Thank you to Anne and Design*Sponge for the mention of Paper Tiger and a sneak peek feature this week into my house!  Truly honored to be included.  谢谢 Xie Xie！

One of my favorite buildings in Shanghai is the Shanghai Exhibition Center on Yan An Zhong Lu/Nangjing E. Road.   It was built in 1955 as the “Sino-Soviet Friendship Building”, and designed in the Russian classical style of architecture.  The land it was built on was originally the private garden of the British-Jewish family, the Hardoon’s, and then occupied by the Japanese Army in the Pacific War.   The building is now an exhibition hall and if you have a chance to get inside, the building is truly magnificent, especially the ceilings.

Despite the cold weather on Saturday, the first Handmade Fair at Sinan Mansions was intimate with a lovely vibe.  Some nice new designers on the scene.  Looking forward to the next one.

Rain or Shine!  Come by and say hello!

The Spring Eco Design Fair is just around the corner on Saturday, April 14 from 10-5pm at the Waterhouse and Cool Docks.  It’s always exciting to connect with other eco-friendly businesses and meeting customers familiar with my paper or just discovering it.

Love this year’s poster which was designed by a British designer from the studio,  It Could Be Like This,  who is based in Shanghai.   I think they captured the fair’s theme of”Explore, Create & Grow”, quite nicely.

Hope to see you that day, and don’t forget to mark you calendars!

Having been hidden behind a construction wall the last few months when I tried to show out-of-town visitors how cool The Glamour Bar is, the wall is finally off and the newly done over Glamour Bar is a refreshing re-do to an already beautiful bar/lounge.   A new entrance makes you zig and zag now until you get to the main lounge which seems to have opened up quite a bit—-perfect for their numerous special events, readings, talks and recitals.   The blend of Shanghai art deco and modern chic is balanced and inspired.

The mirrored bar in the shape of a ship.

Their beautiful cut-glass stemware in hues of blue, yellow and orange looks like a chandelier as it hangs over the bar.

The Christmas Bazaar season frenzy officially kicks off this coming Saturday, November 19th at Concordia International School in Pudong.   Hope to see you at one of these!

Got caught in the sudden rainstorm on Sunday while in the Bund and found shelter under an awning of a dilapidated, but beautifully old forgotten building across the street from the renovated and swanky LAN building on Guangdong Lu.  I wonder if my building sits in envy of LAN and wishing for the same fate….

Two years later, I find myself moving back to Shanghai.   I am excited to go back to my roots, to what is familiar, and to a place where I can freely cross the street wherever I want.    This picture was taken by R when he visited Shanghai in 1993—- a photo of the first stage of construction of the Pearl Tower.    It boggles my mind to see the most iconic landmark of Shanghai in its infancy amongst landscape that is so barren that you can see for miles.     Everything starts somewhere….

The recent Spring Eco Design Fair was hosted at The Waterhouse, a boutique hotel, which in it’s past life was a 1930′s shipyard building and warehouse.  Situated in the South Bund neighborhood of the Shiliupu district, the renovations were done by the architects Neri & Hu, with interiors and furniture by Arne Jacobsen, Finn Juhl, Hans Wegner and Antonio Citterio.   The building is an interesting mix of old and new that is sincere, without trying too hard (unlike the awfully looking Cool Docks next door).   The Danish-modern interiors is effortless and calming.

Shanghai is rife with awful signage and store fronts, so it was really nice to see this simple Waterhouse hotel sign that conveys the style of the hotel and its industrial past.  I come across so many shop signs around Shanghai and Beijing that have absolutely nothing to do with what’s going on inside its walls, so it was really refreshing to see something minimalist and straight to the point.

I got as far as the first floor, and squeezed in a few shots before the hotel cops banned me from taking further photos.  From the photos posted on the hotel’s website, it looks like a gorgeous place to rest your head as well as a place for dining and drinking.  The hotel was an Honorable Mention in Travel & Leisure’s Design Awards 2011 and is on Conde Naste Traveller’s Hot List 2011.  If you’re in the area, it’s definitely worth a visit.