Nikon Italy- Studio Tour

When you're lucky, well you're lucky. Why am I lucky you may ask? Because one of my dearest girlfriends Paola and her husband Aldo, own the distributorship for Nikon here in Italy, Nital.As you know photography is my life plus Frank is a serious amateur photographer! When Paola asked us to visit their new Nikon facility we jumped into Lola (our fiat 500) and headed for Turin to tour Nital's new state of the art distribution facility, and WOW.I had been hearing about the build out for quite some time, I even helped her a bit with some of the final touches (mainly in the realm of parties and hospitality for all the reps and sales staff that would be visiting). We organized her "party pantry" and I must say she was an amazing student. The touches around the plant were incredible.One of the coolest things in the facility is the Nikon School, it's a full photo studio and classroom with a lecture hall and theater. It is the perfect venue for workshops and intensive study of photography with all sorts of guest lecturers. My brain went wild imagining the food photography workshops I could conduct here. Stay tuned for detail on my workshop page about upcoming workshops in Italy (!).Here are a few more shots of the tour. Thank you to Paola and Aldo for their kind hospitality and to their staff for making us feel so welcome. I think Frank is still reeling from seeing all the fun Nikon cameras and toys.Everything at Nital is so colorfully branded with this amazing rainbow bar-code on everythingEven the restrooms have all the colors of the rainbow, super happy and chic!How cute is this graphic on the ladies room with adorable Paola pointing it out!The ladies room had this really handsome photographic cut out to keep you company! Love it! The distribution floor was beyond, it took my breathe away!Oh and I forgot to mention that when they moved locations they took the board room and CEO's office from the 70's to the new plant and perfectly recreated it. The entire board room with 70's furniture and lighting in mint condition. There are no words to describe the perfection of these rooms.I literally died when I saw it. They did not miss a detail. What a superb design touch and ode to the founder of the company.These chairs blew my mind! The lighting was some of the most gorgeous vintage lighting I have ever seen and the installation was divine. All of it, just  impeccable.As we left the tour, Paola handed us a really fantastic parting gift. She was clearly inspired by my book and our conversations about thinking creatively. She (like me) loves using unexpected vessels and these jars and the packaging were so well thought out. These gorgeous jars filled with candies and biscotti took the cake! Check out the captions: Passion, Versatility, Energy, Attention. I must say a visit to Nital and it is clear that this company captures each word in the most inspiring way.Thank you Paola and Aldo, we are lucky to call you friends!* note: this is not a sponsored post all the opinions are my own.