Notorious as a refuge for the eccentric, the eclectic, and the creative, the Hotel Chelsea has been home to some of the great and unconventional writers, musicians, artists, and actors of the past century, including Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Charles Bukowski, and Allen Ginsburg, to name just a few. When the hotel was sold and closed for full renovations in August 2011, American photographer Victoria Cohen was invited to capture and document the essence of the building’s original interior before it’s imminent demise. Cohen’s photographs of these hallways, lobbies, and rooms, once beaming with life and vision, now bare and aged, illuminate a bohemian era that once was, speaking untold truths of a lost time. Absolutely fascinating and bittersweet, Hotel Chelsea casts the historic landmark through the lens of the twenty-first century, exhibiting it as it has never been seen before, and will never be seen again.

Journey: The Life and Times of an American Architect is the first-ever monograph to chronicle the trajectory, work, inspirations, and motivations of esteemed New York architect and interior designer Alan Wanzenberg. For Wanzenberg, designing is nothing short of an intellectal process. With a sensitivity to place and a deep understanding of design history, Journey showcases his original take on archetypical styles, including American Arts & Crafts, Shaker, French Art Deco, and American Farmhouse. The result is always a seamlessly developed, beautifully understated home that is a perfect amalgamation of the client’s tastes and the project’s context. Become inspired by the integral influences and experiences that comprise Wanzenberg’s journey, all of which have led him to become the distinctive, high-profile, and accomplished designer that he is today. Contents: On the Road Together 1. Starting Out 2. Destinations: Ten Projects 3. Coming Home

The Kabbalistic idea of creation, as expressed through light, space, and geometry, has left its unmistakable mark on our civilization. Drawing upon a wide array of historical materials and stunning images of contemporary art, sculpture, and architecture, architect Alexander Gorlin explores the influence, whether actually acknowledged or not, of the Kabbalah on modern design in his unprecedented book Kabbalah in Art and Architecture. Gorlin brings light to the translation of the mystical philosophy into a physical form, drawing clear comparisons between philosophy and design that will excite and exalt. Comprising ten chapters that each outline key concepts of the Kabbalah and its representations, both in historic diagrams and the modern built environment, Kabbalah in Art and Architecture puts forth an unparalleled and compelling reinterpretation of art and architecture through the lens of the Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism. A chapter on the Golem, and an epilogue that discusses German artist Anselm Kiefer’s powerful interpretations of the Kabbalah, complete this unique book.

With a penchant for painting and an appreciation for the well-designed home since he was a child, Gary McBournie has perfected the art of creating interior spaces with an impeccable eye for color. He established his design firm in Boston in 1993 and has since created warm, elegant, and timeless classic American homes, always with a twist on tradition. Finely attuned to his environment, McBournie develops each interior with a color palette that matches its surrounding exterior, splashing cool and restful hues for a cottage in New England, shades of lime and papaya in the tropics, and warm sunset tones for a ski house in Montana. Featuring personal photographs and the inspirations behind his color choices, Living Color is a must-have for anyone looking to be tickled pink by gorgeous, twenty-first-century renditions of the comfortably chic American home.

Explore the brilliant, bold designs and intriguing collections in the beautiful interiors of author Carey Maloney, his partner, architect Hermes Mallea, and their firm, M(Group), in this one-of-a-kind interactive omnibus, Stuff: The M(Group) Interactive Guide to Collecting, Decorating With, and Learning About, Wonderful and Unusual Things. Stuff: The M(Group) Interactive Guide invites the reader inside the homes of impassioned collectors, detailing the wide variety of art and objects that go into the creation of M(Group)’s complex, richly layered, and beautifully orchestrated interiors. A unique interactive digital recognition technology allows readers to delve deep into 40 captivating topics, expanding the scope of the book to include cyberlinks to the world’s great museum collections, the most important dealers, and the most illuminating research resources. Enter M(Group)’s world of wonderfully diverse spaces and learn about an array of esoteric and varied subjects, from anatomical models to Australian aboriginal art, pre-Columbian pottery to Coromandel screens, and taxidermy to Tiffany lamps, all accompanied by personal anecdotes as witty and insightful as the homes M(Group) designs.

