West Elm

I have not been blogging as often as I should since I have been busy with my business ventures for the past couple of weeks.

It was good that I had a chance to visit the newly opened Estancia Mall in Pasig City area during the weekend.  I met up with my brother and his bestfriend who is in the process of furnishing his new home. We were pretty pleased with most of the items that we saw at West Elm.

West Elm is a wonderful shop that carries various home items. 

The West Elm shop is nice and even the counter stands out with
its green backdrop.

It is easier to visualize things in one's home as you look at the stuff in the store since items are nicely put together and presented very well based on a particular look or theme.

Living room set-up and accessories

 

Nautical inspired furniture and home items

Plates suitable for nautical themed homes and perfect for
 a beach house too

Nice bedding that create a colourful vibe in one's room

 Some items they sell are proudly made in the Philippines.

Local ceramics made by artisans in the Philippines.

Nice round table for four with simple and elegant
looking chairs that will fit perfectly in a condo living space

Rectangular table with stylish chairs

Dark gray cups, plates and bowls which will look
good in a industrial type or modern kitchen

Simple and classic white cups, bowls and plates

Brightly coloured plates for people who like to brighten
up their kitchen space.

West Elm is certainly a cool shop to go to for good home item finds. Another plus is that they even have an in-store interior designer who can help you find the good items that will fit your home and the service is free.

Next time I get to visit Estancia mall, I will definitely go there again. Cheers!

Alessi's Spring/Summer 2015 launch

I was able to attend the launch of Alessi's Spring/Summer 2015 products at their BGC High Street store in Manila last 27th May 2015.

Alessi is an Italian company that was founded in 1921. It started as a workshop for the processing of brass and nickel silver sheet metal. It has evolved as one of the leading factories of Italian design. They have done various collaborations with designers for their various products.

The new products for their Spring/Summer 2015 collection is a project that is dedicated to breakfast time and a tribute to Milan.

Luca Alessi, a fourth generation Alessi, attended the event in the Philippines. When he was asked by the event host what company/designer does he want Alessi to work with for a design project, he quickly said that it would be nice to collaborate with Apple. 

Luca Alessi (a 4th generation Alessi) attended the event.

Alessi is known for high quality Italian products that are both stylish and functional. I became aware of this brand years ago since my brother has a collection of various stuff from Alessi at home and we normally visit their store. 

For their Spring/Summer 2015 collection, one of the designers that they have worked with is Marcel Wanders.

 Wooden breakfast serving board designed by Marcel Wanders.
This is part of his "Dressed in Wood" collection .

The wooden plate and glass food containers are also designed by
Marcel Wanders..

Other items in the new collection includes olive oil glass containers,
centerpiece items, egg containers, etc.

The "Juicy Salif" citrus squeezer designed by Philippe Starck
is included in the items as Alessi celebrates
 the 25 anniversary of this product.

Trinity Centerpiece by Adam Cornish.

As I looked at the various items in the store, there are some quirky items that captured my attention.

Anna G. corkscrew 

Colourful Anna G. collection includes wine bottle corkscrew
and bottle cover.

Colander designed by Starck.

Kettle designed by Micheal Graves with a bird that sings
when the kettle has boiled.

Alessi certainly has a lot of quirky and functional items that can liven up a place and add character to one's home. 

What was also cool is that I received a cute miniature kettle designed by Richard Sapper as a gift for attending the event.

To find out more about Alessi and their Spring/Summer 2015 collection, check their site: Alessi website.

Idina Menzel Performs Live in Manila

Idina Menzel visited Manila and performed live at the MOA Arena last night(7th of June 2015). Manila is one of her stops for her World Tour.

Idina Menzel is known for singing the song "Let it Go" from the top grossing Disney movie Frozen and she played the role of Elphaba in the famous Broadway musical Wicked.

One of my favourite musicals of all time is Wicked. I watched it twice (once in Singapore and the other time in Manila). Seeing Idina sing "Defying Gravity" live made me feel happy. It also brought back memories as to how she has become a known celebrity because of her excellent performance in the Broadway musical  show Wicked.

One of my favourite scenes from the musical Wicked. Hearing
Idina sing Defying Gravity just made me remember this scene.

Her powerful voice and great sense of humor simply impressed and charmed the audience. She showed how she can sing various songs from different genres in an effortless manner. My friend who loves watching Broadway musicals even said that it seems that she is simply just having fun on stage and is just singing like she's in a karaoke session with friends. 

This is a photo that I took while watching Idina Menzel perform
live in Manila last night (7th June 2015).
She is  amazing and simply sings from the heart.

Her spontaneity and sense of humor certainly made the audience feel at ease and even encouraged the audience to sing along with her.

Idina started the concert by singing one of my favourite songs from Wicked, "Defying Gravity". But one of the highlights of her show is when she sang "For Good" from Wicked the musical in acapella. This simply showed that she has such a powerful voice since her voice filled the whole arena even if she did not use her microphone.

One of the fun and interactive moments during the show that the audience truly enjoyed was when she randomly got three people from the audience to sing with her a song from the musical Rent entitled "Take me or leave me". It was cool seeing her sing with them on stage.

Idina had fun singing on stage with three people from
the audience.

Source: Photo taken from Rappler.com feature on Idina Menzel

One of the guys she picked from the audience was a semi-finalist from The Voice
 of the Philippines show named Timmy Pavino. He was mentored by Lea Salonga
and he did a good job singing live during the concert.

Source: Photo from Rappler.com feature on Idina Menzel's
 concert in Manila

For me, Idina Menzel is such an amazing and grounded performer. You can see with the way she interacts with her audience that she is one celebrity who does not let fame get into her head. It is nice to see her just go down the stage and shake hands with her fans and even hug some of them. She even carried a young girl wearing an Elsa costume from the audience and even said "What was I thinking... I'm 44 years old ... my back hurts... I just carried her since she was wearing an Elsa costume". 

She is also a good actress both on stage and on television. She played the role of Lea Michelle's mom in the TV show called Glee.

Idina with Glee's Lea Michelle 

Idina Menzel's concert is simply one of the coolest events I have attended with friends. 

The simple stage set-up only showed that a great performer does not need too many visual effects and props in order to impress her audience. What is more endearing is that she is not afraid to be herself, take risks and just show her vulnerability with her heartfelt rendition of the songs that she performed on stage.

Idina had the ABS-CBN Philharmonic perform with her during

her Manila concert. This is a photo I took of her when she

was still wearing her shoes. After a few songs she just took off her

shoes(she said her legs were killing her) and casually sang

barefoot on stage.

 I feel grateful and blessed that I was able to watch her show in Manila and I look forward to seeing her perform live again in the future.  Cheers!