brick Lane and all the other markets is out of the question as everything looking old = vintage/antique and that means you won't get anything under 40£. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the other chair.

Here are my three proposals. The first one on the right is the one I ended up developing.

In addition to the pieces of the two chairs we were supposed to add one third element. As my chair reminded me of a bunny I added some feathers to it. When I presented the design to my group I ended up calling it a playboy chair and someone from my group suggested that you would probably never feel lonely when sitting on this chair as you can feel "someone" cuddling your back all the time..

So this is the invitation, make sure you print it out and show it at the entrance, otherwise you won't be able to get in!

The Roca Gallery in London

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:03:00 +0000

In October Roca Gallery opened its fourth and last showroom in London, in Chelsea Harbour. As the Roca Gallery showrooms are famous for their sophisticatedly overhelming interior architecture Zaha Hadid Architects studio was chosen to firm this gran final project. I have written about her already before in the occasion of the opening of MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st century arts, in Rome (click here for my photos I took at the event, and here for the information post), she is the architecture it-girl of the decade, if not of the century!

On my visit to the gallery I was kindly invited to return for a special guided tour and here are the pictures I took. The tour was held by one of the architects from the Zaha Hadid Architects studio and the manager of site construction who introduced us the project from concept to realization process of each singular element of the interiors. Nice refreshements we're also offered. So before showing you my pictures here is a sketch of the space and some explanations of the idea:

"The concept for Roca London Gallery is inspired by the various phases and states of water. Water acts as the transformational element moving across the façade, carving out the interior and moving through the main gallery as individual drops."

Every single piece in that space, from concrete panels to floor tiles, were custom made and delivered to the place from different parts of Europe. For this every single detail had to be calculated and re-checked several times before the production process was started. In the production not only handy craftsmen were involved but also artists and sculptors.

"In order to achieve the complexity of the design and do justice to the original concept, it was essential for the project to start the conversation with the engineers, consultants and fabricators at an early design stage. GRC (glass reinforced concrete) and GRG (glass reinforced gypsum) were approved as the materials to respond and meet best the challenge of translating the fluid forms into built environment.
The GRC and GRG fabricator input specified the constraints and rules of manufacturing and installation which in turn informed and developed the architectural concept. Rationalisation techniques were naturally applied and embedded as logical part of the design language.

Straight vertical joints and a horizontal joint at 2.20m were adequately implemented to answer the challenge. The maximum size of the interior GRC panels is 3x5m and the full height facade panels are 2x4m. The two materials were applied with respect to their natural qualities as continuous white surface of the GRG curved gallery walls and exposed natural concrete GRC panels within the product display environments and the facade."

"The complex free-form architectural language reflecting fluidity and nature is driven by the new digital design tools and the constant evolution of digitally controlled manufacturing, fabrication and contemporary construction mechanisms, processes and methods."

"GRP (glass reinforced plastics/ fibre glass) is the material used for the fabrication of the main gallery ‘pods’ serving as lighting elements, shelves and tables and all of the bespoke furniture that includes reception desk, bar, conference table and product display shelves. Subdivision Surface modelling in Maya is the used digital design tool."

The gallery is open for public and in the future it intends to give space for social and cultural events, exhibitions and installations.

Opening times
Mondays to Fridays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m

How to get there
London Overground: Imperial Warf Tube station is right next to the gallery.

Contact and information for up-coming events
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7610 9503
info.londongallery@roca.net

Full adress
Roca London Gallery
Station Court
Imperial Wharf
London SW6 2PY

Website
http://www.rocalondongallery.com/en/home

The very first London story on CN is coming soon!!

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 00:38:00 +0000

Just before stepping on the City Cruises near Tower Bridge

Hello my dear readers, I am finally writing you directly from London! Yes, I have survived! And not only - I am officially having the best time of my life! Not because of all the freedom I have, (you wouldn't exactly call 6 days a week of intense design studio work + hours and hours of reading a freedom), but because I am finally doing what I dreamed of doing for the past 5 years! So no matter how tight the schedule is, no matter how little time I have for myself (sometimes no eating, no washing, no sleeping) I am enjoying each second of it.

