fuori salone, armani, manifestazioni

i just finished uploading the rest of my photos from design week onto my computer. this batch is actually from fuori salone from the zona tortona area, which is pretty close to my house. i saw some pretty great things, but the actual fair itself was pretty hard to beat.

while on my way over there i met a couple of kids from the netherlands, eindhoven actually. apparently this city is not only the location of a very famous design school but apparently is the center of the design universe in the netherlands. i hear they'd like to give milan a run for the title vis a vis organizations like brainport they were here with a group of students and alumni exhibiting at fuorisalone. their space was called jewels and joules . it was one of the best things i saw over the entire week. the two people that i met were the "food designers" which is a totally new concept to me. basically they experiment with different flavors of food and design dishes. as chefs have been doing this since the dawn of time, it's not a particularly revolutionary concept. the twist in this case is that the people doing it are not chefs so they come to it with a different perspective on how food mixes and functions socially - interesting indeed. in this particular project they were using foods that are typical of south-eastern holland such as white asparagus, purple potatoes and smoked eel (totally delicious i swear to god). the eel is hanging above the table in this photo, along with bundles of asparagus.

the following photo is of a lamp that is currently in production that is made up of small foam oil drums. the number of oil drums that make up the lamp when the customer receives it depends on the price of oil at the time of purchase: the higher the price the fewer drums and thus the smaller the lamp, the lower the price the more drums and the bigger it is.

much of the show was about sustainability, gardening and food. here is my absolute favorite thing that i saw at the salone del mobile. it's a cultivation cabinet in which one can germinate seeds and grow small plants. it could comfortably live inside of the house and is a really beautiful structure. i'm going to ask bill to build me one.

here are some other assorted photographic highlights from zona tortona:

all of the preceding fuorisalone business happened last saturday. i had had all kinds of grandiose plans for sunday, but ended up doing basically nothing because i was exhausted and the weather was rainy and shitty. the weather remained rainy and shitty through wednesday. ugh. milan. wednesday night some girls from my program invited me out to an aperitivo and then we went to armani prive. i know it sounds super exclusive, but it's basically just like an other club, except it really is guest list/table only and the drinks are 20 euro! wtf man?! i did really have a good time, drunkenly dancing all over the place and being appalled by all of the incredibly scantily clad women bouncing about. i definitely can't see going there regularly, but every once in a while it's fun as evidenced below.

i know that this is the longest post in history, but it's mostly images! i'm trying not to tax all of your brains too intensely with lots of reading, just visual stimulation - yeah!

today, may 1st, is a holiday in italy. i honestly have no idea why and i don't really feel like researching it (but conveniently you're already on the internet and can if you feel so inclined). i went to my friend yael's house to interview her for a project and ended up staying and having lunch. we went out to meet up with a friend of hers and decided to go to the center, since it's the only part of the city that's open on holidays - if you're lucky. our tram driver made an announcement that it couldn't reach the center due to a manifestazione. we decided to walk since it wasn't really that far. about two blocks closer to the duomo, we found ourselves in the middle of this:

in case you were wondering, yes, that huge black thing is a wall of speakers that was blasting out fantastic reggae music and all of those people around us were dancing up the street behind it as it drove towards the center of the city. it was truly fantastic, particularly in a country with no open bottle laws. we were drinking beers and dancing up the street and the weather was amazing!

salone del mobile

the inauguration of salone del mobile, which is probably the most important design fair in the world, was a few nights ago. the trade show is accompanied by fuorisalone, literally translates to outside the salon, all over milano, during which time showrooms, galleries, studios and stores and open until all hours of the night and the city teems with designers, industry people and enthusiasts from all over the globe. i've been looking forward to this week since i arrived in italy and thus far i have not been disappointed.

my school scheduled our class on management of design-based companies to coincide with design week, which was quite brilliant on its part. tuesday night, after an abysmal attempt to go out with some friends to check out opening cocktail events, i ran into anna, a friend whom i've been thinking about for some time. a friend from the mafed and i ended up hanging out with anna, her boyfriend and some fantastic friends of theirs until late. one of the best things about italy (or really the world outside of the united states) is that there are no open bottle laws here, so i went to the kebab shop, spent 3 euro on a large bottle of beck's, and enjoyed it outdoors in the company of about 500 other people. it was fantastic, really.



