le corbusier

Iconic modernist designs by the ‘visionaries of Chandigarh’ Pierre Jeanneret and Le Corbusier, along with creations by George Nakashima—all of these will feature at the Design Sale to be organised by Saffronart on 18-19 April 2017. Also featuring Art Deco furniture sets and pieces, the sale objects are open for viewing before the auction, from 7-19th April. The Chandigarh furniture highlights the care Le Corbusier and Pierre took, when in Chandigarh and Ahmedabad, to train local carpenters and furniture makers to achieve a finesse that was essential to their design. Their chairs, tables, and desks complemented the modernist and egalitarian tenets of their architecture. Featuring mostly teak and cane, the four-seater cinema bench, cane-backed office armchair, and the iconic student chair are distinctly modernist in style. But the real treasure is the Chandigarh Demountable Desk, much like the ones that graced the halls of the Chandigarh High Court. The impeccable and intricate workmanship is hidden in plain sight, visible only to those really looking for it. American architect George Nakashima saw furniture as an extension of the life of a tree and used the most innate characteristics of natural wood, including the burls, knots and grain, to inform his design. Nakashima’s chairs that were made in India are exquisitely crafted from locally available materials. They embody his spiritual aesthetic and the unique beauty of the wood he so admired.

luxury mithai

If you think luxury and mithai don’t really go well together, wait till you hear of this. Siddharth  Mathur—former banker as well as director, food and beverage, Impressario Group— has opened this boutique mithai outfit called Khoya, with recipes curated by his wife Batasha. Beautifully packaged, bespoke box of luxury sweets, containing 100 per cent natural or organic ingredients with no added flavours, preservatives or colourings. That’s what you’re promised by this bespoke box. So you can take you pick from 14 varieties of sweets, ranging from a brown sugar besan ladoo, Walnut Peda and Belgian chocolate barfi to paan pedas, beet-pink motichoor ladoos and sugar-free date-and-nut barfis. Quite the spread, isn’t it? An order of 100 boxes typically takes two days to deliver, and may work out to Rs 900 per box. Khoya will also customise its delivery process: if you needed to send out boxes in different batches over three days, they’ll try and match its mithai-making schedule to yours for best results.

electric shuttles

Driverless electric shuttles are all set to ply on the roads of California. A pair of fully-autonomous $250,000 buses began driving around an empty San Francisco Bay Area parking lot on Monday, preparing to move onto a local public road in California’s first pilot program for a self-driving vehicle without a steering wheel or human operator. Expected to be on the streets by 2018, the EasyMile EZ10 vehicles are 12-person electric shuttles capable of driving at speeds up to 30 mph without an operator. The EZ10 use cameras, lidar, and highly accurate GPS sensors to operate, but do not have a human safety driver or even a steering wheel on board. They rely on fleet-management software for remote monitoring and control.

lotte world tower

Lotte World Tower—the world’s fifth tallest skyscraper opened recently in South Korea with a spectacular fireworks display. The 554.5-meter (1,819 feet) tall, 123-story tower is built on the banks of the Han river and has been designed by Kohn Pederson Fox Associates. The tower boasts several record-breaking features like the world’s highest glass-bottomed observation deck, fastest elevator, and the highest swimming pool in a building. Planned over a period of 7 years, and costing $3.6 billion in terms of spending, this tower also includes eco-friendly features such as solar panels, wind turbines and water harvesting systems. 56 feet taller than One World Trade Centre in New York City, the Lotte World Tower just knocked it out of the top 5.

jaislame marriott resort

With the opening of the Jaisalmer Resort and Spa, Marriott Hotels has expanded its India portfolio further. Carved out of sandstone, the place style resort is situated right in the heart of Jaisalmer. The property offers 135 exquisitely designed rooms with 9 suites featuring breathtaking views of the Jaisalmer Fort and beautiful central oasis. The resort offers four specialty restaurants: Jaisalmer Kitchen, serving signature local dishes and international cuisine, Dunes Bar with cozy cabana seating, Wyra the rooftop restaurant and lounge offering succulent grills and live cooking, and The Mithai Company which serves traditional Indian desserts and savories, along with a fine selection of artisanal teas and coffees.

