Prisoners can teach us a lot about small space living. A group of inmates at a high-security facility in Italy helped create the Freedom Room, a room the size of the average prison cell, into a modular, multi-functional living area.

A sneak preview of the soaring space for EDIT by Design Junction 2013 in Milan.

Next month, I'll be packing my camera and laptop and heading to Milan for one of the biggest weeks of the year for international design. Designers, retailers, manufacturers and (very lucky) press people will be heading to the Fiera for the Salone Internazionale del Mobile. But those in the know will also be heading to La Pelota on Via Palermo, for a fresh take on what's next - Design Junction's festival within a festival, EDIT.

There's a breath of fresh air coming to two apartment towers in Milan. The Bosco Verticale are buildings that have staggered concrete platforms along the facade for planting vegetation that will help with dust & CO2, as well as support micro-ecosystems. The addition of the 730 trees, 11,000 ground-cover plants, and 5,000 shrubs that will green the building has begun, with the whole project finished later this year.

In other news, check out structures carved from freezer buildup, and send Mark Zuckerberg a Facebook message — for $100. See the headlines after the jump. More

The fourth largest cathedral in the world, the Duomo di Milano took 600 years to complete, but age and lack of budget are threatening its 135 impressive spires. The management is campaigning for private donations, and while any amount is welcome toward their €25 million goal, a sum of €100,000 gets your name engraved in marble under a spire.

In other news, a hotel room forgoes interior walls, and James Franco works at a pop-up art shop. See the headlines after the jump. More

Using tile to add interest to a space is nothing new, but at this years Cersaie, I noted many examples of tiles that had a decorative bent based less on color or strong visual pattern, but rather on high texture and a certain rough-hewn chic. More

For years, it has seemed that for something to be considered very modern or contemporary, it should be hard-edged. Crisp, sharp angles and straight lines were the norm. This year at Cersaie, while there is still plenty of beautiful, more angular sinks, toilets, bidets and mirrors for the bath to be found, the truly fashion-forward form factor is round, curvy, smooth and circular. More

Cersaie is a trade show that is all about tile, which means many of the showrooms are showing you exactly that, and nothing more; just gorgeous tile on the walls, floors and displays, with no other furniture or fixtures to distract you. But, some showrooms go the other route, creating vignettes that show how the tile may work in rooms at home. Here are five ideas that I thought were worth a second look from the stylists at this years show... More

At the recent Cersaie tile show in Bologna, I saw beautiful tiles all day long. High quality, thoughtful design, being shown in booths designed to highlight best features, described by knowledgeable representatives. But, no matter how fantastic the overall show, personal favorites are bound to emerge. For me, at Cersaie, Mutina's new collections, Azulej (shown here) and Tex (post to follow), were two of the standouts. More

I'm just back from Cersaie, the massive tile show held each year in Bologna, Italy. After viewing booth after booth displaying of some of the most beautifully, carefully crafted tiles in the world, you start to see some trends emerge… More

Janel continues to send back reports from her visit to Cersaie, the massive exhibition of ceramic tile and bathroom furnishings in Italy.

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