Part of the my success in loosing weight at the spa is due to the executive chef Oliver Glowig at the Capri Palace Hotel & Spa.

I asked Caroline Courteau the guest manager relations to have a talk with him as I apart from wanting to take a few of the delicious recipes at home, I wished to understand how the philosophy of the Mediterranean cuisine could be so simple and yet one of the most balanced of all diets.

Caroline sends me immediately through her new blackberry a message with an appointment for tomorrow at the terrace after my lunch and before my treatments. Coincidentally, and to my surprise, my friend, photographer Umberto D’ Aniello is there and as usual I took advantage of his kindness and asked hm to shoot a few pictures while Oliver and I were talking.

To my surprise, Oliver is German. Blue eyes, and extremely serious. Not the typical Italian exuberant chef. It’s very hard to extract a smile from him but easier to get a Michelin star (on it’s way to the second ) for the hotel he chose to work for after having married a Neapolitan woman six years ago.

We sit while Umberto’s at work and Oliver Glowig tells me he has spent 15 years in the restaurant and hospitality business mainly focusing on Mediterranean influenced cuisine.

His first relevant experience was with German Master Chef Otto Koch at “Le Gourmet” restaurant in Munich, a two Michelin star restaurant, where he learned the different cooking techniques of pasta, fish and meat. In 1995 he joined the “Acquarello” restaurant in Munich, an Italian gourmet restaurant with high ambitions. Chef Oliver learned new techniques and started to focus on appetizers and desserts.

One year later, he had the chance to improve his knowledge of Italian cuisine with the world famous Italian Chef Gualtiero Marchesi. After the Italian experience, he returned to Germany to the  Acquarellonrestaurant with the leading role of Executive Chef. In only one year he was able to get his first Michelin star, being described by newspapers and magazines as the ambassador of the Mediterranean cuisine in Germany.

In 2001, the Capri Palace Hotel & Spa offered Chef Oliver the opportunity to come back to Capri and measure himself with international luxury leisure customers.

Chef Oliver now leads a team of 22 cooks and offers a wide selection of traditional Neapolitan dishes, personal interpretations emphasized with low calories and the use of organic ingredients. In the prestigious 2007 Conde Nast Traveller Gold List, the Capri Palace Hotel & Spa was voted one of the Best Hotels In The World For Food”.

Finally, after enumerating his long currriculum, he explains that the Mediterranean cuisine which represents the traditional way of eating for the populations living in the Mediterranean basin is an absolutely balanced diet based on local products of the region: cereals, vegetables, olive oil and fish.

Wisely combined they give life to delicious and light dishes which are in  line with the most demanding requirements of today s nutritionists. You must eat a bit of everything! No limitations of carbohydrates nor proteins even less fats. Olive oil is good for your health so is an everyday intake of red wine. But all must be in reasonably balanced quantities.

He then confides me that he never worked just for the Michelin star: “The star is something you acquire naturally, paying attention precisely to detail, quality, but most of all working with devoted passion.” His suppliers, that he makes a point to visit and source during the winter season when it’s more calm at the hotel restaurant, are mostly from Naples.

In the Summer, after such a firm understanding of quality, they already know what he likes and send him his favorite ingredients with no need to even speak over the phone. The menu is dictated by the catch of the day and season. Quite frankly, this is how it should be.

Oliver’s dietetic kitchen of the Capri Beauty Farm is a combination of refined art, a rigid technique (German origins) and a holistic philosophy of life where the nutrition gives back balance and energy to body and mind.  The characteristics of every single ingredient combined especially with the way of cooking preserve the nutritional quality and at the same time guarantee the principles of a high gastronomy.

One of Oliver’s favorite combinations, believe it or not, are the mixing of fish and dairy. (Both my favorites too) Alici (Anchovies) with Ricotta is one of them. Oliver tells me very seriously (proving the previous point), that the Alici must absolutely not be purchased when the moon is full as they are hard to catch at this time and would not be totally fresh. (I will try to remember that on my return to New York City)

The art of Oliver and his team of chefs consists of creating culinary experiences of a high standard, personalized and innovative by preserving the aromas, colors and scents of the different dishes.

My customized diet was created by the Professor Francesco Canonaco in conjunction with  Dr. Cinzia Grassi, the nutritionist, as  I don’t eat meat, a certain kinds of sea food for religious dietary laws (Kashrut).

My menu was handed to me every morning in my room with my name on it on together with my breakfast so that I could psychologically prepare myself before meals to what was coming–knowing that it had been based to my advantage on the most recent and scientific researches in the field of nutrition.

Apart from being surprised by the exceptional taste of the œdie dishes within the range of an average of 900 calories daily diet, it was really  an essential component of my weight loss program; in fact, in association with specific treatments, it definitely represented the perfect formula to achieve my  well-being and psycho-physical balance.

Coming back home, I really felt much better. stronger and healthier. I adopted the diet that Professor Canonico and the nutritionist Cinzia Grassi gave me as follow up advice through email during the following months in New York City.

Thank you Oliver!

Joelle’s Tips:

Restaurant L’Olivo just got awarded with two Michelin Stars: Check the Press release November 20, 2008

l-olivo-restaurany-awarded-second-michelin-star

Menus:

Lunch

• Beauty Farm Cocktail: Fennel, Celerey, Pinapple, Melon (42 kcal)
• Steamed assorted vegetables (53 kcal)
• Stewed Scorpion Fish with Vine tomatoes( 192 kcal)
• Plums in red wine ( 45 kcal)

Dinner:

• Crudites (20kal)
• Vegetable Soup (24 kcal)
• Turbot with mint sauce and crunchy celery (255 kcal)
• Green Apple Sorbet ( 39 kal)

Lunch:

• Beauty Farm cocktail : Carrot, orange, ginger and mint (51 kcal)
• Zucchini and Asparagus pudding with Basil and Mint sauce (64 Kcal)
• Saffron scented gurnard fish with assorted vegetables
• Fruit Kebab with Yougurt sauce and cocoa beans ( 63kal)

According to Tonino Cacace, a second generation owner of the hotel Capri Palace, “My little Village, is a place for the soul.” And in the preface of an elegant black and white Hotel brochure that looks more of an art book than anything else, he writes in a manner of a poet:

” The ancient Greek and inhabitants of Anacapri used to climb to their village thousands of years ago up steep steps cut into rock face overlooking the sea and rising up into the clouds. Later, this became a spectacular road that still exists to this day, and its peak amid the tiny dwellings and secret gardens of today’s town Anacapri (ana meaning above in Greek) becoming the Acropolis of the island.

And it is in this same small town, with its narrow alleyways and dazzling white buildings standing in sharp contrast against the  brilliant blue of the sea, preserving its typical Mediterranean architecture that sits the Capri Palace, standing over the ruins of a great Roman palace built by the Roman Emperor Augustus and further embellished by the Emperor Tiberius.

The columns arches and vaults bear a fleeting resemblance to the original Imperial Palace and the pure white architecture of the Mediterranean islands.

The sea he carries on is unquestionably the dominant element here : It is in the flavor of our dishes, and in the eyes and smiles of our people: the sea will continue to stir our soul as we relive the beauty of this magnificent place, where over the century time has elapsed slowly, and the days roll by at a leisurely pace”.

The day I met Tonino (diminutive for Antonio) Cacace,  was few weeks before my recent arrival in the hotel; he happened to hear, don’t ask me how, I was visiting his Palace asking questions around and like a Greek god coming down the Olympus, had someone call me in to present himself so that luckily, I could pay him my respects gracefully with an absolute stunning interview.

Before I have a chance to shake his hands , I am immediately captured by the magnetism of this tall and dark haired man with blue eyes, far bluer than the sea describes so poetically in his brochure.

I am struck almost breathlessly and in shock by the depth of such gaze into mine. Interlaced with simple and polite gestures, almost too humble for an emperor casually dressed in bright white linen,he asks for a San Pellegrino water for me and a grapefruit juice for him. Waiter disappears and here I am confronted with this charming Italian hotelier my Belkin recorder and the Caprean sea breeze reminding me I am alive .

