Mothers day gift ideas – place mates, napkins & Co.

We have just returned form a short trip to Venice, where we celebrated our wedding anniversary. It was my fourth time in the city, but the first time I really recognized how beautiful Venice really is. And it inspired me to buy the most beautiful mothers day gift I had thought of during the last years!

While searching for the Traghetto jetty close to our hotel Centurion Palace in Dorsoduro the large Fortuny showroom immediately caught our eyes. I had heard of Fortuny before due to their minimalist spot lamps (Pallucco, Moda lightning, Fortuny Venice) which I still consider as perfect for a dressing room. Upon entering the store with its brick walls and wooden ceiling the rich oriental designs of the wall rugs, table cloths as well as pillow covers caught my eye. The contrast between the rough industrial architecture of the room and the opulence of the fabrics was incredible and provided a great example how to mix those traditional materials in a very contemporary way during times of minimalism. We spotted several great pillow covers, which would have been perfect as a mothers day gift as well as for our own sofa. However, pillows are usually the thing I change quiet often to bring something new into the room (…same habit is true for my mum) and 200 – 250 EURO for one cover were simply too much for me.

Fortuny
view into the Fortuny store in Dorsoduro, Venice,  

Next fabric showroom on our way was Bevilacqua (San Marco, Campo Santa Maria del Giglio). While Fortuny tries to mix the Venetian heritage with contemporary elements, Bevilacqua seemed to me a little more traditional. Which means brighter colors and richer designs. During times of a minimalist trend this might be in contrast to many costumers taste, including mine.

Venice

Bevilacqua, San Marco Venice

 Christina Linassi has a simply beautiful fabric store really close to Bevilacqua. We were quite happy that the store had sale because they are about to move out. Their collection of place mates, napkins and tablecloths is incredible and in my opinion the ideal mothers day gift idea!

mothers day gift ideas

Christina Linassi, Venice, San Marco, adorable tablewear, photo@http://www.cristinalinassi.it

On our way to Palazzo Grassi, where we wanted to visit the François Pinault contemporary art collection we discovered the small shop of Chiarastella Catana. Although we had already made some purchases at the Christina Linassi sale we couldn’t help to fall in love with a few other pieces from the stores incredible product range.

Venice

Isn’t that an incredible pillow cover?! Combined with a grey pillow with more angular pattern on a olive green sofa – Totally fabulous in my opinion. photo@http://www.chiarastellacattana.it

Venice

Those kitchen towels are another fab mothers day gift idea! photo@http://www.chiarastellacattana.it/eng/bagno/asciugamani/soffione.html

Of course Venice is not only great for interior deco shopping if mothers day is laying ahead, but also for your own home or any other kind of presents. I have rarely seen another city with such a density of incredible craftsmanship, which is sadly a little masked by kitchy souvenir shops, splat back toy ball and fake designer bag vendors. In Venice its highly recommendable to leave the beaten tourist paths to dive into the world of great craftsmanship and skip the highly priced kitch. I am going to report more on our Venice trip later on the blog. Have you already bought your mothers day gift?