Can you see what Paul Klee’s cat wants?

Paul Klee was born today, 18 December, in 1879. Our book Animal explains how he worked two beasts into one work

Cat and Bird (1928) by Paul Klee. As featured in Animal

Who is Alex from Snarkitecture giving his book to this Christmas?

Co-founder of the innovative NY design studio reveals his 2018 highs and lows and who’ll be getting a great gift

From left: Snarkitecture's Ben Porto, Daniel Arsham and Alex Mustonen

A photo show that's easy on the eye (but hard on the stomach)

A major new food photography exhibition shows that the best images don’t always show the tastiest of meals

Peluquería 1979, by Ouka Lele. All images courtesy of Foam

The perfect face for Monkey Day

On 14 December – a day set aside for simian contemplation – we look back at Jill Greenberg’s monkey portrait

Jill Greenberg, Glare, Glare, 2005, Ultrachrome ink on hot press paper, 106.7 x 127 cm / 42 x 50 in, Private collection. As featured in Animal

Who are Jason Fulford and Tamara Shopsin giving their book to this Christmas?

The designer and photographer couple on their 2018 highs and lows and who’ll be getting a great gift

Jason Fulford and Tamara Shopsin

Annie Leibovitz on Hockney, Lennon and Instagram 

The photographer talks through her life, career and new book with US radio host Lois Reitzes

Annie Leibovitz, Brooklyn, 2017. Picture credit: © Annie Leibovitz

Little kids and big design lovers will adore these gifts

These toys, from Design for Children, could actually make your home look more stylish, not less, on Christmas day

Monkey, 1951, by Kay Bojesen. All images from Design for Children.

Snarkitecture’s baubles are perfect for a White Christmas

The NY practice has produced a suitably monochrome line of Christmas decorations

Snarkitecture's new range of tree ornaments for Seletti. Image courtesy of Snarkitecture's Instagram

Olafur Eliasson's Ice Watch will give you a climate change chill

Eliasson says seeing chunks of the Greenland ice sheet in our city is just the experience we need to force change

Ice Watch in London. All images courtesy of Studio Olafur Eliasson

Who is Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø giving his book to this Christmas?

The brewer, beer expert and author reveals his 2018 highs and lows and who’ll be getting a great gift

Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø

Martin Parr swaps Clacton for Cannes, courtesy of Gucci

The photographer headed to the French Riviera to shoot the fashion house's latest campaign

An image from Martin Parr's new Cannes shoot for Gucci

Nordic Christmas recipes to try with young bakers this week

Magnus Nilsson’s Nordic Baking Book is filled with fun treats for this time of year - including this gingerbread house

Magnus Nilsson's plan for a gingerbread house from The Nordic Baking Book

Did Adolf Loos think Ornament was Crime? And was he right?

The architect was born on this day, 10 December, 1870 and created a style of architecture still debated today

Steiner House, Vienna, Austria, 1910 by Adolf Loos. From Ornament is Crime

John Pawson got to Pantone's Colour of 2019 in 2017!

The architect and photographer included glimpses of hot new colour Living Coral in his book, Spectrum

Marrakech, Morocco, August 2015. Photograph by John Pawson, from Spectrum

Who is Sam Droege giving his book to this Christmas?

The photographer and researcher tells us his personal highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

The Sweat Bee (Halictus ligatus) 2013 by Sam Droege & USGS Inventory and Monitoring Lab. As featured in Animal: Exploring the Zoological World. And Sam Droege, self-portrait.

What links these four products?