Always through his eyes with a gentle but firm tone of voice, I learn he’s a man whose passions for art and philosophy make his day-to day a living inspiration for the close at heart Palace he inherited and the people in the village he was born. Through ethical, social and cultural responsibility his conscious mission is to preserve  the community of Anacapri historic and territorial roots transcending them all together into a modern, global and better place to live.No doubt his immense, restless almost spiritual devotion will allow him to reign supreme.

The Hotel has its origins in the inn “Mariantonia“, once located in the center of Anacapri, operated since the 19th century by the Cacace family. ” It was my father, Mario, who built the hotel in the sixties” he confides me with a serious look on his face then adds ” He was a man with a vision. He understood far in advance the hospitality development around the Piazzetta and to build a hotel in a mountain (at the foot of Mount Solaro with its magnificent views over the Gulf of Naples and Ischia Island) seemed at the time the idea of a fool.”

Sipping his juice without pausing for thoughts he carries on:  “He also knew how to raise a future hospitality entrepreneur, he therefore sends me to a severe college in Rome to follow humanistic studies where I ended up getting a degree in law which was not exactly what I had in mind for myself.  In 1975, my father unfortunately passes away tragically at only 53 years of age. I was 23″.

For a man that age, handsome and charming the way he already was and whose obvious only interests at the time were beautiful women and a life of carefree enjoyments, he found himself suddenly trapped by destiny  turning that ripe boy he was into a young busy entrepreneur with plenty of company and family duties on his plate.

With the utmost dedication and following in the footsteps of his father,  he dramatically transforms the previous four stars hotel, into a top luxurious five stars, today, member of the prestigious The Leading Small Hotels of the World group. Two restaurants featuring Caprese Cuisine one of which is gastronomic, l’Olivo which recently got awarded with a Michelin star, and working for its second, the magnificent  Beauty Farm considered by Conde NastTraveler readers as the best medical spa in the world, a luxury boat and limousine service, a Vip private heliport.

He achieves this clear success by reducing progressively the hotel physical dimensions , redefining thus the concept of luxury and its hospitality.

In the early Eighties he introduces before anyone else in Europe rooms with available private pools a revolution at that time, and from the 110 rooms in the seventies he reaches today to  a number of spacious 77. I must tell you my suite , reminiscent of the most beautiful Roman coastal villas, overlooks an internal garden filled with Jasmine, Lemon and flowering orange trees. And by the way, it is called Artemide like the Greek goddess. Among other ‘goddess’, La Callas, Monroe, Adjani, Athena, and Acropolis have black and white pictures on their walls that make you feel like taking pictures and stars home with you.

The Hotel interior has been gutted since and redone with a curious grace  and elegance as the result of a collaboration between Tonino Cacace and his ex-girlfriend, the talented architect Fabrizia Frezza. With the remodeling, the old hotel rigidity typical of the stark architecture of the seventies acquired a feeling of a  home hosting firstly friends than clients.

With its stone floors, columns creating at times the optical illusion of the Athens Parthenon, arches and vaulted ceilings, every element is a reminder of a glorious past that seems to come to life in all its splendor.

The Travertine baths, the warm tones of the fabrics and the sumptuous white and gold décor at time Louis XVI style at time reminding the light and the warmth of Mediterranean hospitality blended in each and every room with understated elegance and touches of minimalist rigueur.

” Excellence for me is the attention to detail, Tonino Cacace adds with an introspective look – it’s a consequence of an inner restlessness, uneasiness that constantly pushes your performance to its best being the example to all those that together work for the same scope; in a company or in a hotel, it does not really matter ”

As a result of this holistic concept ,prestigious  ‘Made-in-Italy’ companies like Loro Piana, six generation suppliers of cashmere and exclusive fabrics for plus-ultra demanding customers are partners with Tonino Cacace turning him into the top world consumer of the precious wool and striped grey linens for the hotel’s common rooms, restaurant small bergeres, Poltona Frau’s armchairs all masterly hand-crafted by the expertise of Loro Piana’s Neapolitan upholsterers. Trust me something ” literally I am writing home about!”

Carlo Moretti for Murano, the hand blown glass factory from Venice created especially for the restaurant original pieces giving us the feel that art and design must me part  harmoniously of our basic everyday life.

Antonio attends a phone call, I drink my San Pellegrino and around me I notice the clientele, mostly European , some Lebanese, a chic crowd, mainly young discerning and sophisticated couples of a self-made generation whose values were acquired by hard work. It’s a clientele that is far more contemporary and demanding, they consciously differ from their parents who are still satisfied  with the aristocracy of old- glamour cliche living without a doubt a trend that today, as iconic as it was, is finally over and definitely depasse.

Silence, discrection and spirit preservation are in today’s menu opposed to the sixties where everyone needed to be seen and Jamais- vu (never seen ) at a local charming Capri Piazzetta during un-globalized times

Clients are dressed in Missoni, Paul Smith and Hermes, their sandals are local, Saint Barth are the Lotions that circulate around the pool, Cowboy hats, the eye wear is from Etro, and lots of Coral understates jewelry. In the evening jewelry is from De Grisogono of course, a long time hotel habitue,

Gwineth Patrol recently was the star at the Capri Palace for the latest Diego Della Valle ( long time friend of Cacace)  Tod’s advertising campaign. Not to mention, and Tonino Cacace is discrete, in the space of just a few years, it became the favorite destination of famous personalities from the worlds of the arts, business, and entertainment. Among them Julia Roberts, Harrisson Ford, Madonna, Liz Huxley, Mariah Carey, Witney Houston, John Grisham, Frederick Forsyth, and the Hariri family.

A special suite, the Megaron, had been reserved for your stay. The roof provided with a heavy crystal layer can be opened allowing you to enjoy and gaze the starred sky at night from your personal and private round pool.  By your side standing in the cozy roof garden, the luxury of an olive tree to provide you with the feeling of  earthly fertility , and if you can, read me well, that olive tree has personally  been picked by Tonino Cacace himself especially for you  at mature age and installed using a helicopter. Knowing that tree would have only 50% of chances to survive, Tonino kept on talking to the tree so he could grow safe and healthy to harbor your wildest dreams and desires in case a falling star would knock at you small spot of sky.

Nothing more to tell in this post about this  Deus-ex-Machina whose personality and charisma made of the Capri Palace Hotel & Spa  one of the most undisputed exclusive and luxurious places in the world apart that…

On my bed side, a member of the hotel’s staff ( ” treated  like clients ” by Cacace on his father’s advice)  has left a small booklet with a collection of aphorisms by famous poets and writers illustrated by watercolors by Maestro Michel Constantini inviting their guests into a safe and good night sleep.

The one I picked before my own is from Khalil Gibran one of my very favorite poets: “You can’t touch the dawn, if you haven’t covered the paths of the night.”

I am sure Tonino Cacace’s soul as a man and an entrepreneur, checked that one out before falling into the  dream of a gold Palace upon a hill over a dark blue sea.

I have been traveling in Europe these days and every time I stop in this continent I have the duty to go to Brussels and pay a visit to my parents who have been living  there for a little  more than a quarter of a century.

At the airport, looking distractedly on a magazine a small note catches my attention “At the Musées d’Art et d’Histoire du Cinquantenaire in Brussels,  you will have the opportunity to check the exhibition Medici by artist Isabelle de Borchgrave”

” For some 15 years Isabelle’s paper exhibitions have traveled the world. Everywhere, from New York to Tokyo passing through Venice and Istanbul, the magic produces its effect…causing wonderment at the transformation of a simple sheet of white paper.

It is a meeting through the centuries with one of the most prestigious families in Italian history: the Medici. Through the magic of trompe l’oeil, Isabelle walks us through history and aesthetics. 29 paper costumes showing the elegance of the times in minute detail, and giving new life to the painting of the great masters such as Botticelli, Bronzino or Gozzoli.”

Having read this note I decide to check on Isabelle  as soon as I arrive to Brussels . If I recall she is acquainted to my parent

On my arrival home, I have no words to describe my mother’s happiness learning that I have made plans to stay for a while in the city and work on the brand new project: the Brussels Edition. In exchange for my prolonged stay,  I would need her collaboration  including being my personal driver and  some information about how to reach Isabelle de Borchgrave.

