Robert Redford

Founded by Spanish settlers in 1542, Los Angeles is a multi-ethnic city, home to people from more than 140 countries. After Miami, L.A. is the second largest number of foreign-born inhabitants and it is therefore no surprise that over 224 different languages are spoken. Known throughout the world for its ‘Hollywood’ entertainment industry, L.A. is also famous for its lively street culture.

This Californian city that, despite its many contradictions, more than any other embodies the American dream, is where Paola Lenti opens a new flagship store in collaboration with Robina Benson Design.

It is an area of more than 450 square meters in a prime location along Melrose Avenue, the famous street that runs through Los Angeles, from Beverly Hills to Silver Lake.

The blend of shapes and materials together with the apt choice of the distinctive bright colours of the collection designed by Paola Lenti for Los Angeles, once again shows the company’s ability to be tune in with its surroundings, without ever imposing, establishing a constructive dialogue that allows the creation of unique solutions all over the world, each time customized in different ways.

PAOLA LENTI L.A. BY ROBINA BENSON
8311 Melrose Ave.Los Angeles, CA 90069, USA

robina@robinabenson.com

Brian Phillips, The Passenger Giappone, Iperborea

Tokyo is a fascinating megalopolis, as well as the largest urban economy in the world. Its numerous neighbourhoods are like small towns, each with a distinct character.

The exclusive district of Minami-Aoyama, located at the intersection of Aoyama-dōri and Omotesandō, the long tree-lined avenue leading to the Meiji Shinto shrine, has over the years become the centre for Tokyo’s commercial development and a link between Japanese and western cultures.

And this neighbourhood is now home to Paola Lenti’s flagship store, which pays homage to the traditional karesansui garden, where natural elements dominate the composition. Large Mandala movable backdrops create welcoming environments, discreet yet open towards each other, telling a story of intuition, innovation, and products of yesterday and today.

Paola Lenti is already present in Tokyo in the nearby Hiroo district, where she informally furnishes the lounge on the first floor and the Paola Lenti Cafè in a 1960s building that has been restored and transformed into an urban meeting place.

PAOLA LENTI MINAMI AOYAMA

1F 5-10-17 Minami Aoyama, Minato-ku – Tokyo 107-0062 – Japan

info@paolalenti.jp

FLOATING ISLAND, 2018 – Indonesia | Ph. © Francesco Bosso

Francesco Bosso, a photographer born in Barletta, Italy in 1959, has dedicated his life’s work to seascapes, capturing the primal force and calmness of this environment while also encapsulating the fragile balance of its existence.

Water, with its continuous flow and strength, shapes, transforms and creates – a continuous and eternal becoming where everything is born from water and to water it returns.

FLUIDS COLUMNS, 2013 – Iceland | Ph. © Francesco Bosso

His book “Waterheaven”, published by Silvana Editoriale to coincide with the recent exhibition at Turin’s CAMERA – Centro Italiano per la Fotografia, is a journey through water’s fascinating creative force between perception and reality, a succession of recollections and fragments of memory. With his photographs, Bosso recreates distinct moods and an ambience that not only represents an ode to nature but also an invitation to reflect on the idea of conservation, with a particular attention to the liquid element, water as a primordial element and source of life. «Through the photographic medium – says CAMERA director Walter Guadagnini – Bosso communicates ethics of protection and conservation of the natural landscape. With the adept use of black and white he celebrates his subjects, and at the same time alerting the viewer to the fragility and uniqueness of this heritage».

Water is the most precious element for the hydrosphere and even life itself. It is an integral part of the complex equilibrium that has always determined Earth’s climate. However, global warming and carbon emissions are seriously endangering this balance. The most noticeable effects are the rise in the sea level, the intensification of hurricanes, and – due to acidification – the disappearance of many species. The deterioration of marine and coastal ecosystems, though less obvious, is also a danger to the economic and physical survival of local communities. According to a study by the University of Melbourne, 4% of the global population will be affected by coastal flooding.

Ph. © Lisa Vollmer Photography

While adaptability seems the only solution, with migratory phenomena and possible conflicts arising from access to resources, some people are working to try, at all costs, to reverse climate change.

For example, the International Union of Conservation of Nature, an association with 1400 members amongst governments and citizen organizations, has committed to protect 30% of the oceans by 2030. This will be done through banning uncontrolled fishing and drilling, which will allow the sea to find itself again.

GOLDEN ARCH, 2015 – Spain | Ph. © Francesco Bosso