In the event of a new Thanksgiving Day, I am very grateful to have met fine authors and artists such as James Cudney IV and for the opportunity, he gave me with this interview, to be seen in his community of writers. Thank you, James and Happy Thanksgiving. If you were any closer, I would have invited you to my home and celebrate together the release of our new books. Thank you.
Let’s Travel In The Cosmos Of Colors, Book Launch | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer
25 Oct 2019 29 Comments
in Home Designs Master Tags: #BooksByValentinaCirasola, #ColorfulDining, #ColorfulInteriors, #ColorVibrations, #FashionColors, #REDAVoyageIntoColors, #ValentinaCirasolaAuthor
I am happy to announce the release of the Second Edition of the book ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors, a book on colors I published for the first time in 2012. The book was performing well until one day I received the classic lemons from the publisher. I was asked to let go of 50% of my profits from the sale of this book. I refused to comply and my book was made “temporarily not available” on Amazon for three years. I am not a person who gets defeated easily. This year, I reworked the book and republished independently the Second Edition of ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors. Now, the ball is back in my court.
(Click on each picture to view it larger).
RED-A Voyage Into Colors – Second Edition – Author Valentina Cirasola
©RED – A Voyage Into Colors – Second edition is a paperback, 124 pages, full of my colorful photography of things that attract me and some of my clients’ homes. After all, what is a book explaining colors, if it doesn’t include colorful pictures? The eyes want to see the beauty and the brain feeds on colors.
Often people refer to shades when they really mean the value, brightness or the darkness of a color.
What is a color without referring to its profile and character? Just like humans, colors have their own character. If we understand how to describe the emotions and sensations they provoke, we will always have a good reaction around the colors we choose, we will subconsciously feel the harmony inside of ourselves and in turn, others will see it and respond positively to us. How people perceive us through colors is very important, colors transmit a message and that is what others see.
What is your message when you get dressed? It doesn’t matter where you go. If you go to grocery shopping with rollers on your head and you are dressed in red, it means you don’t care what others think of you, you dare to be you, the red color will project you as having courage, and the rollers in your hair will pass in a second order. In the same scenario, rollers on your head and you are dressed in black, it means you are trying to hide from the viewers and protect yourself from their criticisms. The colors of your home have messages as well. If your front door is painted red, it means you are an upbeat person; if the front door is yellow, you are an inviting person, cheerful and sunny. My front door is burgundy… exactly…I like red wines and beyond that burgundy door, I added a bit of sophistication to my décor.
Can you sleep and wake up in your zodiac colors? Of course, you can, you were born under those colors, they are natural to your soul.
The moment you came “into the light” many planets revolved over your head making those colors your aura and affected your entire life since that moment. Often, people prefer totally different colors away from their zodiac sign and perhaps totally contrary to their character, simply because they are not aware of the beneficial effects of the colors they were born under or don’t believe it. Colors will determinate their actions, the troubled or unsettled souls living in the wrong colors will continue to feel troubled or unsettled.
With this book, I wanted to depict a colorful bouquet of information regarding home interiors, fashion, and food, all the subjects dear to my heart, each of these subjects thrive on colors. I also delve into explaining colors from a spiritual point of view and how to use them in a technical way. Nature is our best teacher, where all colors are mixed together and co-exist well without rules and prejudices. We can simply copy nature and feel perfect in our choice of colors.
If we live in a home reflecting our personality, if we wear colors becoming to our face and body and if we eat in the rainbow, we can only expect to exude positive energy, which in turn will captivate our surroundings.
Gauguin said: “Color is the language of the listening eye”. It helps our imagination soar with inner power and mystery”. Allow yourself to experiment with various color combinations and challenge your fantasy!
Let’s travel into the cosmos of colors with Valentina and RED
This graphic represents all the authors and artists who have agreed to travel with me in the cosmos of colors for the launch and promotion of ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors – Second Edition.
They are Melissa Muldoon, Teagan Geneviene, Debby Gies, James J.Cudney IV, Sally Croning, Joy-Ruffen-Oake, Bonnie Smith, Robbie Cheadle, Shelly Wilson.
