AUTUMN SCHOOLS GUIDE
Luxury lifestyle, prime property
FINER THINGS THE TALENTED MAKERS OF MODERN LONDON
Future antiques
Take the elm
Mayfair man
Contemporary pieces that will stand the test of time
The London trees battling for survival
John Caudwell on life in “the best city in the world”
SEPTEMBER 2026 £5.99
thelondonmagazine.co.uk
September’s WISHLIST
TheWISHLIST EXPERIENCE LUXURY LONDON THIS MONTH
PHOTOGRAPH: SØLVE SUNDSBØ
ROLE REBORN
Tilda Swinton returns to the stage in a revival of Man to Man, revisiting the role that marked her theatrical breakthrough. Exploring themes of identity, endurance, and survival, the production reunites an acclaimed creative team to breathe new life into Manfred Karge's powerful drama. Opens 5 September. royalcourttheatre.com
The London Magazine 13
WISHLIST Culture
TALK OF THE TOWN The latest cultural exhibitions, festivals and artworks sparking conversation
STEP INSIDE
Literary pursuits
Queen’s Park Book Festival returns for its final edition, celebrating nine years of literary conversation in north London. With a line-up including Philip Pullman and Sebastian Barry, the festival continues its rich history of guest speakers, including Alan Bennett (above). 5-6 September. queensparkbookfestival.co.uk
E VERY WOMAN
CRE ATIVE SCE NE London Design Festival celebrates the capital’s creative energy, bringing together designers, brands and cultural institutions through a programme of installations, exhibitions, talks and events. Showcasing emerging talent alongside established names, the festival highlights innovation, craftsmanship and the ideas shaping the future of design. 12-20 September. londondesignfestival.com
14 The London Magazine
Tschabalala Self’s Lady in Blue will take its place on Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth in September 2026, becoming the latest work in the renowned public art programme. Crafted in bronze and finished in striking lapis lazuli blue, the sculpture celebrates the contemporary Londoner through the portrait of a confident, everyday ‘everywoman’. london.gov.uk
PHOTOGRAPHS: ELLA GRADWELL; ; LLOYDS OF LONDON; JOSEPH TRAYLEN/FELIX SPELLER/MADE X BARBICAN; LADY IN BLUE BY TSCHABALALA SELF/JAMES O JENKINS
As part of Open House Festival 2026, visitors will have the chance to explore London’s iconic Lloyd’s Building – a landmark of high-tech architecture designed by the late Richard Rogers. Open to the public during the city-wide festival, which celebrates London’s most remarkable spaces, the Lime Street headquarters offers a rare glimpse inside one of the capital’s most distinctive buildings. 12-20 September. open-city.org.uk
WISHLIST Going out
OUT AND ABOUT
Theatre openings, a new cinema and hotel, and a fair with a natural edge
Movе night
FLOWER POWER
The Strawberry Hill Flower Festival will see more than 30 floral designers transform Horace Walpole’s gothic villa and gardens with immersive installations made from British-grown flowers. Find contemporary floristry alongside talks, demonstrations and seasonal picnics. For something more atmospheric, special after-dark evenings will see the house lit by candles and dramatic floral displays. 10-13 September. strawberryhillhouse.org.uk
Curzon is returning to the King’s Road this autumn with the opening of Curzon Chelsea. Set behind the building’s original art deco facade, the new venue combines film, live events, and creative spaces to offer a vibrant hub for culture and collaboration. curzon.com
FLOCK IN New hotel The Shepherd Mayfair is ready to welcome guests through its doors. Occupying the site of Mayfair's oldest house – known as The Cottage – with 17th century origins, in-house restaurant Fayre's menu is built around British seasonal produce. Opens 1 September theshepherdmayfair.com
16 The London Magazine
PHOTOGRAPHS: FELICITY MCCABE; MARK COCKSEDGE; FLOWERS IN FRENCH; HARRY BRERETON
RUR AL THRILL Sophie Okonedo (right) stars as Natalya Petrovna in Brian Friel’s acclaimed reworking of Turgenev’s celebrated play, A Month in the Country at Donmar Warehouse, a witty and poignant exploration of love, longing and the restless hearts behind lives of outward contentment. Book now. donmarwarehouse.com
Shopping WISHLIST
HIGH-END SPENDS Upscale retail openings, lavish jewellery lines and luxe collaborations
MASTERS OF CRAFT
