Celebrating Christmas at Mimi Thorisson's 19th-century home in Turin

[gentle festive music]

We have eight children, and that's a lot.

And that makes Christmas extra special.

We are a mix of culture.

We have Icelandic traditions, French traditions.

We have English traditions.

'cause I grew up in Hong Kong

and I would say that all our traditions revolve around food,

first and foremost.

I'm so happy to add Italian to our traditions

because there's nothing better than tortellini en brodo

for one of your Christmas meal.

When we decided to stay in Turin

after living here for nearly six years,

and we started looking for an apartment.

And I really do believe that you don't find an apartment

and the apartment finds you.

And we always loved this neighborhood,

which is the old part of town.

And we found it by chance.

It was actually the first apartment we looked at

and it was the one.

There's a very French touch in this apartment.

I do find Turin the most French of Italian cities,

so I feel very at home here.

I am very feminine.

So, I love the old world, the feminine side of things.

And my husband is very Nordic. He's Icelandic.

So for him, it's this northern Icelandic minimalism.

There's a lot of conflict there

where we have to always find a just balance.

But I guess it's like a marriage.

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The heart of the family is in the kitchen.

I was so happy when I found it

because it had this rustic element.

It felt like a kitchen in the country,

which was perfect for me.

And I love this part here,

which is, like, I call it the pergola, the city pergola,

where you have this beautiful kind of greenhouse effect

where I can grow my herbs and put all my little lemon plants

and store my vegetables.

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My new cookbook was born in this kitchen

because it's the whole story of this kitchen,

moving to Turin,

and this was the first room I,

you know, I had to design and decide,

and it was the first room that was ready in the house.

I really love old kitchens.

I can't function in a modern kitchen.

I need fire. I need light.

The kitchen deserves a real wooden, good old table.

So, and it's a space where we talk

and we exchange all our stories and we really live here.

[gentle festive music]

This is a very special space. It feels like two worlds.

It's got the dining room, which is very much my area

where we entertain, where the family gathers.

And then we have the other side,

which is my husband's beautiful work area.

He's a minimalist

and everything is just quite perfect,

which is the opposite of me.

Well, look at this table. It's all about abundance.

And I love decorating with fruits.

I think fruits make the most natural kind of decoration,

pomegranates, and clementine.

The leaves are so beautiful and I love these plates.

We had them made in Milan by Paravicini.

It's a mother and her daughters. They're very special.

Everything is handmade

and we love these little monkeys everywhere.

One little cherry on top that I love is this cloche.

I have this fascination for grand old restaurants.

You know, the ones that you read about in books by Balzac

and you know, the men with their uniforms

and then they just lift the cloche

and it's this incredible, you know, surprise.

And this is a chestnut cake.

I call it le gateau aux marron glace.

And one of my favorite traditions in Italy,

it's called the nuvola

and it's Turin's most amazing, delicious treat.

It's a pandoro

and it's covered with a vanilla icing with powdered sugar,

and it's meant to be a cloud.

And you know,

Christmas cannot be Christmas without a nuvola.

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I think a living space is all about harmony.

You can't have it too design or too old.

I love mixing old and new mixed with grandmaster's designs.

You know, these beautiful design chairs

by Gio Ponti or the bench.

It creates a beautiful dialogue between past and present.

I love these posters from Armando Testa from the '60s,

makes the room really warm

and I think it's always cheerful

to have this beautiful drink on the wall.

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We found this when we first moved here.

It's an old map of Torino,

which is really pretty.

And these lamps, I found them in Venice.

They're from a French sculptor. She recycles Murano glasses.

And I love the ombre.

It's very feminine

and it adds this little feminine touch

that I love in this room.

When I turned 50, not so long ago,

I got this surprise gift from my husband

and I just couldn't believe it.

It was such a surprise,

and it was my portrait,

painted by a dear friend called Andrea Ferolla.

And I always found difficult

to find our really beautiful Christmas stockings,

and I finally found them on a recent trip to Hong Kong.

And they're made of vintage Victorian fabric.

We have a lovely big Christmas tree here

and each decoration is very symbolic.

It's a little bit emotional

when we take out the decorations from the boxes

because when each child was born,

you know, we had one to commemorate their birth.

And it's a lot of memories from each kid, each children.

It's a little mix of everything

and it represents us, this tree.

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Well, I find this room obviously the most relaxing room.

It's the bedroom. And I love the colors.

I saw this beautiful door with my husband in Milan,

and it was all these pastels.

It was like pinks and yellows and blues.

It looks like a baby room.

But you know, once you mix it up with wood, you know,

I call it the toasted almond woody colors.

It works, and I love the combination of brown and blue.

I love the bedside tables

because they remind me of being on a boat.

It's got this roundness,

this kind of art deco-esque feel to it.

And those ostrich egg lamps are just very,

like a little fantasy,

and we found them in Milan at Rho, Milano,

this fantastic store.

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So the bathroom, it's the en suite bathroom of our bedroom.

And it's just...

When we saw it, we couldn't believe how big it was

and how just intact it was,

all in its beautiful tiles,

and the floors are amazing, just shades of blue.

And this window panel is just magical.

The woman who lived here before, she was very special.

She was an artist,

and her apartment was just filled

with these whimsical creations, art installations.

And I do have a few little pieces that she's left, you know,

like this little light here and a few remnants, which I love

because I feel like it's the whispers from the past.

[gentle upbeat music]

So before Christmas, we have this little ritual

of gathering around the tree and we wrap presents secretly,

and we have all these ribbons and it's just really fun.

On Christmas Eve, we have our big dinner,

and I would say that's a very French dinner.

It's a big, beautiful roast and chestnut cake

and all these beautiful traditions.

So, I believe that when you are from everywhere

and mixed cultures,

it's very important to hang onto your traditions

because it makes you feel more at home.

[gentle upbeat music]