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.

Everything Arrives at Once
Most dinners come to the table in order. Thanksgiving comes all together, on a table that was never measured for it. Read more...
Two People, One Eye
People expect the creative one and the business one, disagreeing productively. It is not that. We reach the same conclusions. What differs is the route. Read more...
Italy Gave the World Dolce Far Niente. Now It Struggles to Protect It.
Every few months another article explains that Italians have mastered doing nothing. The Italian statistical office publishes numbers that suggest otherwise. Read more...
Everyone at Your Table Learned Different Rules
Most etiquette writing tells you how to behave abroad. Much less is written for the person opening the door at home. Read more...
The Table Between Meals
A dining table is set for five or six hours a week and stands there for the other hundred and sixty. Which leaves a question nobody enjoys. Read more...
The Table Is Set. Nobody Is Sitting There.
You set the dining table. Two hours later the room is exactly as you left it, and everybody is standing around the kitchen island. Read more...
Nobody Agrees About the Napkin
A napkin looks like the least controversial object on a table. Then somebody stands up mid-meal, and a question appears that has no settled answer anywhere. Read more...
Hold With the Left, Toast With the Right
Italian etiquette says hold the glass in your left hand. It also says toast with your right. The napkin is what makes the handover work. Read more...
A Glass Table Does Not Break in the Middle
The middle of a glass table is the strong part. The edges and corners are where the failures start, which changes what you should be worrying about. Read more...
Fourteen Shades of Red - The Coral
Hardly anyone would believe there are more than three grades of red, wrote a naturalist visiting Livorno in the 1740s. He was then shown fourteen. Read more...
The Basket With Nothing Inside It
Most bread baskets have something inside holding them up. Wicker, wire, a stiffened base. Ours has none of that, and three useful things follow. Read more...
Your Linen Napkin Will Not Stand Up
Every guide says the fold failed because your linen is not good enough. Every one of those guides is written by somebody who sells linen. Read more...