Archivi tag: nature

Food

OLIVOCRACY

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“The big love we have for both Italy and the UK shaped our biggest dream and gave us the motivation to turn it into reality: offer our British friends the possibility to taste the real Italian excellences at home and experience Italy like a local on a holiday to remember.”

 

Daniele & Eleonora grew up in a small city in the centre of Italy, in an area called Umbria, well known for its peculiar medieval hamlets, its hilly landscape covered by vineyards and olive groves and its delicious food. A place away from the buzz of the big cities where you can savour the pleasures of a slow paced lifestyle and experience a deep connection to nature and tradition.
They have known each other forever but then they met again in London 10 years ago, where Daniele had moved for work and Eleonora was on holiday… “And here we are! The big love we have for both Italy and the UK shaped our biggest dream and gave us the motivation to turn it into reality: offer our British friends the possibility to taste the real Italian excellences at home and experience Italy like a local on a holiday to remember.”

When did you start the Olivocracy project?
We started Olivocracy four years ago, with a range of organic and biodynamic single estate extra virgin olive oils from Italian small producers and then we added Magna Mater, a range of biodynamic condiments: balsamic vinegars, apple cider vinegar, white condiment and Saba that is cooked grape must. Single estate in most cases or single origin. Mostly, pillars of traditional Italian cuisine.
We work with organic and biodynamic small to medium scale producers as they are more connected to the agronomic heritage and the rhythm of mother Nature. Two of our extra virgin olive oils come from a FAO GIAHS, a Globally Important Agronomic Heritage System, “outstanding landscapes of aesthetic beauty that combine agricultural biodiversity, resilient ecosystem and a valuable cultural heritage”.
For us there cannot be excellence without sustainability, for two main reasons: first, we believe that in a product that is considered excellent there should be no undesired substances. Second and not less important, one of the points that make a product excellent, together with an amazing sensory and chemical profile, is the impact it has on the environment.

We believe that farming can have a positive impact on the environment if farmers work in harmony with Nature, nurture biodiversity and prioritize revitalization of the soil.
We support short supply chain and maximum traceability, products straight from the farm to our customers, certified, tested in a lab and with no additives whatsoever.

Where does your passion come from?
A few factors came together: our love for Italy and London, our deep connection to nature and to tradition, a strong will to stand up for more environmentally friendly practices and a passion for discovering niche, outstanding products. We love networking, we love collaborating with like-minded people, we love waking up in the morning with a sense of scope and feeling that we are part of a constantly growing movement of people thinking and acting differently.

Difficulties.
Doing everything by ourselves, learning things we had never done before and not all listed in the famous 20% of the Pareto Principle :D, starting a business without external funds, a highly competitive market, make audience understand the real value of our products, the fact that we pay the producers more than fairly and how much this affects the final price.
However, every difficult step, led us here and we are learning a lot about business, our sector and about ourselves, as individuals, as professionals and as a couple working together. It just feels great and all this resonates so much with what we are and our values that even in the most challenging days, we know where we want to go and who we want to be.

Your goals.
Our goal is doing something we love which makes us grow as both professionals and individuals while having a positive impact on the society. Offering people the option of shopping with an eye (or both) to the environment, to their health and to real quality. Keep on learning, evolving and expanding. Having a great work-life balance and a job that is also a passion that fulfills us and gives us energy to invest with people we love. Stay present to ourselves and in connection with nature.

Be the best version of ourselves and a source of good energy for people we meet!

Advices to someone who wants to start a business.
Find out what your mission and your core values are and live accordingly. Everything will be much easier and enjoyable. Be humble and see a teacher in everyone and every situation, but at the same time be self-confident and trust your ability to do well what you already know and to learn what you don’t. Network with genuine interest with like-minded people and welcome debate. Keep on learning, reading, watching videos, listening to people, feeding your brain and soul. Try not to let the business take over your personal life, find time for yourself, meditate, exercise, do yoga or whatever you like to take care of yourself and stay healthy. Find time for your loved ones, love and life are a great source of energy and inspiration.

