JAZZ IN MILK BOXES!

I love those rare places that make you suddenly want to engage to things you never considered before.
Twisted is just like that. As soon as you cross the doorstep by chance, to buy a present or out of mere curiosity, you feel the abrupt desire to better understand jazz.
This shop is bulging with discs in all sides, even on the floor, where vinyls are kept in Mukki milk boxes.
And if you don’t find that particular edition or version you are looking for (then you’re beginning to understand jazz!), at Twisted you can place ad hoc orders and your requests will be piled behind the counter with a coloured post it note with your name on it, the name of someone who still appreciates the value and the pleasure of owning an original CD.

Twisted Jazz Shop - Borgo S. Frediano 21/r, 50124 Florence, Italy

POKING IN OTHER’S SHOPPING BAG

Your Sofa: Marco Rossi

Shopping in Hollywood, Los Angeles, is never a trivial thing.
Thousands of people go shopping at Amoeba with a long list. Amoeba is the world’s biggest independant music store.
You can take a supermarket plastic basket and move around in this huge space (the store occupies an entire block), going along corridors where “literally” millions of CDs, vinyls and DVDs are placed with exceptional accuracy.
Here you can find a variety of styles that suit every taste, fresh products as well as older or rare products.
And it may be that you can have a tasting of the products inside the shop, thanks to Amoeba’s rich program of concerts.
If you’re not inspired and you don’t know what to choose, using YouTube you can peek into the shopping bag of many musicians and artists who regularly visit the store looking for that special disc that is an essential ingredient in their life.

Amoeba Music - 6400 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028, USA
www.amoeba.com

What's In My Bag? : https://www.youtube.com/user/amoeba

Photos: © Amoeba Records

THE ROYAL COURT CANDLE MAKER

In 1643 Claude Trudon was the owner of a shop, which provided its customers with candles. His heirs soon provided church candles to all the cathedrals in France and to the Versailles royal court until the end of the monarchy.
Something profound from this great past is still present in the house products and in the Paris shop located in rue de Seine: an ancient and awe-inspiring feeling of regality.
You can find candles of various colours and with cameos, wonderful wax busts and the well-known bougies (aromatic glass candles that reproduce evocative fragrances) in a shop decorated with tuile de jouy wallpapers and amazing antiques.
Completely natural wax, fragrances from the best producers, handmade glass for the bougies made by Italian craftsmen, everything is magnificent and elegant.
Finally the magic: when you go home, even if your place is small and messy, just light a Cire Trudon candle and you will be the queen of your own castle.

Cire Trudon – 78 rue de Seine, 75006 Paris, France
www.ciretrudon.com

KAFFIR LIME FRESH LEAVES

I will start with one of my favourite spots, The Spice Shop in London.
It is a very small shop I discovered by chance walking around a corner in Portobello Road during the Saturday market. Here you will really find all spices of the World.
Walls are covered from top to bottom by yellow packages, bags and tin cans with a red logo, all neatly stowed by type.
The funniest thing to do at The Spice Shop is to review all spices and mixtures wondering why you don’t know most of them, to choose the ones that appeal the most to you and go back home with the cheerful feeling that even your simplest dishes will never be the same again.

The Spice Shop - 1 Blenheim Crescent, W11 2EE London, UK
www.thespiceshop.com