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For David Pfeiffer, Northwest Landscape Designer

Kudos for the Kudus House Garden My new home is Vashon Island, in Washington State. It’s a place where many threads of my personal history are woven together. Surprisingly, some of them are also knotted tight to the threads that bind my heart forever to Indonesia, where I lived for … Continue reading

Author : Susi
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Bali Not For Sale #notforsale

SITUASI SUSI JOHNSTON: Pelurusan Kesesatan dan Kesalahan Informasi

Tulisan ini berkaitan dengan masalah tanah dan rumah tinggal yang berada di Pererenan, Mengwi, Badung, yang sekarang menjadi objek sengketa antara Tety Carolina (mantan “nominee”) melawan Susi Johnston. Tety tanpa hak apapun Tety Carolina tidak memiliki hak apapun atas tanah tempat tinggal Susi. Dia hanya pernah “pinjamkan namanya” kepada Bruno … Continue reading

Filled under : Architecture , Bali , Concerns , Design , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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Made Wijaya Puts Majapahit Style on the Map

The moment we’ve all been waiting for with bated breath has come at last. Made Wijaya’s Majapahit Style has been released (the party vid is here), and what a book it is. More than a book. Like Made’s earlier masterwork, The Architecture of Bali, it’s encyclopaedic and opens many doors … Continue reading

Filled under : Architecture , Bali , Design , Ethnographica , Ornament
Author : Susi
Comment Number : 2 Comments

A modest studio in Bali with a big following

Yes!! Bali Creative Economy. Gaya ceramics studio is brilliant, and has been seminal in transferring skills, techniques, and launching the ceramic arts careers of local young people. The Wall Street Journal is writing about it.

Filled under : Bali , Design , Interiors , Ornament
Author : Susi
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Dance Vibration – photography exhibition

Tomorrow! 29 March. An evening that will be remembered as “one of those moments” – – a “you should’ve been there” one. Talented photographer Doddy Obenk + important figures in traditional dance and performance. At Three Monkeys Sanur, 7pm. Note: Bring cash, credit card and checkbook. Acquire authentic fine art … Continue reading

Filled under : Architecture , Bali , Design , Fine Art , Interiors
Author : Susi
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Susi’s Synaptic Straps™: Classic Motorbikes

  Exhibition on now at SFO of fine old Italian rides, called Moto Bellissima: Italian Motorcycles from the 1950s and 1960s. If you’re changing planes in San Fran, skip Starbuck’s and feast your eyes on these bikes instead. That’s a ’55 Moto Rumi “Raid” above, and a ’52 Motor Devil … Continue reading

Filled under : Bali , Design , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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Susi’s Synaptic Straps™: Ancient Indian Textiles (Ex-Indonesia) Show in Singapore

The Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) just acquired the greatest single collection of Indian trade textiles in the world: The Roger Hollander Collection. The museum has 70 important pieces from the collection on show now until 3 June, in a blockbuster exhibition entitled “Patterns of Trade: Indian Textiles for Export 1400 … Continue reading

Filled under : Ancient Asia , Design , Textiles
Author : Susi
Comment Number : 1 Comment

Bamboo Unlimited: Marcelo Villegas Chairs

As a suitable tribute to a marvelous material, here’s a chair by Colombian bamboo builder and designer Marcelo Villegas. While too much of newly-designed bamboo furniture looks like you have to give up something to use it (like comfort, stability and style, for example), Villegas’ works are artistic masterpieces and … Continue reading

Filled under : Design , Furniture Design
Author : Susi
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Funkin’ the Foreshore: Potato Head Comes to the Beach in Bali

In case you were wondering what that big wall of old shutters is doing near the beach in Seminyak, it’s a multi-faceted development called Potato Head Beach Club brought to you by the makers of Potato Head Jakarta (above), a description-defying place that opened back in January 2009. The brainchild … Continue reading

Filled under : Architecture , Bali , Design , Interiors
Author : Susi
Comment Number : 10 Comments

Christmas Shopping in Bali Lesson 2: Word of Mouth

This year there are only five places to go Christmas shopping in Bali. Number Two: Word of Mouth, on Jalan Kunti near Bali Deli. The place is a showroom-playroom with a cafe and bar. Talk about one stop shopping. If you have to find gifts for everyone on a long … Continue reading

Filled under : Bali , Design , Furniture Design
Author : Susi
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Celeb Wedding in Ubud at Panchoran, Sans Paparazzi

I was contacted a few months ago by a niche events organiser asking if I would provide a cultural morning in Ubud for a celebrity wedding in August. I always welcome the opportunity to infect influential people with my incurable passion for all things Balinese, and this particular party was … Continue reading

Filled under : Bali , Design
Author : Susi
Comment Number : 5 Comments

Christmas Shopping in Bali Lesson 1: Deus Ex Machina

This year there are only five places to go Christmas shopping in Bali. Number One: Deus Ex Machina in Canggu, otherwise known as the Temple of Enthusiasm. I’m enthusiastic about shopping here, not only because there’s something for everyone (it’s a one stop shop), but also because you can eat. … Continue reading

Filled under : Bali , Design , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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East Bali News: Sacred Mountain Sanctuary Reloaded

You may remember Emerald Starr and Ken Ballard’s Sacred Mountain Sanctuary in the Sidemen Valley. It was a pioneering eco-resort with an earnest emphasis on eco. Now it is being “reloaded” at last, by the Karma Resorts’ developer, Selected Estates of Asia.

