Missoni!

Founders, Ottavio and Rosita Missoni

Since I mentioned Missoni in a recent post, I have been looking at a lot of pictures and videos of the Missoni family of designers. For many years I have loved Missoni clothing, and have also, more recently, been enamored of the Missoni Home line of designs.

As Oscar Wilde said, we need to allow the soul to experience joy through the senses, and of course, that's what my blog is all about, as well. A visit to the Missoni websites is a feast for the senses. Guests are treated to visually gorgeous colors and patterns, hear very hip music, can practically touch the textures of their textiles, and almost taste and smell the meals the Missoni family is shown enjoying together alla famiglia. 

I just love visiting both the Missoni and the Missoni Home websites. Everything about them is colorful and stylish - so quintessentially Italian! For interior and exterior design enthusiasts, the new 79-page digital  Missoni Home catalogue does not disappoint. The cover, alone, is enough to send me into alt. Then inside, the colors are so yummy, I could just eat them up! Look at pages 10-11 or 18-19 to get an idea of the genius they employ in color, texture and pattern combinations - absolutely incredible!

In his discussion entitled, Missoni and Seduction of the Creative Process, the neuroesthetic scientist, Luca Francesco Ticini explains human sensual understanding as a physiological phenomenon, and the basis of artistic inventiveness. Here's what he says in reference to the Missonis: "...when we look at a work of art or listen to a certain piece of music, when we taste a fine wine, when we wear Missoni, or when we win at sports... in all these instances, we feel particularly stimulated because the brain produces varying amounts of dopamine, a molecule which contributes to the feeling of pleasure. Artists engrossed in giving form to their emotions, passions and feelings are in a euphoric state because their brains are similarly infused with dopamine."

I say thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, to the Missoni family for making my brain soar whenever I look at any of their designs! The more I see, the more I adore!!! 

Photo from 1989

So what makes Missoni fabrics so different from any others, even from their imitators, of which there are so many? They all incorporate a chromatic variation, made up of so many colors and tones and shades of those colors...in fact, their color combinations are infinite, which is why I believe they will never become boring. The intricately orchestrated relationships between these colors is compounded by unusual and beautiful textures and patterns that keep the eye ever interested. There is endless interplay and variation, leading to infinite new discoveries and thoughts - all provoked by these fabrics. Colors that most of us would never imagine putting together become harmonious on the Missoni looms. 

The legendary Diana Vreeland, longtime editor of Vogue Magazine in America, said, when she came across the young Missonis' new talent in the 1960's, "Look! Who said there are only colors? There are tones, too!"

Here is some eye candy from both the clothing and Home lines - Enjoy!

Some inspiration boards showing the Missoni genius for combining color, pattern and texture:

And for the child who has everything...

Or dog (!)...  (I believe this may be an imitation, but it is listed on-line as Missoni.)

A little history: Ottavio and Rosita Missoni started the company in 1953, the year they married. He was already producing knitwear on looms, and she came from a family that produced ladies's shawls. According to Rosita, "Our philosophy, since we went into business, has been that a piece of clothing should be like a work of art." Richard Martin, curator of The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, said "...the Missonis have often pointed out that they deny fashion," and also that "...they realized that modern design is a synergy between machine and art."

Today, the company is run by the couple's three children, Luca, Vittorio and Angela. Of the three, Luca Missoni is the one who has been the most creative with fabric design and is in charge of textiles, having experimented in new techniques at the Missoni factory, since he was in high school. 

Luca Missoni

And now the grandchildren, including the darling and much photographed Margherita Missoni, are entering the company, so the Missoni legend is sure to live on!

Margherita Missoni

One of my favorite recent innovations is the bottle and labels Missoni designed this spring, for San Pellegrino.

There is a great video about the bottle design process on the Missoni website. (It won't be there forever, as they change the website frequently.) To find it, click the arrow on the right side of your screen, and go until you see the San Pellegrino bottle. then click on it to start the video. There are some great shots of the multi-generational family all sitting around a big table, enjoying a meal together. I wish I could have been there!!

For more inspiration, I love the little book, Missoni (Made in Italy), by Leonardo Arte. It's mostly pictures, and is just plain fun to flip through from time to time. I always discover some new design idea in the Missonis' creations.


I just can't get enough of Missoni creations, and look forward to what they will come up with next!

Slow Food and Sensory Awareness

It’s easy to understand why the Slow Food movement has gained such worldwide popularity over the past two decades. So many of us have gotten used to going through life by just going through it, as opposed to actually living it. Slow Food seeks to enlighten people about the joys of sitting down to a leisurely meal with family and friends, and really enjoying every aspect of that entire experience, as opposed to rushing through meals. According to USA Today, “Slow Food aims to be everything fast food is not.”

We (and I think most especially, Americans) are all realizing that faster is sometimes but not always better, and that we can miss a lot of life-fulfilling happiness if we just rush from one thing to the next. My husband, Jack, has been saying, for 20 years now, that computers have speeded everything up so fast for us, that instead of always being a convenience, they have created a sense of “need it right now” which is unrealistic in many arenas. One of these arenas is food.

I believe that slowing down and paying attention to sensual pleasures is not just important for our enjoyment of food, but for every single aspect of life. We will never be able to slow down our instant communications, and we really wouldn’t want to. Immediate texting, email and cellular words back and forth are a boon. However, these conveniences should be in addition to a life worth living to the fullest – not instead of it. Even with instant communication abilities, we should all be aware of our own and everyone else’s need to take time to think about our responses, not just to interpersonal and business communications, but to our own communications with ourselves – brain to soul.

Much as I dislike how cliché it has become, the expression “Take time to smell the roses” should be a personal motto for all of us living in a fast society. Of course this expression stands for so much more than smelling. It is about noticing all of our senses, and furthermore, paying attention to what our senses are telling us!

La joie de vivre is about really paying attention to every sensory piece of information our brains receive, and making the most of it all, sensually. How many of us truly notice the sights, smells, textures, sounds and tastes that make up our daily lives? Our brains constantly receive this information, but I believe most of us instantly and thoughtlessly relegate the data to some back storeroom in our brains, never to be seen or heard from again. What a sad waste! We miss so much pleasure by ignoring this information. It is time, now, for us to take notice of our senses, and to live every moment in full awareness of what they are telling us.

Easy? No. Worth it? Absolutely! We must retrain ourselves to notice things we have bypassed since we were children – when we did pay attention to what our senses were conveying to us.

It’s probably easiest to start with food. A great inspiration would be this Fennel & Orange Peel Soup recipe from one of my favorite blogs, Chocolate & Zucchini.

Chocolate & Zucchini's Fennel and Orange Peel Soup

The next time you sit down to a meal, even if it has to be “on the fly”, enjoy the colors and shapes of the food, first. Then, close your eyes and breathe in the aromas and think about the tastes (always a mélange of various elements) of what you are eating. Notice the texture of the food. Is it crunchy or smooth and how does it feel on your tongue? Don’t forget sound – can you hear it? (Isn't the sharp crack of a raw carrot is an integral part of the carrot experience?) All of these elements add distinct pleasure to the eating experience and transform it from being just a necessity, to a nice addition to one’s day. When we do this, we add time to our lives, instead of losing it.

Of course, it’s always preferable to eat slowly, savoring your food, and it’s best in the company of pleasant people who also appreciate the food. This is Slow Food’s message.

After you have gotten in the habit of eating to enjoy, you can start to enhance other areas of your life, using the same senses. Recognize and contemplate your sensory information and you will live a full life.