3 hours in Madrid - San Miguel Market

Yesterday I spent three hours in Madrid, just before taking my flight to Murcia and Cartagena in the south east of Spain.
Last time I was in Madrid was 10 years ago and I must say... the city has not changed much. One of the most beautiful things I have seen during my short stay in Madrid is the San Miguel Market.
San Miguel market, named after the San Miguel square where it sits, is one of the very few iron buildings preserved to date in Madrid, and the only market at that. Its construction smack in the middle of town, right next to Plaza Mayor.
See below how amazing this place is...

Shoes from the Balkans - Tea Petrovic

Tea Petrovic designed a shoe collection for her graduating project...and the results are amazing!
Designer, artist, Tea Petrovic - she was born on May 11, 1983 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina -ttended primary and secondary schools in her hometown. After finishing the Applied Arts School, she started studying at the Fire Arts Academy in Sarajevo.
Above and below you can see part of the collection... I like so much the idea that she is a talented designer from Bosnia Herzegovina who has not graduated from the mainstream, well-know, expensive fashion schools....

Daily Imprint Blog

http://dailyimprint.blogspot.com/search/label/photography

This is a blog to keep in mind...it contains thousands of beautiful images, interesting interviews to fashion designers, editors, stylists, writers. The blogger is Natalie Walton, a journalist (most recently, deputy editor at one of Australia's best-selling interior magazines) as well as writer and stylist living in Sydney. There are 6 sessions on her blog (fashion, photography, books, design, art, homes, bondi)...and each one is an excellent source of inspiration!

I just want to post some of the pics she published in her blogs. These pics have been taken by Tony Amos, a brillant photographer, former assistant of Bruce Weber, who is now living in Sidney.

Chizu Kobayashi in The New Artisans by Olivier Dupon

THIS  IS A BOOK NOT TO BE MISSED!!!

Olivier Dupon’s The New Artisans is a beautifully designed and divinely photographed celebration of the magic of handcrafting. He presents  the profiles of over 70 artisans who use craft techniques to create their own special brand …

And guess who is one of the artisans portrayed by Olivier?? My much beloved friend Chizu Kobayashi. She deserves to be in the book...she is such a unique, talented, inspirational person...the images below have been taken from her website

http://chizkobject.com/news

Studio Seek - beautiful images of Kyrgyzstan

I recently saw on a magazine some stunning pictures from a journey to Kyrgyzstan.  These images had been taken by two great photogrphers, Sarah Cooper and Nina Gorfer. Their solo exhibition My Quiet of Gold will soon be running in Berlin.
 Kyrgyzstan is a country with a strong tradition of storytelling where folk tales are part of everyday life. Cooper and Gorfer approached the culture by allowing the people they met to stage their own stories...so basically the portraits you see below derived from the artists’ personal conversations with people. According to the photographers the time they invested in creating a picture can be likened to that of a painter in a studio.

Frieze Art Fair, 2011

A must see event for anyone interested in finding out what's what and what's to be in contemporary art, Frieze Art Fair is one of the world’s biggest and most influential contemporary art fairs and brings with it an international focus to London's dynamic art scene. It took place from the 13th to the 16th of October in Regent’s Park and1000s of artists and 175 galleries were there.Last year it was estimated that the fair housed about £235 million worth of art.
This year’s commissions include a living “scoreboard” of rotating quotes and phrases operated by assistants to Dutch duo Bik Van der Pol, an aquarium that’s the stage for a “performance” by an ecosystem of sea creatures by Pierre Huyghe and a luxury yacht that can be purchased as an original Christian Jankowski “artwork.” Other participants in the program were Oliver Laric, the London multimedia collective LuckyPDF, Peles Empire, Laure Prouvost and Cara Tolmie.

I haven't been there...but a friend of mine said the parties and side events were better than Frieze itself...

Sculptur by Kiki Smith, Seer (Alice II)




Sculptures by Tom Friedman, Circle Dance, 2010



Jonathan Monk - Do Not Pay More Than $60,000

Getting older

I am getting older and I don't really like it.
Anyway, since there is nothing I can do to stop time,  I decided to celebrate it with my husband in Rome (for 18 hours).
I also received beautiful gifts from my girlfriends like a nail kit by Seasecret (mineral cosmetics from Israel), body creams, deodorant sticks and a book of photographs by Georges Simenon.
I could not ask for more...