teak table by inoda

The dark, gamine profile of this chair channels black-and-white photographs of prim Scandinavian living rooms of the early-to-mid 60s. Mother in a dress and pearls, Dad holding a pipe and wearing a cardigan knitted by Mother. Children in neckties and hair bows. Shiny and skinny-legged teak table surrounded by equally slim, dark-wood chairs. This delicate chair is not named Bambi but DC09, which, in turn, reminds us of Alvar Aalto’s Artek and his product numbering. The chair’s thin seat and straight, slim legs disguise a deer-like strength and agility, allowing the wood to hug the body and the chair, elegantly, to take up minimum visual space. DC09...

Alila Villas Soori

Our search for much-needed calm, relaxation and revitalization ended earlier this month in Bali, Indonesia, where we spent two blissful weeks. If you, too, want to give your weary body and mind a complete vacation, head to Southeast Asia where they really know how to do luxury relaxation well. They understand design; they set the trends. Some of the most luxurious resorts we have experienced have been in this region. The bliss starts on your arrival at the airport where a Soori concierge will greet you, take your luggage off the carousel, zoom you through express customs and whisk you to a car with fresh cold face towels and nibbles on your...

Contemporary South African Architecture

This contemporary South African architecture designed by Cape Town-based Antonio Zaninovic has a way of fitting in with its surroundings. Though monolithic, this resort style home fits right in here at the base of Table Mountain, thanks to the use of locally sourced materials and the integration of outdoor entertaining areas into its design. An interior courtyard gives the house plan a private piece of the outdoors, visible through the home’s many windows throughout. These views are surpassed only by those facing outward – a massive picture window overlooks the harbor and the lush outdoor landscaping, which is as meticulously designed as the...

Movie House

For those of you not in the know, ‘When A Stranger Calls’ is a horror/thriller movie directed by Simon West, back in 2006. The story unfolds in an impressive house known as the Mandrakis Residence in the movie where the protagonist, Jill, arrives to babysit. This contemporary masterpiece of a house is luxury through and through, with a suspended gallery over the living room, internal aviary and ponds, and a plethora of state of the art home gadgetry. But you might be surprised to know that it was not a real home at all; the exterior was a set in Franklin Canyon Park, Beverly Hills (see pic below), and all of the interiors were shot entirely in...