Frankfurt - Bauhaus turns 90 this year, and for many designers, that's an occasion to bring remakes of Bauhaus classics to the market.

At the interior design trade show Ambiente in mid February in Frankfurt, a number of porcelain and glassmakers showed variations of designs that originated in the avant-garde laboratory. Bauhaus was founded in 1919 in Weimar, in eastern Germany.

Buttenheim, Germany  - Blue jeans have maintained their popularity, gracing bodies around the world for more than 100 years.

They initially served as work pants for Californian gold miners, but now they dominate fashion in schools, discos and even offices.

Tokyo  - Shoes don't always have to be made of leather. Vinyl in fact is the latest rage in spring shoe style in Japan.

It doesn't matter whether the shoes are high heels, ballerinas or wedge sandals, the main thing is they have to be colourful and lively. The shrill vinyl for fashion-conscious Japanese are not only hip, they also are cheaper than leather shoes. In the current economic hard climate, their easy-on-the-budget price is welcome, wrote the Nikkei Weekly business magazine.

Gelsenkirchen, Germany  - For 10 years, a secret German film club has been showing offbeat movies every month in Gelsenkirchen - cowboy films with dinosaurs, action films set in women's prisons in

Seoul  - In a country like South Korea, a craze for coffee is not the only explanation for the unusual success that Starbucks Corporation is now enjoying there.

The success of Starbucks in South Korea can also be put down to the free internet access in its many outlets. People are now flocking to the chain stores not only to drink coffee, but to study and chat as well.

Cologne, Germany  - Office work can't be entirely kept out of the home nowadays. Many an office worker takes time on a Sunday afternoon to finish a presentation for the week ahead or prepare a tax return. Any written correspondence has a way of spoiling an evening.

But in an apartment, there's often barely room to set up an office. Thus, more and more furniture makers now have modern versions of folding or stowaway desks to offer, allowing the workspace to be discreetly tucked away.

This is often achieved by raising the surface of the desk, covering its drawers and other inner workings. Some desks can be disguised as living room furniture in a mixture of wood or lacquered surfaces.