Juliana Farha

Juliana Farha is the founder and managing director of DilettanteMusic.com, the global community of classical music performers, composers and listeners. She was named one of 50 ‘Women to Watch' in the UK arts sector in 2010. Steeped in the arts and a journalist by training, Juliana lives, works and writes in central London.  

JULIANA'S FAVOURITE SITES

Made in Design - A couple of years ago my husband and I moved house from furnished to unfurnished, and then I promptly broke my ankle. 'The mother of all fractures' as my surgeon called it put the kibosh on my fantasy of wandering through design shops buying groovy purple arm chairs and ironic cushions festooned with winking eyes and tassels for lashes. Then I discovered Made in Design, a French website with an online UK shop that offers a vast range of furniture and homewares from leading designers like Philippe Starke, Flos and Kartell at very competitive prices. I can walk now, but I still go there often.

Trip Advisor - Ok, this one's rather obvious but Trip Advisor is popular for a reason: it has changed travel, mostly for better, and admittedly sometimes for worse. Of course, cranks like me are more likely to post reviews in which we detail every failing of a hotel or restaurant. This known phenomenon can be deeply undermining when you've almost settled on a place with reams of positive reviews, and then you spot mine. On the other hand, with hotel operators responding directly to complaints on the site and boasting about their Trip Advisor rankings in plaques on their reception desks, you're reassured that they do know we're out here.

Arts Journal - For the arts lover Arts Journal has it all: bespoke blogs from a range of pundits across the arts world alongside a brilliant aggregation service that collects arts stories from major English-language newspapers and websites. These are organised by genre, from strikes at orchestras to controversial art exhibitions to annual literary festivals. Indispensable,  whether you're a culture maker or consumer.

The Awl - Years ago, I was a regular reader of The Onion whose satirical news stories often had me laughing so hard I was crying (you know, like when you peel an onion). Then it began to feel samey and I got bored. A few months ago, I followed a link that led me to The Awl, which has filled the gaping hole left by the end of my affair with The Onion. Unlike The Onion, The Awl's stories aren't made up, but they're invariably funny and irreverent and clever; for instance, their recent piece about the Royal Engagement titled 'Unemployed Girl to Wed Soldier from Welfare Family.' Ahhh. I can laugh again.

Culture Label - The eye-watering cost of running a shop on a UK high street explains why they're filled with chains selling cheap Asian goods by the ton, while the Internet fills up with outfits like etsy which sell products from small manufacturers and individual designers. My favourite of these sites is Culture Label, where you'll find the offerings of museum and design shops from the Ashmolean to the V&A to Liverpool's Bluecoat. Great for Christmas gifts.

Project Syndicate - There are days when you just want an idea to replace the mundane ephemera most of us are forced to navigate from dawn till dusk. When I'm having one of those days, I turn to Project Syndicate which features original op-ed commentaries from academics, public intellectuals and economists on a wide range of issues. Recently, for instance, I read Naomi Wolf on education cuts and Esther Dyson on what's wrong with heroizing entrepreneurs.

Tech Crunch - Admittedly, Tech Crunch focuses mostly on geeky technology news and as such a scan through the headlines usually suffices. But if you can get past the writing which is sometimes poor and ungrammatical, you'll discover that the site often connects the dots between tech news and the other issues technology raises, for instance ongoing coverage of the privacy concerns raised by social networks like Facebook.

14th December 2010