More or less every 10 years, the government (of the day) takes a look at education and devises a ‘new approach’, full of promise, to the curriculum. But, we’ve seen some dissenting voices recently, even from erudite personalities at the heart of Malta’s educational establishment. One of the supposed shortcomings of the new curriculum many point to is its rigidity; its inability to allow schools room to experiment, innovate and inspire.  In fulfilling the curriculum requirements, schools may have little time left to offer experiences that differentiate them or are adapted to their particular student intake.

Increasingly, there are parents in Malta wondering how to breathe fresh air into their children’s education and opt for alternatives to the state-church school dominated sector, and the fairly limited choice of international and/or private schools which do make some attempt to do things differently.

Unsurprisingly, a good many parents seeking alternatives to the current educational offer are foreigners living in Malta. Their assessment of the local educational options is serving to highlight also to local parents though the limitations of Malta’s schooling.  Clearly, foreigner parents here, who have no Maltese roots or prior linkages to the Islands, are reluctant to have their children straitjacketed in an educational system serving predominantly a nation’s aims, as they  see it, rather than children’s needs, whatever their cultural background.

They are banding together, attracting interested Maltese parents, and trying to work out how to bring alternative educational approaches to the Islands, within whatever legal frameworks they are duty bound to operate. Alternatives they are looking at, like the Waldorf system, are well established elsewhere in Europe but have yet to find a place in Malta.

Julian Saez and his wife Deirdre – Spanish and Irish nationals respectively – are two such parents. They school their two young daughters at a Waldorf school in Spain for half the year, but spend the other half year in Malta.  While relatively happy with the schooling here in Malta, they can see how it falls short in delivering the enlightened schooling their daughters receive in Spain.  Julian is on a drive to see whether it’s feasible to set up a Waldorf or similar type of school in Malta. Here’s he explains why he and Deirdre are on a mission to find out.

How did you end up being interested in educational models and methods?

My wife, Deirdre, is a very experienced psychologist, with a long background in education.  I’m an engineer and one of my passions is learning and teaching. I’m also lecturer in Murcia University in Spain.  So I suppose we’re both more attuned to thinking about educational systems and aware of pedagogical methods than many parents.

What frustrates you about traditional national curricula?

Through my learning about education, I found that to have the potential to succeed in life, and in school, you need more than the traditional approach based in IQ.  The IQ-competitive model of education has been demonstrated to be obsolete (it started life in the ‘60s).

For decades, a lot of emphasis has been put on certain aspects of intelligence such as logical reasoning, math skills, spatial skills, understanding analogies, verbal skills and so on. Researchers were puzzled by the fact that while IQ could predict to a significant degree academic performance and, to some degree, professional and personal success, there was something missing in the equation. Some of those with fabulous IQ scores were doing poorly in life; one could say that they were wasting their potential by thinking, behaving and communicating in a way that hindered their chances of succeeding.

After researching which pedagogical models emphasise concepts of emotional intelligence, social intelligence, and multiple intelligence and take them into consideration in devising a learning programme, I discovered the Waldorf education as an optimal model.

Why did the Waldorf model strike you are a more enlightened educational option?

Julian & Deirdre's daughters with friends at their Waldorf School in Spain

We did some analysis of various European models of education, from personal interest, and discovered some illuminating facts. The EU’s Cost of School Failure report, 2007, places Malta at the top of the European Union league table in terms of school failure rates, at 41.6 per cent. That is, children who do not complete school leaving exams or fail to stay in education beyond the statutory minimum age. Finland ranks the best performer both in the ‘Cost of Failure’ report and in another study, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), looking at the proficiency of students in core subjects – maths, reading, sciences.

So, we asked ourselves what Finland was doing that could lead to it ranking number one. I looked at their educational model and saw similarities to Waldorf pedagogy. Finland has other special factors of course contributing to its overall educational success: the high professional standing of teachers; free pre-school places; a lack of emphasis on the competitiveness in education, and more.

We visited a Waldorf school in Spain and I liked very much what we found. Since placing our three-year-old girls in a Waldorf school in Spain, we have been amazed at the excellent education they are receiving and notice too how happy they are.

Now that we live half the year in Malta, we’d like to see our daughters having the possibility of receiving this model of education here too.  I also think that Maltese people and other foreigners living in Malta should have more options when it comes to choosing the type of education they would like to have for their children.

