Thames & Hudson strana 84 z 102

From deep in the countryside of southwest France comes a comprehensive guide to surrounding yourself with French country style wherever you are. Capturing the beauty and quietude of the region, interior designer and journalist Sara Silm distils the unique colours, textures and flavours of this distinctive corner of the world. Inherent in Sara's detailed knowledge of French country style are philosophical lines drawn between colour, temporality, style, sensation and season, such that every design choice is a contemplation of time and place. Nowhere is this more clearly felt than in her unique colour palettes, inspired by the patina of weather-beaten shutters, of local brick and fading roof tiles, violet-hued ice cream and rolling hills bursting to life in spring. Coupling detailed, practical design knowledge with evocative notes on rural French life and choice recipes, How to French Country offers a path to gentler living and refocusing on all that we hold dear.

Anna Spiro has long been hailed as Australia's most original and creative interior designer. Her globally adored aesthetic is unapologetically maximalist and a paean to comfort; her devotion to the craft of working with pattern on pattern on pattern - combined with her intuitive layering of colours, objects old and new, art, books and foraged treasures - creates spaces that sing with individuality. In this standout design monograph, Spiro offers up a lifetime of hard-earned wisdom, showing how the very best interiors come from following your own path. From mood boards to fabric suggestions, furniture ideas to room layouts, A Life in Pattern includes more than 250 photographs from 20 different interior design projects. This is a sourcebook of inspiration and joy, showcasing a bold and visually complex style that can only come from an interior designer at the height of their powers.

Increasingly, domestic architecture has sought to enhance everyday life by providing resonant settings that reflect the human need for comfort, safety and connection. A house has walls and ceilings, and perhaps a garden, but beyond that, there is always that one part of a home that becomes a place of belonging, around which people gather. Architecture at the Heart of the Home showcases those special places and features that make a residence unique. Of course, there are kitchen and dining areas, but a home's heart can also be the physical link between the interior and the exterior, a view, a particular room, or even an architectural feature: a pool that reflects the sky overhead, windows that frame a panoramic vista, or a building's position in the landscape. The projects in this book are not necessarily grand in scale, but all reveal extraordinary settings that fill the heart with joy and the soul with happiness - the places where memories are made.

A revelatory biography of Karl Lagerfeld, introducing readers to the public and private life of the charismatic designer Karl Lagerfeld lived a very public life. He shaped the Chanel and Fendi brands for decades, and his wit and wisdom amused and informed the world. Yet despite a massively public persona, his hinterland remained unknown. What is the truth behind this larger-than-life but enigmatic figure? The journalist and fashion specialist Alfons Kaiser met Lagerfeld on numerous occasions. He has now written the first authoritative biography on this fascinating character, whose life has always been marked by elements of secrecy. From his parents' links with the Nazi regime to Lagerfeld's last days in the company of only his closest friends, this book - the result of unprecedented archival and field work - divulges all the facets of a passionate artist and workaholic: the precocious boy who preferred to draw in the attic rather than play with his peers; the son who quarrelled with his parents but never got away from them; the competitor of Yves Saint Laurent, whom he outshone in the end; the brother, uncle, friend; and finally, the partner of Jacques de Bascher, the great love of his life.

A celebration of the richness of figurative painting over the last 100 years and a passionate critique of the accepted history of art in the 20th century. Figurative painting is due a reappraisal. In this passionately argued volume the distinguished writer and artist Timothy Hyman cuts a new path through the tangle of twentieth-century art. The World New Made explores the work of more than fifty individual painters, presenting a collective 'Resistance' who together offer a human-centred alternative to the dominance of the Abstract or the Conceptual in conventional narratives of modern art. Structured not as a survey but as in-depth studies of more than 130 specific artworks, this lavishly illustrated book brings these often marginalized artists centre-stage: not just Alice Neel and Balthus, Max Beckmann and Frida Kahlo, but also Marsden Hartley and Charlotte Salomon, Bhupen Khakhar and Jacob Lawrence. A rich cast is brought to life, partly through their own writings. As the author argues, 'All across the world, isolated artists found new idioms for human-centred painting in the midst of modern life.'

A career-spanning, slipcased monograph in two volumes presenting the work of one of Asia's most thoughtful and innovative architects. With rising populations around the world and the pressures of looming climatic catastrophe, the work of Vo Trong Nghia is a call for architecture to transform itself from a source of pollution to a reason for hope. Nor is this idea anecdotal: the World Green Building Council estimates that 39% of energy-related carbon emissions can be attributed to buildings. An awareness of architecture's responsibilities has permeated the profession in the developed world, while new ideas and solutions are coming from places where these issues are most acute. Following a long recovery from decades of war, Vietnam has emerged as one of the most exciting centres of design Asia - led largely by the work of Vo Trong Nghia, born one year after the end of the Vietnam War, whose work has gained an international following. As a student in Japan, he studied under the minimalist architect Hiroshi Naito and encountered the work of the Colombian architect Simon Velez, a proponent of bamboo architecture with its large spans and high, voluminous spaces - the ideas and teachings of both were to have a profound influence on his own designs. The buildings of Vo Trong Nghia Architects, established in Ho Chi Minh City in 2006, make clear reference to these sources and influences of the past, and to Vo's own adherence to the Five Precepts of Buddhist teaching. The architect's two main themes - green architecture and bamboo as a building material - form the basis of this two-volume celebration of his work. From the Wind and Water Bar, his first foray into bamboo as a building material, to resort complexes, art installations and his game-changing series of residences, House for Trees, Vo Trong Nighia: Building Nature proves that green architecture creates local relevance, beauty and elegance in its own right.

