bali – Ann Street Studio

Bulgari Resort Bali

September 21, 2016September 30, 2016Posted in TravelTagged accomodations, bali, Bulgari, bulgari resort, bulgariresort, hotel, indian ocean, luxury, luxury hotel, resort, travel9 Comments

Standing elegantly off a cliff overlooking the endless Indian Ocean is the amazing Bulgari Resort Bali. It is a luxury resort balancing the natural elements and Balinese traditions with the sophistication of the Italian design house complete with an Italian restaurant so wonderful it was awarded ‘Best Hotel Restaurant in the World’ by International Food & Beverage Forum.

An amazing juxtaposition of private villas and sprawling mansions sound like a mega resort but that it is certainly not. It maintains a personal sense of privacy, and most importantly for me, peace all while making nature the greatest design element of all. The natural tones and traditional building elements sit the resort comfortably into the lush green and dramatic rocky cliff location.

I started each morning jetlagged at 5am, watching the colors of the sunrise fill the sky. Always first to breakfast, I would sit and have a traditional Balinese soup of chicken broth and noodles with mixed vegetables (and A LOT of spice) to the distant sound of the ocean crashing below. Lunches down by the beach consisted of fresh squeezed juices and light fish while the afternoons were perfectly filled with dips in our private pool before a 4pm walk around the property looking for the resident monkeys to see what trouble they were getting into.

This is my second time visiting Bali. What draws one here mostly, in my opinion, is the culture. The peacefulness of the people and the spirit of the ones who have moved here to be closer to it. Yoga, organic juices, and nature are the commodities of Bali, and are served up here at Bulgari in this beautiful setting. On my first visit to Bali I explored all over the island from hiking to the the top of a volcano to shooting on the black sand beaches and sleeping in a structure made of entirely bamboo. Though on this trip we did venture out to Ubud, mostly I just wanted to stay here at the resort. The beauty and calm is what my soul needed.

So here is to another amazing experience on this little island on the Indian Ocean…

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Greener Every Day

September 4, 2014September 7, 2014Posted in TravelTagged bali, balimoments, bamboo, greener everyday, greenereverday, john hardy, johnhardy, sustainable, villa campuhan, villacampuhan4 Comments

When you think of green companies, you may not immediately think of jewelry. But John Hardy is absolutely a sustainable, environmentally focused company, and nowhere is that clearer than with their Bamboo Collection.

The John Hardy Bamboo Collection is inspired by nature and the wonder of bamboo. Bamboo is used in Bali for so many purposes – rituals, building, decoration, even fishing! It is a backbone of their economy and we saw it everywhere in Bali. It is no wonder this piece of island landscape is such a huge part of John Hardy’s identity. The company is very focused on their relationship with the surrounding community, as many of their employees come from it, and part of that relationship is making sure they limit their own impact on the environment and work toward making it healthy. Part of that promise involves bamboo: the prevalence of bamboo can spur the economy, and bamboo is also incredible for the environment – it limits soil erosion, grows quickly to offset carbon emissions, and helps maintain water levels.

In 2007, John Hardy began the “Wear Bamboo, Plant Bamboo” initiative, which allowed its consumers to help them plant bamboo by purchasing beautiful pieces of jewelry from the Bamboo Collection. This initiative has yielded 900,000 bamboo seedlings so far – in a space roughly 4 1/2 times the size of Central Park!

The pieces are special not only for their clean design and polish, but because each piece of jewelry is etched with the number of bamboo seedlings John Hardy was able to plant with the money paid. How wonderful to find a company creating such beautiful, peaceful designs and knowing that they work equally as hard to become greener every day…

Below, an artisan begins working on a Bamboo Collection cuff, starting with the traditional French wax molding technique, after which the cuff is casted in silver and continues through the process of filing and polishing.

