City Notes
Beauty salons of any description tend to have a particular look, if it's not clean and clinical, it's Zen-like - all bamboo shoots and rainforest soundtracks. Sure, some push their boundaries a little; but looking like a visit to show caves like Dan...
City Notes
Founded in Alte Vicenza, Northern Italy, in 1956, Bisazza are big-hitters. Real big-hitters. Bringing in mega-designers like Jaime Hayon, Patricia Urquiola and Fabio Novembre, for collaborations and commissions, the luxury mosaic brand also keep...
City Notes
Prepare yourself: everything you thought you knew about ice cream means nothing. Even those ridiculously good Italian gelaterie? Forget 'em - waste of time... for Jordi Roca, the youngest of the three brothers behind El Celler de Can Roca (the...
City Notes
Gentrification hey? It'll come and get you, wherever you are - waving its big fat chequebook in your faces, pushing 'subtle' brand collaborations on your favourite dive bars... but, hey, is it really all that bad, or is it just the way the cookie...
City Notes
Before Hitler and political extremism quashed the party, Weimar culture (a period cited as having had one of the highest levels of intellectualism in history) had brought the good times to Berlin's 'Golden Twenties'. Forward-thinking in science,...
City Notes
Panama City; the capital of Panama - the southernmost country of Central America, and one of the world's fastest growing Latin American countries - naturally has an ever-changing, and ever higher reaching, skyline. A dense, high-rise skyline that is...
City Notes
A Day in the Life has always been one of my favourite Beatles songs, as a kid I often wondered what the "4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire" may look like - I knew they were rather small, and you could fill the Albert Hall with them, but I always...
City Notes
Whilst many of the world's post-war urban utopia experiments have failed miserably — 1960s Naples suburb of Scampìa, famed for its gloomy role in Gomorrah, a prime example — London's effort to repopulate the war-ravaged City of...
City Notes
Wouldn't it be nice, to live in a world where conformity was a prisonable offence? Where convention had been replaced by chaos with a smile, playing by the rules was treated with heavy medication, suits were substituted by Hawaiian shirts and pink...
City Notes
You'll have no doubt heard of The Impossible Project, the chaps - enthusiasts and former Polaroid employees - who saved instant film. Sounds like one of them melodramatic declarations, but they quite literally did. Taking over the Polaroid factory...
City Notes
With experience in some of the world's most exclusive restaurants, Brit Luke Dale-Roberts prestigious career was recognised in 2010, with South Africa's La Colombe - the Constantia Uitsig wine estate's restaurant, where Dale-Roberts was executive...
Journal
Over in the Mexican city of Monterrey, local design studio Savvy have taken things a bit too far. Cakes, chocolate, sweet gooey indulgences... it's bad enough resisting temptation as it is. But these bastards have gone and made a whole shop that's...
Stuff Crush
Weirdness is a notion long entwined with the concept of creativity. Mocked by the strait-laced confined to their boxes of conformism, celebrated by the bold and the brave who pursue the outré as a means of pushing beyond the banal. In Weird...
City Notes
In Montreal’s Little Italy, a new arrival is making waves with a fresh take on Italian dining. Pasta Pooks, which opened in March 2025, is a compact five-seat takeout counter serving pasta and natural wine in a space that marries Old World charm...
City Notes
A once-forgotten 19th-century residence in Savannah’s historic district has been brought spectacularly back to life, reincarnated as The Douglas; a refined 16-room boutique hotel at 14 East Oglethorpe Avenue, where design meets old-world...
Dispatches
In a country where club floors open with Buddhist chants and Ladyboys offer dawn alms in corsets and stilettos, Elizabeth Waterman has found a world of contradictions too vivid to ignore. Over the past three years, and across four extended trips,...
Dispatches
There's a paradox about self-care, which is that those who need it most are probably the least likely to practice it. If you're one of those people, you might even be put off by the term self-care. Maybe it sounds too self-indulgent to you. If...
Dispatches
Looking for a Japanese tutor in Chicago without breaking the bank? You’re not alone. Whether you’re aiming to order ramen with confidence, ace a language exam, or shape your skills for business or travel, one thing’s clear: good private...
Dispatches
If you’ve ever looked at your balcony and thought, “What a wasted space,” you’re not alone. Many of us live in homes where every square foot counts, yet balconies often remain underutilized. Whether it’s too small, too plain, or simply...
Dispatches
Recognising the world’s most inspiring work across design, innovation and creativity, the A’ Design Award & Competition stands as one of the most respected and far-reaching international design accolades. Each year, a diverse panel of academics,...