Deal consumed with my mum , on the following early morning of my arrival, I receive a phone call from a young lady named Priscilla , Isabelle’s efficient assistant.

She lets me know that an opening is available in the afternoon for an interview with the busy artist at her notorious studio at rue de Lens in the elegant and  green neighborhood of Ixelles , apparently  a few minutes walk  from my parent’s house.

Extremely exited I check my camera battery, read all the material I manage to find in the internet and after a quick lunch head to the mysterious entrance door of what seems to me the preparative a  Rio De Janeiro Escolas de Samba in peripheral area of the glamorous city a few hours before the carnival parade at the Sambodromo. ( Isabelle by the way, did not share my same enthusiasm when I exclaimed to her my comparison, Some things in life you must experience by yourself)

Isabelle is on the phone and with a short ‘ half smile’ tells me in French ‘ Je suis a vous dans une minute “-” I am ‘ yours’ in a minute.” – I decide I already like her.

In the meantime, my eyes scan every single details of the cluttered and majestic studio , my mind, curious, is intrigued by suspended papier -mache mannequins in very bright and colorful costumes, all made of wire, each adopting a dance pose, none of them touching the ground.

On the other side of the studio young men and women possibly interns,  are busy painting large pieces of paper in ethnic and interesting geometrical patterns as others carefully with the aid of powerful hairdryer make sure the paint gets a good adherence . Seems that everyone and all activities are very well orchestrated peacefully aligned with the silence of a music that through those mannequins clearly translate into a certain explosion.

Suddenly at my back, I hear the voice of a beautiful and tall Priscilla introducing herself obviously at my rescue:- “Les Ballet Russes ! “- she says with an elegant smile – “  Miss De Borchghrave is working at the moment on one of her next and most impressive exhibition inspired by the celebre master Diarghlev.”

” In Isabelle de Borchgrave’s view – she carries on after politely thanking for my visit- “on the les ‘Ballets Russes’ constitute the most beautiful way to bring together painting, music, dance, stage and fashion.

When Diaghilev left Russia for Paris together with his Company he brought together huge talents such as Picasso and Goncharova, Nijinsky, Bakst or Derain.

The Parisian public, not used to this new form of classical dance, would discover Diaghilev and all the Russian and French talents he brought together. Much later Béjart would come back to this” Priscilla explains .

Priscilla  shows me around Isabelle’s latest creation of ethnic jewelry in paper and gold soon to be world-wide distributed by a lady socialite in Jaipur , and  paper lace used as  luxurious never- ending ‘voil de mariee’ ( a veil to go with the wedding dress) The veil is light and pretty and has stenciled spots with a roller.

“for harsh economic times” Priscilla states proudly when finally Isabelle  appears dressed with a simple burgundy sweater, her hair an unruly mix of short curls,  jeans and an Prussian blue apron visibly showcasing uncounted hours of a life over paints, brushes and turpentine.

She looks  at me for a second as curious about me as I am towards her. There is a short silence between us as we both don’t know where to start our encounter from….The Fortuny costumes, my shoots of the studio, her portraits, the interview, the mannequins.

I decide instinctively to look around Isabelle’s domain in silence ,

this studio filled with  small aluminum boxes containing  naturally tinted pigments, hundred of lively and used paint brushes neatly organized in ceramic containers, pastels, palettes, vases, kaftans, dresses, jewelry boxes, kimonos, chandeliers un-finished sketches on canvases, and all sorts of  striking Trompe-l’oeils on paper translate into an atmosphere  where I feel compelled to impulsively experience the sense of touch wishing to establish for myself the boundary between  illusion and reality in such a magnetic aphrodisiac  environment.

“Are those  panels made of textiles or paper? ” I finally ask as to break the ice between us…Isabelle smiles and then laughs with a hidden impatience,  it’s a question she heard thousands of times before.  I don’t mind,  like everyone else , I surrender to fall into the same spell of everyone… the spell of a queen who needs to be different from any other textile creator on earth…

” Why I work these motifs on paper rather than textile? ” she repeats my question as wanting to gain some extra time before she answers with a daring lie :”Because in the case I make a mistake, I can start all over again”. But Isabelle never makes “mistakes” she has far too much experience, what she does, almost answering to a distant call of duty,  is to immortalize  history, a history crowded with  splendor of kings , queens and mythical figures to the subtle , modern , almost untouchable reality of our daily life.

And here she is proud, throwing on top of the long table,  hundreds of colorful painted panels made up of paper destined to ” wrap  bacon at Butcher’s shops” before falling into her daring imagination.

Her assistants working ‘hours and hours and hours’ of painting, playing, scrunching, gilding and gluing to transform plain paper into a dress that evokes a red, pleated  textiles. Isabelle through this collection , inspired by works of Mariano Fortuny, reveals the eclectic early 20 th artist to whom she feels so close. A she throws herself into the world of Mariano Fortuny absorbs it and transmits her feeling revealing all the facets of this extraordinary talent.

Once more she seeks to express the timeless beauty of the past, the research of refined tones, colorful lines, exotic motifs and shapes recalling Arab, Persian, Chinese and Japanese inspiration.

By creating a collection of dresses in paper inspired by this artist whose name will forever be associated with the wonderful art of ” plisse“ Isabelle, was fortunate to have had the opportunity of exhibiting her creations at the Fortuny Palace in Venice, the very place where the master lived and created his splendid dresses.

I ask Isabelle about  her  world wide licences. Party ware for the American chain-store Target, which includes a comprehensive range of place cards, chair covers, plates, centre pieces and serving bowls, all made of paper. She licenses her illustrations to Designers Guild, Villeroy & Boch and the French porcelain manufacturers Gien Libeco in Belgium, and Beauville ,Pierre Frey in France.

About  her mural paintings at the Cipriani Hotel in Venice, Gstaad and Kuala Lumpur. Her interior decors, like the Hermes windows in Hong Kong and personal exhibition of paintings and paper collections among the most prestigious museums in the world . She was also, most extraordinarily, commissioned to recreate Jackie Kennedy’s wedding dress for the Kennedy archive in Boston.

A fortuitous meeting with the period costumier Rita Brown, who was working with the opera in Brussels, and a close perusal of Janet Arnold’s seminal Patterns of Fashion series, resulted in the Papier à la Mode collection. It covered 300 years of historical fashion, featured some 80 paper dresses and has been on display in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, in galleries in Japan and Istanbul, and in São Paulo in Brazil. De Borchgrave painted the paper with delicate traceries of lace and Brown constructed the dresses. ‘

Isabelle is visibly bored with the interview, she is obviously looking for something new, and I am under the impression that she sees in me the ‘ something” that will connect her to a different experience all together… She laughs now and says  ” Would you please organize something fun for me in New York City? I want to sell my creations to the Soho scene  . Can you work that out?”

I leave the studio with an enormous responsibility, the royal family in Belgium dares to wear her paper creations at important parties… An interesting idea comes to my mind… but whatever I will suggest for Isabelle better be big and innovative , after all she’s unmistakably a queen.

Joelle’s Tips:

The artist: Isabelle de Borchgrave

The publication: Paper Illusions: The art of Isabelle de Borchgrave by Barbara Stoeltie (Author), Rene Stoeltie (Author) other publications

Exhibitions:

	D’or et de parchemin, Wibald de Stavelot, Abbé d’Empire Stavelot – Abbaye de Stavelot – http://www.abbayedestavelot.be/hp/fr/hp.asp Exhibition from 25/09/09 to 29/11/10 In the 12th century the abbey of Stavelot, one of the most important in the German empire, had an unprecedented influence. This was due to its abbot, Wibald.The exhibition entitled “Of Gold and Parchment” brings to life Wibald and his time through some exceptional pieces. For this occasion Isabelle de Borchgrave has created costumes inspired by the period which will be viewed in the exhibition.
	I Medici: A renaissance in paper by Isabelle de Borchgrave Brussels – Musées d’Art et d’Histoire du Cinquantenaire Exhibition from 20/11/09 to 18/04/10 For some 15 years Isabelle’s paper exhibitions have travelled the world. Everywhere, from New York to Tokyo passing through Venice and Istambul, the magic produces its effect…causing wonderment at the transformation of a simple sheet of white paper. It is a meeting through the centuries with one of the most prestigious families in Italian history: the Medici. Through the magic of trompe l’oeil, Isabelle walks us through history and aesthetics. 29 paper costumes showing the elegance of the times in minute detail, and giving new life to the painting of the great masters such as Botticelli, Bronzino or Gozzoli.

