We are very lucky to have award-winning young Sydney designer Trent Jansen on the guest blog this week!  Trent will be showing us glimpses of his adventures in and around Milan, where he is currently undertaking a design residency with Italian design company Edra. Grazie Trent! - Jenny x

Trent soaks up some rays at at Spiaggia Bianca.  The sand and water here is bleached by the residue from an onshore soap factory... crazy.  Looks pretty great to me!

So I have been working at Edra now for about three weeks, and it's great, like a big family. We eat together everyday, not the whole company (there are 60 employees and I don't think that there is a restaurant in the area that could fit us all), but in small groups in restaurants and bars around Perignano. Sometimes we eat at work - there is a kitchen and a chef but these are reserved for special occasions. I spend my days working in the development department in the office of Leonardo Volpi, the guy who figures out how to put all of Edra's work into production. Leonardo is an amazing guy, some of the pieces that he has managed to produce over the years here are pretty complex and unusual. On top of this he is really lovely and drives me to work everyday (we both live in Pontedera).

Trent's snapshots from behind the scenes at Edra!  Top left - Trent's colleague Leonardo Volpi, preparing prosciutto for lunch in the Edra kitchen.  Top right - Trent at Edra HQ. Bottom left - Trent sits opposite Leonardo Volpi in the development department in the office.  Bottom right - Bianca the Edra dog at the Edra factory. Valerio Mazzai (owner of the company) and Massimo Morozzi (Creative Director) found Bianca wandering the streets and adopted her.

The other people here are great too, Valerio Mazzai is the owner of the company and a very sweet guy, we struggle a little bit to communicate because he speaks very little English and I speak very little Italian, so our conversations usually consist of me meandering my way through what I want to say in Italian. Valerio's two sons are at University, but they spend a lot of time around Edra learning the ropes. They are around my age and on my first weekend here they look me to an Italiano Disco, we have been friends ever since. Massimo Morozzi is the creative director and much of his work is done from his house in the country, but he usually comes into the factory a few times a week to check on things and discuss developments.

On the first day I saw Massimo briefly and he gave me a brief, so I have been spending my days (and nights) developing ideas for him. Hopefully he likes them.

- Trent

Leo, Mario and Trent out to lunch!  Trent says - "This is the day that Mario taught me the Italian phrase 'Te Posseno'. which is something that you would call a friend in Rome as a kind of half insult, half joke... Like calling your friend a bastard... I think I get it."

Best photo ever!  Trent on his boss Valerio Mazzai's boat with Valerio's two sons, Niccolo and Edwardo. What a tan...!