The Bamboo House of Benjamin Garcia Saxe

A bamboo house nestled among trees, surrounded by a forest, an aloe vera planted in the dirt floor of the living room, and a cone-shaped dome that opens to the sky revealing the natural elements of the forest, an oasis of simplicity and tranquility where you  only hear the loud noise of the crickets at sunset and the birds singing at dawn.... This is the lovely house that Benjamin Garcia Saxe has built for his mother in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.
" A Forest for a Moon Dazzler," the small bamboo structure designed by UK-based architect Benjamin Garcia Saxe has won first prize in the private house category at the world architectural festival held this year in Barcelona. This unique forest home features two separate modules - a kitchen/living-area on one end and a bedroom space on the other with a courtyard/garden in between.
"My mom and I never had a place we could call home.... always dreaming of a place we could be together."

A Forest for a Moon Dazzler

The aloe vera tree

The cone-shaped roof

Images courtesy Benjamin Garcia Saxe

Floral-Inspired Fashion, Winter's flowers

A season's shady take on feminine florals. A wall of green plants and a floor adorned with thousand of fresh flowers at the Marimekko's S/S 2011 fashion show, dresses featuring naif flowers or inspired by a Monet painting, accessories embellished with floral ornaments, flowers are everywhere.....

Back in the 1960s

French actress Catherine Deneuve 

Deneuve and sister Francoise Dorleac in the musical film" Les Demoiselles de Rochefort"

Brigitte Bardot 

Flowers are blooming

Floral-Inspired Fashion S/S 2011 
Stella McCartney

English country garden-inspired for Dolce Gabbana

Antonio Marras's vivid floral prints

Christopher Kane, orchid-print mini dress

Fall colors for Kenzo

 A bouquet of crochet flowers for Missoni

Phillip Lim, silk flower dress

Valentino

Valentino large floral tote

Giuseppe Zanotti's chiffon-flower sandal

Miu Miu

Nina Ricci, porcelain and glass flower bracelet

Oscar de La Renta, pearl and crystal-embellished floral necklace

Schreiber 

Marimekko's Flower market show

John Baldessari: " The Giacometti Variations "

" The Giacometti Variations " is an original project of Californian artist John Baldessari and conceived specifically for the exhibition spaces of the Prada Foundation in Milan. The installation consists of nine sculptures made of resin and steel and sprayed with bronze. Inspired by the Swiss sculptor, the oversized and slender female figures are dressed in garments and objects designed by Baldessari himself. Arranged in a row, the huge mannequins recall a snapshot of a fashion show. Their look is inspired by a range of characters, from the Degas ballerina " La petite danseuse de quatorze ans," a cloth bodice and a white tutu, to the hot-pink bow in duchess satin - an ironic revisiting of the 1950s Hollywood glamour of Marilyn Monroe; from the nineteenth-century crinoline of "Gone with the Wind" to Humphrey Bogart's trench coat in "Casablanca," and more.....

The burning pyre of St. Joan of Arc

Rapunzel's long blond tresses

Dorothy's ruby slippers in "The Wizard of Oz"

Courtesy of the Fondazione Prada
John Baldessari
Photos by Roberto Marossi
" The Giacometti Variations " is currently on view Fondazione Prada, Milan from October 29 to December 26, 2010.

Pauline Bastard and her Recycled Art

French artist Pauline Bastard creates works as ephemeral as they are powerful, easily identifiable, which give new life to familiar objects and surroundings with a touch of humor and originality. In her latest series " Beautiful Landscapes," the artist creates collages of imaginary scenes using torn-up pages from old textbooks and photo albums.
 Her artwork is currently on view in a group show untitled REHAB, l'art de re-faire, the art of re-making, at the EDF Diversiterre Foundation in Paris. This exhibition focuses on the incorporation of recycled materials as "a rediscovered artistic practice and the symbol of the struggle against local environmental dysfunctionality," curator Benedicte Ramade said in a statement.

Beautiful Landscapes, 2008-2010

Images courtesy of Pauline Bastard