Bach to the Beach
Dwell: Bach to the Beach
With authenticity and simplicity as their rallying cry, a Kiwi architect and his wife have built a modern beach house that puts a fresh spin on the local vernacular.
“If the beach is at the core of the island nation’s identity, so too are the humble vacation homes erected on shorelines during the middle of the last century. These back-to-basics dwellings are known as ‘baches’ (pronounced ‘batches’), a term derived from ‘bachelor pad,’ because although whole families squeeze into them, the modest buildings best fit a single occupant. If baches had personalities, they would be the laid-back surfer siblings of highly strung city homes: uncomplicated, unpretentious, and, because of their lightweight construction and small size, respectful of their natural surroundings.”
Author: Jeremy Hansen / Photography: Matthew Williams / @dwell
Super Modern Supermodels
Wmagazine: Joan Smalls & Karlie Kloss: Super Modern Supermodels
“‘When somebody recognizes me, I’m always a little shocked—like, Wait, really?’ Karlie Kloss says. ‘Hang on…me?’ But the girl, it must be said, is noticeable, waving animatedly from a stool at One Lucky Duck, a raw-food shop in Manhattan’s Chelsea Market, all six feet one inch of her unfolding like an elongated, enchanting dragonfly. Kloss and Joan Smalls have spent the day across the street being photographed by Steven Meisel, and you get the feeling that the two cover models, who together represent the new face of fashion, may just have to get used to being recognized.”
Author: Jessica Lustig / Photography: Steven Meisel / @wmag
Smart and Sexy Second Homes
Details: Smart and sexy second homes
Luxury prefab with innovative, eco-friendly design? You bet.
“Build your own weekend retreats with all the trappings of innovative, eco-friendly design.”
Author: Monica Khemsurov / @details
The Paparazzo of Paris
Brigitte Bardot and constable, Saint Tropez, 1975.
Catherine Deneuve on the Manon 70 movie set, Paris, 1968.
Prince Rainier aboard his yacht, Monaco, 1973.
Aristotle Onassis aboard his yacht, Monaco, 1973.
Catherine Deneuve with her daughter Chiara in her arms, Paris, 1978.
Vanity Fair: The Paparazzo of Paris
Nestled in the heart of the City of Light on the famed Avenue Hoche, the hotel Royal Monceau-Raffles Paris embodies all that the romantic city has to offer. After being renovated for two years under the critical eye of designer Philippe Starck, Le Royal Monceau opened its elegant doors to visitors once more last year. Among the hotel’s unique offerings is its own private gallery, the Galerie Art District du Royal Monceau. This month, the gallery plays host to an exhibition of celebrity photos from 60s and 70s France taken by candid photographer Daniel Angeli.
Author: Lynden Volpe / Photography: Daniel Angeli / @vanityfair
Prada Collaboration
Vogue: Prada Collaboration
“PRADA has teamed up with graphic designer and artist Vahram Muratyan to make a one-off T-shirt collection for men and women, inspired by creations from the spring/summer 2012 collection - from heels with flame detailing to statement sunglasses. It will land in stores in mid-July.”
Author: Ella Alexander / Photography: PRADA / @britishvogue
London Festival of Architecture
London Evening Standard: Dream city: London Festival of Architecture
From pop-ups at the new Pleasure Gardens to visions for King’s Cross, London Festival of Architecture may be all about fantasy but it serves up food for thought.
“London Festival of Architecture will bring an explosion of architectural activity to the capital through lectures, debates, exhibitions and temporary transformations of spaces. This year it runs over three consecutive weekends and centres around different geographical ‘hubs’.
“The theme is The Playful City, responding to the presence of the Olympics, but few of the hundreds of events explicitly reference the Games. Think less focused cultural event, more village fête, with optimistic artistic installations, picnics, concerts and open studios. There’s no politics here, no protest, just jolly, worthy architectural thinking.”
Author: Kieran Long / Photography: / @standardnews
London Collections: Men
The Guardian: London Collections: Men
“It’s being dubbed the first London men’s fashion week, a schedule tightly packed with British design talent that includes Margaret Howell, Jonathan Saunders, Pringle and many, many more. To celebrate London Collections: Men, Guardian fashion asked designers to supply us with one image which summed up their spring/summer 2013 collection, and tell us what makes London so great right now.”
Photography: The Guardian / @guardian
Design Miami/ Basel 2012
Wallpaper: Design Miami/ Basel 2012
“Last week, one of the world’s biggest art fairs flung open its doors to collectors, curators and the otherwise curious in their tens of thousands in Basel, Switzerland. And for the seventh year its glamorous younger sibling, Design Miami, proved that the appetite for 20th century and contemporary design collectables is as hearty as ever.”
Author: Henrietta Thompson / Photography: Wallpaper / @wallpapermag
Which Way to the (Hidden) Beach?
The New York Times: Which Way to the (Hidden) Beach?