MoMA has the answer (but if you've bought one of our design books recently you've probably guessed already)

Clockwise, from top left: Dante Giacosa. 500f city car. Designed 1957 (this example 1968).  Manufacturer: Fiat S.p.A., Turin, Italy. Gift of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Heritage; Lina Bo Bardi. Poltrona Bowl chair. 1951. Steel and fabric; Irwin Gershen, Gershen-Newark. Shrimp Cleaner. 1954. Plastic and metal. Manufacturer: Plastic Dispensers Inc., Newark, NJ. Chemex Coffee Maker. 1941. Pyrex glass, wood, and leather,. Manufacturer: Chemex Corp., New York, NY. Image courtesy MoMA

Olafur Eliasson's Ice Watch is headed for London

The artist’s cool but sensual response to climate change will be recreated in the British capital next week

Ice Watch (2014) by Olafur Eliasson (with Minik Rosing). Installation views at Place du Panthéon, Paris, 2015

Artspace's pick of Untitled Art, Miami

Artspace scour Art Basel Miami for the best artworks on show this year. Read on to see what they think!

Our VIP lounge with Artspace and Maison de la Luz at Untitled Art, Miami. Image courtesy of Maison de la Luz's Instagram

Who is Kim Colin giving her book to this Christmas?

The Industrial Facility designer tells us her highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

Kim Colin of Industrial Facility

Watch René Redzepi feed Olafur Eliasson a live scallop

These two great Danes and Phaidon authors still enjoy each other’s company - after all these years

Noma chef René Redzepi. Image courtesy of Olafur Eliasson's Instagram

Take a look at the Miami club Theaster Gates just opened

The US artist worked with the fashion brand to install long-forgotten images of black women in his Prada pop-up

Prada Mode, Miami. All Miami images courtesy of Prada

Who is Tom Wainwright giving his book to this Christmas?

The design writer and Pet-tecture author tells us his highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

Tom with girlfriend Laura and dog Vlad

Seriously, are Jeremiah Stone and Fabián von Hauske GQ’s Chefs of the Year?

Yes! Our Contra and Wildair chefs are ranked alongside Serena Williams, Michael B Jordan and Jonah Hill in men and women of the year issue

A composite of GQ's Men and Women of the Year covers for 2018, alongside their feature on Jeremiah and Fabián

Take a look at Artspace and Phaidon's VIP lounge in Miami

Come along to enjoy art, music, design and plenty of beautiful books at Untitled, Miami Beach

Our VIP lounge with Artspace and Maison de la Luz at Untitled Art, Miami. Image courtesy of Maison de la Luz's Instagram

A few more reasons to buy The Nordic Baking Book

Acclaimed chef Magnus Nilsson explains why baking from his new book is so easy a child could do it (he made some of the recipes in it when he was a schoolboy!)

Magnus Nilsson with The Nordic Baking Book

Who is John Pawson giving his book to this Christmas?

The architect and author reveals his 2018 highs and lows and which lucky baby will be getting a great gift

John Pawson - photographed by Orla Connolly

Who knows why these Agnes Martin paintings are hanging beside Navajo blankets?

Agnes Martin friend and expert and Pace Gallery founder Arne Glimcher that's who. His new exhibition of her work draws a line (and a thread) between the artist's canvases and the folk art that surrounded her

Installation view,

Who is Alexandra Sankova giving her book to this Christmas?

The Moscow Design Museum director and Designed in the USSR author tells us she's already given some of the creatives featured in the book their own copy for Christmas (and here's the proof!)

Some of the designers featured in Designed in the USSR: 1950-1989 photographed at the Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow last month. Sitting, from left to right: Oleg Kostenko, Irina Kostenko, Vladimir Runge, Alexander Grashin; Standing, front, left to right: Olga Druzhinina, Alexandra Sankova, (unknown), Marina Timofeeva, Sveta Chirkova; Standing, back, left to right: Stepan Lukyanov, Alexander Lavrentyev, (unknown), Alexey Kolotushkin, (unknown), (unknown), Igor Lisenko

The NY Times loves everything about our Freud book

New York Times’ Sunday Book Review praises the text, images and colour choices - and it's not alone

Our new Lucian Freud two-volume set

And we have lift off!

