In Italy they’re called by the more elegant and somehow far cuter name Motorino. A cornerstone of mediterranean culture, especially in urban centres, motorini are still the simplest and easiest way to navigate a city. The various iterations of Piaggio’s famous Vespa from the 1950s onwards are indisputable vehicle design classics, and even after days and days in the south of Italy I still found myself staring like a man transfixed when an old white vespa whizzed past me.

There’s something about the simplicity of a motorino that’s irresistible: it’s a culture entirely different from that of the motocicletta or motorcycle, which involves shifting gears and straddling the bike like a horse; on a motorino you sit like you’re having dinner, with only a simplified spedometer and a couple of lights on your display. People from 14 to 85 drive them here, and hopping on a scooter is about as natural as going for a walk.

A couple of years ago, Piaggio introduced a new line of their famous Vespa scooters that, while not exactly re-creating the perfect heavy lines of the old Vespa frontpiece (for those you need the just-cancelled Vespa PX), comes pretty close. It’s a happily backwards-looking design similar to Fiat new’s cinquecento, the closest a lot of people will get to ever owning one of Fiat’s old masterpieces of a car.

Vespa Canada (yeah, we do drive some vespas in Canada, even if they’re prohibitively expensive and our scooter season outside of Vancouver is far too short) recently commissioned some great print ads that simultaneously introudced the new Vespa and harkened the arrival of spring. The theme is butterflies, close enough to the original meaning of the word Vespa (which would be wasp) and a little more appealing than that annoying insect when we’re talking about heralding in a new season.

The thematic unity of the butterfly/scooter concept left the designers free to incorporate elements of different design eras into each particular ad, with splendid results all around. I especially love the 1970s-themed design with its concentric lines and perfect colour scheme. Beautiful stuff.

Our final scooter-related find is this set of stunning high-end helmets from the Parisian designer Les Ateliers Ruby, which top any helmet I have ever seen anyone wearing anywhere. They’re lush, shiny, and thematically perfect for anyone buying a scooter for more than just a convenient method of transport.

I once saw a dude on a vintage vespa in Paris, sporting white converse, good jeans, a perfect vintage button-up shirt, and smoking a Gauluoises–which wasn’t hanging out of his mouth, mind you, but resting there in that inimitable ‘this took me 3 seconds to do but would take you a damn lifetime‘ French style. If he’d had this helmet, we would have our winner in the coolest man ever to ride a scooter. He’s probably already got one, the bastard.

Alright, so the title is slightly misleading–German artist Gerhard Richter has been producing abstract “colour charts” since the early 1970s, long before pixel-art became a tangible theme in design. But his latest work is housed in a wonderfully different context: the famous Cologne Cathedral. Although this gargantuan building should be seen by everyone, now there’s even more reason for those interested in 21st century design to take the trip. Make it truly worthwhile and go on Carnival’s famous Rose Monday (not until February 23rd, 2009!) for one of the best European street festivals around.

We find, from the New Yorker’s Peter Schjeldahl, a succinct overview of the recent work and its reception:

A vast window by Richter was installed last year in the south transept of the Cologne Cathedral, a Gothic bastion of Roman Catholicism in northern Europe, which was begun in 1248 and finally completed in 1880 (when it became, for four years, the world’s tallest building). It is the Germans’ favorite tourist attraction, according to a recent poll.

His results continue to foster discussion among professional art critics and casual observers:

But controversy lingers in Cologne, where, despite the public’s acceptance, cynics have derided Richter’s work as “pixels” and “confetti.” [...] The literally paradoxical, if not quite heretical, results of [the project] pose a question of whether, in Christian Europe today, art on celebrated artists’ terms has risen to equality with religion or if religion has sunk to the level of mere art.

