Philip Wilkinson is the author of over 40 books, including The English Buildings Book, and most recently The High Street, written in conjunction with the BBC TV series. Happily for us, he’s also the curator of the English Buildings Blog, a firm favorite here at The Dabbler. In this new ... Read More...
Design
Rather than being led to despair though joblessness, apparently we should be uplifted by the fact that we’re all works of art, designed by God. I wonder what graduates embarking on their search for employment would make of yesterday’s BBC Radio 4 Thought for the Day from Rt Rev Lord ... Read More...
I thought the fascination with all things skeletal had died a death, until I attended a preview of the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition on Thursday night and saw Olu Shobowale’s Coffin ‘To Die For’. The late noughties onwards have seen a profusion of Vanitas inspired artworks. Designers have also been influenced, ... Read More...
Enjoy your Yoga Bunny Detox? Or do you think lunch is for wimps? British designers are factoring food into their plans for creating healthy workplaces. Happiness is found to be most closely associated with health, according to the Map of World Happiness, produced by Adrian White at the University of Leicester ... Read More...
I was planning to post something about the Chelsea Flower Show today, but then I attended the first ever Dabbler Summit… For those of you who weren’t able to be there yesterday, here are some photographs of the stylish venue – and here’s what you missed: 1) sofa.com’s hip and happening ... Read More...
On a recent tour of the Royal Academy of Music Museum, the violin was described by Peter Sheppard Skaerved as “the epitome of understatement in working with wood.” A lapsed violinist, I’d never really contemplated the design of my instrument – just its sound. Suddenly, thanks to Peter, the skillfully ... Read More...
We seem to be entering a new phase of inventiveness in design: artists are looking to science and ecology for inspiration in their work, whereas scientists are suddenly referring to the art of pseudo-science to help explain their findings. Historically, scientific creativity has been looked down upon by those with ... Read More...
Today, The Dabbler takes a sidelong look at war starting with Barendina Smedley, who stumbles across a less reported view of a momentous year. A few days ago, a battered copy of the Studio Year Book turned up here. The date on the much-sellotaped cover was 1939. To move beyond that cover is to embark ... Read More...
London’s gone cycling mad this week. The official launch of the Velodrome, the first Olympic venue to open – and possibly the only one that will be on budget and on time, caused quite a stir in the press. The building has already won the public’s affection, being nicknamed ‘the ... Read More...
The Dabbler talks to Andy Davidson of Glencairn Crystal, a man on a mission to help you to really appreciate whisky… You wouldn’t buy a Rembrandt and then magnet-stick it to the fridge under the MOT reminder and the Chinese takeaway menu, would you? And you wouldn’t go to a Michelin-starred ... Read More...
