With their exquisite facades in pastel shades, replete with balconies, pointed gables and elaborate monograms, the Vohrawad mansions are a wonder to behold. One could easily be forgiven for assuming these grand dames stand somewhere in Europe, but today, we’re…
According to popular legend, there was once a female Pope – Pope Joan, who reigned for two years between 855 and 857 before coming to a very sticky end. If you’ve never heard of her, it’s hardly surprising as her…
If you ever wondered whether the “Années Folles” really were ‘that crazy’ – we’re here to confirm that it was. Drunkenness, debauchery, drama and nudes, the bal des Quat’z’Arts (four arts ball) had it all; it’s little wonder then, that…
The opportunity to design and build an entire city from scratch sounds like the dream of every child (and child at heart) in possession of a Lego set and an imagination, and this is exactly what NEOM, the team behind…
Every so often, an original is born; timeless, defying genre and completely of themself. Vali Myers, artist, dancer, environmentalist, bohemian and muse, was as original as they come, inspiring writers, artists and musicians from the streets of a post Second…
There was a time when a visit to the powder room involved more than a quick tinkle and a dab of powder on the nose. Taking its name from the noble courts of Europe, the powder room was a designated…
“The chief obstacle to a woman’s success is that she can never have a wife.” Anna Lea Merritt (19th Century Artist), Lipincott’s Magazine. Virginia Woolf may have nailed the formula to becoming an independent, creative woman in her 1929 essay…
“I am to be executed like a criminal at eight in the morning” is a heartbreakingly frank line taken from the final letter written by Mary Queen of Scots, on 8th February 1587, the morning of her execution at the…
‘A bandstand is, merely an empty shell unless music is played upon it,’ so laments Pavilions for Music, a website dedicated to the humble bandstand. Indeed, these empty shells with their elaborate ironwork and faded glamour, rushed past by commuters,…
Anyone fortunate enough to visit Sicily, could not fail to notice the beguiling ceramic Moor heads, brimming with foliage, adorning gardens and balconies all over the island. Sicily is famous for its ceramics, designed in classical maiolica, but what may…
