Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Brontë
Friday, 24 February 2012
TRAVEL: Genova [Part II]
 |
| Views in Via Garibaldi |
Buildings of splendid grandeur
interspersed with narrow alleyways that plunge up and down – all built very
close together, there is little room between the mountains and the sea. Wondrous, suspended gardens are accessed from the second floors of huge houses with
stuccoed or painted facades; courtyards with majestic staircases; huge, tall
windows and, particularly on the corners of the palazzi, light pours in from
everywhere, filtered by the tallest, louvered shutters I have ever seen, often painted in pale grey or yellow umber.
French windows lead onto vast terraces from which one could see the
port, the sea and the horizon that led to Christopher Columbus’ voyage to 
Between tall, narrow tenement streets is the Museo di Palazzo Spinola, lived in by a branch of the Spinolas until the 1960’s [above].
Left - Genova was so cold in February...a fountain with icicles extending from the stalactites!
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
POETRY: Immigrant Wife by Theodore Deppe
He lures her from her skin and then hides it,
like in the stories, so she can never go back home.
He makes her learn English and bear him children, insists
that she sing to them in his tongue. And yet,
even in English, the dark vowels of her songs
echo in the children's ears like the voice in a shell
heard miles from sea. She folds them into beds of waves
and whispers her curse on the land. Sometimes
the children wake to a gale of Irish and the sound
of the man roaring back at the sea. And once, they wake
to the thin line of sunrise she traces in her wrist,
the still waters of her bath clouding like poppies
She does not die. She lives to be rock hard, the bitter
old Yankee who buys the house above the lake, but still,
near dawn, she dreams she might slip down to the black rocks
and swim in the skin her husband left behind at his death.
like in the stories, so she can never go back home.
He makes her learn English and bear him children, insists
that she sing to them in his tongue. And yet,
even in English, the dark vowels of her songs
echo in the children's ears like the voice in a shell
heard miles from sea. She folds them into beds of waves
and whispers her curse on the land. Sometimes
the children wake to a gale of Irish and the sound
of the man roaring back at the sea. And once, they wake
to the thin line of sunrise she traces in her wrist,
the still waters of her bath clouding like poppies
She does not die. She lives to be rock hard, the bitter
old Yankee who buys the house above the lake, but still,
near dawn, she dreams she might slip down to the black rocks
and swim in the skin her husband left behind at his death.
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
John Stefanidis Crockery
Left: One of my Αντώνης [Andonis] plates can
come in any of these colours – at present only available as a set,
including serving plates, soup bowls, jugs, etc. We are working on a formula so they can be
sold in smaller numbers which would be affordable.
Right: Other parts of the service, with an example in red on fabric designed by Christopher Portet for table cloths and napkins – we hope to have these made very soon!
Monday, 20 February 2012
FABRICS: John Stefanidis Checks
Useful coordinate fabric; informal check featuring a
checkerboard design overlaid with a loosely drawn line plaid
in a darker complementary tone.
checkerboard design overlaid with a loosely drawn line plaid
in a darker complementary tone.
Available in 5 colours
Showroom: Chelsea Harbour ,
London , SW10 0XF
Phone: +44 (0) 20
7352 9977
Email: tissusdhelene@mac.com
Website: tissusdhelene.co.uk
Showroom: 40
NE 40th Street , Miami , FL 33137
Phone: + 1
305-576-6222
Email: sales@monicajames.com
Website: monicajames.com
Showroom: 752 North La Cienega Blvd ,West Hollywood , CA 90069
Phone: +1 310 858
6884
Email: Info@HarbingerLA.com
Website: harbingerla.com
Showroom: 720 High Street
Phone: +61 (0) 3
9509 6456
Email: info@tiggerhall.com
Website: tigger
hall.com
Friday, 17 February 2012
POETRY: Anna Akhmatova
Alexander at Thebes
Surely
the young King must have been blind to pity
As
he spoke the order: ‘Destroy Thebes utterly’.
The
old general gazed and knew this place to be
No
better than he remembered it, a haughty city.
Put
it all to the fire! There were wonders –
gate
And
tower and temple everywhere the King searched,
But
suddenly his face brightened with a thought:
‘Be
sure that the house of the Poet is not touched’.
Anna Akhmatova, Leningrad
Thursday, 16 February 2012
TRAVEL: Genova [Part I]
 |
| Collage: including Palazzo Senarega Universita & Palazzo Stefano Balbi-Durazzo-Reale |
At Palazzo del Principe Andrea Doria:
Remarkable
tapestries of the Battle of Lepanto [in the gulf of Patras in Greece] one of
the most important battles in European history was the Holy League’s great
victory over the Ottoman fleet in 1571 [Members of the Holy League: Spanish
Empire, Republic of Venice, Knights of Malta, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the
Duchy of Savoy.
During the Habsburg-Ottoman wars, Sultan Suleiman besieged and almost
conquered Vienna
FABRICS: John Stefanidis Lucy
Subtle design featuring jaspe stripe with lilies.
