A curated treasure trove of this season’s best fashion, culture, travel, beauty, food and drink
30 FASHION
Preppy with a dash of cool for men and sheer served with attitude for women are on trend
44 JEWELLERY
Embracing the ancient talisman tradition with modern interpretations, from snakes to bees
89 SPHERE LIFE
Inspirational ideas and newness from the worlds of wellness, interiors, nature and gifting
FEATURES
34 FLIGHTS OF FANCY
Cole & Son, the celebrated British wallpaper company, on their stellar craftsmanship, passion and innovation
38 HEAVEN SCENT
Why fragrance is still coming up smelling of roses in the luxury consumer market
50 IN FULL SWING
Art Deco design is all the rage once again in London’s most opulent homes
56 BRAVE NEW WORLD
Why heritage car brands could be in for a bumpy ride if they switch consumer lanes
60 STATE OF THE ART
Curators from six under-the-radar UK
galleries share their passion for works from Henry Moore to Stanley Spencer
66 PAWS FOR THOUGHT
Now dogs get the rst-class travel treatment
72 DANCING TO HER OWN BEAT
In an exclusive SPHERE interview, Darcey Bussell revisits her glittering ballerina career
78 ROCK STARS
The inty and fabulous European wines born from volcanic disaster
84 SILENCE IS GOLDEN
How pioneering luxury superyacht builders are making soundless sailing their top priority
98 DIGGING IN
Chef and founder of HOLM restaurant Nicholas Balfe on the joys of foraging the land
COVER ILLUSTRATION NATHALIE LEES
EDITOR’S LETTER
Welcome to our spring edition of SPHERE, alongside our partners Cole & Son and FT Business of Luxury Summit 2025 with our glorious bespoke cover by Nathalie Lees. The renewed energy of the season is reflected in our pages, as Fiona McCarthy takes flight with Cole & Son’s Creative and Managing Director Marie Karlsson to discuss their whimsical new collection; we are transported to the high seas with Josh Sims, who reports on the world of silent superyachts; and Jonathan Bell revs up interest for car brands who have made successful about-turns. Ben McCormack leads us into the refined world of luxury five star, for four legged friends. Meanwhile, Avril Groom casts her eye over some of the most exquisite talismanic jewellery this season, Mark Monahan takes a twirl with Darcey Bussell in an exclusive interview and Nina Caplan toasts the new season with the tastiest volcanic wines. Aesthetes will also enjoy an insightful tour of under-the-radar galleries by Charlotte Metcalf and a peek into the most opulent Art Deco properties on the market.
As ever, we unearth the latest leaders in style, culture, food, drink, travel and wellness. For weekly access to the hottest news and luxury insights, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter at spherelife.com and please let us know at sphere@iln.co.uk if you would like to receive the magazine in the future.
SPHERE
Editor
Jemima Sissons
Art Directors
Dominic Murray-Bell
Jo Murray-Bell
Sub-Editor
Rachel Roberts
Production Consultant
David Gyseman
Colour Reproduction
Lorna Wilson
Group Advertising Director
Jane Washbourn tel: +44 (0)7920 821 577 email: jane.washbourn@iln.co.uk
Chief Executive
(and Online Editor spherelife.com)
Lisa Barnard email: lisa.barnard@iln.co.uk
Contributor
Lucia Ferigutti
SPHERE PARTNERS COLE & SON cole-and-son.com
FT BUSINESS OF LUXURY SUMMIT 2025 luxuryglobal.live.ft.com
website: spherelife.com
instagram: @sphere_life
email: sphere@iln.co.uk
CONTRIBUTORS
NATHALIE LEES
The work of London-based freelance illustrator Nathalie Lees has been published in The Economist, TIME magazine, Le Monde, Die Zeit and The Washington Post, among others. She aims to distil complex themes and communicate ideas through the use of simple forms and bold colours.
BEN MCCORMACK
London-based Ben McCormack has been the restaurant expert for Telegraph Luxury since 2013. His work was shortlisted in the Restaurant Writer category at the 2020 Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards. He is also a regular contributor to The Standard, Food and Travel and Decanter
JOSH SIMS
Writer Josh Sims contributes on a range of topics to titles such as Esquire, The Times and South China Morning Post. He lectures in journalism and is the author of several books on matters of style and fashion, including Icons of Men’s Style and Retro Watches: The Modern Collector’s Guide.