Influential American celebrity photographer, director and creative director Matthew Rolston turns his eye for portraiture to a new cast of characters with the launch of Talking Heads, The Vent Haven Portraits. Using techniques he has honed over decades of celebrity portraiture, and marking his first foray into the world of fine arts, Rolston has captured the inherent humanity of a rarely-seen collection of unique entertainment figures: ventriloquist dummies. Unearthed from the intimate and obscure Vent Haven Museum in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, Rolston used a rigorously formal photographic approach to bring out the power in the faces of these figures through a series of 100 portraits, or “headshots”. Rolston painstakingly selected the faces he was most drawn to and, in particular, those that conveyed a sense of character through pronounced aging, exaggerated features, and ornately painted faces, drawing the eye directly to the sometimes disturbingly human quality of each dummy. Breathing new life into these inanimate figures, Rolston’s photographs channel a sustained and energetic presence that is at once commanding, totemic, and touchingly familiar.

Accompanying the revolutionary spirit taking hold of American culture in the mid-1960s and 1970s, American graphic designer Alan Peckolick heralded a movement in graphic design, known as expressive typography. Along with his mentor and icon Herb Lubalin, Peckolick called for a new caliber of design: Dreaming up and hand-drawing letterforms that had never existed before, with type, which once exclusively played a supporting role to the graphic image, now taking center stage. Calling for conceptual typography over a standardized format, Peckolick gave letterforms a presence on the page – and also an attitude: His designs will talk back, and always speak up.



Teaching Type to Talk is the first-ever compendium to span the typographer’s career. Peckolick’s work is equal parts witty, shrewd, and impeccable, and is accompanied by original anecdotes as insightful and tongue-in-cheek as his designs. Contents: A Note from Ivan Chermayeff A Few Words from George Lois Preface by Jan V. White

“Pure and beautiful, she glows like the moon behind clouds.”

The time is the 12th Century, the place Cambodia, birthplace of the lost Angkor civilisation. In a village behind a towering stone temple lives a young woman named Sray, whom neighbors liken to the heroine of a Hindu epic. Hiding a dangerous secret, she is content with quiet obscurity, but one rainy season afternoon is called to a life of prominence in the royal court. There her faith and loyalties are tested by attentions from the great king Suryavarman II. Struggling to keep her devotion is her husband Nol, palace confidante and master of the silk parasols that were symbols of the monarch’s rank.

This lovingly crafted first novel by former Washington Post correspondent John Burgess revives the rites and rhythms of the ancient culture that built the temples of Angkor, then abandoned them to the jungle.

In telling her tale, Sray takes the reader to a hilltop monastery, a concubine pavilion and across the seas to the throne room of imperial China. She witnesses the construction of the largest of the temples, Angkor Wat, and offers an explanation for its greatest mystery – why it broke with centuries of tradition to face west instead of east.

Calcutta Then: Calcutta is where it all began. The city symbolized India’s transformation from medievalism to modernity. The British created the framework. The prophets and pioneers who operated within it were Indian. Raja Rammohan Roy linked past and present. After him came the poets, patriots and politicians. They made banian, boxwallah, bhadralok and biplab – trader, company executive, gentleman and revolutionary – the four props of the new metropolitan culture that inspired Gopal Krishna Gokhale’s memorable comment, “What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow”. Much water has flown down the Hooghly since then. But the lifestyle that evolved in the city is still the hallmark of success throughout the country. Calcutta was modern India’s first capital, from 1772 to 1931. Announcing the shift to Delhi during his visit to Calcutta, King George V declared, “Calcutta must always remain the premier city of India. Its population, its importance as a commercial centre and great emporium of trade, its splendid historical traditions, all continue to invest Calcutta with a unique character which should preserve to it a pre-eminent position”. Kolkata Now: Love it, endure it, call it what you will, Kolkata is Life as ‘kháos’ as no other city is. Once a bubble, holding out the rest of Bengal – and, indeed, India – it is today a city that contains a multitude of cities: Kolkata, Calcutta, Kalkatta . Its cosmopolitanism and liberal values are clichés because they are true, even as they stand witness to its past insurrections and present anomalies as much as to its genius to enjoy life – through pujo, mishti, Culture (always with a capital ‘C’), neighbourhood addas, fajlami (innocent naughtiness), football and fish. For visitors and those who once left the city, it can be a walk through time, a ride on a tram, or a constant return to the scene of old happy crimes on Park Street, in its colonial-style clubs, or its sprawling mansions that exist cheek-by-jowl with malls and multiplexes. For the Kolkatan, Kolkata Now keeps its own beat and time, where everyday struggles and quibbles unerringly give way to the ability to live Life – both peripatetic and sedentary, bustling and empty, noisy and gone-quiet, Technicolor and Noir – in the 21st-century mahanagar as it moves, always pretending to succumb, to the future.