Trevor Paglen’s Orbital Reflector launched yesterday. This is how you can track its progress through the heavens

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launching in California yesterday. Image courtesy of Space X's Instagram

The vintage handbag that never was (but is now)

A 1963 Dieter Rams handbag, originally designed for his wife, is finally available to buy

The new 931 handbag beside a Braun D6 Combiscope slide projector from 1963. All images courtesy of Tsatsas

David Dawson reveals how Lucian Freud painted in private

The artist’s former assistant discusses Freud’s passion and painting techniques with London Art Studies

David Dawson in London Art Studies' new video

A Phaidon chef is up for the Nobel Peace Prize (and it's not the one you think it is!)

This Spanish chef likes small plates, making a big difference, and he might win out in Oslo in 2019

José Andrés, 2011. Photograph byThe Q Speaks, via Flickr. Creative Commons licence.

In Miami this week? Then come to the Artspace and Phaidon VIP lounge

We’ve teamed up with Maison de la Luz to offer a taste of New Orleans during Art Basel Miami Beach

Lounge rendering by Studio Shamshiri

Who is Stephen Harris giving his book to this Christmas?

The Sportsman chef and author tells us his personal highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

Stephen Harris. Photo by Toby Glanville

Massimo Bottura says his food is like this Ai Weiwei artwork

'Ai Weiwei told me to break a 2,000-year-old vase is to break tradition but breaking it is a starting point,' he says

Ai Weiwei, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn (1995)

Who is Kimberlie Birks giving her book to this Christmas?

The Design for Children author tells us about her highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

Design for Children author Kimberlie Birks

Jenny Holzer will Light The Fight in NYC this weekend

The artist is sending five LED-sided trucks out across Manhattan tomorrow to refocus the fight against AIDS

IT IS GUNS, 2018 © 2018 Jenny Holzer, photo Collin LaFleche

Who is Fredrik Berselius giving his book to this Christmas

The chef and Phaidon author tells us his personal highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

Fredrik Berselius photographed by Charlie Bennet

Martin Parr talks Manchester on BBC 6 Music this weekend

The Magnum photographer talks through his trip to the north with Mary Anne Hobbs

Martin Parr, Autoportrait (1997), Benidorm, Spain, as reproduced in our monograph

Case Study perfection - up for sale at $3.6 million

It was built as an affordable home, but this Mid-Century beauty has risen in price considerably since 1959

Case Study House #21 by Pierre Koenig - photograph by Darren Bradley featured in Mid-Century Modern Architecture Travel Guide: West Coast USA

A few more reasons to buy Beauty by Sagmeister & Walsh

Watch these videos and find out about the great arguments and imagery you'll find in their cool new book

Stefan Sagmeister and Jessica Walsh. Photograph by John Madere

Christmas baking - the Nordic way!

Magnus Nilsson’s new Nordic Baking Book is packed with easy Christmas treats, both familiar and unexpected

Reindeer. All photographs by Magnus Nilsson, for The Nordic Baking Book

Who is Matt Abergel giving his book to this Christmas?

The chef and Phaidon author tells us his personal highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

Chicken and Charcoal author and chef Matt Abergel - photograph by Jason Lang and Siu Yan Fung

Get to know Tomi Ungerer in five images

On the author’s birthday (happy 87th, Tomi!) we look back at his work via a handful of key illustrations

Tomi Ungerer. Photo by Herman Baily

5 things we learned from Magnus Nilsson’s chat in Interview

The chef talks food, architecture and art with the artists Carsten Höller, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Tobias Rehberger

Magnus Nilsson. Photo by Erik Olsson

Have yourself a very Mezze Christmas

Tired of the mince pie, mulled wine and turkey routine? Then try these dishes from The Mezze Cookbook

1. Tahini Brownies 2. Ma’mool Cookies 3. Pistachio and Pomegranate Cake 4. Orange Blossom Water and Saffron Tartlets, as featured in The Mezze Cookbook

Who is Nick Bonner giving his book to this Christmas?