ZOE DARE HALL
Zoe Dare Hall, a property writer for publications including the Financial Times, The Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph, has been SPHERE’s property expert since our first issue 13 years ago. She lives in London but wants to live in practically every place she visits — Dorset and the Algarve are her current favourites.
Fiona McCarthy covers design, interiors, art, fashion, beauty, and food and travel for publications such as The Times, The Daily Telegraph, Elle Decoration, House & Garden Living Etc Homes & Gardens Vogue Living (Australia) and WISH magazine. She has also written and co-written a number of books.
A writer specialising in architecture and transport design, Jonathan Bell edits Aston Martin magazine for ILN and is transport and technology editor at Wallpaper*. His books include Concept Car Design and The New Modern House and he also contributes to international lifestyle and design magazines.
SPHERE magazine is published by Illustrated London News Limited, Soho Works, 4th Floor, The Tea Building, 56 Shoreditch High Street, London E1 6JJ Registered in the United Kingdom No. 15725542 Website: iln.co.uk
FIONA MCCARTHY
Our partner Cole & Son is launching the Classics Collection Vol.1 in the spring, featuring designs drawn from its iconic wallpaper archive, as part of its 150th anniversary year celebrations. The dress on our cover by Nathalie Lees is inspired by the Acanthus Collection, shown above in Stately Home Red.
Jemima Sissons
JONATHAN BELL
NUCLEUS
FOOD | TRAVEL | CULTURE | STYLE | BEAUTY
SHINE BRIGHT
Referencing Gabrielle Chanel’s beloved quilting design, which she discovered on equine blankets and the jackets of stable lads, Coco Crush is the Maison’s jewellery collection featuring this graphic motif. A versatile range that spans o ce days, nights out and celebrations, new additions include rubies set into the signature beige gold. Alongside this are pieces with a pavé setting, enlivening the quilting pattern with diamonds. The starting price for Coco Crush is £1,210 for the single earring. chanel.com
SNUGGLE UP
Soften up rooms and stay cosy on cooler spring nights with Johnstons of Elgin’s baby-soft new collection of throws, crafted from natural fibres including cashmere, wool and silk. Drape beds in the intricate Trellis weave throw in merino wool or the Brushed Bouclé throw in a dream-inducing cashmere and silk mix, or this practical reversible blanketstitched throw that can jazz up furniture in an instant. Holder of a Royal Warrant of Appointment to His Majesty King Charles III, the company finishes products in its Scottish mills. johnstonsofelgin.com
DISH
OF THE DAY
Set amid the rolling Lancashire landscape, Moor Hall Restaurant with rooms has won three Michelin stars, making it the only new restaurant to achieve the accolade this year. Drawing from the local terrain, Chef Patron Mark Birchall turns out beautiful creations, from turnip and crab with anise hyssop and sunflower seeds to Cornish turbot with elderflower. They have now opened seven new garden rooms nestled in woodland. The tasting menu starts from £125. moorhall.com
TABLE TALK
Known for her cool interior products, including her signature brass lampshades and rattan pieces for the bedroom, kitchen or bathroom, Matilda Goad has launched a new Wave Cutlery Set, with a gently curving design and a stonewash finish. each set consists of four table settings comprising a knife, fork, dessert spoon and teaspoon, beautifully housed in a rattan cutlery holder. £120, matildagoad.com
NUCLEUS
ONE TO WATCH
Stay up to date with Richard Mille’s stylish new RM 16-02 Automatic Extra at. Taking ve years to develop, the supremely modern, brutalist style creates a standout timepiece, centring around its rectangular shape but now boasting the latest in-house movements from the brand. The Calibre CRMA9 is available in two variations: Titanium and a newly released colour, Terracotta Quartz TPT®. With a 50hour power reserve, the baseplates and bridges are made from grade ve titanium with a platinum rotor and a case that is water-resistant up to 30m. Made in a unisex style, form an orderly queue for this stand-out piece. POA. richardmille.com
RAISE A GLASS
