End of Summer (in London)

[Tim Walker]

Poem of the Week

Passage to India!
Struggles of many a captain—tales of many a sailor dead!
Over my mood, stealing and spreading they come,
Like clouds and cloudlets in the unreach’d sky.


Along all history, down the slopes,
As a rivulet running, sinking now, and now again to the surface rising,
A ceaseless thought, a varied train—Lo, soul! to thee, thy sight, they rise,
The plans, the voyages again, the expeditions:
Again Vasco de Gama sails forth;
Again the knowledge gain’d, the mariner’s compass,
Lands found, and nations born—thou born, America, (a hemisphere unborn,)
For purpose vast, man’s long probation fill’d,
Thou, rondure of the world, at last accomplish’d.

Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

Tradition says…

Labor Day marks the end of the summer. The weather forecast says otherwise. A glorious sunny day spent at the beach, followed by a run at sunset where the red tones of the sky augured a magnificent week.

Teany, Today

This is another tea temple, but the cool type of spot, rather than the splendorous venue for an English afternoon tea. This is Moby's tea sanctuary, the perfect place to wind up from a day in the city, as long as you do not stress by having to make a choice amongst 98 varieties of tea. Switch off and tune in to the music mixed by the musician himself and, of course, take in the flavor of a magnificent cup of t.

[90 Rivington Street]

Absolut 08 (V): Pure Ice

This was the Absolut Icebar Stockholm, the first permanent bar made of ice, which reopened in April this year. The bar has been designed by two of Sweden's best graffiti artists, Daniel "Ikaroz" Diaz and Pierre "Slak" Johansson, together with two ice artists, Mark Armstrong and Mikael Nilsson. What they created was an unforgettable clash between urban art and pure ice, where the two dimensional and color based art was transformed in three dimensional transparent works of ice, working only with different shades of white.

Whereas this is probably not the place to show off (the parkas provided are definitely a cover all) or even to hang out for hours, it is a unique experience. Oh, and the lips actually do not glue to the non-reusable glasses made of ice and, yes, you can hold them without the gloves.

Absolut 08 (IV)

On Stockholm or the Absolut 08. Every trip should be like this, discovery of new places, of new details and of oneself. I was in awe. The profusion of water takes in the colors of the cityscape and renders an aura of magic to the archipelago that constitutes this city. Islands like pieces of a jigsaw or small tiles, form an amazing mosaic when looked upon from afar. Meandering in the streets of other times, with incredible palaces in baroque and romantic architecture intertwined with modern urban spaces in perfect harmony, is a unique experience. Everything is calm and beautiful, the people, the parks, the streets. It is everyday life made perfect in the minor details. As I walked in Södermalm, I couldn't help noticing the incredible design displayed by the most common of the cafés. And if it's not enough a city sunbathed by the morning sun with music in the squares inviting for a long brunch, you have design and beauty in an array of shops or restaurants. Not to miss, Asplund, Design House Stockholm or Nordiska Galleriet, and, of course, restaurants like P.A. & Co. or Fredsgatan 12, give much more than just a gourmet experience.

Fredsgatan 12

Nordiska Galleriet

Absolut Power

And so I arrived from Stockholm and so I had barely time to unpack I was on a plane again, this time to Washington, D.C. There you meet with power, not only in the formal sense, with schedules and in governmental buildings, but also behind the scenes or after hours. As we were having a business dinner at Capital Grill (the original), which happens to be down the street from the Capitol, a local reminded that the power dinner place was actually at half steam because of the Democratic Convention and because it is August and the Capitol hasn't resumed its activities from vacation. It is fascinating to imagine what those walls might have heard…

Poem of the Week

A Palavra

Já não quero dicionários
consultados em vão.
Quero só a palavra
que nunca estará neles
nem se pode inventar.

Que resumiria o mundo
e o substituiria.
Mais sol do que o sol,
dentro da qual vivêssemos
todos em comunhão,
mudos,
saboreando-a.

Carlos Drummond de Andrade

Getting Ready for New York

After two years, I am getting ready for New York to "Disappear into the crowd. It's right there in the city charter: we have the right to disappear. The city rushes to hide all trace. It's the law." The Colossus of New York, Colson Whitehead

You are what Inspires You: Incandescent Revelations

What lights up my mood? So many things, hence, the series. Nordic design is beyond an inspiration in my life. It surrounds me in my apartment in New York and thrills me every time I look at a piece of outstanding beauty. It is simple; it is functional, yet aesthetic; it is beauty in pure form and materials. I had to be at the source and thus stay in a place synonym with everything that I like about the Nordic experience. The Nordic Light Hotel is the design Mecca in Stockholm. Designed by Jan Söder and Lars Pihl, who were inspired by the Scandinavian northern light, the hotel has amazing common spaces, such as, the light bar and lounge areas, and simply beautiful rooms. The attention paid to detail is amazing, from the map of the city to the inscriptions in the towels in the rooms, everything was carefully thought. In addition, it plays with light and how it affects our mood. But not it is not only the design and the light that plays with us, each one of us can play with the light and influence the façade of the hotel, in a symbiotic experience. After all, this is how good design should be - inspiring and adaptable.