For years, whenever one of our dealers has desired to share more of the New Ravenna line with a customer, they have been forced to use unwieldy binders with mediocre print quality.  While better than nothing, I’ve never been happy with them.

The new and improved catalog has a soft cover, 186 pages, and print quality that makes our old binders look sort of hung-over.

New Ravenna Jewel Glass palette

Recently Marketing Director Christine Campbell and I made our yearly pilgrimage to High Point for market.  We were excited to visit Visual Comfort (retail stores are ‘Circa Lighting‘)  so Christine could pick out some lighting for her new house and I could scope out better props for mosaic photos than the ones that are available here on the Eastern Shore.

New Ravenna borders

While entering Visual Comfort, we were greeted by Paloma and Meredith from their marketing department. “Oh, New Ravenna!” they said delightedly, “We know you–you used our sconces recently in an awesome romance shot.”

Wow!  Our day was made. Sometimes PR is like throwing a message in a bottle into the sea–you might never know if anyone finds it.  We showed them the new catalog hot off the press.  The ‘romance shot’ was on the cover (featuring our ikat-inspired Jewel glass pattern “Loom”)  along with their Bryant sconces by Thomas O’Brian.

"Romance Shot" with Visual Comfort sconces

We explained how happy we were with the new catalog and how grown-up we felt. “It’s your ‘big-girl catalog”, Meredith quipped.

Exactly.  What a perfect way to describe it. I feel like we’ve graduated from kindergarten (or maybe sex ed). Our dealers will be receiving them soon…but if you are a designer or architect and wish to have your own copy, call Courtney at 757-442-3379,  x136, and for twenty bucks (we take credit cards) she’ll be happy to put one in the mail for you. And please tell us how to improve it–we’re already working on the next iteration.

A few weeks ago, an idea that I thought was pretty, ahem, brilliant made it’s way into my Halloween skull.  Lately I’ve been fascinated by lights with designs punched into their shades…

What if, I thought, I used a cordless drill to make hundreds of holes in a pumpkin for a really beautiful Jack-O-Lantern?

So I went to borrow my boyfriend’s drill from his shop SouthEast Expeditions and shared this incredibly novel idea with my friend Lenore, who said, “Oh yeah, Martha Stewart did that last week on the Today Show”.

Oh well.  Slightly deflated, I soldiered on.

My daughter Grace, her friend Anna, and I first went to Appleseed Nurseries in Machigpongo to buy pumpkins.  Appleseed is one of those magical establishments that has “Mayberry” written all over it.  As you can see, it’s a feast for the eyes, and taking these photos made me happy that autumn is here.

Anna nurtures pumpkin punkin in the "nursery"

However, what I’m thinking now when I look at these photos is…how in the world did I let Grace out of the house dressed like that?  At barely 12, my size ten shoes almost fit her–and those are my boots on her feet.  (She is constantly dismayed by the size of her feet and is wont to exclaim “Mommy, when will my feet stop growing?  I can SEE them growing.”) Sigh.

In any case, we hauled our orange treasures home and went to work.

Gabby the Christmas puppy was very curious while Grace and Anna had fun with the pumpkin guts.

I busied myself by drilling a bazillion holes.

And…Ta-Da! Here they are at last, with Martha’s and mine in the center. (Seriously, check out the amazing pumpkins on her website.)

Finally, this is what I carved last year…you guessed it…a Union Jack-O-Lantern! Don’t worry, I won’t be entering any pumpkin carving contests anytime soon– but at least I entertain myself.

May your Halloween be filled with creativity, joy, and many treats!

New Ravenna is a busy place, and although it can be exhilarating, sometimes the pressure of making sure the trains run on time  is, well, stressful–for all of us. One of my fall resolutions is to take more walks and spend more time with Mother Nature. Oh, and to learn how to use my vegetable juicer.

This is a surprised ghost crab who lives on the beach that I frequent.  They are rather cute critters that usually disappear into their burrows at the first hint of vibration from my approaching feet. But yesterday, this one paused long enough for me to snap his photo with my phone. All I have to do is look at the light in this photo and I can’t help but take a deep breath and exhale.

