We spotlight three international design galleries—in Paris, Seoul, and Brussels—that are shaping the future of their fields. (Read More…)
Art & Culture
Travel + Leisure
Exploring San Francisco’s Mission District
Published in Travel + Leisure, Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Known for its vibrant Latino culture, colorful murals, and hip, artistic spirit, the Mission is now experiencing a second coming with a new crop of restaurants, boutiques, and more. (Read More…)
Dwell
Consumer Retorts
Published in Dwell, Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Chris Houston, the charmingly curmudgeonly owner of Modern Artifacts in San Francisco, is not your typical retailer. Though his shop is packed to the rafters with an eclectic and highly covetable range of vintage furniture, lighting, art, and craft, Houston takes a slow and thoughtful approach to retail and commerce.
At his workshop in the East Bay, he works with a fleet of California artisans—platers, refinishers, caners, upholsterers, framers, lacquerers—to impeccably restore the pieces he sells both online and in his shop. Dedicated to the credo of “less is more,” he recently got rid of his cell phone even though (Read More…)
Afar
Old Ways, New Path
Published in Afar, Saturday, January 1, 2011
On a wooden platform in the middle of the village, dozens of young women gather, dressed in intricately embroidered aprons and jackets—the traditional costume of the Dong, one of the many ethnic minority groups of southwestern China. Nearby, a large group of villagers huddles around a bonfire. Everyone in Dimen, this tiny town about 400 miles northwest of Hong Kong, is preparing to celebrate the inscription of the Grand Song of the Dong onto UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list. (Read More…)
The New York Times Style Magazine
Splendor in the Grass
Published in The New York Times Style Magazine, Friday, October 1, 2010
The San Francisco Patient and Resource Center, or Sparc, is not your average pot club. There’s no peephole or scary-looking security guy, no skunky couches or blackened windows. Instead, a collegiate “community liaison” stands by the door answering questions from passers-by and checking membership cards and paperwork. (There’s no fee to join, but you need a doctor’s recommendation to enter.) And with its minimalist oak tables and benches, and jazz on the stereo, Sparc could easily be mistaken for a Japanese teahouse. Welcome to the medical marijuana dispensary of the future. (Read More…)
The New York Times
36 Hours in Salt Lake City
Published in The New York Times, Thursday, June 3, 2010
There’s a new party in Salt Lake City. Utah liquor laws were normalized last year for the first time since 1935, allowing patrons simply to walk into a bar and order a drink, as if they were in any other city. Add to that a budding film scene (a spillover effect from the nearby Sundance Film Festival), a fresh crop of indie galleries (Read More…)
Dwell
In The Modern World: Protect and Conserve
Published in Dwell, Tuesday, June 1, 2010
In construction-mad Beijing, “development happens at a crazy speed, like a tsunami,” says Matthew Xinyu Hu, the former managing director of the nonprofit Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center (BCHPC). This was especially evident in the lead-up to the 2008 Summer Olympics. The government poured more than $40 billion into improved infrastructure, razing much of the traditional urban fabric of the city in the name of modernization.
The Olympics bore the brunt of the bad rap, but in truth, Beijing’s historic city center has been at risk (Read More…)
The New York Times Style Magazine
The Place: Napa Valley
Published in The New York Times Style Magazine, Sunday, May 23, 2010
It’s been a long time since California’s most glamorous wine region felt like farm country. Today, the area buzzes with Michelin-starred restaurants, new hotels and shops, and nearly 150 tasting rooms. Some may grouse about commercialization — to say nothing of weekend traffic — but this is still America’s best answer to Provence. (Read More…)
The New York Times
36 Hours in Kyoto, Japan
Published in The New York Times, Friday, April 23, 2010
Kyoto, the former imperial capital of Japan, is a vibrant mash-up, an ancient city electrified by the breathtakingly new. Cruise the futuristic food halls of a department store, gaping at the perfect fruit and glistening sea creatures, before zipping up to the traditional floor, with its kimonos and tea (Read More…)
Elle Decor
Elle Decor Goes to Tokyo
Published in Elle Decor, Thursday, April 1, 2010
Japan’s capital is a compelling study in contrasts—sprawling yet full of intimate neighborhoods; ancient yet up-to-the-minute. Here’s how to navigate its riches.
Read excerpted article here