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Category / Inspiration Vault

Meet Hemingway’s Last Secret Love

Honestly, I just can’t keep up with you old Hem! In a new book, written by the great nephew of a close friend to the writer in his later years, Autumn in Venice: Ernest Hemingway and His Last Muse, explores the little-known love affair between a 50 year-old Hemingway and an 18 year-old Italian countess, Adriana Ivancich.…

Your Summer Photo Goals, as Demonstrated by the 1920s Morris Mermaids

It all started with this those three girls on a rock in 1922, putting my beach snaps to shame. Why is it, that with all the technology we have at our disposal to document every moment of our holidays, most of our summer photos end up looking so, well … uncreative? Photography of the 1920s…

The Original Ghostbusters

As the 19th century came to a close and the 20th century picked up speed, people were absolutely held in thrall by the paranormal. Psychics and mediums sprang up everywhere as part of a movement called Spiritualism, and they promised to put people in touch with their departed loved ones. Mostly, they charged a fee,…

The Ocean is Full of Wonders We Barely Understand. Sponges are one of them.

Did you know that a glass sponge could live as long as 15,000 years? They could probably live up to 40,000 years if changing sea levels weren’t a factor, and are thought by many to have the longest life span of any animal on Earth, in fact, sponges are probably the closest to what the…

Name that Aesthetic: The Romance and Ruins of Lost Civilizations

If it took you this long to identify one of the most epic genres of art history, welcome to the club. We must have skipped class that day. The aesthetic: a lost civilization – its crumbling and vaguely familiar architectural forms dramatically lit by a sunset backdrop, and in the foreground, a congregation of folks…

Lake Maggiore’s Treasure Island of Marionettes

On the serene waters of Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, nestled among the Borromean Islands, lies Isola Bella, a place where history, art, and nature converge. While the island is renowned for its opulent Baroque palace and terraced gardens – including six incredible shell-encrusted grottos – there’s a lesser-known treasure within the walls of Casa…

Meet Marianne and the Many Faces of the French Republic

If you’ve stepped foot in France you have probably seen her, the beautiful woman wearing the odd hat who is adorned on French euro coins, stamps, wine bottles, and many other places. This woman was one of many country personifications that used to be prominent figures for their countries, but have sadly faded into obscurity. That is…

Never Again Would There Be a Toga Party Like the Lost 1920s Delphic Festival

Every summer we run into the same problem: too many amazing festivals, too little time. Then we caught wind of the long lost Delphic Festivals, which makes every concert we’ve ever been to pale in comparison to its over-the-top, 1920s interpretation of Greek merrymaking. Think Coachella, but on steroids… The Delphic festival was so lavish…

The Day Coca Cola Came to France (and how Parisians Reacted)

“Things go better with Coke”? Not the French apparently– at least, not when Coca Cola first officially began marketing the drink here in 1950. According to these photographs I came across in the LIFE magazine archives, it would seem that Parisians didn’t initially find the ‘great taste of Coke’ … well, all that great… This wasn’t actually the first time…

Reviving the Abandoned ‘Life of Pi’ Art Deco Pool in Paris

If you ever got around to watching Life of Pi you might recall the hero of the film, a young Indian boy living in French colonial India, was ironically named ‘Piscine Molitor Patel’, after a historic 1920s Art Deco swimming pool (piscine) right here in Paris … At the start of the film, our lead character “Pi”, short…

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