Writing Archive

Oaxaca Gets Real | Town & Country
My best-laid plans were scrapped the moment I arrived in Oaxaca City. "You want to see the real, authentic Mexico, right?" asked Alejandro Ruiz, one of the city's most renowned chefs, as he giddily steered his SUV through narrow cobblestoned streets.
Foraging: Kuraya Japanese Antiques | The New York Times
Kuraya doesn’t look like much from the street — just a nondescript warehouse on the industrial fringe of the Mission District. But climb the loading-dock stairs, and you’ll find yourself surrounded by some real Japanese booty: hundreds of antique tansu chests, each built for a specific function, from tea preparation to kimono storage.
Detour: Honolulu, Hawaii | Dwell
Today, if you tallied the world’s design capitals, you’d be forgiven for overlooking Honolulu. But when it came to modern architecture in the 1950s and ’60s, all eyes were on Hawaii’s capital city.
The Lake’s Progress | T: The New York Times Style Magazine
Could a Northern California backwater become the next Napa?
Prayers at an Exhibition: Bhutan’s Art and the Monks Who Protect It | The New York Times
On a recent afternoon, art handlers in T-shirts and tattoos paced the sixth-floor gallery of the Rubin Museum of Art, wielding levels and hammers. Cowering slightly in a corner in ruby and orange robes were two shy visitors, Lama Karma Tenzin and Lopen Sonam Wangchuk, monks from the remote Himalayan Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan.
Sacred Acts | Travel + Leisure
As the pace of change quickens in Bhutan, so do efforts to preserve its centuries-old Buddhist art.
Palm Springs Forward | Town & Country
A determined group of midcentury modern devotees is helping this kitschy desert city embrace its future while preserving its past.
Check In, Check Out: The Storrier, Sydney | The New York Times
The “art hotel” concept has arrived in Australia. The Melbourne-based A Hotels Group, run by an avid art collector, is planning seven art-themed hotels across Australia by 2010. The first, the Storrier, has opened in Sydney.
Captain Kangaroo | T: The New York Times Style Magazine
Australia’s answer to the Galapagos Islands makes a giant leap forward.
Learning on the Job | SAAS in Focus
Every May, SAAS's 12th graders step beyond the classroom for their Senior Project, a month-long internship that builds on the entrepreneurial skills they've been developing throughout their education. We visit 7 project sites to learn more about the meaning and impact of this signature experience.
Off the Beaten Path | SAAS in Focus
"We do want to embrace a healthy amount of risk," says Matt Edenfield, Outdoor Trips & Travel Director. "We strive to offer trips where students can convert danger, fear, or anxiety into achievement and mastery through skill, cooperation, and hard work. The reality is that this is where real learning happens."
Furniture Complex | GRAY
Don't call him a designer—intrepid artist Roy McMakin is scything out his own creative path.
Good Neighbors | GRAY
Architect George Suyama takes “not in my backyard” to its (semi)logical extreme.
Bringing it Home | GRAY
Legendary New York City–based architect and iconoclast Steven Holl pays tribute to the Northwest, the place where his obsession with light and space first took hold.
Finding Beauty | GRAY
Studio Gorm, a husband-and-wife creative team based in Eugene, Oregon, elevates the mundane with their quietly elegant designs.
Art & Culture

36 Hours in Austin, Texas | The New York Times

The city’s unofficial motto, “Keep Austin Weird,” blares from bumper stickers on BMWs and jalopies alike, on T-shirts worn by joggers along Lady Bird Lake and in the windows of independently owned shops and restaurants. It’s an exhortation for a city that clings to eccentricity, even in the face of rapid development.

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Food & Wine

36 Hours in Carmel-by-the-Sea | The New York Times

With its architectural mishmash of storybook English cottages and Swiss Alpine chalets, the small town of Carmel-by-the-Sea in Northern California resembles a Disneyland version of Europe. But walk a few blocks to Carmel’s steep, sandy beach and the view is pure California: a rugged Pacific coastline spangled with rocky outcroppings and ghostly cypress trees.

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Architecture & Design

A Lot in a Lot | Dwell

A Bay Area landscape designer works her yard like a jigsaw puzzle, packing a bevy of distinctive destinations into a steep and diminutive plot.

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Architecture & Design

A Platform for Living | Dwell

Setsumasa and Mami Kobayashi’s weekend retreat, two and a half hours northwest of Tokyo, is “an arresting concept,” photographer Dean Kaufman says, who documented the singular refuge in the Chichibu mountain range.

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Architecture & Design

A Simple Plan | Dwell

A Marmol Radziner–designed prefab house, trucked onto a remote Northern California site, takes the pain out of the construction process.

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Architecture & Design

A World Apart | Dwell

Inspired by her natural surroundings, a Dutch felt artist intuitively crafts a home on a northern Holland harbor.

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