In brief, what is the Waldorf approach to education?

The key to Waldorf is its premise that success is not about achieving certain scores and working hard, but that real success is much more about feeling good about yourself, being happy and optimistic, being able to enjoy healthy relationships, being fulfilled in work and having the capacity to enjoy the adventure of this fabulous life.  It supports children to develop their full potential as human beings.

It recognises that childhood is for children not little adults. Waldorf therefore encourages children to be able to play, explore, discover and discern their way to knowledge and understanding rather than sit at a desk and be fed information that may or may not actually serve them in life.

Dance, theatre, creativity and music are the natural ways that children engage in life when given permission to do so. They are core in the Waldorf ‘curriculum’ for example.

What steps are you taking to see about bringing a Waldorf or similar style educational model to Malta?

Step 1: Contacting parents interested in having this type of education for their children

Step 2: Defining a shared vision

Step 3: Defining a scope for the project, plan and schedule

Step 4: Drafting a budget for it

Step 5: Going ahead with the project.

These steps are not necessary sequential, indeed, once we’ve got a group of parents interested, we would already start actively looking for teachers and thinking about a convenient place to start the school.

How can anyone interested get in touch and participate?

Email me, Julián Sáez, at waldorfmalta@gmail.com.

Photo: Lucidtech

And looks like it tastes simply delicious too! Maltese bread at its best.

We came across this insight into an artisan bakery in Valletta with protagonist Nenu kneading the dough. One of those cameos of Malta life to be nostalgic about especially if you’re Maltese and living overseas I would think. A ‘no comment’ needed video.

Where to Find ‘Nenu’: it’s part of the Maypole group of bakeries. For its location in Valletta, click here.

Still, having said that, we will see an average of 5.5 hours per day of sunshine and 95 mm of rain. Compare all this to Manchester in the UK, having an average daytime temperature of 6C, night time of 1C, 89 mm of rain and 1 hour of sunshine.

What is good about Maltese weather is that if storms come, they generally will not last more than a few hours, so one should never have to wait long for a break in the weather. The storms can also make for some spectacular views of the coast as the waves of a stormy sea crash against the rocky coast.

Weather watch is brought to us by our regular weatherman Tony Muscat who runs his own monitoring station, it-Temp, in Mellieha in Malta’s north.

Photo: Courtesy of Leslie Vella.

That does have its pros of course – firstly, the seafronts are almost deserted during the peak lunchtime hours on Christmas day. So you can enjoy a walk with great views and gulps of sea air while others feast. Your health will be all the better for it, having broken the rule of gluttony on the 25th.

But you may ask:”Isn’t Christmas day in Malta just a bit miserable when the islanders are all inside feasting with friends?” Here’s some reassurance that there is life still for people here as tourists on Christmas holiday.

Are things closed?
Christmas Day, 25th, is the only official public holiday day, along with New Year’s Day. The 26th, called Boxing Day in the UK, is not a public holiday in Malta.

A lot of cafes in major towns, resorts and the cities – Sliema, St Julian’s, Valletta, Mdina, Bugibba, Qawra and Gozo resorts – Marsalforn, Xlendi and so on – will be open. Of course, you’d need to book ahead at restaurants, many of which will be open, if you were intending to eat out on Christmas day. But you won’t be far from a light snack, hot chocolate (it can be cold on those seafront walks) and cappuccino. Hotel cafes will be open should you not find a quainter, trendier or more traditional one open on the high streets or promenades.

Shops will be closed (apart from the enterprising traders who predict that someone will be missing a Christmas present). So some stationers may be open, but it’s the only day in the year newspapers don’t print. Cafes doubling as confectioners or bakeries will be busy as guests buy delicacies to take to their Christmas day hosts. International chains of fast food restaurants will also be open.

What’s the weather like at Christmas?
Obviously it’s a lot warmer than in Northern Europe and even more so this year as northern neighbours endure the big freeze. December daytime temperatures can be a pleasant 16-22 or more if you’re in a sheltered sunny spot. Nights are chill, and wind can swirl around. It can be damp as it’s a maritime climate, but the real cold starts in January-February. Come with layers, and be prepared for stormy periods. See our hints here.

What can I do?
First, check out our What’s On guide for up-to-date info on events (New Year’s parties, exhibitions, clubbing and more).