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NAGA

August 19, 2014September 4, 2014Posted in TravelTagged accessories, bali, balimoments, culture, dragon, gold, jewelry, john hardy, johnhardy, lifestyle, NAGA, silver, story, travel5 Comments

You can’t help but be overcome by the romance of the NAGA story. All over Bali we kept seeing the face of the lovesick dragon in temples, as carvings and in the landscapes of the fable. As the story goes…

There is an ancient story of a dragon known as the Naga. He lives on the volcano peaks of Bali, but at night will descend into the ocean to see his true love, the Pearl. In the morning, the Naga rises up from the water and flies back to his peak. Water drips from his scales as he goes, nourishing the rice fields of Bali. During the day he keeps watch over the island, protecting Bali and its people, before returning to the ocean each night. Because of this routine, the Naga represents eternal love, prosperity, and protection to the Balinese people.

John Hardy’s Naga Collection takes this fable and brings it to life through dragon imagery: the scales along his body, his expressive face, and sometimes, glowing eyes. You can wear a Naga piece differently to mean different things – if you orient his head so it faces toward you, it represents eternal love and prosperity. Away from you, it means protection (this has to be my favorite application of a story to something wearable!)

Since the mythic dragon lives between volcanoes, we paid a visit to Mount Batur to hike up this active volcano which most recently erupted in 1963. Through volcanic activity over the centuries, a lake has formed from a collapsed crater. The visible activity of the volcano is a network of vents releasing hot gases – at the source, hot enough to warm food (in the case of our trek it was hot bananas!) It was my first experience on the top of a volcano, feeling its hot gases wrap around me as if Naga was watching the sun set, preparing his descent into the ocean to be with the one he loves….

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Weaving Life on Bali

August 7, 2014August 11, 2014Posted in TravelTagged bali, balimoments, chain, classic chain, classicchain, culture, handicraft, handmade, jewelry, jewelry making, john hardy, johnhardy, offerings, Pura Tirtha Empul, PuraTirthaEmpul, purity, silver, temple, The Holy Water Temple, weave15 Comments

Bali is built on tradition and community, two aspects that permeate everything on the island from artisan’s work to religious practices and ceremonies. There is a rich heritage on the island of artisans, from jewelry making to weaving, and it is easy to see how these skills appear not only in the beautiful work made but also in the offerings presented at their temples.

Chain weaving, for example, has been going on for thousands of years in Bali. Women will work together, taking on different parts of the creation process to ultimately create a beautiful and intricate piece. This is mirrored in woven offerings, created with young coconut leaves by a number of women to make a detailed and gorgeous gift for the gods.

We had the most amazing peaceful experience on morning with our friends at John Hardy who wanted us to see the importance of tradition and community Bali is built around and how that influences the John Hardy designs, in this particular instance with Classic Chain. We rose before the sun to be dressed in traditional temple outfits and arrived at Pura Tirtha Empul, meaning The Holy Water Temple. People say it was built by Indra, a god of protection, and boasts pools of natural spring water for rituals. Water is the source of life and the Balinese use lots of holy water for blessing, drinking, and purifying – and you can even take it home with you! The temple is the biggest in Bali and people will come if something bad is happening to purify oneself or home.

Hinduism states that there are five elements of the body: water, fire, earth, wind and earth. Everything comes back to these elements in customs and rituals. In the ceremonies these elements are represented through the use of items such as incense and fire, which you see above in our offering the ladies created for us and below for the blessing ceremony.

The artisans at work in the ancient chain weaving manor:

Just like women come together to weave the leaves into baskets for ceremonies, the community does the same with John Hardy’s approach to jewelry making and the classic chain weaving process. Like I mentioned before, John Hardy has a program where single mothers can work from home in their own communities in order to both make a living at their craft and raise their children.

Below, the chains are later passed to another set of hands, continuing the creation process from one person to another, all working toward the finished product together.

Community, ancient chain-weaving and ceremonies.

Below we witnessed the community of women working together on making the traditional offerings. These same type of techniques are passed down from generation to generation , showing up in spiritual practices, craft and trade and even as art pieces like some of the textile weaves we learned about from Threads of Life.