Fusing the traditions of French wine-making and Australian craft, the anticipated Grange La Chapelle 2021 has launched. Created through a long-standing friendship between Caroline Frey, Chief Winemaker and Vigneron, La Chapelle and Peter Gago, Chief Winemaker Penfolds Grange, the wine combines 50 per cent La Chapelle France, from the steep, sun drenched slopes of the Hill of Hermitage, and 50 per cent Grange made from a collection of select South Australian vineyards: Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Clare Valley. Those who want to sample this rarefied drop should be prepared to dig deep, at £1,800 a bottle. goedhuiswaddesdon.com
Please contact or visit our Mayfair accessories boutique for further information 45-46 South Audley Street, Mayfair, W1K 2PY
NUCLEUS
LONDON CALLING
Soak up the rays on The Beaumont Mayfair’s bosky terrace, a secret spot in the heart of the upscale district. Overlooking Sir Stanley Peach’s Brown Hart Gardens, the terrace features rattan armchairs and a revamped menu by new Executive Chef Brendan Fyldes. Adjoining the Magritte bar, guests can also enjoy Cuban cigars or early evening cocktails. thebeaumont.com
A FAMILY AFFAIR
Created by Brunello Cucinelli’s sisters, co-creative directors Camilla and Carolina, the BC Duo bags marry the brand’s initials with subtle stitching and smart geometric panels. Now available in four sizes, including this mini version, it comes in materials such as soft calfskin or suede, and in colourways of peach or sage. £1,700, brunellocucinelli.com
ICING ON THE CAKE
Making sweet treats an art form, Naya is a new patisserie on North Audley Street, led by British designers India Hicks and Anna Goulandris. Founded by brothers Can and Cengizhan Ayan from the family behind the famed Turkish chocolatier, Pelit, Naya’s menu features signature chocolate éclairs alongside savoury options, including lobster rolls. nayaandco.com
MONACO MINI-GUIDE
There is so much more to Monte-Carlo than superyachts and the Grand Prix. Throughout the year, the Principality o ers a packed agenda of vibrant cultural events, ranging from the Monte-Carlo Jazz Festival in November to concerts by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, one of the oldest orchestras in Europe
SWEET DREAMS
One of the best addresses to stay is the Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo in Square Beaumarchais, overlooking Port Hercule and just a stone’s throw from the Salle Garnier. Start the day with the epic brunch at Yannick Alléno’s Pavyllon Monte-Carlo, stroll through the atmospheric streets of Vieux Monaco and nally dip into the splendid Thermes Marins spa. montecarlosbm.com
NOTE PERFECT
Where else in the world would an opera house exist under the same roof as a casino? The opulent Salle Garnier is home to both the Opéra de Monte-Carlo and the famous Monte-Carlo Casino. With soprano Cecilia Bartoli as its Director, the opera company has a rich 2025 season, from Monteverdi to Wagner. Jazz lovers should note the Monte-Carlo Jazz Festival, where the world’s top jazz musicians gather each November. opera.mc
A PLACE IN THE SUN
Monte-Carlo Beach Hotel & Resort reveals a smart new look, reopening on 14 April in sparkling form for the summer season. Under the creative eye of interior designer Dorothée Delaye, the entire pool area has been given a
makeover and Le Deck brasserie bears a sleek new look. Perched right on the coastline, this makes a chic setting to while away the hours in Monte-Carlo. montecarlosbm.com
TAKE A TWIRL
Resident company Les Ballets de MonteCarlo takes contemporary dance to new heights with a magical line-up for 2025. Balanchine - Ratmansky - Goecke is just one highlight at Grimaldi Forum (23–27 April), while choreographer Lukáš Timulak promises an edgy interpretation at Salle Garnier (17–20 July). balletsdemontecarlo.com
Clockwise from above:
The Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo in all of its splendour; the gilded glory of the Opéra, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo will perform at the Grimaldi Forum this year
NUCLEUS
MAKING STRIDES
Put a spring in your step this season with the smart new Bibury boot in desert suede by Crockett & Jones. An adaptation of one of their most enduring styles, the Chukka, the boot features a new wedge rubber boat-style sole with horizontal tread pattern. The one-piece allround pattern creates a timeless look that can be dressed up or down, for town or country. It also comes in other colours, including Earth Green and Snuff. £525, crockettandjones.com
