Three Cinematic Villas in Italy

If Villa Malaparte is the most iconic villa on screen, it is not alone. Italy’s landscape of villas — patrician palaces, lakeside estates, country retreats — has long provided cinema with atmosphere and grandeur. 1. Villa Erba, Lake Como 2. Villa di Geggiano, Siena 3. Villa Albergoni, Lombardy TL;DRFrom Visconti’s Lake Como retreat to Bertolucci’sContinue reading “Three Cinematic Villas in Italy”

Villa Malaparte, Capri: A Modernist Monument on the Edge of the Sea

Perched on the cliffs of Capri’s Punta Massullo, its red walls blazing against the Tyrrhenian Sea, Villa Malaparte is one of the most arresting houses of the 20th century. At once austere and theatrical, it is both architectural landmark and cinematic icon, immortalised in Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt (1963). Few houses better embody the interplay ofContinue reading “Villa Malaparte, Capri: A Modernist Monument on the Edge of the Sea”

In Memoriam: Frank Gehry (1929–2025)

Frank Gehry, the visionary architect whose sculptural, boundary-breaking buildings transformed skylines across the world, has died at the age of 96. His death marks the end of an era in contemporary architecture, one defined by daring imagination, irreverence toward convention, and the belief that buildings could be as emotionally resonant as art. Born in TorontoContinue reading “In Memoriam: Frank Gehry (1929–2025)”

“A House That Became a Photograph”: The Stahl House, Its History, and Why Its Sale Matters Now

High above the lights of Los Angeles, a thin plane of steel and glass floats over the city grid. For more than six decades, the Stahl House — better known as Case Study House #22 — has been less a private residence than an image in the collective imagination: Julius Shulman’s famous night-time photograph ofContinue reading ““A House That Became a Photograph”: The Stahl House, Its History, and Why Its Sale Matters Now”

Gaudí’s Barcelona: A City Shaped by Imagination

From the curves of Casa Batlló to the soaring spires of the Sagrada Família, Antoni Gaudí transformed Barcelona into a living laboratory of form, faith, and fantasy. His legacy is more than architecture: it is the very identity of a city, where Modernisme blooms like stone made fluid. A Visionary in Context Born in 1852Continue reading “Gaudí’s Barcelona: A City Shaped by Imagination”

Vincenzo de Cotiis: Patina and Poetry

Inside the Milanese world of Vincenzo de Cotiis, nothing is ever quite new — and that is precisely the point. The architect and designer has made a career out of listening to surfaces, coaxing stories from stone, plaster, and metal, and reminding us that time itself is the ultimate collaborator. Step into a Vincenzo deContinue reading “Vincenzo de Cotiis: Patina and Poetry”

Jørn Utzon: The Architect Who Sailed Beyond the Horizon

When the sails of the Sydney Opera House rise against the harbor sky, they look inevitable — as if they were always meant to be there. Yet their author, Jørn Utzon (1918–2008), was a quiet Dane who conceived one of the world’s most iconic buildings and then walked away before it was finished. His storyContinue reading “Jørn Utzon: The Architect Who Sailed Beyond the Horizon”

Art Deco: The Geometry of Glamour

A Style for the Modern Age Few styles announce themselves with as much clarity as Art Deco. All it takes is a glance: a zigzag façade, a sunburst motif, lacquered furniture, a cocktail shaker with chrome lines sharp enough to slice air. Where Victorian excess whispered nostalgia and Modernism insisted on utility, Art Deco spokeContinue reading “Art Deco: The Geometry of Glamour”

Argentina by Design: A 10-Day Itinerary for Architecture, Interiors, Art & Industrial Design

Argentina is a country of bold gestures and layered histories: European classicism and Art Deco in Buenos Aires; Jesuit baroque and modernism in Córdoba; high-altitude Andean adobe and contemporary land art in the northwest; winery cathedrals of concrete and stone in Mendoza. This itinerary moves through those worlds with a designer’s eye—pairing great buildings withContinue reading “Argentina by Design: A 10-Day Itinerary for Architecture, Interiors, Art & Industrial Design”