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People.

The people who make the things, the places and the arguments worth reading about.

263 dispatches · 2007–2026

Page 21 of 22 · 263 total
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What Happens When You Join Together an Italian, a Japanese and a Lebanese Architect? Read On To Find Out.
People · Design

What Happens When You Join Together an Italian, a Japanese and a Lebanese Architect? Read On To Find Out.

The young team of DGT is pushing architectural boundaries between theory and practice with their projects. From their award-winning proposal for the Estonian National Museum, they have moved on to design cultural and commercial spaces in Denmark, Poland, Japan and Lebanon. Contemporary …

1 Feb 2013 By Official Bespoke 6 min

It’s About Time We All Learnt A Thing or Two from Switzerland’s Last Remaining Finishing School
People · Business

It’s About Time We All Learnt A Thing or Two from Switzerland’s Last Remaining Finishing School

Once upon a time, the world’s wealthy sent their daughters to Swiss finishing schools but by the 1960s, gender equality, women’s liberation and an emphasis on higher education for all prompted a decline. Nowadays only Villa Pierrefeu remains. It’s not about balancing a book on your head…

27 Apr 2012 By Official Bespoke 5 min

Meet one of Saudi Arabia’s Most Significant Cultural Voices
People · Design

Meet one of Saudi Arabia’s Most Significant Cultural Voices

Much about Ahmed Mater’s world seems to reconcile opposing states of being. Somehow, the artist finds space for religion and science, anatomy and spirituality, technology and tradition, violence and morality, swarming multitudes and empty plots of land. Speak with Ahmed Mater and almost…

1 Apr 2012 By Official Bespoke 5 min

A Closer Look at Tadao Ando’s Brutalist Concrete Masterpiece of a House in Sri Lanka
People · Decor

A Closer Look at Tadao Ando’s Brutalist Concrete Masterpiece of a House in Sri Lanka

Japanese architect Tadao Ando makes masterpieces in concrete. Here, Official Bespoke takes a look at his recently completed Pringiers House in Sri Lanka. I remember the first time I saw a piece of Tadao Ando. I was visiting a friend in one of the lower-rise, village-like neighbourhoods …

28 Feb 2012 By Official Bespoke 5 min

Italo-Palestinian Journalist Rula Jebreal’s First Novel Has Been Made into a Movie by Julian Schnabel
People · Culture

Italo-Palestinian Journalist Rula Jebreal’s First Novel Has Been Made into a Movie by Julian Schnabel

The film on everyone’s lips these days is Julian Schnabel’s Miral. I finally watched it during the Doha Tribeca Film Festival where it received a standing ovation from an audience of Qataris, world cinema buffs, filmmakers and the media. The story of this extraordinary film is from a bo…

1 Dec 2011 By Official Bespoke 5 min

Alexander McQueen’s Savage Beauty is the Largest and Most Ambitious Fashion Exhibition Ever Staged
People · Fashion

Alexander McQueen’s Savage Beauty is the Largest and Most Ambitious Fashion Exhibition Ever Staged

Over half a million visitors queued for hours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City this summer to witness a monumental, retrospective exhibition of the late British fashion designer Alexander McQueen’s astonishing body of work. ­­Alexander McQueen was obsessed with beauty …

30 Nov 2011 By Official Bespoke 5 min

Meet Three Middle Eastern Designers You Need To Know
People · Fashion

Meet Three Middle Eastern Designers You Need To Know

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” -The Queen, ‘Alice in Wonderland’ Alice laughed: “There’s no use trying,” she said; “one can’t believe impossible things.”   The dissonance of a Queen is a comparatively small ordeal to ov…

7 Oct 2011 By Official Bespoke 5 min

We Talk to Starchitect Frank Gehry About His Very First Skyscraper and How it has Transformed the Manhattan Skyline
People · Design

We Talk to Starchitect Frank Gehry About His Very First Skyscraper and How it has Transformed the Manhattan Skyline

At 82, Frank Gehry has designed his first skyscraper and it has transformed Manhattan’s skyline. Official Bespoke tracked down the spirited architect to discover his side of this twisting, rippling tower. “I’m getting tearful,” says Frank Gehry when we ask him how he feels about finally…

27 Aug 2011 By Official Bespoke 7 min

Lady Yvonne Sursock Cochrane, the Last Doyenne of Beirut’s Time Honoured High Society
People · Culture

Lady Yvonne Sursock Cochrane, the Last Doyenne of Beirut’s Time Honoured High Society

An old and established family, the Sursocks have been a cornerstone of Lebanese affairs for generations. Lady Sursock Cochrane was born the only daughter to Alfred Bey Sursock and his Italian wife Donna Maria Theresa Serra di Cassano, yet she is far less interested in talking about her …

2 Apr 2011 By Official Bespoke 9 min

Get to Know Elie Saab in this Rare and Exclusive Interview
People · Fashion

Get to Know Elie Saab in this Rare and Exclusive Interview

A darling of the red carpet and a purveyor of exquisite style and glamour, Elie Saab – the Middle East’s greatest fashion export – took time off from his busy schedule to talk to Bespoke. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WORK IN FASHION? I think working in fashion was more my destiny th…

13 Sep 2010 By Official Bespoke 5 min

Bokja Design is an Arab Furniture Brand Fusing Tradition, Modernity, Culture, History and Innovation
People · Design

Bokja Design is an Arab Furniture Brand Fusing Tradition, Modernity, Culture, History and Innovation

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Maria Hibri and Hoda Baroudi, the founders of Bokja Design, an edgy firm producing truly unique furniture. These vibrant and garrulous Lebanese women have literally taken the interior design world by storm. Their brand is the realisation of a juxta…

14 Oct 2009 By Official Bespoke 5 min

A Rare and Exclusive Interview with Iraqi Architect Zaha Hadid
People · Design

A Rare and Exclusive Interview with Iraqi Architect Zaha Hadid

When she was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Prize for Architecture in 2004, Iraqi-born Zaha Hadid was not only the first Arab to win but also the first woman. Her work is both genius and thought provoking with multiple perspective points and fragmented geometry supposed to evoke the c…

4 Apr 2009 By Official Bespoke 7 min