There is a lot to share with you and as I like to divide posts by topics rather than mix it all up, I'll be posting bit by bit! Actually there is so much to talk about that I don't know even where to start from so you might want to gently help me out and tell me what are you most curious about?

I would LOVEEE to hear !

"Studying in London is fantastic"

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 22:18:00 +0000

Last night I couldn't fall asleep. You know when you get those illuminating moments which finally make you realize the seriousness of a situation? Well I got one of those at 1.30pm. It finally occurred to me that I'm about to make a radical change in my life and I started really panicking. But they say "sleep on it!" and fortunately morning brought some lightness to the situation. Here I am all excited again about this new chapter of my life.

I haven't written much about my application process as I wasn't sure I could really make it. London wasn't my first choice. I was convinced for long that I'd apply to Politecnico, a very good university for architecture and design in Milan. The very famous architects like Gae Aulenti and Renzo Piano are some of the ex-students of POLIMI. But unfortunately the career options in Italy are not that promising for a young architect, especially if without any connections. And even if you do find a job the odds are small that you're actually going to practice your architectural skills... unless your name is Fuksas (check out his website to understand what I mean). For an instance, for some period actually, Berlin and Barcelona ran through my mind. Even Helsinki sounded sweet as it's so near to Tallinn and it would have been as if I had moved back home. But there was one problem: the language. And this is how London came into the scene.

I started doing some serious research about two years before the application deadline. There were million things I needed to sort out. First of all it was clear I needed to take IELTS test (International English Language Testing System). I didn't attend the preparation courses but I bought the IELTS test book, I warmly suggest it! It was very helpful, without it I would have found myself totally unprepared. It went well and I got 7.5 out of 10. After this serious questions were to be resolved:

1. What unis?

There are many very good universities all over UK for studying architecture like Bath, Sheffield, Cardiff and Nottingham, for example. But I was interested in London and so I continued digging the ranking lists. The Sunday Times has some pretty good university overviews and rankings.

You can also try http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/

There was another thing to keep in mind: every university has its own teaching philosophy. Some schools give importance to the engineerical and technical side, others concentrate more on design, others again teach architecture as the highest form of intelligent art (The Bartlett!). For this you can find some help from the forum called The Student Room. Otherwise you can get a picture by simply reading the university prospectus. I personally was looking for universities which point on creativity. Here is my top 4:

-University College of London (the Bartlett).

-Kingston.

-Westminster University.

-London Metropolitan University aka MET.

2. The next step is to understand how does the application process look like.

If you're about to take an undergraduate course than UCAS resolves all your problems. You just have to register, pay a small amount for the service, fill your CV, write a personal statement, get a reference letter from a teacher (or any other person who knows you well but isn't your family is good enough too) and finally choose the universities where you want to apply. You can choose up to 5.

Keep in mind that personal statement is the crucial element of the whole process. It's about selling yourself as well as you can. Without esagerating, of course.. Once finished let different people read it and give you back some honest critique. You need some time to perfection the letter. If I'd have sent the first letter I wrote I wouldn't probably get in.

3. What are the entry requirements?

This was simple. Usually all the unis have information about entry requirements on their website. After you applied the universities, if interested in you, contact you directly by email and give you the instructions. The ones I chose wanted to see a portfolio with my works.

4. What's next?

This time the decision is communicated to you through the UCAS Tracking system. If you're not refused you can get two type of offers: the unconditional and the conditional. I got two conditional offers: by MET and Westminster. I had to obtain 70/100 on my State exams and have minimum 6.0 as the IELTS test result.

I chose Westminster as it was my second choice after UCL. It is much more difficult to enter in UCL as, before seeing your portfolio, they send you a task. The task consists in five works/sketches that you must do in 20 days. The competition is really high so you must be really good to get in!

Hope you appreciated my post about the application process. When I first started my research I was really confused and it took me a lot of time to sort out the things because I was also undecided whether I'd need to do a foundation course or if I should choose interior design instead. But in the end thanks to the help of few of my friends who have all been through it I managed to clear my mind and here I am.. going to London!

