CELESTE HOUSE, CHAMPAGNE TEA ROOM AND CONCEPT STORE, MEXICO CITY

Celeste champagne, tea and dining room


the bar


and the smokers' room




Celeste Concept Store in the ground floor


found ocean paintings at the male toilet


and the female toilet, soon to be transformed into the Black Cubicle Toilet Gallery!


Celeste House, the only place in the world where I have a napkin with my name embroided on it waiting for me (thanks for the photo Hans!)


Celeste House
Located in a three story old town house in the Anzures neighbourhood of Mexico City, Celeste House has a different function on each of its floors: a concept store on the ground floor, a beauty clinic on the first floor, and a tea room/champagne bar on the second floor. Celeste House is the brainchild of the editors of Celeste Magazine, the couple formed by art curator/business entrepreneur Vanesa Fernandez and her husband, artist Aldo Chaparro, who have now made a live version of their magazine.

ground floor:
Celeste Concept Store. The store has selected objects and products from around the world collected from a Victorian perspective of travel, antique, old and new, from selected books, music, fossils, jewellery, fur duvets, stationary, cigars, orchids, rare crafts, antiques, contemporary design for the house, stuffed animals, silver, mammoth ivory, as well as fashion items, from very young Mexican designers created especially for Celeste to Christian Louboutin shoes, as well as lingerie and traditional Tardan hats with the option to have them tailor made to the exact size and shape of your head.

first floor: Botica Cebeth. Located inside Celeste House, Botica Cebeth is like a XXI century apothecary with a revolutionary homeopathic treatment called ‘phytotherapy’ for the skin (phytotherapy is the use of plant extracts for healing purposes). Unique to the world, this service designs comprehensive treatments and fully personalized formulas to obtain accumulative and long-lasting results. A visit to Cebeth includes a tailor made treatment delivered in old-school apothecary bottles, and extraordinary skin results.

second floor: The Celeste Champagne Tea Room is located in a terrace and has skylights on the roof. An English tea room during the day and a bar at night, it also has a smoking room with a chimney. It is also the only place in the country that sells Pimms. Celeste House serves proper English afternoon tea (scones, clotted cream, elaborate pastries and cucumber sandwiches). There is also a menu for lunch or dinner consisting of game dishes, and delicatessens. The smoking room furniture has been designed by Aldo Chaparro, while the silver (tea set, strainers, flower vase, champagne bucket, etc) were designed by Vanesa Fernández and hand made by one of the oldest silversmith families in Mexico.

Celeste House
Open till late.
Darwin with Kepler, Anzures, Mexico City
T 26146031
www.celeste.com.mx

Photohunt: Squares

http://tnchick.com/

This is a $4 bag from the $2 shop. My school encourages our students to buy this bag when they go for camps. It is very big and roomy. The kids can put everything in them. If they get dirty or broken, it doesn't matter. It's only $4.

I bought it after I heard my DP tell the students to use it. But I found the zipper broken before I even use it. I store my bedding when they are not the right season. So in summer, I put my winter sheets and duvet inners, and vice versa. Not elegant, but nobody comes into my room. My daughter says I am low maintenance.

Sun May 1st: Andrew Logan's Alternative Wedding Reception

Kim and I had the luckiest experience to visit Andrew Logan's home for his "Alternative Wedding Reception Party" - complete with guest appearance from the Queen herself (hmm hmm) which was hilarious. I have seen many photos of the incredible glass building in Bermondsey designed by his architect partner Michael and always wondered what it would be like to visit. The futuristic structure is like a botanist's dream full with greenery and a slice of heaven on earth for magpie eyes like mine, walls dripping with his mirror mosaics. Andrew has not just filled the space with sculptures and hung his giant artworks but in addition literally covered vast surface areas with site specific shiny tiling - for instance every square inch of a bathroom is mirrored. Cases are full of his earrings, cuffs, bracelets and brooches like a candy store full of miniature meteorites that have almost fallen off the grand scale cosmos of works. Massive portraits of icons jigsaw the orange and coral pink painted walls which lead out onto the gigantic glass house structure. I would love to go back again in the daylight to witness sunbeams streaming in and reflecting off all the iridescent facets. It would also be nice to have another chance to photograph everything as I was so overwhelmed on this occasion to know where to start ........... this is just a tiny glimpse into the vast wonderland of magic and tranquility. I can't think of a more idyllic interior design destination .......... except that of the heavenly threeASFOUR silver loft in NYC which shares a very similar quality but a whole transatlantic ocean away ..............