If you’re wandering the streets, you can find plenty to amuse yourself looking at the various household Christmas decorations! From the traditional door wreaths to the entire plastic Santa village I once saw. The Christmas lights from dusk in Republic Street, Valletta, are magical. Crib viewing is a main Maltese occupation, so join the throngs. You’ll see cribs – Presepji – in all styles from the kitsch and mechnically-operated to the lovingly crafted and historic. Window shutters open to offer a peep of householders’ crib displays, while other residents turn their whole garage into a crib for public viewing. There are several crib displays – Auberge d’Italie, Valletta is one regular, but for sheer exuberance, visit the Bethlehem at Ghajnsielem, Gozo. A word you’ll need to know is’ Pasturi’, which means ‘crib figurines’. There’s a real art and craft to making them that’s carried on in Malta today.

Christmas Shopping hours
Valletta has late-night shopping until 9.00pm in the run-up to Christmas. Sliema shops stay open late too. Bay Street complex in St Julian’s is open until 10pm. Expect to join thick crowds ambling down Valletta’s main drag, Republic Street. It’s a ritual – shopping, supping a coffee, munching a cake, and enjoying the lights. Linger when the shops close and have a relaxed supper at one of the city’s many restaurants in historic piazzas and buildings. Wine bars tempt too!

What’s Happy Christmas in Maltese?
‘Merry Christmas’ in Maltese is ‘Il-Milied it-Tajjeb!’

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day masses
The cathedrals, as well as all parish churches, have their midnight mass on Christmas Eve. The usual parish midnight mass includes the tradition, dating back to 1883, of an altar boy (or girl these days) preaching the sermon, in Maltese, which is on this occasion called ‘Il-Priedka Tat-Tifel’. It will take the child a good few weeks to learn it all by heart! Another traditional sight worth catching, again in many parishes on Christmas Day morning, is the Procession of Baby Jesus. Children from the locality dress up as biblical figures, accompanied by a band.

What is a Maltese Christmas Day lunch?
Today, the same as the traditional British one – turkey with trimmings, Christmas pudding, mince pies or some Sicilian-style desserts from a fine confectioner. The Maltese love the Italian Christmas cake, Panettone, which is dry sponge with either a little candied peel and dried fruit, or chocolate filled. Hotels will offer the traditional lunch, usually as a buffet.

Does public transport run over Christmas?
In previous years, buses have run every day as usual in the Christmas period. But with the change to Arriva as the service provider, we’re not too sure what the timetable will be.  Check the Arriva website nearer the holiday days themselves. Our guess is it will be a public holiday-Sunday service.   Gozo Channel Ferry operates on Christmas Day, with a slightly reduced service.

Are museums open?
Yes, with business as usual apart from on Christmas Day itself. For state museum and sites’ opening hours, see Heritage Malta.

Photo: Leslie Vella 

I stood outside the Asmiov Robotics tent. I felt at home, a grown-up robotics playground called the hi-tech EXPO in Milan, that ran from the 14th till 19th December, and hosted some of the leading technology companies in the world; in total, over 140.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is an amazing place. It’s where hypertext, the fax machine, cancer-causing genes and the GPS were invented. In Milan, they were showcasing their WIMAX wireless energy transfer technology. It can launch energy, without the need of wires, through two metres of air. The technology works because of coiled magnets present in separate devices but which resonate with each other. Place a table in the way of this energy, no problem, WIMAX gets through it without a fuss. Concrete? Not an issue for WIMAX.

I stood there gob smacked, watching a grainy skype video image as an MIT scientist powered an LED bulb using a WIMAX energy source located a metre beneath a table. Their vision is to bring these energy transfer devices to your wireless homes and to embed them in concrete to charge your electric car, whilst parked. MIT has several patents in this technology, it could make millions, and it also has over 3,000 PhD students.

From a small town in Italy, I talked to Laura Margheri, a PhD student in Bio Robotics. She was developing a soft robot based on an octopus. The robot was flexible, made out of silicon and could grasp an arm. It’s still in development, but once complete it could scour the sea floor monitoring the state of the environment, studying marine life and crawling through pipes to find blockages or leaks.

Malta wasn’t to be left out of this exhibition, with local company SIB Laboratories Ltd exhibiting therapeutic Russian space technology. They are bringing this technology to hospitals through collaboration with a number of organisations including the Russian Academy of Sciences, Fondazione Salvatore Maugeri from Italy, and the University of Malta.

