Have spent the day looking around this magnificent city, especially at Argentina’s most favourite cemetry where Eva peron is buried (Evita)
Family graves with the most extravagant designs. There was almost nothing I did not want to bring home. Evita’s mausoleum was rather discreet by comparison.
Here is T looking fairly ill at all the coffins visable throught the doors……..I am however made of stronger stuff. More photos on http:snowfish.com/simontomas
S
Yesterday was the most glorious day on lake Argentina which is 168 km long. We visited 4 glaciers each with it’s own personality, some creep and some rushed to the lake.
The colour of these colossus was just too amazing to be true, ranging from turquoise to lapis depending on the age.
This glacier might look small but was infact 70 meters tall on the front face. Before the wall met the lake another glacier met it coming in from the right. This glacier was made up of millions of tons of crushed blue ice, I have never seen anything like it.
The lake is situated in the Pietro Moreno National Park. They allow 2500 tourists in every day, sounds a lot but the place is so enourmous the only people we saw were those on the boat.
The lake is full of floating icebergs, what looks small from above water has 90% of its mass below the water. We sailed to within 100 meters of the face where you really get a sence of the scale. Over few minutes there is a sound like a rifel shot and another piece of ice falls into the water. Perhaps that is why T looks so concerned…I think he has the Titanic on his mind.
I on the other hand look fairly drunk which is not true…….I am just soaking up the atmosphere.
Amazing how the argentinian flag matches the ice, water and sky. Not a bad design job.
Photos are on http:snowfish.com/simontomas
S
I have to say I am totally blown away by Patagonia. It is so huge, empty, inhospitable, raw and bleak but at the same time the emptyness and constantly changing weather makes it unbelieveably beautiful.
Today we have had snow, rain, gale force winds and sunshine. I am sitting on the bed lookingh out of the panorama windows over Argantina’s biggest lake and all there is to see is milky green water ( from the glacier) mountains and trees bending in the howling wind.
Enormous white clouds skid across the sky and the mountains are dusted with snow. The sun is low and all the small patches of grass have long golden shadows across the land scape.
Almost nothing grows here, farms (estancia) are thounsand of hectares to support the smallest number of animals as there is only scrub not grass.
Life is very hard in Patagonia.
Today we travelled to visit one of the very few galciers not being affected by global warming and I was not prepared for what I saw. The Moreno Glacier is 20 Km wide and 30 km deep, 70 m at its front edge and one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world. To reach it you travel by boat over whaer that looks like green milk caused by the particles suspended in the water that are a result of thousands of years of this ice jugganaut crushing stone that is then deposited into the lake. The powder is so fine that it is suspended in the water giving it the milky effect.
When people say glaciers are blue they underestimate just how blue. Here were millions and millions of tons of ice that vibrated blue. Sheer jagged cliffs of ice that were crashing into the lake below creating floating blue island the size of appartment buildings.
Walking on the glacier as it groaned and heaved was truly magical. Deep bottomless cracks filled with melting water gave off the most irridescent turquoise colour against the gray, glowering snow filled sky. It is one of the most magical things I have ever seen.
The buss dropped us off in the center of town along with some very nice people we met from Brazil who were related to Oscar Niemyer who built extensively in Sao Paolo and Brasilia.
The sun is beginning to go down and the wind is tearing off the mountains. The plate glass window facing the lake is shaking and creaking under it’s pressure. The shadows lengthen, the light becomes more golden and this amazing country seems ever more savage. I think I am in love.
I will post pictures on our new home page so go to http://snowfish.com/simontomas/.
TTFN
S
Nu är vi äntligen här, en riktigt lång resa - som tur är reste vi i club class på upper deck på en 747 jumbo jet. Jag bar älskar British Airways det finns fortfarande lite glamour kvar och personalen ombord är alltid fantastisk.
Hotellet vi bor på - Faena hotel and Universe är helt fantastiskt och ligger i det gamla hamnområdet som heter Puerto Madero. Ett Philp Starck designat hotel fast lite annorlunda mot hans andra hotel världen över - rött och vitt är huvudtemat.Lite off the beaten track men vi älskar att promenera i städer och hotellet har en fantastiskt pool när man vill komma bort från det hektiska stadslivet lite. Man inser ganska snabbt hur rent och pyttelitet stockholm är…………. De har liksom inte uppfunnit avgasrening här ännu.
Alla har sagt hur billigt det är i Buenos Aires, vilket vi ska ta reda på men som ni alla vet så kostar bra hotell ungefär detsamma världen över. Igår åt vi biff (såklart) och den var fantastisk, kostade väl 1/3 av vad det skulle vara hemma så det får man väl se som billigt.
Nu ska vi ner och prova hotellfrukosten innan vi ger oss ner på stan för att utforska den första stadsdelen, recoleta, det är lördag idas så att shopping står på agendan.
Bloggar igen i kväll……….
Glöm inte kolla vår nya hemsida http://snowfish.com/simontomas
Tjingeling
Tomas
I am terribly excited today as we are finally off on holiday. We were up very late last night, first helping a client with his home followed by packing, packing and more packing. It’s always hard to decide what shoes to take for glacier climbing, personally I am a brown mocca type of guy and I am fairly certain that having a few glasses of wine slowed the whole process down.
