Mary Daniels

Since the 1970s Japan has emerged in the forefront of graphic design, producing some of the most exuberant and inventive posters, objects of both high art and high-printing technology. Now...

Downtown Chicago gets its own antiques mall when the Chicago Antiques Center opens Sept. 4 on the fifth floor of 215 W. Ohio St., atop the Leslie Hindman auction galleries....

A back-to-the-home movement in the `90s is foreseen by the editors of a new quarterly magazine devoted to providing ''hands-on and down-to-earth information for independent family living.'' Fourteen former staff...

American women are getting into fixing, repairing and conserving their fine leather goods. ''We are very, very busy with repairs,'' said Claude Gandrille, Hermes` master leather craftsman who was exhibiting...

To us it`s a bothersome pest, but to the ancient Chinese, says Muriel Lubliner, a Chicago dealer in antique Oriental art, the cicada was ''a symbol of immortality'' and a...

''`Veloce` means speed in Italian, and we wanted the magazine to be quick hits, fast, exciting, informative in an entertaining way. It`s quick, short glimpses of different elements of Italian...

Most suburban homeowners regard the cicada infestation as a nuisance and can`t wait until it`s over. Animals, wild and domesticated, however, seem to regard the plague as a gourmet banquet....

An African king`s carved wooden bed weighing 1,000 pounds. Fifty carved stools from West Africa, including some in the shape of a turtle. Old Turkoman coin jewelry from Afghanistan. Ceramics...

In 1982, Valerie C. Serafini was walking down a street when she glanced into a shop window. She saw a Precious Moments figurine, ''Make a Joyful Noise,'' also known as...

''No, I never painted animals before,'' says Betsey Fowler, whose husband, Jim, is host of the syndicated television show ''Mutual of Omaha`s Wild Kingdom.'' ''I always figured I`d stay out...