Current Thinking

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  Wrapper’s Delight

  The candy wrapper is not a new medium for design. The trompe-l’oeil needlework on the Whitman’s Sampler® box has tugged at heartstrings since the early twentieth century, and Salvador Dalí created the blockbuster Chupa Chups logo for lollipop tycoon Enric Bernat in 1969. The daisy-shaped emblem, bold lettering, and bright stripes in Catalan colors continue to entice children today…

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  Skullduggery

  By any standard, Crystal Head Vodka—a three-year-old liquor just now being widely released in stores—is a juggernaut of branding. It has a celebrity purveyor (Dan Aykroyd), the manufacturers make florid claims about the purity of their product (it’s filtered through 500 million-year-old crystals!)…

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  Mind Your Manors

  Veteran design journalist Linda Okeeffe offers a typically smart, candid assessment of current—and cynical—trends in interior design reportage.

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  Experience Required

  San Franciso design dealer ANTONIO AMETRANO offers an example of how you can have your “green” and luxury, too.

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  Vlad the Impaler

  Design legend Vladimir Kagan offers some typically tart, off the cuff remarks on his views of the contemporary design world.