The Konyaks – a once fearsome headhunting tribe in Nagaland on the border of Myanmar in northeast India – are well known for their iconic body and facial tattoos, originally earned for taking an enemy’s head. This book – over four years in the making – is the personal journey of a Konyak woman who retraces the steps of her grandfather and great-grandfather by documenting her tribe’s tattooing practices. She explores the Konyak’s concept of beautification of the body using it as a canvas for art, with inscriptions marked on the skin as a form of rite of passage and cycle of life. With elegant and powerful portraits of elders, both men and women, this book preserves the unique but vanishing practices of the culture, together with tattoo patterns, their meanings, and the oral traditions attached to them in folktales, songs, poems and sayings. It includes descriptions and information on headhunting and tattooing practices; reasons behind them; techniques used; tattoo artists; different tattoo groups; types of tattoos; and personal stories. Contents: The Konyaks; Headhunting; Traditional Tattooing Art; Tattoo Artist; Face Tattoo Group SHEN-TU; Body Tattoo Group TANGTA-TU; Nose Tattoo Group KONG-TU; The Last of the Tattooed Headhunters; Glossary.

Indian royalty’s passion for western luxury goods reached its peak at the height of the British Raj (1857-1947) as Indian rulers traveled to Europe and began to model their lives along western lines. Commissioning architects to design palaces in modern or historic styles, purchasing fleets of cars, and ordering their family jewels to be reset by the most skilled European goldsmiths, Indian princes established themselves as the new creative patrons of European high design. Based equally in the archives of firms such as Louis Vuitton, Boucheron, Chaumet and Hermès, and in palaces and private collections, this book examines the role of maharajas in an age of high spending and fashion. It brings together original designs with surviving objects, and, for the first time, looks at the creative dialogue between Indian princes and the skilled tradesmen who satisfied their desires. Paired with the objects themselves are absorbing and often humourous accounts of how maharajas indulged their tastes with unparalleled extravagance and aplomb. Rich in anecdotes and visually splendid, Made for Maharajas brings alive the extraordinary lavish, varied and sometimes implausible works commissioned by princes whose wealth knew no bounds and whose eccentricities were legend.

With unique photographs taken from a hot air balloon, this is a medley of aerial view images showcasing the cultural diversity of Rajasthan; social norms, decorations, prayers and rituals, and the beautiful landscapes of Rajasthan. Each picture tells a story which captures an emotion which goes unnoticed in the real world. This book is a series of tales woven around Rajasthan and photographed by an award winning running photographer; offering much more than just deserts and architecture.

Ranthambhore National Park is a vast wildlife reserve in Rajasthan, northern India. It is a former royal hunting ground and home to tigers, leopards and marsh crocodiles. Its landmarks – both natural and manmade – include the imposing 10th-century Ranthambhore Fort, the Ganesh Mandir temple, and Padam Talao Lake, known for its abundance of water lilies. It is one of the world’s finest places to view wildlife. The Park is also a crucial tiger habitat. As Rhajastan’s former Minister for Tourism, as well as for Forests and the Environment, Bina Kak had unprecedented access to the Park. There she focused on individual tigers, tigresses, and tiger families. Unlike other photography books on the Park, this book focuses on the unique traits – or personalities – of single animals or groups, for example how a male tiger mothered his cubs when they were separated from the tigress. Her stunning photographs include views not easily accessible or are completely unavailable to other photographers, and will certainly appeal to conservationists, environmentalists, travelers, those interested in nature photography, or anyone engaged with the future of these magnificent animals.