I will be honest that since we will be on holiday the blog entries might come in a little more infrequent, but I will of course try to update you on all the happenings as well as Eva Peron’s resting place which is supposed to be glorious. If you have to go do it fabulously, is my motto. I will force T to make an effort as well. In the meantime be sure to check our new hompage at http://snowfish.com/simontomas . As with our blog here on TV3 our goal is to keep you updated on our latest happenings. However, we also want to offer you a deeper look into design do’s and don’ts. We will also pick up on other topics such as recipes, plain ugly, design emergency and much more. It is always fun to look at other people god awful homes.
Off to the airport now and the sixteen hour flight to Buenos Aires. Perhaps a couple of martinis in the air might make the journey go a little faster.
S
Well, 36 hours before leaving for Arlanda and it is madness here. yesterday there were 3 meetings going in the shop with 10 people involved, the boys were barking at dogs in the street, the phone was going and all together it was too much.
it is always the same when you are leaving for a holiday but it is good to know we are leaving the shop in good hands.
This is where we will be staying and I can see myself with a large martini on the sofa whilst blogging.
We will then go south to see the Uppsala glacier which looks amazing.
Whiskey and sodas all round…….with ice naturally.
back to the drind stone as much to be organise, packing being one task that I am not looking forward to.
S
Thank you all for your nice comments about last nights show.
However Lars and Arne hated it which of course is absolutely fine as it allows for a dialogue about colour and design which T & I think there should be.
Firstly one must remember we are making TV, this is NOT real life. In our day to day work design is about REAL life, for some of our clients projects take perhaps 2 years to complete with 6 months getting to know the clients, designing the schemes, sourcing furniture and art from around europe.
With TV we have a very limited budget and very limited time and we never have time to get to know the families. One of the things that TV never shows is just how run down these rooms are, peeling walls, crumbling plaster, “do it yourself electrics” which are positivly dangerous. In this case the job that everyone did on the walls was absolutely magnificent.
With regards to coming down hard on swedes we do not really, the only real thing we have no control over is the editing process. That was why it was such fun to be in England when T gave me hell about in door plumbing, carpets in the bathroom etc etc.
Now……..with regards to being a style fascist…..I somewhat think you are missing the point of the message.
So to repeat, the message is…….do not be afraid of colour, it is only paint, experiment, have fun with it…….you are not donating a kidney! Do not worry if your friends think you have gone mad, it is your home so express yourself as you wish. Your home is probably the most important thing you will ever do. It is where you go to feel safe, raise a family, relax and re-charge your batteries. Your home is an expression of yourself and who you are as well as your interests, loves character.
I have great difficulty in believing that there are so many white homes, kappa, vitrine skåps, corner sofas with a chaise longue parts etc etc that are an extension of peoples personality. You need in my mind to make an active choice about how your home looks rather than following the crowd and doing the same as everyone else.
The thing about last nights show that you can not for obvious reasons pick up on was those 2 rooms we worked on were totally dead. They sucked the air and life out of the people in them. They were depressing and rundown.
What we did was fill them with light and energy from the colours that were chosen (again the importance of colour) and created a light bright space. As I said before it was only paint on the walls, the family gets to keep the left over paint so they can remove any colours they do not like. Again somethting you could not really see were the 2 truly beautiful tones of gray that were on the tak and walls. Personally, I would paint out the stripes and go with the gray….however…we are making TV not real life.
So Lars and Arne, I hope this gives you a little bit more to go on as to what we believe and try to convey. We are making light entertainment but I believe the message is an important one and any discussion about design and colour is to be encouraged.
Enjoy the snow everyone, a little depressing at this time of year.
S
Great excitement today as there is a fashion shoot in the shop.
You can see from this picture why I am not taking the photographs. Millions of people all standing round….I am sure working. No one as yet has enquired if T & I would like to be photographed.
S
Last season we did 2 shows in the UK, both in Cornwall and damned cold it was too. T gave me a lot of crap because there was no proper heating, only single glass in the windows, inside temp was 16 degrees and the bathroom floor was just painted oak planks. HOWEVER, there was no carpet in any of the bathrooms and the pipes were in the walls!!!
I also made about 30 shows in Norway (trolls galore) which was never shown here but every monday half of Norway used to watch the show which I am very proud of.
So all in all we have done about 120 shows and I tell you I feel that I have used every colour under the sun.
have a good weekend.
S
Many apologies to all who picked up on the Han Solo / Luke Skywalker thing. The phone has been ringing off the hook. I must confess to being not quite as knowledgeable about these matters as I undoubtedly should be.
I took one look at the desk and in my startled amazement could not decide whether this was Robert Mugabe or…….
Feeling rather useless at the moment with no filming to go to. Yesterday was a total washout as our friday morning production meeting no longer existed. So was up at 0530, washed dishes, sorted socks, counted how many bottles there were return to the supermarket, decided I did not like the way I had sorted the socks so re did them.
Finally I gave up and took the boys to Gärdet for an hour. Truly beautiful in the fog.
Sorry about the finger in the photo, all the technology stuff is a nightmare. I learned about a week ago how to send somehting via bluetooth, not much of an achievement as a child of 3 could work it out. I however am VERY proud.
S