MILAN: JAPANESE SPA AT ENTERPRISE HOTEL

Terme di Kyoto @ Enterprise Hotel

Situated at the seventh floor of the Enterprise Hotel with a panoramic view on Milan, Terme di Kyoto is an exclusive wellness area that melts Japanese style and glamour, designed by FZI Interiors. Tissues and colours are chosen in line with the concept of the modern and classy four star hotel. Open spaces, glass séparés with white flower applications, minimal shelves in dark wood give to the spa an oriental touch. Everything is composed in detail, from the square pool to the hot bench in white-mosaic, from the lamps to the tatami, from the little candles here and there, to the original gong, standing at one side of the room. The relaxing area is created as a real bedroom, with two beds in Japanese style, surrounded by warm wood and decorated with nature inspired drawings at the walls. Here, skilful hands would help the body to relax, with shiatzu, thai and ayurvedic massages. Precious materials and clean shapes are also in the sauna, in the steam bath and in the simple changing rooms. A large window lets the natural light come in the room, and also gives a wonderful view on the roofs of Milan, which becomes magic in the dark. According with the light, the setting is more simple and traditional during the day, and more smart at night: what never change, are silence, privacy and wellness.

MILAN: MAGIC SPA AT CHATEAU MONFORT

Amore e Psiche @ Chateau Monfort

In the dungeons of Chateau Monfort, a five stars hotel in the centre of Milan, Fzi Interiors created an original spa dedicated to the mythological gods Amore and Psyche. The ambience is relaxing and evocative, in line with the concept of the building. The dream of the urban castle continues in its basement, where there’s a hidden and magic world, far from the stressful rhythm of the city. Behind glass doors, the natural marble pavements match with the coarse texture of the bronze walls like desert sand. The circle downpour of the agora falls on little stones, giving energy to the room and reflecting the soft lightning outwards. Three synchronized jets of water come out of the wall, sided by the Mediterranean bath and a wooden sauna. A corridor leads to a wide room with a hot bench that looks towards a salty pool: enlightened from the inside and dominated by an eccentric iron chandelier, the water stays still, crystallized and surrounded by silence. Separated by a glass at the other side of the pool, a relaxing area is glamorized by little details and bag chairs in a beige tissue, which give an exotic touch to the ambience. The changing rooms are linked to a common space with a long round mirror and heavy curtains. The spa continues with the treatment rooms, one for massages and mud baths, with a stone couch topped by a shower jet, another one with a round floating bath of salty water. A private spa is also hidden behind a secret door in a bookshelf outside the wellness area. Inside, low lights, silence and a sexy atmosphere surrounds the bath, the relaxing chair, and the hot rooms. Everything is exclusive, warm and smooth, like it is in the best fantastic dreams.

FROM THEATRE TO INTERIOR DESIGN

Born in 2006 in Milan with the aim to develop the set design for theatre and cinema, FZI Interiors now applies its techniques to the architecture field, particularly in the hotel interior design. Scene and interior designers coming from a wide experience in theatre and cinema, Elisabetta Frazuoli and Francesca Fezzi are able to think original and tailored solutions for any kind of space, from a show room to a private house, from the room of a hotel to its spa.

The starting point of the design project is always a base concept: FZI experts imagine the room internal spaces as a living scene with the eyes of the set designer, skilled to create a truthful ambience. The creative solutions include traditional and new materials, in order to integrate the realization style with the imagination also, minding that beauty is always oriented to functionality, to time schedule and budget.

I’ve been visiting two wonderful wellness centres designed by Francesca and Elisabetta in Milan. In the next days I’ll post about them, stay tuned.

MEAT OVERDOSE AT THE CHURRASCARIA IN WESTBOURNE GROVE

Picture: Thomas R. Stegelmann

If you adore barbecue meat and boast about a resistant stomach, then go to Rodizio Rico, a traditional Brazilian churrascaria in Westbourne Grove, five minutes walk to Bayswater tube station.

Surely, you must be ready to eat a lot, and very quickly.

We went there without reservation at 8 on a Saturday evening and, luckily, there was a vacant table for three, right in front of the grill.

We sat in the main room, which looks bigger than it really is, because it’s airy and simply organized. On one side there were four lines of wood tables with paper placemats, while on the other part there were the cashier, a rich buffet and the grill. At the bottom of the room there were other tables and the kitchen. The bar and other seats were in a large room downstairs, next to the toilets and another kitchen.

As we ordered some Brazilian beer – we choose Brahma, which tasted very light and refreshing – a friendly waitress gave us a round card with different colours on each side. It worked as a traffic light: “Show the green side if you want food and turn it to the red if you want to stop,” she said, “and you can also have a break and start again a little later if you like.”

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ERIC CLAPTON AND STEVE WINWOOD AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL

Hundreds of fans from all ages went wild with involving rock and blues, as Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood went on stage at the Royal Albert Hall last Wednesday.

After 9 nights of solo concerts at the Hall to present his 19th solo album – simply called ‘Clapton’ – Eric Clapton has reunited with former Blind Faith companion Steve Winwood for three special concerts. No doubts, it was an intriguing appointment for rock lovers’.

At 7 pm the line outside entrance number 6 was long and full of excited and well-dressed people, half of which were bringing chips and drinks to snack once they’d get inside. No business for ticket-sellers: everybody had already booked their place.

In such spectacular venue and after the success of the precedent shows, it wasn’t easy to keep up with the high expectations of the public. But that didn’t seem to be a problem.

The supporting band Andy Fairweather Low & The Low Riders prepared the audience with 45 minutes of humour and involving songs – including Amen Corner’s ‘If paradise is such as nice’ – and finally the two ‘big’ took the stage.

Black t-shirt with green necklace, red shoes and messy hair for Eric and white large shirt and jeans for the more sober Steve. “Love you Eric,” shouted a woman while the atmosphere went lower and the round light pointed the stage.

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