An early morning wake-up with Mrs Fendi, on Ponza Island

I realised I haven't done any "An early morning wake-up with..'' posts in a long time. All the previous posts are quite popular even months later (see elder posts: Rachel Zoe, Coco Rocha and Gillian Zinser) so this time I thought I might make you dream a little and I'm taking you some where exotic.

Just one thing before: this gives me the perfect chance to talk about italian summer houses and their decoring. Mmm.. right?! "Italy".. "summer".. and "house".. ! A perfect combo! which easily stimulates one's imagination. But the truth isn't as classy as one would imagine.. that romantical clichè of a stylish and cozy mediterranean villa at the seaside with exotic gardens full of beautiful cured flowers.. is just a clichè. Yes, because a typical & mediocre italian summer residence is everything else, than that. As controversial as it sounds italians don't know anything about the cozy-home-decoring culture. And they don't care much about it either, they like to spend most of their time outside their homes, especially when on vacation. It's all about hanging out at the lidos (the beach) (from 10 o'clock in the morning until 19 in the afternoon, not esagerating!) and all the remaining time they spend it in restaurants, walking on the lungomare or in the city center, meeting friends at the ice-cream bars. Not to forget the exciting life going on on the piazzas. So as you can see there is no time to spend it at home. Italians just don't have that tradition. Even if they have frieds over for dinners they usually hang outside anyway.. So why to bother themselves with decoring a house they only use for sleeping? That's the reality, guys.

This is why whenever I come across an exception in this field I get all excited. Like in this case. When doing my research for the Ponza island I spotted these fabulous pictures taken for Harper's Bazaar. I couldn't resist on not sharing them with you on CN. Take your time and read this interview with her on harpersbazaar.com.

For some of you who don't know (read my previous Ponza posts here) Ponza (circa 10 km²) is the main island in the Gulf of Gaeta, near Rome. Just like the rest of Riviera Ulisse, the coast between Rome and Naples, Ponza is quiet and calm. The exact opposite of the jet-setters' so much loved Capri island in the Amalfitana coast. Ponza is one of my must-destinations this summer, let's hope I finally make it there!

An early morning wake-up with Gillian Zinser

It is time for another post from the series "An early morning wake-up with.. " (check out the one with Rachel Zoe here and with Coco Rocha here!). This time take a sneak-peek into the home of the actress Gillian Zinser. She hasn't done any big parts (yet, let's hope. I love her!) but she sure is a big inspiration for many bloggers at the moment. Differently from other posts this one does not give a big glimpse to the home itself. It rather concentrates on some inspiring home-decor pieces and Gillian wardrobe's key-pieces.

Treasure Hunting

“This is my grandfather’s hat from WWII. The chair I found at that groovy flea market on Farifax and Melrose. I found the corset at a vintage shop in Paris and have been meaning to use it for some sort of homage-to-early-Madonna shoot. I found that amazing onyx black tooth pendant up in Big Sur, and the framed photo was something I found while gutting a house in the lower ninth ward in New Orleans while volunteering with the St. Bernard project after Katrina hit.”

Mad Hatter

“I am mad about hats. I collect them as souvenirs from my globe trotting.”

State of the Art

Top: “The hat on the right I found in a gutter in Haiti. The pieces of art were from a series called 'The Loudness of Silence' that I did in college.”

Bottom: “This photo is from an old self portrait series I did when I was living in Brooklyn.”

Dreamweaver

Top: “I’m in love with dream catchers. I collect them from every trip I take.”

Bottom: Vintage shawl, Chloë Sevigny for Opening Ceremony sunglasses

Easy Rider

“I found these boots at a vintage store in Prenzlaurberg in Berlin.”

Hurley shirt

Coming Up Roses

“I found this dress at the Rose Bowl. The turquoise bracelet was a gift from my first boyfriend.”

Rough-and-Tumble

“I made this voodoo bust a few years back, and my friend Malcolm Ford just gave me that Mike Tyson etching which I’m just mad for!”

Magic Touch

“This is some childhood memorabilia, my crystal magic wand, and my favorite camera to shoot with.”

Rock Steady

“The crochet top is vintage. The teeth are from my favorite store in New York, Obscura Antiques. And I’m just mad for amethysts.”

On Board

“These are two of my favorite Falsa Balsa longboards.”