Every time I spend a few days in Brussels I like to pay a quick visit to the man,  the artist , the genius , that created impressive flower arrangements at my sister’ wedding in the beautiful Chateau Saint’ Anne.

And what is most incredible is that the storefront of his is floral emporium feels like a breath of fresh — and beautifully perfumed — air.

Once called “La Chemiserie Niguet”  the shop was designed by the master architect Paul Hankar at the beginning of this century, is without any doubt one of the most out- standing  jewels of Art Nouveau in the city with an elegant , austere and exotic paradoxical  touch of Japonisme.

This man, also a master of a kind, is called Daniel Ost and is considered by many as the world’s foremost floral designer and sculptor. Daniel has the unique ability to envision life through flowers and creates absolute beauty through his passion and art. He has fashioned his own world of astonishing floral designs, which have earned him a devoted international clientele.

Recently the art and fashion worlds have also become acquainted with the 53-year-old floral designer: he created the arrangements for the opening of the Palazzo Grassi museum in Venice two years ago and erected a wall of pink dahlias, gerberas, hydrangeas and lisianthuses as the backdrop to Dries Van Noten’s spring 2007 collection. A couple of seasons later, flowers of all shapes and colors bloomed in almost every major collection.

Many of Ost’s best creations are included in the books “Leafing Through Flowers” , ” Transparent“  “Invitations” . This modern-day Belgian has inverted the old masters’ logic. These arrangements seem impossible, and yet they actually did exist.

Daniel Ost is more famous in Japan than anywhere else in the world, as Ikebana, Japanese flower arranging, is a well-established art form there. “There, flowers are connected with spirituality,” he has been nicknamed  “The Bridge  “for his ability to blend Eastern and Western influences.

“In the West we use them in a purely decorative way, but in Japan they work with the flower’s soul to express not just beauty but ideas like death.” Still, he hasn’t been ignored by his countrymen.

Within five years of opening his shop in Sint-Niklaas in 1985, he was receiving orders from the Belgian Royal Family, in 2005 he opened his second shop in Brussels and it has received wide critical acclaim and has been highly successful.

The process of decay interests Ost. “I’ve always wanted to show flowers in their optimum moment, but now that I’m older, I also want to explore the beauty of dying,” he says. As if to balance this somber impulse, Ost occasionally designs lush landscapes. “I like gardens because they’re about growing rather than cutting.”

His wormlike rows of bushes, winding pathways and large branch configurations that sprout from ponds are as dramatic as his more intimate pieces, but Ost insists that they are merely a side interest. “I only do them in places I like and for people I like.”

His artistry is in demand by royalty, celebrities, and corporations and his installations, which last only a few days, are extremely costly, but the artistic value is absolutely priceless.

To experience the Floral World according to Daniel Ost is like stepping into another world highlighted by the finest colors, designs and floral smells.

Over the past 30 years Daniel Ost has cemented his reputation as being the maestro in creating simple elegance and is in demand on the lecture circuit throughout the world to share and show his floral vision.

As he recently told to Arnmand  Limnader a reporter from the new York Times section Style, and published: June 22, 2008 “I make things very hard for myself because everything I do must be professionally perfect,” says Ost.

This man who has been known to travel 900 kilometers to collect the materials for one bouquet whose creations involve an ephemeral balance of beauty, spirituality and ingenuity, should one thinking of him  as just man, an artist a genius or a sculptor ?

Joelle’s Tips:

The Floral Designer:

The Source:

Bouquets Photos Credits: Courtesy of Daniel Ost

” Perfection in not of this world, they say. Perhaps not, yet that is what we aim for, because my very raison d’etre is to offer you a dream”

Pierre Marcolini

This beautiful sentence is what I am reading on smartly designed catalogue and whose art direction is signed  Yann Pennor’s.

I am at  the Marcolini flagship at the legendary place du grand Sablon waiting to meet Brussels-based Maitre Chocolatier Pierre Marcolini for an interview. The comfortable and sober living room room with black furniture and white walls is at the last floor of a magnificent turn- of- the-century landmark building.

” Mr Marcolini will be delayed a few more minutes … Please be kind to be patient, he just called to excuse himself as he is on his way from the Paris Chocolate Show. In the meantime, may I offer you a petite degustation while you are waiting and I guess,  you ‘d wish to have an expresso as well?” says a handsome  assistant dressed with a long black apron over an impeccable white tailored shirt in extremely attentive manners.

Of course, thank you. ” Traveling around the world to meet producers who are passionate about their work is both duty and pleasure.They let me discover even rarer and more precious beans which, reverently processed in one workshop, yield couverture chocolate that is more delicate and harmonious, more intense and therefore more alive!

“While still reading the interesting statement in the catalog, a blond saleswoman probably in her twenties, arrives in a brown uniform from downstairs with a silver tray containing several  chocolate carres in slightly different tones but basically all looking all similar.  “Please let me know when we can start ” the young lady says with a smile that  enlighten her traits.

The 28″ by 28″ squares have names of spices written on them in white and in French of course, Caradamone, Canelle,  Poivre Vanille, Saffran, Mouscade,  Gengibre.

“They are called Saveus du Monde-epices ( taste of the world- spiced)” – I am told -” Monsieur Marcolini says that they are a delicate pacifist army against the tyranny of everything heavy and massive” As I am preparing myself,  water in the mouth, to try the first  weapon,  I am invited  like a child apparently  to discover in those small and delicate pieces the taste, flavor and texture of certain distant lands.

I learn through my degustation that, Pierre Marcolini is uncompromising when it comes to choosing the raw materials for his products. With a dark assortment of chocolate of 72% cocoa content, single origin beans from selected plantations in different part of the world  and their complex chemistry of the chocolate transcendence differs from one region to another.

Subtle bitterness and fresh fruit flavors from Ecuador, slightly bitter and a delicate Amber aroma from Bahia , powerful aromas of a rebellious Ghana, deep bitterness aroma of spices from Trinidad , peppers and fruits from Java, typical bitterness of fine cocoa , red and yellow fruits from Madagascar, delicate acidity and floral aroma from Venezuela.

I slightly close my eyes imagining the sun striking those fields against the grey rainy day overlooking the window view of Brussels’s Grand Place du Sablon.

Definitely voluptuous and sensually addictive these small delights have a long journey before they are finally appreciated and consumed in elegant flagships across the world’s main urban centers such as Tokyo, Nagoya, Giza, New York, Paris, Dar Al Wadi and London.

And there he is, the Lyon 1995 World Champion Pastry arriving in a rush carrying a black duffel bag preoccupied with his slight delay. He is wearing loose black trousers and a white chef uniform. He is handsome and in his 40 ths. He warns me that he only can allow me only a few minutes as someone told him that I am a French reporter that came to write about Belgian chocolate makers for a local regional newspaper.

I smile amused presenting myself, I explain that there was certainly a misunderstanding, as  I am not a reporter, nor I am French. I don’t write for a local regional newspaper and he, Pierre Marcolini is the one-and- only chocolatier I chose to interview in my worldwide on- line publication featuring  the city of Brussels as a 2009 December edition.

We are now both laugh , relaxed and at ease with the incident,  and my first question while I furtively taste a small ‘ Plaisir d’ Enfance‘ ( childhood pleasure)  is about the Brussels-based luxury chocolate maker strategic partnership with Nestle.Marcolini, now sitting comfortably in a black leather armchair and feeling -at-home confides me visibly satisfied that the partnership will allow Nestlé to benefit from the know-how and artistic talent of one of the world’s leading luxury chocolate makers, while the maison Marcolini will gain access to Nestlé’s global experience

. Pierre Marcolini will provide inspiration for future Nestlé chocolate ranges, while Nestlé will help Pierre Marcolini expand his network of boutiques across the world. He also makes sure to tell me that he will  continue to lead his company as an independent and autonomous operation, and Nestlé will join its board.