SIB Laboratories Ltd is adjusting the Regent™ suit and Korvit™ foot simulator to bring to a hospital near you. The Regent™ suit is purely mechanical having straps, belts, and elastic cords that put pressure on your body when you move around. It was developed for Russian cosmonauts to prevent bone and muscle loss at zero gravity. On Earth, Russian scientists claim it can speed up recovery after brain injury or stroke.

The Korvit™ foot simulator is an incredibly simple machine having two rubber balloons on each foot through which air is pumped. The balloons inflate that are meant to make your body feel like you’re out for a stroll when lying on a hospital bed. They claim it can get stroke patients on their feet in half the time. Now, a local team led by Prof. Kenneth Camilleri are studying this equipment, if validated and improved, these technologies would be a powerful and economical way to treat patients.

These amazing projects show the benefit of funding PhD students. Malta is tapping into EU funds (University alone has received over £40 million), but we are not tapping into our brainpower.  Pushing businesses to fund PhD students would finally start turning Malta into that fabled catch phrase: a knowledge-based economy.

Supporting PhD students to do research is the most cost-effective way for companies. PhD students do not cost much, I did a PhD in Edinburgh and used to earn £12,000 per year, local students normally get less, a similar price in euros would extract the best young minds in Malta for the project. A PhD lasts 3–4 years, so in total it would cost around €36,000–€48,000. The benefits are a patented discovery that can be sold.

Are there any other costs? Perhaps equipment and materials but nothing extensive, the University of Malta has recently upgraded a lot of its facilities, companies simply need to support the hands and brains to use them.

PhD students are also highly motivated because they have to publish articles or create patents to move forward in their careers. They often work beyond a 9 to 5 job, for example while researching in Edinburgh I regularly worked 10 hour 6-day weeks, because I wanted to succeed. For companies, this drive implies a potentially high return, at low risk.

Malta will never attract the near US $10 billion endowment that graces MIT (our GDP comes in at around $8 billion), however we could attract a lot more money to support our best minds. They can be attracted to remain or come back to Malta, instead of being lost to the ever perpetual brain-drain to Europe, USA and Australia.

About the Author
Edward Duca has a PhD in Genetics and currently exploring the world of science writing and communication. He thinks that science is not just for himself, but for everyone to enjoy and inspire. Find him on his blog, ‘An Unexpected Science Nugget.’

Although not the coldest month, December’s weather is a mixed bag. With daytime temperatures of around 18C, it’s entirely possible to see on a sunny day, the Maltese dressed up in coats and scarves and conversely see tourists in shorts and T-shirts. Even night time averages of 12C are not particularly low.

It may not be the coldest month, but it is the month with the shortest number of hours of sunshine, at 5 hours. And along with November, is the month with the joint highest rainfall of 110mm. With the sea at 17C, only the really brave will put a toe in the water. But it is in fact this sea temperature which has the warming effect on the air temperature, making December often more mild than one would expect.

Photo: courtesy Leslie Vella

Joseph is part of the production team from grove to press and onward to Malta. He enjoys seeing the oil he helps produce and bring to Malta enjoyed and shared, perhaps chatted about by a few in the know. The Umbrian olive oil is pressed in time-honoured tradition from tree to bottle in under two days, then packaged exquisitely and imported to Malta in three weeks flat.

It represents a small-volume, specialist product with a niche brand; a true connoisseur’s oil.  It’s peppery to the taste buds; an oil that is part of a dish, not a mere vehicle to cook or dress it in. It’s perfect savoured simply; all you need is a crusty Maltese loaf to accompany it. For how to buy, see article end.

The Story

Joseph and his wife Elsie are frequent visitors to Terni in southern Umbria, a city within striking distance of Rome just 80 km south. In fact, the Roman town of Carsulae whose ruins lie near the olive groves was the last stop of Roman legions returning home. Here, they’d encamp and make ready for a final triumphant march into the capital.  Another stop on the tourist trail nearby is the walled town of San Gemini, famed for its mineral water.

The reason for Joseph’s trips to Italy’s most rural and land-locked region is to liaise with an Italian lab that produces the prosthetics for his dental patients. Over the years, Italian business partners become friends and his trips extended to sightseeing then stumbling across and getting involved with La Poiana, a old farm with an incredible heritage in olive oil.

