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Category / Inspiration Vault

The Ultimate Gift for the Curious Traveler

Do you mind if I borrow you for a second? You see, this isn’t really a blog post for you, it’s more of a blog post for me, which I’m trying to pass off as a blog post but in fact, it’s really just an elaborately disguised Christmas gift hint for my family and friends. But since you’re here…

Dancing in the Attic of the Paris Opera House

Classical ballet as we know it today was born within the Paris Opera. In 1930, LIFE magazine staff photographer, Alfred Eisenstaedt, was given access to the sacred world of the prima ballerina at the Grand Opera de Paris. He sat in on a rehearsal for Swan Lake, photographing the dancers doing their barre exercises, perfecting choreography, as…

The Subculture of Japanese Trucker Art

‘Lit up like a Christmas tree’ doesn’t quite cover it. Moving pieces of art, embellished with massive neon lights and bling-tastic chrome; something between a science fiction robot and a Las Vegas arcade. “Decotora” trucks (translation: trucks decorated with illuminations), are the emblems of an unlikely subculture to emerge in the last decade out on the…

Oh nothing, Just Sleeping Under the Stars in a Hotel Room with a Removable Roof

Some people might have mountains they want to climb on their bucket list, or elephants they want to ride. Me? I’m adding this hotel room onto my bucket list. At a very fancy hotel in the Italian hills of Lombardy, described as an enchanting place off the beaten track for those “seeking the pleasure of some…

Made in Holland: The Chanel of Africa

A small town factory in the Netherlands might not seem like the obvious birthplace for African haute couture. Helmond is a place most people (Dutch or African) wouldn’t be able to point out on a map and yet, this unassuming little town is where one of the most iconic fashion brands of West and Central Africa was created. As the main…

Meet the Family with the Secret Recipe for making London’s Iconic Blue Plaques

Jimi Hendrix has one. Virginia Woolf has one. So does Karl Marx. Since 1984 all the plaques have been hand made by just one family– and they’re pretty adorable… Via Huck Magazine.

3 Ways to Spot Fake Wine: Meet the Sherlock Holmes of Wine Crime

I won’t pretend I know much of anything about buying expensive wine, but I do know that I love playing detective. Armed with blue lights and razor blades in her toolkit, Maureen Downey has become a top wine fraud investigator, helping to rid the wine industry of counterfeit and stolen wine. Yes, wine crime is actually a…

Here’s a bunch of Adele photos by the Guy who Broke her Heart (and made her #1)

Adele’s album, 21, is the kind of album that probably would have saved my life if I was going through an awful breakup at the time of its release. Thankfully I wasn’t, because I no longer think crappy relationships are fun, but even listening to her tear-jerker album from a happy place, I still think…

Bonhams Found a Million Pound Private Collection of Rare Vintage Motorcycles to Sell

This weekend at a showground in Staffordshire, England, Bonhams is having the sale of the century for great British and American motorcycles. A £1 million pound single-owner collection of 60 incredible motorcycles from a private museum will go under the hammer on Saturday 17th October and an astounding collection of barn finds unearthed after more…

Check out the Private Portable Islands Christie’s are Now Selling

It’s the kind of scenario that comes straight out of a science-fiction movie set in the future, where the polar ice caps have melted and everyone is living on manmade islands drifting in the ocean, sailing the Earth. But of course for the 1%, their apocalyptic “Waterworld” looks a little more 5 star… No longer just a…

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