The architecture and design blog

Images: Zaha Hadid

The Milan Salon del Mobile is upon us so we can expect a plethora of the interesting, indulgent and imaginative in the next few days. The Secret Garden is an installation by Paola Navone using blown glass by Barovier & Tosco with inlaid marble interpreted by Zaha Hadid Architects. The garden is located in the Orta Botanico in Brera, a silent green spot in the heart of Milan. Read more

Photo: Imago Guitars

In central London there is a street full of shops that sell guitars. I often walk down that street to marvel at the beauty and craftsmanship involved in creating those instruments. What pleasure would it give to own a collection of the best ones to touch and admire at will? To form such a collection without playing them, I am a terrible musician, would be a travesty, and a fraudulent thing to do! But if there would be a single exception to my self imposed rule it might be for this guitar; the Model Ô created by Jean–Sebastian Poncet for Imago Guitars. Read more

Photos: Masao Nishikawa

Conceived by Apollo Architects & Associates for a well-travelled Japanese couple with a love of European architecture, Le 49 is contemporary, and unmistakably Japanese in spirit and in detail. Designed around a stunning view of Mount Kamakura the building has levels corresponding with a private workshop, lounge areas where a lot of entertaining of foreign guests will take place, and the more private … lets call it the apartment, where the occupants will mostly live. Read more

Photos: Nikita Wu

Made from woven willow, dedication and inspiration, Sandworm is both art and architecture pretending to be nature. It falls within a long tradition of willow weaving normally more modest in scale and ambition but this piece has other, difficult to define qualities that seem to anchor it to this particular site and its natural environment. I speculate that were it moved somewhere else, that quality, whatever it is, would be lost. Read more

Images: Timon Sager

Yesterday when looking at furniture by Aston Martin I was marvelling at the association of the fast car to generate an emotional response in some people. Well … cars are OK for those with their feet on the ground, but for dreamers with their heads in the clouds, the Wolke 7 is in another league. Forget house boats, caravans and even penthouse apartments. The airship is the new vehicle of choice for the modern adventurer. Read more