last night (thursday) after taking it easy wednesday, read: going-out-light, i went to an aperitivo at strafbar with a couple of friends from school and friends of friends. then we went to the kartell store, drank a couple glasses of free prosecco and then to g lounge, where i danced the night away surrounded by (mostly) gay men. i scored ten additional points when i spilled someone's drink straight into one of my favorite ankle boots - yes, my foot was in it at the time. another excellent night.

today really kicked ass.

woke up hung over, sleep deprived and shall we say, slightly disoriented. i managed to break through the hangover by the time i was in the shower and got myself out the door on time, dry hair, looking decent (save your applause please). after a few minor hiccups and a very crowded metro, i arrived at the rho fiera complex where the salone del mobile is held. words cannot describe how incredibly, unbelievably, amazingly ridiculous this show is. it is chock-full of the most important design companies in the entire world. i was awestruck.



you would've been too...i promise. this afternoon we went on a couple of tours of the showrooms of some pretty amazing companies: b&b italia and boffi which were utterly amazing. so, at the end of a long long LONG week, i'm happy - and lying in bed. here are some photos for your viewing pleasure.

i just watched a youtube clip of susan boyle singing on britain's got talent and i spontaneously burst into tears about two seconds after she started singing. i've never seen anything like it. every single person's face who was listening to her had the eyes of a child. it was one of the most amazing things i've ever seen.

i was talking to a friend the other night and she reminded me that i have a blog that - embarassingly enough - i had completely forgotten about. i'm sure i would have remembered eventually on my own, but the reminder certainly didn't hurt.

so. it's been about two and a half weeks since i wrote my last entry. i don't even remember what it was about. maybe i'll go back and read it. i actually somehow feel like a different person again. my state of mind has completely changed since before bill came, which is quite strange considering that it was less than two weeks ago. i am so so glad that we had a break from school. i was on the verge.

bill came on wednesday april 8th and it was really amazing to see him. when i first saw him at the airport, he looked kind of strange and unfamiliar to me. it took a little while before he just started looking like him again, about 45 minutes i'd say, so not that long really.

it was funny to be together after so much time. we, of course, know each other well but there was also something a bit foreign about him that was great. we didn't do a whole lot of sightseeing or running around really. i introduced him to my couple close friends here, which was lots of fun. otherwise we basically just talked and spent time together. it was really nice to catch up with him more than anything, and to have him in my space here. i was super-entertained by the fact that i had him in my apartment. funny.

we went down to reggio emilia which is a pretty small city in emilia romagna (a food famous italian region, the home of parmigiano, prosciutto, culatello and balsamico). we basically just hung around the mile wide downtown area of which our hotel was in the center. we got out saturday night to eat dinner at a fancy restaurant in parma. the food was good, but i don't know why we keep trying to do the fancy restaurant thing. we've been over it for a while - maybe nostalgia? so, it's time to cut it out. otherwise we just spent really good quality time together...surrounded by delicious food...in italy. not so bad really.

since he left on wed, i've mostly been hiding out in my apartment. i've left a couple of times to run errands and get together with friends, but for the most part...hibernation. it's been great actually. tomorrow more me-time and then maybe a drink with a friend.

i really have a major urge to start blog posting in italian, but seeing as how approximately 100% of the (i'm thinking five or so) readers of this blog don't speak italian...it wouldn't really make sense. it occurs to me that i could start another, but let's be honest; if i'm not keeping up with this one, do we really think that i'll write two? no we do not. so - english. for now.

on and on

ever since a friend told me about a completely amazing streaming tv site, i've been hooked. something about dark comedy has been deeply satisfying lately. i watched four seasons of weeds in two weeks. now i'm onto dexter. it's completely amazing in a totally sick way and i'm in love.

school's going fine. time is passing, and i'm managing to somehow pull good work out of my ass. i have no idea where it's coming from, but i'll take it. bill's coming in two and a half days. i can't wait to see him. i can'hardly believe that it's been three months already. time is flying by.

i started thinking about work today. i'm dreading the job search. i've actually been musing about california a lot lately. i don't really know why but it keeps jumping into my head. who knows? maybe we'll move back there. i certainly wouldn't say no to the land of no winter. after this past one (not really) in milan, i don't think i can go back to chicago for another freezing ass seven months of indoor sports. it's just too damn cold and too damn grey.