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The Essence of Bali, a fashion film for Cuyana

July 1, 2014June 2, 2017Posted in VideoTagged anastasia krivosheeva, bali, cuyana, fashion, red epic, sunrise, video11 Comments

We’ve now been all over Bali, learning about the culture, experiencing nature, marveling at the water. Today we take all three together into the story of summer in Bali, experienced through our beautiful travel companion and model Anastasia Krivosheeva. From the optimism of the morning to the beauty of a beach sunset, Bali is resplendent with all forms of sensory goodness.

Filmed by Kevin Burg & Jamie Beck | Original Music by Tom Oke Sound | for CUYANA

From our fashion film archives: Monique Lhuillier | Chanel | Vera Wang | Rachel Roy

Cuyana + Bali Water

June 30, 2014November 18, 2014Posted in Fashion EditorialTagged anastasia, anastasia krivosheeva, anastasiakrivosheeva, ann street studio, annstreetstudio, bali, beach, cuyana, fashioeditorial, fashion, fashion editorial, jamie beck, jamiebeck, ocean, summer, summer 2014, summer2013, sunrise, ubud7 Comments

Ok, so we ARE on an island, where the main attraction is always and always and always the beach. I’ve seen so many beautiful beaches I’ve had the joy to share here with you, from the secluded Cumberland Island to the spectacular Virgin Islands and super popular beaches of Brazil… but this was new. Bali served up my first black sand beach. I couldn’t believe it, not a soul was there to witness the glory of a perfect sunrise. Golden light, black sands, colorful fishing boats, it’s so idyllic I still can’t believe it’s true… and I got to photograph it! So let’s start the week with the rise the of sun, with all the possibilities of the world washing over our toes…

Above and below: Anastasia wears Cuyana’s silk sleeveless dress in stone with Bali-crafted gold asymmetrical earrings and oval cuff…

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Cuyana + Bali Nature

June 27, 2014November 18, 2014Posted in Fashion EditorialTagged anastasia, anastasia krivosheeva, anastasiakrivosheeva, ann street studio, annstreetstudio, bali, cuyana, fashion, fashion editorial, fashioneditorial, jamie beck, jamiebeck, nature, summer, summer 2014, summer2014, ubud17 Comments

So, why did we go all the way to Bali to shoot the summer campaign? The answer is simple if you look at the product. Cuyana is a fashion brand producing a limited, curated collection that aims to be timeless. They source manufacturers from all over the world – not because they want to find a way to be less expensive, but because they want to hire the best of the best. If you want to make a cashmere sweater, why not have the experts in Scotland, with their knowledge going back hundreds of years, create it? Or the perfect leather tote…who is amazing with leather? The artisans of Argentina.

Cuyana searches the world to find and support the creators, cutting out the middle man and selling the designs themselves in order to keep costs down and quality high. So to answer the question above – why did you go all the way to Bali to shoot this summer Cuyana campaign? Because all their new gold jewelry is handmade in Bali and what a place to be!

Yesterday we unlocked the key to Bali culture but that is only a fraction of the story…arguably many people come here for the awe of the island’s nature scene which is as lush and beautiful as the people themselves. I was awestruck by the endless vistas of rice paddies wrapping around the island’s mainland. The air is damp and thick, and in the early evening light, the view fills with mysterious blueish smoke from farmers’ fires, turning the look into a cinematic movie scene. It’s serene and beautiful and it’s only the beginning of Bali’s natural wonder…

Of course Bali has amazing resorts (remember the dreamy Amandari & serene Como Shambala?!…because I do!) but you can also rent awesome Bali homes like we did with the team from Cuyana. Just around the house, we found perfect rice fields and coconut trees. Our first morning there all we could do was wander around in awe of the early morning light.

Below: Anastasia wears Cuyana’s classic white oxford dress.

