What’s My Style in One Picture.

It is quite difficult for me to describe in one single picture what my interiors style is as I find my personal taste very eclectic. But when Ally From The Right Bank comes up with such challenge, it makes me look for “the one”.

Residential / private spaces should be an amalgam of objects, textures, colors, images… all with stories to tell, perhaps like a private gallery, but of course in a very relaxing and engaging environment.

The following picture, maybe too abstract, but indeed brings together many touches I look for in interior design.

Villa Necchi Campiglio in Milan.

Color Gold is always part of my interior design vocabulary;
Geometric patterns together with classic furniture bring balance o space;
Wood and stone are must have finishes;
Different materials on the same surface such as brass and wood;
Textured walls (either wallpaper, tiles, paint, anything textured as if they are dressed up).

Photograph by Giorgio Majne via Flickr.

Click here for more pictures on Villa Necchi Campiglio.

Summer Holidays.

My last weeks have been very intense, but quite fulfilling.

Time to blog has been very little, although I try to keep updated with all the news, from you to me, and of course from me to you.

This Friday I'm going home on holidays. More than that, I'm going to catch up with family and friends: miss you all. Saying that, I might not be blogging for two weeks. It really depends on everything and everyone.

One thing I can promise though: I will update my photography archives with beautiful spaces, spaces within spaces and other spaces to share with you all on my return. Stay tuned.

Yes, this is my beach - the only place on earth I can charge batteries.

Photograph taken in July 2007.

(click on it to enlarge)

New Minimalism Is The Balance Between Simplicity & Richness.

The other day I read somewhere the New Minimalism is the balance between simplicity and richness. It is quite true but the more I think about the quote the more clear I am that it is not a new concept. If we look back to early 20th Century we see Art Nouveau and especially Art Deco embracing this concept very gracefully, though Minimalism was born many years after.

Simplicity and richness is indeed what I like to experience in design, any branch of design, especially if color is a strong feature in it. To illustrate my point, the Villa Necchi Campiglio in Milan is a good example of it. The house was designed by Piero Portaluppi and built in 1930’s.

The metal frame is indeed my favorite detail on this spatial design. It is as if the walls are wearing a simple silver necklace.

Geometry within asymmetric space.

Perfect harmony between the materials, like the marble on the floor, and the suitcases decorating the hall, as if they were made specially for decoration's sake.

Gold and geometry – a perfect balance between opulence and rhythm.

I love sliding doors - Spaces breath differently.



The door frame is again what catches my eye.

The formula to achieve simplicity: texture and geometry.

When luxury meets timeless.

With all this, I believe Art Deco is back. Do you?

All photographs by Giorgio Majne via Flickr.

{Little Side Note: Inspiration for this post}.

Materiality.

“We were concerned with seeing materials for what they were: the woodiness of wood; the sandiness of sand.” – Peter and Alison Smithson

Materiality means the touchy-feely nature of material used in a building/space design – what it is made of and what it feels like.

In interior design and architecture selecting materials is the most important part of the project. We not only have to think the message we are sending, but we must bear in mind the next step too: Interior Styling.

Lately I have been totally inspired by stone. It is a traditional material used from the very earliest days and probably the richest one. The following photos are from Milan, The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele , which was designed in 1861 and built from 1865 to 1877. Next time I will post this building’s ceiling – breathtaking!

Like colors, materials have their own Golden Age. For instance, “concrete is the marble of contemporary architecture” (Tadao Ando), although I believe stone is coming back, and I’m thrilled for that: Spaces become richer, colorful and patterns bring that feeling of style we all need to live surrounded by.




Neo-Classic Style.

{Little Side Note - The first Prada shop opened here, in The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele back in 1913}

Azulejos.

Azulejo (Tile in English) is a form of art which was introduced to Portugal and Spain by the Moors late 15th Century. The word Azulejo is derived from the Arabic “Al Zulay” which means “polished stone”.

For over 5 Centuries, Azulejos have been decorating all types of spaces in Iberia. They are the canvas to Portuguese Art and the wallpaper to domestic spaces.

A bench at the Serralves Foundation Garden embellished with embossed, yet simple pattern.

Another bench by the river in Coimbra, home to one of the oldest Universities in Europe.

The building's eye.

More than a simple window, this is a very important architectural feature in the Iberian architecture, all Mediterranean countries actually) – The Veranda, a space where people gather to socialize and to watch who‘s passing by…

Two distinct façades, both highly decorated with azulejos: on the right a Pombaline Style building and on the left a Modern interpretation in Portuguese architecture.

I like the way the architectural curve brings so much movement to this symmetric façade.