“On the southern shore of Queens, away from scolding lifeguards and crowded boardwalks, a former military base has become one of New York’s great hidden beaches. There at Fort Tilden, some beachgoers go topless and some forage the dunes for driftwood with which to build makeshift shelters with sheets and blankets.”
Author: Julie Bosman / Photography: Nolan Conway / @nytimes
Big City, Little Loft
Dwell: Big City, Little Loft
New York City is the nation’s capital of cramped quarters. But for a select lucky few, scant square footage adds up to a cozy home to call one’s own.
“The goal of the renovation, says Choi, was a balance between density and porosity: ‘We set out to maximize the space—to make full use of every cubic inch of this volume—without blocking anything out.’ The client, too, sought an interlinking of opposites, though of a different kind. ‘I’ve inherited my father’s aesthetic,’ Wonbo observes, referring to the elder Woo’s modernist vocabulary. ‘But if I have a complaint about modern design, it’s that it’s sometimes not’—he hesitates, then utters the C word—’cozy.’ Recalling the home in which his family lived prior to his father’s creation, an 1870s Cambridge residence, Wonbo says, pointedly, ‘I was glad to have had the experience of living in a cozy place.’ Thus, whatever other feats the design may accomplish, an infusion of this intangible element remained essential.”
Author: Marc Kristal / Photography: Adam Friedberg / @dwell
Kate Upton: American Bombshell
GQ: Kate Upton: American Bombshell
From Mansfield to Monroe, from Farrah to Pam, the U.S.A. is pretty good at bombshells. Let’s all welcome Kate Upton to the canon.
“In the past fifteen months, Kate Upton has melted YouTube, transformed her Twitter feed into a product-placement bonanza, sparked a series of censorship controversies, acted in a couple of movies, made her Saturday Night Live debut, and—this part’s almost quaint—landed her first Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover. We will allow that we’ve enjoyed the show. Now, with a little help from 19-year-old Kate herself (and with a goal of helping aspiring imitators everywhere), we’ve boiled her playbook down to these Seven Habits of Highly Effective Internet Bombshells.”
Author: Mark Kirby / Photography: Terry Richardson / @gqmagazine
Largest Solar Farm in the World
The New York Times: A Bet on the Sun
“Out in the Mojave Desert in California, a power plant that could eventually generate enough electricity for 140,000 homes hopes to get its moment in the sun soon. When the $2.2 billion solar thermal plant known as Ivanpah is completed — sometime next year, if all goes according to plan — nearly 350,000 mirrors on 3,600 acres will reflect light onto boilers.”
Author: Julie Bosman / Photography: Jamey Stillings / @nytimes
Container Coffee Shops
The Starbucks Reclamation Drive-Thru in Tukwila, Washington
La Boîte Cafe in Austin, Texas
Smithsonian: Coffee Retailers Reinterpret the Container Store
“More than $15 billion worth of coffee is exported each year. That makes it the second most traded commodity in the world, behind only oil. The majority of this coffee grows between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, but most of the world’s coffee is consumed in countries located well beyond beyond that stretch of the globe often referred to as The Bean Belt. Wherever beans may be sent after cultivation, they’re almost surely shipped in the nigh-ubiquitous, intermodal, internationally-standardized shipping container. These corrugated steel boxes have been used to ship coffee around the world since the 1950s. More recently, they’re also being used to sell coffee.”
Author: Jimmy Stamp / @smithsonianmag
Jeff Koons Interview
The Telegraph: Is Jeff Koons having a laugh?
The Willy Wonka of art barely touches his own pieces, spends millions making ‘precision-engineered’ sculptures, and hopes to hang a steam train above the streets of New York. Is he serious? Very, it turns out.
“Before I met Jeff Koons, the warnings came in torrents. He plays at holding court. He will neutralise me with his special brand of emollient magic. Getting to him has taken weeks of sweet-talk, in German and English. It had been scheduled for Frankfurt, where retrospectives of his painting (at the Schirn) and sculpture (at the Liebieghaus) open later this month. ‘Jeff is hard to pin down,’ I’m told, once the interview has been rescheduled for New York.
“Then there is the artist’s fearsome meticulousness. I’ve already talked to collectors, who gush forth on his laserlike routing of imperfection. He destroys pieces he’s been working on for two years because the paint has dried funny. He nearly bankrupted one of his backers in the Nineties, when crafting costs for the Celebration series – giant polished dogs, eggs and the heart that later set a record at auction – ran into millions of dollars. In 2003, he insisted a sculpture that had already taken part in several shows be repainted a different shade of blue. It was OK, he said, he would pay.”
Author: Lucy Davies / Photography: Peter Ash Lee for the Sunday Telegraph / @telegraph
495 square-foot L.A. House
Los Angeles Times: Mini Modern: New 495-square-foot L.A. house
“Designer Louis Molina of Good Idea Studio calls it ‘the smallest new house in Echo Park,’ an L.A. house that uses its 495 square feet quite creatively for maximum effect on a minimal footprint. The goal: ‘enriched living, not impoverished living.’”
Photography: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times / @latimeshome
