by Raci | Interview
The Romantic Perfectionism of an Overachiever You hear that somewhat cringeworthy and hackneyed old phrase all the time. But what does it mean? What kind of person is a ‘national treasure’? Is it someone now famous, who is much admired for their...
by Raci | Places to Stay
Endsleigh Hotel – The Home of Romanticism and the Picturesque Endsleigh Hotel – Talents Across Time It sometimes happens that some very rare talents come together in one place to produce something with a heart poundingly enduring appeal. Hotel Endsleigh is one...
by Raci | Interiors
JamesPlumb’s Award Winning Shop Design Putting aside the great intergalactic slug of the Future Systems Selfridges building in Birmingham, shop design in the UK is largely a humdrum affair. Except that is for Hostem the men’s and now women’s wear...
by Raci | Features
These Days it’s All About Rubbish. There’s Recycling, Downcycling, Precycling and the Buzzword of the Moment, ‘Upcycling’. If it hasn’t quite entered your consciousness just yet, then it will do soon – and in a very big way. Simply...
by Raci | Features
ARTIST / ANTI-ARTIST IN THE QUATERNITY OF ART How can two such opposite contemporary artists Anselm Kiefer and Damien Hirst be simultaneously held up as paragons of art by the art world? Anselm Kiefer – one of the world’s greatest contemporary artists...
by Raci | Features
Changing Perceptions on the ‘Late Period’ in Artists’ Work In recent years there’s definitely been an increasing interest in the late periods of artists’ work, that were sometimes previously neglected and thought to be controversial. Just...
by Raci | Exhibition
The EY Exhibition: Late Turner – Painting Set Free For the first time an exhibition examines the innovative, energetic and prolific late period of Turner’s life (1835 – 1851). The Tate Britain exhibition displays Turner’s work from the age of 60...
by Raci | Exhibition
Malevich at Tate Modern – Review It is impossible whilst walking through the life of Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935) at the first retrospective of his work in the UK at Tate Modern, not to get emotionally carried away with the power of it all. The excitement, hope...
by Raci | Books
Veranda The Art of Outdoor Living The idea of garden rooms is as old as gardens themselves. Our ancestors conceived of heaven as an enclosed garden and The Garden of Eden was the unspoiled place where harmony and happiness reigned… before humans concreted over...
by Raci | Places to Stay
Bvlgari Bali Resort – Olympian Splendour on the Island of the Gods Dorothy Lamour in the 1952 film ‘Road to Bali’ Arriving at the Bvlgari Bali Resort is a genuinely theatrical experience that catapulted me back to my first exposure to Bali as a...
by Raci | Interview
An Exclusive Interview with the original ‘lifestyle guru’ Sir Terence Conran, who has successfully been supplying what we want for five decades Terence Conran has uniquely dominated design in Britain for the past five decades. He has influenced the course...
by Raci | Exhibition
The Unforgettable Tailor by Moroni in the Gallery of my Mind The Taylor by Moroni There are a few paintings that you never forget. Paintings that evoke so strong an emotional response that they automatically hang themselves on a wall of a room in the labyrinth of your...
by Raci | Architecture
What a surprise Kirby Hall is! Kirby Hall is a beautiful and truly innovative Renaissance masterpiece with gardens that were once thought to be the best in England… and yet for the most part it is an unoccupied ruin! But like many ruins from before the mid 20th...
by Raci | Interview
Utopian, philosopher, maverick, professional dreamer and available at a store near you. With Philippe Starck we have from the start of his career in the 1980s, the emergence of a new and exciting phenomenon: designer as superstar. His name reverberates around the...
by Raci | Books
I find few activities quite as pleasurable as poking about in historic English country houses and I know I’m not alone in this. Membership of the National Trust has now topped 4 million and 90 million visits are made to National Trust properties every year. A...
