Art + Design
Milan | Location Hopping
Or What Didn't We Get Up To During Design Week 2013. Once upon a time, Design Week in Milan was synonymous with the International Furnishings Fair, aka I Saloni. That's still the official, trade face of it, of course, up at the Exhibition ... More
Naples | Gianni Versace Tribute
Gianni Versace is the undisputed if absent protagonist of an exhibition at Naples' Palazzo Mondragone. Eclectic inspirations, boundless imagination, vivid colour, fearless patterns, and the metal bits - they're all there in around 200 items designed by one of the planet's ... More
Florence | Slow Art Day
No barrelling past the Botticellis or scurrying through the sculpture hall on April 27. Slow Art Day, celebrated worldwide with events inviting if not actually obliging us to slacken the pace and take a good long look at some artwork, is upon ... More
Milan | Fuorisalone in Green
If eco-credentials aren't already a design ante, they should be. In the 21st century, no product or idea is quite so cutting-edge if it isn't also ethical and responsible. As Design Week 2013 takes off in Milan, here's a motley green ... More
Milan | I Saloni 2013
The temperature's rising in Milan. It's a seasonal thing: April is here and the biggest and best, the original Design Week is only a few days away. Around 2000 exhibitors are right now fretting about their stand layout in the mainstream Saloni at the ... More
Belluno | Made-to-Measure
Among the lovely people I was lucky enough to meet while prospecting up in the Veneto not long ago was Elisabetta Venturelli, an achingly young but singularly talented fashion designer from Belluno. A recent virtuoso graduate of Milan's Istituto Marangoni, world-class fashion academy which counts ... More
Modica | Balarte Hotel & Other
An extraordinary project inspired by Futurism, interpreted by young artists, and overseen by an architect-designer: that would be Balarte Hotel & Other, down in Sicily's south-eastern corner, about halfway between Modica and the beach at Pozzallo. Definitely other, even in the category ... More
Milan | Pisacco Bistrot
An impressive recent addition to the mainstream drinking and dining scene in style capital Milan is Pisacco, gastro-bistrot in Via Solferino, on the edge of one of the coolest areas of the new Milanese movida in the northern reaches of Brera. Put ... More
Tremezzo | Villa aux Camélias
One of those magnificent stately homes built on the shores of Italy's northern lakes, Villa Carlotta was a de rigeur station on latter Grand Tours thanks to sumptuous artworks within and stunning park and gardens without. They called it a corner ... More
Vietri sul Mare | Design Pottery
Vietri sul Mare is the easternmost pearl of the breathtaking Amalfi Coast, just west of Salerno. It's also the happiest possible hunting ground for anyone who's into ceramics. They've been throwing pots here since the 1600s. Industrial production still abounds, while the old part ... More
Rome | Brand Aid
Fendi for fountains? Yep, you heard right. It's the catchphrase for a noble gesture announced a couple of weeks ago by the legendary luxury goods brand. Chairman and CEO Pietro Beccari, backed up by Silvia Venturini Fendi and Karl Lagerfeld, has pledged something like €2.5m to fund ... More
Sesto San Giovanni | useDesign
The useDesign logo says a lot about the objects it adorns. It says they're rigorously hand-(re)made and all-Italian. It pretty much guarantees they're good-looking, quirky and exclusive. It promises eye-catching colours and that vintage air of familiar things put to unfamiliar tasks. ... More
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