Made in North Korea's author tells us about his highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

Nick Bonner with his book, Made in North Korea

Moshe Safdie reworks his old brutalist apartment

The Israeli-Canadian architect's firm has gone back to Habitat 67 to rework its founder’s old brutalist unit

The newly refurbished unit at Habitat 67. Photograph by Marc Cramer & Thomas Miau

No wigs required for this Warhol Xmas card!

His Santa prints are well known, but few Warhol watchers will know this card, made for a favourite restaurant

Andy Warhol's Christmas card for Serendipity 3, from the early 1960s. As reproduced in Andy Warhol Giant Size

A German guide to a spicy Christmas!

Alfons Schuhbeck, author of The German Cookbook, picks out five of his favourite spices for the festive season

Dresden-style Christmas stollen from The German Cookbook

A few more reasons to buy our Atlas of Brutalist Architecture!

Watch Virginia McLeod, the book’s commissioning editor, talk through the making of this great new title

Atlas of Brutalist Architecture's commissioning editor Virginia McLeod

Who is Jean Jullien giving his book to this Christmas?

The artist, illustrator and Phaidon author tells us his personal highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

Jean Jullien. Photograph by Daniel Arnold

Who is Massimo Bottura giving his book to this Christmas?

The chef and Phaidon author tells us his personal highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

Massimo Bottura with a copy of his book in Eataly, New York City - photo Mat Smith

David Dawson guides the BBC through our Lucian Freud book

Freud archive director David Dawson talked about posing, paintings and placing bets for the great artist

David Dawson leafs through our Lucian Freud book on the BBC's Newsnight

Putnam & Putnam share the secrets of their success in London

NYC’s flower power couple took an invited audience at the London Flower School through their floral achievements

Darroch and Michael Putnam at the London Flower School

Who is Will Goldfarb giving his book to this Christmas?

The chef and Phaidon author tells us his personal highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

Chef and Room For Dessert author Will Goldfarb - photo by Martin Westlake

Wolfgang Tillmans creates sculpture for ENO debut

Take a look at this bulbous silver stage prop made by the photographer for his production of Britten's War Requiem


Joel Meyerowitz looks back at Thanksgiving

It might look like a contemporary photograph but Joel’s view of the NYC parade actually dates from 1963

Thanksgiving Day Parade, New York City, 1963 by Joel Meyerowitz. Image courtesy of the photographer's Instagram

Who is Jill Greenberg giving her book to this Christmas?

The Animal photographer tells us her personal highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

Jill Greenberg. Photograph courtesy of Greenberg's studio

Watch Magnus Nilsson and Stephen Harris talk Nordic Baking

The Faviken chef discusses The Nordic Baking Book, and plenty more besides, with the Sportsman’s founder

Magnus Nilsson and Stephen Harris

Who is David Dawson giving his book to this Christmas?

The Lucian Freud archive director tells us about his highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

Lucian Freud archive director David Dawson


Good for You, Massimo!

Chef and Phaidon author gets a medal in the Dominican Republic for sharing his ideas on eradicating hunger

Massimo with the Dominican Republic's Vice President Margarita Cedeño de Fernández and Evelyn Betancourt Holt-Seeland, founder of the Santo Domingo Times

Who is Sam Lubell giving his book to this Christmas?

The architectural writer and curator tells us about his highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

Sam Lubell, author of Life Meets Art

5 things Stefan Sagmeister thinks are beautiful and you will too

Well at least we hope so. The designer finds beauty in unexpected places (and shares them in his new book)

Ihwa Mural Village, South Korea. Photograph by Wei-Te Wong, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Who are Putnam & Putnam giving their book to this Christmas?

The New York floral designers tell us their personal highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

Michael and Darroch Putnam

Why Magnus Nilsson doesn't do sourdough cinnamon buns

Sweet buns and complicated techniques are a truly awful combination, says the chef and author

Magnus Nilsson. Photo by Erik Olsson

Who is Liviana Prola giving her book to this Christmas?