It turns out Richter was close to giving up when he laid one of his famous colour chart paintings over top an image of the church window:

Richter’s chief model was his own huge painting “4096 Colors” (1974), in which each of a thousand and twenty-four sprayed-enamel colors, in a graduated spectrum of hues and tones, appears four times. It was composed by chance. (Chance is “more clever than I,” he has said.) Richter likewise randomized the window’s squares within sections that mirror one another at intervals, like the rhymes in a verse form. The result employs seventy-two colors that he deemed consistent with those of the cathedral’s forty-three windows dating from 1260 to 1562 (which survived the war in storage), and close enough in tone to avoid spots of disrupting opacity and glare.

We’re crazy over the idea of sanctioned pixel-art in an antiquated container. Have any other stories of contemporary design in a radically unexpected context? Share them with us!

When planning your next trip, if you’re anything like us, you probably spend hours searching for a cool pad to nap; perusing your search engine of choice with queries like “design hotel” or “boutique hotel” - chances are, you have stayed at an Ian Schrager, slept on a Heavenly bed or parked it in an Easy Hotel at least once; just to say you have. Pick any city, and you can name at least 3 hotels that have free wireless access in the lobby, offer a great aperativo or the punchiest cocktail in the bar adjacent.

In the world of design hotels, much effort is spent on ensuring guests leave their stay wanting to champion the hotels brand to their peers - and so they should; birds of a feather right? So what does a ‘design hotel’ do to stand out now days? How about group 15 renown architects to each create an ultimate cottage, sparing no absurdity (helicopters, interior waterfalls) or expense ($1,450-a-night tabs), and you can pretty much count on an few stories ’round the watercooler.

Alongside Hotel Puerta América in Madrid and Hotel Fox in Copenhagen, the Winvian joins the individuality trend that emerged as design hotels—originally a rebellion against cookie-cutter chains— that have become cookie-cutter themselves. At Winvian, you’ll find John Martin’s Camping Cottage, complete with an outdoor fireplace and screen porch for watching the creatures of the forest from a protected distance - or Barry Svigal’s Greenhouse Cottage, which can be loaded with bushels of flowers for any occasion. Then there are the cottages which pretty much describe themselves, like the Library, Treehouse, Stone Cottage, Log Cabin, and Stable. Most individual of all is a 1968 Sikorsky HH37 Sea King Pelican helicopter refashioned into a bar and entertainment center for the Helicopter Cottage. There’s also a spa and a Ducasse-trained chef on site as well as 113 acres (bordering a 4,000-acre forest) to explore!.

Winvian
Tel: 860 567 9600

When we you think of Las Vegas Hotels, generally you think BIG. Let’s face it: Vegas isn’t really a city renowned for its subtlety. Bright flashing lights, gaudily and scantily clad women, brash and brazen design everywhere, the hotels that make up the famous Vegas Strip are more inclined to be gargantuan in size and an explosion of all things (yawn) spectacular. Hardly a place you’re bound to find a hotelier with style or substance. But amidst the relentless construction and the vast sums of money thrown around in pursuit of the next big thing there occasionally comes along an offering that threatens to go against the grain.

Namely: the Palms Place Hotel and Spa, which opened in February – a comparative oasis amidst the bustle and frenzy of endless slot machines and Poker tables. Situated just behind the Strip its close enough to all the action that Vegas offers, and far enough away to escape the tourist trodden gambling zones offered by all of the competing hotels. In fact, this is one of the only big hotels that doesn’t actually have a Casino.

The 47-story tower is modern but with contemporary eleganance – Marble, steel, wood and brilliant lighting – the big draw card however: The magnificent spa complex, impressive even by Vegas standards.

Rejuvenate and relax in 50,000 square feet of pools, spas, and the city’s first Hammam, a two-level traditional Turkish bath incorporating indoor hot and cool soaking pools, steam and sauna pods, private outdoor garden lounges and a comprehensive treatment menu. Imagine, a trip to Las Vegas that doesn’t leave you needing another holiday. Leave Vegas detoxified, would that be a change?

The Place is connected to the Palms casino by a moving walkway called a Sky Tube, and features plenty of world-class dining and nightlife options. Spectacular views and modern rooms starting at $200 are the norm, but for a more personalized stay, check out the Fantasy Suites, which range from 1,500 to 10,000 square feet, and include the Real World Suite, the Hugh Hefner Sky Villa, and the Erotic Suite, complete with a show shower, rotating eight-foot bed, and stripper pole.

