Last month I attended Milan Design Week for the first time. I trekked through Salone del Mobile, which is the enormous furniture fair, and scurried from showroom to showroom of established brands in the city. It was important to me to also take in the indie scene. Alcova topped the list.
Alcova 2023 was held in the former Porta Vittoria abattoir on Via Molise. It’s an abandoned, decaying site replete with graffiti. I adored it. I may have taken more photographs of the buildings and grounds than the art and furniture, but it was all truly fabulous.
I was very proud of myself for having found my way via a public bus. (The metro doesn’t really reach that area, which is just east of the city.) I was 40 minutes early and there was a line. I spent the time talking with a two guys, one from Milan involved in the art scene, and his friend, a Belgian from Paris who is a designer. A perk of traveling solo.
Scroll through my favorite photos from Alcova during Milan Design Week 2023.
Nantucket-based artist (and all around lovely person), Lauren Marttila is known for her dreamy photographs of Nantucket. If you don’t follow her Instagram (@laurenmarttilaphotography), you should! Marttila’s ocean waves, beach grass, island sunsets, and dune shacks are a salve in the midst of winter.
Serena & Lily has carried large-scale Lauren Marttila photographs for about three years. This month, the home furnishings shop expanded their offerings with acrylic shelfies. They are perfect to nestle on a bookshelf, with your favorite books and other collectibles. Shelfies make great gifts!
“Serena & Lily wanted their own shelfie line, so we created acrylic shelfies together in multiple shapes and sizes. All designed to fit on a bookshelf, nightstand, mantle etc. I’m thrilled that they are in all stores and online,” Martilla says.
As for how Serena & Lily discovered Lauren Marttila’s beautiful Nantucket photographs, she’s not quite sure. “I think someone who works for Serena & Lily saw my artwork at a Nantucket Boys & Girls Club charity event,” Marttila says. “Doing good = feel good = good for business!”
Marttila also sells shelfies on her website and at Milly & Grace on Nantucket. All her other collections, which include gorgeous landscape and seascape photographs of Nantucket, Bahamas, Costa Rica, the Hamptons, and the Caribbean, are available at LaurenMarttila.com too. She also offers gift certificates if you want to let the giftee pick their own photo vacation.
“I want people to collect my artwork because they love Nantucket, the ocean, and live for that first breath of fresh, salt air. I seek out simplicity and negative spaces in my photography so the viewers can see themselves in my artwork,” the artist says.
As for what’s next for Lauren Marttila? She’s hoping to expand to other locales including Charleston, California, Palm Beach, and beyond.
It’s no secret that I use StyleCarrot partner Framebridge to frame much of my art. Yes, that’s alotta frames! There are a handful of Framebridge brick and mortar stores (Chicago, D.C., Atlanta, Williamsburg, etc.). Now there is a Framebridge shop near Boston, which I plan to check out soon.
Photo by Sean Litchfield
Framebridge is open at the Derby Street Shops in Hingham, Massachusetts. This South Shore Framebridge store is part of a large retail expansion; Framebridge plans to open 35 stores by the end of 2022. Boston proper will get one too. Framebridge Boston Seaport will open early next year. I will continue to ship my artwork to Framebridge until they open a shop in the Back Bay, but it’s nice to be able to check out the various frame styles if need be.
Photo by Sean Litchfield
Framebridge, Derby Street Shops, Hingham, Mass.
I have sent a variety of types of art to Framebridge, including fine art photography and works on paper. I’ve also uploaded my own digital photos for them to print and frame. Framebridge can frame objects too, though I haven’t personally tried that.
Photo by Sean Litchfield
I tend to use the Irvine Slim frame, a simple white gallery frame. If I want black, I go with the Mercer Slim, a simple black gallery frame. There’s also the Irvine and Mercer with a slightly wider dimension. The pale, natural wood Marin frame is another favorite of mine. I’ve also used the champagne silver wood Lille frame, as well as the whitewashed Bleached Maple frame, though I feel like that wood might hold onto dirt in a way the others do not.
Marin frame on a digital photo I shot at the Cape Cod Dance Festival. I requested an extra wide white matte.
Irvine Slim frame on a photo I purchased at SMFA Art Sale.
