Sarah Walker The Curated House, Author at The Curated House

Design Find | New Ravenna Mosaics: Spectacular Designs + Innovative Techniques Mean The Sky Is The Limit!

Every once in awhile a new tile designer comes across my design desk whose product totally wows me, and Sara Baldwin and her company New Ravenna Mosaics has done just that. {I was going to say her designs “floor me,” but the pun was just too painful for such spectacular product.}

These decadent and luxurious mosaics are all created by hand by a team of 120 artisans and designers who work out of the New Ravenna Mosaics studio located in Exmore, Virginia, all under the direction of Founder and Creative Director Sara Baldwin. Using a mix of the traditional Italian hand-cut opus tessallatum technique and the modern day water jet technique, these spectacular patterns range from the lyrical to the geometric and from the graphic to the organic.

I confess that I have a secret Dream House that I am designing {emphasis on dream at the moment}, and I have been searching for quite some time for tile designs to use for a striking front entry – specifically, designs that would compliment the sophistication of a French white oak herringbone or chevron hardwood floor without competing too much. Let’s just say that several of these New Ravenna patterns will be going into my inspiration file for future use.

Working with materials ranging from natural stone and glass to bronze and gold accents, New Ravenna can completely customize any motif, even using the opus vermiculatum technique when necessary {water jet shapes outlined in hand cut pieces}.

Each mosaic is available made-to-measure for an individual installation according to the specifications of the designer or architect. Often, a design is interpreted into a custom colour palette and various materials, like mother of pearl, bronze, gold and glass are combined with marble and natural stone to create a truly bespoke tile application. Translation: The sky is the limit. A designer’s custom tile dreams come true!

If you find yourself thinking a true artist must be at the heart of the development of such a visual stunning line, you are most correct. It was while studying for her MFA in painting that Baldwin visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and fell in love with an ancient Roman mosaic pavement from the third century. Her fascination with the historic art of mosaics led Baldwin to learn for herself the centuries-old traditional mosaic techniques, and this led to the development of the spectacular line of New Ravenna Mosaics today.

How utterly femme-glam is the mirrored ikat mosaic above? {bites palm} Even the softer, ocean-toned ikat below is utterly sexy and glamorous.

Clearly, Sara Baldwin is a woman after my own heart with designs like this chevron pattern, below.

From traditional to modern, from graphic to painterly and even whimsical, Sara Baldwin and her team of artisans and designers at New Ravenna Mosaic have won me over.

Perhaps seeing the possibilities and these innovative designs from New Ravenna Mosaics will expand your imagination and leave you dreaming a little bigger? I know it has for me. In fact, I have no doubt I’ll be dreaming in tile and pattern tonight as I drift off.

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|October 8th, 2013|4 Comments

Gluten Free Foodie Friday | Softbake Chocolate Chunk Cookies

My pregnancy cravings are a funny thing. One week I’m all “pregnant cliché” and desperate for good Montreal pickles, the next week it’s grapefruit, then the next it’s tree-ripened Niagara peaches. For the most part, my cravings have been healthy and totally random, apart from one faithful friend: chocolate. All. Things. Chocolate.

To chalk this up to simply a pregnancy craving might not be fair. I have had a fairly serious love affair with the creamy richness of good quality chocolate since my childhood. My favourite part of Christmas morning was always the really special chocolate truffle my Mum would hide in the toe of my stocking. I loved the crinkle of the paper-thin foil wrapper as I delicately unwrapped it, and the ecstasy of that first bite, sinking my teeth into that creamy goodness {all before breakfast, of course!}. That one treat was heaven on Christmas morning!

Well, as many of you know, I developed an allergy to cane sugar in adulthood that made my love of chocolate feel suddenly clandestine and forbidden. Sugar makes my tongue and throat swell up, so I don’t mess with it which makes finding options very challenging. Until a few years ago when in a moment of total bliss, I stumbled upon a company making organic milk chocolate bars sweetened with beet sugar. Naturally, I took it as a sign that God really loves me. A lot.

{Image Source}

This post is bittersweet {no pun intended}, because said chocolate company has recently decided to change their formulation and they are now using organic cane sugar {just like practically every other chocolate manufacturer on the planet}. I wept big, crocodile-sized pregnant tears after calling their customer service department and confirming it wasn’t a mistake. OK, not really, but I did weep on the inside. A lot.

I have found an amazing company in Australia that is making what looks like GORGEOUS chocolate sweetened with coconut sugar and/or coconut syrup – amazing because that also makes it low glycemic! They have a milk chocolate bar that looks decadent {milk chocolate is really hard to find when not sweetened with cane sugar} AND a caramel chocolate bar {see image below} that looks like it may have descended directly from heaven…but…they don’t ship to Canada. Yet. So, if any of you know anyone living in Australia who would like to hook up a pregnant girl with a life-changing chocolate supply, please put them in touch with me! They can add to their resumé “dealer of happiness + pregnant joy.” Seriously.