A sophisticated look into the eight Greek myths that remain the most relevant to us today, exploring their powerful cultural impact from their ancient origins to the present. The Greek myths have been retold countless times, first by the conquering Romans, then through the medieval and Renaissance eras of Europe, and finally finding new expression in masterworks of art, literature and cinema on the global stage. Classical scholar Richard Buxton explores the stories at the heart of this ancient mythology and how they have come to influence our society today. The Greek legends seem to speak to us universally, their deities tantalizingly human - often indulging in behaviours morally ambiguous at best and obscene at worst - and their heroes dealing with dilemmas and destinies that echo, if exaggeratedly, conflicts in our own lives. The dramatic choices that such figures as Prometheus, Medea and Oedipus face have resonated with audiences over thousands of years. Each chapter focuses on a mythical character and the powerful stories and interpretations that surround them. Yet the myths' relevance has not been uniform; they shift with the cultural tide. They have endured moments of censure, criticism, and even ridicule, but now their influence can be recognized almost everywhere, from opera to psychology, from fashion to contemporary art. How is it that these tales have retained their power to connect with our own fascinations, fears and desires, though they came from a world very different from our own? Here Buxton charts their cultural impact through a rich variety of re-imaginings, examining the many guises they have taken through the ages and the profound truths that they continue to illuminate.

Art meets food in this sublime celebration of thirty years of cooking and hosting at The Arniano Painting School in Tuscany 'A peculiar attribute of the landscape surrounding Arniano is the ever-changing light. Early in the morning, there is an extraordinary mist that sits in the valley and interweaves through the hills, allowing just the tops to show above the smoky clouds. These changes bring with them new moods and shadows, drawing our painters to different views and areas of the garden throughout the day. By the evening, everything has altered again, and there are often intense sunsets, bringing silhouettes from the trees and much darker, richer, olive colours.' There are many farmhouses in Tuscany, but few are quite so magical as Arniano. It is here, in this 18th-century podere, that Amber Guinness grew up and learned to cook. And it is here that she established The Arniano Painting School, a residential painting course and immersive art and food experience. 'As I look through the recipes and think about the common thread that binds them, I realise that they all exemplify a fundamental principle of Italian home cooking. Which is that simplicity - and keeping ingredients as close to their original form as possible - leads to the most delicious and rewarding food. The beauty of Italian cooking is that it is not about fancy sauces or preparation techniques. Rather, it is about bringing out the best in what you are cooking, through patience, constant tasting and the development of flavour - sometimes using nothing but some olive oil and salt.' Filled with recipes for classic dishes and cocktails, feast curation, seasonal menu suggestions and notes on an Italian pantry and wines, A House Party in Tuscany will transport you to the Tuscan countryside and bring the conviviality of Arniano to your table.

The story of our Universe, from its beginning in the first milliseconds of the Big Bang right up to our present moment and beyond, told in a gripping narrative. We have entered a new age of exploration and discovery, enabling us to probe ever more distant reaches of space and greatly advance our knowledge of the Universe. Today, telescopes peer not only into outer space, but also into the deep past. Paul Murdin takes us on an original and breathtaking journey across the lifetime of the Universe, from the first milliseconds of the Big Bang right up to our present moment and even beyond. Murdin draws on the latest discoveries in astronomy to describe the most important characters and events in the life of our Universe: the most powerful explosions, the most curious planets, and the most spectacular celestial bodies. He charts our developing understanding of the cosmos, showing how thinkers have deduced profound truths from even the simplest observations - everyone can see that it is dark at night, but only recently have we understood this as proof that the Universe has not been the same forever. Since then, the Universe has grown up from childhood: astronomers have tracked it as it passed through maturity and as it now moves into middle age. Murdin shows how our own lives were seeded from the Big Bang, galaxies, stars and planets. He considers some of the key questions: how did structures like galaxies and ourselves emerge from the dense maelstrom of the Universe's birth? How did the 'dark matter' that we can't even see speed up the development of galaxies, and how does 'dark energy' work to speed up the expansion of the Universe? Why hasn't the Universe collapsed in on itself - and will it one day? And finally, he offers a glimpse into the future old age of our Universe, and what it means for us all.