La Poiana (the buzzard) – the oil’s brand name – is a rambling farm in need of restoration, but Joseph’s Umbrian friends saw the potential of its abandoned olive groves.  Joseph too was drawn to the challenge of restoring the land, replanting where trees had died in the famed killer frosts of Italian winters past.  He became part of their mission to bring back into production some of Italy’s most prized olive growing land.

“I have a passion for wine, but knew that I would never have the time from my career to gain the know-how to start a winery,” Joseph says, explaining how he got in to helping out in the olive business. “Olive growing complements my love of wines and is something I can indulge in learning about.” he explains.

La Poiana Estate 

La Poiana comes from a region renowned for some of the finest oils. In fact, all Umbrian olive production has D.O.P (Denominazione di Origine Protetta) which means the oil is strictly quality controlled and from the region granted the D.O.P. status. La Poiana’s groves are also farmed with organic methods. The estate bottles several single olive oil varieties for the gift and connoisseur market. These are the ‘Laudemio’ oils. In the Middle Ages, Laudemio referred to that part of the crop reserved for the lord, or for the owner of the land and so were always the highest-quality portion of what was harvested. The remainder is sold as a superior blend.

Production is limited with the 400 trees yielding around 600 litres. “At the most, there will only be 550 trees so La Poiana will always be a rare find; a true connoisseur produce,” Joseph says.  The oil in its unusual presentation bottles makes a perfect gift and festive hamper choice. For how to buy, see below.

Olive Oil Varieties 

Three olive varieties, typical of Umbria and Tuscany are grown at La Poiana: Frantoio and Moraiolo are considered strong in taste, while Leccino is usually classified as a mild olive variety

Frantoio: The oil is usually described as fruity (green banana), green, herbaceous (grass and green tea) and pungent – it goes very well on grilled steak, lobster and crab, vegetables like Brussels sprouts and artichoke, pasta, tomatoes and Brousse cheese

Moraiolo: This oil can be described as fruity, green, mildly pungent and quite fruity Its flavour stands out on cooked vegetables and complements fishand pork very well

Leccino: This oil is delicate, mildly fruity, spicy and sweet evoking hints of artichoke, sweet almonds and wild thistle.  It is recommended for dressing salads and meat carpaccios as well as for preparing desserts

How to Buy

La Poiana oils are superb to gift, particularly this time of year at Christmas.  La Poiana is offering Malta Insideout site users a special price of 1 Euro off the recommended RPP for each oil and the blend:

Special Prices:

Single oils, 250ml cube:  Euro 13
Single oils, 500ml cube: Euro 19

Email oliolapoiana@gmail.com to purchase and for delivery information.

Average daytime temperatures of 21C and at night of 15C means that it is still warm, with occasional days where a t-shirt may be worn still. And with around 6½ hours of sunshine per day, there is still opportunity for a tan.

Only the brave would take a dip in sea. Although its temperature of 20C sounds inviting, it will feel very cold.

Weather watch is brought to us by our regular weatherman Tony Muscat who runs his own monitoring station, it-Temp, in Mellieha in Malta’s north.

International brand-name stores now crowd high streets in Malta. But most are franchises and few can claim to have been conceived on the islands. Not so The Rug Company which has just opened its Malta showroom. Its high-end designer and bespoke rugs now grace the floors of gliterrati the world over, but you could say the company started life here and is now ‘coming home’.

Suzanne Sharp co-founded The Rug Company with husband Christopher in 1997. She spoke to us about their personal story in the rug trade and what it means to bring the brand to Malta.

The Rug Company showroom in Ta’Xbiex is a high-ceilinged, almost minimalist space in a new business centre just a few metres from Whitehall Mansions, home to the British High Commission. Suzanne Sharp is giving instructions in Maltese to workmen completing the finishing touches to the space; she’s at ease in the language of her early years (her maiden name is Miceli), and is instantly recognisable from international magazine photos.

Suzanne & Christopher Sharp. Photo: Suki Dhanda

Both she and Christopher crop up frequently in the glossy weekend supplements of UK papers. Christopher appeared only recently in an FT Weekend magazine interview. The Sharps are clearly people on the move, as their showrooms from Dallas to Dubai and New York to Moscow testify.

Malta now…
Today though, Susan has her sights set on their 19th successful store opening. There are rugs piled in neat rows, some wall hangings and a set of arty photos above the back counter. The showroom is deceptively simple for a product that takes around four months to complete and relies on the handcrafting techniques of the Tibetans and Nepalese that have gone almost unchanged for hundreds of years.

