Winter 2008

THE TALLEST BUILDING IN THE WORLD

J.M. Ledgard — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:45:52 +0000

Dubai has just unveiled the world's largest skyscraper, like a hypodermic needle against the desert sky. In a feature last year J.M. Ledgard asked, "what is the point of the Burj Dubai? And does it even have a good view?" ... read more »

7 WONDERS: SIMON JENKINS

Rebecca Willis — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:44:12 +0000

Once editor of the Times, now a columnist on the Guardian, Sir Simon Jenkins is also an expert on architecture and heritage. As he takes over as chairman of the National Trust, he tells Rebecca Willis about the wonders of his world... read more »

LE CORBUSIER: THE PICASSO OF PLANNING

Jonathan Meades — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:52:43 +0000

Le Corbusier was perhaps the greatest architect of the 20th century. He thought he could reshape mankind by creating a new form of city, yet he seldom practised what he preached, writes Jonathan Meades ... read more »

THE ABBESS GOES TO ART SCHOOL

Maggie Fergusson — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:27:32 +0000

After spending half a century in an enclosed order, the former abbess of Stanbrook has just taken a year out at art school in East London. “There is a danger that enclosed life can become automatic, a bit precious,” she explains. Maggie Fergusson meets her ... read more »

THE MISSION: LEARNING TO SCULPT ICE

Will Smith — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:44:35 +0000

"How delightful to become an ice-sculptor," Will Smith swoons. "Shirtless, sweating hunks, they wield chainsaws like Byronic lumberjacks." Well, not quite. But it turns out it's not a little cathartic to smash up an ice penguin ... read more »

DRESS SENSE: PETALS

Isabel Lloyd — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:10:50 +0000

Victoire de Castellane, the creative director of Dior Fine Jewellery, tells Isabel Lloyd about her obsession with flowers both natural and unnatural ... read more »

BEING THERE: LOVING AND LEAVING JOHANNESBURG

Caroline Lambert — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:58:23 +0000

The local news is seldom good, but Johannesburg is still a place that can capture your heart. Caroline Lambert finds unknown pleasures in a city that is not merely violent ... read more »

REPASTS: THE CROWNING GLORY OF THE CLASSICAL RUSSIAN KITCHEN

Jon Fasman — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:11:27 +0000

"Russians will stuff dough with anything that doesn’t stuff them first," writes Jon Fasman. He devotes his latest RePasts column to the layered fish pie kulebyaka ... read more »

THE REMARKABLE MR JONES

Catherine St Germans — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:22:09 +0000

"Hats are a passport to another world," declares Stephen Jones, the greatest milliner of his generation. Catherine St Germans considers his show of fanciful headgear at the V&A ... read more »

WRITING ON WATER: THE ECSTASY OF SURFING

Malcolm Knox — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:53:28 +0000

Surf and the city are uniquely close in Sydney, where thousands of urbanites spend their days dreaming of the perfect break. Malcolm Knox, novelist and surfer, captures an obsession from the inside ... read more »