Projects for the future.
At some point, we would love to be flexible between London and Italy, so to have more time to enjoy our families and the Mediterranean weather that we love so much! Widen the range of products and the circle of people we collaborate with. Create more and more synergies with other sectors of sustainable manufacture. Work on connected projects. Being able to delegate and allocate our working time to that aforementioned 20% of things that we really love doing.

Our mantra
Be the change you want to see in the world.
We don’t inherit the world from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
Keep calm… and call Batman!

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Fashion Designer

THE HOUSE OF VARGAS – Part 2

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Chanoa Tarle, a repeat Deshabille contributor, was lucky enough to discover the artwork of George Vargas. Once he began to produce fashion featuring his designs, she jumped at the chance to interview him. Of course we said yes…

 

Following his first ayahuasca experience, many of his works went on to feature even more esoteric themes linked to spirituality, meditation and creative, cosmic expansion. Post-ayahuasca, Vargas knew exactly what he wanted to express. He describes his work as a “complete engagement with beauty”. He follows his yen for beauty and the more he focuses on this beauty, the more it grows and the more it appears throughout his existence. A fitting destiny for the Australian artist with parents hailing from Peru!

 

“It’s a fun journey, linked a lot to my meditation and spirituality. It’s good to unplug from the art and the world. The idea of feeling you’ve got everything and don’t need anything. That’s what I want to express in the next series of artwork. I went through an exploration of desire and the mystery of women and every girl is completely different- and obviously every human being. It’s a fascinating journey. I see a lot of femininity in nature. Masculinity is interesting too because I’m reacting to that…” – George Vargas

 

 

Fast forward to 2018 and his distinctive designs are the focal point of a new luxury fashion brand, The House of Vargas. High quality tees feature his artwork in an array of colors. Incredible scarves and sarongs in silk and chiffon highlight the beauty of the women who wear them – never overpowering them – while serving as wearable art. There is something about the way he produces the art and produces the collections. There’s an energy to every piece that is nearly palpable. George attributes it to beauty, a common theme in  his works: “I suppose it’s this overpowering beauty I’m feeling for the subject and it’s captured in the vibration and the line and the colors. It’s a bit overpowering like a drug. Intoxicating.”

 

“Luxury is all about self-expression to me because you’ve got clothing that all looks the same out there. Luxury to me is having something unique to wear. The scarves will always be limited edition. [I’m offering] jackets of only five pieces in the world.” Since there will never be another you, he loves the idea of offering something truly unique.

Since there will never be another you, he loves the idea of offering something truly unique. Art-adorned leather motorcycle jackets are coming soon, the product of a new partnership with a leather specialist- as well as leather bomber jackets for men and women. The first, set to debut this month, is the Aki Jacket.

 

 

His fashion brand has so far developed in a very organic way. And we can expect to see a lot more from The House of Vargas in the future. The custom stories he crafts for each design will evolve into future fashion films. More product categories will be introduced. We’ll see artful exhibitions. He’s even ready to transform the likes of nightclubs, restaurants and yoga centers; his designs are available for custom commercial interior design.

TheHouseofVargas.com

Instagram: @galacticemperor12

Editor’s Note: When the author interviewed the artist for Deshabille Magazine, the video call wouldn’t register her face. After their conversation, Vargas looked her up on Instagram and saw her as a striking character for his pieces. She is now one of his muses, featured regularly in his works.

 

Chanoa Tarle About Chanoa Tarle 

Chanoa Tarle is a freelance copywriter, journalist and editor specializing in fashion and luxury goods/lifestyle.

Her work has appeared in magazines including ELEVATE and Luxury Hoteliers and she’s written for an inspiring list of companies including Scaling Retail and Neiman Marcus.

www.ChanoaTarle.com

Get in touch – Email chanoa@chanoatarle.com

 

 

Highlights

GIUSEPPE MARANO PH

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“To photograph: it is to put on the same line of sight the head, the eye and the heart.” 

Henri Cartier-Bresson

 

Tell us about yourself!

My name is Giuseppe Marano, a Sicilian-born photographer, grown up in the province of Catania, between Misterbianco and Valcorrente countrysides. I love the Light, Nature, Scents, my Land, the dream I have to get where I want, I love the music and in general perceptions, senses… I like to lose myself in the joy that it is possible to discover in an smell, or to discover a music that makes me travel with the mind. Photography is for me the synthesis, the opportunity to try to capture everything, this world, in and out of me.

