The Best of Something Curated from 2023

Reflecting on the past year, Something Curated highlights ten of our favourite — and most popular — pieces of 2023.

Interview: Gab Bois goes to Palm Heights

Hailing from Montreal, visual artist Gab Bois traded the frosty Canadian winter for a dose of Caribbean sun and sea in Grand Cayman. At once playful and extraordinarily precise, Bois’ practice embraces and reimagines the still life. Sharing her experience as an artist-in-residence at Palm Heights with Something Curated through a mesmerising photo diary, Bois talks collaboration, nature, humour, and a new line of products in the works.

Is the Kama Sutra the Most Misunderstood Text of all Time?

During the colonial era, when the British Raj controlled the Indian subcontinent, the Kama Sutra gained notoriety as an illicit and subversive manuscript, owing to its meticulous descriptions of sexual acts. In a time characterised by sexual censorship, the prevailing image associated with this text often portrayed it as solely focusing on carnal contortions. However, in reality, this multifaceted work encompasses so much more.

10 Incredible Architecture Libraries Around the World

Architecture has long been essential in shaping the cultural identity of our cities and nations. It is a reflection of society’s aspirations and values and plays a critical role in creating a sense of place. Behind our built environments are architects, thinkers, designers, and engineers – and the vast knowledge and experience they have acquired, from the pragmatic to the conjectural, can be unearthed at libraries.

In My Kitchen: Shuko Oda

The co-founder of cult favourite London restaurant Koya, Shuko Oda is one of the city’s most respected Japanese chefs. Since 2010, Oda’s cooking has always combined traditional Japanese culinary principles, British ingredients and Modern European flourishes with unique ability and style. Take a look inside the chef’s kitchen and learn about the things she cherishes most and why they matter, in her own words.

5 Filipino Fashion Designers You Should Know

As contemporary fashion from the Philippines continues to gain international recognition, a dynamic group of designers are reinterpreting sartorial traditions of the region through new lenses. At once celebrating and subverting cultural customs, these talents are reshaping the industry with their creativity, craftsmanship, and diverse design sensibilities.

Meet the Chef Celebrating West African Culture in an Old Berlin Dive Bar

Afro-base (International Kitchen Berlin) could be considered as a metaphor for Germany’s relationship with African culture: located very much on the fringes, living and sometimes thriving, visible if you’re looking; veiled, hidden from the majority. Here, outside Berlin’s Ringbahn, on the southern end of Karl-Marx Straße, a predominantly residential area, there is almost zero footfall. Nestled at the foot of a pre-World War One Berlin apartment block, a lit sign saying “Afro-Base” sits above another sign, one that reads “das lokal zum feiern” – “A place to celebrate.” Riaz Phillips wanted to find out more.

Interview: Jonathan Lyndon Chase on Bodies in Flux & Rest as a Radical Act

Jonathan Lyndon Chase is an American multidisciplinary artist, whose expressionistic language traverses a variety of media, embracing painting, sculpture, video, installation, poetry and sound. Characterised by an emotive exuberance, their work is often grounded in the routine intimacies that arise within domestic environments. To learn more about the artist’s practice and their exhibition at Sadie Coles HQ, Something Curated spoke with Chase.

What Happened to New York’s Swimmobiles?

New York has long found ways to provide respite for city dwellers during its hot summers, offering various options from bathhouses and beaches to community pools and even floating pools moored along its rivers. However, during the 1960s and 70s, the city adopted one particularly innovative approach to ensure that everyone, even those who couldn’t access traditional pools, could cool off.

Interview: Meet Shanzhai Lyric, the Artistic Duo Finding Poetry in Bootleg Fashion

New York-based artistic duo Ming Lin and Alexandra Tatarsky are behind Shanzhai Lyric, a collaborative practice that documents and transforms awkwardly translated slogans from mostly Chinese manufactured bootleg garments into an on-going poem. The subversive and unendingly entertaining project has gained a following both in the art world and on Instagram, exploring the global fashion industry and detritus of consumerism, as well as the power of mistranslation as a form of resistance.

10 Global Tea Traditions & the Histories That Shaped Them

Tea rituals offer a unique insight into histories of the world. The tale of tea originates in China, where it is believed that in 2737 BCE, the Chinese emperor Shen Nung sat beneath a tree while his servant boiled drinking water. As fate would have it, a few leaves from the tree floated into the hot liquid. As tea traversed the Silk Road, it assimilated into the cultural fabric of societies across the globe. Over centuries, varied tea traditions emerged, each with distinct flavour profiles and accompanying practices.



Feature image by Gab Bois at Palm Heights, 2023