The nutritionist and Feed Me author tells us her personal highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

Liviana with her dog Oliver

The plastic pleasure-boat worlds of Verner Panton

How the Danish designer worked with a chemical manufacturer to create a new world of interior design - on water

 Visiona 2 (1970). A glimpse of Panton’s renowned exhibition for the Bayer textile firm, presented at the furniture fair in Cologne in 1970. The most spectacular exhibit was a 48 m2 (517 sq ft) landscape, where the visitor was literally immersed in a sea of colours and undulating forms.

“Very tasty” - Why Magnus Nilsson bakes with blood

It might sound a bit old fashioned but the chef says this recipe isn’t especially uncommon - and tastes great!

Magnus Nilsson

The cow skull and Georgia O’Keeffe

On the artist’s birthday, we consider why she chose this powerful image for one of her most famous paintings

Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue, 1931

Who is Stefan Sagmeister giving his book to this Christmas?

The designer and Phaidon author tells us his personal highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

Stefan Sagmeister. Photograph by John Madere

Catch Magnus Nilsson baking in LA today!

The Swedish chef and Nordic Baking author is cooking food and signing books at Los Angeles' acclaimed Sqirl

The menu board at Sqirl today.

Seriously, is Thanksgiving Contra's biggest day of the year?

The Contra co-founder, NYC chef, erstwhile fussy eater and wannabe DJ, Jeremiah Stone, talks turkey

Contra's Jeremiah Stone. Photograph by Matty Yangwoo Kim

'Highly recommended' - Magnus Nilsson on the sandwich torte

The author of The Nordic Baking Book shares a mid-century Swedish dish that’s still a popular party recipe today

Magnus Nilsson's sadwich torte, as prepared on PBS's Mind of a Chef

Who is Trevor Paglen giving his book to this Christmas?

The author and artist tells us about his highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

Trevor Paglen. Image courtesy of the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Stefan Sagmeister finds beauty in New York

The designer and Phaidon author picks out 12 of the most beautiful lots in Phillips' upcoming sales

Stefan Sagmeister with Nick Cave's Soundsuit, 2006, now on view at Phillips New York

The revealing story behind Alejandro Aravena's Novartis HQ

Reclaimed bricks, and less-than-accurate interpretations of his plans formed part of his 'more or less’ strategy

Novartis Campus Office Building, 2010, Shanghai, China

Who is Nancy Singleton Hachisu giving her book to this Christmas?

The author of Japan: The Cookbook tells us about her highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

Japan: The Cookbook author Nancy Singleton Hachisu

Here’s Annie Leibovitz at Work, in Paris!

Find out what happened when the photographer met her fans and talked through her career in the French capital

Annie Leibovitz beside her 2012 portrait of Michelle Obama, at the MK2 Cinema in Paris

Seriously, won’t this Contra chef give us his sauce secrets?

Well, sort of. But this is why Jeremiah Stone feels his XO Sauce is one secret that shouldn’t make it into print

Contra's Jeremiah Stone

How Pollock and Mapplethorpe shaped Warhol’s Oxidation paintings

Should we see these urine-based works as a punky insult or an art-historical series? Perhaps they’re both

Andy Warhol, Oxidation, 1977–78, urine and metallic paint on canvas, six canvases, 14 x 10 inches, each, 35.6 x 25.4 cm, each. Picture credit: Collection Norman and Norah Stone, San Francisco © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., NY, Photo by Phillips/Schwab

Who is Noah Charney giving his book to this Christmas?

The Museum of Lost Art author tells us his personal highs and lows of 2018 and who’ll be getting a great gift

Noah Charney. Photograph by Urska Charney

'Ferran made me realise fewer sweet things are better!'

Albert Adrià reveals how his infamous brother’s inventiveness made him push the definitions of dessert

Albert Adrià. Image via Wikimedia commons

Theaster Gates and David Adjaye join Bono’s fight against AIDS

Going to Art Basel Miami? Then drop in on this exceptional charity auction, curated by these great creatives

Theaster Gates and David Adjaye. Image courtesy of Sotheby's

Putnam & Putnam's Paltrow flowers went to good causes!