How did your passion / your job start?

My passion is a bit the sign of fate. The encountered with it started in a laboratory of photojournalism at the Humanities University of Catania. During the fascinating lectures of the photojournalist Angelo Di Giorgio from Catania, listening to the stories of the great photographers of the past (William Eugene Smith above all) I felt that feeling in my stomach that made me say: I want to do this. Until then I had never had awareness of the photographic medium that soon would have become a major language to know and discover parts of me that I ignored.

Why weddings?

Marriages were a natural evolution of my need to tell stories. Many people think they are a second-best, I see them as an important part of my vision and my need to photograph. Thanks to continuous weddings I can travel to Italy and abroad and I have met stories and exceptional people. It fascinates me so much the anthropological aspects that hide behind weddings. I love to observe people’s behavior and the differences that I discover at each new location. They are a mix of tradition, habit, ritual and religion.

Your biggest achievement so far / your biggest disappointment

There are several achievements in the recent years, which surprised and excited me. I can not choose one, but there are several moments that feeded my dream: from the scholarship that brought me to New York to the articles published recently by “Huffington Post” and “La Repubblica”, through the selection of one of my projects (“Finché Morte non Ci Separi”) to Tbilisi Photo Festival, up to the trip that brought me in November to shoot an amazing wedding in the Caribbean, in the Turks & Caicos where I had the honor to follow important filmmakers.
The biggest disappointment? I do not know, again I do not remember one in particular, but several discussions where my expectations were revealed highest of my ability to do. They have been key moments where either I could give in or find the spirit to move forward and go beyond. I never gave up.

In your wonderful photos there is the true Italy, the one with countrysides, the antique furnitures and houses that recall the tradition… a deliberate choice? and if it’s so, why?

Years pass and I realize I have a strong melancholy mark inside me. I love life and I wish I could keep alive all those feelings that I find in my path. After all photography it’s needed for this reason, to take care of our fear of losing important moments. Objects and subjects of my photographs are a consequence of this desire, I am never fully awake of it when I click, often the meaning of what I do comes later, and there are cases in which it takes years before I understand the meaning of a given photo. I think those photos are the result of my desire to be always in touch with my origin, my roots, a way to remind me who I am and where I come from.

The morning you wake up and what is usually the first thought?

Often, very often it is a thought projected into the future, wanting to find out where I can still get and what this new day sets aside. My mother instilled me this need to look ahead and never settle for anything less in life: the risk is to never be satisfied, but when you find the balance then you discover that this is the driving force of wanting always improve itself.

There is a phrase that you repeat like a mantra when you’re in trouble or to go on?

Particularly when I am under pression, maybe because of an important job, I try to reconnect myself to that most intimate and instinctive part of me that, for some reasons I can not explain, at the end allows me to make the photos I make. I try to transmit confidence repeating to myself: you just have to watch what is happening around you.

I look at your photos and I see poetry and the past, the delicacy in representing moments of normal life that seem rare paintings… How much work is behind it and how much love it takes to get such special results?

The first years I did many researches: I read portfolio reviews, books, I visited different exhibitions. All these have helped me to understand that it was necessary to become estranged from everything and try to connect me with myself, understand what my “obsessions” that are the outcome of this personal historical moments in which we live. Several times I was told: I do not see Giuseppe Marano in these photos. Then I worked trying to give an answer to that question, that was my biggest thought. The rest is the result of a lot of determination and perseverance, fundamental elements to accomplish their dreams. I have worked hard over the years to simplify and release, that ideal path mentioned by Cartier-Bresson: eyes and heart.

“To photograph: it is to put on the same line of sight the head, the eye and the heart.”

How to face life and work?

I always try to face it head on, not looking for escape routes and I like to deal with problems and solve them, not leave them aside or avoid them. I am since always sure that only improving as a man could make me been a better photographer, so even before making workshops or photography courses, I took care to keep the peace within me, figuring out who I am and where I want to go.

“To photograph is to hold one’s breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It’s at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.”

Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Mind’s Eye: Writings on Photography

Discover more about Giuseppe Marano: maranovisionart.com

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STORY PITCH

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“Perhaps what makes me different from other crafters that accomplish similar procedures is quite the way how I perceive the frame of the natural content.Each one tells a story.”

