Saturday, June 30, 2012

SUMMER GETAWAY

While Invitation To Inspiration duo is melting on 35 °C here in Croatia, the only thing we can think of is a perfect summer house like MAISON PROJECT located in Cape Winelands( South Africa ) and designed by Ven Der Merwe Miszewski Architects.


The Project site (±10 HA) is located in the heart of the Franschhoek Valley, between the road into Franschhoek, (the north boundary of the site), and the Berg river (the south boundary of the site).


There were two existing structures on the site; a 1920’s house and a barn dating from ± the 18th century.


The scope of this proposal included the re-utilization of the barn, which is more or less centrally located on the site and is surrounded by several magnificent and ancient Oak trees.


It is intended that the barn and its trees become the focus of a new home, both in the programmatic and structural sense.


The barn itself was repaired and inhabited to form the heart of the home – being the living, dining and cooking spaces.  The long facades are covered with verandahs; one open and planted and the other covered over, (in place of an existing lean to structure which was demolished).


Two additional wings of accommodation have been placed adjacent to the barn (at the ‘short ends’) – containing bedrooms, bathrooms etc and creating an enclosed external space – the WERF.


The WERF provides; (in 2 areas, which are separated by a level change, an arbour and a water feature), private open space and motorcar access.


The purpose of the proposal was to retain the barn structure as the significant built form – by keeping the new adjacent structures low, with flat roofs, as well as retaining the existing trees planted many years ago around the barn.


The primary form of the house consists of walls in the landscape – providing both habitable space as well as an ordering device for external farm space.  Openings in the walls are punctured and can be closed over by external shutters.  Panoramic view windows (also with shutters), are located at the ends of the accommodation wings which look out over the vineyards.


A long pool separates the barn from the vineyards, which together with new paddocks, surround the new house.


The owners collaborated closely with the architects on all aspects of the design, and particularly so with regard to internal fit out and furniture.


Wishing everyone the most amazing weekend!
Love, Martina & Matea

Thursday, June 28, 2012

FRIDA`S BED


If Frida was to write her autobiography, Slavenka Drakulić`s big little novel Frida`s Bed would be it.
Drakulić`s carefully crafted words reveal the woman behind one of the most iconic masks of modern art.
The mask of Frida Kahlo.  
Frida is bared down to all that she truly was: a fighter and a victim, a wife and an adulterer... Most importantly- an artist.
This contemplation on life, love, death, art, betrayal and above all- pain, leaves a deep, lasting impression on the reader. So deep, you find it hard to separate yourself from Frida.
So deep, you become Frida…
        
Photo by Invitation To Inspiration

 Death has hovered around her since childhood. A shadow that is always there. A ghostly white skull with touches of gray; gray, the color of fear, is ever- present in her life and a part of her. She is standing there alone beneath  the angry sky and swirl of menacing clouds. Still a child, she has yet to grow into her face. When she grows up she will have Frida`s face. Again and again Frida will paint her own face over the white skull, proof that she is still alive.

Photo by Invitation To Inspiration

Photo by Invitation To Inspiration

  Maestro, I could not even imagine what a painter who had possessed the most beautiful women in the world would see in me. I felt your probing eyes move down my back, stopping at each scar as if to inspect my map of pain. I don`t know how long I stood there like that. When I turned around you looked at me, wide- eyed, as if I were a ghost. Then you picked me up in your arms. You laid me down in the copper tub and turned on the water.

Photo by Invitation To Inspiration

 I lay there, my eyes closed, while you soaped me down, your hand carefully touching my skin as if you were afraid of hurting me. For the first time I felt sure that I was not alone anymore. And then a miracle occurred, Maestro, you recognized me, and that is why I want you with me now, I do and I do not want you. No one has ever been naked as I was then. Normal people are merely naked. But my body was both naked and wounded- it was vulnerable. My scars did not frighten you. It is through scars that one touches a person`s solitude. I learned that from you, with you, that day.

