Hey, guys! It’s amazing to be in New York just during the elections day!
I cannot cover up my enthusiasm for the American political campaign, maybe it’s because I feel quite involved as I’ve got there some emigrant relatives and friends of mine!
Creativity blows up, from coffee mugs to the sweeties boxes… everything talked about elections.
As soon as the fitting day ended - for the shooting of the new catalogue for travel and woman lines - I went in front of the Tv. Ready for the marathon. After some initial uncertainty, things seemed clear.
We just went out on the streets: Union Square enlivened, even if the tunes were understated as if people didn’t want to party beforeheand. A huge American flag hide some small groups and  playing music and singing the praise of Obama (never to say).

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Only a few months have gone by and we’re already back on the road.
This time, along with some shots for our catalogue, we’re working on a Mandarina Duck business travel advertising campaign.

Rotterdam is our destination. The themes, which link back to the shoot in Leon (do you remember the city with warm architecture and cold weather?), are design, modernity and architecture.
Our traveller has changed his destination, but his interests and landmarks have remained the same.

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After three weeks of well-deserved vacation, coming back to work is more exciting than ever.

At Mandarina, the end of August brings the presentation of the spring/summer collection for the following year and the whole company is involved in a myriad of meetings (including clashes in the corridors). The scene is similar to that of Miranda’s arrival in “The Devil wears Prada“.

The biggest moment was the presentation of the collection to the entire company (branches included) - at the home of the Aterballetto dance company in Reggio Emilia - and the spectacular fashion show, of which I will describe the backstage activities.

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I’d like to take you through a typical day of our production manager, Massimo Venturini. He’s always traveling, so I couldn’t shadow him, but I asked him to tell me about his travels the last time we crossed paths.

Waking up in a room at the Shangri-la in Hong Kong or on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Singapore is as usual as having a cup of tea for Massimo, make that a cup of Asian green tea!

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I would like you to meet Roberto Mineo, our Chief Designer. A couple days ago, I sneaked into his office to discover new things about him and his job.

I found rolls of cloth and leather, panels with photos, travel notes, objects and other things that inspire our designers’ work, and then big tables full of sheets and sketches. Roberto told me that nothing is better than a pencil and a rubber for hand drawing, because thoughts are more fluid and ideas don’t need to be filtered!

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