In Focus | All stories

“Paper is a tool of the learned, a raw material for bookmaking. Paper is the household furniture of the chancery, the treasure of scholars, a preserver of human friendship. O, my paper! You are indeed a splendid thing.” A quote by Abraham a Santa Clara, a 17th century priest, inscribed on a shop window of a small stationery in Prague’s Vojtěšská street, captures the philosophy of the small Czech design brand, Papelote, which has been around for more than five years. The tiny Papelote store only features a few tables and shelves to set off its products

Do you need a new shelf but you are fed up with going to IKEA again? Well, why not try making it yourself? If you don’t have the space or the tools, you can visit a DIY workshop in the centre of Prague. In case you are lacking the experience and skills, its owner, Hank Duke, can also provide the necessary know-how.

Silent Lab is the name of an ambitious Czech installation featuring this year at Expo 2015 in Milan, which begins later this spring. The installation, which brought together students at the technical university in Prague (ČVUT) students of architecture and the company Full Capacity, recreates the experience of the Czech forest, combining Nature and hi-tech.

In 2007, up-and-coming designer Marek Rosa founded an independent Prague-based studio called Keen Software House, focusing (until now) on space-themed games. Today, he and his company are celebrating significant success, recently selling the millionth copy of Space Engineers. It is the firm’s second title delving into the treacherous environment that is the final frontier, where players mine resources and build or upgrade ships to travel across part of the solar system. Space was a deliberate choice for the first two titles, the CEO says.

After eight years of existence, the Trafačka art gallery in Prague is closing down, making way for a new housing development. Over the years, Trafačka, which is situated in a former transmission station in the Vysočany district, has become a respected centre for young artists and featured dozens of exhibitions and other events. I met with one of its founders, street and graffiti artist Jan Kaláb, to look back at the history of this unique space:

Rachael Weiss is an Australian author with Czech roots, who has just published her second book about Prague, based on her own experience of living in the Czech capital. The memoir, called The Thing about Prague, is chock-full of entertaining stories about how she went about looking for a job, finding an apartment and trying to blend in with Czechs. On the occasion of the book launch, I asked Rachael Weiss what made her write yet another book dedicated to Prague:

Petra Pospěchová’s recently published Regionální Kuchařka, or Regional Cookbook, is full of interesting recipes from around the Czech Republic, from her native Valašsko in the east of the country to the former Sudetenland in the west and all points in between, with each section introducing readers to a dozen or so local specialities. When I met Pospěchová, one of the country’s best-known food writers, I asked her if it had perhaps taken somebody from outside Prague to put together such a book.

Over 170 tonnes of food was donated to Czech charities and NGOs in the second national food collection that took place over the weekend. Individuals, supermarket chains and food producers all chipped in to provide some 350,000 meals for those in need. Organizers consider the food drive’s second edition a major success, and say that a recent change in tax rules will prompt companies to donate more food in the future. I discussed the results of the national food collection with Pavlína Kalousová, the head of Business for Society, a corporate responsibility platform

If you think you know pretty much everything there is to see in Prague, you should definitely visit the website Praha neznámá or Prague Unknown. As the title suggests, it focuses on the lesser known historical, architectural and natural sights in the Czech capital, such as the first functionalist housing estate, a marshland situated just fifteen minutes from the city centre or an artificial lake where President Masaryk used to swim. I spoke to Praha neznámá’s founder Petr Ryska and started by asking him how he got the idea to create it in the first

For the first time ever, non-Czech audiences have the chance to get acquainted with Jára Cimrman, a unique phenomenon of Czech culture. The fictional character has enjoyed immense popularity with Czech audiences for more than five decades. One of the Jára Cimrman plays - The Stand In – was recently translated into English and is now being staged in Prague’s Jára Cimrman Theatre by a group of Prague-based, English speaking actors. I went to see the final rehearsal.