Serge Olivares exposes TOREADOR. A couture line of embroidered furniture specially designed for the exhibition preceding the reopening of The Mark.

Pierre Passebon –Jacques Grange’s collaborator- the curator, imagined a vraiment très chic –Ah mais Oui Madame!- exhibition.

Gallerie Mark - 992 Madison Avenue. For details, call: 212-772-1600

ULGAD’OR will be exhibiting at ICFF, located at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York.

Booth 610

GEORGE ROOM GALLERY, SUBSCRIPTION ROOMS, STROUD TOWN CENTRE, GL5 1AE

Ptolemy Mann MA RCA - Studio 52 - Clink Street Studios - 1 Clink Street
Soho Wharf - London SE1 9DG

cub-ar the manufacturer of precious items made of obsidian from Armenia, will be exhibiting at THE HOTEL SHOW.

World Trade Centre Hall 3D210

PIERRE PAULIN, designing for the powerful - Mobilier national

Icon of the sixties and the seventies Pierre Paulin is celebrated by Mobilier National, at “Galerie des Gobelins” –in charge of managing the government owned furniture. Three French Presidents in the late sixties, and late eighties chose Paulin to design the French presidential palace: Elysée, and the Paris city hall.

Strongly influenced by Scandinavian design, Paulin is particularly known for “Mushroom” –a round shaped seat carved in foam, with a hidden structure and a cosy and humoristic look. Another major success is “Ribbon”, a chair in the shape of a colourful bow on top of a gift box. Paulin also worked for Citroën, the car chosen by most Presidents.

CITROËN, Champs-Elysées - Manuelle Gautrand

C42: CITROËN’s newly reopened showroom at 42 Champs-Elysées. Architect Manuelle Gautrand completes the first new construction on the Champs-Elysées in 32 years. The building, a technical prowess dressed in daring aesthetics, mirrors CITROËN’s philosophy, as explained by the architect: “the goal is for the interior to showcase the cars, and for the exteriors to explain the CITROËN brand.”

Indoors, the brand displays its iconic cars along a central mast with eight revolving circular levels. Spinning down around the mast, a Guggenheim-like exhibition-path starts at the top, where visitors first discover a magnificent view of Paris. A good enough reason to visit?...

PARIS ROOF TOP VIEW HOTEL SUITE - Palais de Tokyo

Located at 13, avenue du Président Wilson, Museum “Palais de Tokyo” hosts on its roof top and for a year, a full-service portable-hotel-suite designed by artists Daniel Bauman and Sabina Lang.

€444/night for service comparable to that of a grand hotel! In addition, you get your private view on the Eiffel tower, just minutes away from your favourite boutiques on avenue Montaigne…

DIOR

The flagship store’s lobby at avenue Montaigne was just recently completed, as part of an entire renovation for DIOR’s 60th anniversary. In the centre, Peter Marino, who redesigned the store, installed collector items: Gingko benches by Claude Lalanne, as a reminder of Christian Dior’s love for art. Around the lobby, on the walls, DIOR’s accessories are showcased in shelves dressed in silver-gilded paper manufactured by ULGAD'OR.

A hot item, the paper was also used to decorate the runway set at the DIOR ready-to-wear fashion show at the Ephemeral Gallery in the Tuileries gardens in Paris. ULGAD'OR uses SHIRALY to promote itself in America, and has recently been awarded the label: “Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant” for its commitment to quality manufacturing.

NICOLAS AUBAGNAC, A DECADE OF DESIGN

To celebrate 10 years of creative activity, an exhibition took place from March 31st to April 5th at Galerie Joyce - 168 Galerie Valois - Jardins du Palais Royal - Paris 1er.

SPA / ARMANI

Architects Doriana and Massimiliano Fuksas recently put the finishing touch to the Armani Ginza Tower in Tokyo. A cultural addition to the Tokyo scene, this 12 story building is meant to showcase all ARMANI brands, including the very first “SPA ARMANI.”

For this new concept ARMANI chose CUB-AR, the maker of precious objects in Armenian obsidian stone for some of their most exquisite gift items. CUB-AR also uses SHIRALY to promote itself in America.

CAFÉ COSTE

Have you ever gone back to your hotel room from the COSTE with your ears full of music and your eyes full of twinkles? Rejoice, because Jacques Garcia designed a chest like box to celebrate the 10th anniversary of resident DJ Stéphane Pompougnac’s work. Ten CDs, each presented in a separate drawer covered in velvet, make this limited edition the perfect occasion to bring home some of that magic. 

LE DALI

The former winter garden at Hotel Meurice has just been touched by Stark’s magic wand! The result is a restaurant, labelled “contemporary!” with at its helm, Chef Yannick Alléno. Known as flavourful, Alléno’s cuisine rests on two concepts: “without excess” and “100% flavours”. On the menu you will read: without fat, without complex… or, 100% fat free, 100% pleasure, 100% classical…

LE PLACIDE HOTEL

For people watchers and left-bank aficionados, the recent opening of 4 stars Hotel Le Placide is good news. Comfortably seated at your balcony while having breakfast, you will enjoy the ballet of shoppers go in and out of Le Bon Marché. The chic lines and contemporary decoration of this former XIXth century family pension make up a cosy environment.

The makeover is the work of Bruno Borrione, associate interior architect for Philippe Starck, who signs here another project after working for Chefs Pourcel brothers at Le Jardin des Sens. 

Exploring Paris ! - Photos and text by Daisy Ho

The system boasts 211 km (131 miles) of track and 16 lines, shuttling 3,500 cars on a precise schedule between 380 stations (not including RER stations), 87 of these offering connections between lines. Approximately 5 million passengers ride it per day, and over 15,000 RATP workers run it. The Metro-RER station Chatelet-Les Halles is the world’s largest subway station, according to Wikipedia. 86 of the original Art Nouveau entrances are by the hand of architect Hector Guimard (this station, N-D de Lorette, is not one of them. Photos to come).

Statistics aside, the system is efficient (though slightly noxious in the summer months), often music-filled and many stations are a museum in and of themselves, due to a campaign for themed stations launched by Andre Malraux in 1967.