Here’s how the arrangements they created for Gwyneth's Hamptons wedding went on to delight others too

Putnam & Putnam's flowers for the wedding of Gwyneth Paltrow. Image courtesy of Putnam & Putnam's Instagram

Olafur Eliasson and a French opera of forbidden love

The artist and Phaidon author is overseeing the stage, set and costume design for an opera with Sir Simon Rattle

Olafur Eliasson works on his new opera set. Image courtesy of Olafur's Instagram

Seriously, is this how the Contra chefs got a Michelin star?

No! It was exceptional yet simple cookery, not cuddling up to The Michelin Man that won over the judges

Jeremiah Stone and Fabián von Hauske at the NYC Michelin party. Image courtesy of Stone's Instagram

Debbie Harry and friends talk about posing for Warhol

Andy’s portrait subjects tell the New York Times what it was like being pictured in (and paying for) Andy’s portraits

Debbie Harry with her portrait at a preview of the Whitney's new Warhol retrospective. Image courtesy of Blondie's Instagram

Putnam & Putnam did Gwyneth Paltrow’s wedding!

The star just married film producer Brad Falchuk, and America’s greatest floral designers were there to help

Brad Falchuk and Gwyneth Paltrow at their wedding in the Hamptons. Image courtesy of Gwyneth's Instagram

Want Modernism beside the sea? Go to Fire Island!

This summer resort is home to some of America’s best mid-century architecture, as our new guide explains

4 Ocean Walk, Fire Island, by Peter Asher. All photographs by Darren Bradley from Mid-Century Modern Architecture Travel Guide: East Coast USA

Why the Whitney’s Warhol exhibition goes big on the 1970s

Donna De Salvo, curator of the Whitney's retrospective, says Andy’s later decades were among his greatest

Andy Warhol (1928–1987), Mao, 1972. Acrylic, silkscreen ink, and graphite on linen, 14 ft. 8 1⁄2 in. x 11 ft. 4 1 ⁄2 in. (4.48 x 3.47 m). The Art Institute of Chicago; Mr. and Mrs. Frank G. Logan Purchase Prize and Wilson L. Mead funds, 1974.230 © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York

Why did Magnus Nilsson put pizza in The Nordic Baking Book?

The Nordic Baking Book author has a slightly controversial but well-reasoned take on pizza's 'Nordic origins'

Magnus Nilsson's creates a Hawaiian pizza, Nordic style, in PBS's Mind of a Chef

John Waters thinks our Warhol book is 'Like a detective novel’

The filmmaker, artist and Warhol confidant explains why the new Catalogue Raisonné is his bedtime companion

ters at Pen America/Free Expression Literature, May 2014. © Ed Lederman/PEN American Center. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Where to Drink Beer’s author has got Thanksgiving covered

Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø has added a little seasonal colour to Evil Twin Brewing’s line-up. Praise be!

Cranberry Saus Baus by Evil Twin Brewing. Image courtesy of their Instagram

Prada reissues Verner Panton’s classic blow-up stool

The fashion house loves this innovative transparent cube, the first piece of inflatable furniture

Prada's new resort campaign featuring Verner Panton's Inflatable Stool. Photograph by Willy Vanderperre

Seriously, were Contra's chefs once enemies?

Sort of, but they overcame their differences to make their joint venture one of New York's most exciting restaurants

Jeremiah Stone and Fabián von Hauske, wine lovers and authors of A Very Serious Cookbook

Meet Jean-Christian Jury - he's a vegan!

And he's looking good! But it wasn't always this way. On World Vegan Day our author reveals how heart failure made him reassess his diet for the better. Want to give it a go? Vegan: The Cookbook will show you how

Jean-Christian Jury - author of Vegan: The Cookbook

WSJ's Alexandra Wolfe is an Animal lover!

The WSJ writer raves over our beautiful new exploration of the zoological world

The Sweat Bee digital photograph featured in Animal: Exploring the Zoological World