Leather Photo Album “Medioevalis”

“Passion for details”. That’s what we suffer for at Legatoria Koinè.

No one is welcome in the workshop when a bookbinder is about to create a new piece. Here is the crime scene: pieces of colored paper on the chairs, stripes of leather on the floor, white glue dripping from a large brush, scissors and other tools abandoned on the working table, a door slamming for the wind, the coffee pot mumbling, voices from the street, a strange sense of anxiety in the room.

“I should better go”, I said. No answer.

“I’ve got a lot of things to do”. No move.

“Look”, he told me eventually, “That’s my new version of the Medioevalis, do you like it?”

Despite the enthusiasm I decided to play the fool for a while, so I took the brand new piece in my hands and gave it a very long and severe glance. “Well, it looks a bit different from the original shape; it’s larger and thinner and the lace is shorter. You know, the Medioevalis is a serious stuff; you can’t do what you like with it! May I open it up?”

A slight move of his eyebrows invited me to go on. I gently loosened the tie and unfolded it.

“Ah! It’s a photo album.” I realized I was smiling.

“It’s a 30 ivory color paper leaves photo album, Italian style, tissue paper before each page, medium size”, he made me notice and slipped a black&white curious print into it.

The leather cover was smooth and perfumed, I couldn’t stop touching it; the lace slid down by one side, slowly.

Medium size. It means 8,27″x9,84″ to me; it’s a perfect size for an intimate album; it’s ideal for pictures and notes about a minor but not less important event: a birthday party, a funny sightseeing, a special day with friends, a visit to a special person. God only knows how many occasions will people have to use it!

“Yes, I love it”, I simply said in reply to his former question.

He smiled back at me while I was getting out of the workshop with the “photo album Medioevalis” piece # 001 in my bag!

You can find it here.

Hot air Balloon Festival.

Once upon a time the natural remedy to the gravitation laid in the obscure rules of the air that lifted things up and pushed them to somewhere, fuelled by chance and opportunity.

Then, men made up some bizarre devices and everything got much more complicated.

In the 18th Century those dreamers were still estimating the distance between the reason and the crash, while in 1782 Montgolfier brothers delivered the first hot air balloon for the human-carrying flight and just a year later a couple of madcap pilots jumped into that basket and rose up.

The Balloon Festival takes place every year in the Italian gorgeous town of Ferrara. Side by side, passionate and curious enjoy the great art of flying.

I was there too, in the middle of a sunny green park waving at parachutists, hang gliders..

and all sort of pilots.

Waiting for the wind to calm down.

The day was almost over when it got lighter and wow!

Open flames, big fans..

busy people behind the scene.

In a few moments the colored nylon sea came back to life and turned into a great show!

The largest European hot air balloon can house up to 20 passengers.

It’s impressive.

Here they are, soaring in the air at sunset.

Italy, Ferrara, Balloon Festival, 2011 – Sept. 9-18.

Venice, walking on water.

Venice looks like a carousel; it inebriates you with colors and false promises. Light and dark, sky and sea are close at hand.

Rusty iron frames hide the horizon and the mirages of the sumptuous past fade away at every step.

Here and there smells of fresh flowers, fish, bread, antique stuff, salty water drying in the sun, warm bricks and sauce.

Venice tells you stories of lovers, fighting and conquest. The Canal Grande gently points to the East. A moment later you get lost in a silent “calle” or a dead-end street.

Venice is confusing; it first invites you to stay, then shouts to leave it alone!

It’s eccentric like an old Lady, but it’s nothing but a courtesan that spies all your moves.

And it laughs at you once you turn your back.

Venice’s waters crawl under doors that lead to nowhere. They look like paintings without a true subject.

Venice shows its face proudly. It’s enchanting, attracting, astonishing, relaxing, discouraging, touching, dramatic and very cool.

That’s’ what I wrote down in my small “Medioevalis” last time I went to Venice. It’s a small leather journal with a long lace, ideal for quick notes and sketches or small drawings.

The “Medioevalis” journal is available in 3 different sizes: small cm 9×13 (3,54”x5,12”), medium cm 12×16 (4,72″x6,30″) and large cm 14×21 (5,51”x8,27”) and many colors: brown, red, aquamarine, orange, salmon pink and black. Inside: 126 ivory colour sheets of blank paper (gr.100).

You can find it here.

The “Antique Diary” has got a paper heart.

The “Antique Diary” is a one of my favorite journals. It’s surrounded by a sort of mystic aura. Despite the colorful interference of the marbled papers, your eyes can’t stop staring at the more secret part of it.

There, the paper shows an unexpected temper. The border of the sheets looks irregular, frayed and soft. It’s due to a quick yet gentle cut, made by an expert hand.

The “Antique Diary” has got a laid paper heart cut by hand.

Instinctively, you touch it. The fingers gently stoke it again and again as to set up a new long-term relationship. It will last forever. It always works like that.

The dark brown leather spine and corners create a sort of frame that forces the brightness of the hand decorated paper to assume a better composure. The four nerves in the leather spine induce the journal to stay into your hand in a natural way.

The “Antique Diary” is available in three sizes. The small one – 12×17 cm (4,72”x6,69”) – can stimulate the sense of possession and make you feel the urgency to use it immediately, everywhere, all the time. The medium size – cm 17×25 (6,69″x9,84”) is perfect on the desk and close to you for any need.  The maxi size – cm 25×35 (9,84”x13,78”) – can induce you to a state of inebriation; it’s like a painting, a piece of art; it’s unique.

Inside: 104 sheets (88 in the maxi journal) of blank ivory colour laid paper (gr. 150), cut by hand.

You can find it here.