All posts tagged: architecture

Painted eggs - Christmas decorations Munich

Munich and Salzburg at Christmas | Highlights

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A winter’s holiday in central Europe at Christmas is a magical time of everything Christmasy. Lights, baubles, mulled wine, roasted nuts, more baubles, more lights, castles and fortresses. Oh, and did I mention the Christmas decorations? Here are some highlights from my week in Munich and Salzburg to maybe whet your appetite for your own Christmasy sojourn … Some of the largest Christmas bauble’s you’ll ever see at a Christmas market in Munich. There’s me in the middle looking rather like the abominable snowman. Beautifully painted Christmas egg decorations in Munich. Munich cathedral at the Christkindlmarkt (Christmas market) in Marienplatz. Prezels galore at Munich’s Christkindlmarkt. A beautiful winter’s day in Munich’s English Garden. Spot the squirrel. Elegant swans in the lake in the middle of Munich’s English Garden. River surfing in Munich is the thing to do it seems. Here they’re doing it on the Eisbach, an artificial river at Haus der Kunst on the edge of the English Garden. The extravagant and unfinished Neuschwanstein castle in Bavaria on which Walt Disney based his Disneyland castle. Misty …

Interview | Andrew Hayim de Vries

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Melbourne-based artist and designer Andrew Hayim de Vries is so passionate about the health of the environment and the practice of upcycling and recycling in both his personal and professional lives that it forms the basis for everything he does. The the idea – and his ideal – is to not just educate others on the importance of these things but to actually empower change. He wants to ‘explore the value of what we consider value to be’ and to impress upon ‘the need to up-cycle, recycle and reuse’. He is, in fact, so deeply passionate about this cause that I’ve had to ‘bleep’ out a couple of words in the interests of not offending anyone! Andrew’s professional background is diverse – ranging from painting to performance art to building houses as art works as well as to live in. He lives and breathes his cause and his latest project follows along similar lines. ‘Lighting Conditions Do Apply’ is a series of upcycled designer lights Andrew has made using found and collected objects in an original way. It’s all about the importance of recycling as …

Holiday Home Candy

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What sort of place would you like to spend your holidays in? A retro-styled upcycled beach cottage like this one on the Isle of Skye. It is SO cute. Read the full interview with the home-owner/ DIY-er over at Recycled Interiors. Or a sleek stylish summer pad likes this one in Brazil where you’d never want to leave the pool? Ever. See more at The Contemporist. Perhaps you’d prefer to have a pool in the living room? I mean, really? Via Inthralld. Or are you more of a camper? These funky Brit-designed tents let you take your tech-world with you as they feature a 5 kw solar panel and lithium battery so you can stay charged and connected no matter how remote your camping locale. Love the designs! Where will you be spending your holidays this Christmas?

Recycling | Upcycling

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This time of the year always seems to bring on a rash of consumer craziness and sometimes it can be hard not to get caught up in it all. I thought I’d focus today’s post on upcycling and recycling – not on gifts per se but as a way to remind ourselves that the gifts you give don’t always have to be brand spanking new or mass-produced. Think recycled or upcycled or, even better, something handmade you’ve created yourself … … Like these innovative, designer-looking pendants made from straws. Aren’t they cute? Hang a set of these over your Christmas table – or even give one as a gift -and I’m sure you’ll be showered with praise. Instructions are over at Skona Hem. Swiss-based designer Gareth Knott has come up with the word de-cycling as a way to describe his Treff punkt coffee table made from upcycled railway boxes. Although decycling typically means making sure items are correctly recycled for the waste, Gareth uses it to combine the concepts of design and recycling. Gareth named …