Four Innovations in the 2013 Mercedes Benz SL

Smart wipers, a magic roof and bass-in-your face all housed in a lightweight aluminum frame

On a recent California tour with Mercedes-Benz I stopped by their Design Center in Carlsbad to preview the all new 2013 SL. At first glance the the completely redeveloped SL’s aesthetic is both pleasing to the eye and the touch. The superlative 500 sports a new V8 with 435 hp, 22 percent reduced fuel consumption and increased torque, but aside from the seductive power and …

Public Hotel Chicago

Low-cost luxury in a renovated Chicago landmark

Fed up with the overpriced minibars and underacheiving service standards that plague the American hotel industry, Studio 54 co-founder Ian Schrager recently unrolled Public, an affordable luxury hotel in downtown Chicago. Schrager reclaimed the walls of the Ambassador East Hotel and its classic restaurant Pump Room, imbuing a shock of new life into the historic structure. With value and simplicity as the stated ethos, Public …

The Dumpster Project

A lifetime of found treasures meticulously collaged into one 30-yard container

Like a young, curious boy trapped in a grown man’s body, collagist, animator, director and all-around creative renaissance man Mac Premo has collected a lifetime’s worth of somehow-sentimental objects in his Brooklyn Studio. Now, spurred by the move to a smaller studio, he was forced to get rid of many of these innumerable “treasures.” Rather than discard them Premo decided to build one massive collage …