Journal

Stories of Italian living, the art of the table, and the places behind MI RE LA

Italian Lifestyle Journal

Where would you like to start?

Everything we have written on linen, on the motifs we embroider, and on the table they end up on.

What We Make

What each piece is, what size it comes in, and how to choose between them.

Your Table

Wood, marble, glass. What each surface can take, and how to lay a table without covering it.

The Collections

Where each motif comes from, why we chose it, and what it means in the place it belongs to.

Caring for Linen

Washing, drying, the first two minutes of a stain, and what a coated finish actually does.

Hosting

Receiving people. The seasons, the kitchen island, and the hour before dinner.

Trunk Shows

Where to find us in person, and what linen turns out to be once you can pick it up.

Who We Are

Two people, a workshop in Italy, and the reason any of this exists. The flax, the embroidery, the hands and the machines, and where the name came from.

The Shelf Somebody Had to Build
MI RE LA · Italian Lifestyle Journal Our Origins · Femmenas The Shelf Somebody Had to Build Giorgia Occhiello has opened Femmenas, a marketplace for brands created by foreign-born women... Read more...
Sobremesa, and What Italian Names Instead
MI RE LA · Italian Lifestyle Journal Story · The Table Sobremesa, and WhatItalian Names Instead Spanish gives the hour after a meal a word of its own. Italian has... Read more...
Biscotti di Santa Lucia: My Grandmother's Card
MI RE LA · Italian Lifestyle Journal Traditions · Verona Biscotti di Santa Lucia:My Grandmother's Card We said we would put the family recipe in the Journal before the twelfth... Read more...
The Saint You Are Not Allowed to See
There are a few cities in Italy where the children go to bed early on the twelfth of December. Read more...
The Year There Are Twelve
You bought for eight, because eight is what the table seats when nobody is traveling. Then the number changed. Read more...
The Gift People Rarely Think Of
You have already brought wine twice this year. Four embroidered cocktail napkins and a small linen basket are the gift nobody else thinks of. Read more...
The Napkin You Use on a Tuesday
Somewhere in your dining room there is a set of napkins that has been used twice. The fold is doing something to them while they wait. Read more...
Where Does the Bread Go?
The basket arrives. You take a roll. Then you are holding a piece of bread and there is nowhere to put it down. Read more...
When the Motif Has Nowhere to Hide
Choosing the motif is the part people spend the least time on and should probably spend the most. On a placemat it matters less than you think. On a basket... Read more...
Everything Here Is Handmade
At a farmers market, the food is the reason people came, and the rest of us are what they walk past on the way. At the French Market in South... Read more...
The Tree Has Already Said What Day It Is
A mantelpiece is something to look at. A dining table is something to look across. That is the whole difference, and it holds in December as it does in June. Read more...
The Part That Does Not Photograph
A photograph is good at some things. Linen is not always one of them. You can see the embroidery and the color. What you cannot see is the weight of... Read more...