I sip my Expresso, we have been chatting for more than half hour, he  has been telling  me that he has recently designed a selection of a few pralines for the Nespresso company under their own brand  (Nespresso is owned by Nestle) which took them a harsh work that lasted several months but at last they are finally distributed in France and Switzerland,  soon in Brussels as well.

The few minutes Pierre Marcolini had  reserved for our interview now passed the hour.

I decide to ask him two  last tricky questions: Would there be anything he would bring back in return of his glorious success as one of the world leading chocolatiers to those illiterate and simple plantation people from where , as a conquistador he purchases row beans in their most natural state and magically infuses them through a sophisticated process of several steps.

The Chocolatier supervises himself until they are like wizard ’s magic transformed into luxurious and edible small jewels that lift  the senses of a privileged population that is from another part of the globe.He pause for a while, probably to better answer my question, he then moved, talks to me about  and the different  human experiences  him and ex-wife, mother of their only son, founder of the Maison Marcolini and still today his friend and business partner, encountered during their several trips  together or separated in those distant lands.

His partnership for example with Clara Echevaria, the Mexican grower who has been fighting for years to protect her exceptional bean, the “Porcelana”, (porcelain) from extinction, bears testimony to his commitment to following a fair trade policy.

This alliance between the best beans and a Master of Chocolate has created an exceptional product, a vintage: the “Limited Edition Chocolate Square²” chocolate bar. In Bahia, in the North of  Brasil,  a couple, husband and wife  plantation producers were flown to Brussels to actually witness the transformation  of their beans into Marcolini’s chocolate production.

The manufacturing process begins with roasting the beans to remove any residual humidity and to increase the aroma. The beans are then crushed and the mass that emerges is divided into minuscule particles, which are then ground. This is when the chocolate-making process begins: cocoa, cocoa butter, sugar and fresh vanilla from Tahiti. Thus Pierre Marcolini continues the traditions of the “inventors” of chocolate, constantly seeking new flavors!

Pierre Marcolini has not limited himself solely to chocolate of course. he creates desserts, biscuits, ice creams and sorbets to the rhythm of the seasons and his inspiration. Inspired by gastronomic trends that he discovers during his visits around the world, he invents, designs and develops superb creations, which have already earned him an outstanding reputation (l’Envol, Aurore, Arriba, ).

And while these classics are the translation of his talents as a chocolatier, Pierre Marcolini still knows how to transform the most wonderful ingredients to recreate the links with the great confectionery classics. A range of Eclairs, a timeless classic of patisserie is waiting to be discovered.

Not satisfied with bringing back the best beans in the world to his ateliers in Brussels, this alchemist then subtly blends the beans from the different regions and works with original aromas to create un-equalled flavours: Ganaches made with teas from around the world, Origin “Crus” chocolate bars.

The advantage of creating your own coating is undeniable: real products, rigorously selected ingredients that enhance each of the specialties with their specific flavors to create chocolates that are always different, always original, sometimes audacious, and that remind us of the best “Grand Cru” wines.

Pierre Marcolini manufactures his grand cru chocolate himself (coating) using cocoa beans that he selects personally. He is among the last five craftsmen working this way in Europe. But Pierre Marcolini is also and above all a humanist, both in the way he manages his company and in his commitment to supporting small top quality growers.

It’s getting dark, I am in a rush now, Pierre Marcolini goes down the modernly glamourous stairs of the Sablon luxurious flagship, surrounded with velvet curtains, white Phalaenopsis orchids and impressive chandeliers. I perceive him whispering in the blond lady’s years.

A few minutes later I am handed  an Ecrin Noir (a black round gift box) with a selection of chocolate personally picked by mr .Marcolini himself as well a  stunning black art book on his life’s and work inspirations, architecture , painting and poetry. The beautiful book is called Eclats (  glimpse of splendor).

With no more words to be added I will, inspired by such Art and Poetry  do my best as well to picture the true dream.”

Inspired from Hans Sachs ‘Les Maitres Chanteurs‘ ( The Mastersingers)

Joelle’s Tips:

The Chocolate flagship Pierre Marcolini: Rue des Mimnimes, 1 Place du Grand Sablon-1000 Bruxelles/ Tel :32 2 514 1206 sablon@marcolini.be

The Manifacture: Place du Grand Sablon, 39 1000 Bruxelles / tel +32 513 1783/ manifacture.sablo@marcolini.be

The movie :  Carre 2 Chocolat (Absolutely beautiful)

Photos credits of coffe in cup and coffe bags:   courtesy Nespresso  / Plantations, cocoa beans and Pierre Marcolini in Cuba: Tawao

Arief Priyono, Antara for The  Jakarta Globe, La Libre Be./  Vanilla Sticks : Zester Daily

Perhaps under the influence of eccentrics Thierry Mugler and Jeremy Scott, where he held stints, Quentin Veron is crazy about fur. The young Frenchie, a newcomer to Paris Fashion Week, designs and makes his coats, jackets and accessories (like great Russian hats, or ushankas) at the esteemed Paris workshop of Patrick Lestarquit—but these aren’t your grandmother’s heavy furs stuffed with mothballs…

You grew up in the middle of France, in Clermont-Ferrand. Did you have a strong fashion point of view early on?
When I was a teenager, you could be a skater and listen to rock or a bad boy and listen to rap. If you were out of those two groups you were considered a dork. Outside of Paris, it’s hard to find cool clothes and there are almost no vintage stores. I found my own style when I moved to Paris. Now I know where to find clothes I like, but I want to create pieces that are different.

Who inspires you, in real life or in cinema?
My collections are constructed like tales. I create my own characters, but I’m truly inspired by the universe depicted in Tim Burton films. That universe, tinged with darkness, also represents my creative vision.

Tell me about your experiences at Jeremy Scott in Los Angeles.
Jeremy is an amazing character with a superb energy. Sometimes, to reenergize us as we worked hard in his atelier, he’d come and sing and do a few dance moves. It forced us to smile. Or occasionally, when we were working late hours, he’d tell us stories about living in Paris, which I loved.

What did you think of L.A. fashion?
People really dress up there, they have fun. But of course I’m speaking of the crowd I was hanging out with, not the Hollywood crowd, who dress up only in designer clothes. It was interesting for me to start from zero in a city I didn’t know anything about. Normally I love to wear layers, but it was so hot there that I had to find another way to show off my style.

Your clothes are made at Patrick Lestarquit’s workshop. What is that like?
It’s amazing. I’m surrounded by fur. It feels like an older era with all the handcrafted work. I choose the skins, staple them, try out some mixes. Patrick Lestarquit teaches me techniques and how to choose my skins. He’s like my mentor. Then I have two people working for me.

One is a Greek man, a specialist of minks. He’s been working with fur for at least 40 years, since he was 13. The other is a woman who takes care of all the linings, and she sews everything by hand. It’s going back to basics. It’s not like you just make a drawing and send it to the other side of the world to be made.

Is it true you only got into fur about two years ago?
Yes, but I always wore and liked fur. When I finished school, I asked Patrick if I could come to his workshop. I became a kind of apprentice and fell in love with the craft. Touching fur everyday reminds me of my childhood. My father is a professional horse rider, and I loved working with him.

You’ve said “fur always existed and human beings always wore it.” Okay, it’s natural, but it’s also controversial. Why fur?
The smell, the feel, the way it looks and moves. I mean, fur is like a diamond. It’s unique, beautiful and makes women feel pretty.

What do you think of PETA protesters? They make me laugh!

Have you ever been confronted by anti-fur people?  Nope.

Where do you get your furs? Have you ever hunted?
I only use farm-raised furs, animals that are specifically raised to be fur, not wild animals. I don’t think anyone would go hunt a cow to have their steak.