Available in 3 colours
Soft Blue, Dove Grey & Blush
Available from:
Showroom: Chelsea Harbour , London , SW10 0XF
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7352 9977
Email: tissusdhelene@mac.com
Website: tissusdhelene.co.uk
Showroom: 40 NE 40th Street , Miami , FL 33137
Phone: + 1 305-576-6222
Email: sales@monicajames.com
Website: monicajames.com
Showroom: 752 North La Cienega Blvd ,West Hollywood , CA 90069
Phone: +1 310 858 6884
Email: Info@HarbingerLA.com
Website: harbingerla.com
Showroom: 720 High Street
Phone: +61 (0) 3 9509 6456
Email: info@tiggerhall.com
Website: tigger hall.com
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
POETRY: The Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty [618-907] was the golden age of
Chinese poetry
Palace Song by Gu
Kuang
From the jade tower up
in
the sky comes the
sound
of pipes and songs,
Sent down by the
breeze
to mingle with the
palace
women’s banter.
Shadows part for the
Moon palace – I heard
a
Water clock drip in
the night.
Rolling up my crystal
curtain I draw close
to the Milky Way
...NOT LIKE WINTER IN LONDON
Friday, 10 February 2012
BOOKS: Malaparte
I have read Malaparte’s ‘La Pelle’ [The Skin] in the language it was written – very good
for my Italian! A Fascist, a writer and a
journalist, later a Communist, Malaparte built [with the architect Adalberto
Libera] Casa Malaparte on the 
Malaparte
also wrote ‘Kaput’ which was put on
the Vatican ’s list of
prohibited books – about WWII and pre-war Rome
Thursday, 9 February 2012
FABRICS: John Stefanidis Hong Kong Netherton
Chinese-style floral damask on silk
- an interpretation of a design found in the Brighton Pavilion.
- an interpretation of a design found in the Brighton Pavilion.
Available in Celadon Oyster
Available from:
Showroom: Chelsea Harbour ,
London , SW10 0XF
Phone: +44 (0) 20
7352 9977
Email: tissusdhelene@mac.com
Website: tissusdhelene.co.uk
Showroom: 40
NE 40th Street , Miami , FL 33137
Phone: + 1
305-576-6222
Email: sales@monicajames.com
Website: monicajames.com
Showroom: 752 North La Cienega Blvd ,West Hollywood , CA 90069
Phone: +1 310 858
6884
Email: Info@HarbingerLA.com
Website: harbingerla.com
Showroom: 720 High Street
Phone: +61 (0) 3
9509 6456
Email: info@tiggerhall.com
Website: tigger
hall.com
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Design: BATHROOMS by John Stefanidis
A BATHROOM can be vaporous or fun
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The same type of design as above but light-hearted
A BATHROOM designed for LE RICHEMOND HOTEL in GENEVA, which could
easily be replicated. At the
risk of blowing my own trumpet, it is so comfortable! Please note the clock inset into the mirror –
all bathrooms need a time piece.
[Image taken from my first book Rooms]
.jpg)
MARBLE IN A BATHROOM IS ALWAYS GOOD... even better is granite
which, when subjected to the lipstick test, never marks
.
OLD-FASHIONED IN FEEL, the ‘tiles’ are painted –
almost Downton Abbey – no marble here!
Above - a bathroom in a house on the beach in Florida
Thursday, 2 February 2012
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
DESIGN: Paisley
There are many variations in paisley patterns used in Persian and Indian designs for centuries - and as in embroidered on fine, woollen shawls – as can be seen in the portraits by David and Ingres.
Paisley patterns have remained firm favourites in haberdashery, silk scarves, ties of every kind, and bandana cotton handkerchiefs. Now printed in the USA, but mostly in China and India.
Above: Paisley patterns designed for table and cushions by John Stefanidis, emboidered in London by Hand & Lock
& an Indian 19th Century Embroidery on a shawl
Ingres c. 1805
Paisley Jacquard woven shawls [a technique invented in the 19th Century by Monsieur Jacquard in Lyons] and manufactured in great quantities in the Scottish town of Paisley [hence its English name from 1800 onwards] became an affordable alternative to the embroidered shawls of Indian Rajahs and Maharanis hand woven and embroidered in Kashmir. These were first imported by the British East India Company in the 17th Century. when the pattern proliferated in France and the Netherlands. Paisley patterns have remained firm favourites in haberdashery, silk scarves, ties of every kind, and bandana cotton handkerchiefs. Now printed in the USA, but mostly in China and India.
Above: Paisley patterns designed for table and cushions by John Stefanidis, emboidered in London by Hand & Lock & an Indian 19th Century Embroidery on a shawl
Below: Two examples of French 19th Century Paisley Embroidery
Finally, Udaiphur is my own take on a "Paisley" style
which is available in six colours ways.
which is available in six colours ways.
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