The reason for that exhausting experience was due to a simple miscalculation, where arriving at the customs in New Dehli to shop for my store Joelle , I was  refused entrance and advised to go to Nepal for a supposedly 24 hours trip to get a new visa. The 24 hours deadline never happened!

On the night I arrived in Katmandu, the news were all about a plane  that was hijacked in Afghanistan and for security reasons no visas in general were issued until further notice.  Rather than  flying back to London and then Sao Paulo, I decided to stay and to explore the local textiles and unpaired crafts which I new were knowouts.

After a week the collection was set in place, furred pillows, China silked bed covers, coral and turquoise damask placemats , you name it but really  there was nothing else to do. At that time I was traveling with my assistant Marcelo , his first time in Asia where he’d need to follow-up with logistics and to put  physically in place the largest collection the Sao Paulo 1000 sq mt  flagship  would ever offer.

Very quiet and observant, Marcelo rarely spoke. Nourishing himself with Coke and chocolate, he was always able to perceive among hundred  suppliers which was reliable Ali Baba or the thieves. In numerous occasions, later in our professional lives , while  enthusiastically selecting  merchandise , I would hear Marcelo say in the middle of exhaustive negotiations   ”   Chefinha ( Little Boss ), are you working for us or for them? Go for a walk until I am done with this deal ”

The Anapurna escalation was purely my own idea. Bored, and determined to enter India soon,  I needed to explore something new . As a result of the most  physically exhausting and spiritually  overwhelming  life changing experience  I  finally got my visa to fall dead sick in a Delhi Hospital a few days later on Christmas day and Marcelo’s birthday.

Convulsive  fever, stomach and intestine discharge for days ,Marcelo saved me from convolutions choosing not to leave my sight until I got better. His name from that day until today changed from Marcelo to Anjinho ( Little Angel )

After my recovery , for the 10 years, we traveled  all over creating the very popular  Santa Fe Collection among the hundreds of  monthly  designed and developed products from  all over the world. Many years of experience in design, product development, visual merchandizing and import-export logistics little angel became almost my boss.  It was time to follow his own road of expression and a fly with his now very strong wings.

A dozen of tattoos later  and a few entrepreneurial experiences as a  Brazilian beach style Sushi Bars restaurateur , Little Angel  finally opens his mostly mature and compact business called Tam Tum where he designs, produces and distributes locally and internationally in his store and soon on line,  eclectic and colorful home accessories  .

Fresh Pillows, puffs  and futons, fabric lanterns coconut fiber table sets, bamboo furniture and ceramics carry his signature and are synonymous of his great talent and true South American sensibility created for TamTum and on special orders.

The geometric patterns of the  collections are called by the name and places we visited, and the vivid and translucent colors remind me of the unforgettable imagery that crossed our creative minds and spirits.

On his arm I notice the last tatoo…. A large Thank You that he proudly exhibits for the picture although he is very shy.

” On the occasion of your birthday little Angel , the one who thanks you once more , it’ s me!

Merry Christmas

Little Boss “ 

Joelle’s Tips:

The Company:

Tam Tum

The catalogue:
Photo Credits:  Stupla

George Whitman

I have always been mad about books and bookstores. While I am posting this morning,  I receive  a newsletter article  from Flavorwire with an yellowish vintage picture capturing my attention. It ‘s a small room packed with piled books in wood shelves and a small text below:

”  George Whitman, the owner of Shakespeare & Company, the legendary English-language bookstore on the Left Bank in Paris, died last week at age 98. A patron of the arts as well as a visionary bookseller, writers flocked to his shop to browse, mingle, and even spend the night.

I decide to stop writing a little and research more on the internet  about George’s life and philosophy. Among the many interesting angles of his devotion for reading , sharing and lending books, I found the text below that most identifies with my personal connection with books and bookshelves.

‘ Whitman didn’t just want to open up a simple bookshop—he wanted to create a “sanctuary for writers, aspiring writers and artists,” and that he did.  For over 50 years, Shakespeare and Company has been a temple of books and hosting readings by published and unpublished authors, including Henry Miller, Anäis Nin and Alan Ginsberg. What Mother Goose is to nursery rhymes, Whitman and his shop are to the Parisian literary scene. It even looks like it could be part of a fairy tale: wishing well, creaking wooden steps, a slanting roof and all.’