Could you envision yourself designing pieces in other materials, or is it fur forever?
I have a fashion designer background, I’m not just a furrier. In fact, for my next collection, I’m starting to add other materials. But fur will always be the center of my collections.

Tell me about your experiences at Jeremy Scott in Los Angeles.
Jeremy is an amazing character with a superb energy. Sometimes, to reenergize us as we worked hard in his atelier, he’d come and sing and do a few dance moves. It forced us to smile. Or occasionally, when we were working late hours, he’d tell us stories about living in Paris, which I loved

Joelle’s Tips:

The Furrier: Quentin Veron

The source: via Hint Fashion Magazine

Photos Credits: Courtesy  Jenny Lexander for Quentin Vernon

Since Henri Cartier-Bresson picked up a 50mm Leica camera and gave birth to photojournalism at the beginning of the 20th century; we have been fascinated by candid shots of people on the street.

At the end of the Noughties, the advent of the internet has seen an explosion of interest in the phenomenon of street style, none more apparent than in the case of The Sartorialist.

The blog of American Scott Schuman, his 4 year old website which documents the varied sartorial taste of fashionable folk from places as diverse as London, New York, Paris, Milan, India and Sweden (to name a few) now receives 1.3 million hits a month, and has established Schuman as a unique force within the fashion industry. Following an exhibition at Danziger Projects last year, he has compiled his favourite images in a handsome anthology published by Penguin.

Dazed Digital: How did the book come about?

Scott Schuman: I always knew what I wanted to do with the book and what I wanted to accomplish with it. I wanted it to reflect the blog, not so much in a literal way but in the spirit of the blog. The blog is about things not having to be super expensive, a mix of high end and low end. One of the reasons why working with Penguin was so perfect was they were willing to do a paperback version and a hardcover at the same time.

That really made it work for me. I really wanted to do a bespoke edition, limited edition, beautiful and expensive. But then I wanted people to have something not so expensive where they could rip out the pages and paste the pictures up, something like that. I didn’t want to do a big coffee table book. Penguin were totally onboard with all that stuff.

DD: It must be satisfying to see your pictures in a gallery or in a book – giving it a sense of permanence the internet maybe does not?

Scott Schuman: The funny part is that the internet will give it not only a permanence, once it’s out there it’s totally out of my control. Once they’re on the internet, they take on a life of their own but I think that technology that it is now like no other time that we’ve had before, the permanence will come from the fact that I can take a picture today and my contemporaries can make a comment on those pictures and we can capture their thoughts.

Someone like Lartigue who shot a lot of people around the streets in the 1900s or even Bill Cunningham, people can look at those pictures but we don’t know what those people were thinking at that time. But with the blog now you know, I’m working to archive and save these comments so that in say a 100 years, people can not only look at these pictures but also know what we were thinking at that time, what those issues were.

So I really like that part. I take the pictures and capture what people are thinking right now but I also think about what this is going to mean historically.

DD: T here’s the sense of community on your website where people post comments and sometimes fall in love with the subjects in your photos. Is the goal intimacy with the subject?

Scott Schuman: One of the things I try and do is keep a distance from a lot of these people. I have a very short time and I like to shoot them in the romantic way that I see them. For me it always seems to work out better that way.

DD: Terry Richardson would say he would always put himself in the portrait whereas Bruce Weber would say he would only photograph things he could never be. Which camp do you fall in?

Scott Schuman: Somewhere right in between that. There’s definitely an aspirational aspect to it – something that I want to be. One of the things that separates me from other people who shot street style before me, they always shot the most dramatic thing, things people had never seen anywhere .Like Amy Arbus, she shot for the Village Voice in the early 90s, she would shoot the punks and the most dramatic people.

Which is great but I  don’t really relate to that. What’s different about what I do is I shoot something that is aspirational and something that people can really relate to. People of different sizes, races and income levels.

DD: Do you think that’s why your website has succeeded? That you celebrates different aspects of beauty and make fashion more democratic and accessible?

Scott Schuman: That wasn’t the goal when I started out. I was just shooting people that I saw that I really liked. I can find inspiration from a lot of different cultures, different kinds of people. I’m never looking for something that’s perfect, if anything if it is perfect, it’s harder for me to relate to it.

DD: You have a pic of Bill Cunningham from The New York Times in your book – an inspiration of yours? Would you like to do it as long as he did?
Scott Schuman:

Oh yeah I’d love to be doing this for the rest of my life. It’s funny – I’m a self taught photographer and I can’t really say he was specifically an influence. He was more of an influence as a fashion person. My background is in fashion marketing and just like any other person I would look at his page on Sunday.

But I never said,  “Oh I want to be like Bill Cunningham” or anything, it wasn’t anything like that. So he was probably a loose inspiration. I do really respect him as a person, he’s so committed to it. So that’s more of an inspiration than anything else, his commitment to that.

DD: You taught yourself photography? What magazines did you read growing up?

Scott Schuman: American GQ was the first fashion magazine that I started reading when I was in junior high. I-D, Italian Vogue…But growing up in Indiana, it was hard to get those magazines and there was no internet and the fact that we didn’t have many things like that helps me to keep the romance of it.

For me there’s still this romanticized idea of what the fashion world must be like. It took so long for me to actually move here that it was so ingrained in my head and I still see the world that way. Not growing up with the magazines that I would have liked to had that effect on me.

DD: The book is dedicated to your late father – how was he inspirational to your life?

Scott Schuman: Like any good father. His inspiration was more as a person and in some ways that’s the very core of the book. How he looked at people and how he looked at the world. He was always very respectful. So I like that. I shoot a lot of people for the blog whose style I wouldn’t necessarily wear but I can think it’s great and respect the quality of what they do. He grew up in North Dakota which is even more rural than Indiana and he used to say he was too stupid to know that he couldn’t do something.

And there was this acceptance of being naïve which I think is beautiful. With this blog, I didn’t know that I could become a photographer for GQ, I didn’t really know anything about photography. I knew it probably was a stretch. But I came up with my own take and to me, there was no reason why I couldn’t be. I didn’t realize how big that world was but I let myself be stupid. So sometimes ignorance can be bliss.

DD: Has there been a specific favorite highlight over the last few years?

Scott Schuman: The moment when I really knew I was on to something was when I would get these really beautiful, heartfelt emails from people. So it’s those things – the true emotional response from people ‘cos you can’t buy that. The next steps were having someone like Carine Rotifeld ask me to shoot something for Paris Vogue, that was a big deal. But the number one thing was the community we were able to create on the blog that crosses a lot of different cultures. That’s probably the thing that’s going to last the longest.

DD : How does it feel to hear that respected designers like Lucas Ossendrijver use your pics in their mood boards?

Scott Schuman: Oh it’s great I love that. When I was in fashion I would work with designers so I would know how they work. So that’s how I want to shoot it. I don’t want to shoot things that are trendy. By the time you shoot it, it’s over. I want to shoot things that I was reacting to whether it was perfect or not. I’m glad that some really great designers are using the site in the way I hoped that they would.

DD: What did you make of The Refinery29’s chart of how to get photographed by The Sartorialist?

Scott Schuman: Of course I saw that. I saw it within minutes of when it went up. I got 40 emails about it! I thought it was done in good fun and the thing that I like about it is that it has so many different branches. People think I only shoot one kind of thing and there are so many different branches there – young and old. When you build something successful, those are the kind of things that you can expect.

DD: How did you find making the transition to shooting for mags and major ad campaigns?

Scott Schuman: Everybody wants me to do my own thing. Because I never been to many other shoots before my own, I had no qualms telling people what to do on my own shoots! The transition’s actually been great because I shoot in the exact same way that I do. I tell my agent, “Don’t put me in a situation I can’t win.” I only accept jobs that I will be able to shoot in my way. I’m lucky I’ve been able to shoot a lot more and my ability as a photographer has grown and grown but the essence is the same. It really is the next step of what I do.

DD: You’ve travelled the whole world with your blog – is there anywhere left you’d like to go? Are there any worlds and cultures you’re still fascinated by?