Starting on Oct. 25, 2019, for twenty days, I will travel with them to their planet of birth, I will write about them, their books and arts and they will receive something special about their zodiac sign. This will be a fun and unusual book launch! Some giveaway will happen as well. Anyone can participate in the giveaway by following me on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest , Instagram, MeWe, and commenting on the launch. The contest will start on Oct. 26th and will end on Oct.31. https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e5ee1a9212/?
I am so grateful to my Supreme Being to be able to see all the glorious colors in its realm, fantasize, wallow in their vibrations, sentimentally self-indulge in their atmospheres, and to be able to talk about them every day. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com
http://valentinaexpressions.com
Copyright © 2019 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved
Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion designer, author of 5 published books so far, a storyteller, and a blogger of many years. She has conceived a few new books of various subjects to which she is working simultaneously. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking, and travel. She never gives up trying new things and doesn’t fear failure. A couple of years ago, Valentina became a TV producer/host. She produces shows under her label: Valentina Design Universe. The goal of her shows is to entertain, inspire and inform, while she is living her passion. Her goal is to write a screenplay for theatre or TV.
Get a copy of her books here: Amazon and Barnes&Noble
Curious Seating Arrangements | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer
21 Oct 2019 2 Comments
in Home Designs Master Tags: #DinnerManners, #DowtonAbbeySeries, #FormalDinner, #TableEtiquette, #TableSeatingArrangements
I think Downton Abbey, the famous TV series, worldwide famous British TV series has revived the good manners custom, sitting properly keeping good posture, and elegant dialogues where “vulgarity is no substitute for wit”, said Maggie Smith. The series has brought to light traditional customs of kindness, gentility, and elegance of movements to astonish the whole world that has watched the series with the face stuck to the TV for six years and still watching. I am one of them. I loved this program so much, that I bought the entire series since it stopped and watch it every year from October to January.
Watching the shows, I have been very attentive to details and never missed one.
I could not help noticing the seating arrangements for breakfast and dinner. At breakfast, Lord Grantham sits at the head of the table, but for dinner, he and his wife Ladyship Cora sit in the middle of the table. Those are the honored positions, only reserved for the hosts, the most important people sit on their right and their left in order of importance, the least important people end up far away at each end of the table.
Downton Abbey blood dinner scene
Downstairs, in the servant dining hall, the butler Mr. Carson is the only one who sits at the head table. He is the authority in the management of the grand house and deserves respect from all the servants. It’s so very different being important upstairs and being important downstairs.
Season-3 Downton Abbey
Back in time, at royal courts, Kings or Queens sat at the head of the table surrounded by the most important people close to them on both sides, the rest of the guests sat as far as possible in order of importance, the plebeians sat at the very end of the table, where they couldn’t be heard.
Today, the seating arrangements are slightly different from the Edwardian times of Downton Abbey.
In my native Italy and most of Europe, the host is the most important person at the table and he/she sits at the head table on a chair with or without arms. If an elderly person lives with the family, that person has the honored seat at the head table and nobody starts to eat unless the elderly start first, or say “Bon Appetit”.
Galamagazine, Greece, stylist Elli Gratsia. Chairs CHRISTOPHER GUY
In America, the head seat is an armchair, thus there are two on each end of the table.
My friend, an author, Teagan Geneviene, says: “I’ve heard those chairs called “captain’s chairs.” Maybe we Americans are always so contentious at dinner that we have to have someone be the “captain” with the role of trying to keep things civil so meals don’t become food fights.” So funny.
Formal Table Seating For Groups Divisible By Four
Anyway, in most houses, a sitting down dinner has pre-assigned seats with place name cards or the host will indicate where the guests will sit. Follow the lead of the host, eat everything in your plate, and when the host stops eating the guests should stop too, it’s just one of many well-mannered dinner customs. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com
Copyright © 2019 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved
It’s my hope that through my writing and my stories I am enriching your aesthetic sensibility towards design, style and inspiring you to live in beauty. I love to encourage my clients to show their personality through their home décor, or the clothes they wear. I have loved my profession as an interior-fashion designer since 1990. Consultations online are available. Check out one of my books on the subject of colors, ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors.
