Archive for category Travels
Off to Paris
I’m off to Paris and keeping my fingers crossed for some successful antique shopping for VW Home. I haven’ been to Paris since last year June and am just so excited to go. It truly is one of my favorite European cities – with all that charm and history, yet always managing to be at the forefront of what’s hot and happening.
Do you have any new recommendations of things I should see while I’m there? As always, I’d love to hear your tips. As I mentioned last time: I always love Paris, but I especially love Paris in the Springtime!
Au revoir!
Travel Journal – Lisbon
Posted by Vicente in Photography, Travels on February 23, 2010
Many of you have asked me to share some of the photos I took on my recent trip, so I decided to share extracts from my travel journey here, along with some of the photos. I’ll start with my first port of entry, Lisbon, today and give you a couple more impressions over the next few days. Please let me know if you’ve been to any of these places and share with all the readers what you liked most about all these destinations. I think that by sharing our experiences, we make travel so much more accessible to everyone. (Click on the photos to see a bigger version.)
Lisbon – A city of tiles
Small in comparison to other European capitals, Lisbon makes up for what it lacks in size with its charm, its many hills and the churches that are scattered throughout and that expose the high Rococo style.
All over the city, the shimmer of gold leaf and the wealth it gathered with the colonization of India and Brazil is evident. Gold, silk, spices and precious woods were brought here and a maritime nation was launched with the exploration of Vasco de Gama and his men, who found a sea route to India.
My favorite parts of the city are the great museums – small in size, but rich in objects and art. The best of all of these is the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, which houses an outstanding Lalique collection. The architecture of the building and the area where it is located, is just great. It is part of the Museo de Arte Moderno.
Because Lisbon is by the sea, fresh seafood reigns in their cuisine – and I indulged in daily fresh offerings during my visit.
I also loved seeing how tiles have been used throughout the city – in the facades of the buildings, in the hallways and in churches. It brings tilework to a very high art.
The churches throughout the city are quite magnificent, embellished with gold mantles, carved wood and frescos which, when combined with the color of the local Travertine and marble, ends up with a very soft coloration which is augmented with the Rococo swirls and fantasy.
On my way back to NYC
After seven weeks of traveling (I’ve been to Mali, Timbuktu and Lisbon, to name a few places), I am finally returning to New York this weekend. Getting back into the big city and the usual routine is not going to be an easy thing, but on the other hand, 2010 is a new year with a lot of new possibilities. I have an optimistic sense and am looking forward to receiving all the things I bought for VW Home.
Not even back yet, I’ve already started planning my next trip for December 2010. This year I’m heading to Uzbekistan. I like to have these annual trips to look forward to all year – it’s like dangling a carrot in front of the donkey’s nose. Have you ever traveled the Silk Routes? What comes highly recommended? And what does not?
Staying at the Oriental
When you stay at the Oriental in Bangkok, you just never know who you are going to run into. I’ve been here for the past couple of days and on this trip I met Thomas Britt, a legendary designer whose quirky personality and extravagant and layered design has carried him through many years in the interior design industry and the darling of Architectural Digest.
With his distinctive raspy voice, he related stories of his career over lunch at The Veranda overlooking the river – stories of his travels in India and the Maharani of Jaipur which offered a great and unexpected insight into one of New York’s grandest designers.
Ask Vicente: India Recommendations
Posted by Vicente in Ask Vicente, Travels on December 27, 2009
Name: Herbie Parets
City: Miami
State: FL
Country: USA
Comment:
Hi Vicente,
I follow your blog regularly and have purchased from your store a couple of times. Your style, blog and store is a great inspiration to me and other designers I know as well.
I am going to India for 4 weeks in February and am very excited. I was wondering if you’ve been there and if so, do you have any recommendations on places to visit, markets to see, restaurants, etc.
I would greatly appreciate any advice.
Best,
Herbie
Vicente Responds:
I love India – you are going to have a great time, Herbie!
Some of my favorite places in India are:
- Imperial Hotel in Delhi
- The Rumba Palace in Jaipur
- Rajasthan is extraordinary
- Darjeeling at the edge of the Himalayas is a wonderful place to go
India is a shopping paradise, the craft emporiums are good places with set prices for those who don’t like to bargain – it’s a pretty safe option. I don’t know if you have a travel agent, but Cathy Whitworth arranges a lot of the trips in India and goes there once or twice a year – she would be a great source for you. She’s been my travel agent for many, many adventurous trips!
