Cultural
Concepts of Culture – GetUp, Step Up and Help make it Happen
Culture deals with “things that hurt”. Each culture on earth needs to continue to promote the emergence of new ideas while encouraging the raising of positive voices to benefit marginalized sections of society. Each and every one of us needs to re-evaluate what our priorities are in life. We need to understand and know what it is that will cause us to be thankful for the world in which we live and work. It will inform how we discover what will improve the quality of life for all, not just for a privileged few.
First Stirrings of the China Trade Precious Cargoes of Cathay
Ceramic traditions since ancient times have undergone many cross fertilizations by their exposure to various cultures. The first stirring of what we now describe as the China Trade began when Europe was still emerging from the medieval period and would build momentum slowly peaking during the nineteenth century.
Vale Margaret Olley Painter
Vale Margaret Olley A.C. (1923-2011) painter, the indomitable spirit of the world of art in Australia. Those who loved and respected you will long remember you
Caviar Creature
In an Age of Modernism most silver manufacturers at the turn of the twentieth century opted for the known over the unknown. Orthodoxy prevailed, even in an industry rapidly being overhauled by modern technological advances. Jules Auguste Habert Dys (1850-1924) was a notable exception. He was one of several metalworkers of distinction in Europe between [...]
Towers – Symbols of Hope and Freedom
Prior to the twentieth century towers were built as symbols to the heights of material wealth and prosperity the western world had yet achieved.
The City of Bath in the Age of Pleasure
It was not until the fifteenth century when King Henry V111 came to see Bath for himself that the therapeutic value of the waters became, once again, well known and people came to be cured. However it would only become a centre for fashionable people following the arrival of Richard ‘Beau’ Nash in 1702.
Aussie Baby Boomers, The Generation Thinking Outside the Box
It is always intriguing to read statistics about the so-called Baby Boomers, that generation of people born following World War II. As they continuing to face challenges, like they have during the last six decades and more, they will offer up their experiences and mentor those who come after, quite simply because they are a generation still thinking outside the box
Bentwood Classic
The decorative arts magazine The Studio was devoured in the coffee house culture of Vienna’s cafes at the turn of the 20th century with English fashion, sport and food debated endlessly. The attractiveness of handicraft items issuing from Vienna was demonstrated at the World Exposition in Paris of 1900. Michael Thonet designed the coffeehouse chair, [...]
Tartan, Plaid, Kilts, Clans and Customs – Scotland the Brave
Today members of the various clans of Scotland, scattered all over the world, communicate with each other, meet together, learn from and help each other, search for their identity and, from time to time, gather together to celebrate being part of a wider family – one with a proud and dramatic history.
Youthful Style
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the economic and social forces, which underpinned Victorian stability, were shattered, Britain’s manufacturing power was threatened at home by industrial unrest and internationally by America, Germany and Japan. Growing feminist and socialist movements characterize this period as one of protracted crisis. The population of the U.K. was [...]
The Block, a Renovating Nightmare or, a Restoration Delight
Do the protagonists on television’s real estate renovating reality show, The Block at Melbourne in 2011 face a renovating nightmare, or a restoration delight?
Elegance, a refinement of taste to cultivate polite society
An evening of traditional elegance, say at the White House or Government House Australia, still requires a perfection of planning and wise organisation so that it appears not to be contrived at all.
Finding Paradise on Earth
From the earliest times gardens were associated with shade, running water; fragrance and fresh produce and therefore represented peace and prosperity. Each visit to a garden is a unique experience because its plants, ornaments, views and garden buildings appear in a sequence that can never exactly be repeated ever again. Another quality, not possessed by [...]
Love Jewellery – Regency to Revival
England’s Prince Regent George, Prince of Wales, later George IV (1762 – 1830) scandalized the nation with his reckless and lavish living habits. He gave an impressive love gift a diamond riviére (a necklace of precious stones, generally set in one strand) to his mistress Elizabeth, Lady Conyngham, who reputedly received gifts of jewels valued at the time in the region of 80,000 pounds.
Love Jewellery – Rome to Renaissance
If you bring both gold and precious or semi precious stones together skilfully a add a dash of passion, smidgen of sentiment, make them expressive of romance as well as symbolic of true love then you have a ‘tour de force’, a triumph of Cupid’s D’art Love Jewellery, Rome to Renaissance
An important aspect of every human society yet recorded is a belief that gold and gemstones had an enormous effect on the affairs of many. This has not been limited to any age or culture some of the first tokens of human affection were worn as treasured souvenirs.
At the Beginnings of Art – Cradle of Civlisation
All cultures on earth, just like individuals, have distinct modes of existence and creation stories are something they all have in common in a logical attempt to rationalise the presence of humans on earth. ‘In the beginning’, the ancient Greek oral Poet Hesiod says somewhere between 750 and 650 years before the Christ event (BCE), ‘there was Khaos, vast and dark.
Asides
Watch our free video
