Living

The King of Really Big Diamonds Heads to China NYTimes

Laurence Graff, a major if not the biggest dealer in big diamonds, is not inclined to market his baubles on models.

“The people who wear Graff jewelry own it,” says Henri Barguirdjian, who heads Mr. Graff’s United States sales operation. “I think it is a bit of an insult to our clients who actually purchased our jewelry,” he adds, referring to the notion of non-owners wearing Graff jewels. “If you spend $1 million, that is a lot of money. Do you want a little model wearing it?”

With Gisele Bündchen, wearing diamond earrings from Van Cleef & Arpels to the recent Met gale honoring Alexander McQueen, the ‘little model’ reference may not ring true. Forbes lays out their argument for Gisele becoming the world’s first billionaire model.

When in Rome (and Everywhere Else):

Vogue’s 20 Favorite Shops in 20 Cities Vogue.com

Some people spend their summer holidays rappelling down mountains, windsurfing, parasailing, bungee jumping, spelunking, and indulging in other tame, dull stuff. And then there are the true daredevils: thrill-seekers who don a fresh sundress, a pair of high-heeled sandals, and set out to find the most seductive shops in their vacation destinations, searching for one-of-a-kind souvenirs, or even better, inspirations for the fashionable days ahead.

Several designers embarked on a similar course for their recent resort collections (at least in their imaginations). Michael Kors dreamed of Bondi Beach; Derek Lam was wowed by Bhutan and Phuket; Suno was gaga for Hawaii; and Altuzarra swayed to the rhythms of St.-Tropez.

Green Beings

Out of Sync With Nature

Casual Nature Lovers Less Likely to Support Conservation Groups AOC Green Beings

Ji-Young Jung, Sun-hwa Park & Sojung Yoon | Kim Je Won | ‘Spring Picnic’ | Singles Korea May 2011

If future generations spend no time enjoying nature, how can this be good for conservation?

Serious hikers and backpackers tend to become members and financial supporters of environmental and conservation groups, unlike casual garden picnic makers or woodland tourists. Over a decade after hiking or backpacking in nature correlated with a willingness to financially support any of four representative conservation organizations: the Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, the Sierra Club or Environmental Defense. The typical backpacker gave $200 to $300 per year, after the dozen-year lag.

In what we call the ‘Sex & the City’ shop till you drop effect, casual nature lovers were less likely to support environmental causes, sustainability and conservation efforts.

Les Artistes

Robot Sketcher

JWT & Artist Patrick Tresset’s Sketching Machine

JWTsketch is an art & technology installation at JWT London. Visitors get their portrait sketched by a robot, collect it and share the video of their portrait making using social networks.

As we become more and more dependent on machines and networks in our inevitable journey to become cyborgs, we wondered how machines can reflect our human condition and inspire us.

We wanted to evoke human emotions by teaching a machine to sketch as a traditional artist would do and be creative. We also wanted our machine to share the creative process as it makes decisions by tweeting and posting the results on Facebook automatically.

Will Photoshop be in play next on the JWTsketch? via DesignTaxi