Orouni’s Jump out the window

France regulates photoshopped images

The big media news of the past few days has been the proposal by fifty French lawmakers that would require all altered images be labeled with a disclaimer that they have been digitally enhanced. Read more

Château d’Estoublon’s olive oil

It was the haute couture perfume-like bottles that first sparked my interest in Château d’Estoublon’s scrumptious olive oils. So on a recent trip to Provence in the South of France where the Estoublon estate has its roots, quite literally, a quick stop for a tasting was on the agenda. Set on a massive 48 acres, replete with vineyards, olive groves, gardens, a pond, and of course, a massive château, the space is inspiring, as are its products. Read more

Lycee Jean Moulin’s green roofs by Off Architecture

Paris-based design firm Off Architecture, in collaboration with Duncan Lewis Scape Architecture and Jeans Gincinto, is granting a gift for current and future students of the Lycee Jean Moulin in Revin, France. The Lycee, which will be completed sometime in 2012, is being constructed to sustainable standards, including being built with the flow of the hillside where it resides. The school’s blueprint is a single-floor construction with terraced floors moving up the hill. The roofs of each building is made to resembling the rolling landscape and is flooded with vegetation so that by air, the school nearly disappears. In what promises to be the first of many sustainable lycees in France, the bar is set extremely high.

James Mackay’s Even Though I’m Free I Am Not

Award-winning photojournalist James Mackay’s latest project comes at a time when the world’s eyes are fixed on Burma and the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi. By photographing former political prisoners displaying the names of their colleagues and friends who remain behind bars, Even Though I’m Free I Am Not exposes the enduring pain faced by Burma’s opposition movement. Over 2,100 activists, journalists, lawyers and politicians languish in prisons across the country, and on Friday Aung San Suu Kyi will likely join them. Read more

Secret Supper Clubs

The blind date of the food world has finally arrived, and it’s proving more palatable than the awkwardness of an evening spent in superficial conversation. Secret Supper clubs are springing up in the backstreets of London: what are attics and living rooms by day get converted into makeshift restaurants catering for an evening of surprise tastes and conversations. Read more

Adam Farlie

Young British designer Adam Farlie takes a leftfield approach to how people experience interaction with objects, often taking everyday items and toying with their potential to harbour deeper meaning and greater usage than first perceived. He transforms a bed into a ‘vessel that captures and contains the audio-memories of past occupiers through sound’, allowing those who lie on the bed to recall past intimcaties or conversations from years ago, while his take on a chest of drawers’ purpose of holding records of people is similarly intriguing.