Styling the perfect gathering

As you may recall from my first post about our Amsterdam Bloggerstour, I fell totally in love with Pistache Studio and it was amazing to witness the transformation of the rough industrial space into a cozy and perfect spot for our Bloggers United Dinner'. For this occasion, the group decided to gather some talented and creative people from the media and blogging world to spend a few hours together: at the end, isn't the best part of blogging getting to know and meet like-minded people?

Pistache Studio during the transformation.

To make this gathering so special, it was also the fantastic combination of sponsors that fell in love with the idea and decided to help us to create a magical event.  

Thanks to Thuesen Jensen, Pillivuyt Scandinavian agent, we were able to enjoy the French beautiful tableware, whose white and blue tones added a spectacular Mediterrenean vibe to the dinner, underlined by the Nigella flowers and wild grasses decoration. A touch of contemporary was instead introduced by the stylish 'Concrete Seats' by Fatboy.

And of course, in an event styled by Scandinavian design lovers like us, we couldn't miss candles: small tea lights were lighted as soon as the guest arrived but the real start of the night was our KOTO candle, brought especially for the occasion by one of Skandinavisk founders.

Ice cold beer provided by Beer & Co

When all the guests were seating, the mouthwatering delicacies - that we had been visually enjoying during the whole afternoon -  started to be served: the wonderful ladies of 'Lady Grey Catering'  created some great dishes and fueled the lovely and relaxed conversations.

 

After the dinner, the party started! The amazing guys at BOS Ice Tea and V2C Gin treated us with great cocktails while dancing and chatting on the sound of cool Libratone speakers. 

We had such an amazing night with our guests and sponsors you will surely see more of these events during out tours. Thanks so much to all the people that helped us making that nght so amazing and a special thanks to Uber, who made the visit in Amsterdam so perfect!

Photography by Susanna Vento and Linda Elmin

BLOGGERSTOUR AMSTERDAM | Studio Pistache

Last week I spent a few days with the Design Bloggers United group in Amsterdam for the second of our Bloggers Tours this year. We had an amazing time while visiting places like Mooi, Marcel Wanders Studio or the Andaz Hotel. 

But today I want you to show some pictures Susanna Vento took of Studio Pistache. The space is next to a Wood stove Pizzeria in the heart of the city and is usually rented for special gatherings and events. 

The rough industrial appearance of the space is mitigated by the soft light entering through the glassed roof creating a modern glasshouse atmosphere. I especially appreciate the contrast effect created by the light: it grows from dark to bright as you enter creating the illusion that the space is even bigger.  Closer to the end of the building is an area populated by specimens of tropical plants, like Euphorbias or palms.

The space is next to a Wood stove Pizzeria in the heart of the city but the Studio is usually used for special gatherings and events, as in our case: it was here we hosted our Design Bloggers United Dinner, an event I will tell you more in the next few days.

In the meanwhile, you can check some shots taken during the Amsterdam Bloggers Tour on my Instagram account or checking the tags #bloggerstour and #designamsterdam.

BARCELONA | The Oval Restaurant

Oval, located in the Eixample Izquierdo just a few minutes away from Passeig de Gracia, opened its doors last years in Barcelona. The new design maintained and incorporated the main features  of the original place - that dates back to the XIX century - like the four-meters high ceiling and the iron columns. The brick walls are exposed and painted in white to add more light to the interior space. As the owners budget was quite constrained, the designers opted for poor industrial materials like plywood, acoustic panels and terracotta bricks.

The place is designed by the mallorquì firm Flexo Arquitectura that managed to create a charming atmosphere,  relaxing and inviting. Another great point is that the burgers are just delicious!

 

PLACES | The Commune Social at Design Republic

The Commune Social is part of the Design Republic Design Commune by Neri&Hu.

Probably the most internationally renowned Chinese studio, Neri&Hu. holds one of the most beautiful portfolios I have seen recently. Through their projects,  the Design and Research Office of Shanghai reveals a strong belief in research as a foundation for the architecture and design realms as well as a profound awareness this can never overcome the unique context where each project will come to life.

The Commune Social develops around the sharing idea of food, in particular on the Spanish tapas. It is divided in four areas: tapas bar, dining room, dessert bar, and the secret bar. Each of them provides a different atmosphere and social experience, emphasized by the use of specific materials (raw materials to underline freshness and rawness of food) or design output.

The images taken by Pedro Pegenaute tell a story about lovely gatherings with friends and family, chatting and relaxing together. 

 

PLACES | Typo meets food in Italy

 

This Friday I take you to Italy  to see one of the latest additions to the scene of Turin, a place where design interlaces with the world of taste in a series of unexpected cross references.

"Alla lettera" restaurant is located in one of the city's most lively square, Piazza Bodoni, a name surely familiar to many graphic designers as the square is dedicated to the inventor of the famous font. The location inspired both the name of the premises and the design of the place, which is an homage to the world of typography and, therefore, to the shape of words (in Italian "alla lettera" means "literally" but also "to do things with precision and accuracy"). 

As stated by the architects, "Cooking and graphics are two worlds with similar project dynamics. The exhibit theme of the premises comes from this parallelism: the use of the ingredient typeface in any graphic or physical form, by creating elements from scratch or re-using existing elements. Moreover, at a time when the publishing industry is abusing of the food culture to sell, why can't a pizzeria use editorial language to connote its own spaces?" 

Therefore, it came naturally to use the Bodoni font to create the company logo and playing with the different graphic variations of the letter "O" as a reference to the restaurant main product, pizza. The experimenting relation between design and kitchen doesn't stop here but involves every aspect of the place that, in this way, comes to have a dual level of understanding: a first level of purely expressive attraction and a second with additional information and references.

To me, the restaurant  also manages to express part of the character of Turin itself through the strong industrial design language used throughout the restaurant.

Photography: Sandro Rizzo
Via yetmatilde studio, with thanks.