The ritual of offering food or Naivedyam to Lord Venkateshwara – a manifestation of Lord Vishnu – at the Tirumala Temple has existed since time immemorial, when Lord Vishnu decided to descend on Earth in the ‘archa’ form, or as an idol that can be worshipped. He commissioned Sage Vaikhanasa to prepare the ancient religious text Agama Shastra, which gives an elaborate description of the rituals to be conducted at the Tirumala Temple, the ingredients to be used to prepare prasadams, procedures for a priest to follow, precautions to be taken, and the Veda mantras to be recited at each step. With rare photographs and detailed step-by-step recipes, the book describes the various kinds of food offerings made, with specifications about the quantity, ingredients, preparation, variety of food, and particular times when they should be served. This sacred volume is a must-have for every Lord Venkateshwara devotee.

With a superb eye for the beauty and inconsistencies of inconspicuous details, the photobook In Secret: Friederike von Rauch presents the viewer with astounding views of interior spaces. Her compositions of light and shadow, devoid of people, disclose a subtle artistic aesthetic and are at times evocative of abstract painting. This volume features photographs from different series produced between 2009 and 2013. Her photographs – all taken with an analogue camera and in natural light – are characterized by an interaction of spatial experiences. Seen from von Rauch’s point of view, dark alcoves, bare walls, individual objects, and traces of the human hand develop a life of their own while at the same time allowing room for interpretation. Text in English and German.

Restaurant A’Qi thrives on contrasts. Never taking anything for granted and daring to go against the flow have proven to be a recipe for success as the restaurant has recently been awarded a Michelin star. Two chefs, Arnold Hanbuckers and Anita Desmet, both strong willed, with great personality and their own voice. Their kitchen is a dialogue. Every plate that is presented has been carefully composed by their four hands. Their inventive, colorful cuisine fuses Asian refinement and Western culinary tradition, a combination of nature and culture. A deep love for pure raw materials and unrefined nature result in exquisite dishes with a hint of the exotic and eccentric, but always well-balanced and never over processed. A good product doesn’t need many embellishments. Getting this balance ‘just right’ is the biggest thrill for the chefs and the greatest delight for their clientele.

‘Flowers are the most amazing and beautiful creations. Nothing on earth can match their colors, textures and fragrances. Flowers, singly or massed, have a vibrant life that along with foliage gives the designer an incomparable paint box of color and an endless series of sculptural forms.’ These are the exact words of Gillian Wheeler, foundress and principal of The Covent Garden Academy of Flowers situated in the heart of London. In this book she proves to be an imaginative artist, a designer who can handle the rich palette flowers offer very well. No matter if Gillian designs bouquets or uses her designs to bring out the best in other arts such as the ballet, or to emphasize textures and shapes in the delicate paper art of husband and artistic sparring partner Alan, her choices in flowers and shapes are tasteful, rich and stylish and exude and old-world class and elegance. This book is testament to the imaginative interaction between different arts – floral art and paper art. Beautiful synergy, symbolized in the elegant ampersand in the title of this book.

Japanese floral designs often outshine other floral arrangements in perfection and symmetry. The floral designs of Hiroyuki Oka are no exception to that rule. But next to fine, detailed craftsmanship, this young floral artist is gifted with a great sense of humor and an eye for quirk. Next to some more traditional Japanese floral designs, this first monograph brims with captivating creativity, originality and witty designs destined to bring a smile to your face. Also available: Ryusaku Matsuda, Contemporary Floral Art ISBN: 9789058562999 Naoki Sasaki, Japanese Contemporary Floral Art ISBN: 9789058562647 Hideyuki Niwa ISBN: 9789058564375