Here, Álvaro Siza dresses several façades with highly polished Azulejos, contrasting and balancing very gracefully the building's concrete body.

And here, Rem Koolhaas reinterprets the Azulejos as a story telling canvas to adorn Casa da Musica.

When Azulejos are used in different ways:
- In Portugal By Pedrita
- In Spain By Gaudí


{Little side note - When I was preparing this post I came across to this article on the Economist which was published a few days ago. Good coincidence.}

Applied Texture.

Applied textures is the act of applying a textural material to a surface with the intention of aesthetically enhancing the surface to determine the character of the space.
In this case, in an act of deconstruction, textures (or part of them) were removed to aesthetically enhance the previous function of it.

Textures may be used to define a certain area in order to make it distinct from the surroundings. However in this space it becomes the surroundings’ itself.

If textures are kept as original, the space becomes an alive form which challenges our perception of spatial functions.

The wall surface's so rich that the windows symmetry is completely ignored. The sun light brings both very gracefully together, doesn't it?

This specific space is (or was, I am not sure if it still exists) a gallery in London Southbank, right behind the OXO Tower.

Rich Texture, Simple Form.

The Old & The Old – The Rich & The Rich, all depends the context. Which one would you chose?

The Buddhism Gallery.

This is one of my favorite space gallery in the V&A Museum. It brings together many spatial features that I really appreciate in interiors:
- The enfilade arrangement;
- It’s an amazing natural light spot;
- The walls color, which challenges the classic white walls;
- And it links very gracefully two distinct areas of the museum: its core (if I can call it this way) and the Sackler Centre where amazing lectures, talks and other educational events always happen.

One Entry.

There is another reason why I just love this shade of blue – it is as if the sculptures are in the horizon surrounded by an amazing blue sky.

The Other Entry.

Enfilade – A series of rooms linked together without the use of a corridor or other circulation space. This was the normal spatial arrangement within all buildings before the seventeenth century and is nowadays particular noticeable in galleries established in European stately homes. This form is still the normal arrangement of spaces in most museums and galleries. (definition from the dictionary of interior architecture and design)


Gallery name - The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation.

A Seat With A View.

Perfect space to read the newspaper in the morning, when the town is still quite.

Location: Santa Cruz, Portugal - West Coast.

Prioritize Is The Priority.

This blog has been a daily destination for me since I started it in August last year. I've met very interesting people and shared some work and photographs I never did before. It has been, indeed, a very interesting and fulfilling experience running this Little Side Project. However, this is a moment I’ve to focus 24/7 on my career therefore I will pop in to share some of my findings and interests but it will be very occasionally.

Anyway, I leave here a few spaces I've been collecting since 2005. I hope you like them too.

Louise Blouin Foundation, London – UK
Space by Borgos Dance

Serralves Museum, Porto – Portugal
Space by Álvaro Siza

Louvre’s Pyramid, Paris – France
Space by I. M. Pei

Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion 2007, London – UK
Space by Olafur Eliason & Kjetil Thorsen

Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon – Portugal
Space by Manuel Salgado & Vittorio Gregotti

Residential Building’s Entrance, Lisbon – Portugal
Beautiful Space by Unknown Designer

Talking Design #2 - “Clients are their own curators”

Talking Design – it was indeed all about design and all the variants that make good design happen in the business world.

Alasdhair Willis is the CEO & Founder of Established & Sons which was launched in April 2005. He has attended art school although his first job was selling advertising for magazines. That led him to publish one of the best ever in the design world: Wallpaper* magazine which we all know, we all bought and we all got inspired by.

Established & Sons is a platform for British designers (or Britain based) which was born when he realized a diversity of talent floating in the market. As he said, their “role is pretty much to represent and support within business”.

There’s a special reason why they stand out so well and successfully though: they celebrate who the designers are, their individuality; and in return designers respond with signature pieces, inspirational design and experimental approach. It is a marriage in a real sense of the word: trust, support, failure, victories; and all based on unity.

I will share this Talk further, but for now I leave one of my favorite pieces commissioned by Established & Sons and my favorite question by Alice Rawsthorn:

"Where does your inspiration come from?"

His answer couldn’t be more confident

“creating something with content”.

Kebab lamp by Committee.

First time I saw their work was back in 2006 @ Design Museum London, - My World exhibition.

In the meantime click here to see the new (online) collection called Estd by Established & Sons which doesn't have the designers name attached (though you have a guess), giving them more freedom to explore and experiment areas the haven't tried before.

A very pertinent talk I’ve attended back in February with John Maeda and Alice Rawsthorn about creative leadership.