Graff ’s latest High Jewellery campaign celebrates the drama of exceptional yellow and white diamonds, from a spectacular 40ct yellow-diamond cuff to sculptural takes on the house’s signature Tilda’s Bow motif. Shot by Liz Collins, the collection showcases Graff ’s dedication to impeccable craftsmanship. graff.com
PHOTOGRAPHS: LIZ COLLINS; OSKAR PROCTOR
WILD AT HE ART Chaumet’s A Journey through Nature transforms the colours, forms and scents of the natural world into 46 exceptional fine jewellery pieces. From tea fields and vanilla to coffee and saffron, each chapter explores a different sensory mood. chaumet.com
Driven to imprсs
Urban Automotive and Visionnaire unveil a one-off Range Rover to mark the opening of Visionnaire’s new Brompton Road Knightsbridge flagship. visionnaire-home.com
DESIG N FOR LIFE British menswear brand LESTRANGE has unveiled The Apartment, a new London store designed by Tabitha Isobel. Located at 68 Berwick Street, the space takes a more relaxed approach to retail, with vintage and contemporary furniture. lestrangelondon.com
The London Magazine 19
JEWELLERY
OUTSIDE THE BOX
JEWELLERY DESIGNED FOR DISPLAY IN THE HOME AS WELL AS ON THE BODY? K ATE YOUDE DISCOVERS THE “CONVERSATION PIECES” ON SHOW AT THIS YEAR’S GOLDSMITHS’ FAIR
28 The London Magazine
JEWELLERY OBJETS D’ART Opposite: Jed Green showcases her multimedia jewellery pieces on the wall amid asymmetric lattice frames Clockwise from top: Sculptures in copper and recycled silver by Ute Decker double as statement arm pieces; Romilly Saumarez Smith’s That Golden Stain of Time brooch brings together a found medieval horse tackle adornment and diamond additions; the jeweller’s Land Sea and Night Sky lapel pins are a triumvirate of embellished, metal-detected finds which work together as a display and worn individually; Jed Green’s Three-Stem Brooch Box is an exquisite jewellery container and a way to exhibit her delicate jewellery pieces while they’re not being worn
J
PHOTOGRAPHS: TAS KYPRIANOU
ed Green’s work can provoke “quite a strong reaction” when people see it for the fi rst time. “They don’t expect it to come apart the way it does and then go back together again,” says the London-based jewellery designer. She’s speaking about her Wear/Display collection, fi rst launched in 2022. At fi rst glance, pieces appear to be decorative boxes and vases, but they feature hidden, removable elements to wear. The lid of one box doubles as a brooch, while the box itself transforms into a bangle. The idea is “not putting your jewellery away in a drawer when you fi nish wearing it, and having it on display”, says Green, whose work combines materials such as glass, wood, silver, freshwater pearls and gold leaf. A design “sits between jewellery, object and art”, she adds.
Green isn’t alone in making pieces that can be enjoyed on and off the body. Other exhibitors at this month’s Goldsmiths’ Fair in London, an annual selling event featuring work by UK-based contemporary jewellers and silversmiths, explore this idea in different ways (jedgreen.co.uk). Romilly Saumarez Smith displays her Land, Sea and Night Sky lapel pins on a stand, while her new brooch, That Golden Stain of Time, can be hung on a wall when not being worn. Many of her pieces incorporate metal-detected fi nds. This brooch is a medieval bronze piece that would have decorated horse tackle, which she has transformed into jewellery with the addition of two black-diamond crystals and three hanging diamond slices (romillysaumarezsmith.com). Displaying jewellery is an idea Saumarez Smith incorporates in her own east London home: a rope-chain necklace by Lucie Gledhill, another fair participant, hangs on one wall. Ute Decker, a jewellery artist based in Bloomsbury, creates wearable sculptures in gold, silver and copper. She initially crafts a form in garden wire, before deciding how it should adorn the body, and then makes brass maquettes to explore “the right balance on the body and how it feels on, to make sure it’s a perfectly comfortable piece”. She displays many of the fi nished designs as sculptures; her arm pieces can be bought with a bespoke stand made from 7,500-year-old bog oak (utedecker.com). utedecker.com). “They’re conversation pieces when worn, conversation pieces when you have them in your home and they’re displayed,” says Decker. “Somebody asks something about the sculpture and you take it off and put it on the body. That kind of engagement is a much more active engagement with the art you surround yourself with.” L Goldsmiths’ Fair will be held at Goldsmiths’ Hall on 22-27 September and 29 September-4 October 2026. goldsmithsfair.co.uk