For any questions feel free to contact me on: iamthrilling@gmail.com

Sometimes a big doubt turns out to be just a small stupid question mark! ;)

With this post I want to thank especially my dear friend Maris who gave me all the moral support (and not only) that I needed!

Sanremo.. Sanremo.. ooh how I miss you!

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 23:02:00 +0000

Finally here I am! After an accurate choose & delete & upload process I am (almost) ready to start posting the pictures.

Our vacation was simply perfect! It was all about nice walks in the flower gardens and parks, delicious aperitivis (happy hours) at the seaside, fun cooking and having guests over, night shopping and silly photosessions. It was surely one of the most relaxing ones I've ever had. We also had a blast by doing some tourist-must-do's once in Sanremo like visiting the Casinò and the famous Villas.

Here's the first part of our trip: the arrival, at our house, the old town and the lungomare.

On our way we decided to go by plane. BAD IDEA! We took a flight to Nicewhere we were picked up and taken by car to Sanremo. Nice is only one hour away from Rome but it took much more as our flight was delayed for 10 minutes for 5 times! But it's quite usual for Fiumicino airport. Strangely it's not legal to take pictures of public transport in Italy - not in airport and not in the metrostation - as soon as I took my camera out I was noticed but I managed to stole some shoots anyway ! ;)

Here we are, just arrived in France and on our way to Sanremo, in the traffic casino ofcourse.

We passed all the famous French Riviera and Italian Riviera hot spots like Monte Carlo, Monaco, Ventimiglia.. I took some pictures from the car but they are not that worthy to be posted here.. This road reminded me a lot of my Eurotrip with my family back in 2008 when we drove from Savona to Monte Carlo. I remember promising myself I would return there one day. The very first car-trip I'll do as soon as I'll my own car shall be from the italian coast to the french coast and I'll visit all the small towns one by one, they're all so precious!

Warnings coupon for tourists in Cote d'Azur...

And.. finally at our sweet apartment! It turned out to be a very cozy home and we liked to spent our time there.. Infact one of the things I miss the most is our house.
We took it very easy and so every day we woke up late and had our long breakfast on our wonderful terrace. Usually right after we'd finish clouds would show up and stay stubbornly until 16 o'clock, that's why we didn't get much to the beach.

Often we preferred staying at home for lunch as it was so cozy there! It was almost great as at the restaurant, only more intimate.

And now some shoots of the town! Sanremo is known the most for the flowers. It's very cured and green, there are flowers everywhere you look!

The wonderful lungomare.. The walks we took there were spectacular! You could see all the town from there. The view was amazing especially in the evenings!

Here there used to be the railway but about 10 years ago it was re-constructed in a cycling road.

Coming up: the happy hour at Victory's and Ferragosto fireworks.

Stay tooned,M.

Groove baby just groove!

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 20:27:00 +0000

Duck Sauce - Goody Two Shoes (Viceroy Edit) by VICEROY

Oh aren't they just two very groovy brothers?! Sooo loving the track right now!

via electrocorp

About the "vintage photo effect" we all like so much

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:14:00 +0000

On my way to Sanremo at the Fiumicino airport

Have you noticed how suddenly on all photo sharing sites people have started massively pubblish, like and share photos of that strange ruined-effect? Analog photos (or the effect obtained by photoshop) have been popular among photographers for some years already but it is only now that, thanks to blogging and tumblr-ing, this technique has become a trend and a really hot one! But why? Ten years ago (digital) photo perfection was the ultimate goal and now that we've reached it, we suddenly venerate those kind of photographs which look like if they've been thorn out of our parent's youth photo albums. Is it just nostalgy? Or are we simply tired of those super- clear, professional and flashy pictures?

There are many programs and aps you can download/buy online for your computer or phone so an analog camera is only an optional. Pentacom is a site, for example, where you can modify your pictures for a small price, it's used by known fashion blogger The cherry blossom girl.
So far I've been digging the sharp and vivid effect on my photographs but now I feel like to experiment and change. I was thinking about starting to use pentacom too but then I found this tutorial for photoshop on SpoonGraphics! I found it really easy and I warmly suggest to all of you who have the program. If you should have any questions about photoshop use this support service site.