Filled under : Architecture , Bali , Design
Author : Susi
Comment Number : 2 Comments

Well Hung: Javanese Batik Comes Alive at the Fowler Museum

We’ve been applauding the Fowler Museum at UCLA for years. They’ve shown a keen understanding of Indonesian culture, and nobody beats the Fowler at curating and hanging a great show. Their shows always balance the aesthetic and the didactic in the best possible way. Now they’ve done it again, with … Continue reading

Filled under : Design , Interiors , Textiles
Author : Susi
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Brussels: Apotheosis of the Arbitrary and the Extraordinary Ordinary

We are in Brussels today, where the arbitrary is deliberate, and the unexpected is . . . well . . . expected. Eccentricity is ordinary, serendipity is a ubiquity, and we keep bumping into people we know, as if it were all scripted . . . for the theatre of … Continue reading

Filled under : Design , Furniture Design , Interiors
Author : Susi
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Off Topic: Bowled Over by a Pair of Bowls at Bonhams

This pair of bowls is exquisite. It is the pairing that makes them so. Together, they tell us so much about blue. And about how we see objects in the world. Offered at Bonham’s Chinese & Asian sale on 10 May in Knightsbridge. The estimate is £600 to £1,000 the … Continue reading

Filled under : Ancient Asia , Design , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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Hotel Tugu and Word of Mouth Bring Bebel Gilberto to Canggu

Brazilian diva Bebel Gilberto gave a surprise concert last Friday at Hotel Tugu Bali. The lovely Lucienne Anhar, la princesa de Tugu is always full of surprises. She and her mischievous friends Valentina Audrito and Abhishake Kumbhat cooked up the idea of the concert just three days in advance. Bebel … Continue reading

Filled under : Bali , Design , Furniture Design
Author : Susi
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Shoe. Chair. Design Synchronicity? Or Separated at Birth?

At left is a shoe by Rem Koolhaas and Galahad Clark, from their new collection of footwear for their UK footwear brand, United Nude. At right is a chair by Joris Laarman Lab at the Friedman Benda gallery in New York. Strange. Are black webs the new black? Dezeen blogged … Continue reading

Filled under : Design , Furniture Design
Author : Susi
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Roger W. Hollander, Irma Lake, and “Buffalo” Bill Gates

Last June I heard Bill Gates bought Irma Lake Ranch in Wyoming, the property of a dear friend of mine, Roger W. Hollander. I was happy to receive the news. I loved this place passionately, and will never forget the times that I spent there. Knowing the ranch remains in private hands is somehow heartening. … Continue reading

Author : Susi
Comment Number : 16 Comments

Blog Backlog: Contemporary Textiles in Kolkata

Contemporary textile arts don’t get any better than this. Check out Weavers Studio in Kolkata for kantha cloth, felt, applique, embroidery, hand prints, kalamkari, zardozi, chikanwork, pintucks, pleats, shibori, and more. This is much more than a production house, it’s a textile study and development centre, devoted to fine handwork and learning … Continue reading

Filled under : Design , Interiors , Textiles
Author : Susi
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Living Modern: Embrace Time, Return to the Mountain

The recent mass mania for rigorous modernism has tended to vivisect what is most human in our homes, workplaces and public spaces. When the seminal modernist, Le Corbusier (above) declared, “a house is a machine for living in,” the operative word was living. The intention was to shape structures, spaces, … Continue reading

Author : Susi
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Jewelry as a Tactic: Madeleine Albright’s Brooches

There’s a beautiful and unusual exhibition on at the Museum of Arts and Design (New York), showing over 200 brooches from the collection of former US Secretary of State, Madeline Albright. Her use of brooches as signals in diplomacy was truly extraordinary. She drew from her vast and expanding collection … Continue reading

Filled under : Design , Ornament
Author : Susi
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Tagged on : gold , jewelry

Bali High in the Low Season: Three Gig Night (Gaby, Oka, Warisan)

The gay mad whirl of the Bali High Season is supposed to end in September, but it seems we’re not having any of that! Last night there were three unmissable events on our agenda, and we made it to all three. 5pm: A sunset celebration for glam photographer and model … Continue reading

Filled under : Bali , Design
Author : Susi
Comment Number : 7 Comments

Pascal Morabito Weds his Beloved Marie-Ève . . . Again!

The seasonal winds in Bali have finally shifted and the fresh, dry season has come. It happened suddenly, as if commanded by the hand of Pascal Morabito especially for the occasion of his latest wedding to his lovely wife, Marie Ève. They are so well-matched that they simply can’t resist … Continue reading

Filled under : Bali , Design
Author : Susi
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Haunted by Gervasoni’s Ghost

We’ve found once again an extraordinary line of furniture that just works. Comfortable, stylish, elegant, confidently irreverant. It’s Gervasoni’s Ghost collection, a semi-spooky, seams-out fog of soft seating. When you have a space containing art and artefacts worthy of attention, you can either go museum-bench rigid with the upholstered pieces, … Continue reading

Filled under : Design , Furniture Design , Interiors
Author : Susi
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Hey Textilians: Play the Maharam Memory Game

Have you got an eye for textiles? Test your textile memory with the Maharam Memory Game, a beautiful, enjoyable and relevant freebie on Maharam’s marvelous website. The game involves remembering the location of textile swatches and pairing them up on screen. Be warned: it’s compulsive. Maharam is a fourth-generation family … Continue reading

Filled under : Design , Textiles
Author : Susi
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Tagged on : colour , pattern
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