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Cuyana + Bali Culture

June 26, 2014November 18, 2014Posted in Fashion EditorialTagged anastasia krivosheeva, anastasiakrivosheeva, ann street studio, annstreetstudio, bali, campaign, culture, cuyana, fashion, fashion campaign, fashion editorial, food, jamie beck, jamiebeck, lifestyle, summer, summer 2014, travel18 Comments

With a car packed of Cuyana’s summer collection, Anastasia and I headed out to discover the island of Bali. The first thing that hits you when you travel to such far-off lands is the culture – so different from your own, you notice the ways in which people move in and out of their day to day lives, what they surround themselves with, learning about traditions you’ve never experienced before. Our local guide was named Wayan, the name given to all first born sons in Bali. He joked with us, saying we shouldn’t call his name out loud in public because half the people around us would answer!

Visually, what struck me first were all the beautiful temples, rising behind stone walls and lined with colorful ceremonial umbrellas used in the Hindu religion. As I was speaking with Wayan, he explained to me the beauty of the Hindu religion with their traditional ceremonies dating back hundreds of years, how karma works for the Balinese people and the importance of family whom for the most part all live together in a multi structure compound with their own family temples.

But that was just the beginning of our cultural discovery… below is the story of our model and muse taking summer’s fruit and tasting the love and life of Bali ~

(click on any image to view larger)

All over the island you found these beautiful and colorful umbrellas outside homes and temples – the pure shades of white and yellow symbolize dedication to the Hindu religion and the different manifestations of God.

Anastasia wears Cuyana’s cool stone silk sleeveless dress and yellow gold hammered circle necklace and ring

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Travel to Bali

June 25, 2014June 26, 2014Posted in TravelTagged anastasia, anastasia krivosheeva, anastasiakrivosheeva, bali, culture, cuyana, fashion, lifestyle, summer, summer 2014, travel12 Comments

I’m finally back at the studio in New York after a month of whirlwind travel, literally around the globe and back a couple of times. It’s been great – incredibly beautiful at times, eye-opening at others. I’ve learned a lot about myself, and so much of what we have seen will be shared here over the next few months.

As I sit here at my desk in New York, I like to spin a small glass globe that sits by me, remember the places I have been, and dream about the ones I hope to visit one day. I look at the small Indonesian island of Bali literally halfway around the world from where I sit now and I can’t believe I was there; that you can just step on an airplane and hours later (be it A LOT of hours), here you are in a whole new world.

Traveling takes my breath away. I don’t know that I want to travel forever: it does take a toll on your body and having any sort of social life offline is nearly impossible. You miss birthdays and special events and you end up texting your friends selfies so they don’t forget what you look like…or that you exist. But for now, travel is my way of continuing my education – expanding my thoughts, seeing things you only read about in books and knowing what they feel like, taste like or sound like. Traveling has changed my opinion on religions, politics and environmental issues. It has made me look at cultures with a greater understanding that one is not better than the other, that you need way less in life then we have become accustomed to and the happiest people are the ones who base their life on love, family, and helping others. Traveling is teaching me the lessons I have yet to finish uncovering but that will shape how I tell stories in years to come.

One of my favorite brands, Cuyana with their simple and approachable everyday designs, took us to Bali to shoot their new summer campaign. It’s photoshoots like these I wish could last for days and days. Exploding the island with our model Anastasia who is also a photographer (that is her personal Leica) was a thrilling experience to share. I would stop and take a picture of her and when I was done she would stop and take a picture too. It goes without saying Bali took our breath away. Over the next few days I’ll share with you the culture, nature, and seashores of this very special place where two Western girls took travel to new places.

(click on any image to view larger!)

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#Wanderlust

June 5, 2014June 25, 2014Posted in LifestyleTagged accessories, bali, gold, jewelry, john hardy, johnhardy, lifestyle, lovegold, travel, villa campuhan, villacampuhan, wanderlust16 Comments

