JK with his Czech wife, Eliska Kaplicky Fuchsova

JK with his Czech wife, Eliska Kaplicky Fuchsova, appearing less like an architect and more like a distinguished movie star...

Jan Kaplicky, a Czech-born architect who challenged, dazzled and sometimes befuddled the British architectural establishment with his fiercely uncompromising vision of a new modernism of undulating, organic forms, collapsed and died on a Prague street only hours after Eliska gave birth to his daughter, Johanka on 14 January 2009 in Prague. He was 71.

JK at Dox

The Jan Kaplicky Dox poster which uses the Birmingham Selfridges from his UK years at Future Systems.

Farmacia Sbert

Fabulous lettering and red specs on a Palma pharmacy.

Miguel, sans

In Palma the peeling away of years of layered signs in the city centre reads like a history book.

Rules, rules, rules at the bank in CZ

No guns, no mobiles, no photography, no dogs, no triple cones, no smoking. Damned unreasonable at the banks in the Czech Republic. What would we do if we couldn't take all these in to amuse ourselves as we while away the lunchtime wait at Barclays?

The view from the top deck

The train journey to Karlstejn from Prague was made even more interesting by making the journey on the upper deck of the train. The graded window made it feel as if it was a cine film, mixing the countryside outside with the reflection of my fellow passenger.

Dox - Prague

Dox sits quietly in the suburbs of Prague in the loop of the river north of the city centre. It's a centre for the visual arts that holds its own internationally.

Jan Kaplicky at Dox

A few weeks ago I visited the Jan Kaplicky exhibition at Dox in Prague. An overview of his life's work from his arrival in London in 1968 the year of the Prague Spring to his late return to Prague and his death a 71 last year. This was an enlightening exhibition and an inspiration. The accompanying film was excellent right down to the jazz soundtrack.

Shudda flown Ryanair

In the UK press today, another not to be missed full page ad from Ryanair. Interesting to see the impact from a non-designed approach.