New story at Knowing she would...

"He’d had it. That was IT. What he had done this time was e-nough. ENOUGH. He was rationally telling himself that he could not possibly throw his boyfriend out for having eaten half a yoghurt and leaving the other half by the loo. But he knew as well, and the boyfriend knew as well that this whole thing wasn’t about the bloody yoghurt anyways. It was about picking his nose, it was about coming back too late to watch a movie, it was about that horrid bar in the corner he loved so much."

What do you think?

Thanks, Mr M. Via.

Yesterday, I went to watch the latest Woody Allen movie with Mr M and Mr E (BF and BFF respectively). I hadn't enjoyed a movie by Mr Allen in a long while (since Match Point) and this was rather fab. (I'm still wondering about the cliches. They basically sustained the movie, even though they were very well cut. The one character that was quite unbelievable was Dia, I think. But tell me what you felt if you watched it.)
Then we all three strolled around Madrid and the ending summer and ended up sitting in front of the reina Sofia Museum, with Mr E reading our hands (very adequate after the movie). Mr E lived in India when he was a UWC student and he learnt then how to do it. The most striking thing he said to us was about the lines changing. He suggested we scan our hands and compare the lines in six months. He assured us they would be different. If there really is something to be read in our palms, it's something that is also written and edited, slowly. Doesn't that make you think?

PS:I was looking for the English speaking poster to illustrate this post and surprise! It looks terribly different to the Spanish speaking one. I deffinitely prefer the later .

This beautiful home swing reminds me a lot of a massive wooden necklace I have. Jewellery for the house, there's a thought... See more of her work here.

See more of her jewellery here.

You can get it here.

"The first thing I did when I moved to England was calling the animal shelter. Really. As soon as I got a place, an English place, a place with a garden, even if I only had the lower floor, I still had the garden. So, as soon as i had a garden I went to the shelter and realized my life-long dream: giving a dog a home. I cannot even start describing how long I’ve wanted, needed, a dog for."

New short story here. Might not be what you think... Tell me how you liked it!

I've been road-tripping with my family from Madrid, where they picked us up to Manuel's land, Palencia, to my place, near Tarragona, then to my dad's hometown in Valencia, back to my parents'. The last day in Madrid we had a chance to see an exhibition of Helen Levitt's photographs and, my dear, what a pleasure they were. Not only did they bring you back a whole bunch of decades, but they also had a sense of narrative, of mistery, of humanity. I REALLY enjoyed them.
If you don't know her work, try and catch a catalogue (easily available online) to browse through.

You might have noticed I do not tend to write much here. You might also know I do have a text and theory section in my site for non-fiction writings. Well, now I am letting you know I am going to give creative writing a try. When I draw a hair portrait, I always write a little something for it. And long, long time ago I used to write more than draw. So here it is, Knowing she would.

This is pretty much what my back looks like after a sun stroke and two sun burns.

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

Mr M passed this article to me about the relationship between spending and happiness. Well, we all know that money does not make you happy, but I honestly thought that what you can do with money can. This is a recurring thing I find again and again, especially being a designer. I am meant to make stuff for people to want more stuff. But do i really want it to be like this? Of course I always try to make things that matter at another level (that's why rituals in living are so important to me), but at the end of the day you are producing more material bodies that will lay somewhere at somebody's place.

I showed you this two small apartments a while ago because I just moved into a small flat myself (39 square meters to share with Mr M). Whilst this has been an economic decision (in Europe you just cannot afford to live any bigger in a city without a very serious income or getting into loans and debt), it's interesting to see people taking a conscious step in this direction. Again a contradictory position to me, I like the idea but at the same time I'm pretty sure I'd go too big before too small if money wasn't the issue. That said, the tiny flat has definitely improved the way we live in some ways (even though we've never lived in massive spaces before): we need to be tidier and cleaner, more aware of what surrounds us, smarter, more essentialist. Everything has at least one function and a spot. I could say it's more flexible, in a way, because it needs to be.

This video appeared in RowdyKittens, a blog of a lady who did make the choice of living as small as possible.

What do you think about this? Could you downsize? Have you ever needed to?

Maruja Mallo is one of the most important painteds of the Spanish avant-garde, but no one seems to know much about her work. Actually, when her biography pops up here or there, the writers seem to prioritize the fact that she knew intelectual celebrities that were her contemporaries, like Dali or Lorca, rather than her quite unique insight as a woman artist to the time she was living. Actually, her wiki page doesn't even show any of her paintings. She was a Republican, and had to be exiled, whilst her art was exhibited all over the world. By the time she was able to come back to Spain, she was mostly unknown there, and remains to be so.

Mr Smith's vintage floral wallpaper has "a strip of brail running through the middle at Dado rail height" that reads "Pink roses". This project was made for Wallpaper with help from the Royal National Institute of Blind People.

Bodybell is a Spanish chain of perfumery shops. Now, so far so good. As many other companies, they've decided to appeal to the solidarity of their shoppers and create a collection of t-shirts which will help a NGO dedicated to refugees. I am not going to get into this whole shopping solidarity thing, I am just going to translate what the shirts say:

-No one has erotic dreams with a "nice" person
-That your mum thinks you are hansome does not mean you are
-Love at first chat does not exist
-The pretty one envies the luck of the ugly one.... hahaha, right.

When I go in a beauty store, I hope not to feel intimidated or god forbid, uglier. I like stores that rather than selling you their most expensive lipstick and then try to tell you you need some corrector too because you look terrible; listen to what you ask for and accomodate a more wholistic need.

I might not have a sense of humour, but these sound rather offensive to me.
How do you feel about them?

"The pieces are about construction on the body via plastic surgery. Some pieces are finished and others continue transformation as the body responds to surgery over time and addictions may develop".

Via mar de color rosa.

I was going to write about something else, but Mr M and I just got the news of the passign away of one of our best, most special, most intelligent, most wild teachers we've ever had. She had one of the most complicated and adventurous lives I've ever heard of, and was a really strong woman. Julia, from here, we'll miss you a hell of a lot. You were a wonderful person.

in the whole of the universe
in all its expanding glory
in the forevereness of all times

Thanks, Prada.