Do you like this retro effect?

Party on the roof with the best view ever! ..and about roman humour

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 22:50:00 +0000

I know I was supposed to post pictures of my trip but I remembered I didn't publish these pictures of a cozy and intimate roof party I was at just before leaving. We celebrated Elisa's 26th birthday. That was one memorable evening. Funny how places you are condition the subjects and topics you discuss: in a location like that we couldn't not end up talking about UFOs. Not in a traditional way, at some point we reached the probability theory and there all things got fuzzy for me..

Here we are.. still normal.

Elisa, the birthday girl.

The scientists.

And here we are.. trying to demonstrate the probability theory by using lemon slices (note the yellow spots on the floor)... clever.

Continueing.. my boyfriend, as usual, managed to distract us from the discussion by making his usual jokes.. One day I should write you more about roman humour.. now that is phenomenal. I still don't get the jokes sometimes.. after five years, think! And I do not believe it's because of my dumbness :D Romans just got that special irony which you can understand only if you know well the circumstances that inspire them. And that is the chaotic life in Rome with romans.

Loris and Elisa.

Luca.

So.. this is it. I guess this is a good night then!
M.

Back into the reality

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 21:02:00 +0000

Heyyaa people I'm baaack! Our vacation was amazing!! Starting with the cozy apartment we stayed at and finishing with gorgeous evenings spent at the port of Sanremo. Got lots of pictures (toooooo many!) and sweet memories to share. Stay tooned, I'll do my best to start bombing you with posts already tomorrow, now I'm just way too tired..!
Ciao belli!

Sanremo, here I come!

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:24:00 +0000

I am happy to announce that after months of heat in Rome me and my boyfriend are finally going on a vacation. At 10 o'clock we'll take the plane to Nice and then right after we'll drive to Sanremo. We're staying there a week, including the Ferragosto night. I'll write all about it as soon as I return! In the meanwhile I'm wishing you all lots of sun and good time! Enjoy this track:

Dominant Legs - "Hoop Of Love" from stereogum on Vimeo.

Loving this sound and the video- gives me just the right summer vibe!

PS! check out some more vintage italian postcards here.

And the Ponza adventure continues..

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 23:22:00 +0000

Also my family was very satisfied by their trip to the Ponza island. They stayed in a lovely B&B with a spectacular view, take a look!

One evening my mother, while swiping some vine and enjoying the marvellous sunset on the terrace, spotted a fashion show of a private party in a villa right down in the valley (Ponza is mostly mountainous). After she told me about it I googled a little and I found three or two editorials of the house, where the fashion show was held. Turns out that the villa belongs to Mrs Silvia Venturini Fendi herself! For the record, ladies and gentleman, we are having to do with the woman who created one of the biggest It-Bags of all time, “the Fendi Baguette”! I was so excited for having discovered this hidden pearl! You know I go crazy for special houses! And I found some good material for a possible up-coming "An early morning wake-up with.." post.

The B&B's entrance.

The terrace.

Ponza "streets".
For any information about the B&B (75 euros per night for two) on Ponza island write me on:
iamthrilling@gmail.com
or
mvmbdicesare@gmail.com.

I anticipate you of some of the shoots of editorials I found.
The photographer who did the best editorial is one of my favourite of all time. I will write you about her more in the next post.

These are taken from her personal blog and so they weren't published on the magazined. I'm a big backtsage shoot lover - no matter what the quality is, they alwas look much liver and vibrant thant the final result. (Check out the posts of back-stage shoots of Campari Calendar 2010 and 2011)

I can't recognize all the people on this shoot but on the extreme right there is Silvia Venturini Fendi and the others should be her sister and daughters. (correct me if I'm wrong).

To be continued...

Let's talk about vacations at the seaside near Rome: the Ponza island.