the silence is ringing in my ears

the past week has been interesting.

i've found myself completely and utterly unmotivated to even go to school, let alone actually do any schoolwork. it's a good thing that i have groups, otherwise, i would literally be doing nothing right now. it's really depressing to be so uninterested, but mostly i think i'm just really burnt out.

bill's coming in two weeks! i'm actually a little bit nervous. stupid right? it's been a really long time since we've seen each other. of course i'm super excited, but nervous nonetheless.

my class visited the tod's flagship store on via della spiga (super upscale part of milano) yesterday. it was actually really interesting. that seems like a stupid thing to me really because i spent so long working in stores, but mono-brand directly owned stores, are totally different animals that exist for totally different reasons. perhaps the best thing about the visit was that diego della valle, one of the gods of italian entrepreneurship himself, showed up to say hello to us. that was pretty fucking awesome.

i feel like i have other things to say, but am never quite sure how candid blogging can really be. i would love to let it all hang out, but that somehow feels unwise on this platform.

i hope you've been enjoying my written schizophrenia but sorry lovely voyeuristic readers...

guess you'll have to find some other sap from whom to get your information.

i love i love....reggae music

tonight i finally went to a reggae night that i've know about since i was here in november. i've been meaning to go forever, but haven't for one reason or another. it was fantastic. the music was totally great and i danced my ass off. i met some totally adorable girls who seem like a lot of fun. thank god for a prospect of life outside of mafed!

tie me off and shoot me up...

i went to micam yesterday, which is one of the biggest shoe trade shows, basically in the world. it was completely amazing. i got a major fix yesterday and today my soul feels nice and full.

when i worked at city soles, all of my favorite companies were those that my boss saw here in milan. i never had any access to them and had no opportunity to understand who the people were behind all of those unbelievable shoes. it was clear to me that these companies, TP and Moma in particular, were the ones that i wanted to get to know the best. yesterday, i finally had that opportunity, and it was utterly amazing.

i was just walking around, checking out booths and taking in the scene, when i was approached by a very tall russian woman, who i had seen earlier modeling some shoes. she asked me where i was from. when i told her that i am american and that i had worked in the industry for a few years, she invited me to come to see her collection. basically she asked to give them some opinions and perhaps some advice about getting into stores in the us. as it turned out, the company was actually a small manufacturer from barcelona, who had some really great ideas, but were scattered all over the place. i told them they needed to tighten up their offering and gave them some tips on which stores to talk to. they were so happy that we had spoken, that they gave me a bottle of spanish wine and invited me to visit them in barcelona. i'm totally going to do that, by the way. it was really really lovely.

the second fantastic thing that happened, was that i ran into a shoe designer from new york, whom i've known for a couple years now...and i completely adore. i sat with her in her booth and talked for about an hour and a half. it was totally great. she's been in the business for such a long time and had so many insightful things to say. she's great! i'm always so happy to see her, but this time in particular.

the third and most amazing, wonderful stupendous event of yesterday was the time i spent talking to the people at TP, which as i mentioned earlier is one of my all time favorite shoe companies in life. it's a factory in marche, that makes most of its money by manufacturing for other companies, but has this totally unbelievable, kind of avant garde line, that's just really amazing. there's a woman working for them, about my age actually, american, who's been living in italy now for the past almost seven years and has been doing all kinds of things in the industry. we sat and talked for like two hours. it was stupendous. i also spoke with a man who is clearly in a managerial position at TP, although what specifically, i don't know. he told me that the company was looking for someone like me who is passionate about the product to represent them in the us. yay! job! i told him that i would be coming to the marche in the next few months and that we would talk more then.

theeeen...i met up with a guy who owns a store in portland, actually who i met through scott starbuck (old city soles boss). nathan and i had a great time, just talking and walking around. we went to a couple really great stores near the duomo in milan. i finally bought some good olive oil to eat raw on salads and things. then we picked up a friend of his and went to aperitivo. it was really great conversation, about all kinds of things. we talked a ton about the future of the industry and retail in general in the us. it really got my blood pumping and my brain racing again.

all in all, a really really fantastic day.