Art & Design

STREET ART
If you want to discover urban art, take a look at Banksy's website: he's one really clever - and poetic - graffiti artist... Or else, plunge into the weird world of "A plat ventre", in which strange happenings give a new twist to the traditional street theatre. Don't miss Royal de Luxe's time travelling elephant, and the Bubble project in New York. There's plenty more inspired street art on Flickr.

POSTERS
Posters are a Swiss speciality, as you can learn by reading this very interesting history. The Swiss poster collection features hundreds of Swiss posters from the seventies, all influenced by the "Swiss Style" and its attention to composition, typography, and clear communication.

ANIMATION
Hayao Miyazaki is probably the most interesting director of the moment - have a look at his Studio Ghibli. My neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away are masterpieces. In France, Les Triplettes de Bellevilles and Kirikou are amazing! Check out the big guys too: Pixar (creators of Ratatouille) and Dreamworks. The latest movie to watch: Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical Persepolis.

ILLUSTRATION
Sandra Reichardt and Catell Ronca are two young French and Swiss illustrators. Christopher Corr loves his bold colours; John Howe is known for his fantastic Lord of the Ring paintings, Taro Gomi for his wonderful colouring and doodling books, Quentin Blake illustrates Roal Dahl's stories; Emily Gravett writes magical children's books.

COMIC BOOKS
For a comprehensive encyclopaedia of all things comics/BD, try Comiclopedia or BDParadisio. My favourites: Tsai Chih Chung, Leo's Aldebaran, and children's favourite: les Barbapapas... Or the comics/journalism crossover Le Photographe. Other great bande dessinées artists: Enki Bilal, Loisel, Zep, Derib, and of course Hugo Pratt.

ARCHITECTURE
For information on architecture around the world, search the Structurae database or the Skyscraper Page. Some classic architects: F. L. Wright, Jean Nouvel, Norman Foster, Santiago Calatrava, Tadao Ando, Grimshaw, Gehry... and my three favourite of the moment: Hundertwasser, Alvar Aalto, Gaudi... Discover a type of green architecture on earthships.

FASHION
UK: Duro Olowu, Vivienne Westwood and Philip Treacy. Japan: Issey Miyake. Italy: Moschino. Belgium & Netherlands: Dries Van Noten, Cora Kemperman. Spain: Agatha Ruiz de la Prada. France: Antoine et Lili, Agnès B, Antik Batik, Christian Lacroix and Jean-Paul Gaultier. Chine: Shanghai Tang. Check out the cool hunter: he'll do all the hard work for you.

PHOTOGRAPHY
David Maisel, specializes in aerial photographs of environmentally impacted landscape; James Nachtwey is one of the world's best war photographers; Jörg Sasse, a virtual photographer and digital magician; Steve McCurry, one of the best photojournalists. Chromasia is an interesting photographer's blog. To find some of the best photos: Magnum, National Geographic, BBC In Pictures or AOP.

DESIGN
For funky wall art and mirrors, try Domestic. We made this has a great blog with plenty of design stories and links. On Dutch by Design, you'll find beautiful lighting and furniture. Design addict is an exhaustive online reference site. Phillipe Stark is probably the most famous French designer at the moment; Freitag bags are a textbook example of great (Swiss) design.