Hello Friend,
I hope you’re well in this craziness happening around us right now. I still can’t wrap my head around the whole THING. You?
A few months ago it would have been hard to imagine that something like this could ever happen. In 2020. With the technology, the flow of information, the wit of the human race...but I guess everything is flowing easily these days. Even viruses. I swear, I won’t write down its name. The name that will be written in book pages and articles 30-years from now that’ll bring cold sweat down our backs just from reading it.
We will talk about these days, weeks, months to the next generations (hopefully I’ll be there for them!), just like our grandparents talked about the days when there was war. This might be a modern war. At least this war is not humanity against humanity (which is the saddest, stupidest and worst thing) but against a tiny, strong, and very angry organism that wants to teach us something. I hope we'll learn our lesson and we can move on soon.
But until that day, I’ll be just going with the flow, trying to figure out what the heck to do with the time I save by not driving, not travelling, not eating out, not sitting in the movies or on the soccer field watching my daughter play or handing water to my son at a fencing tournament. I’ll be redecorating the house, cook delicious and healthy food, maybe clean and organize the garage and write lengthy blog posts. Sounds like a plan...
April would have been the month when I would visit Milan, Italy. Where I would learn about all the new products at Salone del Mobile, meet my sister and drink Aperol Spritz, cappuccinos and eat pizza and pasta at the Duomo, walk so much that we can’t feel our feet, and sleep five hours a night because that’s all the time we have for sleeping and recharging for another year. I've waited for this week all year.
This time it’s not going to happen as Salone del Mobile 2020 is officially canceled. And that was the right thing to do. I’m heartbroken for Italy, for Milan, for all the people getting sick there and all around the world. I miss Europe so much and I hope there will be airlines that survive and we will be able to travel again and there will be restaurants that will reopen and Italian streets will be full of people again next Spring for the Design Week.
In a few months this will be a bad memory, we will also be smarter and we will implement new ways of living, working, using space and time. I hope we will hug each other a little stronger and hold those hugs a little longer. We will learn that all these things we have are not guaranteed, so we will appreciate them more.
They say being grateful is the secret of happiness. I hope we as a human race will be happier after this is over.
As I’m grateful for all my adventures and experiences that have led me here, to this very moment, as a reminder, I’m sharing some pictures of last year’s incredible Salone del Mobile. Here’s to what the future holds and everything bright and wonderful that comes with it -- Enjoy!
Timea Botyanszki
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