 

“It all started with a rather geeky passion for botanical cataloguing and a very philosophical idealization of Nature. I was born and raised in a grey city, so any immersion in the green is still a moment of absolute joy. I observe leaves and collect findings, I breathe and smile.

Since I live in Lecce (South Italy) this happens to me a lot! And walk after walk I begun to see and identify the small vegetation spontaneously growing not only in the fields by even in town, in the villas and gardens, at the park, in the rather retro cracks of the Baroque palaces. A natural presence that is no how prevented.

On the contrary.

I have always very much liked macro pics in photography. And I believe that the idea of impressing leaves is the immediate consequence of that rather childish leaning towards observation and collection. Polymer clay is perfect to make up this unconventional herbarium because it is very apt to hold the tinier details of the natural texture. The most joyful part of the whole process is when I remove the leaf and discover the negative. Then again, I smile a lot. Once removed the small finding, the most creative moment begins through hand-cut, when I try to build a frame which doesn’t necessarily depict it as an entire, but set it as if a picture. A frame that comes to a completion with the final application of color, after heating.

At present I have refined this simple technique by using two or three colors, as if pendants and earrings were small canvas. For some time now I have been making my own clay blends in order to catch seasonal palettes. I find inspiration in art, but also and perhaps mostly, in fashion. Especially in those designers fostering a “culture of the contrast” and who dare a lot, such as Dries Van Noten, to mention one.

So now, during my walkabouts looking for seedlings, I find myself already being aware of which combination of clay and acrylic will fit this or that plant. It is very amusing. Another style topic has lately popped out throughout the last two years of handicraft practice and that is a completely  spontaneous leaning towards vintage. Particularly in the choice of shapes, such as the oval on leverback earrings or the button earrings that hold a destructured leaf impression, vaguely recalling the 1950s New Look.

It is like those shapes were coming out of somewhere inside my inner world, with no clue of where exactly.”

Who is Paola?

I have been called Madam for a few decades now. A fact that still dazes me. I would say then that the age in which Paola lives does not match the time in which she lives. Here in Lecce they say “Hi Madam!”. A kind way to keep together the contradiction. And it is probably not a coincidence if I moved here to put a distance between me and that Milanese- attitude that too much nuanced the contrast. Lately I can not talk about me without mentioning this biographical data. A new beginning.

How did you start and where does your passion come from?

Here as well, “where” comes together with “when”. In a mood that slows down as in Salento, I succeeded in creating for myself an interior room where to cultivate an handicraft dimension that is to me “female” by definition. A very ancient leaning towards “naturality” that probably comes first as an idea. The path I am in has roots in philosophical practice where I attended the thought of Nature.

I believe what ADèLe says • A Dream of Leaves is the objectification of this process. The name of a woman and an archetypical form…

What would you say to somebody who show a dream like yours?

Handicraft is a practice of the soul. It is essential to spread it in the world, in order to accomplish it. Fear and procrastination are the dragons to be fought.

Projects for the future?

There is a technique I am keen to explore next year and this is the lost-wax casting. The chance to hold the natural findings in a more plastic dimension. Also, I would like to combine further the twofold dispositions of my project — the educational and the creational — by running workshops for kids.

How do you concretely express yourself?

It all starts with walkabout. I go out and I look for an environment where the small local vegetation lives. I spend time nursing gardens and parks. Here I gather the spontaneous seedlings that change at every seasonal change. I also nurse a terrarium outside of my studio, a photographic one. But the most concretely creative moment is when I remove the findings from thw clay and I begin to imagine scenarios as on a small canvas. A macro pic that I complete applying color after heating.

What makes you so special?

How I perceive the frame of the natural content is perhaps what makes me different from other crafters that accomplish similar procedures. Each one tells a story. Another topic is probably the research on the palette. I pay a lot of attention to cromatic seasonal trends and I like to confront with specific shades I produce autonomously in blends.

3 words to describe you

• Searcher: Philosophy is the art of exploring and I am a philosopher who practices this art everyday.
• Tenacious: In many ways: obstinate and steadfast but also resistant and cautious.
• Autumnal: Born in September my best months are those from fall equinox to winter solstice.