“An ever-rising star in the world of photography, Pieter Henket is noted for his accomplished portrait pieces and for his work with celebrities from Anjelica Huston to Sir Ben Kingsley. Having gained worldwide renown for shooting the artwork for Lady Gaga s debut album The Fame, he has continued to break ground with a varied oeuvre that includes landscapes, fashion photography and narrative work documenting Carnaval de Rio. . .In his first book, Stars to the Sun, we chart his diverse disciplines over 172 pages of visionary imagery. As the party comes to town in San Luis, Argentina, Henket takes us on a pictorial journey of the carnival, from the mountainous landscapes of the region to the characters that flood this traditional locale wrapped in feathers and glitter. Both documentary-in his unique cinematic style and artistic endeavour, it evidences Henkets ability to find inspiration in everything from the curve of the rock to the sways of a dancer.” MOJEH Magazine
Every year, there is a huge party in San Luis, Argentina. Thousands of Brazilians are invited to the city to organize a show for the ‘Carnaval de Rio’. To photograph it, Pieter Henket was contacted, one of the ‘hottest’ photographers of the moment. The beautiful photography from Pieter Henket allows the reader to join the party and shows the people behind the show. Combined with the impressive Argentinean landscapes, this book will be a unique document. Text in English, Spanish and Dutch.

For a century now the Aston Martin name has been synonymous with performance, style and sophistication. Perhaps more than any other luxury car it possesses a mystique and charisma that have established it as a cultural icon and the pinnacle of automotive ingenuity. Yet the brand’s survival has not always been assured. That Aston Martins are still being produced today is testament to the power of the name and what it represents to car lovers worldwide. In Aston Martin: Power, Beauty and Soul, author David Dowsey explores the colorful history of Aston Martin, from its humble beginnings in a London garage in 1913, to its takeover by the Ford Motor Company in 1987 and sale in 2007. Many of those intimately involved at the various stages of the car’s history offer fascinating insights into the development of the Aston Martin and amusing behind-the-scenes anecdotes. Mike Harbar s delightful renderings add a charming bespoke dimension to the book. With lush full-color photography, comprehensive specifications of every model from the early DB right up to the V8 Vantage Roadster, and production statistics and racing results Aston Martin: Power, Beauty and Soul is an indispensable reference for motor enthusiasts and a book that truly does justice to the Aston Martin name.

Indonesia fosters many noteworthy architects who have amassed a remarkable collection of works. Tropical Houses showcases a compilation of house designs by an outstanding group of Indonesian architects. Highly illustrated and providing a wide scope in terms of design integrity, architectural sophistication and style, this book follows closely in the wake of its incredibly successful first volume, published in 2013, disclosing each architect’s distinctive approach to the contemporary residential design realm. Featuring a wide range of design philosophies, projects are presented with full-color photographs, visualizing the detailed environment of every project and fully immersing the reader into every part of the house. Complete with detailed plans, sections, and elevation drawings, this book is an inspiring source for people in the architecture and design domains.

The book Cultivating Compassion: Humanistic Architecture as Practiced by JJP Architects and Planners details the history and development of JJP. It contains 21 completed projects. The page layout of this book is elegant with abundant photos and illustrations. And through the dialogue, commentary articles and other means it fully demonstrates the firm’s philosophy and core values. The spindle continues the pre-set – ‘Freedom in Design’ in the design essence of -?-?-?, the selection of works implies that introspection also has the image of the times, regardless of the spirit of form and place, new development and application, structure, materials and construction methods discussions, as well as cross-field cooperation and other program practices, reflect the JJP’s changing situation, as the original intention of human values and a lot of architectural appearance. Text in English and Simplified Chinese.
• The book works in a modest yet open manner to face issues such as climate, environmental and ecological change, industrial transformation, and aging society • This book consists of several innovative cases to demonstrate how the operation knowledge in different industries can be applied to each other • Taiwan based firm publishes its bilingual monograph The book Cultivating Compassion: Humanistic Architecture as Practiced by JJP Architects and Planners details the history and development of JJP. It contains 21 completed projects. The page layout of this book is elegant with abundant photos and illustrations. And through the dialogue, commentary articles and other means it fully demonstrates the firm’s philosophy and core values. The spindle continues the pre-set – ‘Freedom in Design’ in the design essence of -?-?-?, the selection of works implies that introspection also has the image of the times, regardless of the spirit of form and place, new development and application, structure, materials and construction methods discussions, as well as cross-field cooperation and other program practices, reflect the JJP’s changing situation, as the original intention of human values and a lot of architectural appearance. Text in English and Simplified Chinese.