Oh yes, be sure to stick only to bottled water – Delhi Belly is a nightmare.
Ask Vicente: Thailand Shopping Hot Spot
Posted by Vicente in Ask Vicente, Travels on December 11, 2009
Name: Kati Curtis
City: New York
State: NY
Country: USA
Comment:
Vicente, i am another designer here in Manhattan, and I know you’re known for your extensive travels and the wonderful things you bring back to your showroom, VW Home. I’m traveling to Thailand this winter and I’d love it if you wouldn’t mind sharing some of your favorite places to shop for your clients. ?? Thank you!
Vicente Responds:
Hi Kati – Chatuchak Weekend Market is the best for shopping, but get there early on Friday – that’s when they set up and the crowds are less crazy. I suggest taking the new Skytrain to the end terminal called Morchit, which is exactly where the market is located. If you have to go on Saturday, get there at 8am. Many of the places are still closed then, but you’ll be there as the shops open up.
Chatuchak offers clothes, animals, books, plants, artifacts, unusual things, wooden workings, material, ceramics, baskets, antiques, plastic fruit, silk flowers, antiques, shoes, silverwear, jewelry and housewares, to name only a few. I have in the past brought items of clothing or bags that I wanted to have copied as the tailors are excellent at copying existing fashions. But keep checking it to be sure that it will fit correctly as they do sometimes screw up.
Color – Amsterdam
The constant contrast between light and dark appears everywhere from the facades of the building where black plays against white or brick, to the great Flemish portraits where the face and hands stand against all shades of black, dark browns and taupes, the gray clouds against the blue of the sky, which appear so regularly in the landscape paintings. 
Always, the sense of pure white created by light on light materials brings a sense of brightness to an environment that for most of the year lacks it with many wet, cold and somber.
The importance of light was expressed in the Dutch paintings which delighted on its play on subjects and spaces to the large windows in homes that were splurged in glass – a very expensive material at the time. All for the pleasure of brightness.
These are best shown in Rembrandt’s Night Watch where lightness floats in a sea of dark browns and black where two colors travel throughout the painting accenting personalities.
There is always an exception to the rule and that is Van Gogh where color creates so many different emotions. Here light permeates every painting. His early works started in the traditional dark style of somber coloration but soon turned to a style where bold brush strokes conveyed vibrancy, energy and movement, combining reality and the abstract. His constant use of soft greens, green blues and blue greens with dashes of yellows still influences us today.
Amsterdam Doors
One always thinks of the front door as being a black surface that leads you into the house, but to look at all the details of these doors tells you that there are indeed many ways of skinning the cat (I hope my cat Nene doesn’t read this!). They are full of inventiveness, whimsy and elegant details.
Amsterdam
Over the Thanksgiving holiday I traveled to Amsterdam and just realized again that, for inspiration, Amsterdam is a great place to go.
The clean simple architecture of buildings and the perfect symmetry of Dutch design, the large windows to allow the most amount of light in during the grey winter days… Brick with white plaster work in the façade gives sharp contrast to the city. Its delicate roof lines with their pulleys give the houses a touch of whimsy while the canal-facing house fronts allow the most amount of light to come in.
The repetition of bricks on the houses and on the walk-ways give the city a very calm quality. Window sills with blooming orchids everywhere serve as a reminder that Amsterdam is indeed the flower capital of the world.
I took many photos and will share some of these with you over the following days.
New Book – First Section Done!
Posted by Vicente in Books, Photography, Travels on November 6, 2009
I’ve handed in the first of three sections of my new book and it has been time-consuming, energy-draining and very exciting! Working with Christine Pittel, who worked with me on the first two books, I had to match the copy of the things that I talked about to images and the same thing with spaces – matching my photographs to the words.
This is something that starts to become very fulfilling as you see this original concept coming alive. People say why do people want to work on books, and yes, there’s the sense of putting your work out there and having it seen by the general public, but for me it’s the combination of my photography, with travel and a sense of teaching people how to maybe look at things in a different way, which really becomes so fulfilling when you put it together in a book that will be around for a long time (and in the library of Congress!).
There are so many design books out there – designers speaking about how great they are and showing their work. Some of them great, others less so, but I think that we owe the reader something more than just showing one’s work. If they spend their money to buy the book, I think that when they’re finished with looking at it and reading it, they should walk away being more enlightened, more aware, more informed and most importantly inspired.
So, one down, two more to go. I’ll keep you updated as we go along.
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