Scott Schuman: Seems like I’ve travelled the world but there’s still a lot of places I haven’t been to yet. I haven’t been to Japan, that’s the next big one I wanna go to. But the way you keep it honest and real is to continuing to go to new kinds of places. Maybe after Fashion Week has ended I have a little bit more time to a place like Beunos Aires or Peru and shoot not only the fashionable people but also the folkloric dress and national costume.

DD: Is there anyone you’re dying to shoot? The Queen for example?

Scott Schuman: Not the Queen. (laughs) The one person I wish I shot, that I would have got the chance to but I didn’t jump on it was Gianfranco Ferre. He’s a big guy but he always looked so great. I went to a few of his shows and he was there but I never made time to take pictures of him. When he died, I thought he was someone I would really have loved to have photographed. He was always so elegant. I thought the way he dressed himself was so much better than what he did with his menswear! I just thought he seemed really cool.

DD: You’re curating a space at Liberty’s and just did a similar thing at Barneys in NYC. Is this the next step in developing the brand of The Sartorialist?

Scott Schuman: I wanted to take the concept of the blog and how I look at fashion and put it in a real-life setting. I had this idea of the pop-up shop, The SartoriaLUST with stuff that you would really lust for, things that you would really love. It doesn’t have to be super expensive things. It can be APC jeans mixed with Japanese jackets. That’s how a lot of men dress. Part of the ulterior business of the pop-up shop was creating this idea of what the Sartorialist would be as a retail business.

Joelle’s Tips

The Blog: The Sartorialist

The Book : The Sartorialist ( Bespoke Edition) Penguin

Photo Credits: Scott Shuman  and Joelle Maslaton

The Source: Interview  Via Dazed

Last winter I was invited at the opening of the Jewish Sephardic Festival at the American Sepharadic Foundation in New York City. The opening screen film had this introductory song which had been in my mind from mornings to evenings during the 10 days festival duration.

On the last evening of the event I decide to ask the administration who sings that song with those curious ethnic words in a language that I don’t recognize at all. ” Oh that song – she answers laughing- everyone asks, the artist name is Idan Raichel, and the song is called , “Bo’ee“  . The album is available here at the center for sale, it’s called the Idan Raichel Project and the curious language is Ethiopian. Wow!  That’s a discovery Joelle ” -  I think very exited.

A few months later, I read on the new York times that Idan Raichel is coming to the Madison Square Garden for only a two days show. I immediately write a letter to the Simeon Chapin. Director of Marketing and Promotions at Cumbancha asking if I could have the pleasure for an interview with Idan. Simeon was very kind and gave me a  short time slot of 20 minutes .

That afternoon the sky poured so much rain over New York city that I could not make it on time to see Idan in person. I was so disappointed no matter how hard  Simeon tried to make me feel better. I promised myself to get a as soon as I can my rain check!

The Idan Raichel Project burst onto Israel’s music scene in 2002, changing the face of Israeli popular music and offering a message of love and tolerance that resonated strongly in a region of the world where headlines are too often dominated by conflict.

With an enchanting blend of African, Latin American, Caribbean and Middle Eastern sounds coupled with sophisticated production techniques and a spectacular live show, the Idan Raichel Project has become one of the most unexpected success stories in Israeli music history.

The architect of this unique recording project, is keyboardist, producer and composer Idan Raichel. Originally from Kfar Saba, Israel, a small city near his current home of Tel Aviv, Idan was born in 1977 to a family with Eastern European roots, and although music was an important part of his upbringing, his parents did not place much emphasis on performing music from his particular cultural background.

“I think the fact that I didn’t have strong family musical roots is what made me be very open to music from all over the world,” says Idan.

He started playing the accordion at the age of nine, and even at this young age was attracted to the exotic sounds of Gypsy music and tango. As a teenager, Idan began playing keyboards, and studied jazz in high school, honing his skills at improvisation and working with other musicians. In Israel, military service is mandatory for all young men and women, and at 18 Idan was conscripted into the Israeli army.

Rather then heading to the front lines in this volatile region, Idan joined the Army rock band and toured military bases performing covers of Israeli and European pop hits. As the musical director of the group, he became adept at arrangements and producing live shows, making his Army experience productive and positive.

After completing his service, Idan started working as a counselor at a boarding school for immigrants and troubled youth. Notably, the school was filled with young people from Ethiopia who were part of Israel’s growing community of Ethiopian Jews.

Idan developed friendships with members of the Ethiopian community and began to explore Ethiopian music and culture. He started going to Ethiopian bars and clubs and soon was invited to Ethiopian synagogues, weddings and ceremonies.

Meanwhile, Idan had become a successful backup musician and recording session player for some of Israel’s most popular musicians. He decided it was time to pursue a project that reflected his musical ideals, and began working on a demo recording in a small studio he set up in the basement of his parent’s home.

Idan invited over 70 of his friends and colleagues from Israel’s diverse music scene to participate in the recordings. He never expected his musical experiments to turn him into Israel’s biggest musical phenomenon in recent memory.

While most of the Israeli labels considered his work too “ethnic” and too outside of the norms of the formulaic Israeli pop scene, one A&R man, Gadi Gidor at Helicon Records, instantly heard the potential in Idan’s work and quickly signed him on to the roster. The subsequent album was an immediate hit.

The haunting Ethiopian chorus of the first single, “Bo’ee” (Come With Me), sounded completely unlike anything most Israelis had heard before, yet, coupled with Idan’s richly poetic lyrics of love and devotion and sophisticated production techniques, the single was a huge success. The album went on to sell over 150,000 copies (triple platinum) and firmly establish Idan as a new type of Israeli pop star.

Interest in the recording began to grow while demand for live shows increased, including an offer from the prestigious Opera House of Tel Aviv. Given the number of musicians who participated in the recordings, it would have been impossible to have them all appear on stage. Idan chose seven members in addition to himself who were both versatile and strong individual artists in their own right.

“There would be no front man,” Idan said of the concept, “I would sit at the side and watch things and see what occurs. Every song would have a different singer, we would sit in a half circle and each musician would have a chance to demonstrate what they have to offer.” The live show became symbolic of the album, as it brought together a group of people of different backgrounds but each is equal to the other.

This sentiment is reflected in the decision to name the collective The Idan Raichel Project. Says Raichel, “If I had called the album just ‘Idan Raichel,’ people would have thought that Raichel is the main voice on all the songs. I wrote the songs and I arranged and produced them, but I perform them together with other vocalists and musicians. On the other hand, we are not a group. It’s something in between.”

In January 2006, The Idan Raichel Project traveled to Ethiopia, the land that had inspired so much of its music. The trip marked the first time two of the Project’s lead vocalists were able to return to the land of their birth and also the first time an Israeli artist had performed in Ethiopia.

The Idan Raichel Project opened the Fifth Ethiopian Music Festival in Addis Ababa, sharing the stage with top Ethiopian performers, including the legendary Mahmoud Ahmed, and were happy to learn that their songs “Bo’ee” and “Mi’Ma’amakim” had earned a fair share of local radio airplay. The story of the Project’s emotional trip to Israel became the basis of the documentary film Black Over White.

In the fall of 2006, the record label Cumbancha released the music of The Idan Raichel Project worldwide, bringing even more renown to this inspirational collective. Billboard Magazine called their international release “One of the most fascinating titles to emerge in world music this year?a multi-ethnic tour de force.

” The New York Times selected the album as one of the top world music releases of the year, and media from Peru to Portugal was unanimous in their praise. The album also received a nomination as one of the best world music albums of the year by the BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music.

Known around the world, especially in circles of Jewish, Ethiopian and Israeli communities, the Idan Raichel Project regularly sells out concerts in large performance venues. Since the international release, The Idan Raichel Project has headlined at New York’s prestigious Central Park SummerStage, the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles, the Sydney Opera House and performed across Europe as well as in Mexico City, Sydney, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Singapore, and Mumbai.

Future touring plans include South Africa and South America. Wherever they perform, The Project unifies the audience in a celebration of that which is unique about the cultures of the world, as well as that in which we are all alike.