Hang Up

“This is my ‘bling corner’ where I hang my jewelry from antlers. My dad took that photo of my mom when she was my age.”

Take the Bull by the Horn

“This is a bull’s skull sprayed with adhesive and covered in sand, dripping with a few of my favorite charms.”

Desert Finds

“Here's my old Polaroid collection. And both of these pieces are from my beloved adventures up in Joshua Tree. I bought those leather fringe pants right off an old cowboy outside of Pappy and Harriet’s, and the hat is from the Past Times Antiques shop.”

Paint it Black

“This painting is by one of my favorite artists, Travis Lindquist, from the Goldmine Shithouse Art Collective. The hat and old lace vest are vintage and the bag is Olivia Harris by Joy Gryson.”

Eye Candy

“The artwork is by Kill Pixie (Mark Whalen). These glasses are insane – I used them as a prop for my self-portrait project. The photo booth strip is taken in Berlin.”

Loose Ends

“The artwork in this shot was made and given to me by Kime Buzzelli, who's also the costume designer for 90210. The tattered coral top is from the Greenpoint flea market in Brooklyn. The sequin bib necklace is from a vintage store in Paris right behind the Pompidou.”

An early morning wake-up with: Coco Rocha

Bounjour à tous! How have you all been? Hope good! Did you see I changed the headliner? Actually I've been thinking about my blog lateley a lot.. I can't say the exact data but it was circa in this period, a year ago, that I started blogging seriously. Café Naïveté itself was born a while ago (2/23/8 - is infact the data of my very first post!!).. with a whole other purpose - I initially shared my daily doings and thoughts of this experience in Rome, it was way more personal that it is right now! But then other interests came along and I sorta lost my interest in writing only about my own life... Is it something you'd be interested in though? For nostalgy I'll write you more about what Café Naïveté actually means in the near time. But for now, before I go and prepare myself for school, here's something good for those, who like me, instead of enjoying their morning cup of coffee with a newspaper, do it while reading their favourite blogs. "A cozy home experience" discovers this time the lovely home of Coco Rocha! (You can read about and see pictures of Rachel Zoe's home here!). The photos are taken by Claiborne Swanson Frank for Vogue.

Tik tok the time is ticking and I'm almost late!... stay tooned for the afternoon as I'll be updating this post about Coco's home...
In the meanwhile tell me what do you think of the new header?:)

Have a great day!
x

Let's return to the subject: getting ready (getting inspired) for the new year

Marcio Kogan, my favourite architect at the moment.

My first week of my final year at school is almost finished. It's good to be back but the pressure is strong, no jokes this year. We changed some teachers in few subjects and luckily they all seem very professional, time will only tell if that's true. In English we have, for example, a new teacher with an extremely good pronunciation! He's our 9th teacher in only four years, can you imagine? No wonder we joke about how that job has been damned just like the Defense Against Dark Arts subject in Harry Potter, ha. So.. I was thinking about how it's time to bring back a little bit of design and architecture in this blog and so I will post some photos of my last year's work as soon as I take my camera to school. In the meanwhile here's a bunch of random inspiring eye candy on the subject. Hopefully I'll have the time to write soon so take care!

I like this space a lot.. where the old meets the young and the trendy.. Simple.

The "view" from the window is fantastic! Like Waterfall House's modern version or something.

I usually don't like it when the interiors are entirely made out of wood but in this case the right illumination really makes the difference.

Typical Finnish summer house. I love the use of wood.

Clean and peaceful. Absolutely beautiful "emptyness".

Even though I love big windows I still could not imagine myself living in a house like this.. This solution is clever and a must for those who, like me, do not like the idea of being observed by someone in the bush, late at night... :D

First I didn't like the picture on the right but now I'm really thrilled with this marble-wall solution. As I do think a window near working-space is much better, I'm not that convinced about the desk's collocation as the massiveness of the wall could not affect positively on one's celebral activity and concentration. Anyhow I would definitely use this solution in some other circumstance! Note how the lightening makes the marble look much less cold, it almost looks organic. Doesn't it remind you of Jupiter's surface?

The illumination is perfect in this house- look how the light just glows inside thanks to the right positioning and planning of the house.

This is another typical Scandinavian modern summer house. I love the different combination of different material in architecture.

All pictures (almost) taken from the site called Trendir.com, check it out, it's one of the best in my personal opinion.

PS! Are you actually interested in seeing more architecture and design related posts on CN?