Whitman and his shop are to the Parisian literary scene. It even looks like it could be part of a fairy tale: wishing well, creaking wooden steps, a slanting roof and all.While at the Université Sorbonne, American George Whitman managed to amass a rather large collection of English books that he would sometimes lend or even sell to friends. Soon Whitman turned his hobby into something more tangible, acquiring the perfect location for his adventurous business endeavor right across from Notre Dame in 1951.

You can go on George’s lovely vintage-loolinkg website and read more about his life, events and bookstore as  this post , originally   named  Livraria Da Vila , could not have a  better  introduction .

Nestled in the heart of chic Sao Paulo, in a neighborhood called  Jardins  the legendary bookstore,  Livraria da Vila  was designed  in 2003 by internationally renowned Brazilian architect Isay Weinfeld. Like Gerorge Whitman ’s Shakespeare & Company in Paris,  Samuel Seibel in Sao Paulo,

” Charming,  receptive, democratic and  as Seibel describes, Livraria da Vila opened 25 years ago in a small shop where  children  storytelling  took place welcoming whoever liked to listen and read,  hosted with a warm cafezinho.

With the time , the small bookstore locally called  a queridinha  ( darling  ) acquired  the love and care of the old neighborhood (Vila)  whose adopted initial vision  for storytelling became a meeting point  to  buy and explore all sorts of books spending time meeting people  discussing amicably about almost anything over pastries and Pao de Queijo.

One day it flew higher, to the mind and hands of the one who transformed  a small dream  with wings into an ever thought magnificent almost unreal reality .

Without loosing it’s attribute and character, in the last 7 years, The vila established  in a  comfortable , highly  and unpaired contemporary environment ,. an  in-house venue for conferences, lectures, courses, debates, pocket shows story telling. and goes without saying  the launching of boots with autographs sessions.

Seibel is now constantly thinking about  new ventures and unimaginable destinations his initial dream can take him.

After all Wihtman was right, hotting strangers of so many years some winged angels must have passed by .

 Joelle’s tips:

The bookstores:

The Shakespeare & Company
37 rue de la Bûcherie  75005 Paris
Tel : 00 33 (0) 1 43 25 40 93  news@shakespeareandcompany.com   Open every day 10am – 11pm except for Saturday and Sunday when we open at 11am.

Livraria da Vila

Banksy, Wall and Piece

One afternoon spent in a friend office in Sao Paulo, I was searching on the map a place where I could take a few pictures on the stung local street art among the most powerful in the world.  While bringing two Guaranas on a vintage wooden tray he smiles and tells me ‘ Little boss, don’t search anymore, what you want to see is the Beco do Batman ( Batman Alley)  , fetch you camera and Let’s go I will take you on my truck.”

‘Little angel’  (my friend’s nick name) and I  have traveled the world for my store in Sao Paulo many years ago, he quite knows what I am thinking just by the expression on my face. Beco do Batman, is a small alley of vibrant, lurid expression in brash colors and stark angles beating any any graphic novel.

I met Joao almost 15 years ago on the occasion of a city Interior Designers showcase, Casa Cor similar to the Amrican Kips Bay’s Show House.  At the time, I used to own a small shop of interior finishes with two partners Beto Galvez and Norea Clemente who suggested we’d participated with a room at the prestigious event. Our small space , maybe a few square meters happened to be just neighbor of Jouao’s.

Our decoration took  inspiration from 19th century English Gazebos and did not require many objects, just yellow stucco and Trompe l’Oeil finishes with a beautiful Chinese Pagoda chandelier borrowed from an antique store close to our shop.

On the contrary, Jouao space ,I remember well, had an average of 15 Italian busts mostly Roman emperors in Rosso Verona and  fiori di Pesco  Marbles, placed in perfectly symmetrical order in a squared grey walled enhance hall.  Striped silk thick draperies impeccably organized in proportional window niches , made a majestic impact enhancing, ormolu  1800 French furniture ,  modernist paintings and contemporary sculptures.

We worked for our small space, most of the day, lifting , gluing, displaying and painting the walls ourselves. Joao , at the contrary would pass 15 minutes, look around  almost mimicking  the posture of his   Italian busts , and with a discrete approval  leave quietly the same way he arrived. The only problem,  is that he would not say hi nor bye to us.

Because I have the good habit of generally not taking things personally from people, I assumed and shared with my partners,  who were not as well know as Joao, that he believed us to be our own staff. Years after this strange episode, we laughed incessantly for knowing each other much better and realizing that Joao not only is an adorable human being, with an unequalled talent, but he is also extremely shy.

