About

What is turtle^haus:

Turtle^haus is a blog about how we can improve the quality of our lives by reconnecting with stories: our own, those we read in books,  those we see in movies and plays, and those revealed by the spaces we inhabit.

There are 3 streams of interest :

1. turtle^haus;

2. turtle°ink;

3. turtle<flix.

In t^h you will find:

• House Tours, in which people invite us into their homes and we have a chance to see how their space tells their story;
• Advice on how to configure your living and/or work space with the help of innovative new tools and approaches;
• Interviews with designers, architects and others;
• Special features on notable contributions to the world of design, interiors, architecture and lifestyle
• Videos of houses with interviews.

In t°i you will find:

• Interviews with authors;
• Book Reviews;
• Short stories, excerpts of novels, serialized publication of longer works;
• Podcasts with readings and interviews.

In t<f you will find:

• Movie Reviews;
• Video interviews with moviegoers;
• Interviews with screenwriters, directors, actors;
• Excerpts of screenplays;
• Podcasts with readings and interviews.

Who is Ilaria (Swimturtle):

I am half American and half Italian and I currently live in Brooklyn, New York. I was raised partly in Florence, Italy, where I was born, and partly in New York. Having been exposed to two languages and cultures from birth, language has taken on a special prominence in my life, and I have always been passionately interested in reading and writing.

Swimturtle

My educational background is in Architecture and Design, and Library and Information Science. As for my professional background, I have nearly 25 years of experience in film translation (I write subtitles in English and Italian); I have spent many years teaching; I have been a court reporter (stenographer), and an interpreter; I am also a librarian.

My passions are: creating the ideal home for me, my family and friends, reading and writing, language, and film. What I enjoy the most, though, is sharing these passions with others, and this is what has led me, finally, to blogging.

I spent many years in apartments that were… let’s just say less than ideal, and I now live in the house of my dreams. I’m not saying that it is the only possible house of my dreams, or that it is the last house I will ever live in. But for now, in this phase of my life, with teenage kids, a home office and pets and all that goes along with these things, it is the best of all possible homes. Living in two countries, in many different situations, and through my studies in Architecture and Design, I have developed a keen sensitivity to space and how its configuration affects our moods and happiness in our homes and offices. I feel that most people accept space the way they find it and though they may feel ill at ease, they can’t quite put their finger on why. With this blog I propose to help you, my readers, to understand how you live in your space and help you find the best configuration for your lifestyle.

For me, everything always comes back to story. Myths and religion are all stories, the stories our culture is based on. Literature is made up of stories, films are stories told in words and pictures. And our homes and work spaces are stories told in space and objects. These things are part of our personal story; the story we tell ourselves about who we are, the story we tell others about who were, are and will be. This blog brings together these different ways of creatively expressing our various stories.

So if you enjoy a good yarn, a tall tale, just a plain damn good story, this is the place for you.