Bleached Maple frame on a mixed media piece I made during Covid. The artwork is floating (extra $25).
Framebridge has recently introduced some new frame styles. I hope to try the Monterey whitewashed gallery frame, the Gray Ash gallery frame, and maybe, maybe, maybe even the mint green (!) Positano or jade green Bangkok frames; could be cute for just the right keepsake.
Here are a few of my Framebridge endeavors in the wild:
Hanging over our dyed concrete mantelpiece on Cape Cod: Gabriel Sosa text art from Montserrat College of Art auction in Marin frame. Text art on the right by Susie Nielsen from Off Main Gallery in Wellfleet, already framed.
On the fireplace mantel: Photograph by Asia Kepka from SMFA Art Sale in a Framebridge Lille frame.
On the living room wall in Cape Cod: Painting on the left by Hilary Tait Norod; photographs on the right by Suzanne Koett via Etsy done in IrvineSlim frames.
Art layered on our built-ins in Boston: I used pale wood Marin frames for a photograph by Anastascia Cazabon on the left as well as for a nude watercolor by Dana Ellyn (my sister). The Anastascia Cazabon photo in the middle (the girl falling off the bed) is in a white Irvine Slim gallery frame. The two small photographs towards the right are in black Mercer Slim gallery frames by Framebridge. The other artwork, which I did not frame, includes a portrait by Gustavo Lacerda on the left, a woman swimming by Joy McKinney, and two abstract dot paintings by Kristi Kohut.
Above four photos by Marni Elyse Katz | StyleCarrot
Photographer Joseph Desler Costa’s exhibition “Soft Powers” is based on the concept of gently influencing ideas, subtly shaping human desire through appeal and attraction.
installation view
As a political concept and strategy, soft power reached its peak in the 1980s and 1990s during the Cold War. In the U.S. companies found new ways to influence behavior through sugary branding and corporate messagingdriven by Coca-Cola, Hollywood, and other vehicles of consumer culture.
Prrrrince (2021)
Layered laser cut dye sublimation prints on aluminum
In his “Soft Powers” series, photographer Joseph Desler Costa uses the language and symbols of advertising and propaganda from those two decades to reflect on the power of persuasion.
Three Fingers (2020), detail
Layered laser cut dye sublimation prints on aluminum
Costa combines multiple exposures, appropriation, and laser-cut, layered prints, to create images thatlook almost mass produced or machine made—as if they were rolling off of an assembly line.
installation view
Red One Piece (2020)
Dye sublimation prints on aluminum
“I often re-photograph my own images and incorporate them into new pieces to further drive thisfeeling of sterile reproduction,” the Brooklyn based artist says.
Newports (2020)
Layered laser cut dye sublimation prints on aluminum
The works are pastel-hued, product-like images thatoften incorporate recognizable logos, graphics, and album art laser-cutinto the aluminum print surface.
Racquets (2021)
Layered laser cut dye sublimation prints on aluminum
“Soft Powers” images replicates advertising’s ability to create desire and manufacture beauty.
Order Substance (2020)
Layered laser cut dye sublimation prints on aluminum
installation view
“Soft Powers” by Joseph Desler Costa through May 29 at ClampArt, 247 W 29th St., New York City, clampart. com
All photos by Daniel Terna. Courtesy of the artist.
• • • Frame your finds with StyleCarrot partner Framebridge >
Meredith Perdue, artist and proprietor of The Willard Gallery in South Portland, Maine, emailed me the other day about the recent launch of her art gallery and consultancy that launched last week.
The Willard Gallery is located in Perdue’s adorable studio building off South Portland’s Willard Square. The artwork and experience are absolutely approachable. You can shop either online or by appointment at the gallery.
Here are some pieces available at and photos of The Willard Gallery:
Meredith Perdue, artist + owner, The Willard Gallery
Iris Tea, Melanie Parke
Early Morning in Maine, Julie Bowers Murphy
Orange Path, Richard Kooyman
Gulls Over Maine Harbor, Julie Bowers Murphy
Field Day, Claire Cushman
Au Printemps, Claire Cushman
Moxie, Laurie Fisher
The Willard Gallery in South Portland, Maine
• • •
I frame my art using StyleCarrot partner Framebridge >