Something else I’ve vowed to do this fall: take more yoga classes–soon we’ll have them here at New Ravenna after work . By more I mean–more than one every two weeks–I know, pitiful.  My friend Shannon Wescoat is a yoga instructor at Impact Fitness in Cape Charles (arguably the best small town in America) but really, I  regard her as someone sent by God to help take care of me.   And to remind me to take care of myself.

Here’s an incredible poem she read recently at the end of our last class–it resonated with me so I thought I’d share:

Headlong Into Love 

I slip into the swift river of grace
the moment I stop trying to control
my fate.  The current takes my
breath away, leaving me amazed
at the release.  Use me up, I say.
Smooth my rough edges
until I offer no resistance to the flow.

Within the enclosure of my open heart,
may the awareness wake and take aim
at my last attempts to grasp the known.
I pray to give myself over to a strength
that isn’t mine, to be carried by the
energy of change and evolution.

I pray to tumble headlong into love
and not reach out even once
to try and break the fall.

by Dana Faulds–From Root to Bloom

As my friend Tucker says, “Isn’t that what it’s all about? Love?”

One of the finest visionaries in the surfaces world is Giovanni Barbieri. I met Giovanni at the Verona Fair (the Italian trade show for all things stone related) years ago and was seduced by his Lucido line. Through the use of a proprietary, carefully guarded secret machine, his studio applies a subtle surface undulation to Carrara, Bianco Antico and other types of stone tiles, transforming them into exquisite surfaces that you immediately want to stroke.

Mini-Versailles pattern (Calacatta stone tiles) in Antico Lucido finish

At the time, our business model did not include distribution of imported products, but, I am happy to announce, times have changed. New Ravenna is now the exclusive Giovanni Barbieri representative to kitchen, bath and tile showrooms across the USA.

Giovanni Barbieri

Born into a family that have been stone artisans for generations, Giovanni was helping out in the family business as soon as he could walk.

Later, after design school, he was able to combine artistic training with his stone business heritage, and voila, he is now a globally respected expert in hard surface textures, carving, and innovation. Also, he is really nice.

One of his specialties is creating a surface that appears to be worn by many feet for hundreds of years. In his charming Italian accent, he explained his R and D approach to me:

“I would take my tile outside, to the streets in Vicenza, put it down, and compare it to the real sidewalks. After a while I was able to duplicate the surface texture exactly, by removing the softer areas of the stone. These are the areas that wear away naturally over time.”

His newest texture is called, aptly enough, Timeworn. Here are 2″ x 4″ Bianco Antico tiles in the Timeworn finish. They come with a mesh backing for easy installation. Apparently when I took these images, I was channeling Morandi, the Italian artist who painted–beautifully–various vessels over and over again.

However, my boyfriend Dave jokes that the below photo is called “Still-life with Illegal Vertebra” because in Virginia it is illegal to own bones that have washed up on the beach. I borrowed this one…

New Ravenna will carry both the original Antico Lucido finish, which is polished and refined, and the Timeworn Finish–a honed (more matte) surface with slight height differences from tile to tile and from side to side. (We can also order you anything you like from his line–these particular products are the tip of the iceberg.)

2" x 2" Calacatta in the Timeworn Finish

However, even with the cobblestone-like texture, it is still appropriate for floors. My accountant looked at photos and said “That tile just makes me want to take off my shoes and walk on it.”

2" x 2" Carrara in the Timeworn Finish

2" x 2" Travertine Noce in the Timeworn Finish

New Ravenna is now sending sample displays to showrooms near you, so you too can get up close and personal with some of Giovanni’s creations, or if you prefer, you can visit him at the Cersaie show on September 21-24, 2011. Enjoy!

Take this board (our Jaqueline Vine pattern, usually shown in white), for example. Recently, one of our showrooms returned it in the hopes that we can match this lot of green. Seeing it in our offices by Sally’s desk, I immediately snatched it up like a lost child and started scheming about how to quickly take a portrait.

Due to the miracle of digital photography, even someone like me who is NOT a photo genius can take decent product shots. So after brainstorming with the angels who pose as design center staff during the day, off I went to Ace Hardware and bought some props, which you see used in the photos above.