Fashion Designer, Made in Italy

ISULA DESIGN

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“Sometime ago I was forced, for health reasons, to stay locked up in hospitals for a long time and from there I realized the importance of being alive and staying in the open air, watching the colors of a sunrise or a sunset, feel the wind that caresses your face just for a minute and enjoying the scents that only the nature of this land can give you, even from a window.”

 

Tell us something about you and Isula Design!

My name is Francesca, I live and work in a small seaside village in the district of Sassari (in the North Sardinia). I like everything that has color, form and tradition. I am a nature and animals lover, I live with the fact that I love my dog Sunshine, who taught me to love his world!

I love to walk by the sea as well as in the countryside and  I like stars, the moon, the sun, but also rain and melancholy. I consider myself a very (perhaps too) sensitive and emotional person, full of life. I like to smile and the smile on the face of the people I come close to sends me endless positivity! I am a natural and colorful food lover, as fruit and vegetables are. I think that in life there is always a lot to learn from other people, with humility and respect.

I graduated two years ago as a seamstress / modeler at the School of Art and Fashion in Sassari, for me a dream that came true and I want to continue creating with my style “SardAfrican”, because every woman wants externalize what’s inside, being free to feel colors and by being unique!

Can you tell us more about the ISULA PROJECT?

The project Isula design and the choice of the name was born out of this land, Sardinia, that is very close to me. It is my island that commands my heart, which offers different colors and shapes, but also distant Africa, which is also close in a sense!

Where do you find the inspiration?

The design of the clothes like the colors chosen for the fabrics are a reflection of a deep sense of belonging to my island, endless source of my inspiration. In each piece I try to interpret, with great respect and modernity, the ancient traditions of Sardinia and the bright colors and distinctive landscapes that this land gives to me. Mixing my Sardinians immense passion with the ancient soul and freedom of the African continent, the wonderful and colorful countrywomen, my collection becomes a perfect combination of ancient traditions and modernity, memories of deserts and unreachable mountains, open seas and splendid colors.

Each dress is the story of a mood, each color a feeling. Each collection is an old music.

Where was your passion born?

The passion for the art began as a child, growing quickly with a strong aesthetic sense towards clothing. As a teenager, I began to wish for a look that could fully represent my personality. Finding no garment that reflected my desires, exploded in me the urge to create by myself the wardrobe of my dreams.

Without ever having sewn, driven by a lively inspiration, I bought my first piece of cloth and alone, with the sewing machine of a dear friend, I created my first skirt. Driven by this magical inspiration, I created a garment after the other, with no experience, no pattern, just by looking, touching the fabric and getting carried away by instinct. My friends, affected by the visionary forms and evocative colors, asked me to create dresses for commission.

As if I had done nothing all my life long, I began to study by myself all methods to tailor, to improve day by day the quality of my clothes.

The requests came from people like me, who wanted to wear one of my dresses, out from the usual style, and they increase more and more and at some point it came natural the creation of a brand that identifies perfectly with my style.

I had the impression that nature plays a really important role in your world and for your fashion…

Oh yeah, I love to talk and listen to nature! Sometime ago I was forced, for health reasons, to stay locked up in hospitals for a long time and from there I realized the importance of being alive and stay in the open air, watching the colors of a sunrise or a sunset, feel the wind that caresses your face just for a minute and enjoying the scents that only the nature of this land can give you, even from a window. I think there is no better place to take photos for my clothes and feel in tune with it!

What does your logo represents?

The logo represents for me eternal freedom.

In fact the inspiration comes from the Egyptian key of life, which is also known as the Ankh, or the Egyptian cross Ankh. It is a T cross crowned by a circle, an oval and in some representations, by a snake that twists (the serpent is the symbol of wisdom and if chasing its tail forming a circle is a symbol of eternity). The form of the ankh remembers a key and that is also the reason why it is called “Key of Life” or “Key of the Nile”. Symbolic representation of life and survival after death, but it has been interpreted as a free butterfly, with Sardinian spikes.

The message is therefore to feel free, colorful, feminine, rich in tradition, but above all unique and special wearing my dresses!

