Wet Hot Parisian Summer: A Lost 1930s Nudist Utopia

In Physiopolis, life was better in the buff. Or at least in a bikini, which was as close as one could legally get to public nudity in 1930s Paris. It was here, on an isolated sun-baked island on the Seine, that a titillating new naturiste-nudiste (naturalist and nude) movement sprang forth. Gone were the days…

Remember that time the Motion Picture was Invented (and Everyone was Naked)?

One of my favourite things about Eadweard Muybridge, the man who gave us the moving image, aside from the vast array of exotic spellings he adopted for his birth name (Edward Muggeridge), is the idea of him travelling around the American wild west in a 19th century carriage which he converted into his very own…

René Magritte, Accidental Hipster?

Creative inspiration lives on a carrousel. Meaning, bygone trends and inventions always rear their heads at another point in history, finding relevancy for a new generation — and, yes, usually the generation in question is millennials, who’ve successfully resurrected a love for handlebar moustaches, Bukowski and bespoke taxidermy. Today, we’re making a case for the…

The Peculiar Art of Over Complicating Things

He was so good at imagining overly complicated and outlandish contraptions that his name became part of the English dictionary in the early 20th century to describe anything with an unnecessarily elaborate design. “That’s a real Heath-Robinson!” one could say to describe an apparatus that performed very simple tasks in an eccentric but rather inefficient…

Don’t Judge this Potato Hotel by its er, Skin

Beauty’s in the eye of the beholder, as they say. Especially if that beholder happens to own Idaho’s chicest new B&B, The Big Idaho Potato Hotel. At a glance, the spud seems like another loveable wonky, abandoned roadside gem from the golden days of Route 66. But this six-ton ‘tater has Pinterest-perfect interiors that feel…

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

1. Post Modern cakes by a Fashion designer turned Baker Discover the delicious world of Ard Bakery found via Present & Correct. 2. This Home built around a Boulder Desert Modernist AlbertFreyintentionally designed Frey House II around a large boulder to honor + incorporate the natural environment. The house is open for series of tours…

Paris is Removing its Iconic Kiosks. So What Will Become of Them?

I woke up one morning in Paris, headed to the boulangerie, when I noticed a strange new structure had been installed on the sidewalk overnight. It took me a moment to figure out what it was. One of those self-cleaning public toilets? A construction crew’s cabin for yet another roadwork about to begin? And then…

Where has the Japanese Art of Synchronised Walking been all our Lives?

Just when you start to feel like a fairly competent human, something like Shuudan Koudou slides into your Instagram feed to prove you wrong. Literally translated as “collective action”, Shuudan Koudou is the Japanese sport – no, art form – of walking. That is, walking forwards and backwards. Walking sideways. Walking whilst lightly squatting. Walking…

Who wants to take over 13 Greenhouses? Café, Historic Nursery & Cottage included

I can picture myself now: waking up with the birds, throwing on a pair of wellies and zipping up my fleece as I walk out to a little hamlet of 13 Victorian greenhouses. The lines of the glass catch the morning sunlight just so, as dawn breaks through the trees. Clutching a watering can, I…

B&B of the Month: The Wander Inn

They’re the Renaissance women of the wild, wild west, and today Amie and Jolie Sikes are giving Messy Nessy a taste of their little haven in Round Top, Texas: The Wander Inn. It’s the stuff of southern fairytales, a bed & breakfast where the longhorns graze and the fireflies glow, where folks “can see the…