Amsterdam
The days of the city centre newspaper office, with grizzled old hacks in a fug of roll-up smoke above and a printing press cranking out the editions below, are long gone. The modern newspaper is run from shiny new glass and steel towers in urban...
Bordeaux
“Oh! You have to say that's magnificent!” Barry Davies wouldn't need a Maradona worldie to get excited about when visiting Bordeaux's new 42,000 stadium. Even empty — perhaps especially empty — the ground has a dazzling finish to make even...
Manchester
Manchester's First Street development is turning around 20 acres of city centre land into a pioneering mixed-use centre for synergistic art and business, and at the heart of the project sits the hugely impressive HOME — a £25 million cultural hub...
London
Unless my literary career takes off, or I make a surprise mid-life career change and become an award-winning actor, director, artist or musician, it's unlikely they'll ever let me into The Groucho. Although significantly less stuffy than the...
The Edit
East meets West at V1 Contemporary Art Centre in Copenhagen this month as New York-based artist Todd James and San Francisco colleague Barry McGee join forces for a collaborative installation show going by the name of FUD. The pair, who both started...
Publications
Last summer the suits were sharp and the hats were round at Somerset House as the institution celebrated the Return of the Rudeboy. The exhibition — looking at the cultural impact of the Rudeboy look, its origins in Jamaican youth culture and its...
The Edit
Visiting the laundrette is, from my memory of student days, usually a pretty dull experience. Despite what the TV might tell you, models don't walk in off the street and strip down to their undies in front of you. Groups of strangers don't...
The Edit
Move over Madame Tussaud, there's a new artist in town with an eye for eerily lifelike sculpture, and he doesn't even need celebrity faces to make his creations worth gawping at. Kensington Gardens may be just the sort of place you'd see the rich...
Melbourne
There's been no resting on any laurels for the crew at Operator 25 in Melbourne. Despite rave reviews and lines stretching out of the door on a regular basis, the young and dynamic owners have decided the only way to stay ahead of the game is to...
Journal
Happy accidents. Throughout history, right royal cock-ups have written an inadvertently positive epilogue for their serendipitous instigators: Penicillin; fireworks; x-rays; microwave ovens; chocolate-bloody-chip cookies — the lot of them, united...
The Edit
Back in 1971, Yoko Ono announced an exhibition at New York's MoMA which she cheekily titled Museum of Modern (F)art. When people arrived at the building, they were greeted outside by a man wearing a sandwich board which proclaimed that Ono's project...
New York
Let me pose you a little brainteaser based on the interior design of this Brooklyn restaurant. What links Brigitte Bardot, Asterix, Michel Houllebecq and Serge Gainsbourg? No prizes for pointing out that they are all French, I'm afraid. Any other...
City Notes
In the heart of downtown Zapopan, a neighbouring city of Guadalajara Mexico, Zorra Zapopan is the second outpost of Cervecería Zorra, a stunning project brought to fruition by esteemed studios Taller Dinamita and Taller Binario that combines a...
City Notes
Soft-launched 15 March, following an intensive restoration, Barcelona’s Grand Hotel Central has emerged as a triumph of contemporary luxury; a homage to its own weighty history and grandeur, yet breathing the fresh air of modern Catalunya....
City Notes
Opening just last month on Barcelona's Via Laietana, the road that separates the city's El Born and El Gòtic neighbourhoods, restaurant Can Bo completes the reimagined Grand Hotel Central; the street-level gastronomic concept focussing on tapas and...
City Notes
From first stepping into the kitchen aged 10, to creating supper club 'Eureka' in the family home, Flynn McGarry went on to open his first permanent fine dining restaurant, Gem, in New York City's Lower East Side at 19 years old, before going on to...
Dispatches
The bathroom is obviously one really important part of the home/building. This is because of the essential role that it plays in ensuring personal hygiene and overall health. As a result, investment in this important part of the building is ideal,...
Dispatches
Orlando's theme parks are exciting to visit. That is why Disney World attracts 50 million visitors each year. However, visiting the city doesn't have to break the bank. There are many free and budget-friendly activities that you can enjoy in the...
Dispatches
Stress has become an unavoidable part of modern life. Between work, family responsibilities, and personal challenges, many people struggle to find a sense of calm. While traditional stress management methods such as meditation, yoga, and exercise...
Dispatches
Sure, none of us think constantly about potential disasters that could strike our home, such as floods, fires, storm damage and similar. But, things happen. And, when they do, we have to find a way to resolve the situation. Of course, in those...