One of my greatest pleasure and privilege is to visit what is never seen by the public. For instance, Cartier's workshop situated in the attic of the flag building 13 rue de la Paix in Paris. In a little room next to the workshop itself, there is a library full of books and magazines on botanic and wild life to support the inspiration of the designers. Some of them are very common publications but handy enough to study the general anatomy of a panther, a giraffe, a turtle etc... There are also some rare books. First, the project is sculpted in a piece of wax in different variations, sometimes painted to imitate the gems. After a long process and final approval, the model in wax, turned into precious stones, is simply tucked away in a chocolate box, a Godiva chocolat box to be precise. Now I'm sharing this little secret with you. Of course, you must click on the pictures to see the details.

A beach house out of my dreams. It belongs to Christian de Laubadere, a gascon artist who lives during the winter in Shanghai. I photographed it for The World of Interiors with Marie France Boyer. check it here. Laubadere's show in London

Self-portraits in a surrealist manner. Somewhere across the atlantic...

This is how it goes, from the garden to the dark room : Step 1: butternut pumpkins grow in the garden. step 2 : The ripe ones are stored in the kitchen. Claire put them there waiting to be cooked, not in a messy way. As I'm having my morning tea, I can't help noticing that it looks rather beautiful, grab the camera... It can also look like this ( no styling of any kind, the truth, nothing but the truth ) : Lets get to work. Colour or black & white ? Black & white... Closer or larger ? In the end, there are two options : a larger version showing some of the background and a closer version, somehow more graphic. This slight change of frame makes a world of difference. You must click on the photo for a better look.

Irving Penn est mort. Il rejoint le panthéon des grandes figures de l'histoire, son étoile brille au firmament des génies de l'humanité a coté de Durer, de Palladio . On peut a l'envie evoquer sa collaboration a Vogue qui ne serait rien sans lui, ses portraits dont meme le grand Picasso pouvait se glorifier, ses natures mortes egales aux maitres flamands. Etre photographié par Penn, c'est entrer dans l'immortalité. Penn a cree une oeuvre qui transcende la photographie bien au dela d'elle meme et occupe, dans cet art encore si jeune, une place unique et insurpassee sur les cimaises du musée imaginaire. Le plus sur moyen de rendre hommage a ce Maitre immense est d'aller voir son oeuvre. La galerie Thierry Marlat 2, Rue de Jarente, a Paris expose "Banquet" jusqu'au 16 Janvier 2010.

Irving Penn, died earlier this month. I didn't know. He was the master's master. The greatest artist photographer since the invention of photography.

Villa Kerylos. Beaulieu sur Mer. Built for Theodore Reinach (1860 - 1928 ) during the Belle Epoque.

Various degrees of sophistication

All clear.

Toile du Jouy, Yes of course ... but let me see...ah ah, Jean Charles de Castelbajac did it again...

The Neues Museum Berlin, destroyed during WWII has just opened its gates after the most exciting and controversial restauration by the British architects Julian Harrap and David Chipperfield. Six years and 212 billion euros after, the result is a neo classical building, bare and luminous where modern shapes befriend with the remains of History. Bullit impacts in a decor of marble and concrete.

The elegant silhouette of the man himself. Jean Lurcat at work, published in Casa Vogue from the artist's personal archives.