An erupting Icelandic volcano with the unpronounceable name of Eyjafjallajokull brought Europe to a halt in April, but it shouldn't be the abiding memory of this year's MILAN FURNITURE FAIR . For many of us, an extended 'volcation' in the northern Italian spring gave extra time to reflect on a fair that defied the naysayers. While post-GFC budgets might have ...

THIS YEAR'S International Contemporary Furniture Fair(ICFF) in New York felt strong and somehow rather serious. There was an abundance of natural materials-including lots of timber - and also a heavy emphasis on the environment and sustainability.There were almost 23,000 attendees and 600 exhibitors from 40 countries and, perhaps because of the global recession, there was little flimsy or frippery. Instead, ...

LIGHT APPROACH The roof of the Middelfart Savings Bank (below), by Danish architects 3XN, is covered in spiky windows that give shade in summer, let in sun during winter and allow for year-round views of the nearby waterfront. Artist Olafur Eliasson, who has just had a show at Sydney's MCA, has produced a series of kaleidoscopes for the lobby.FABULOUS PREFABDaniel ...

ARCHITECTURE and interior design partners Alexandra Bond and Nicholas Barber realised that they shared the same creative values and interests during a trip to Brazil in 2004. "It was while climbing the mountains of Canoas in Rio de Janeiro, looking for Oscar Niemeyer's house, that we realised this," says Alexandra. The pair now manage their multi-disciplinary creative firm Nicholas & ...

FIND YOUR WAY As part of the always-invigorating, annual SALA (South Australian Living Artists) festival, Adelaide's Hill Smith Gallery has an exhibition of Laura Wills's work in its main downstairs area. Instead of plain paper, the Adelaide-based artist uses old maps as her canvas - she's just come across a whole new stash - cleverly interacting with the contour lines ...

IN THIS DAY AND AGE, you would think complex designs are far easier to produce with modern technology than by traditional means. Well, it ain't necessarily so. When No6Duchaufour-Lawrancecame up with Corvo, the chair launched by US firm Bernhardt Design at this year's Milan Furniture Fair, he found the best way to produce it was by reverting to time-honoured methods ...

1. AFFORDABLE ARCHITECTUREThese relatively budget-conscious designs are not exactly fibro shacks -they're beautiful homes by any standards. The 40 projects were picked because they're innovative and the architects had assessed what was really needed, rather than trying to fulfil endless wish lists. It proves that home dreams can come true, even when funds are limited. Stephen Crafti, Images Publishing, $59.95.2. ...

THIS YEAR an interesting phenomenon happened after the Milan Furniture Fair. Among their reports of all the new pieces on display, international bloggers became obsessed with one somewhat off-the-beaten- track venue. The design blogosphere was filled with cooings and enthusings over Spazio Rossana Orlandi, located in a narrow city side street. And while it was the charming and slightly eccentric ...

TAKE A LOOK at the address book of any design-savvy Londoner and Abigail Ahern is sure to be right at the front. Not just because those initials assure the stylist and interior designer first-place alphabetical ranking, but also because she is such an expert at helping to create the kind of homes we all want to live in. Abigail describes ...

Amid the dynamic excitement of an epic and sleepless city like Bangkok, the idea of the home as a calm refuge becomes highly seductive. That's the thinking behind designer David Collins's new MahaNakhon apartment in Bangkok, a prototypical luxury space packed with fresh ideas that will shortly be rolled out within the distinctive outline of a new 77-storey tower."We wanted ...

Nestled in the Uruguayan countryside, close to Punta del Este, a glamorous, bustling resort town at the edge of the Atlantic, this holiday home is a world away from it all. The owners, based in London, engaged architecture and interior design studio KallosTurin to interpret their brief for a four-bedroom house with a series of protected outdoor spaces for relaxing ...

When you step inside interior designer Magda De Smet's home in Kortrijk, one of the old medieval cities in Flanders, Belgium, you know right away that memories of this place will stay with you forever. Her eclectic collection of serendipitous finds gives an instant feeling of homeliness. "I design my interiors in an intuitive way, there's no preconceived plan. I ...

