The Paris Dandy Bringing Back Art Nouveau with a Bang

You know Pierre Marie, even if you don’t think you do. You know the arabesque curves of his tiles, the vegetal motifs reminiscent of Guimard and Rousseau. You know the feel of his rattan and tapestry creations as if they came from your great aunt’s attic. You know his universe, because it’s one in which…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CCLXXV)

1. Oh, just a Floating Bed in the Ocean Los Angeles–based artist Ariana Papademetropoulos’ new body of work, “Just Like Arcadia” highlights and explores the way the natural becomes mediated and conceptualized through domestication, locating interiority as a key in understanding the process in which mythologies and histories are created and perpetuated. View this post on…

Don’t be a Tourist in Sicily

Sigmund Freud called it “the loveliest region of Italy: a stunning orgy of colors, scents, and lights…a great delight”. Searching for the perfect Autumn getaway? Look no further, because our latest eBook from the Keyholder’s Library is here! Start planning your trip to Sicily now.

Muse du Jour: A Closer Look at the Modern Witch

We finally know what we want to be when we grow up. A forest dwelling, diadem wearing witch à la Patricia Crowther, Maxine Sanders, or Doreen Valiente. Never heard of them? Neither had we, until a trip to the Museum of Witchcraft & Magic gave us a crash course in “the Craft.” These magical practitioners…

The Secret Art of Marbling

It’s the DIY to rule them all: marbling. As in, those hypnotic patterns you find inside antique books, posh stationary, and packaging where it seems as if the whole of the colour spectrum has been syphoned through a kaleidoscope and poured onto a piece of paper. So what’s the story behind the painstaking craft? That…

How the World’s First Floating Hotel ended up as a Doomed Wreck in North Korea

We’ll file this one under “Things that ended up in North Korea”. When it first opened in 1988 on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, it promised “paradise at sea”; a floating seven-storey mega structure with nearly 200 rooms, nightclubs, bars, restaurants, a helipad, a tennis court and a 50-seat underwater observatory. Within a decade, it would be…

A Field Trip to Meet the 21st Century Witches of Cornwall

At a glance, it’s just another postcard perfect village in North Cornwall. But delve deeper into the misty valley of Boscastle, and you’ll find it harbours a special kind of magic. Literally. “There are legions of witches across Britain,” says Simon Costin when we ring him for a chat, “Or people who identify as witches…

The Not-So-Lost World of the Parisian Salon

Once upon a time, in a pre-smartphone world, people had to make their own entertainment. And so enters the salon, an Italian-influenced tradition of gathering of artists, writers, musicians, dancers, philosophers and intelligencia that flourished during a period known as the ‘age of conversation’. Dating back to the 17th century, guests would assemble in the…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CCLXXIV)

1. Waiting room with TV sets at Greyhound bus station, Los Angeles, USA, 1969 Found here. 2. Before McDonald’s there was “Snappy Service System” The saga of Snappy Service System dates back to the 1930s. This Chicago hamburger stand was forgotten for decades, encased under yellow paint during its long afterlife as La Pasadita, a…

Did Elvis have a Secret Fetish for Vampires?

In our usual perusal of the internet’s nethers, we kept finding trails that pointed to a darker side of the “King of Rock & Roll”, notably, to a dame of darkness named Maila Nurmi, who pioneered the campy-vampire-starlet schtick in the 1950s, paving the way for the likes of Elvira. Who, speak of the Devil,…