After high drama, Mahatma Gandhi’s five personal items, including the iconic round eye glasses, finally went under the hammer and were bought for $1.8 million by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya.
The US sale of the national leader’s glasses, sandals, watch and bowl had caused an outcry in Gandhi’s homeland.
The Indian government said the auction was an insult and wanted to claim the items back. Bidding descended into disarray when the auction was called off moments after the sale had started.
The Bleu Centenaire wasn’t the only limited edition Veyron on the floor at the Geneva Motor Show.
While Bugatti has created a wide array of individualization programs for its supercar, German tuner Mansory saw fit to create its own and displayed a revised version of the Veyron dubbed the Linea Vincero.
Unlike the other Veyron models, the Vincero comes with a power upgrade, up to 1109 bhp and 967 lb-ft torque, thanks to an upgraded cooling system and exhaust system.
Exterior modifications include a new front fascia, smaller hood, striking front apron, newly developed side skirts, a diffuser, larger air outlets and new forged wheels.
“The Cavalli Card†starring supermodel Milla Jovovich: this is the short film, for an Internet-only ad campaign, called “I Have Everythingâ€, nothing else.
A beautiful woman that play with her dresses and accessories and she does it out of vanity, she dreams, she wants everything and she has got everything because the iridescent Cavalli card equip her for every curveball life could throw.
“I’m thinking about creating a Web site where card holders can chat directly with me,†Cavalli said.
A sales clerk for Japan’s Takashimaya department store displays a ¥10 million (US$100,000) music CD called â”Woman, Sweet 10 Diamonds,” made with a platinum case and studded with 10 2-carat diamonds, in Tokyo yesterday.
Universal Music unveiled the “world’s most expensive CD,” produced by Universal Music and jeweler Nagahori, for a commemorative album showcasing 18 songs by female vocalists.
Austrian design team EOOS have created the Summer Cloud sun lounge for the 2009 collection of the outdoor furniture manufacturer DEDON.
“This classic sun lounger takes on a new, innovative face with the SUMMER CLOUD collection from DEDON. The beach chair combines the lounger and fabric top to form a functional and unique design object.”
“SUMMER CLOUD offers individual 360° use with its sun lounger and sun top connected to one another in a novel way that may be swiveled and set independently of each other.”
Celebrated Swiss vanguard watchmaker Ulysse Nardin has partnered with the European firm, SCI Innovations, to create the world’s first hybrid smart phone: the Chairman.
It will incorporate a Ulysse Nardin designed kinetic rotor system which is blended into the mechanical and aesthetical design of the smart phone.
The Chairman will also include several components never seen before in a smart phone.
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Shirtsmyway.com is a cool service that lets you design a dress shirt through an easy to use interface via your web browser. What’s incredible is the amount of options they give you to design your own shirt (over 7 trillion different dress shirts).
From fabric, colour, number of buttons on the collar, cuffs, how the buttons are arranged, you can change the colour of every part of the shirt; inside colar, cuffs, pocket, etc.
To offer assistance to a customer during the designing phase of a shirt, there is an accessible book of dress-shirt selections for tips and suggestions by ShirtsMyWay.
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Hermès dressed the Smart fortwo issuing a special edition of the diminutive city car. The interior is made of high-quality leather and special canvas called Toile H.
Two unique textures cover everything from the seats to the car’s tridion safety cell. For the inside, you can choose the Hermes signature orange or nine others colors including indigo, gold, lime and pink. There’s also a nice standard umbrella.
High fashion never comes cheap, and the Hermes Smart is no exception coming in at $48,500 in U.S. dollars or 38,000 euros.
This funny short film shows the variety of colors and combinations, provided for the Hermes car model, with this little fashionista Smart that goes through cartoon roads.
Koen Demuynck is a Belgian photographer who managed to blend advertisement and surrealism. Sounds silly, but he is today one of the busiest photographers, and his work can be seen in many places.
Check out his work : koendemuynck.com
Fiat presented a new 500 model dedicated to the most famous fashion doll ever: Barbie.
Created by a partnership between the Fiat Centro Stile and Mattel, the Italian city car celebrates Barbie’s fiftieth birthday.
