Casa Flora: A Boutique Apartment That Makes You Feel like a Resident of Venice

Sometimes when I travel, I like to pretend that instead of a tourist, I’m actually a temporary resident living in the city I’m visiting. I would add a local farmer’s market to my itinerary, check out a local cafe, get recommendations from the barista on his/her favorite restaurant, and try to see the city with a slow pace instead of rushing to every city landmark and tourist attraction. There’s something incredibly romantic about temporarily adopting a city as your home, which is the mood that the Romanelli family wants to create at their boutique apartment rental, Casa Flora.

Adjacent to Casa Flora is Hotel Flora which the Romanelli family has operated for more than 50 years. After deciding to explore a different concept of hospitality, owner Giole, his sister Zoe, consultant at Hotel Players Francesca Brasolin, architect Matteo Ghidoni and interior designer Laura Sari turned Casa Flora (which was originally a workshop meant to display student design) into a temporary home for design savvy travelers seeking to explore another side of Venice.

This luxury apartment consists of three bedrooms all equipped with their own private Turkish spas with a hammam, a dining room and a kitchen, all accented with lush plants and, of course, 100% Italian design made by young designers and local artisans.

The interiors of the apartment is meant to resemble a lagoon, and so each room has its own playful color scheme of either light pink, blue, yellow or green. Contemporary furnishings give the apartment a fresh, modern vibe while the home decor and photographs on the walls give the home an authentic sense of place.

The best part about the apartment? If you find yourself in love with any pieces, you can opt to buy it as a souvenir to bring home.

Every part of the home is bright, lush and airy, making it an appealing place to stay while on vacation.

The briarwood and brass table in the dining room is one of the common places in addition to the kitchen. For guests who seek a truly authentic experience, they can arrange bespoke services such as cooking classes, food workshops, wine tastings, meals prepped with an on-site chef, visits to the local market and shops, and even a private shoe-making session, complete with a local shoemaker who comes to the apartment to create custom shoes for you to wear on the trip back home.

What: Casa Flora
Where: San Marco 2313, 30124 Venice, Italy
How much? Rooms start at approximately $734 per night.
Highlights: This boutique apartment rental is light, bright and airy, a contemporary stay in a historic city. We love that you can arrange bespoke activities that will help enrich your stay in Venice.
Design draw: The entire home is filled with Italian design and nothing else. Made by local artisans and young Italian designers, every piece in the home is available for purchase should you find yourself in love with any piece.
Book it: Visit Casa Flora

Photos by Valentina Sommariva.

from Design MilkDesign Milk https://design-milk.com/casa-flora-boutique-apartment-makes-feel-like-resident-venice/

Native Union Smart Charger International Is a Passport to Power

One of the smallest details responsible for the largest headache for anyone regularly working abroad: the dearth of accessible and compatible electrical outlets made available in most hotels. Seasoned “work anywhere/everywhere” pros carry power adapters (and portable chargers) in multitude to keep their gear powered up, but most adapters tend to be bulky and ugly multi-piece affairs. Thus, our glowing approval of Native Union’s Smart Charger International, a svelte and modern solution designed to keep 2-4 peripherals topped off.

Available in 2 and 4 USB port options, both Smart Charger International units come with Type A, C, and G power adapter plugs, compatible with power outlets most commonly found in the US, Canada, Europe, and the UK. The larger 4 port model is the more versatile of the two, covering USB-C users with the addition of a dedicated 3 amp USB-C port; the other three delivers up to 2.4 Amps per connected device.

As someone who travels with two phones for international purposes, we see the multi-port design an especially welcome option for overnight bedside charging.

Be sure to check out our 10 Carry-On Essentials We Always Travel With, and our What to Pack for Travel, Women’s Edition guide for additional recommendations.

from Design MilkDesign Milk https://design-milk.com/native-union-smart-charger-internationa/

The Brain Embassy: An Inspiring Co-Working Space in Warsaw

Co-working spaces have been popping up in cities all over the world as more people work remotely. If you’ve ever worked at home, you know how hard it can be to get work done with a plethora of distractions around. Having a place to count on when you need to crank it out is key and luckily Warsaw, Poland, has recently joined the co-working revolution with The Brain Embassy. The 3000-square-meter space was designed mode:lina, in cooperation with Adgar Poland, consisting of room after room of inspiring workspaces that will no doubt get the creative juices flowing.

The design concept is based on the human brain, hence The Brain Embassy name, which has over 100 billion neurons that receive, process, and then transmit information by way of synapses, helping us to think, act, and discover. With that in sight, the designers created a series of innovative spaces that reference the human mind with things like three-dimensional elements that were inspired by neurons and synapses.

Besides creating thoughtful co-working spaces, the designers aimed to design the spaces in hopes of establishing a community of like-minded people.

Conference rooms were inspired by great minds, like mathematicians, artists, chemists, architects (spot the room above with building blocks), scholars, photographers, and fashion designers.

Photos by Patryk Lewiński.

from Design MilkDesign Milk https://design-milk.com/the-brain-embassy-an-inspiring-co-working-space-in-warsaw/

Functional Design x Sculptural Art: New Works’ Latest Collection

Copenhagen-based design house New Works recently showcased their latest collection at the Stockholm Furniture Fair 2018. Grounded in four core values – Natural, Experimental, Rough and Craftsmanship – the pieces from the collection are a cross between functional design and sculptural art, ranging from light fixtures to furniture to decorative objects. Each piece comes in a variety of finishes and colors that, when placed together, blends in seamlessly to create an elegantly beautiful and refined room.

To see the full collection, visit New Works.

from Design MilkDesign Milk https://design-milk.com/functional-design-x-sculptural-art-new-works-latest-collection/