The world in numbers

An interesting amalgamation of randomly-gathered facts and figures related to the scintillating world of design.


With 22 works, 11 of them new, Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami has taken Versailles. Odd as it may seem, Murakami's cast of manga characters blends perfectly into the gilded rooms and gardens of Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette's fussy palace. But that's probably because the organisers have chosen the pieces carefully: the artworks put up by American artist Jeff Koons at the palace in 2008 had left plenty of conservatives scandalised. For his part, Murakami is thrilled with the historical mish-mash. "I am the Cheshire Cat who greets Alice in Wonderland with his devilish grin, and chatters on as she wanders around the Chteau," he says, cheekily. Laurent Le Bon, curator of the exhibition, sees the show as "a new labyrinth of Versailles, that has the purpose of both distracting and entertaining the viewer." Murakami-Versailles is on view till December 12.

The art collection of Lehman Brothers fetched $12.28 million at Sotheby's New York recently. Some 142 works went on the block to raise funds to pay off creditors. The sale set 17 records for artists and a Julie Mehretu painting fetched $1m, the largest bid of the night. Damien Hirst's 1993 cabinet We've Got Style, with an asking price of $800,000, went abegging.

For 115 years, Swarovski has been creating crystal elements in myriad colours, effects, shapes and sizes. Its target is the world of fashion, jewellery, accessories, interiors and the lighting industry. Sleek and sophisticated with an almost translucent silver finish, Crystal Silver Night caters to the current trend for unobtrusive hues. Go solo or marry it with black diamonds to create a modern, monochromatic colour combination.

25 years ago, designer Ralph Lauren took a French Renaissance Revival mansion that had been built in Manhattan in 1898, and turned it into his flagship store. It was a masterly move. Not only was the building one of the few surviving mansions of New York, it was an enchanted building-with arched windows and balconies, statues and tall chimneys. The designer filled the mansion with glittering chandeliers, rich carpets and period furniture, creating a lush environment in which to present his men's, women's and home collections. Now, Lauren has decided, it's time for the building to start its third innings. And so, the turn-of-the-century mansion takes on yet another avatar: as an exclusive male store where clients are to be treated like members of an exclusive private gentlemen's club and offered perks such as butler services, cocktail parties and private-shopping nights. The designer has even roped Mercedes-Benz into the action, to provide a car service manned by drivers in Black Label apparel. But, of course.

Here's a mini Mini. The BMW division has launched three funky-looking, electric scooters for image-conscious commuters who refuse to sacrifice style on their daily commute. Powered by an electric motor and recharged from a wall socket, there are three 'interpretations' of the scooter created by BMW's senior VP, design, Adrian van Hooydonk. One is a two-seater in the same colours (matte charcoal and yellow) as the Mini E electric prototype; the second is a single-seater and caters to 'purists'; while the third draws on the British pop culture of the 60s. Which one would you like?

Macau's 'House of Dancing Water', the world's largest and most spectacular waterbased show, was created at the cost of $250 million. The planning took five years, rehearsals took two. The show is housed in a purposebuilt theatre with an eightstoreyed diving stage and a stage pool that is 160 feet in diameter and 26 feet deep, and holds 3.7 million gallons of water (that's equivalent to five Olympic-sized pools). There are 258 automated fountains, 77 performers and a production crew of 130 people from 18 nations.

235,000 Euro is what the 'pocket watch of the 21st century' costs. Yes, it's a trifle expensive, but it's beautifully-designed and unique in that it's a fusion between a cellphone, a watch and the exclusive Remontage Papillon (butterfly winding movement). LeDIX by Celsius X VI II is a clamshell cell phone with an integrated tourbillon watch made of polished grade 5 titanium. Each time you open it, you set off the winding system which, in turn, charges the phone. So bid goodbye to the charging station and choose from two options: Origine, a limited edition of 18 in grade 5 titanium with ebony inserts, and Sport, a limited edition of 28 in black PVD-treated titanium with carbon fibre inserts.

When does a boat look like a flying piano? When it's 93 years old and being auctioned by Bonhams for $300,000 to $500,000. Unlike seaplanes which land on pontoons, a flying boat sets down on its entire hull. This particular Seagull flying boat is the grand-daddy of Howard Hughes' famous Spruce Goose. With a wing span of just under 50 feet, the boat with its 100-hp, eight-cylinder engine has a top speed of 76.5 mph. The hull frame is ash, the keel spruce and the skin mahogany; hence the resemblance to a flying piano. Priced at $6,000, the Seagull was originally sold as an 'air yacht'. Only four others are known to exist, and they're all sitting tight in museums. As landlubbers.

For multidisciplinary Australian designer Marc Newson-who works on cars, architecture and art objects-excitement lies in the shape of things to come. And some which already have. His biomorphic-shaped Lockheed Lounge, made of riveted aluminum sheets (only one of the original 14 is available), sold for 1,150,250 Euro at a Phillips de Pury design auction in London earlier this year, demonstrating, according to its auctioneers, that very rare, very exceptional works do well in any economy. According to Alex Heminway, director of design at Phillips de Pury, the sale set the record for a living designer, as well as for the work of Marc Newson.

392 pages, 218 illustrations, $250. Cecil Beaton, The Art of the Scrapbook is the book to watch out for. As one of the 20th century's most important photographers, Beaton helped invent the cult of the celebrity image while pushing the boundaries of his art with innovative techniques and staging. In these pages, the vision of the man behind the camera takes centrestage. Composed of his own prints and clippings from magazines, newspapers and playbills, the pages are an instructive record of Beaton's creative process. To flip through the pages is to enter a surreal party where Tallulah Bankhead rubs shoulders with a bust of Voltaire and a portrait of Stravinsky, and Beaton's first trip on the Queen Mary coincides with Queen Elizabeth's coronation.

What do you call a cycle which has just one wheel, with the pedals located inside the wheel? Designer Luca Schieppati, who has built just such a cycle for Lamiflex, calls it the Ciclotte stationary exercise bike. The entire structure is shaped like a wheel while the handlebars look like the horns on a unicorn.

Mathaf, the Arab Museum of Modern Art, opens its doors in Qatar at the end of this year with more than 6,000 art works, stretching from the 1840s to the present. The opening exhibition, Sajjil: A Century of Modern Art, will feature works by over a hundred artists. To start with, the museum will be located in an old school building, redesigned by French architect Jean-Franois Bodin. The permanent address will be announced later.

S.T. Dupont and jewellery designer Philippe Tournaire have come together to transform the fountain pen into a historic monument, crafting it into art that can be both admired and used. Called "Architectural Masterpieces," the pen series is inspired by three iconic monuments of the contemporary world-Paris' Les Invalides, Russia's St. Basil's Cathedral and China's Pagoda of the Sun. The roofing of each structure is made of gold while the pen cylinders are plated and then polished in bronze. The main writing instrument is based on S.T. Dupont's legendary Olympia fountain pen. Only 15 pieces of each monument have been made. Not surprisingly, the deals for the pens have already been inked in.

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