Interiors: Tara Bernerd looks back on her 15-year career designing hotels and elite residences around the globe November 25, 2016 If there’s one imminent interiors project in London that we can’t wait to sneak a peek at, it’s the show apartments for One Park Drive, a Herzog and de Meuron-designed cylindrical tower taking shape in Canary Wharf. It’s highly-anticipated, not just because the 472-apartment tower is one of the largest remaining undeveloped sites in the [...]
Interiors: Two big trends are dominating Christmas homeware – contemporary and cosy – what will you choose? November 18, 2016 Contemporary The depths of winter always benefit from a little razzle-dazzle, which is one reason we like to put on the glitz for the party season. And this year it's true of our homes, too. Trailblazer Tom Dixon adopted metallics as a signature look many moons ago and his copper Melt pendant lights, as seen [...]
Interiors: We ask the experts how to snazz up your dinner table before the Christmas hordes arrive November 11, 2016 Staying in is the new going out; we want to bring friends home to warmth and hospitality. Being able to light intimate candles for dinner is one of the overlooked joys of shorter days. However, with the trend for simplicity, and sharing, we need to be careful not to make boring choices when it comes [...]
Interiors: Don’t own any art? Make your own. We explore a growing trend for framing beloved objects November 9, 2016 Bringing our homes alive with personality and creativity isn’t just about hanging pictures on walls, especially if we don’t own a Warhol or a Hirst. It’s now de rigeur to think inside the box and display meaningful physical objects in box-frames, or mount prized items, such as decorative scarfs, LP covers or birthday cards, so [...]
Interiors: David Bowie’s art collection is due to go under the hammer at Sotheby’s next month October 28, 2016 In two weeks’ time a vintage 1966 record player is coming to auction at Sotheby’s, a radio-phonograph by Achille and Pier Giacomo Catiglioni. At face value, it's worth an unassuming £800-£1,200; however, it will no doubt fetch much much more as it belonged to the late great David Bowie. The excitement around the sale of [...]
The wine region of Porto and the Douro Valley are a must visit for plonk fans October 21, 2016 Douro is “Tuscany before the crowds”, a land forever locked in an annual cycle of wine making, olive picking and almond harvesting, a rural idyll that became electrified only after the 1950s. Leave Porto, whose historic centre is a Unesco world heritage site, and cross the Serra do Marão mountain range, and the city gives [...]
Interiors: If we spend a third of our lives in bed, then why don’t we spend serious money luxuriating in linens? October 21, 2016 Let’s be honest, one of the most enticing things about a weekend away is climbing into a freshly laundered, luxurious bed with crisp white sheets, pillows like clouds and a cashmere throw for cosiness. Hoteliers spare no expense to ensure your slumber is deep, peaceful and refreshing; so why do so many of us put [...]
Long Weekend: Inside Paris’ magnificent The George V hotel, where you can spend an entire weekend without leaving the premises October 14, 2016 This is one of Paris' ultra-luxury Palace Hotels – here's the lowdown on our recent stay. The weekend: When you’re laying down well over a grand for a night in a hotel – and that’s without your bircher muesli – it had better be good. For a special occasion, a short hop on the Eurostar to [...]
Renting in Havana: How Airbnb started its own Cuban revolution October 10, 2016 On the face of it, Cuba is everything you imagine it to be. Cuba libres drunk on verandas in the tropical heat, Fidel Castro’s tobacco plantations for his Cohiba cigars, taxi-rides in buffed vintage cars, horse rides in the rainforest, palm-fringed beaches and salsa rhythms. But as vibrant and appealing a destination it is, there’s [...]
CEO of Johns & Co has just launched a custom furnishing business for busy – and overseas – landlords October 7, 2016 In this bustling metropolis of ours, some of us are landlords, some of us are renters and some of us are both. It’s complicated. Now both can benefit from an innovative new scheme that allows tenants to have input in how their flat looks, and lets landlords divorce themselves from the aesthetic side of things [...]
