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The people who make the things, the places and the arguments worth reading about.
There is a trick to colour, our writer admits, though he cannot name it. Between two poles, the blue and white of the United Nations and the black and white of his own marriage, he searches for meaning.
Earth-rattling events are distilled into two-minute, good-guys-versus-bad-guys segments engineered not to upset the six o'clock dinner. Where photography prizes simplicity, our writer argues, news coverage merely strips away every shred of intelligent nuance.
The president's hometown is also that of his inner circle, from the chiefs of Rosneft and Gazprom to Russia's largest banks. Now into his third term, Putin increasingly embraces his St. Petersburg roots.
Sudden riches, from a winning bet to a lottery, can turn heads and empty pockets. Worse still, our writer argues, is anticipated wealth squandered in the imagination long before it ever arrives.
Founder of womenswear label Dough, Dima Kassis began in Morocco, recasting the region's colour-rich, heavily embroidered caftans as minimalist pieces in muted navies and blacks, softened with lace yet faithful to their original silhouette.
Born in Dakar and raised in Kuwait City, Fatima Al Qadiri is a genre-mixing phenomenon in the world of electronica. The New York-based visual artist and composer’s works pivot around the politicised axes of gender, consumerism, military action and cultural stereotypes. “I believe in dji…
Born in Beirut but based in Paris and as passionate about graphic design as he is about furniture or lighting, Charles Kalpakian’s designs sit at the junction of several different overlapping worlds. A quote from Gibran. A vase called ‘Saida’. A room divider called ‘Hawa’. A light fixtu…
An athlete, adventurer and entrepreneur, the Dubai-based Yousuf Al Hashimi carries wisdom well beyond his 27 years. Co-founder of Ahdaaf Sports Club, he is on a mission to get the Middle East moving and its waistline shrinking.
Youssef had never left Lebanon, yet he was certain that wherever he went, flies would flock to honey. A double Macallan, an Australian accent and a Saint Laurent suit set the scene.
In our part of the world, family businesses hold profound weight, their inherited wisdom guiding decisions for generations. The world's most enduring luxury brands, our writer finds, regard their own pasts in much the same way.
Founded by an Indian family from Kerala, this third-generation, Dubai-based group has grown from a single 1960 school into an educational empire valued at as much as 550 million, with bold plans for the decade ahead.
Society has banished most old stigmas to history, our writer observes, advertising folk aside. Yet nobody spares a thought for only children, those afflicted souls forced to grow up without brotherly or sisterly shoulders.