In his 1978 top-40 hit "Life’s Been Good," Joe Walsh sang about his Maserati doing 185 mph (and about losing his license as a result of driving that fast). The boast was as dubious as the rock star’s run for president two years later.

Tales of the search for those raw materials that make possible the objects of beauty included in this month’s jewelry features (see "Brilliant Mines," page 162, and "Forever Elizabeth,"

Alex Wilcox is no stranger to innovation.

Photography by Benjamin Benschneider

Across the Douro River from the medieval heart of Porto, the Vila Nova de Gaia neighborhood houses a dozen warehouse-like port lodges along the waterfront.

Valmont consultant agnès teffaud stares intently at what appear to be aerial photographs of a barren desert landscape.

While summering in London in 1992, 19-year-old Francis Sultana paid a visit to David Gill’s furniture gallery in South Kensington.

Good news for America’s children and vertically challenged who are going to ride shotgun in the Pagani Huayra: You will be able to do so without fearing harm from the car’s passenger-sid

Amid the spectacle and dazzle of the 2,200-room, $1.9 billion Galaxy Macau’s grand opening in September, an exclusive enclave debuted discreetly in the megaresort development’s South Tow

1965 Lamborghini 3500 GTZ

At Musha Cay and the Islands of Copperfield Bay—700 acres spread across 11 private Bahamian islands that illusionist David Copperfield acquired in 2006—guests choose their adventure.

If private islands have a downside, it is that they are at times too private—cut off from the communities and cultures that make most destinations worth visiting.

Villa La Cassinella is technically not a private island. In fact, the 18th-century estate is not even on an island—it is perched on a secluded peninsula in Italy’s Lake Como.

Sir Richard Branson’s original resort, the 27-year-old Necker Island, experienced a setback just a month after the Virgin mogul’s property in Australia opened to the public.

A typical day at North Island might involve tracking a rare Seychelles white-eye bird through the jungle, following a sea turtle into deep ocean chasms, or simply lying on one of four sa

Though just two miles off Mozambique’s northeastern coast, Vamizi Island seems a wild and secluded sanctuary.

If the taste of a whisky literally reflected the topography of the place where it was made, then one would expect a dram of Laphroaig to be lean, even austere.

The commander of the angels, the archangel Michael, appears on the barrel of the Tibaldi Sanctus Michael Archangelus (www

The Azimut 45 (www.azimutyachts.com) features the most adjustable configuration in the Italian builder’s flybri

Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s aphorism "Less is more" certainly applies to the Ferrari 458 Spider (www.ferrari.co

From Hublot Genève, the watch company and oft official timekeeper of downhill racing events, comes the $10,500 Hublot Sledge (www.h

The escort swipes his security card past the magnet, and the door opens. Then a second secured door, and a third.

Kaleidescape, a leading producer of home movie servers and playback systems, has devised a component that eliminates inconveniences associated with Blu-ray Disc viewing while also addres

A final set of admonishments prompted the expected groans of displeasure as we prepared to drive Lamborghini’s latest and maybe last versions of the Gallardo on the track at New York’s M

Rich, extracted, full of fresh acidity, and rife with wild-honey, spice, and ginger notes, the Raats Family 2009 Chenin Blanc is powerful, elegant, and uniquely South African.