A REAL GEM
We’ve taken a shine to Dior’s Milly Dentelle ring in yellow gold, adorned with diamonds, tsavorite garnets, emeralds, and pink and purple sapphires by Dior Joaillerie. Inspired by Milly-la-Foret outside Paris, which is famed for its gardens loved by Christian Dior, the collection focuses on delicate lace work. POA. dior.com
AT YOUR SERVICE
Bringing the five-star experience into your home, The Dorchester has launched a new service o ering everything from catering to floral delivery. For blow-thebudget celebrations, Curated by The Dorchester will organise everything from private dinner parties at home, to celebratory afternoon teas and super luxe baby showers. For swizzy floral displays, the service enlists the help of Philip Hammond for beautiful bespoke bouquets. All POA, dorchestercollection.com
NUCLEUS
SAFE AS HOUSES
What is home – a place, a feeling, an idea? This expansive theme is explored in Do Ho Suh’s new exhibition at the Tate Modern, running from 1 May to 19 October. The Korean-born, London-based artist brings together immersive works examining memories and space, through installations, videos and paper works and life-size replicas of past abodes. tate.org.uk
BEDTIME STORY
Designed for long languorous mornings, the Good Morning Collection from Chelsea Peers makes slumber playful, with hand-illustrated prints (we especially love the leopard and lobster designs). Available in short, long, or in some designs, maternity styles, there is something for every season and mood. The eco-conscious range is crafted from breathable organic cotton or recycled fibres and o ers sizing for all shapes. With its charming cake and Good Morning motifs, the Margate Collection will bring a smile even to the earliest risers. With matching kids’ sets too, they start from £30. chelseapeers.com
CROWN JEWELS
Magpies should make a beeline for the V&A, to its long-awaited exhibition, Cartier. The largest showcase in the UK dedicated to the Maison in 30 years, it features over 350 objects including previously unseen drawings from the V&A and Cartier archives, together with works lent by His Majesty The King from the Royal Collection. Highlights will include the Williamson Diamond brooch commissioned by Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 featuring the rare 23.6 carat pink Williamson diamond. April 12–16 November, vam.ac.uk
LET THERE BE LIGHT
The bobbin design has been one of the most loved recent additions to the interiors sphere. Now Addison Ross, known for its enduring home accessories and spot-on craftsmanship as well as excellent gifting opportunities, has launched its rst ever LED lamp collection. With 10 di erent colourways to choose from, including sage, pink and chambray, there is a style to suit every corner in every home. Accessorise with their jaunty bobbin trays and picture frames. £125 for bobbin lamp, addisonross.com
IN THE BAG
Prada’s new Re-Nylon collection launches this spring fronted by Benedict Cumberbatch and Sadie Sink. Collaborating with National Geographic CreativWorks on four documentaries, the collection is also aligned closely with Sea Beyond, a collaboration between Prada Group and UNESCO, to raise awareness about the ocean and sustainability. prada.com
NUCLEUS FOOD AND DRINK
LA DOLCE VITA
Bringing nostalgic Italian fare to the heart of Mayfair, Nipotina, which means ‘granddaughter’ in Italian, is a partnership between restauranteur Samyukta Nair and Turin-born chef Somaia Hammad. With wood-fired meats and fish, and handmade pasta, start with a salad of rocket, fennel, orange, fava, aged pecorino and Calabrian chillies or Mazzancolle — wild Scottish langoustines roasted with garlic and parsley — followed by creamy layers of homemade tiramisu. nipotinaristorante.com
EASTERN PROMISE
Known for making Chinese dining that bit more outré, with dramatic performances served alongside perfectly crisped Peking duck, Park Chinois has now opened its doors for speedy lunches. Dine out on an excellent value menu costing £29, which includes two starters and a main. Starters could be crystal dumplings or salt and pepper squid, followed by Szechuan chicken. parkchinois.com
BANGKOK BITES