Photo by Invitation To Inspiration

 The talented young woman who had no training, did not sell or exhibit her pictures, became aware of her status as the Maestro`s wife as soon as they married. She almost completely lost  her self- confidence. So her new goal was at least to become a good wife, to learn how to cook the Maestro`s favorite dishes, which she would bring him in a flower- festooned basket to his scaffold. She even changed the way she looked.
 
Photo by Invitation To Inspiration

  She had mastered the technique of dissociation, of separating from her body, long ago when as a child she would escape through an imaginary door to join her imaginary little friend.
After a while what she saw was not herself but a mask. Virtually all of her self- portraits showed the fixed look of a mask. Masks were important to her, they hid the reality behind them. As with every actor, masks and costumes allowed her to become whatever she wanted to be. Her life with the maestro soon became a play where she designed her own costumes and sets, scripted and staged the story, directed and starred. And the she put it all on canvas.

Photo by Invitation To Inspiration

She would spend hours brushing her hair and dressing, turning routine into ritual. The costume, the make up, the hair were all her way of holding herself together. And she had a sense of humor. It amused her to parade around with the Maestro, she loved all the acting and ruses. When she stood in front of the mirror in the mornings, deftly applying her bright red lipstick, she would immediately feel different, she would become a different woman. Like a skeleton decked out fluttering brightly colored scraps of cloth.

Photo by Invitation To Inspiration

While he was painting his subversive, controversial, sweeping murals, Frida was sitting at home alone and, when her inner demon drove her to it, she would reach for her paintbrushes. The small paintings she did at the time were unusual and suffused with pain. Though confessional, they were highly provocative because they cut through you like a knife. Even when not immediately decipherable, they had a visceral effect, they were like a punch in the stomach.

Photo by Invitation To Inspiration

 She still had the sensation that death was shadowing her, hovering over her every painting. It was her job, she felt, to hold that shadow at bay, to master her fear of it, perhaps capture it in her paintings. The Maestro liked to say that painting was his life. She made no such declarations, but it was no less true of her as well. She would loudly denigrate her own paintings, but the truth of the matter was that painting was her life preserver; it kept her afloat and allowed her to swim, to breathe.

Photo by Invitation To Inspiration

A painful body, an unwanted body. I suffered on both counts. I was not only on pain, I had been rejected as well. However hard I tried, I never quite managed to separate myself from my body. I never succeeded in becoming a butterfly. After the accident I knew that my soul depended solely on my body, on this sarcophagus from which there was no escape. You can free me from this terrible captivity, I told the Maestro, by imagining that my body is not an obstacle to my soul. Love me, please, love me. I begged him for love, any kind of love.

Photo by Invitation To Inspiration

 White, not black was the color of her death. She thought she saw the door open and her nameless little childhood friend walk into the room. As once long ago, the little girl took her by the hand. And Frida surrendered to her touch. 

Frida Kahlo: The Dream

 

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

SUMMER GLAM



Good fashion photography is just like a good story telling.
It creates a perfect setting, a perfect character and a perfect atmosphere.
Among many great fashion photographers, we find Alexia Silvagni to be one of the best story tellers.

Silvagni`s ELLE editorial published in June 2007 represents the epitome of summer glam feel.









photos via

All the shades of white and blue, tanned skin and sandy textures make us feel like summer is breathing down our necks...
 We invite you to enjoy Silvagni`s summer story with us...

Invitation To Inspiration duo wish you a hot and glamorous summer day! 

Sunday, June 24, 2012

STYLE EMPIRE



























PHOTOS VIA


PHOTOS VIA




We would like to thank MARCELA for PREMIO COLORS and APPRECIATION AWARD.
MARCELA is a wonderful and inspiring author, artist and blogger.
 Please check out her blog FASHIONADICTAS by Marcela .

There are certain people in the blogosphere whose work we particularly admire and consider to be original and inspiring. We are thrilled to pass these awards to the following blogs:

Thank you very much for your friendship! <3 
Have a wonderful Sunday!

Love, Martina & Matea