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DOON: Pattern Designers Par Excellence

Here is a business named after a boxer pup, that does nothing but create patterns for industry. Any industry. Digitally. Customisably.  (Is that a word?). DOON. The website is a dream, there are even pithy quotes about design and appearance to ponder while the images load. DOON. Come. Sit. Stay.

Al Fresco Elegance by Basco

We’ve discovered a Spanish design firm that makes elegantly understated structures and furniture for living outdoors. The simplicity of their aluminum pergolas, furniture and accessories makes such a beautiful backdrop for beautiful people. Gandia Blasco’s outdoor collection is a blank canvas on which I long to compose perfect al fresco … Continue reading

Test Your Colour IQ

Fine sensitivity to colour is essential for designers, art dealers, and fashionistas. How good is your eye for colour? You can test it online here, fast and free, at xrite, the world’s leading colour measurement and management company. I did well on the test, with only a few tiny mistakes, … Continue reading

Beam Me Aboard Starship Bali

Several interesting and unusual developments are sprouting in the greater Ubud area. Is this really the dawning of the age of Aquarius, or am I dreaming? Yet I kid you not, these developments are under way in a river valley near you. More images after the jump. Have a look … Continue reading

A Haiku of a Home by Roy McMakin

Last week The New York Times featured a fabulous farmhouse by eccentric designer, Roy McMakin. The article aptly describes McMakin as an “artist-designer based in Seattle, famous for tweaking archetypes of domesticity, from wing chairs to cottages, and blurring the lines between art and architecture in a variety of captivating and … Continue reading

Lost Weekend

Friday night was the “Shhh! Speakeasy” dinner fundraiser for the Balinale Taksu Film Festival at the Ritz-Carlton in Jimbaran. What with the illicit teacup martinis on arrival, and brown-bagged bottles of hooch (excellent New Zealand red wine) handed out to every attendee, not to mention the fine works of literature on … Continue reading

Sneak Preview: W Retreat & Spa Bali

I blogged last week about W Retreat & Spa Bali, which is a major work in progress on the site of the old Intan Hotel in Seminyak, slated to open September 2009. Starwood Group’s W Hotels division has been very tight-lipped about the whole project, as I mentioned previously. W’s … Continue reading

Update on the “Ugo-Filippo Show”

Finally, here are photos from the Ugo Untoro/Filippo Sciascia vernissage at Biasa Artspace (which I posted about a couple weeks ago). Your patience has been rewarded. Sorry, no photos of Ugo. He’s kind of shy. The tense reciprocity of Ugo and Filippo’s collaborative works is visually arresting, and crackles with static electricity. Viewers were … Continue reading

Bali : A Day in the Life

As promised, here’s a digest of interesting items from the last issue of the Bali Post. Headline on the health page: Don’t Send Your Kids to Buy Your Cigarettes. 37% of all children in Indonesia smoke. The writer ventured that sending the kids to buy smokes might encourage them to try … Continue reading

Bukit Birthday Party Update

On Tuesday I wrote about the past weekend’s wicked exploits. But no photos, so I had to illustrate the post with a painting by Davina Stephens, whose birthday party on the Bukit was the main event of the weekend. Now I have a few snapshots thanks to Carolyn Tyler, celebrated … Continue reading

In Bali Kite Season = Party Season

It’s kite season in Bali, when strong trade winds from the east bring dry weather. Kite season means two things. It means crazy colourful skies. And it means crazy colourful parties. The good weather brings global party-goers and party-makers in droves. The Sleeping Tiger has had little sleep of late, … Continue reading

Mid-Century Moderns for Rent

A fantastic compendium of exceptional vacation rentals appeared on if it’s hip it’s here yesterday. They must have trawled a lot of luxury rental agency sites to select these gems (plus many others).

Goetheian Crayons = Pure Beauty

From Better Living Through Design, we discovered these German-made chunky crayons of pure beeswax and natural pigments. The box is so beautiful, it makes sense to buy two, one to use, and one to keep. The 25 colours are derived from Goethe’s Theory of Colours. How very German. Buy them … Continue reading

Kunzru: The Expensive Search for What Money Can Never Buy

“Self-fashioning through shopping is a perfect pastime for the modern control society – non-threatening and solipsistic.”   (Hari Kunzru for The Guardian) Kunzru just wrote a piece for The Drawbridge (also excerpted in The Guardian) on the vacuousness of “luxury”. This is not an earth-shaking article and most of its points are self-evident to … Continue reading

Tropical Modern Master : Ossipoff

Tropical residential design for a changing world is a topic we pursue with a passion. In this pursuit it has been impossible to overlook Vladimir Ossipoff, hailed as the master of Hawaii modernism. His principles and programs for creating homes that manifest an enlightened approach to appropriateness, aesthetics and comfort … Continue reading

Vomitrocious No. 1: Gold Pet Mattresses

I am starting a series of posts called Vomitrocious. That is the only word I can come up with that fits the grotesque sort of “luxury” products that are being produced and marketed now. So here is Vomitrocious No. 1. I shall inaugurate this series with 22K gold mattresses for dogs … Continue reading

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