Guest Post: Latest design trends at the world famous Spazio Rossana Orlandi

Rossana Orlandi 

Home Becomes Her is excited to welcome our first guest blogger Amandine Dowle. Amandine is a talented French photographer working in the Italian fashion industry and is keen to share with us her unique point of view on fashion and interior design.

Rossana Orlandi is an international icon since buying an old factory in Milan in 2002 that she then transformed into a huge three floors of gallery space exhibiting the most imaginative emerging worldwide designers like Jaime Hayon, Piet Hein Eek, Nacho Carbonell and many others.

This short woman seems to come out of  an old movie from the sixties. Wearing huge white glasses that practically cover her tiny face, she is a courageous and brave woman with an amazing sense of humor. Starting as a fashion designer, she developed her taste and started to promote limited edition design-art. With a good nose for originality, she is called “one of the design world’s most influential patrons” by the Financial Times How To Spend It magazine.

“WE WORK WITH PEOPLE WHO CAN SELF-PRODUCE. AND I ALWAYS KEEP THE PROTOTYPES – THEY’RE MY FAVOURITES – THEY’RE OFTEN SO BEAUTIFUL. IT’S IMPORTANT TO BE REALLY OPEN TO ALL IDEAS. I AM ALWAYS CURIOUS, ALWAYS LEARNING.”

ROSSANA ORLANDI

Let me guide you to her amazing and unique gallery. Close to the station Porta Venezia in Milan, the Spazio Rossana Orlandi is located in one of the prettiest areas of the city. You get to the gallery by passing by the garden exhibiting itself rare pieces of art: lamps, mirrors, chairs, little objects, and sculptures everywhere. It is like entering to Alice’s world in wonderland!

Then you take the interior staircase that leads you to three different floors. Each floor displays different atmosphere divided in several rooms.

Here is a selection of products that I like:

The “Peacock” chair designed by by Eiri Ota and Irene Gardpoit Chan represents a natural instance as a flower blossoming or a bird’s tail in a ritual courtship. The chair has been made from acrylic composites stretched by hand. The process is involving manipulating a single sheet within minutes. The result is just beautiful!

The sculpture “sugar” designed by the Dutch artist Aldo Bakker. It has impressed me for the unreality of the stainless steel tableware that stays on a thin mountain of brown sugar.

The last ones “Ripple Light” by the London studio Poetic Lab are lamps that are projecting waves of water on walls. It gives you a sensation of relaxation, wellness and serenity.

The spazio Rossana Orlandi is far my favorite gallery that I have seen so far. I highly recommend the visit while visiting Milan to get as many interior design ideas as possible!

By Amandine Dowle

Body Art & Wall Art

Body Art Pic: Courtesy of our lovely friend Gaya
Wall Art Pic: Courtesy of Snuut Architecture

This is our beautiful friend Gaya showing off her uber feminine and delicate back tattoo. If tattooing body art seems too permanent for you, then wall decals require much less commitment. This butterfly wall decal has been placed on top of wallpaper and has instantly taken a blah boring wall to something of a feature. Wall decals can be a simple and great way to add excitement, character and beauty to a room. 

Body Art image: Courtesy of Pinterest
Wall Art image: Courtesy of Walldecalshop

I think henna temporary tattooing is so stunning, and this wall decal example shows that you really can find almost any sort of design you desire. With so many options available from images to inspirational quotes, you can find something that is meaningful and beautiful to your tastes and apply this to any room in the house (or even tattoo any part of your body...).

So this is probably not a simple vinyl wall decal but more of a hand painted and original wall mural, I love it! Image courtesy of Foggyland

If you're handy with the paint brush create your own bright, colorful and dynamic wall mural. Not for the artistically challenged like me, but inspiring all the same. Image courtesy of MadeByGirl

A fantastic and extravagant wall mural example! Again not a simple decal but so effective in this double ceiling height space. Image courtesy of Batixa

I think nursery's and kids rooms are perfect for decals, they add the fun factor and can be easily removed when you or your kids get over it! Image courtesy of The Kids Room Decor

Image courtesy of Colorful Kids Rooms

So try a wall decal – liven up a room for relatively low cost and minimal effort. There are so many different vinyl wall decals available, check out Etsy for thousands of options and you're sure to find one that you love. Or for the artistically ambitious and talented you can try painting your own wall mural or even create your own fabric wall decal, see Sewing Scarlet for a great tutorial.