Sven Ehmann

Today, luxury travel is having time for exceptional places and unparalleled experiences. The world has become smaller. Today, travel is simple, affordable, and no longer a true luxury. But there are still extraordinary places to discover and experiences to be had. The promise of special moments makes one want to take a journey--whether the budget is large or small. Once in a Lifetime is about a new way of traveling to destinations and staying there. The book explores the true luxury of taking time for exceptional locations as well as unparalleled experiences and opportunities. Whether far away or close to home, it it introduces places that allow us to discover the world and ourselves anew. It's these key reasons that make all of them worth the trip. The examples featured in Once in a Lifetime are located throughout the world: from enchanging tree house hotels and glamping sites to incredible eco-friendly and wellness resorts; from farms on which guests help with the work and simple hotels in spectacular scenery to glamorous houses, trains, and boats. These destinations are not about superficial pomp; but, rather, they represent a conscious choice for quality ways of slowing down our hectic lives. Renowned travel journalist Marie le Fort is co-editor of Once in a Lifetime and author of texts featured in the book. She is a regular contributor to publications such as Architectural Digest, Wallpaper, Numero, L'Express and the French edition of Vogue on topics related to travel and design.

Creative jewelry design beyond luxury and pomp. Today, jewelry--whether glamorous, gothic, or minimalist--is en vogue. Jewelry goes back centuries and has been on the forefront of design many times throughout history. Now, thanks to a burst of innovative concepts, materials, and designers, a new age of contemporary jewelry has begun. Girl's Best Friends is an eclectic collection of work from around the world that documents this current development. Today, jewelry exists in a wide spectrum of forms from traditional to modern, from geometric to organic. It is inspired by elements of folklore and the composition of collage. The materials used include gold, silver, and gemstones as well as plastics, porcelain, leather, wood, feathers, and hair. These are being used to create not only necklaces, rings, bracelets, earrings, and brooches, but also more experimental forms of decoration that expand the human body. Girl's Best Friends features work by outstanding jewelry designers including Ted Noten, Saskia Diez, byAMT, and Kelsey Quan; fashion labels such as Commune de Paris 1871; artists such as the duo Confettisystem; and a range of innovative designers from other disciplines. In short, Girl's Best Friends is the most comprehensive showcase of the innovative jewelry being created today.

Choosing a particular bicycle conveys an attitude and a way of life. For a young generation, bicycles have now replaced cars as the vehicles that best express its identity and this book shows why. Riding a bike is easy. Once someone can do it, they will never forget how. Riding a bike can be addictive--in the best cases for life. Understanding the subtleties of contemporary bicycle culture can be challenging. Like it or not, choosing to ride a particular bike--whether an old-fashioned city bicycle, a high-tech machine, a mountain bike, a touring bike, a fixie, or a beach cruiser--means being associated with a certain lifestyle. Velo--2nd Gear explores these diverse bicycle scenes and reveals their histories, relationships, and insightful details. Alongside its presentation of especially attractive and unusual bicycles, the book documents how riders' accessories and styles vary just as widely as the bikes' tires and other equipment. It explains how each scene cultivates its own distinct codes through the choice of certain jerseys, caps, or bags or by visiting specific events or key establishments. The examples in Velo--2nd Gear span the globe. Tours in traditional costumes and on historical paths in Belgium or Italy are not only appealing as athletic challenges, but also as adventures for cosmopolitan travelers. In urban centers at night, bicycle messengers hold races on city streets. Specialized bike boutiques focus on details such as customized paint jobs. Frame builders in Oregon, Paris, or southern Germany create highly coveted bikes tailored to individuals or in very limited editions with long waiting lists. Velo--2nd Gear makes abundantly clear that contemporary bicycle culture is more alive and well than ever before. The book celebrates its healthy, environmentally-friendly, discerning, and slightly obsessive scenes and their protagonists. It shows why, for a young generation, bicycles have now replaced cars as the vehicles that best express its identity.

Our longing for simplicity, clarity, and relaxation often leads us into nature. Hide and Seek showcases the most beautiful places for satisfying this longing. More and more people are yearning to live in harmony with nature. Yet they don't want to give up their homes in the city or make radical changes to their lives Instead, they are creating their very own retreats in nature. The furniture, decor, and feel of these highly individual structures offer their owners an exceptional, yet convenient way of escaping from their urban routines. The right concept is more important than a lot of space. The architecture and interior design are rustic, bucolic, and simple --dedicated to turning a small plot of land into a sanctuary for relaxation. Hide and Seek adds inspiring examples to the range of stunning getaways in nature presented in Rock the Shack, the bestselling predecessor to this book. Whether located in the forest, on the water, or in the mountains; whether light and minimalistic or dark and cozy, the featured retreats exemplify how to create locations that offer calm and balance in our hectic lives. The cabins, hideaways, and homes showcased here meld traditional architecture with modern living in fascinating and surprising ways. Although the individual solutions are very different from each other, all of them respect nature and focus on the essentials. Hide and Seek is a contemporary survey of contextual architecture and interior design that radiates inner strength It not only has the power to bring people in tune with their surroundings, but also with themselves."

This book investigates not only how the design of magazines and books has been influenced by the internet, but also the freedom and possibilities this influence has created.