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:24:00 +0000

The other day me and my mother were talking about vacations at the sea-side. Most of the tourists who come to visit Rome don't know about the wonderful possibilities to enjoy also the sea-side once here. I'm talking about Riviera Ulisse. It's beautiful and wild, it's exclusive (some of the richest and wealthiest italian/roman families have villas for decades there), it has many important archeological sites AND it's near Rome. A perfect combo for who is interested in taking a pause from the heat of the Capital. Differently from other famous rivieras in Italy (like Costa, Ligure, Costa Amalfitana, just to name few), Riviera Ulisse is still untouched by the mass-tourism. Once there one should definitely rent a car as there are many little towns and villages to visit, all so very different from one another.

One of my first vacations I went alone to was, infact, in this coastal are, back in 2006. Me and my friend Erika, who has a summer house in San Felice Circeo, went to visit these marvellous little paradise islands in the Gulf of Gaeta. Here are some pictures I took with my compact camera:

Over a year ago also my family went there on a vacation. Unfortunately I wasn't able to join them as I had organized the year-end party with my classmates at the beach.

This post is to be continued....

Fabulously Naïve

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 00:03:00 +0000

Finally an up-coming change gives me just the right reason to talk about myself and my blogging. In a month or more I'll be moving to London. This means that CN's posts content shall change a little: I won't continue writing about Rome in the way I used to as London shall take the lead-role.

It's hard to leave. I have fallen quite deeply in love with Rome and it's almost impossible to imagine my future in any other city. But on the other hand this is something I have wanted already before coming to Rome. And changing is positive. This is how Café Naïveté was born, for example. As soon as I came here my reality was put under question. I discovered I had been fabulously genuine.. ! Not that it wasn't normal for my age (15 afterall..). And I urged to share those naïvé-moments with others.. The rest is as clear as one + one. This blog is where I take my moment.

Now, as one chapter is succesfully about to close, I would like to re-see with you some of the best posts I've written in these past years (in a chronological order):

- More than a century of splendour for Bulgari
(fashion)

-Let me tell you few things about italin men
(Italian lifestyle)
!!!!

-La Ex Dolce Vita
(Italian lifestyle) / (legendary story)

-Tale me to Ipanema
(legendary story)

-Illuminate me
(design)

-The Fellini of Fashion
(fashion)

-The Glorious Bastard
(design)

-La Dolce Vita al Mare
(Italian lifestyle)

-Stare. It is the way to educate your eye, and more.
(photography)

- How 150 years of Italy woke me a sense of patriotism for Estonia.
(my story)
!!!!

I warmly suggest you to read all these posts, these are my favourite;) Take a moment and support my blog also on facebook here! I would like to ask you, my dear readers, what is it that you enjoy and appreciate the most in this blog? What type of posts inspire you and what would you like to see here more?

Genuinely yours forever,
Merilin.

Killing some time in Trastevere

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 22:46:00 +0000

The other week me and my classmates celebrated Francesca's (our classmate) birthday in Villa Pamphili. It was a whole lot of fun - she organized us a war-session with water-pistols, we had to dress up and everything.. We looked hilarious.. I'll post pictures soon! After that we left Villa and head on to Trastevere to have some cocktails and chill out a little. Here are some pictures I took of my classmates during the trip.

Michael.

Michael and Alessio.

Luca.

Alessio, again.

Tommy and Alessio.

In da car..

Killing some time in the traffic.

In Trastevere, there were some dancers who performed us pizzica, typical dance of South Italy, with live music and everything.

Simone.

At Tevere.

The roof is on the fire II

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:05:00 +0000

I haven't got much chance to get tanned as I've been in Rome almost for the whole summer now. We do have a beach here... but excuse me, after the killer-blue sea of Sardegna or Salento or even Sabaudia.. Ostia "mi fa schifo!" (is disgusting). But as I'm about to go on a vacation in a few days (finally me too!!!) I've been taking some sun on the roof instead. I was annoyed, obviously so I brought myself bunch of stuff: my diary (yes I still have one), a book, two magazines, radio (my phone) and some nailpolishes. And my camera (as you can see).

This year my wardrobe's colour palette is all about salmon.
Salmon pink, salmon orange, salmon red.. From scarves to dresses, from accessories to nailpolishes. (don't think I wear them all together although).