Saturday April 30th: Saam Farahmand and Nova Dando at Land Of Kings

I kick started the bank holiday weekend with a gorgeous dinner at Josephine Chime's Sit Down Affair on Kingsland Road and then joined the Dalston festival "Land Of Kings" for a dance around Dalston. The two day event opens up venues around the district for special interactive art and music sessions. The Arcola Theatre opened up its new space to a scheme headed by music video director Saam Farahmand and his video portrait project. On Thursday night he set up the filming booth to record each person at the party dancing to a tune of thier choice. All of these tracks would then be collated and handed over to 2manydj's who would then play the same venue the following night, mixing this set-list governed by The Land Of Kings revellers. To accompany the audio, Saam's portraits would be projected above the dj duo. Here is a snap of Grace from Patternity in her own clip which was showing on Thursday night as an indication of how the final result would look after your very own intimate experience in front of the lens. I selected "Groove Is In The Heart" by Dee Lite for my track and waited for my number to be called and head into the blue box to dance my little heart out. As I am strangely shy character I think I spent the majority of the time with my back to the camera so Ive got no idea how it turned out!!!! Here is Nova Dando who was dj'ing the night and helping out her freind Saam orchestrate this complex system......... you can see the soundcheck from her own snap here. Saam is one of London's most in demand directors having worked with Nova on various videos for The Klaxons, Mark Ronson, Hercules & Love Affair and Simian Mobile Disco. He has a particularly long lasting relationship with Soulwax having followed them on tour to create the official fly on the wall documentary "Part of the Weekend Never Dies" which captured 120 live shows. Saam teamed up with Absolut Vodko in order to bring the latest installment to The "Land Of Kings" festival to record a snapshot of the current Dalston scene and its escalating hybrid night life............

(photos: Nova by Nova, David Bradley and freind, the number board, Grace Patternity video portrait, Saam and Soulwax soundcheck by Nova)

coming

Weekend Reflection: Jennifer

Jennifer is the one with a stripe T shirt and crown.





http://newtowndailyphoto.blogspot.com/

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Today I want to reflect on a new person I was asked to interview for my church magazine, Jennifer Koelet. I wonder what kind of teenager she is, to spend out of her own pocket GBP600, or US$1000 or NZ$1200 to go to work for Camp America.
Camp America is an opportunity you shouldn't miss!
http://www.campamerica.co.uk/who-we-are.php
It's a chance to do something different with your summer and spend it in the U.S.A. living & working either with children or 'behind the scenes' as support staff on an American Summer Camp. Each year over 7,500 young people take the opportunity...will you be one of them? If you're a 'first timer' to the programme, read on to find out about the fantastic opportunities & experiences you could be part of in summer 2011!

I work with Adele, a woman who as a teenager had been to camp America and her daughter will be going too. They are fantastic people and I salute them.

Ka Pai, Paki Paki Jennifer. I am glad to have the privilege to do this interview.

1. Please tell us about Camp America.
Well last June I got placed in a camp in Maine, called Camp Sebago. It was a six weeks long camp in a row and was run by the Salvation Army. I was a camp counselor which meant I was a leader to 16, 9 and 10 year old girls with my co-counselor, a girl from England. Camp was an awesome experience, I made so many great friends from all around the world, learnt a lot about myself and also a lot about kids.

2. How did you get selected to go?
I applied to Camp America at the beginning of the year, but only got chosen on the 25th of June. This meant I had one day to pack, and leave for camp on the 26th. It was a crazy day.

3. Did you enjoy yourself? Did the American kids like a Kiwi teen (You)?
I had the most amazing time. Especially meeting all the kids. They loved meeting someone from another country all though sometimes couldn’t understand what I was saying because of my accent.

4. How did the trip impact you?
This trip to America made me more confident and helped me to learn many things about myself. I found out that I can do awesome things for God by helping kids understand God’s love. The trip has given me confidence in being more independent.

5. Now that you are back in New Zealand, what are you doing this year?
This year I’m still working in Fresh Direct Floral and also I am the children’s ministry’s intern at church. This means I help Wendy out with what she needs doing and to organize the school holiday programmes, which I really enjoy doing. I’m also helping direct a SUPAkidz (Scripture Union Primary Adventures) camp in July. I love helping with these camps because I used to go to them as a camper when I was at primary school. This year I’m also going to try to start working part time and do a lot of volunteer work at schools and with kids so I can gain experience with children. I am not quite sure what God has in store for me for the future, I think I will go to university next year to study to be a primary school teacher. I also hope in the long term will do more travelling and visit Europe where I was born.

6. I see you with your mum a lot. It is good to see Mums and daughters together going to church and other activities.
Tell us about Ellen your mum
My mum is pretty awesome, we live together so we often do things together. She always encourages me in whatever I do in life. She has influenced me in the way she treats others. She is very kind and generous to all her friends which makes me want to follow her and do the same. She has brought me up in a Christian household so I have always known about living your life as a Christian, but only when I was about 14 did I decide to follow Jesus for life.

MUSEO SOUMAYA MEXICO CITY, A VISIT

Museo Soumaya: http://www.soumaya.com.mx/

Architecture: FREE Fernando Romero: http://www.fr-ee.org/