How did we miss this? John Hardy, who is adored for his earnest eccentricity, wacky warm heart, and acute eye for great Indonesian textiles, was featured in Destinasian way back in February in an article entitled “Much Ado About Bamboo”. And we missed it. How? The article delved into some … Continue reading
Vincent Sung, a Korean photographer whose career has ranged across the globe is now offering photography lessons at all levels at his newly-established Visual Sponge Institute in Ubud, Bali. Handsome, charming, fluent in numerous languages including French and English, Vincent has extensive experience teaching photography around the world. He delights … Continue reading
Frankly, there aren’t a lot of reasons to visit Canberra in the middle of winter, which is now. Here’s one: to see an exhibition of 100 years of Asia-Pacific photography, “Picture Paradise” at the National Gallery of Australia. This is the first exhibition to survey the history of Asia-Pacific photography, … Continue reading
Last night we had our neighbours Alistair and Melissa Scott for sunset drinks at our almost-finished house in Pererenan, then had dinner with them at their home, Villa Mako. When they arrived at our place, Bruno was in a hot debate with our Javanese carpenter about upcharges on the cabinetry. … Continue reading
About a week ago, I posted my report on the re-opening party at Quarzia, a designer batik boutique around the corner from my office and almost-built gallery in Seminyak. I promised to post photos if Marco and Simonetta, the Quarzians themselves, would send me some pics to post. Well, I … Continue reading
Illustrator Yehrin Tong has devised a stunning tiger pattern, for Maharishi Womenswear. We are mad about tigers in general, the name of our enterprise being Macan Tidur (“The Sleeping Tiger” in Indonesian).
The Antique Luzon Tribal Art Connoisseurs Organisation (ALTACO) website is simple in presentation, but rich with images and information. I specialise in the arts of the Indonesian archipelago, and don’t often go exploring online for information on Luzon art, but I happened to stumble on this site today. The extensive … Continue reading
Breaking news. One of Bali’s most beloved hotels plans to close in October for a few months of rehab. The story behind the upgrade sounds like a chapter from the life of a celebrity hostess. The year before she is to celebrate a landmark birthday, she goes off to the surgeon … Continue reading
It looks like there will be a Ferragamo fashion resort in Sanur soon. Ferragamo’s hotel people are just completing negotiations on a four hectare plot of beachfront land on Mertasari Beach. We’ve got Bulgari in Bali already, Ferragamo soon, so I expect Versace won’t be far behind. Salvatore Ferragamo was a … Continue reading
For those of us who have found ourselves living in interesting places, there is a price to pay. Many prices, actually. One of them is handling the deluge of enquiries from friends-of-friends who get in touch for information on places to stay, what to do, where to shop, and all … Continue reading
An in-depth interview with tribal art dealer Joel Cooner has just been posted on the Tribalmania website. Joel is known for his exquisite eye and his talent for arranging artefacts in such a way that the arrangements are works of art in their own right. In the interview Cooner reveals … Continue reading
The colour blue has calming and restorative properties. If the stresses of a roller-coaster economy and the strains of everyday life are taking a toll, visit the BLUE exhibition at the Textile Museum in Washington DC. At least visit the website, then download the gallery guide, and look deeply into … Continue reading
We interrupt this show to share with you the story of a remarkable woman, my sister, Emily Johnston. She just arrived back in America after a stint in the Congo, passing through Rwanda, working as a doctor (that’s her team above). The faces say it all. Here on my little … Continue reading
Asian and tribal art dealer Joe Loux offers a piece of pure form among new acquisitions just posted on his site. This Han period gold torque from Southwest China, mounted on a metal stand, weighs 169 grams and is priced at $15,000. Image © 2008 Joe Loux
A group of new posts just went up on SFTribal, among which is this rare figure from Ataoro Island, Indonesia. The piece is offered by SFTribal member, Eric Farrow at $4800. SFTribal is an association of art dealers from the San Francisco Bay Area specialising in African, Oceanic, Asian, pre-Columbian and … Continue reading
The LA Times reports that a courtyard fountain by Louis Barragan has been “found” at a 1927 house in Beverley Crest. The house was built in 1927, and fifty years later when the swimming pool was re-concepted, Barragan was commissioned to create a dramatic waterfall-fountain flowing into it. The house … Continue reading
We are serious about ancient beads, and have a large collection which my partner, Bruno uses to compose striking necklaces which are eminently wearable. We study bead history, and often comb the web looking for images and information. Today I found an extraordinary ancient natron-etched Dzi bead that has just … Continue reading
Davina Stephens‘ paintings are a lush celebration of the fecundity of Bali. She expresses not only the fecundity of this tropical world in all its riotous exuberance, she reveals the fecundity that arises at the intersection of Bali with the rest of the world which beholds, adores and consumes it. … Continue reading
Tonight we attended the delightfully thorny vernissage at Biasa Artspace of an exhibition enigmatically entitled Reality of Shadows, Shadows of Reality. The show marks the highly-charged collision of two artistic talents: Indonesian Ugo Untoro and Italian Filippo Sciascia, both working in Bali. Everyone who is anyone (and then some), packed the gallery … Continue reading
Bali’s doyen of tropical island style, Made Wijaya has been penning his pithy column, Stranger in Paradise, for decades beyond count. A lush softcover compendium of these outpourings was published in 1979 by Wijaya Words, and since then it’s been an awfully long dry spell for Stranger fans, book-wise. Well, … Continue reading
Made Wijaya (neé Michael White) is everyone’s favourite Bali pundit, whose witty column Stranger in Paradise has delighted and confounded generations of Baliphiles. His resumé reads: yachtwreck survivor, tennis coach, pouch poser, garden designer, architect, interior designer, hotelier, carrot-topped-Oscar-Wilde-of-the-tropics, hypocrite auteur mon semblable mon frere. He’s a pen-slinger who’s never … Continue reading