In November 2008, The Idan Raichel Project released the album Within My Walls (Bein Kirot Beiti) in Israel to tremendous acclaim. The album is to be released worldwide outside of Israel by Cumbancha in early 2009. Much of Within My Walls was recorded over the past few years while Idan was on tour, during recording sessions in hotel rooms, backstage dressing areas, private homes and other impromptu settings.

His poetic lyrics reflect these travels and contemplations; sung in Hebrew, Moroccan Arabic, Spanish, Cape Verdean Creole and Swahili, the songs address the struggle for personal fulfillment and the true meaning of love in a conflicted and complex world.

For Within My Walls, Idan recorded and co-wrote songs with Colombian singer Marta Gómez, Cape Verdean luminary Mayra Andrade and the silken-voiced Somi of Rwandan and Ugandan heritage. Inspired by the lush, moody strings of Nick Drake, Idan assembled a 24-piece orchestra and worked with Israeli arranger Assaf Dar to transpose his engaging melodies into an orchestral format.

Idan also invited some of his favorite musicians, such as Middle Eastern percussionist Zohar Fresco, traditional flute and woodwinds specialist Eyal Sela, Mark Eliyahu on kamancheh (a traditional Persion fiddle), and legendary bassist Alon Nadel to lend their talents to the recording. The result is a deeply moving recording, overflowing with rich melodies, engaging poetry, stunning vocal performances and intricate arrangements.

With the release of Within My Walls, the Idan Raichel Project prepares to embark on their next great adventure by bringing their music to en even wider audience across the globe. With major tour dates planned for 2009 in North America, Europe, Latin America and other regions, the Idan Raichel Project will be breaking down walls for years to come.

Joelle’s Tips:

The Artist: Idan Raichel

The Interview: One on One Al Jazeera Part 1 /  Part 2

It all started in New York, when a friend insisted I spent a few days in Israel for Passover with his family.

Israel, at this time of the year, so much to do….I reflected on the interesting opportunity, after all it’s nothing less than the Holy Land and I should not miss the opportunity to reunite with my ancestors at holy sites.  But still, I thought I should try to work things out to write a Tel Aviv edition for my website.

I am walking on the sidewalk at the Tel Aviv port, one of my favorite places in the city.  It’s late afternoon, almost sunset.  I’m so happy to finally relax.  I notice that a red light blinks from my messenger BB (the Blackberry Bubble)… it’s my Israeli friend Mordechai in New York writing:  “Have you called Itzik?”  I can’t believe he’s checking on me.  I have just arrived in Israel and I’m still not sure if I am willing to socialize or just want to focus on working on the city edition.  Red light BB comes back, “Go now, he’s waiting for you.”

Mordechai is responsible for the good health and style of my hair, and because of this I must admit, he is one of those few people in the world that have a tremendous power over me.  One could clearly observe this fact by the tone in which he addresses me.  This is why I find myself in an Israeli taxi, on my way to the small gallery where, at this moment an artist  named Itzik Badash – a dear friend of Mordechai and protege of Israeli diva and actress Ronit Elkabetz – is apparently showcasing his work called “Bread”.

The taxi stops on a small and almost deserted street, in the residential area of  Tzedek    .  At an entrance door in a grey limestone wall, a few stairs take me to a narrow white room and a reception desk.  A woman receives me, smiling silently as if she knows who I am after I mention Itzik’s name.  I instantly get from her an English-ed Hebrew introduction to the few gigantic photographic panels inside another white high ceiling-ed room, while she quickly attempts to make a phone call to Itzik.

Perplexed, I ask for more information about the splendid art work  displayed on the walls of that narrow space.  The curator, as she calls herself, tells me Itzik is on his way to the gallery and he will explain everything I wish to know personally.  She hands me some sort of flier and disappears in the same way she came, through a grey curtain behind the reception desk.

As I turn myself around and around I can’t stop relating to these images. They are strange, extremely disturbing yet at the same time they are constantly talking to my deranged soul.  What is the meaning of their theme?  Where were those pictures taken?  Is it a real cave?  What cave? What kind of action is taking place?  A ritual?  What about those birds, and the fire?  And where in heaven is this Itzik for God’s sake?  Why does he keep me standing here alone?   Shall I bubble Mordechai?

‘Shalom,” I hear from afar.  “Comment vas tu?- I am Itzik, do you speak Hebrew?”

“Finally,” I think while I turn around, curious to see who is at my back – the intriguing author of this even more intriguing art work.  “Itzik, I am a friend of Mordechai,” I say, “and these hair products are for…”

“I know who you are and toda (thank you).”

There’s a silence between us, he looks at me in the eyes.  He is handsome and somehow kind but very serious.  For some reason I connect with him in a strange way.  I decide to ask directly all the questions that are haunting my mind.  Itzik answers slowly, slightly ethereally.  He is making a quick mental evaluation to see if I can be trusted to inquire about the divine creative process of his inspiration and more over, if I truly deserve to get acquainted with the precious information he holds within himself.

Bread is his most recent exhibition.  It started in Tel Aviv and will be going to Jerusalem next week.  After that it’s still to be decided.  The rituals are real, the characters in the pictures are himself, a friend and a renowned Israeli actress representing the universal motherhood in the fullness of its physical limitations.  The cave is in the nearby hills of Jerusalem, and the theme basically is about spiritual nourishment.  “This is why it is called Bread,” he tells me, looking down at the smoothly cemented floor.

But while he talks to me, I realize there is something about Itzik that he is not telling me yet.  There is something important I am aware of, something  I should know, and it’s definitely related to his life and, as a consequence, to his work – a work maybe that I have yet not seen.  I recognize a voice in him that wants to talk about something we have in common… I decide to ask deeper questions about his origins, his family sharing with him that his work sometimes related in my mind to Michelangelo’s Pieta.

In a dream state he describes an analogy of the cave being the like the mother womb.  All limits between real life in the outside world and the inner self are secured in the fullness of the four primordial elements, connecting through the passage of a flying bird – a messenger between those two worlds.

He realizes my attention is fixed on his words and now, more confidently, he confides in me a story about the influence on his persona from his beloved grandmother Gita.  She is from Tripoli, Libya.  She is a magician.  She prepares  healing potions and rituals invoking the protection of our great ancestors, the Tazddiks (righteous) and cabbalists Shimon Bar-Yohai, Rabbi Meir Ba’ Al Hanes and the enlightened Itzhac Luria.

Breathless, I hear myself asking: “You are Sepharadi then?”  There is the connection!  The cultural-religious connection!  Itzik finally smiles, his eyes recognize in mine the warmth of the anthologies of poems, odes and lamentations written by the Jewish poets of Spain and the inner wild agony of my soul gypsy-ness.  It’s within this same cultural sphere that Itzik Badash in his previous exhibition curated by Tal Ben Tzvi,  called the Dwali,  ( meaning both collection of songs” and a “salon for entertaining guests” ) chooses to hold a rite of passage with his grandmother and mother’s help.

In the ceremony he exposed the fact that he is an HIV carrier and presented the illness as an aspect of his identity, alongside artist, Jew, Israeli and a person of Oriental origins, oscillating between the Hebrew language and the Arabic-Libyan language that he remembers from his childhood in Natanya.

For the purpose of this ceremony, Badash turned to his grandmother and his mother, who belong to a dynasty of strong women holding important roles and enjoying power and status.  The grandmother has a social-communal role as a wailing woman, like her own mother before her, who used to fulfill the same role in Tripoli, Libya.

Lamentation is based on emotion.  Badash is closely familiar with the magnitude of the loss, the depth of the pain and the weight of the grief, and it is these emotions that he wishes to pour forth into the blessing ceremony. The blessing constitutes for him an understanding and recognition of AIDS as a social disease, which in order to confront he needs his family as a source of strength; strength based on exposure, truth, reinforcement, empowerment and support.

We go to a cafe nearby.  Itzik introduces me to all his interesting friends and tells me that his next project is going to be video art based on the Lashon Hara ( Gossip) . He knows for a fact that it will be a great financial success and truluy hopes it will influence people in understand more about the power of speaking no evil.

Tel Aviv, here I am.  Speak more to me.

Read more about the ritual  Diwani