The fine art of tea

Teapot making flourished in the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), when people changed their manner of tea drinking using teapots, instead of individual cups.

Yang wows New York with master class in glass art

SHANGHAI: The renowned actress-turned-glasswork-artist Loretta Yang Hui-shan is telling her tale of two cities via her latest glass works.

Life Art

Soaring to the summit

LIVERPOOL: An exhibition of contemporary Chinese art at the prestigious Tate gallery in Britain has drawn wildly enthusiastic reviews. Right from its glittering opening on March 29, art critics and the public have lavished it with praise, although some consider it a little too surreal. It is being hailed as the most comprehensive and adventurous if at the same time controversial collection of Chinese modern art ever put on display in the UK, or even Europe.

French tycoon wins battle for modern art gem

VENICE: It is a battle of superlatives. A battle of art and politics, pitting one of Europe's richest families against one of America's wealthiest dynasties. A battle for the chance to use the world's most famous architects to turn the most prestigious site in the most beautiful city of Europe into one of the continent's most high-profile museums of contemporary art.

Life Style

The surreal McCoy

LONDON: For an art movement that emerged from the ideas of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud, surrealism perhaps wouldn't be expected to produce work as playful as a Salvador Dali satin sofa made in the shape of Mae West's lips, a ruby lips brooch crammed with pearls for teeth or an Elsa Schiaparelli dress with a skeleton applique on the torso.

Hopes German music hall will hit the right notes

HAMBURG: The city of Brahms and Mendelssohn is enhancing its cultural charm with a new concert hall that will soar above the Elbe River like a ghostly glass-sailed schooner.

Reviving the glory of the beautiful South

ATLANTA: After reviving 50 historic buildings in its hometown, the Savannah College of Art and Design is restoring an Atlanta landmark to its original High Victorian glory and reinventing it as a cultural arts center.

Life Travel

Big Man's burgers are turning Japanese

TOKYO: It is a few minutes before 10 am, and the shopping mall is still empty, yet the crew at Big Man is already at battle stations. The grill has been greased, the bacon sliced and the first load of eggs fried and just in time too. When the doors to the food court fly open, a swarm of diners makes a beeline for the counter and the delicacies beyond.

Once upon a time in Almeria

ALMERIA, Spain: "What was he thinking?" That's my first impression upon seeing the Desierto de Tabernas, in Spain's southeastern Almeria region. The only semi-desert in Europe, Tabernas averages only three days of rain annually, and with temperatures reaching 45C in summer, it can seem a stark, unwelcoming place. But for 15 years, beginning in the early 1960s, it served as a Mecca for filmmakers.