All the necessary to protect myself (the dress, the lipbalm, the sunglasses) and some other stuff to have fun: a book about Waris Dirie's (famous model in the nineties) return to Somalia. Some of the stories about the situation in her homeland (today, right now and not twenty years ago) are really terriffying, if not unbelievable. She fights against the female genital mutilation (FGM), you can get more information about it on her site: www.desertflowerfoundation.org/en/

With this post I want say hi to my friend Kadri-Ann who this year, unfortunately, didn't make it to Rome but who I miss like hell!! We used to chill on the rooftoop together. During the day to tan, during the night to watch the stars and chitchat. I think this is the first summer we didn't see each other since we're friends (7 years!!!). But soon we'll make it up, I'm sure.

In the meanwhile ciao to ya all,
stay tooned,
M.

PS! I'm still working on the post about Café Naïveté.

Huntin' some treasure in Rome!

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 08:38:00 +0000

Friday was probably one of the most exciting days of this summer. It all began a few days ago when I was contacted by one my mother's client who needed help in organizing a surprise for her husband. She invited me for an apéritif at Hotel Eden, a five-star hotel just next to Villa Borghese and five minutes from Via Veneto and Piazza di Spagna. The restaurant and the bar is on the roof, with a breath-taking view on Rome.

Now this is a Royal entrance!

This is only a 1/6 of the whole view!!!

This is how the aperitif looks like. Delicious! For some more click on Le Meridien Hotels's flickr photostreaming here. So, back to the business. Here's what it was all about. Every year she has prepared something special for his birthday and this year wasn't an exception. She had a clever yet a risky idea to make a treasure-hunt in Rome. Everything was already planned , the only problem (due to the language) was to convince the people to play along to the game. That's where I came in. Additionally she asked me to be one of the treasures! So this is how I found myself at four o'clock in the afternoon at the Bar Brasile in piazza Venezia, swiping some champagne and waiting for the birthday-boy to show up with his friends.

L'Altare della Patria - a monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of unified Italy, on piazza Venezia. This was the view from the bar (below) where I had to wait. Not bad, huh?

This picture is taken from Google maps, thank God for Google!

Right after it I ran in Fontana di Trevi to leave a map in one of the oldest pharmacies in Rome called "Antica Farmacia Pesci"(click to see a picture of the interior). (This is the only public pharmacy which has conserved its original characteristics since Ancient Rome. The interiors are basically the same since 1552, the year in which it was established. The walls are probably covered by serpentinite, a type of green marble, and furniture in mahogany, I guess).

Anyways the phramacists were so excited to participate and couldn't wait to hear the four russian men pronounce a non-sense phrase - "I cavalli non sono animali pericolosi" (horses are unharmful animals) their joke of the year! Soon after my boyfriend walked me to my final spot - on Via Delle Quattro Fontane - to keep an eye on the "clue", which was sticked on the pale and to take care the boys head on in the right direction. I hid myself in the bar and Luca took care of everything. Their next stop was at Babington's Tea Room, just next to the Spanish Steps.

My final assignment was to make sure the chauffeur picked up the guys on time for a ride on a vintage car just before the dinner.

It' was fun, especially because I got to share it with my boyfriend. Soon it will be his birthday, I was thinking of doing something similar to him too (he won't read it because it's in english, no worries!). What has been the best surprise someone has ever organized for you on your birthday or for some other special occasion?!

An early morning wake-up with Gillian Zinser

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 09:22:00 +0000

It is time for another post from the series "An early morning wake-up with.. " (check out the one with Rachel Zoe here and with Coco Rocha here!). This time take a sneak-peek into the home of the actress Gillian Zinser. She hasn't done any big parts (yet, let's hope. I love her!) but she sure is a big inspiration for many bloggers at the moment. Differently from other posts this one does not give a big glimpse to the home itself. It rather concentrates on some inspiring home-decor pieces and Gillian wardrobe's key-pieces.

