Appartement 50, Citée Radieuse, Marseille

Thanks to Jean-Marc Drut and Patrick Blauwart, who bought and meticulously restored this well preserved « E1/inferieur/monofacade » apartment in the mythic Citee Radieuse; one can discover an apartment in its original state; a must for anyone with interest in architecture and Le Corbusier’s work.  I must here pay tribute to the owners  altruism, as not only […]

Titine

The story starts with an idea: refurbish a vintage caravan into a fun-loving bar/occasional extra bedroom for guests…… next thing we know, our friends Alain and Benedicte show up at our place with « Titine » at the back of the car/truck (but that’s another long story…) So here is Titine with Alain and Ben, before the

Alexander Mc Queen @ the V&A

Although no where close to being a fashionista, and looking a bit out of place amongst the most exuberant fashion crowd at this exhibition… But it was this years must see as I understood it from a friend who had been fascinated at the MET version back in 2011.. and didn’t shy away from seeing

V&A Refreshment Rooms

Although the V&A is one of my favourite haunts in London. My memories of awful « restaurants » in the Kensington museums when the kids were toddlers always kept me away from having any kind of meal in one of them… But there is good news: the London restaurant scene upgrading has also widely touched the Kensington

Salon Cote Sud 2015

This year’s edition had a strong accept on craftsmanship as witnessed by the main exhibits by the pond: Glassbolwing:   Boqa, the company behind the Acapulco chair revival in France’s terraces Marius Fabre traditional « savon de Marseille » As this year was the 25th birthday of the magazine, there was an extensive collection of limited edition

Galpon Patagonia

Kind of a surprise to find this Brooklyn-like art space at the very end of the world, down in Puerto Natales: definitely a place to visit if you are down there! Galpon Patagonia was inaugurated early this year, this exhibition included works by: Antonio Rodríguez, Carlos Edwards, José Vicente Gajardo, Soledad Ramsay, Mauricio Guajardo, y Marcela

Punta Arenas

I am just throwing a little post about Punta Arenas as a tip. Most travellers skip this town to go straight to Puerto Natales, the door to the Torres del Paine National Park. It is a shame because Punta Arenas has this frontier town feeling and looks that is definitely worth a little visit.  

Puerto Natales

The gateway to Torres del Paine has a pretty good selection of hotels. We picked the Altiplanico because we had a great stay at the original one in San Pedro before. We where not disappointed by the Patagonia brother: nice ecofriendly architecture (with an interesting exterior insulation made with raw earth bricks), and home made feeling

Pingo Salvaje

..which means « wild horse », is a beautiful estancia in the middle of nowhere: in Patagonia that really means far-far-away!! About 20 min drive from Puerto Natales, the estancia is by lake Sofia. The half-day ride we took brought us along the lake, through streams, up and down steep hills and under eagles and condor’s nests

18e aux sources du design, Chateau de Versailles

Making good use of a long flight connection in Paris by visiting this intimate exhibition at the Chateau de Versaille. See link here: http://www.chateauversailles.fr/les-actualites-du-domaine/evenements/evenements/expositions/18e-aux-sources-du-design/design/quelques-chefs-duvre-1 I was quite intrigued by the idea put forward that 18e century might be a revolution in design as well: that styles like Louis XV and XVI styles could be seen as

Les Clegues de Reattu

Clergues not only is a great photographer, he is also the founder of the « Rencontres d’Arles » and is the man behind the first photography collection in a French museum, at Arles’ Reattu Museum. He was also a friend of Picasso, Cocteau and numerous artist of the time. Lucien Clergues, Les Saltimbanques Lucien Clergues, illustration of

Miami Design district

Another much publicised area, but this time a complete flop as far as I am concerned, as the so called design district is just an outlet of the big brands with very little individuality, and it sounds like an excuse to open up one luxury shop behind the other. Even the Moore building with it’s

Miami Art Deco district

We used to fly to Miami back in the early 90’s when living in NY, to escape the polar cold of Manhattan… back them it was still a bit rough, and South beach was just starting to come back to life, only a handful of hotels were refurbished and there was an melancholic feel to

NY Design

Searching interesting design shops to check out in NY I found this amazing website: http://bddw.com and it turns out that the shop is even more awesome, unfortunately so are the prices, but that’s quite easily understood, everything here is a one off piece, and it’s pretty clear that a lot of work, thought and expertise goes into

Brooklyn

The decoration media attention on Brooklyn has been so strong lately, that it has been impossible to escape the curiosity of discovering this new mecca. This how we ended one December sunday morning, crossing under the river to explore Brooklyn flea, just a as we religiously used to do 20 years ago on 6th avenue..

Hudson Hotel, NY

As a Stark-designed hotel, you can expect some drama within the public space, and that’s really the case starting with the yellow-lit access staircase and the loft-industrialish common-room breakfast lounge with quirky a mix of utilitarian objects like the carts, cosy chesterfields and blazing fire. However, I was much less impressed by the fast-food style

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