The international design fraternity recently descended on Weil am Rhein, near Basel, to witness the opening of furniture manufacturer Vitra's latest architectural gem on its sprawling campus - aka VitraHaus. Herzog & de Meuron's fabulously intriguing structure is a playful stack of charcoal Monopoly-style houses on top of each other, fully glazed at either end. VitraHaus is, in essence, a great big furniture shop - albeit a rather gorgeous one. It showcases the Vitra Home Collection, which comprises re-editions of design classics by the likes of George Nelson, Charles and Ray Eames and Isamu Noguchi, alongside products developed with contemporary designers such as the Bouroullec brothers, Jasper Morrison and Hella Jongerius. The exhibits have been choreographed in a series of desirable living sets - a sort of seductive soft-sell - think Wallpaper* magazine in 3D. What's particularly great is that visitors can test and try everything out. But perhaps the building's best trick is at dusk, when its dark shell disappears from view and the domestic scenes visible behind each window resemble illuminated pictures floating in the sky.
The UK's cultural commentator and design guru, Stephen Bayley, with whom I had the pleasure of working alongside to help launch London's Design Museum, has strong feelings about the notion of beauty (and ugliness, for that matter) and the necessity of providing beauty in today's cities. "What alarms me is that beauty has become a taboo subject, people in authority never use the word beauty ..." he told the regional news organisation, Liverpool Confidential. "It would be good to change that ... somehow discussions of aesthetics have been swamped by the need to be cost-efficient. That is important but we mustn't forget beauty. Maybe every council should have an officer dedicated to beauty, saying things such as, 'you can't build that school, it isn't beautiful'. Good design shouldn't have to cost more than bad design. Let's think like the best of the early Modernist's did, beauty should no longer be the preserve of the privileged, or maybe live to the quote of the old Italian Communist Party, 'the best salami for everyone'." As for creating beauty in our homes - Bayley's philosophy is simple, as recounted in The Independent: "Doing up a home is like food and sex: it should never be rushed. Furnishing our house has been a careful process of acquisition, and patience is immensely important... I do care about detail and would rather do without than put up with something that doesn't satisfy. It is also best not to try to achieve an effect; a home is not a set, it needs to genuinely reflect the characters living within it." Quite.
Yvonne Courtney is the co-founder of design/publishing consultancy and ezine designtastic.net
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Match statistics
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 36 Bahrain 32
Harlequins
Tries: Penalty 2, Stevenson, Teasdale, Semple
Cons: Stevenson 2
Pens: Stevenson
Bahrain
Tries: Wallace 2, Heath, Evans, Behan
Cons: Radley 2
Pen: Radley
Man of the match: Craig Nutt (Harlequins)
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
UAE Falcons
While you're here
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Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
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A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
End of free parking
- paid-for parking will be rolled across Abu Dhabi island on August 18
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- areas that are currently free to park - around Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Maqta Bridge, Mussaffah Bridge and the Corniche - will now require a ticket
- villa residents will need a permit to park outside their home. One vehicle is Dh800 and a second is Dh1,200.
- The penalty for failing to pay for a ticket after 10 minutes will be Dh200
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Uefa Nations League Group B:
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The specs: McLaren 600LT
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The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
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Mina Al Oraibi: Air strike casts a long shadow over the decade ahead
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Justin Thomas: Challenge the notion that 'men are from Mars, women are from Venus'
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The UN General Assembly President in quotes:
YEMEN: “The developments we have seen are promising. We really hope that the parties are going to respect the agreed ceasefire. I think that the sense of really having the political will to have a peace process is vital. There is a little bit of hope and the role that the UN has played is very important.”
PALESTINE: “There is no easy fix. We need to find the political will and comply with the resolutions that we have agreed upon.”
OMAN: “It is a very important country in our system. They have a very important role to play in terms of the balance and peace process of that particular part of the world, in that their position is neutral. That is why it is very important to have a dialogue with the Omani authorities.”
REFORM OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL: “This is complicated and it requires time. It is dependent on the effort that members want to put into the process. It is a process that has been going on for 25 years. That process is slow but the issue is huge. I really hope we will see some progress during my tenure.”