However, someone–a smart aleck–I won’t name names, but you know who you are and your name rhymes with “contrary”–had the gall to suggest that my props did not look very…authentic. The next day she brought in what she deemed more appropriate:

Okay, maybe she has a point… I do like it. At least it’s never boring here.

As clients, what would make you more interested in buying this particular floor or wall? The photo with clean props or the photo with props that look like they’ve done some time in the Augean stables?

Here he is holding a panel that a local client ordered (yet to be framed) for their stove back splash–they added sea creatures to our “Eddies” pattern. Maybe I’ll be able to post an installation photo soon.

It takes a village here at New Ravenna, to make your mosaic dreams a reality. Dietrich certainly does his part.

Thanks Dietrich–we really missed you!

Have you ever had an experience so glorious that you relive it almost every day?

Just before Christmas of 2010, my boyfriend Dave and I went to the UAE along with my dear friend the amazing designer Tucker Robbins – you can read about how I met Tucker here, and about our Arabian celebrity friend and host Hussain Al Amry here. When Tucker was urging me to make a reservation to join him in the UAE, he listed a multitude of attractions: “There might be a date palm festival”, “His brother is the Minister of Culture who is very focused on the development of native craft in the UAE”, “They’re building everywhere! An arm of the Louvre!” etc. etc. There were a million reasons why I shouldn’t go. “Tucker, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but business in the past two years has SUCKED” was the main one. *

A very friendly black camel

However, when Tucker announced that a “Camel Beauty Contest” (The Al Dhafra festival) was being held in the desert during his stay, a turning point occurred. A camel beauty contest, seriously? New Ravenna might be going to hell in a hand-basket, but how in the world could I miss that?

My boyfriend Dave and I bought tickets, were met at the airport by Tucker and Hussain in his crazy white Mercedes, and within an hour we were in someone’s front yard, sitting on a rug on the sidewalk, with imperious falcons resting on little perches scattered around the yard:

You can take the boys out of the desert, but you can't take the desert...

During the next few days we were shown shown all the sights of Abu Dhabi and Dubai (which is about an hour and a half by car from Abu Dhabi), then our gallant host Hussain drove us, at 247 kph (I’m not kidding), south into the desert. First stop, the oasis of Liwa, where his boss, H.E. Mohammed Khalaf Al Mazrouei, the Minister of Culture and Heritage, was raised.

Abu (brother) Khalaf often refers to himself as a “simple Bedouin boy” (which is the equivalent of Warren Buffet saying “I’m just a simple country boy”). Liwa is just north of what is commonly known as the “empty quarter”–a swath of desert in eastern Saudi Arabia that is…completely empty.

Dave on the edge of the empty quarter

Apricot colored sand dunes stretch for hundreds of miles, south and east to Oman and Yemen just like in the movies. In fact, when describing his childhood Abu Khalaf likes to tell about the time when he was 14 and took his father’s jeep and drove across the empty quarter to Oman–and back–all the while neglecting to inform his parents of his plans.After seeing the desert through which he drove first hand, all I can say is that he should be happy that I was not his mother.

If you want all your camels to follow you (to a camel festival, for instance), put a baby camel in the back of your truck.

In any case, fast forward a few years and now, in another chapter of the “everyone thought we were crazy (crazy like a fox)” saga, visionary Abu Khalaf founded the Al Dhafra festival outside of his old stomping–I mean Four-Wheeling–grounds in Liwa. The goal was to celebrate and perpetuate the Bedouin culture and heritage, much of which is centered around camels. The first year, 20,000 camels showed up. Not being ones to ignore a good sign, they then planned and built a four star hotel on the grounds in eight months.

Abu Khalaf (grinning) while treating us to a real Bedouin experience

Basically, our good-looking hosts were the Arabian versions of George Clooney (Abu Khalaf) and Brad Pitt (Abu Hussain)–it seemed we always had an entourage, everyone knew them and wanted to speak with them, and we felt like celebrities ourselves.

A fine string of black camels-some walked for a month across the desert to get here! See the video below:

Two kinds of camels are allowed to enter the competitions--black camels and tan camels. The black ones are for meat and milk, the tan ones for milk and riding.

