gae aulenti/milan

I edited all the images from Gae Aulenti's home and I am bit in love with this one. It isn't from her home, though. I shot this in her architecture office which is attached to her apartment. There is something gorgeous with that reflection...so pretty!

aalto/euro book preview

Hello friends! Hope you had a lovely day with friends and family yesterday. Today, as promised, I am sharing a couple of images from my new book that I have been working on - both from Alvar Aalto's home in Helsinki, Finland. I am going to keep my comments to a minimum (I have to save some things for the book!). What I will say is that this house was one of the most surprising for me for so many reasons. Two of my favorite days out of the whole entire magical trip!

Gae Aulenti/RIP

Yesterday I received that sad news that Gae Aulenti had passed away. I photographed her amazing apartment in Milan for my upcoming book this past September. I thought I would share one more shot for today in remembrance. One of the heartbreaking aspects of my work photographing these spaces is the knowledge that some will soon be gone. Houses invariably change after someone leaves this earth. Favorite momentos go to new homes and things are slowly gotten rid of because there is no longer any need for them. It is a natural, yet melancholy process.
Have a beautiful weekend friends.

renaat braem/sneak peek!

I thought I would share a bit from my shoot at Belgian Modernist architect, Renaat Braem's home today. Nothing better to start a weekend than a little sneak peek! Plus I just love these material samples from his office! I was the girl that loved 'back to school' because I could get new paper and pencils and notebooks. Yes, a total geek. I think this love of materials somehow stems from that.
These images were the last thing I shot on Wednesday. I was all packed up and ready to go and Jo Braeken, the curator of the house, and I started chatting about some of the pieces in the house. I always have a lot of questions and after awhile, I get my courage up and I hear "what's in that box?" come out of my mouth. Luckily Jo was just as enthralled as I was. My favorite is the box of wood samples. I mean how gorgeous is the box alone? So beautiful. The carpet samples had me lamenting what is available on the market today. Nothing this good...
Have a beautiful weekend my friends. Monday I head to Paris and by the end of next week I'll be back in California! Crazy.

gae aulenti/today!

I have been pouring over the scouting images I shot last April of Gae Aulenti's apartment trying to get a strategy for the shoot today and tomorrow. There are so many layers! So much detail! I am excited and wonder how the heck I am going to adequately shoot it all in just 2 days! Here is just one of the scouting shots. I'll tweet more as I shoot, internet willing.
@lwillphoto if you want to follow along.

alvar aalto studio/helsinki

Two more from Alvar Aalto's studio today. I held them back because I started seeing a theme - ebony and ivory. And yes, I started humming the song Ebony and Ivory too. Ha! ; )
Tomorrow is a travel day. Heading to Copenhagen! Thursday and Friday I will be shooting Finn Juhl's home. I'll be tweeting again as I shoot (internet connection willing). @lwillphoto is my twitter handle. Isn't this fun!?!?!

alvar aalto studio/helsinki

Believe it or not this was my lunch break yesterday. I am in Helsinki shooting the Alvar Aalto house for my book and at lunch I ran over to check out Aalto's studio a couple blocks away. Needless to say an amazing space. The house is equally so. I tweeted as I shot yesterday and plan to do the same today if you want to follow along you can follow me @lwillphoto.

ivan ruller/brno, czech republic

P-Pow! That is what went through my mind when I walked into this room in Czech architect, Ivan Ruller's apartment in Brno. That color is so damn good, right? And the mix here is good too. There is a different sense of color and design in eastern europe that I really admire.  There is no wrong. It all works in a wild abandon kind of way. It makes me smile.
I got a major crush on his wood inlay table tops, a collaboration he did with another artist, and the art including this odd little sculpture on the table. Funny little guy, isn't he?

foundation maeght/josep lluis sert

Heyhey everyone! I am actually in the Swedish countryside at the moment, but I have so much more to share from Foundation Maeght in St-Paul-De-Vence. Today a few of the architecture. It is hard to describe this place so I am just going to let the images do the talking. Plus I have a bit of prep for tomorrows shoot. The buildings are by Josep Lluis Sert. This is a place you have to experience first hand if you can. I arrived late in the afternoon, so the sun was dipping just right as the heat subsided a bit and the cicadas buzzed - very visceral.

I love the way the roofline echoes the top of the bookshelves in this one.

note from milano/piero portoluppi

Last Friday, I was lazing by the pool at the Villa Necchi again. I was supposed to shoot it with my proper camera, but just sat in the sun by the pool instead (guess I needed a breather). Anyhow, I was looking through my pictures on my phone and ran across a picture I took  of a bike tour of Piero Portoluppi's work around Milan that was in the newspaper. Portoluppi is the architect of Villa Necchi. I happened to notice that his office was still there so I jumped on the Metro and I was there! It was in the aftermath of the Salone (read: half cleared for a party) as most interesting venues were (and still are) right now, but wow...I have a new crush. Here are just a couple of images. The first is of the elevator, with brass and marble walls. No idea about that fine statue, but it is working for me. And take special note of the floor - patchwork marble and it gradates from pink to grey! yes!