Bon-gior-no

Hello from a cramped room in an Art Hotel hidden in the narrow streets of Florence. (Fierenze) I normally don't get to do any sort of internet activity while on these holidays, however the weather here is on the warm side with very cool nights and I always have problems with these sort of changes and it makes me feel sick/feverish for one day while my body tries to regulate... today is that day. :( Everyone went on to breakfast without me and then to see the famous masterpieces of Botticelli.

The first day and a half was spent in Milan, there is a huge and gorgeous Kartell store there, full of lucite-y goodness and colorful lamps. Knoll was there as well but closed. Our Milan hotel had Knoll tulip-base tables in the lobby and Knoll chairs in the dining hall. All modern of course but those chairs were like heaven on my back, I want to look into a set for home - even if just a pair, they would do wonders while I sit online.

Italy has strict rules about what sorts of shops and brands/designers can sell here. Anyone who sells online and ships frequently will know the horror stories about lost and pilfered packages to Italy. You're not allowed to send anything having to do with haberdashery, leather goods, (shoes purses etc) from another country into Italy. There's a huge list of other goods having to do with paper, fur etc but I know off the bat that it's any sort of clothing and accessories. Italy loves their Italian designers and want their people to buy Italian-made only. Any shops that are not of Italian origin (Knoll, Chanel, H&M etc) have the capital to pay some sort of agreement in order to have their own shops here. Therefore, the pickings are slim compared to London, Paris, etc but now that we are in Florence, there are the cutest little artisan shops and TONS of vintage shops that I am dying to get to ... once I stop shivering under a blanket.

Gio Ponti seems to be THE MAN here as far as Mid-Century design goes. MCM also seems to be fashionable here - mixed with modern pieces is encouraged. I am just observing what I've seen in shops and I *did* purchase 3 huge design magazines whilst here and the ecclectic mix really seems to work for most people and their homes. The modern Italian design incorporates alot of lucite and still (to me) looks very 80's. I've said on this blog before that I don't care for Italian MCM design, it tends to be too fussy for me. The contemporary stuff can get too tacky. (for my tastes anyway). In a museum in Milan was a small exhibit of furniture, with even a smaller example of  Art Deco - Mid Century pieces. WAY TOO DECORATIVE for me. I don't think Italians are capable of minimalism, everything has to have a swirl or a flounce to wreck the straight plain lines. I did take photos, though and everything will be uploaded when I get home. :)

A French magazine I picked up at the train station shows that MCM living is alive and well there too! It was amazing to see photos of the exteriors of typical French homes that would make you think of Napoleon, Marie Antionette etc --- then to see the insides as bare as can be with perfect white endless walls and sparse furnishings with a bit of color only coming from a Calder-esque mobile. It blew my mind because if I had a provincial style French home I wouldn't even know where to start with modernizing it in that way but these people had it to the letter.... without even making the inside vs. outside contradict each other by way of keeping the original windows (no treatments) and using one element of the home's provenance indoors to just tie it in together. One example I saw was a bit of rattan on the seats of dining chairs that could of been at home in a 1700's hunting scene or a 1960's country styled home. Bless the French!

Anyway we will be here in Florence until tomorrow then it's either off to Pompei or straight to Rome. Rome is the last stop regardless and we fly out of there next week. There is supposedly 4 different flea markets on Easter sunday in Rome and we are planning on hitting the largest one. I hope to find my only wishlist item ~ a Franco Albini ottoman. If I do, trying to get it back home may be funny... my suitcase is already overstuffed with Italian design magazines and shoes. ^__^

To Clarify; And The History of the World According To My Memory

I'm not German. Partner-In-Crime is like, 1/4th German but his whole 1/2 of Italian is the most prevalent in looks, mannerisms... appetite. I know I gush over German Modernism, and there's really no rhyme or reason for this. My family on my mother's side hail from the Ukraine and Russia. It's rumoured we are descendants of the ill-fated Romanovs, however when you're dealing in research having to do with Russia, fact is nearly an impossible task. My father's side of the family has definitive Anglo roots coming straight from the Mayflower itself and more notoriously ~ The Bordens of Fall River, Mass. I am a bona fide great great cousin of Lizzie Borden who may or may not have whacked her parents with an ax.

So whats with the fascination with German Modernism? It simply speaks to me... screams at me for the reasons listed in the last post. The colors, the (over)use of formica or melamine... the curves... P-I-C is partial to either the very simple Danish designers, and also the Italian Designers. I can't stand Italian MCM furniture or art. I find it overly fussy sometimes to the point where it defeats the whole purpose of Minimalism.

I haven't adequately researched Mid Century Design out of Russia, however I'm assuming that I won't find much. Stalin crippled the country's economy with the Warsaw Pact, which Khrushchev (I hope I spelled that properly) tried to fix.  Also to his credit, Khrushchev launched the world into space exploration and, obviously, the Satellite Age. The Atomic Age, etc. For having been responsible for the whole movement of which we are all obsessed, Russia seems to have little to contribute in the way of MCM design, art, architecture etc in the styles of which we all adore. Keeping in mind that it was still a Communist regime, the economy was still quite poor and consumerism wasn't a part of daily life. I'm pretty sure that any furniture required by anyone in the USSR may have been handmade, or cheaply manufactured.

The closest form of Slavic MCM I've found is also linked on the sidebar ---> Prague Kolektiv. If you Czech out (har de har har) their site, you will see the similarities between the Czech pieces and my beloved German pieces.

Now, the original owners of this house were German, either immigrated here from there, or 2nd generation. They were active (and still are) in the local German-American Clubs and Societies. This house was designed around their social activities, hence the built-in bar, the sliding patio doors in the bar room that lead out to a patio... the deck atop the carport with a fishpond, etc. They were very into hosting parties for their German-American friends and I would kill to see photos of what swanky goings-on happened here back in the day.

I've also been to Germany a few times, and have spent weeks driving from the Bavarian Alps up to Hamburg. I know I've mentioned some of the little things we have picked up while there - they make it easy because the flea markets and shops we find are amazing, the vendors are super friendly and most people are fluent in English. I'm not going to lie -- the German phrases I know the best revolve around shopping and bartering! The flea markets are overflowing with Art Deco and MCM pieces. These pieces are held dear; so much was lost and destroyed during WW2. When we explain that our house is of this period and we are retro-restoring it, we get some interesting and positive reactions.

What I'm trying to say (as my train of thought goes completely offtrack and crashes into a mountain) is that maybe this house is its own influence. I'm not usually concious of it's German roots, and I can promise that the shelves running around the top of my kitchen will never be host to a beer stein collection, but the idea of large crates arriving from Germany make an ordinary day feel just like Weihnachten!