Bedouin encampments dot the horizon for miles around, but the main attractions are the 30,000 camels that arrive from all over the Middle East for the ” beauty contest”. Some of these camels are worth millions, will win millions, and you can get up close and personal with them on “Million Street”–the road on which all the buying and selling is occurring.

Yours truly, walking down "Million Street"

This is a male camel who is really LOVING all the ladies...His daughters behind him are worth over 500k each. Yes, that is a gold lame' blanket.

Other activities at the festival are: shopping at 180 souks selling Bedouin products, falconry demonstrations, date packaging contests, camel racing, and camel milking contests. Where to stay? We camped in tents along with our hosts, but check out the four-star hotel on the grounds, or this five star hotel (heavenly) about an hour away.

The souk area--they've put woven matting over the surface of the sand--it's brilliant.

Typical Al Dhafra scene

This particular camel is considered one of the most beautiful. Rumor has it she's not terribly fond of male camels...but she certainly seems to love her handler.

CNN did a wonderful short video on the camel beauty contest which has been uploaded to Youtube here, and word on the street is that a 3-D documentary is now being made about the festival–click here for details. Somehow I wouldn’t be surprised if Abu Khalaf was involved…

Yes...it's a speed bump sign.

*(Full disclosure: New Ravenna was and is fine–in fact, bookings are now near or exceeding pre-recession levels (thank GOD). But if you are a fellow business owner, you know how difficult it is to tear yourself away even when things are dandy. I mean, the sky might fall while we’re gone, right? It’s tough.)

Tell me if you don’t recognize yourself or your clients in the following question: “What is xyz product (cabinets, lights, paint, appliances, etc) really going to look like when it’s installed in my house? ”

The New Ravenna version: “How can I tell how this little mosaic sample will read once it’s all over my wall? Will I spend all this money and then want to take a sledgehammer to the floor every time I need to pee? ”

Let’s face it, it’s tough to visualize. Clients don’t want to commit until they see the product installed, and they won’t generally be able to see it installed unless they…buy it.

These days, many 3-D virtual design programs exist that purport to solve this conundrum. So far, I’ve only stuck my toe into the large vat of options that exist out there in interior-design-world– 20-20, Chief Architect, Google SketchUp, etc. After viewing random 3-D renderings generated by these programs over the years, I’d always wondered how New Ravenna could have our designs incorporated into them.

But alas, I’ve become fairly ADD after juggling all the different responsibilities a small business lays like a sack of cement on your back. So virtual reality design kept getting pushed further and further down the list of priorities…behind things like: Why is our applied labor cost so high this month? or, (I swear this actually happened) What do you mean we sent Shelley Tile a set of Pokeman pajamas instead of her mosaic order?

But then a wonderfully generous man named Miguel Merida contacted me and wanted to use our patterns in a virtual design program called AutoKitchen, and he sent me a mock-up to demonstrate his product…for free! I have to say we were blown away by the image, by his choice of pattern, and by the way he repeated the pattern.

Mirage mosaic by New Ravenna in AutoKitchen 3-D rendering

Nice job Miguel, right? Having never heard of AutoKitchen, I did a little research. Here’s some history from their website: “In 1998, Microcad Software was the first European company to sign an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) agreement with Autodesk® for the development of a kitchen design program. This is how autokitchen® was born. Today, autokitchen® is the leading stand-alone kitchen design software built on a standard CAD engine, namely AutoCAD®. Since its introduction in 1998, autokitchen® has put the power and flexibility of AutoCAD® into the hands of thousands of designers, architects, builders, cabinetmakers and remodelers.”

Two versions of New Ravenna's Chatham patterns.

Here's a more traditional kitchen that features our Edie pattern.

AutoKitchen will be at KBIS in Las Vegas the end of April–I’ll definitely be checking out their booth (C4990) since we’ll be exhibiting as well, and finally meeting Miguel. Have any of you tried AutoKitchen? What programs do you like to use for your design-work, and why?

Some of you might remember my 11 year old daughter Gracie’s oft repeated pleas for her 11th birthday: a cell phone (not yet), a trip to Italy (see this post), and a German Shepherd puppy. We finally gave in, Christmas 2010.

Gabby (off-white German Shepherd prop-eating machine) and Chinook (big sister, chocolate Lab) just a few weeks ago at home on the beach. Boy they grow up fast!