Vitruvius disliked unreality. The ancient Roman architect, engineer and town planner promoted firmitas, utilitas, venustas – solid, useful, beautiful architecture. And the decorative arts, he argued, must follow realism. In his seventh book Vitruvius rails against the...
Just weeks to wait until the Salone Internazionale del Mobile welcomes the world to the annual design exposition. Spread across the city but centred in the Brera district, one of the focal points is La Pelota where the UK's designjunction will present EDIT. Rather...
Woven in linen and cotton Red Meander was designed by Anni Albers, famed alumnus of the Bauhaus in Germany and founding faculty member at the legendary Black Mountain College in North Carolina. It was she who can be credited with developing and disseminating a...
The cow as villain is probably urban myth, but Chicago's reputation as a lodestone for architectural excellence began after the conflagration in 1871 when a bovine was blamed for bowling over a lantern and setting the city ablaze. Bold buildings soon followed and the...
The Alf Onnie curtain shop in East Ham, London, was on its uppers. Established in 1920, the family owned curtain company was one net curtain away from financial disaster. But then along came Alex Polizzi. Star of BBC television reality show The Fixer, Polizzi uses her...
Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Your scribe's favourite idiomatic expression can be augmented with ". . . and meteors", following today's meteor crash in Russia which blew the roof off a factory and shattered countless windows. Video footage looks...
Go on. Lean deep into the hairpin curve. Forza Tappeti Rug Revolution 2013 at the Salone Internazionale Del Mobile, Milan will be an exhilarating ride. Celebrating its second successive year at the Salone, Forza Tappeti is a COVER magazine exhibition presenting the...