There’s something especially beautiful about being able to look to the full expanse of a horizon, something that speaks to the most ancient part of our soul. With the continuing build up of our surroundings, that precious ability to gaze into the unfettered distance is one we all appreciate and savor.
This stunning edition showcases incredible houses in simply amazing locations, where the architect has rightly championed the accessibility to the endless views. Lavishly illustrated with full-color images of award-winning architecture, this compilation draws you in through its winning designs, but its the glorious and enticing images of the vast horizon that will capture your imagination.
We may all not be lucky enough to inhabit an eye-catching designer home with views to die for, but at least we can all share the beauty through these breathtakingly evocative images. Truly a book in which to lose yourself.
In his artistic jewelery work, Jiro Kamata (b. 1978) deals with optical phenomena in connection with the perception of values. In doing so he also thematizes traditional production methods. He processes found and sometimes used materials into rings, brooches and pendants.
Kamata’s works are generated in respect of an ‘experienced memory’; only through experience and interaction with them do they attain their value. Kamata keeps the entire process in view at the same time: from manufacture to performance as worn on the wearers’ bodies.
Lenses, mirrors, even adhesive tapes offer insights, outlooks and perspectives, link wearers with their environments and query the assumed positions at the same time: How do we see the world and how does the world see us?
Text in English, Chinese and Japanese.
A Passion for Porcelain brings together papers delivered at an international symposium held in 2018 at the Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Canada, in honor of Meredith Chilton, C.M., one of the foremost scholars and curators of 18th century European porcelain. Authored by leading scholars in the field, the essays take us on a journey from Sèvres, France to Japan via Boston, US, where we encounter both revered artists and anonymous makers, together with passionate collectors past and present. The contributions also explore the medium of porcelain in the context of artistic rivalry and gift exchange, as an object of fashion and scientific curiosity and as a symbol of status and power. Together they reveal the versatility of the medium, changing perceptions and endless possibilities for porcelain scholarship.
From the late 15th to the mid-16th century, an impressive corpus of architecture, sculpture, and painting was created to embellish monastic sites affiliated with the Benedictine Cassinese Congregation of Italy. A religious order of humanistically trained monks, the Cassinese engaged with the most eminent artists and architects of the early modern period, supporting the production of imagery and architecture that was often highly experimental in nature: from Raphael’s Sistine Madonna in Piacenza to Andrea Riccio’s Moses/Zeus Ammon, from Andrea Palladio’s church of San Giorgio Maggiore (Venice) to the superbly crafted choirstalls of San Severino and Sossio (Naples).
Applying a network framework to the congregation’s infrastructure of monasteries makes clear that the circulation of sophisticated Renaissance art and architecture constituted only a segment of the monks’ investment in the arts. Monks also served as custodians of an antique monumental heritage and popular votive images, assuring the survival of ancient buildings and artifacts of limited aesthetic value that supplied opportunities for early modern masters to confront an array of artworks for the reinvention of reformed Christian art and architecture.
Text in English, Italian and German.
Luigi Valadier, son of the French-born Andrea, obtained his silversmith license in 1760 and became one of the most celebrated artists in Europe, working for the noble families of Rome (Borghese, Odescalchi, Chigi, Orsini), cardinals and popes and a broad international clientele which included the Duke of Northumberland, Madame du Barry, the Balì of Malta, Jacques-Laure Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, the King of Sweden, Karl Theodor, Elector of Bavaria, the Count of the North, heir to the Russian throne, etc. His workshop situated near Piazza di Spagna employed dozens of craftsmen and produced not only silverware but also bronze statues, often copies of ancient sculptures, magnificent clocks, vases in precious marbles, lamps, huge candelabras, furniture, desers, reliquaries and liturgical vessels, and much more. In 1785 while completing commissions for the Borghese prince and working on the cast of the enormous bell of St Peter’s, he committed suicide by drowning in the Tiber river, possibly due to the severe economic challenges from which his extraordinary workshop was suffering.
Delhi Then and Now comprises two masterful essays that trace the story of Delhi from the days when it was known by other names Indraprastha, Firozabad, Dinpanah to its reincarnation as New Delhi. Historian Narayani Gupta takes us through the city of Sultans, Mughal emperors and viceroys, while journalist Dilip Bobb shows us the face of New Delhi as it is now. A rich portfolio of archival photographs and illustrations, together with vibrant new pictures, edited by Pramod Kapoor, capture Delhi in all its glory past and present.
Delhi Then – A city of empires and dynasties, Delhi through the ages has evoked nostalgia of its history written on the red sandstone walls. From Quila Rai Pithora to the palace on Raisina Hill, the changing face of Delhi is remarkably discernible in these photographs – a special collection that give words to the spoken and unspoken history of this city. Delhi Now – A city of dreams and desires, Delhi’s urban landscape is incomplete without the stones of seven ancient cities which give it a distinct meaning, a distinct outlook. A modern city on the move, the colors and digital vibrancy of the photographs capturing Delhi in all moods and moments, is as imposing as the grand old structures of yesteryears. A twin city of old-world charm and new extravagance, Delhi has evolved through the ages and is looking forward to an era that will be remembered down the ages.
Kashmiri cuisine is one of the most delectable and ancient cuisines in the world because of the many foreign influences. People are still a trifle inhibited about cooking it, because, like any delicacy, it demands a delicate sense of the instinct after you have measured ingredients by the spoon or the ladle. But Sarla Razdan’s book will chip away the inhibitions and introduce you to a world that cannot be described at the inadequate level of mere words.
Kashmiri Cuisine: Through the Ages
is not just a cookbook but also showcases the splendour of Kashmir through beautiful vintage and new photographs bringing alive the history and culture of the place. A collection of authentic, comprehensive and easy-to-make recipes, popular within the Kashmiri community, makes this book indispensable to all lovers of good food. A section on low calorie Kashmiri food is a treat for the health conscious!
is a behind-the-scenes account of today’s aristocracy, as they reinvent the country house way of life. Each family does this in its own way, maintaining the tradition of individualism, even eccentricity, which is so much associated with country houses. Dylan Thomas’s superb yet intimate photographs capture both the inhabitants of these houses and the spaces they occupy – from State dining to family kitchen, walled garden to attic. This feast for the eyes is accompanied by an equally mouth-watering text by Clive Aslet, based on interviews with family members and his long experience of the subject through his years as editor of Country Life. The result is an exclusive tour of a dozen spectacular homes.
On the Trail of Buddha – A Journey to the East is a unique sojourn in search of the richness, depth, and breadth of the spiritual, philosophical, and cultural linkages that bind India to the East Asia civilizations of China, Japan, Korea, and Mongolia. From the wandering monks of Asia to the temples and monasteries they visited; from the statues and frescoes in grottoes and temples to those in the museums; from the emperors who embraced Buddhism to the relics of Buddha spread far and wide; from the diverse ethnicities of the people to their common gods and goddesses – the book touches upon the entire gamut of the East-Asian culture and its deep-rooted linkages with the Indian civilization, which will be an eye-opener for many.
The war in Ukraine is the largest war Europe has seen since 1945. War photographer Jan Grarup and journalist/historian Adam Holm have documented the bloody struggle of the Ukrainians, in both the hinterland and on the front lines of eastern Ukraine (Zaporizjza, Donbas and Kharkiv). Through photography and reportage, they paint a picture of a country where death reaps its harvest daily. A country in which the fear of impending nuclear war is real and where an entire generation of children and adolescents carry iodine tablets and receive schooling inside basements and bunkers.