Da Vinci...

So the reason my mom and I went to China and Vietnam is because my mom is helping design a space for Theodore Alexander for Da Vinci (a high-end furniture store in Asia). It carries brands such as Fendi Home, Versace Home, Thomasville, and soon Theodore Alexander. Basically we spent very long days meeting with the architect and designers deciding where walls, archways, doors, windows, etc would go. Then we would pick out fabric and paint colors comparable to what my mom had previously picked out.

Here's the outside of the showroom/store we worked in everyday while in Shanghai:

Here are some inside shots around the store: Please note how elaborate everything is.

Huge purple chandelier.

Hand-painted ceilings everywhere.

Here is some of our work we were doing: (inside Da Vinci)

We also went to see the new space that we would be designing for...please keep in mind that we probably look HORRIBLE because it feels like it's 150 degrees there. IT WAS SO HOT.

These are the people we pretty much worked with...Ryan who is HUGE (6'10 and from Atlanta- lives in Shanghai), Werner in the yellow hat in the back, Chai (sp?) is the architect who is pretty young with the cross-body bag, Owen is the guy in the far back with the red hat, Little Ryan is the guy in the red hat next to my mom, and my mom.

My mom and Ryan discussing something...

My mom who was much happier than I was to be in this extremely hot building wearing a hardhat. 

One of the drawings my mom did for the space.

My mom and Ryan...you can tell how tall he is!

The floor plan my mom made.

My mom and I...awkward angle because Ryan is soooo tall.

Ryan and I. 

Outside of the new showroom we saw this picture: 

My mom posed with the picture. It shows Doris and her husband Tony who are very well-known in Asia. I think they are with their kids in the picture. (I think the daughter is a well-known socialite) Anyway this could be incorrect but I know they are well-known people. Doris also designs jewelry which is BEAUTIFUL.

I learned that the Chinese have different taste than I do. They consider things that are shiny and gold to represent wealth. So a lot of the furniture looked pretty gawdy to me. The furniture was SO expensive. There was a beautiful round table in the entrance of the store that cost $120,000 US dollars. Holy smoke! They are also very into brand names, Fendi pillows cost about $2000 a piece. Apparently people will come in and buy like 12 at once. RIDICULOUS. Here are some of my favorite/most interesting pieces we saw:

Mostly Versace stuff unless otherwise noted...

Fashion Drawings from Versace (not for sale...sad)

I liked this console table a lot.

Versace bed...not really my style but it was shiny like they like.

Thought this couch could be AWESOME in the right spot. Without the pillows.

Loved the chairs...the mirror was interesting in person- very shiny.

Not a comfortable couch.

LOVED this Versace coffee table...made out of Lapis. 

Fendi couch and Fendi pillows...don't even want to guess the price of the couch...

Fendi Chandelier.... they do love their brand names.

Fendi.

Can't remember who this is by, but it was in a magazine recently in the United States. 

Liked this Versace chair as well...They had it in black but sold it. 

Very interesting Versace chair...the people who worked there called it the Lady Gaga chair. Same material as on mirror.

Basically we spent 95% of our time at Da Vinci. At least it was an interesting place to work and everyone was really nice. And most importantly there was air conditioning.