I‘ve always dreamed of traveling and I feel so very lucky that my job takes me around the world to be witness to and capture the wonder and beauty of different cultures, natural marvels, and lifestyles. One of our most recent journeys was to the island of Bali to shoot Cuyana’s summer campaign. We added a few days to the trip so we could truly experience the island, hosted by our friends and Bali natives at John Hardy who know the island so well. Staying at the Villa Campuhan was one of those pinch-me moments when your wanderlust dreams come true in the pure definition of paradise…we ate only the freshest food in an open air pavilion overlooking the Balinese ocean, we drank coffee with the sunrise and spent the hot afternoons swimming and reading. This special place fit right into LoveGold‘s summer of #wanderlust campaign… I can’t wait to see where other people travel to over the next few months and if they are lucky enough to be adorned in luxurious hand crafted gold like I was. Here is what I wore at the breathtaking Villa Campuhan…gold to match the sun, white to keep cool, anything to flow like the ocean and only bare feet ~

Above & below John Hardy Bamboo Collection gold and diamond pave cuff and ring // MAIYET skirt & Ralph Lauren top

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Amandari

May 29, 2014June 5, 2014Posted in TravelTagged aman, amandari, bali, bed, decor, design, hotel, lifestyle, rice field, travel, ubud5 Comments

An Aman in Paradise… the last time I stayed at an Aman resort it totally changed my idea of what resort hospitality could be. The attention to detail and service, design and quality are exceptional in a way you typically only find in private residences. Maybe that is because Aman resorts make themselves at home in the communities they inhabit – winners of the Global Green Award, they maintain the importance of looking at their social and environmental responsibility of taking care of the community where you conduct business. Their foundation is built on the relationship with the local community, from hiring to supporting local issues.

It makes sense that John Hardy, who also has such a huge community impact on Bali and focuses their company on social and environmental issues, would be a natural partner with the Aman resorts in Bali where their products are now sold. An inspiring approach leads to a beautiful property where you start the day on your patio overlooking rice fields and end it with a glass of wine in your private outdoor bathtub…

From snow capped mountains now to damp warm rice fields, here is the experience that is Amandari~

Above, taking a closer look at the beautiful rice fields outside our door in a 90s linen flax dress I bought off eBay and ballerina body suit with silver John Hardy bamboo double coil bracelet

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Threads of Life

May 28, 2014May 29, 2014Posted in TravelTagged bali, culture, handicraft, handmade, lifestyle, seraya, textile, threads of life, threadsoflife, travel, weaving2 Comments

One of the great arts of Indonesia is traditional weaving, which has been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. Each tribe or region in this cluster of islands has their own style and patterns with specific meanings, as well as unique techniques for making their dyes.

Threads of Life is a Bali-based initiative that is centered around fair trade and conservation of this cultural history, especially in rural Indonesia. They help these communities, some of which takes two days journey to reach, sell these naturally dyed and locally made artifacts. Many designers have visited the store in Ubud for inspiration including one of my personal heroes, Donna Karan. Everything from growing the cotton to tending the plants used to make the dyes is done by these craftsmen and it takes months or even up to a year to finish one piece. We met the co-founder Jean Howe, an ex-San Francisco native who has lived in Bali for a couple decades, whose passion for preserving this craft was infectious. She took us to visit Threads of Life in Seraya where we could see in person the traditional textile weaving taking place from start to finish~

Above- picking a piece of mature cotton right off the plant and showing how the threading process begins.

Below- using traditional tools to spin and make the tread.

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Como Shambhala

May 27, 2014June 2, 2016Posted in TravelTagged bali, Como Shambhala, comoshambhala, decor, detox, healthy, hosptality, hotel, personal-favorite-hotel, resort, travel, ubud19 Comments

After the thirty-something hours and three flights it took to get to Bali, perfectly 12 hours ahead of New York (and my natural body clock), we needed a resort just like Como Shambhala. Tucked away at the end of a very local road is this explosion of natural wonder. On the edge of a jungle vista descending down to the rapid Ayung River (Ayung meaning beautiful) there are endless ways to pass the day, from hiking the 250 stone steps down to the stunning natural spring pools to yoga and spa treatments to wonderful afternoon naps on outdoor beds. The juice menu put all my favorite New York haunts to shame. Everything was amazingly fresh and organic, light and natural, mirroring the environment this special place was nestled in. My mind and body were healed being here and for once in a very long time I felt as though I could simply breathe…

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