Amazon
Barnes&Noble
A New Book Is On The Horizon | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer
08 Oct 2019 5 Comments
in Home Designs Master Tags: #BooksByValentinaCirasola, #ColorTalk, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #ValentinaBookOnColors, #ValentinaCirasolaAuthor
RED-A Voyage Into Colors
The second version of my book on the subject of colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors (2019) will be republished and on the market very soon.
My previous publisher with whom I published the first version of this book in 2012 has asked me to raise his earning percentage on my sales to 50%. This is an absurd request, it would double the price of the book, making it unsellable. I refused to comply and as a result of it, the book was made “temporarily not available” on Amazon for many months.
I got discouraged for a while and tried to find a solution to return my book back on the market quickly, but books are not fritters and life gets in the way.
Today, with all the online opportunities, I thought it would be better to republish it on my own, as I have done already with a couple of books. I decided to divorce my previous publisher and place the ball in my court. I have worked on the second edition of ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors for a few months, added better information, better photographs, and eliminated what was not current anymore.
The first version was a hardcover, 135 pages, filled with my photographs. I thought of reducing the number of photos to lower the price, but then I remembered how hard it was to read a couple of books by other authors on the subject of colors and no photos to stop and ponder. It was hard to take. My new second version of this book will be softcover, smaller in size, with almost the same amount of pages and still filled with my photos. It will be available in paper format, and shortly after its publication will be available also as a Kindle and audio versions.
Right now, I am finishing up a few details, it is a matter of a few days and the new version will be out. Stay tuned.
“Creativity is the greatest form of rebellion.”
Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com
Copyright © 2019 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved
Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion designer, author of 5 published books so far, a blogger of many years and a storyteller. She has conceived a few new books of various subjects to which she is working simultaneously. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking, and travel. She never gives up trying new things and doesn’t fear failure. A couple of years ago, Valentina became a TV producer/host and she produces shows under her label: Valentina Design Universe. The goal of her shows is to entertain, inspire and inform, while she is living her passion. Find Valentina Design Universe TV here: https://valentinadesignuniverse.com
Get a copy of her books here:
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
Dress Up The Table With Faience | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer
20 Sep 2019 4 Comments
in Home Designs Master Tags: #FaienceCeramics, #GienEarthenware, #GienFrenchCeramics, #GienTableware, #HolidayTableware
Traveling to me is exploring the local history and famous landmarks, also pushing myself through unconventional paths to learn about the regional culture, find unusual things, places of certain interest, taste local food I usually don’t eat and meet people. In the Loire Valley in France, I visited the Gien store, a 200 years old factory of Faience earthenware, they produce “art for the table”. The name Faience is the conventional name in English for fine tin-glazed pottery on a buff earthenware body, a term also used to describe French, German, Spanish, Portuguese earthenwares. Faience technique is nothing new in the world of ceramic tableware, its origin goes back to the ancient Egyptian civilization. The Italian early form of tin-glazed earthenware was called Maiolica and the name Faenza derived from the town Faenza in the Romagna region near Ravenna. There in Faenza a majolica ware was painted on a clean, opaque pure-white ground and produced for export as early as the fifteenth century. Delftware is the equivalent Dutch for Faience earthenware.
(Click on each photo to view it larger).
Gien Store
The Frech Gien company has served various aristocratic, nobles and upper bourgeois family of Europe personalizing their tableware with the family monograms or family coat-of-arms. During the years, the company has immortalized history of France with effigies on plates representing major monuments.
Gien – History of France
Gien created tableware reflecting the ’60s and ’70s years of colors and vibrant designs for a younger generation. From their archives, Gien has revived the florals and orientalism designs to create the set called “Dépareilées”, the mismatched items for a modern table setting.