It’s a fashionista car with lots of charm, just like Barbie herself. The gleaming paintwork resembles varnish and definitely makes for a shock effect, achieved with deep lacquered colour using ultra fine aluminium plunged in deep, up-to-the-minute pink.
Designer Carlo Colombo’s Ball chair design for Italian furniture firm Arflex.
This modern sculptural chair is executed in rigid polyurethane, giving it a durability ideal for both indoor and outdoor environments.
Rolls Royce officially unveiled its 200EX concept in Geneva this week as the precursor to the fourth model in its lineup and the first not based on the immense Phantom.
The 200EX is just a concept but this fall the production version will be revealed with a proper name, one likely to start with Silver.
The styling is quintessential Rolls, pulling all the best cues from the Phantom and Drophead Coupe and fitting them into a decidedly smaller package.
The latest in the ever-growing line of luxurious pet accessories is the high-profile pet collection from the house of Weizhi, a luxury lifestyle company.
Created for those of distinction who adore their dogs, Weizhi’s pet collection includes collars and leashes made from the finest materials, including exotic skins such as snake, ostrich and crocodile.
These are further decked out with pure silver and jeweled accents.
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From Kohler comes this soothing concept that combines water and light making a great experience out of a necessity.
Each of the four heads has 54 nozzles that gently cascade water for a unique shower experience.
As if that was not enough, integrated chromatherapy gives a sequence of mood enhancing lights for a complete concept.
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Microsofts Business Division president Stephen Elop unveiled the latest production from Microsoft Office Labs called Office “Labs 2019†at the Wharton Business Technology Conference, starring stock photo men, women and children playing with the next-generation of communication, collaboration and production technologies.
This 5-minutes impressing video shows what Microsoft means for future.
It starts with a transparent wall between two classrooms around the world and goes on with animated drawings, realtime conversation translations, surface displays, electronic boarding cards and newspapers, transparent displays, mini projectors and many others things that never stop to impress.
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If you always give your pet the finest things, you just can’t ignore this Swarovski crystal-encrusted cat flap.
It’s billed as the latest “must have” pet accessory that will brighten up any back door. The only problem is, the Swarovski crystal-encrusted cat flap will set you back £1,000.
Its designers say the custom-made entrances will make all pets feel like “kings of the castle” and claim a ‘minor celebrity’ has already placed the first order.
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Construction is underway on the Singapore Civic & Culture Centre, which has been designed by the international architectural firm Aedas.
The nine levels of the Civic and Cultural Zone will complement the range of performing arts venues currently available in Singapore.
It will house a 5,000-seat state-of-the-art auditorium designed by Artec Consultants Inc, the world’s premier performing arts venue design and planning consultants, which will have high quality acoustics and cutting edge technology for amplified music, speech and musical theatre performances.
The new Bugatti Veyron Bleu Centenaire will be introduced to commemorate Bugatti’s 100th anniversary.
The Bugatti Veyron Bleu Centenaire features a unique two tone matte and glossy paint scheme in Bugatti’s historical racing blue color, with a light cream interior.
The Bleu Centenaire is also the first Bugatti Veyron to have a painted engine cover which is painted in the same shade of blue as the rest of the body.
Another selection of the most powerful and luxury cars presented at Geneva Motor Show.
The Ferrari 599XX is a concept based on the 599 GTB Fiorano, that features new most advanced technologies resulting from Ferrari’s road-going and F1 research.
Many of the technological solutions it carries are being used for the first time and have been developed exclusively for this special car. Particular attention was paid to cutting the weight of the engine unit components.
Renowned cognac brand Hennessy has now unveiled the XO Exclusive Edition cognac festooned with 422 Swarovski crystals. Source: Bornrich
Cai Mingchao, a Chinese antique collector and an adviser to the National Treasures Fund, said he placed the winning bid for the two Qing bronzes auctioned in Paris last week and won’t be paying.
The National Treasures Fund is a group backed by the Chinese Ministry of Culture that pools donations to retrieve relics abroad.
Christie’s had proceeded with the sale of the Qing bronzes, severed from a water clock by marauding British and French troops from the Summer Palace in 1860, despite protests from China’s art advocacy groups, patriots and the foreign ministry.
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