Their rugs are sumptuous heirlooms, often described as ‘works of art for the floor’, and carry four figure price tags. However, Rug Company rugs are made to last, outliving their owners to be handed down and cherished by future generations. The brand shouts high-end contemporary style, but at heart, it’s about a sense of timelessness, heritage and continuity, which seems fitting for a company now rediscovering roots with the opening of its Malta store.

Malta then…
Flash back 14 years and shift scene just a couple of kilometres along the seafront to Qui-Si-Sana, Sliema, and you can imagine Suzanne doing much the same as now – organising her retail space. Back then, she and Christopher owned a single outlet in Malta called ‘Christopher Sharp The Oriental Rug Gallery’, which they sold in 1996 before leaving the island. The intervening years have seen the duo revolutionise the London rug trade and go global, collaborating along the way with designers like Vivienne Westwood and Paul Smith, as well as fashion houses such as the Italian label Marni.

How it all began…
How and why the rug trade, and why Malta then and now, is a personal tale that starts in Saudi Arabia moving to Italy before arriving on the islands in the winter of 1990. It’s one Suzanne is fond of telling. She had left Malta in the late ‘70s as teen when her father, an Air Malta executive, was posted first to Rome, then London. She met and married Christopher in London in the ‘80s and moved with him to Saudi Arabia where he worked as a film maker and broadcaster.

“Our interest in rugs started in Saudi. There was little to do socially, so we stayed in homemaking. We decorated our house with rugs bought at the souks, often from Afghan traders selling their wares to pay their way to Mecca,” Suzanne explains. Saudi souks were to give them a deep understanding of what was to become their stock in trade.

After four years in Saudi, they left for Tuscany with the aim of opening a boutique hotel. But frozen to the bone visiting pile after pile of rubble on windswept hills amid a bleak wintery landscape, they realised their dream was downgrading rapidly to a B&B, if that. On a Christmas trip back to Malta in 1990, by now with their two-year-old son Nick in tow, Suzanne’s family persuaded them that life was beautiful down south. “We rushed back to Tuscany, packed up, paid bills and drove down to catch the ship from Naples to Malta. We arrived in Grand Harbour at sunset, and Malta seemed warm, shimmering and golden. A sign of better times to come,“ Suzanne says.

Still bitten by the rug trade, the two saw a niche in the local market and opened their Qui-Si-Sana outlet offering top-end, traditional Persian carpets. Two more children and seven years later, the serial movers decided to decamp back to London ready to take another punt in a trade they now knew intimately. The Rug Company was born.

London calling…
“Our first outlet in Chelsea was overtly upmarket; a conscious move to differentiate ourselves from the cheap, pile-‘em-high carpet traders whose ‘hand-loomed’ oriental rugs had probably been mass produced,” she says. “Then Christopher came home one day with a hunch, saying that people were looking for something more. So, we decided to do something against the grain; we went contemporary.”

Nowadays, interior design magazines are cover to cover with the bare floorboard (in Malta’s case, bare stone) and statement rug look, but without the Sharps, it might not have come to pass so quickly nor been so pervasive a trend. Always ahead of the market, the duo, who were now also designers rather than pure retailers, were on the move again. “We couldn’t base a shop on one style idea. So, in 2001 we sought top-name designers to create unique ranges for our contemporary collection,” Suzanne adds.

Even through the credit crunch The Rug Company was doing well. “I think people see them as investments. You don’t think about spending on fixtures like kitchens and bathrooms, and they can’t move with you. A rug can – it’s personal. We offer a bespoke service tailor making rugs like you’d have a suit or wedding dress made,” Suzanne explains.

Theirs are not humble rugs. Suzanne is quick to point out that the craftsmanship of genuine hand-woven rugs and carpets has always been highly prized and priced. She makes an analogy to hit the point home: “Just look at the tapestries hanging in The Palace in Valletta,” she explains. ”They are Gobelins from the 1700s; exquisitely woven stories, valued and appreciated in their day.”

Back to Malta with hand-loomed love
But what of Malta’s capacity now to appreciate the qualities, durability and design of the Rug Company’s offer? “There were always people in Malta back in 1997 who appreciated the quality of the rugs we offered. But now the time is right, the market grown; look at all the new condos, penthouses and marina developments, and our earlier clientele are also thirsty for something new on the market here,” she says.

