Being the +1

Tonight the Vienna Design Week crew held a Christmas Party. I went there as Mr Paula's +1.

The party took place in a shop where you can buy vintage design.

The shop's portal dates back to the 1970's

It is flattering, when your partner's business-partners greet you as the +1 with your name. They do know you. Ok, I admit, I must have arrived at the point, where I see them as pop-stars - which they are obviously NOT.

The review-brochures arrived from the print shop.

Everybody is curious and reads the Review-brochure, fresh from the print shop.

... while enjoying a delicious plate of goulash

After all the action during the 10 days of the VDW it was nice to have a chat and spend time together. The truly fabulous photographer who accompanies the VDW every year was somehow excited, because I had a fixed focal length. You could say I made him happy. He also holds workshops and he saw lots of potential by the way I used my camera. Starting with the fix focal length. It seems as if I had earned lots of karma tonight. To paint the picture in 3D: the one photographer who you admire for his skills tells you he likes what he sees and that you moving in the right direction. It was not the easiest thing, to take photos while he was around. I felt like in class. ;-)
During the Design Week it is him and his partners who take all the photos. Today, as a return, I went down on my knees.

Chair design: Roland Rainer 1954. Back then, Rainer bested* Aalto in the competition.

The most fun talks tonight were those about Old fashioned Viennese Marzipan potatoes and other baking challenges including disasters. How we all love baking!Have a beautiful weekend. The storm hit Austria, I hope the crane stays where it is. I don't like any crane nearby my bedroom during stormy nights. No, no, no.

*bested - really? sounds funny. I just looked it up in the dictionary, haven't used this word before.

9 to 5

Who can not like this:



Makes me smile.
The lyrics. And the unique voice. The rhythm. Perfect.

Greetings,
Paula
10 to 6

From Russia ... with Nascha's

A few weeks ago, Anna aka Mangoblüte posted on Russian Style. What is it, that makes Russian women so recognisable? Every culture has its distinctive embodiment of style. (WARNING. Generalisations ahead!) Like Japanese women's faces never shine, US women wear foundation, Austrian neglect their hair and Russians behave in a "loud" manner. Ok, so far, so shallow. This is very, very thin ice. English is not my first language, I really do hope, you can sense the genuine curiosity in this posting, not to be mistaken with ill will.

Tonight, during a shop opening event, there was a lot of Russian Style around. I am not sure, if Style does the appearance justice. Because in my eyes, the typical Russian style would be just "all too much". You buy a phantastic mascara but you would apply one layer after the other and in the end, you got a cakey cheap looking make up. And then there is the love for long, blond hair as seen in the picture above. Showing cleavage where the pants already show the pantyline all to well. In the end, it's all too much. They are friendly, behaving well, but their over-done-styling .... I am curious, what drives them?
In case you have some shallow views on us Austrians, I would love to hear what it is that distinguishes the appearance of Austrian woman from other women.

I wonder if some of the older women tonight had their nip and tuck done in Vienna? (not seen in the photos) If so, I do NOT recommend plastic surgery 'Made in Vienna', under NO circumstances, because it looks bad. Do you ever find yourself staring at an incredible trout-pout when you see one in real life? Ever since my mother told me, those mouths are not meant to look good, but simply to stimulate men's phantasies. The shape is the perfect shape to lick and suck a ... YiKES!

The event proved how small Vienna is. Or should I say the Russian community? Anna (mentioned above) is from Russia. Not long ago she had posted a portrait photo of a friend of her's. He is a LV sales assistant. Where ever luxury is on the plan, Russian sales assistants are a must when it comes to luxury goods. This can make feel not at home in Vienna, when you enter a store and everyone around you speaks Russian and people greet each other in Russian. Guess who visited the Party tonight. Yes, it was that guy. Not that I know he is Russian of course. Phew, today I am proving profound shallowness.

Time to calm down. In case you did not flee this arrogant blog by now.

Many call the design kitsch, I call it irony.

Denis, the interior designer, not Russian and content with the result.

I am sure, these bottles of Champagne will not make it til dawn.

I guess the food on sale is not exactly in the price range of students (the place is close to the main university). Too bad, they were not on the guest list tonight.

Please, don't take my words badly. As the label says ... tonight is time for shallowness.

Good night!

PS:

Those, who don't care too much about other people's reception, quite often have all the fun!