For more than a decade, Joao Mansur was in the media with a circuit of  stunning residence decors from Sao Paulo Brasil a la Andrew Martin,  Buenos Aires, Argentina’s old money,  New York ‘s elite at the Plaza landmark in partnership with Interior designer Michele Safra, and creme de la creme royal’s homes in Lisbon, Portugal.

I have enjoyed taking some shots, certainly not professional photography, he has plenty of that, just to give you a sense of how comfortable I am when I am hosted  in this,  as Joao calls it ”  Guest’s Studio”.  As you will be able to notice, the place certainly feels more as a small and majestic art museum than  a simple Sao Paulo Pied -a -terre.

Surrounded by Zebra Carpets,  English Coromandels, smartly lacquered  18th century columns in red, Andy Warhols, and piles, piles plies of wonderful art books on black and very daringly chic blackened walled high ceilings I am in heaven and Joao has no idea I am about  to post this on my magazine. It’s a surprise.  Ready for a welcoming cocktails guys?

Joelle’s picks

Joao Mansur  Arquitetura

BR: Rua Groenlandia 1922bb Jardim America 01434-100 Sao Paulo / Tel +55 11 30 83 1500 / joaomansur@joaomansur.com

US:  Michele Safra Interiors : Michele Safra 655 Park Avenue 10065 New York NY + 1 212  439 1818

Part of my plan for weight loss is an emergency coconut water diet to detox, so I immediately called a clinic that does miracles in sculpting female bodies without the traditional knives and scalpels. If I recall, the phone number is the same, but the answering machine voice sounds more like an AT&T operator just like at home in the States. “If you want to schedule an appointment, press 1, but this is just for one appointment; if you want to cancel an appointment press 2, for all other inquiries please stay on the line, an operator will soon assist you.”

After waiting on the line to inquire how I might lose 5 pounds, I am asked if I want my lymphatic drainage massage in the bungalow or inside the house. Bungalow? What bungalow? Do I have the wrong number? Apparently not, the operator’s voice recognizes me and warmly greets me with, “Welcome, Joelle, everything has changed, you’ll love it!”  Huuuff, I am back in Brazil.

I choose the bungalow, this evening at 7. The space has drastically changed; I am at a totally different place at the same address, maybe the Jymbaran hotel spa in Bali? A young, pretty girl takes me to a corridor where old Balinese wooden fences surround a Jacuzzi and Nandina plants — a kind of bamboo used by the Japanese to throw their worries on and keep the negativity out at every main entrance door of their houses.

Candles and cement Asiatic lanterns are located on a small bridge, under which carp are swimming elegantly in a little pond. Half a dozen rooms are named, on their walls, after Indian gods like Shiva, Ganesh and Devi. I am already feeling that goddess-to-be sensation by smelling from afar my favorite aphrodisiac scent, Ylang-Ylang, prepared especially for me in the form of an essential oil waiting to be spread on my skin in the so-anticipated bungalow. Before I take my clothes off, my attention is caught by the picture, in a Playboy magazine cover of this month framed and hung on the wall, of a bombastic and pretty girl that I have met in person, thanking the owner of this place for we all know what.

Okay, my decision was perfect, my lymph and all the water that I retained in my cells all these months in NY will leave my body so fast that my picture will one day be hung on the wall of someone special to me, very soon. The sound and sight of a gracious and very noisy waterfall do not allow me to hear the pretty masseuse shouting that my bungalow is right in front of me! I am already dreaming of a thinner me on a beach under another bungalow.

The hammock is warmed to a temperature of 22 degrees centigrade. The orchids, ventilation, oils, mask for the eyes and infrared light for extra warmth on the feet are in place, and no, I am not in Bali, nor in São Paulo. I am in heaven.

To be honest – and I must be honest – lymphatic drainage massage hurts tremendously if you have some extra weight to lose, but you see, this is what sculpting is all about. The little Rodin girl, while applying this strong and firm massage to my body, asks me with a voice full of disappointment and astonishment: “Joelle, why did it take you so long to come back???”

My answer was, while gazing at the fiber and raw wood ceiling: Never ever again, I promise.