ISULA DESIGN

FRANCESCA COLOMBINO

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Fashion Designer, Made in Italy

CARLOTTINA LAB

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“If I have to use only an adjective to describe myself I would say that I am a very dynamic person: I can’t stand losing time without doing something useful. I always have to make plans, to design, or at least fantasize.“

 

Carlottina Lab is the creative result of a project by Carlotta, the fashion designer and owner of it.

Tell us something about you Carlotta: who you are, where are you from, what do you like… and everything you want us to know! 

My name is Carlotta Franzini, I am 28 years old, I was born in Cagliari where I also grow up, but at the moment I live in a small village of the district with my partner and my little child Giovanni.

I have studied architecture and have been always passionated about design. If I have to use only an adjective to describe myself I would say that I am a very dynamic person: I can’t stand losing time without doing something useful. I always have to make plans, to design or, at least, fantasize.

How was your project CARLOTTINA LAB born and what makes it special?

The real project started in 2009 but I actually started to sew bags since I was 16. It is the result of my passion together with the ability to manufacture and create handmade designs. I was looking for a different and more personal dimension of the work, with a tempo and rhythm more compatible with my needs.

Simply put, I wanted to turn around the factory work situation and find a new dimension that would go back to your own abilities to create and organize. I think that this is exactly what is so special about it: You can find this spirit in every bag I produce! Another important aspect is the special and direct relationship with customers: they have the ability to follow the whole process of the creation of the bag they choose, right from the beginning.

In regard to customers, what role do they play? Does the client decide everything or can we define it as “team work”? Are you usually strongly influenced by advices from people who want to customise their “carlottina”? 

Usually I always start with an interview of the customer, askying them how would they like the bag, what they are planning to use it for, and what kind of sensations they want to transfer through it: for instance, I ask if they want a stiff bag, that can communicate solidity, or on the other hand, a soft bag can fit with the body). Finally, I ask about the colour, what they want to put inside and so on… Starting with this information I draw a model that I will later show to the customer: they tell me then what they like about it or what they would prefer to change.

At this stage I begin the phase of fulfillment. That is why I describe them as “customised bags with a soul”, because it is like getting a custom- tailored dress. Often a bag is not just a bag, it has a meaning more than a dress: you wear it most of your time, it is coming with you everywhere and it has to represent you and your style: it has to be comfortable or useful, it depends on what kind of person you are!

When did you realize that this passion could become your job?

For many years I was sewing bags just as a hobby, but then at some point I decided to invest in my passion, both ideally and economically, and at that point I became an artisan.

Probably my decision was the result of a period of deep crisis in the society; it was no longer possible to yearn for a permanent job and I really wanted to create something personal in which I could put my energy and that could express my feelings and my personality.

Where do you find the inspiration?

Truth be told everywhere, I like to look around me and discover small details that can become a central idea to manufacture new bags, sometimes whole collections.

What is your philosophy? where does this passion come from?!

The philosophy which leads my work is mostly my wish to bring back together in a single product all my experience and all the values I believe in.

Which kind of values you mean?

There are many virtues that are really meaningful for me: the first of all is intellectual honesty but also the iron will to built something original and that can represent me. Furthermore the seriousness associated with that fact that I am not taking myself too seriously it always helps to enjoy life!

What is the connection between the nature and your bags?

It is a relationship that follows the pre- industrial period, a relationship where aspects like the personal material choice, the attention to wastefulness and, whenever possible, the use of recyclable materials. These are important components of my work.

What do people like most about your work?

I think that they really appreciate the direct and informal relationship that I establish with them, as well as the willingness to create accessories that correspond exactly to their expectations. It is not unusual that, when customers come to my home (which is also my workshop) to order or to pick up their product, they suddenly find themselves drinking a tee in my living room or playing with my son! I love that they can feel like they’re at home with me.

Do you want to spread a message with your art?

I try to communicate to people all the passion that I put into everything I make. I strongly believe that people have to go back to believing in workmanship; they should buy products made from small retailers rather than big companies as much as possible. Handcraft can become the new motivation power of the world economy.

You can find Carlottina Lab in Via Palermo 43, Sant’Anna Arresi 09010 Carbonia- Iglesias (Italy)

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