It has become almost impossible to avoid news stories about the wrongdoing and greed of CEOs and their top teams. While the business people I work with every day are far different from the
ill-intentioned business executive often portrayed in the media, these reports of malfeasance have clearly had an impact.

The story of Montblanc, for many the most distinguished name in the world of writing instruments, began in 1906. In that year the first workshop for supplying merchants with writing devices was opened in Hamburg. Its creators, the engineer August Eberstein and the merchant
Alfred Nehemias, got the idea for it when travelling across America and
England.

The traditional Swiss brand Omega has always been famous for its technical innovativeness and high-quality timepieces. This time it strikes with totally new in-house developed movements: the 8500/8501 calibres.

Letizia Caruzzo is the feminine side of the successful architectural duo Caruzzo Rancati. She is also a distinguished professor at the Faculty for the Architecture in Milan. Combining heritage with modern trends she has designed and decorated more than 50 boutiques for Gianfranco Ferrè and the first ‘couture’ hotel on Cyprus’ Londa Beach.

He is like a boy with a naughty glimmer in his eyes. In a black suit with a waistcoat, tailored to perfection, and with carefully applied make-up. He orders tea and a cake, and tells me he loves sweets. He also admits he is a pure hedonist. And a perfectionist in love with details. He is first of all a costume designer, although he also creates dresses-structures, clothes and accessories, like headgear and bags. Born in Zagreb, he has lived and worked in Ljubljana for over 20 years, with a break of one year when he worked in Milan as a successful fashion designer. He has participated in more than 30 independent and group exhibitions in Slovenia and abroad, while last year in Ljubljana he had a resounding exhibition of costumes selected from the extensive period of his creation. He selected and displayed them himself. He does not have a driver's licence and does not use a computer. We talked to the recipient of many awards, the costume designer and artist Alan Hranitelj.

Lace symbolises emotions, passion and infinity, a precious ornament from the sea with the aura of a fairytale. It brings back wonderful memories of happy occasions, joy and pleasure. Jesurum is a synonym for Venetian lace that is closely connected with its history. It is a story of art and success.

One of the biggest stylistic novelties in male fashion announced for the coming Spring is the light formal jacket, often combined with a shirt and a tie, simply worn with short trousers.

Žare Kerin is the Creative Director at the Futura DDB agency who has for years been famous as the Slovenian designer with the biggest number of awards conferred abroad. He has received over 200 local and international awards, participated in nine independent and group exhibitions, while his works have been presented in distinguished specialised publications, including the Japanese Pia Book, British Creative Review, American Art Direction Book, Print in Print Magazine, French European Strategies and in the catalogue D&AD Annual & Showreel 2006. He established himself by designing calendars, but soon proved that he is a designer par excellence. Therefore, his latest works come from all sorts of fields, from packaging, labels, signs and advertisements to books and magazines.

Ideas of an alternative propulsion system for cars have been alive for decades. Every carmaker in the world seems to be searching for an alternative to the internalcombustion engine, which has dominated the automotive world for almost one hundred years. The exploration of new territories has never been easy but, in an era of constantly high oil prices and evident climate changes, more progress should be expected.