This curious series of matchbook prints pays homage to a lost Japanese advertising artform February 6, 2017 Today, the chances are you don’t even own a box of matches, let alone appreciate the lost artform that used to adorn them. But in the early to mid-20th century, Japanese advertisers created tiny wonders of graphic art on these pocket-sized canvases. As urban centres began to proliferate and the population was drawn away from [...]
Forget about demure, pink or sparkly – this year’s women’s watch mood is fiercer than a Beyoncé half-time show February 6, 2017 Move over Princess Grace, forget the “twinset-and pearls” brigade; the new watchmaker’s muse is strong, forthright and possibly wearing shoulder pads. Think Melanie Griffith’s Tess McGill in Working Girl and you’re most of the way there. It seems, finally, that the “shrink pink” treatment of existing men’s watches – with a liberal sprinkling of diamonds [...]
When McLaren met Mille: A British F1 legend collaborates with a Swiss watchmaker using material made in Manchester February 6, 2017 If you had £996,500, the first thing that springs to mind might be a new house, or a yacht perhaps – but a wristwatch? Surely not? Well, yes, absolutely for sure in the case of 75 collectors, who have already put their name down for a piece of extraordinary technical wizardry unveiled just last week [...]
Watch news: Omega’s new hashtag-inspired timepiece and a Tudor for lefties February 6, 2017 The hashtag that Omega Built The story could well be titled “Swiss watch brand in social-media savvy shocker”. Because Omega has gone and launched a watch based on an Instagram hashtag. Since 2012, thanks to Fratello Watches founder Robert-Jan Broer, fans of Omega’s Speedmaster chronograph (NASA’s preferred wristwatch, no less) have been sharing pictures of [...]
Piaget Altiplano turns 60, and it’s still the choice of today’s jetset sophisticate February 6, 2017 Last week the great and the good of the luxury world descended upon Geneva Airport’s Palexpo convention centre for the “Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie” – which basically translates as “glamorous showcase of mindbogglingly complicated timepieces”. So glamorous, in fact, that even the iron-clad bleakness of Palexpo was not enough to dissuade a healthy [...]
Karma Group’s founder and chairman John Spence explains how and why he plans to double the size of his business February 6, 2017 I cleaned toilets in Gatwick Airport for a bit, but that’s the only real job I’ve ever had,” says John Spence, founder and chairman of The Karma Group. A university drop-out, the hotelier and resort-owner originally became a tea boy for a music agency. Before long, he was representing bands like Culture Club, Bananarama and [...]
Opinion: Is Bournville Village the key the solving the housing crisis? February 4, 2017 There’s nothing new about employers building houses for their employees. George Cadbury wanted to build a place full of green spaces, where industrial workers could thrive, away from city pollution. By 1895, 143 cottages had been built and Bournville Village was born. Another business industrialist with similar philanthropic ideals was the ‘soap king’ Lord Lever [...]
Picture perfect: A photography tour of the Caribbean island of St Lucia February 3, 2017 So if my aperture is f/3.5 and my shutter speed is 1/125th of a second, what should my ISO be if I want to properly expose this image?” “Four…hun…dred?” I ventured timidly. “Nooooo,” Kirk said, as we took a pew in a cathedral in Castries. To the casual passerby, he must have sounded like he [...]
Interiors: Pick up the perfect craft piece at Collect at the Saatchi Gallery this weekend February 3, 2017 Do you need a stunning centrepiece for the coffee table? Or a trio of pots for the console, or a stunning piece of art glass for a spot-lit plinth? This weekend the Collect fair at the Saatchi Gallery, the “Frieze” of the craft world, brings 37 galleries together from across the globe in a selling [...]
New Builds: New homes on sale this weekend in London in East Finchley, Stratford, Greenwich, Hampstead and Notting Hill February 3, 2017 Ethan Drive, East Finchley £1.25m to £1.75m Sporty families will like these new four and five bedroom detached houses opposite the Chandos Lawn Tennis Club. Finchley Cricket Club and Pure Gym, where buyers will get a year’s family membership. Set in a private gated road, they come with modern luxuries like Hacker kitchens, underfloor heating [...]