Treasure Hunting

“This is my grandfather’s hat from WWII. The chair I found at that groovy flea market on Farifax and Melrose. I found the corset at a vintage shop in Paris and have been meaning to use it for some sort of homage-to-early-Madonna shoot. I found that amazing onyx black tooth pendant up in Big Sur, and the framed photo was something I found while gutting a house in the lower ninth ward in New Orleans while volunteering with the St. Bernard project after Katrina hit.”

Mad Hatter

“I am mad about hats. I collect them as souvenirs from my globe trotting.”

State of the Art

Top: “The hat on the right I found in a gutter in Haiti. The pieces of art were from a series called 'The Loudness of Silence' that I did in college.”

Bottom: “This photo is from an old self portrait series I did when I was living in Brooklyn.”

Dreamweaver

Top: “I’m in love with dream catchers. I collect them from every trip I take.”

Bottom: Vintage shawl, Chloë Sevigny for Opening Ceremony sunglasses

Easy Rider

“I found these boots at a vintage store in Prenzlaurberg in Berlin.”

Hurley shirt

Coming Up Roses

“I found this dress at the Rose Bowl. The turquoise bracelet was a gift from my first boyfriend.”

Rough-and-Tumble

“I made this voodoo bust a few years back, and my friend Malcolm Ford just gave me that Mike Tyson etching which I’m just mad for!”

Magic Touch

“This is some childhood memorabilia, my crystal magic wand, and my favorite camera to shoot with.”

Rock Steady

“The crochet top is vintage. The teeth are from my favorite store in New York, Obscura Antiques. And I’m just mad for amethysts.”

On Board

“These are two of my favorite Falsa Balsa longboards.”

Hang Up

“This is my ‘bling corner’ where I hang my jewelry from antlers. My dad took that photo of my mom when she was my age.”

Take the Bull by the Horn

“This is a bull’s skull sprayed with adhesive and covered in sand, dripping with a few of my favorite charms.”

Desert Finds

“Here's my old Polaroid collection. And both of these pieces are from my beloved adventures up in Joshua Tree. I bought those leather fringe pants right off an old cowboy outside of Pappy and Harriet’s, and the hat is from the Past Times Antiques shop.”

Paint it Black

“This painting is by one of my favorite artists, Travis Lindquist, from the Goldmine Shithouse Art Collective. The hat and old lace vest are vintage and the bag is Olivia Harris by Joy Gryson.”

Eye Candy

“The artwork is by Kill Pixie (Mark Whalen). These glasses are insane – I used them as a prop for my self-portrait project. The photo booth strip is taken in Berlin.”

Loose Ends

“The artwork in this shot was made and given to me by Kime Buzzelli, who's also the costume designer for 90210. The tattered coral top is from the Greenpoint flea market in Brooklyn. The sequin bib necklace is from a vintage store in Paris right behind the Pompidou.”

"The Divine Heiress" - best collection by Ralph Lauren Home

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 08:46:00 +0000

"A timeworn Old World residence with a sense of history inspires a beautiful translation of bohemian romance.Artfully arranged rooms are filled with eclectic, gently disheveled furnishings and luxe juxtapositions of rustic and refined."

This home furnishing collection came out in Autumn 2010. You know I'm a big Ralph Lauren brand lover (check out the previous two collections I loved here: the cosy holiday-moody chalet collection and the classy Côte d'Azur- inspired collection.)

Some forgotten shoots of Salento..

noreply@blogger.com (Café Naïveté) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:43:00 +0000

These are taken in Nardò.

(WIKI:) This baroque town in the heart of the Salento subpeninsula of the heel of Italy extending southeast between the Ionian and Adriatic Sea, has landscapes considered to be among the most beautiful in Italy, baroque monuments, baroque churches and masserie (typical ancient fortified farmhouses). The coast has sandy and rocky sections, but allows some lovely views of the Natural Park of Portoselvaggio. Its territory includes 34 km of Ionian Sea coast with ancient fishermen villages: Santa Maria al Bagno, Santa Caterina and Santo Isidoro.

I included these shoots in my photography portfolio which I presented at my oral exam. I was so happy to recieve big compliments from the examination council as one of the professors was a great intender and art critique in general!