Website

http://www.palmsplace.com/

Telephone

1.866 942 7779

Address

4381 West Flamingo Road, Las Vegas

Palms Place Hotel and Spa : Las Vegas - One Bedroom Suite

Palms Place Hotel and Spa : Las Vegas - Two Bedroom Suite

Palms Place Hotel and Spa : Las Vegas - Kitchen Suite

Palms Place Hotel and Spa : Las Vegas - Drift Spa

Palms Place Hotel and Spa : Las Vegas - Hamman

Some cities are filled to the brim with chic and hyper-modern designer hotels, but Paris could always use another one. As such, Hotel Sezz is a welcome addition to the landscape, the perfect antidote to the prevailing antique hotel trend. Here, in the 16th arrondissement (hence the name), Starck protégé Christophe Pillet has created a dramatic and stylish space, a hotel that would turn heads in Milan or Barcelona and looks all the more surprising in staid old Paris.

But first you have to find it; rather than sandwiched between designer shops and department stores, Sezz is tucked away down a quiet street in an upscale residential neighborhood, with not a shop or restaurant in sight. And the facade itself is absolutely classic, offering no hint of the fantasy inside.

Once through the doors, it’s another world, one dressed not in the flashy whimsy of a Starck, but in Pillet’s own original style, a black-and-red futuristic boudoir chic. Walls of exposed grey stone convey a subterranean atmosphere, and the ultra-modern furniture is severe and masculine. It all feels a bit like the devil’s own bachelor pad, with the freestanding bed occupying the center of the room atop a thick crimson rug. Bathrooms are impeccably designed, with oversized tubs easily large enough for two. And while the single room may be passing out of style, the singles at Sezz are possibly the best we’ve ever seen.

Public spaces include the first Veuve Clicquot champagne bar in Paris, certain to become one of the city’s most in-demand nightspots, and a jacuzzi, hammam and massage room in the basement, for when that oversized soaking tub isn’t doing the trick.

Address:

Hotel Sezz 6, Avenue Frémiet, Paris, France

Florence’s UNA Hotel Vittoria is a masterpiece of ultra-modern hotel design, the handiwork of the improbably named Italian architect Fabio Novembre, and it’s a highly individual expression. If you turn up expecting yet another international-modern minimalist design hotel, you risk having your Zen sensibilities upset by Novembre’s rich Baroque vision.

Forget about white on white: these bedrooms are a dark fantasy, with walls covered in tiles of black leather or red felt, with tiny fiber-optic lights glowing like stars at the corners. Large flat-screen internet-enabled televisions hover over black Corian countertops, complete with bar-style stools, a departure from the traditional office desk, and the closets are adorned with murals depicting hanging clothes and rows of shoes. Of particular note are the colorful bathrooms, outfitted with Arne Jacobsen fixtures and set off from the guest room’s foyer by a translucent glass wall.

Novembre’s is the sort of postmodern aesthetic that readily admits historical influences — the hotel corridors, an often overlooked space, are an homage to Florence’s rich artistic tradition: each guest room’s door, with its gilded frame, is a full-length portrait of a different 16th-century Tuscan aristocrat.

Public spaces are no less adventurous, from the looping ring-shaped chairs in the lobby to the long S-shaped communal dining table in the restaurant, meant as a reference to the long tables shared by the residents of ancient Tuscan monasteries. From the reception desk to the hotel’s entrance a floral-printed composite mosaic loops over itself, acclimating guests with a gravity-defying shock from the cobbled courtyards of the historic San Frediano district into the Vittoria’s futuristic fantasy world.

The hotel’s location is unusual and a little further away from the regular tourist haunts like Ponte Vecchio. However, the quiet residential area will give you a sense of the real Florence which few visitors experience, and a walk towards the Ponte Vecchio - along the Arno - is a must.

UNA Hotel Vittoria
Via Pisana 59 - (GPS: Piazza Pier Vettori), Florence, Italy