A Tavola #4
A round up of news, reflections and life lately. New home decor pieces from Italy, more takeaways from Milan Design Week and an exciting colour workshop incoming
A Tavola has become one of my favourite pieces to write. It’s a less polished article, more of a space to share what’s happening in the colour studio, and the little things I can’t stop thinking about lately. I like to think of it as us being a tavola together (hence the name): a good coffee in hand, feet up and ready for a good natter. So with that in mind, I’ve got my coffee, have you got yours?
Some secondary thoughts on Milan Design Week
After my last Milan article, where I shared my honest take on the key themes and threads during MDW, I realised I still had more thoughts bubbling away. It was the first year I didn’t run around like a headless chicken, so afterwards I listened to a few designers and forecasters discuss their reflections too, and a couple of ideas really stayed with me. Think of this as less ‘trend report’ and more ‘MDW takeaways 2.0’.
One idea that kept resurfacing was the importance of rituals, and words that kept cropping up were: food, homemaking, accessibility, gathering. There was less focus on furniture as an object or the latest product drop, and more emphasis on what actually happens inside a space; how we live in it, what we make there, the routines and rituals that shape our everyday lives…
Food came up repeatedly, which I loved because 1. it takes us outside the usual idea of an interiors fair, and 2. well… I just love food. IKEA explored the idea of a food market, designers collaborated with chefs, and cookbooks even appeared in press packages. I didn’t make it to this exhibition, but listening to this insight felt particularly beautiful, as it’s a shift away from simply filling homes with things and toward creating spaces that support daily rituals and connection. Of course, this isn’t anything new (is anything these days?), but it’s a good reminder that homes are spaces of self-care where we can retreat from the outside world.
One designer spoke about bread-making and the slow return to creating things with our hands. This hit home as I’ve been baking my own (gluten-free) bread for the last 6 months, partly as a creative outlet to switch off after work, but also as a way to rekindle small (and delicious) rituals at the table as a coeliac. I actually spotted a beautiful table and chairs made of bread at Alcova, but I stayed very clear as there was gluten flying everywhere.
And finally, one thought I haven’t been able to shake came from Susanna Bjorklund, a designer and trend analyst from Finland, who noted that taste changes much slower than trends. Phoar…I love that. Because perhaps none of this is really about trends at all, but about understanding your own taste deeply enough to trust it. It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, and I’ll be exploring more about it in my next Substack piece. Watch this space.
A few homeware finds from Milan, Venice & Rome
I’m hugely passionate about craft and discovering artisans wherever I travel, and fortunately, Italy happens to be one of the richest countries when it comes to craftmanship and tradition. Every city we visit, I make it my mission to uncover the local artisans and pick a piece to take home with me. I’ve been meaning to share some of my homeware treasures for a while now and never quite got around to it, but today is the day!
First stop, Rome. We visited back in January (it was my first time, and I LOVED it), and first on the list was Giuncart, aka master basketweave Umberto Giovagnoli. I’ve been following Umberto’s work for years, so a trip to his shop was a must.
I’ll admit I already own A LOT of baskets so I managed to restrain myself and instead popped into a ceramic shop, Cotto Artistico Vietrese. Technically not local to Rome, they’re from Salerno, just south of Naples, but my god, my eyes nearly popped out of my head when I walked inside. I spent a good 20 minutes umming and ahhing before finally deciding on a pig plate because I’d been saving gluten-free restaurants with a pig emoji on Google Maps, so of course it felt meant to be. Just as we were leaving, I spotted a small cobalt bowl out of the corner of my eye. I’ve been looking for an olive bowl for ages, and this was perfect.
We make yearly trips to Venice (only an hour and half on the train from Milan), and naturally I can never go home without some hand-blown glassware, but for a while now, I’ve been searching for glasses that aren’t the ‘typical’ Venetian design. You’ll see them everywhere, from the glass-blowing factories on Murano to the corner shops lining the canals, and although gorgeous, I wanted something slightly different. After my fourth visit, I finally found them. Dario Frare is officially my favourite glassmaker. His designs feel different from the traditional pieces you find, and I absolutely love them. They make me smile every time I use them.
A colour workshop with Mad About the House
I am VERY excited to announce that I’ll be hosting my first colour workshop this year with Kate Watson Smythe at her Turin retreat (I’m dancing around the kitchen just typing this!) I have been wanting to do an in-person workshop for a while, but the timing never felt right. Finally, the pieces have fallen into place with one of my favourite women in the interiors industry, and I couldn’t be more excited.
Kate is hosting two retreats this year, so if you fancy joining, head over here to find out more.
I was asked this question recently, and it got me thinking....
What do I want people to feel when they’re part of my world?
As a one-woman band building a business slowly, creating a community feels both imperative and oh so precious in a world consumed by social media and content. So when I heard this question, it felt quite profound, and when I put pen to paper (without overthinking it), I wrote:
I want people to feel confident creating a home that genuinely supports the way they live
Feel empowered to use colour and design in a way that reflects who they are
Build trust in their own taste and design decisions
Discover the emotional power colour can have within a space
Feel inspired to bring pieces of their travels, memories and experiences into their interiors
I feel like I’m very slowly creating a small community, and Substack has certainly been a huge part of that. So here’s to creating homes with meaning, embracing colour with confidence, and building spaces that feel good for the soul.
If you’d love to learn more about my approach to colour and get hands-on with moodboarding, join me later this year at Kate Watson Smythe’s design retreat in Turin!
Such beauty… but I’m still stuck on when to use tavolo and when to use tavola
Great article!
Over on my Substack I talk all things design antiques and culture so you might find something that interests you! I’d LOVE to connect and chat! 😊