{Caramel chocolate bar from Loving Earth}

OK, so that lengthy preamble is really just my way of explaining why today’s recipe is so happy-sad for me. Happy because these are truly the most amazing gluten-free chocolate chunk cookies I’ve ever made or tasted in my life. Full stop. Sad because my supply of chocolate is nearly gone {I cleared out my local Whole Foods when I learned of the recipe change but only have enough left in the pantry to make another two batches}. Maybe this is God’s way of loving me in a new way…and keeping me from gaining too much weight during pregnancy? Probably. I’m going to take it that way.

For those of you who don’t have my unusual cane sugar allergy, this should really just be a happy post as you can use your favourite chocolate and be done with it! These will obviously work well with regular flour as well, but I would be amiss if I didn’t mention once again my gratitude for the amazing Cup4Cup flour. It has truly changed my baking, sweet-toothed life, and my non-gluten-free guys say these are the best chocolate chunk cookies they’ve ever had, gluten free or not. So that’s fairly high praise.

And now, on to the recipe!

GLUTEN FREE SOFTBAKE CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES

THE INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup unsalted butter {softened to room temperature}

1/4 cup full fat organic cream cheese

1 cup organic coconut sugar

Egg replacer equivalent to one egg

2 tsp good quality vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups Cup4Cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

A pinch of Maldon or other good sea salt

3 3oz bars of milk chocolate, cut into chunks

THE METHOD:

In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, cream cheese, coconut sugar, vanilla and egg substitute until light and fluffly {3-5 mins}. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. In a small bowl, mix together the dry ingredients and then – with the mixer on a low speed – add the dry ingredients to the wet 1/2 a cup at a time just until everything is combined. Add chocolate chunks and mix on a low speed until there is an even distribution of chocolate throughout the dough.

Transfer the dough to two separate sheets of parchment paper and create logs or rolls like this:

Referigerate for a minimum of 2 hours and as much as a week {I usually bake one half of the batch the day I make it and then bake the other half later in the week}.

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Slice the chilled dough into half inch chunks and arrange 2-3 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake for 8 minutes or until the edges are ever-so-slightly golden but the cookies are perhaps still looking a bit undercooked. Allow them to cool on the cookie sheet {they will hold together once they’ve cooled, so fear not!} and then store them in an airtight container to keep them soft and glorious. If, that is, they make it into the container at all. The hardest part of this recipe is letting them cool before everyone devours them!

I find each half batch gives me about 10 cookies. Let’s just say they don’t last long. Like I said before, it’s probably a good thing my chocolate supplies are on ration for now! With 14 weeks of pregnancy to go, I’d prefer not to balloon up thanks to a recently developed, decadent cookie recipe! All things in moderation, right?

Wishing you a lovely weekend filled with laughter and good conversation shared over good food with the ones you love.

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|October 4th, 2013|2 Comments

Lighting Love | Fantasy-like and delicate: The Medusae Collection

I have never been one for what I would call “theme decorating.” You know, “It’s a sailor’s room!” or “We went with a pirate theme!” Nope. Not even for kids rooms. Can’t handle it. My cheese-ometer just red-lines instantly. I much prefer an eclectic, curated mix that reflects the craftsmanship and artistry of the makers of the furniture, lighting, rugs, fabrics, art and objet used in the space, as well as {most importantly!} the uniqueness of the home’s inhabitants. This means that there are many design products that don’t even make it onto my radar because they would fall too much into the camp of some overwrought theme that gives me the designer heebie-jeebies.

And yet – defying all the odds like a Capulet meeting a Montague – I’ve been charmed by today’s lighting find, aptly named The Medusae Collection. Organic and subtle while being clearly outspoken about its source of inspiration, this delicate and diaphanous collection is just honest enough to win me over.

I confess my first thought on where I might specify these translucent beauties is in a commercial application. They would make for a stunning grouping in a restaurant with very high ceilings, scattered at various heights to leave guests feeling like they are dining beneath a bloom of jellyfish. But don’t go soundtracking the dining experience with “Under The Sea” or I’ll be gone before you hit the chorus! These beauties are far too sophisticated to be caught in the nets of cliché.

I think the “Hydra” {below} is my favourite piece in the collection, in part because it is the most subtle and least obvious member of this Aurelia family. This is probably the one piece I could see myself using in a residential context – perhaps a pair flanking a bed and hanging low in place of bedside lamps.

{All images by Kathryna Hancock}

There is an undeniably delicate, feminine charm to all of the pieces in The Medusae Collection, and that ethereal, other-worldly beauty is no doubt what has won me over.

Wishing you a cliché-free and entirely beautiful Thursday.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|October 3rd, 2013|0 Comments