The London Magazine 29
XXXXX
36 The London Magazine
ARCHITECTURE
The test of time OVER THE PAST 20 YEARS, CLASSICAL ARCHITECT GEORGE SAUMAREZ SMITH HAS CREATED SOME OF THE FINEST NEW HOUSES IN THE COUNTRY. HE TALKS TO ANNE CUTHBERTSON ABOUT THE ENDURING APPEAL OF TRADITIONAL STYLE, CHANGES IN 21ST CENTURY LIVING, AND THE THREAT FACING CRAFTSMANSHIP
T
PHOTOGRAPHS: PETER DIXON; CAT GARCIA
here’s a certain lingering reticence over new country houses, says George Saumarez Smith. “It’s a particularly English reticence, one that’s uncomfortable about too much newness.” The classical architect makes this point in the introduction of a new book, The Romance of Classicism: Designing the English Country House for Today, which features many of the projects he has worked on over the past 20 years as a partner at ADAM Architecture. Speaking from the study of his early Victorian terrace house in Winchester, the muted deep-blue walls hung with
PASTORAL TRIBUTE Opposite: This modern Hampshire country estate is an example of how ADAM Architecture marries bucolic landscapes, traditional craftsmanship and heritage features with contemporary design solutions in its newly built rural property commissions Above: Classical architect George Saumarez Smith reflects on two decades of his ADAM Architecture projects in his new book, The Romance of Classicism
paintings, he’s clearly a fan of ‘lived in’ English country house style. Yet this is a look that takes time, especially in a newly built house. “When standing back to admire a newly built house, something doesn’t look quite right. If we had to put our finger on it, is it just that everything looks too new? People will often suggest certain measures to try and make things look more weathered in, painting on manure or yoghurt – yes, yoghurt! – to accelerate the weathering process or to use a faded palette of paint colours or whatever it might be. And my advice is always the same, we must just have patience.” Inspired by a lifelong study of historic buildings and classical techniques, Saumarez Smith’s aim is to design buildings that have lasting value. “People tend to come to me because they know I design traditional buildings,” he says. Once engaged, he’s led by two things: the site – the landscape and local materials, “the spirits of the place” as he describes it; and the owner. “I love the idea that buildings are a kind of manifestation of their owners, that when you design something for somebody, it embodies something about them,” he says. Modern living has changed the country house. Home gyms, studies for both husband and wife, quiet places for Zoom calls and cinema rooms are often requested. “And I rarely do a conventional dining room,” says Saumarez Smith. “They’re rooms that people rarely use. I think what’s nicer is to have a more multi-purpose room at the heart of the house. Like an entrance hall with a fireplace. If you’re going to have dinner, you just set up a table in it and use that.” And although some clients will want his advice on everything down to the tablecloths, Saumarez Smith prefers to focus on the permanent fixtures. “I like designing the architectural fittings, things like fireplaces, courses, panelling, floor patterns, doors, all of that,” he says. Interior decoration, on the other hand, changes with the needs of the owners, and is measured in years, not decades. “The nicest houses I know of are ones in which the owners have been very involved and they have a very personal stamp on them.” Specialist craftsmanship plays a vital role in
The London Magazine 37
THE LONDON LIST
THE LONDON LIST Your little black book of essential London services, specially curated each month by the editors of The London Magazine and including recommendations from some of prime London’s top property agents ILLUSTRATIONS: ANNA LOUISE OLIVER AT THE ARTWORKS
INCLUDING… HOME • LIFESTYLE • SCHOOLS • FAMILY ARCHITECTS HOME STAGING INTERIOR DESIGN IRONMONGERS KITCHENS PLUMBERS REMOVAL SERVICES ROOFERS SURVEYORS ART AUCTION HOUSES CAR SERVICES DOG GROOMING DRY CLEANERS & ALTERATIONS HEALTH SOLICITORS VETS NURSERY PRE-PREP PREP SENIOR BOARDING NANNIES CLUBS GROUPS
The London Magazine 69