ducati diavel

The Ducati Diavel Diesel recently made its India debut, in an exquisite new avatar. Originating from the collaboration between Ducati Design Center and Andrea Rosso, Diesel Licensing Creative Director, the Ducati Diavel Diesel is available on special order at Ducati dealerships across India. Unveiled at the Milan Men’s Fashion Week 2017, The Ducati Diavel Diesel is characterized by a hand-brushed stainless steel superstructure with visible welding and rivets. Details like the tank cover, front cowl, and passenger saddle cover are examples of craftsmanship and style. The saddle, made of real leather, is unique to this Diavel, on which the pyramid motif appears: the three Ds of Ducati, Diavel, and Diesel.

taj swarna amritsar

Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts Safaris recently announced the opening of Taj Swarna in Amritsar. This is the group’s first hotel in the tier-II city, located approximately 30 minutes from both the international airport and the sacred Sikh shrine of Shri Harmandir Sahib. On offer are the hotel’s 148 luxurious rooms and nine suites, including a lavish Presidential Suite. The décor combines contemporary sophistication and traditional Indian opulence with subtle charm. The Taj Swarna houses the brand’s famous Jiva Spa and Salon, and offers three restaurants for varied dining experiences.

phidelphia museum

After his speech at the India Conference 2017 at Harvard Business School, Manish Malhotra has now been invited by the Philadelphia Museum of Art to speak on the craft of Phulkari, an embroidery work from Punjab. To be held on April 28, the conversation will be hosted on the sidelines of the Museum’s ongoing retrospective spotlighting the Phulkari technique at their Joan Spain Gallery. Ensembles from Malhotra’s 2013 Collection, ‘Threads of Emotion’, are also on display at the exhibit. Malhotra is the only designer to be part of this tribute, and each outfit of the collection being displayed took an average of three months to be completed, being created by a single craftsman in order to retain uniformity in the design. On display are outfits that re-imagine Phulkari through a contemporary lens, including silhouettes like gowns and jackets paired with cigarette pants.

underwater yoga

First, let’s tell you that we aren’t really talking about doing yoga inside the pool or ocean. But the latest ‘underwater’ yoga sessions that Atlantis, The Palm promises to give you will be sessions of yoga performed in an ‘underwater’ ambience: surrounded by the huge aquariums that house 65,000 sea creatures. Set against the mesmerising blue of the Ambassador Lagoon, underwater yoga in The Lost Chambers Aquarium is being offered every Tuesday and Friday from 8:00 – 9:00am. A one hour yoga class costs AED 120 (approximately INR 2200), which includes a yoga mat, valet parking and a bottle of water. The participants would get to practice Hatha Yoga, a discipline that helps bring peace to the mind and body. The class is open to different levels and aims to improve strength, flexibility and balance, involving beautiful, calming sequence of postures, breathing exercises and relaxation of body tension. You just have to be over 16 years of age to enrol.

hybri -supercar

The Ren is a 1,287 hp hybrid supercar that’s being developed by Techrules, a China-based automotive research and development company, which revealed the final production design at theGeneva Motor Show 2017. The first production vehicle from Techrules, the Ren features the company’s proprietary Turbine-Recharging Electric Vehicle (TREV) technology, with an aerospace-inspired exterior design optimised for aerodynamic efficiency. The Ren packs a mean punch in terms of performance, with its series hybrid powertrain technology upping the ante. What’s more it also promises an ultra-low environmental impact. As for the horsepower, the flagship version of The Ren comes with a battery capacity of 25 kWh and two motors at the front and four at the rear, delivering a maximum of 1,287HP with a range of 1,170 km from 80 litres of diesel fuel. In terms of design, the Ren boats a modular three-cockpit form crafted by world-renowned automotive designers, Fabrizio and Giorgetto Giugiaro. Making it even more droolworthy is the fighter jet-style canopy that rises up to allow you to enter. The wraparound cockpit and passenger pod spaces display the finest Italian leather finish (cuoio italiano and alcantara), with seat cushions finished in a denim produced by the high-end designer clothing company, PT (Pantaloni Torino). With futuristic elements such as front laser headlights, ‘star-burst’ reversing LEDs and advanced driver assistance systems , this one sure will be worth the wait.