Vintage Muse du Jour: Peggy Guggenheim, Patron Saint of Art & Sex

You probably know Guggenheim– the name, the museums, the collections– but do you know the woman behind legendary the name (and sunglasses)? Peggy Guggenheim didn’t live the domesticated life that was expected of an heiress. She was her own kind of bohemian, impossible to define, mysterious and in many ways, tragic in her loneliness. But…

A Time Travelling Greenwich Village Studio Hides an Incredible Art Collection

Wait for no muse. Make a habit of working all the time. Let your wooden sculptures grow up, and your bronze sculptures grow out. Such was the world according to Chaim Gross, the patron saint of bohemian Greenwich Village. As an Arts educator, he was bar none in passion and gave playfully acerbic advice (this…

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…

These are the Real-Life Gardens of Earthly Delights

These are also the places that will confuse the heck out of aliens if they ever do land on this planet. From the forests of Finland to the subtropical mountains of Mexico, we’ve come across some many magical gardens over the years and thought it was about time to put them in one place… The…

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The Living American Ghost Towns of Panama

If I’m honest, before coming to Panama, I really didn’t know much about its murky 20th century history with the Americans. In fact, I remember rather swiftly passing over the subject in history class (I went to an American high school in London). I wasn’t aware it was so recent and raw and that I’d still find…

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Get to Know the Woman behind these Real-Life Wes Anderson Interiors

Like it or not, we’re living in a Wes Anderson world; from fashion trends to instagram fads to interiors, the director’s aesthetic has well and truly taken over. And if you want to make it your business to know the names of the movers & shakers behind our current generation’s design movement, you should probably…

Last Night, I Found Heaven in Paris

I don’t usually do this– blog on the weekends that is– but I had an experience last night that I just had to share with you as soon as I stretched out of bed this morning. It feels like a dream now, but I’ll try to piece it together for you. I was told to find the Villa Mont…

The Found Objects stuffed inside these Heads are Reading My Mind

Ever feel like you’re kindred spirits with an artist? As if they’ve somehow created exactly what you imagine you would create if you had the time, talent and tenacity to be an artist? I think creative duo Edwige Massart and Xavier Wynn of EMnXW might be my kindred spirits. Edwige and and Xavier, who, I believe are a…

The Strangely Underrated Artistry of Japanese Playgrounds

I don’t know about you, but the playgrounds where I pottered around in my day, eating too much sand and earning my first set of stitches on the jungle gym, did not look like this. Surreal nocturnal scenes of colossal, if not slightly traumatising cement playground equipment in Japan, that looks better suited for a contemporary art sculpture…

Dive into the Underwater Museum of the Black Sea

Free entry and no queues, this sounds like the ideal museum. However, this unique underwater museum is not an easy place to visit. Located 100m off the shore of Cape Tarkhankut in Crimea, visitors require at least a basic level of diving skills to take a trip. Known as the “Alley of Leaders”, this original…