Fashion: The High Cost Of Handmade Bespoke Shoes

Insider Business (February 4, 2023) – Handmade bespoke dress shoes take months to make. Shoemakers transform rough measurements of a customer’s feet into a one-of-a-kind shoe. One pair can cost over £5,000.

London has been a hub for shoemaking for centuries, and while the industry has shrunk over time, an increase in demand from Japan and the US has helped to reignite interest in this craft. So, why would someone buy bespoke dress shoes? And what makes them so expensive?

The New York Times Book Review – February 5, 2023

The New York Times Book Review – February 5, 2023:

Salman Rushdie’s Miracle City

His new novel is about a kingdom that is founded on pluralism but fails to live up to its ideals.

What Does It Mean to Be Liberal?

In his new book, “The Struggle for a Decent Politics,” the political philosopher Michael Walzer grapples with a definition.

Storming Normandy in 1346

“Essex Dogs,” the first novel in a projected trilogy by the historian Dan Jones, imagines a hard-bitten band of mercenaries hired to invade France on behalf of their English king.

Columbia Views: A Journey To The Lost City Of Teyuna

DW Travel – Discover Teyuna! It’s older than Machu Picchu and not quite as famous. Known in Spanish as Ciudad Perdida or the “Lost City,” it is located deep in the jungles of northern Colombia. You need weather-proof clothing and sturdy shoes for the four-day trek to the archeological site.

Our reporter Joel Dullroy is making the adventurous journey to the Lost City. Join him on his trip! Background: The ruins of Teyuna were once settled by the indigenous Tairona people. Their descendants still live today in the Wika and Kogi tribes in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.

Architecture: Biomorphic Home Design By Julius Roy

Biomorphic architecture is a style of architectural design that emphasizes natural shapes and patterns. As such, biomorphic architecture is inspired by organic forms like plants, animals, or the natural elements.

THE BLACK HOUSE [ I ]

Just like white, black is not in the strict sense of the term a color, however it is associated with it from a psychological point of view, black conveying just like a color a symbolism. Scientifically, black refers to black holes and nothingness. In optics, black absorbs all wavelengths and is therefore characterized by its apparent absence of color, unlike white which is obtained by returning all the wavelengths it absorbs in equal parts. In the West, black is associated with mourning, sadness and despair, fear and death. 

THE LABRADORITE HOUSE [ I ]

Labradorite is a mineral synonymous with security and regeneration. Discover its unique reflections that will remind you of the beauty of the polar skies and equip yourself with this strong energy shield to protect yourself from external negative energies.

Design Artist: Julius Roy

Inside Art: ‘Abstraktes Bild, 1986’ By Gerhard Richter

Sotheby’s (February 3, 2023) – Reminiscent of a landscape, or the strata of a Monet waterlily painting, the horizontal swathes of paint migrate across Abstraktes Bild in wave like-motion across the breadth of the canvas. Texture, colour and structure are here deployed with spectacular force, with the gliding scrape of the squeegee revealing the kaleidoscopic architectural structure of the artist’s underpainting.

It is a masterpiece created during the critical year of 1986, which saw the artist’s first large-scale touring retrospective and was also the year in which Richter first took up the squeegee as his principal compositional tool. He has only ever produced 24 Abstraktes Bild of this magnitude (with a width greater than 380 cm), of which half of these reside in museum collections across the globe.

Gerhard Richter was born in 1932 in Dresden, Germany. Throughout his career, Richter has negotiated the frontier between photography and painting, captivated by the way in which these two seemingly opposing practices speak to and challenge one another. From exuberant canvases rendered with a squeegee and acerbic color charts to paintings of photographic detail and close-ups of a single brushstroke, Richter moves effortlessly between the two mediums, reveling in the complexity of their relationship, while never asserting one above the other.

Finance Preview: Barron’s Magazine- February 6, 2023

Magazine - Latest Issue - Barron's

Barron’s Magazine – February 6, 2023 issue:

Pfizer Is Moving Beyond Covid. Why Its Stock Is a Buy.

With its packed pipeline, growing R&D spending, and potential deals and share buybacks, there’s more to the drugmaker than the market realizes.

These REITs Could Gain in a Housing Slump

These REITs Could Gain in a Housing Slump

Real estate investment trusts that own apartments and single-family houses could see gains as the rental market stays strong. How to invest.

This Industrial-Gas Giant Is Investing Big in Hydrogen. It’s Time to Buy the Stock.

This Industrial-Gas Giant Is Investing Big in Hydrogen. It’s Time to Buy the Stock.

Linde has been making major investments in hydrogen deals, and is increasingly moving into low- or no-carbon production methods. Earnings could take a few years to develop, but now may be a buying opportunity.

Front Page: The New York Times – February 4, 2023

Image

Furor Over Chinese Spy Balloon Leads to a Diplomatic Crisis

The Pentagon called the object, which has flown from Montana to Kansas, an “intelligence-gathering” balloon. Beijing said it was used mainly for weather research and had strayed off course.

U.S. Hiring Surges With January Gain of 517,000 Jobs

The report defied expectations and underscored the challenges for the Federal Reserve, which is trying to cool the labor market to fight inflation.

‘We Are in Trauma’: Memphis Reels From the Latest of Many Blows

Tyre Nichols’s fatal beating took its place on a roster of traumatic events that have helped shape the story of Memphis as much as its world-famous musical innovations.

At Czech Spa Town, ‘Russia for Us Is the Past, and It Was Not Pleasant’

Since the 18th century, Russians have flocked to the healing waters of Karlovy Vary. Now, the Czech government has barred them from visiting the country, and the town must reinvent itself.