Related Links:
http://www.hara.com.br

Corinthians Almost Four Time Champions

There’s a song that the Corinthians soccer team fans sing, and it goes like this: “Corinthians my life, Corinthians my story, Corinthians my love.” Well, it sounds a bit like my own song. Twenty-six years ago I married a Brazilian in Belgium. I wore a white dress, wrapped in a huge Corinthians flag, the flag of the “people” of Brazil. Today, after 26 years, I no longer have the husband, but no negotiations accepted; I kept the country and the team.

It is a very important date; The São Paulo Soccer Club will today be hosting the Corinthians versus Ponte Preta game, which will take place in front of 70,000 confirmed Corinthians fans, against 200 from the opposite team.

Coincidentally, a friend of mine invited me to join his group of friends when he heard about my enthusiasm in watching the game live at the stadium. Here I am, gladly accepting his invitation without any hesitation. The only thing that scares me is that I had happened to hear that he is part of the Gaviões da Fiel (Hawks of the Faithful) which is (how can I describe it?) a group with a very hearty and intense way of supporting its team, sometimes with passionate devotion that goes beyond anything and anyone in their life. Regardless, I read in the newspapers that 1,015 policemen are in the streets protecting the population around the stadium, which happens to be near my house. I might as well go then.

Everybody is nervous. We are 2 hours early, but apparently we are late. It’s ok, I am already used to this ritual so I go with the flow. You must know that to go to a game like this in São Paulo, Rio or Goiás, you must have a small survival kit. Sunglasses, hat and sneakers are very important, but it is even more important to bring a small, old AM radio to be able to listen to journalist Silverio from the Bandeirantes radio station screaming and yelling – in detail – every move and breath of every player on the field. All you wear or bring to the stadium must be black or white, or if you wish you may wear the team’s logo. By the way, you must not make mistakes, like wearing “wrong” colors that might suggest a sympathy for the other team, and still wish to sit around. It is your choice to carry flags with you. Obviously they can be purchased on the way to the stadium.

My ticket for the blue sector, entry number 6, is held tightly in my hands while I listen to the numerous recommendations of my friends – who are not happy anymore to have invited me, since I have a camera in my hands. They do not want to “babysit” any tourists, especially if the game becomes tense or very loose, whatever… After all, we are about to be winners of the Brazilian Soccer Championship for the fourth time.

Now I am here, and in the middle of the Gaviões the “batuque” of the Brazilian drums are very close to us. It’s almost 4:00 pm, it’s 23 degrees centigrade and the sun is really striking hot against all. Who cares? Do you really think you are in Monaco on a boat, or in Capri with slaves turning the ombrelloni your way to protect you from the sun?

Before the game starts, a man runs about selling some shade for 5 Reais. When I look closely I realize it’s a piece of bent cardboard, and the only thing worthy is that he is really risking his life because he is in the middle of about 10,000 impatient and anxious Corinthianos in the final minutes before the great team appears in the field.

This is it!! Wartime. Betão, Gustavo Nery and the famous Carlos Tevez, number 10. Almost 70% of the fans’ shirts have number 10 on their backs, and all the other players’ names are mentioned out loud by the delirious crowd as if they were saying Gods names. The Iranian Kia Joorabchian, president of the MSI, invested 140 million in the team, obviously knowing what he was doing. I could not hear any player names from the opposite team.

Ponte Preta unfortunately manages to score one goal and I do not feel comfortable. My astrologist would say it’s Mercury retrograde, the energy of my fellows around is not the best, many mothers of players of Ponte Preta must not feel that good too, their ears must be whistling.

After the interval, in the second part of the game, a penalty is on the way. I see men praying, kissing crosses, and all of the sudden they all look at me: let the “baby” take a picture of the beautiful penalty we are going to see. I felt a big responsibility, like that was my duty, they all made room for me to be comfortable to shoot the picture and I was scared, so I also prayed the “Ana Becoah” – an easy Jewish prayer. We missed it, but fortunately we scored 3 – 0. We are now closer to the “tetra” next week, after a game with Internacional.

My heart is pounding with joy while, as part of one of the biggest emotions of the game, I watch the enormous Gaviões flag opened on top of all of us, yellow and red colors under the immense blue sky. The very special group and its energy: the Gaviões. A man by my side, who is in tears, asks his girlfriend to marry him.

After a small pause I look up, in the middle of all that chaos, and I thank God for existing, for turning me into a Brazilian, and into a Corinthiana.

Salve o Corinthians.
Amen