Locals’ appreciation of design steers our conversation back to Valletta and also to its bid to be a European Capital of Culture in 2018, an initiative which is talking of the city’s role in inspiring design and innovation and stimulating a creative economy. Suzanne’s path with The Rug Company is evidence that a creative career can bring benefits in terms of both personal fulfillment and financial gain.

Suzanne is clearly fond of her homeland and has managed to take time to show her London PR assistants around Valletta, pointing out all the grand sights and quirky elements that make up the personality of Europe’s most diminutive capital. It’s mid October, it’s hot and feels like summer as we speak. Suzanne’s biog on company’s website says her favourite view is ‘the big blue sea on a sunny day in the Med’. Her assistants say they’d like to linger longer in Malta.

“I hope Valletta won’t end up with European blandness,” she muses, recalling the manicured Tuscan hill towns she once trekked around in search of paradise. “I love the character of the old bars and shops in Malta.” She has a house in Attard and holidays here, surrounded by an extended family of Maltese relations.

All the while, you sense that to Suzanne, The Rug Company’s Malta showroom means more than just another store notched up. It holds a special place for the Sharps in their story. You also sense that Suzanne may be about to follow quite closely Malta’s interest in a creative economy. The Rug Company may be a global brand, but perhaps it’s come home and is about to make its mark in Malta again.

Where to find them:
The Rug Company
Area F, Blue Harbour Business Centre
Ta’Xbiex, TXB 1043
Malta

t. (+356) 21 324 990
For map, click here.

To anyone reading leading UK newspapers, Dr John Briffa needs little introduction.  He’s a former columnist for the Daily Mail and the Observer, and former contributing editor for Men’s Health magazine. He has authored for dozens of newspaper and magazine titles internationally, and is a previous recipient of the Health Journalist of the Year award in the UK.

His latest book ‘Escape the Diet Trap – lose weight for good without calorie counting, extensive exercise or hunger’ will be published in January in the UK. Dr Briffa is proud of his heritage and has chosen Malta as the first place in the world to reveal the ground-breaking concepts contained in the book. We’ve an exclusive Dr Briffa article here, based on insights from the book.

In partnership with Bryn Kennard of Body Works in Spinola Bay, he will be revealing the secret to lasting weight loss in the ‘Escape the Diet Trap’ workshop, 12 November, at the Hotel Juliani, St Julians.  (Details & Booking info below.) See the Dr Briffa Bodyworks Workshop Programme (pdf download).

The Insights, the Theories, the Practice

Time and time again the conventional approach to weight loss, ‘eat less, exercise more’, has been shown to be a dismal failure for those looking for long-term sustainable weight loss. It is normally put down to lack of will power or discipline when many fail to control their weight following endless cycles of eating less and exercising more. However, there is good reason to believe that it is not so much that diets don’t work, it’s that they can’t work.

Dr John’s premise is that eating less and exercising more goes against the fundamental design of the body. If calorie intake is cut, it can stall the metabolism as the body seeks to conserve energy. Not only that, when a cycle of eating less ends and normal eating patterns are resumed it can take three months or more for the metabolism to boot up to normal levels.

Studies have also shown that people who tend to eat less also tend to move less making the exercise part of the equation a much harder to sustain. The role of exercise in weight loss has been wildly overstated. In fact, studies clearly show that exercise is quite ineffective when it comes to weight loss. This is not to say that exercise is not important, on the contrary, it still plays a massive role in both aesthetics and health, it just means that it needs to work more intelligently as part of our overall wellness routines.

We asked Dr Briffa to explain a bit more about what’s going on here. 

Q. The logic behind ‘Escape the Diet Trap’ seems so sound and such common sense why has it eluded us for so long? 

Dr Briffa: Some of the misinformation regarding weight loss has come because the calorie principle – the idea that weight loss is an inevitable consequence of ‘eating less and exercising more’ is so persuasive. It makes so much sense. And when it doesn’t work (as is almost always the case in the long term), the tendency is to blame would-be slimmers rather than take another look at the theory and see if it stands up.

On top of this we have a food industry that has been able to peddle ‘slimming’ foods on faulty premises such as ‘low-calorie’, ‘low-fat’ or ‘lite’. This has further reinforced the idea that it’s only calories that count, and further led us down a path to failure.”