It landed in my lap," explains Barbara Dente, a fashion insider based in New York, "it really did - I was throwing out a copy of The New York Observer, and a flyer fell out. It was from a real estate agent, and I saw the house on the corner of the page." What caught her eye was the name ...

The annual Chandon Supper Club occasions are always glittering affairs synonymous with glamour and fine dining. Great restaurants, hot chefs, unique venues, a hip afterparty and stylish guests ensure the event is a winner. Add to that, the fact that the proceeds go to Camp Quality, helping children with cancer, and it becomes glam with a cause. This year, Belle ...

Palm Springs in California is a place of contrasts - lush green lawns and golf courses right in the middle of the desert. A favourite bolthole for Hollywood movie stars, the martini lifestyle seems to be completely at odds with the mountains and desert that surround the city.Landscape architect Steve Martino found this context challenging when he worked on plans ...

In the ski resort of Niseko on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido snow falls so heavily throughout the winter that Shouya Grigg has to use a neighbour's tractor each morning to clear the driveway of Hanazono House, the Corten steel-clad property that is the Sapporobased designer, photographer and entrepreneur's second home."I'm not good in hot climates," says Shouya, an Australian ...

This beautiful home, in Paris's well-heeled 7th arrondissement, began life in the early 1800s as part of an hotel particulier - a grand private house set back from the street, with an entrance courtyard at the front and gardens at the back. The house was converted into large apartments during the last century and, when the current owners bought this ...

How does a chronicler of celebrity homes live herself ? In the case of New York writer Sue Hostetler, with as much high style as the rich and famous folks she profiles. Surveying the SoHo loft that Sue shares with her husband, media entrepreneur Jon Diamond, and their six-year-old daughter, Spencer, it's clear she's picked up a thing or two ...

From coastal living to a furniture maestro, these books are sure to fire your imagination.1 21ST CENTURY BEACH HOUSES A book that's just made for the Australian market focusing on our biggest love: coastal properties. Featuring homes in some of the most stunning locations in the world, including our own shores, it opens up each house with beautiful photography as ...

AS AN UNDERGRADUATE, French-Canadian born architect Annick Houle, one half of the Melbourne-based firm O'Connor + Houle, attended Montreal's McGill University School of Architecture. It was very conservative in its approach, she laments, but there was one engaging presence in the program, the architectural historian and phenomenologist Alberto Perez Gomez.His potent ethics - on the holistic, sensory, anti-stylistic possibilities of ...

In 1990 I was working in the East End of London. On rare sunny days, I would grab a sandwich and sit in a shabby little patch of green called Hoxton Square, wishing only that I was somewhere else. Like many of us at the time, I found it implausible that - in my lifetime at least - this run-down, ...

DAVID GUBERT - has photographed some of the most beautiful people in the world in some of the most exotic locations, from fashion and advertising work to shooting the likes of Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne and Yasmin Le Bon. In this issue of Belle, David photographed The Luxe Factor (pages 105-16) which explores what luxury means to nine creative Australians. ...

CHERISH THE LOVEHaving a son with a fascination for pink has led artist Anne MacDonald to explore decorative objects in that shade as metaphors for femininity, as well as the transience of childhood. Her Cherish exhibition includes heart-shaped candles, tiaras and diamante jewel boxes, shot on a plain white background, printed to life size and arranged in circles, reminiscent of ...

Their a pair of very upstanding-looking gentlemen, but Gilbert and George freely admit they are quite odd. And while the grand old men of British art dress immaculately always in impeccable suits, their art is subversive, dealing with such subjects as religion, sex, money and race. Yet despite giving their early works titles like George the C**t and Gilbert the ...

CREATIVE DIRECTOR of Calvin Klein Home, New York-based Amy Mellen never stops looking at the world around her. "I take inspiration from nature, art and architecture," she says, explaining the impulse for the Curator Collection by Calvin Klein Home, which is now available in Australia. "And, of course, I'm always looking at [Calvin Klein's] own fashion."Responsible for the design of ...