Thursday, December 10, 2009

Gallery Night Inspiration

Thursday night is the night for gallery openings in NYC, and tonight was especially good. Before visiting the first gallery, I stopped at one of my favorite stores in soho - Kiosk. I found this second-floor store by sheer luck one night a few years ago - it was contemporary furniture fair week, soho was full of furniture design parties, and in between all the big, publicized events at Knoll, Desiron, and Cappellini, there were a few smaller, more intimate, almost secret... keggers! A small sign, printed on plain 8 1/2 x 11" paper -in an impeccably cool font- quietly announced the party upstairs to those who happened to look up on their way to and from the other events.
The store remains hidden yet well-known, and they now also curate a shop-in-shop at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum. Why are they so special? They travel to a different part of the world every three months, and pick up everyday items that are completely ORDINARY to the residents, but look like a witty design objet to the uninitiated - that's us!
This makes it the best place to shop for gifts, and several of my friends will now have little stocking-stuffer christmas gifts with a very unique origin.

On to the galleries: my intented destination was Ennagon gallery, an exhibit curated by my friend Giulia. The artist, Natalie Tyler, created giant "cocoons". The natural structures, each about 7 feet high, were suspended from the ceiling and swaying slightly as people walked by. They also actually respond to the presence of people in the room, walking around them and moving closer and further away. The gallery was darkened, and a warm glow emanated from within each cocoon - but only when a person approached and was in close proximity to the sculptures.
Here's the gallery's description:
"The great Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis ("Zorba the Greek") tells us that when he was a boy, he noticed a cocoon stuck to a tree with a butterfly that was about to be born. He waited a while, but it was taking so long, so he decided to warm the cocoon with his breath. The butterfly finally emerged.
"Diapause" is a deepened state of hibernation and slowed metabolic function that happens in reaction to unfavorable external forces when an entity is gestating, to protect itself. Sometimes it survives and sometimes it aborts. Natalie Tyler uses the concept of cocoon as a metaphor for the emotional, philosophical, and physical states of transformation that occur during life-stage transitions...."

The already perfect evening was then ended with a quick run to the gallery across the street - showing Miro and Dali!

Barney's is Scouting Locations on my Street!

As reported in Crain's, Barney's New York is looking for a location in Boerum Hill! They'll join some fabulous company like Eva Gentry, Darr antiques, Hollander and Lexer menswear, only blocks away from authentic (and delicious) middle-eastern food shops.
Get a whole brownstone, Barney's! We can't wait!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

DAAP Alumni

A recent writeup about Cala Ossidiana on the DAAP news and events page... some background on the company and the unique program there.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Silent Auction is Online too!

Tomorrow evening is the event for Joan's Legacy: Uniting Against Lung Cancer. As you know, a package for two Cala Ossidiana bathing suits is available - so a bikini and a one-piece for yourself, or one for you and one for a great gift for a friend!
Check out all the other items up for auction here - my favorite is the "once in a lifetime" section, where you can bid on experiences like sitting in the director's chair for an espisode of NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, or attend the 2010 Olympics with the Today Show team!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Uniting Against Lung Cancer

November is lung cancer month, and this year it has become very important to me. My mother was diagnosed last fall with "never-smoker" lung cancer. This type of cancer is much more common than most people realize, and is very difficult to catch.
Joan's Legacy: Uniting Against Lung Cancer is an organization dedicated to fundraising for research on diagnosis, treatments, and a cure. Cala Ossidiana is contributing to their efforts - attendees at the annual benefit dinner will have a chance to bid on TWO of our bathing suits from the spring 2010 collection - with all proceeds going to the cause! If you'd like to be there for the evening, or learn about any of the other events happening nationally, check out their event page.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Rockin' Fashion


Love that someone has tapped into the background of Cala Ossidiana - Irene of the Irenebriation blog has written it far better than I ever could - with the help of her brother's childhood box of minerals from Italy. She has the rough-cut obsidian stone in the box - it's not only our namesake, but the deep black shiny rock glinting in the light is the inspiration for our new lava nail polish. She also has the sulfur, and a crystallized malachite which is an amazing color! It's a touch more green than the turquoise in our summer 2009 line, but we have that shade coming up for resort 2010!
Irene has a knack for capturing and exploring the inspiration behind the line, and has paired the description with a montage of film clips by Michelangelo Antonioni, one of Italian film's greats.

Glamour Blog is my new must-read!

Looks like the friend-of-a-friend who snapped Summer's pic at the beach last week writes for Glamour! Joanna has a blog that is so much fun to read, and you can check in a couple times a day for something new that makes you smile.... some of the comments are hilarious! I love the tan-lines debate because it's funny how worked up people get about it. For our knot-back maillot, the subject of so much debate, you can just move the adjustable straps around a little when you're lying on the beach, the same way you would unhook or untie a bandeau top with a wide strap across the back. (not to mention our bandeau has a big silver clasp that is not only gorgeous, it's also a lot easier to re-hook on your own than some little ties!)

Also love the discussions about which bathing suit is best to wear on a beach "date", and Joanna's musings on her upcoming wedding, celebrities, style, and makeup... and her coworkers at glamour write in as well - i had forgotten how funny "jake" is, giving the guy's perspective on all the things we girls obsess over.