7.10.09 Venice

I don’t think Venice could disappoint even if we tried to have a crappy time here. Today started off with a grand breakfast here at the hotel, then off we all went in our spiffed up attire to tour the Rubelli Co.’s showroom here in Venice.

View from Rubelli's balcony

Rubelli is one of the world’s oldest and leading designers/distributor’s of fabric and furniture with clients such as Ralph Lauen and George Clooney. Prices for their incredible fabrics range from $500 to over $1000 per….guess…per meter! PER METER!! Insane. And some people upholster their WALLS in their fabric, which yes is pretty bomb but costs a pretty penny for sure. Their showroom is in a 14th century palace that is right on the Grand Canal formally owned by one of the wealthiest families in Venice. Rubelli has been around since the 1800’s and up until five years ago the CEO’s office was in the palace, now relocated somewhere bigger. This place was amazing! It also has a historical archive of stuff dating back to the Renaissance. She talked all about how everything was made and how production has advanced through the centuries to their modern methods today. I would have lived there if possible cause it was so cool on the inside and had killer balconies right over the Grand Canal, with the best views.

Ali and I at Rubelli

The curator and staff there were so fun and were delighted to have a group of student’s come who appreciated their showroom so much.

The fab 5 inside Rubelli

After we left and were walking home we periodically were taking pictures of doors, windows and architectural detail for sketches and patterns when I stumbled upon this sweet wood door. I barely fit under it, which was hilarious to everyone, so I got Ali in there as well. Then, my photographer mind kicked into gear....

Why are we not getting paid for this?

...and from then on out it was about 45 minutes of pure magic. Further testimony of why I need to be a photographer.

My torso and Lindsey

Ashley and I

Me and Ali's pigeon toed feet. It artistic.

Also further testimony why these girls I am with should be models. We got a lot of good stares and laughs from the people passing by, but we didn’t care. After we wrapped the photo shoot up we snagged some pizza on the way home and chilled at the hotel for a few hours. I flipped through the TV enjoying the Italian dubbed movies, a very strange Italian contortionist man, which I just felt too selfish watching alone, so I called Ali and Ashley and hung up because I couldn’t understand them on the phone over their uncontrollable laughter. It was the oddest/most hilarious thing I have ever seen on a television. I finally ended up watching some good old English Premier League soccer, in Italian. The group all met up and we hopped on a water taxi (or vaparetto in Italian) to another depot, back on another vaparetto for about twenty minutes to the other side of Venice. Then the tragedy took place. Oh man, it was so sad. As we were walking Josie was over by the waters edge near some steps she was going to explore and slipped! This was the replay in slow motion: her falling…arm flinging up in the air…camera floating through the air…me running to the waters edge…camera splashing…me halting to a stop before diving in…and camera disappearing into the canal. No way. I felt so bad for her. She played it off and just began walking away when we saw her leg bleeding and then it all kind of hit her- the pictures now swimming in the canal and her now with no camera. It just made us all feel sick. She was a trooper though and luckily other people have extra cameras for her to use. We made our way to Fortuny, another world famous fabric company in Venice.


When we walked in I wasn’t that impressed with their fabrics; in fact they didn’t look very good at all. That was until he started explaining what makes them unique. Instead of weaving their patterns, they have a process of dying them multiple times, then doing a unique printing process, sometimes up to 20 times to create their effect, which is amazing! The reason I wasn’t impressed was on one side is the back of the printed fabric, the side we were all seeing in the rolls, but when he flipped them around, holy cow! They have this amazing way of looking textured, like velvet or silk or a shag rug, but are smooth like a piece of cotton. Its mind blowing! They are mostly an extremely high-end residential distributor for peeps like Elton John and Nancy Reagan. He then showed us the grounds of around the building and factory, which we couldn’t go in. He was also kind of sketchy talking about their printing methods because he didn’t want to divulge their secret method founded in the early 1900’s. But the property was unreal! They have a gorgeous pool with a whole bunch of cabanas around it that their high-end clients are invited to enjoy after their visit to the showroom.

The pool cabanas

Wow, different way of life. We then hopped back on the vaparetto, which Ashley and I were not excited about because we was getting ill. But we made it back successfully. From there we went to the market and bought a wheel of bread, crackers, some artisan cheeses, grapes, strawberries, plums and Nutella.

Ali caught me mid Nutella spread. I love that stuff.

Then we did assignments and just feasted upon the goodness of our purchase. All in all, its been another miraculous day her in Venice. Ciao!