Gien – Dépareilées Collection
Gien – Pont Aux Choux Collection
The iconic Pont Aux Choux Collection exists since 1821. It is chiseled to emulate small grain pattern, which design has passed the taste of time and seems to have connected many generations.
Gien – Floral
Gien – Horse
The plates with horses design remind me of some plates designed with mythology characters I saw in Greece. They are beautiful.
Gien Tableware
With the holidays approaching, this might be a good idea to revamp the old table setting, and making it a little more “French” chic.
Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com
Copyright © 2019 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved
Valentina Cirasola transforms and creates spaces realizing people’s dreams in homes, offices, interiors, and exteriors. She infuses your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away a comfortable living. Valentina is well-known for bringing originality on any project and for thinking outside the box. Her interiors are not made with cookie cutters, only follow client’s inspiration, lifestyle, and personality. She offers online design consultations through Skype or Zoom and the traditional in-house consultations, helping people with their design challenge anywhere in the world. She is the author of five books. The latest newly published book is ©The Road To Top Of The World and ©Naked Lemons – All books are available on
Amazon – Barnes&Nobles
A Week In Colors | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer
02 Sep 2019 9 Comments
in Home Designs Master Tags: #ColorMethods, #ColorOfTheDay, #HomeColors, #Synaesthesia, #WaldorfColorMethod
It doesn’t seem I have ever enough colors in my life. This past week, I ran a week of colors on Facebook, spreading my knowledge, explaining some properties of colors and presenting some methods for using colors.
I had a client, who poor thing, didn’t understand anything about colors, did not know how to combine colors, anything about the subject of colors was gibberish to her. In her native country, taking art classes was considered not that important, it was the reason for her lack of color knowledge, which made her very unsecured in some tasks of the day, like getting dressed. I had to create a color system for her to make the act of getting dressed in the morning easy and worry-free.
Waldorf Colors of the Day
Some people hear, see, or smell something and immediately memories of a person, a situation, attached to that sound, that view, or particular aroma, perfume, or odor comes to their mind. This condition of receiving a stimulus through sensory perception is called synaesthesia and some people can either taste colors or see their days in colors without any efforts. They dress in the color of each day because they see specific colors for each day.
Many are the color methods for each day of the week, it all depends on your belief. The Waldorf color method invented by Rudolf Steiner was used for educating kids in kindergarten and elementary age to use a specific color for each day. The method created a daily routine, a new life rhythm and apparently, kept them from making tantrums. The method teaches kids the basic order of things, kids are better prepared for the natural succession of life events, i.e. Tuesday comes after Monday, and know-how to transition from one thing to another, i.e. Red Day comes after Purple Day, meaning for example on the Red Day the kid must organize his/her closet as one of the chores to do daily. Kids using the Waldorf method know to get dressed in the color of the day without any problem (they know what to expect) and do activities using those colors.
However, kids are going to be kids. I am wondering, what if one kid wants to change the color of one day? Will he/she be considered a rebel, or a free thinker?
As a kid, I could not possibly follow any method….although disciplined and focused on my studies, I had my way and that was the way. My father often came to my elementary school to apologize with the teacher because I had studied what I wanted and not what was assigned. 😀
Color methods were not always accepted as a discipline to learn something organized. There were times when color combinations and believing that the color of each day came from the colors of planets, were associated with witchcraft.
“Today, scientists have attributed various colors to each planet they have discovered. We know that Mars is the red planet and the Moon is silvery. They also have attributed certain colors to the substances each planet is made of. If you ever had a birth chart done for you, then you know that zodiac signs and planets represent the cosmos influence you were born under. One or two planets rule each astrological sign, their color energy can affect our personality as well as defining lines of character.” I wrote it in my book ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors
I believe in the theory that the colors of planets affect us human being on earth, thus I went to visit Mars when I published my first book at the end of that year. Ah, ah, 😂
Valentina on Mars
Color of the day method is also used in marketing, i.e. blue sale today for menopause day or yellow day for the sale of your virgin grandmother. Get it?!
Selling products on discount must have a certain bright color, red for instance, to create immediacy and a need to buy it now.
In certain religions, the color of each day is for the celebration of Deities’ birthday. The color palette of each day might change in various religions. The world of colors unites many cultures and that to me is fascinating. If following a method of colors means to have a structured life with less stress and worries, then, by all means, do it. Ciao.
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com
Copyright © 2019 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved
Valentina Cirasola transforms and creates spaces realizing people’s dreams in homes, offices, interiors, and exteriors. She infuses your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away a comfortable living. Valentina is well-known for bringing originality on any project and for thinking outside the box. Her interiors are not made with cookie cutters, only follow client’s inspiration, lifestyle, and personality. She offers online design consultations through Skype or Zoom and the traditional in-house consultations, helping people with their design challenge anywhere in the world. She is the author of four books. The latest 2 newly published books are
©The Road To Top Of The World on Amazon
©Naked Lemons on Amazon
All other books are available on Barnes&Nobles
You Are the Glass | Valentina Cirasola | Designer and Author
26 Aug 2019 4 Comments
in Home Designs Master Tags: #ColorfulGlass, #GiantGlassFlowers, #GlassArt, #GlassSculptures, #HomeDecor, #InteriorDesign, HomeAccessories
“A pile of sand made you, strong but fragile, soft and malleable, sharp and smooth. You melt under the delicate touch of the forger. You face fire with courage as if nothing happens in that hot furnace, but something does happen. You become sensual, your curves are more sinuous than a curvy woman, you take on brilliant colors for the pleasure of your admirers’ eyes and you come out shaped into a masterpiece. We want to possess you. We want to caress and feel you, we want to shelter your fragility, we want your shapes to embellish our life. You are the GLASS”.
I wrote this thought one day at a client’s house. I was putting the final touches together, beautiful accessories, scented natural candles, shimmering crystals, skillfully decorated ceramic plates by French and Italian artists, colorful lamps and the glass peppers on the kitchen island. I fell in love with them. They looked juicy and appetizing in their glass form just as much as they do in real life. They vibrate healthy energy. It took a bit of an effort with this particular client to show her that colors exude positive energy and she needed so badly in her all-beige home. Now she is totally into colors and even when she gets dressed, she asks herself if Valentina would love the colors she is selecting. If the answer in her mind is NO, she will not put it on. I must have converted another person to colors.
Glass Red Pepper
As an Italian, I grew up appreciating the beauty of Murano glass. The art of Murano is unparallel, colorful, transparent like tissue paper, delicate and precious. It always fascinated me how a pile of sand can be transformed into something so mesmerizing. One moment seems the glass lays there lifeless and as soon as the light goes through, it picks up a totally different dimension, inside the glass every little nuance comes alive.
I was at an art and wine fair this weekend and I fell in love with tall glass flowers, glass teapots, and glass sculptures, I would have brought home everything I saw.
Giant Glass Flowers
Glass Teapots
Glass Sculpture
Picture one of these colorful pieces in each room of modern sleek décor, one of those style with very straight lines, black and grey color combination and very minimalist. Do you see it? One of these art pieces will add color and character to minimalist room décor.
So many artists, so many ideas, so many choices. Going to fairs and art shows is one of the many ways I help clients. I find items they might overlook, or have no access to it.
I hope one of these glass artists will want to appear on one of my TV shows, the invitation has been extended. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com
Copyright © 2019 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved
Valentina Cirasola transforms and creates spaces realizing people’s dreams in homes, offices, interiors, and exteriors. She infuses your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away a comfortable living. Valentina is well-known for bringing originality on any project and for thinking outside the box. Her interiors are not made with cookie cutters, only follow client’s inspiration, lifestyle, and personality. She offers online design consultations through Skype or Zoom, as well as the traditional in-house consultations, helping people with their design challenge anywhere in the world. She is the author of five books. The two latest published books are ©The Road To Top Of The World – Amazon – https://tinyurl.com/y7tuyfh8
and ©Naked Lemons – Amazon – https://amzn.to/33bVRyQ
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