One of this year’s most significant culinary trends has been the rise of Thai food in the capital. Following the opening of upscale AngloThai (now the winner of a Michelin star), David Thompson’s Long Chim has recently set up shop in the heart of Soho. There are no tasting menus here; it’s more about accessible convivial plates that are reminiscent of those to be found in Bangkok’s bustling back alleys, such as beef skewers with tamarind and pepper, or an aromatic curry of monkfish with cucumber relish. longchim.london
SEOUL MATES
Joining an already thriving culinary scene around Chandos Road in Bristol, Dongnae is serving up re ned Korean dishes with a focus on fermentation and creating staples from scratch, such as gochujang and rice beer. Diners can enjoy traditional BBQ dishes at the table alongside kimchi, fresh wasabi and rice. Bay windows ood the room with light and food is served on handmade ceramics. dongnae.co.uk
FLYING HIGH
Jackson Boxer has transformed his Orasay restaurant into a more casual o ering, with his signature burgers already inciting frenzied Insta posts. Feast on comforting deep fried taleggio and Wiltshire tru le lasagne or whipped fava with braised chicory and Szechuan crumb. Tuck into sharing plates like wood-roasted chicken with café de Paris butter, saving room for the creamy or de latte soft serve. dove.london
RAISE THE BAR
The transformation of London’s eastern quarters charges ahead at full throttle. Where the Shoreditch Town Hall once housed trance raves and now hosts the two Michelin-starred Clove Club by Isaac McHale, a few miles away on Kingsland Road, the former edgy lane now welcomes Bar Valette, McHale’s second restaurant. Framed around southern French and Spanish cuisine, dishes include braised venison meatballs and John Dory in estoficado sauce with gâteau Basque to finish — with an elegant wine and sherry list to accompany. barvalette.com
NUCLEUS TRAVEL
PARADISE FOUND
Cementing the Athens Riviera’s position as one of the smartest new destinations in Greece, 91 Athens Riviera by home-grown brand Domes o ers luxury cabana-style living overlooking garden or lagoon views, a superlative Soma spa with Elemis and Augustinus Bader treatments and eight tennis courts, all within strolling distance of the action. With Athens’ golf courses, ancient sites and sorties to islands such as Spetses within easy reach, this pro ers stylish resort style living in (almost) the heart of the city. £371, domesresorts.com
AN OPEN BOOK
One of the most stylish retreats to suit every voyager, from golfers to spa-goers, families to nature seekers, Beaverbrook continues to impress. Its Village suites are named after literary and artistic titans and feature the most adorable bespoke bunk beds, bringing new levels of excitement to bedtime (for offspring and parents alike). New spa offerings include Full Moon Radiance, based around the lunar cycle and traditional Chinese massage. Rooms from £600, beaverbrook.co.uk
The Grand Egyptian Museum is finally
Imagine the luxury of exclusive access to Egypt’s greatest wonders – access that others can only dream of. Take a VIP tour of the Grand Egyptian Museum, the largest archaeological museum in the world, with one of its directors. Stand between the paws of the Great Sphinx instead of seeing it from a distant viewing platform. Enjoy private, crowd-free visits to the Pyramids of Giza, temples in Luxor and King Tut’s Tomb outside regular hours. Join the world’s most eminent archaeologists, including the legendary Dr. Zahi Hawass, to unlock ancient secrets and learn firsthand about the latest groundbreaking discoveries. Experience all of this in true royal style –stay in historic hotels, sail on a luxury Nile cruiser and savor the finest cuisine.
Archaeological Paths is really the best company to join for a tour of my country. It’s a journey you will never forget.
Dr. Jehan Sadat
Late First Lady of Egypt
START YOUR EXTRAORDINARY TOUR OF EGYPT
NUCLEUS TRAVEL
NATURE CALLS
Fusing sustainable slumber with top-notch (and sky-high) Mexican cuisine, the Treehouse hotel in Marylebone is now offering new wellness packages this spring. Featuring cruelty-free MAY botanicals by Georgia May Jagger, treatments include kelp masks and Golden Hour Oil facials. Rooms start from £450, treehousehotels.com
GRAPE EXPECTATIONS
Burgundy is long known for its crumbling châteaux and characterful gîtes, but not for its slick hotels. This is changing, with the arrival of COMO Le Montrachet and a host of new openings in the next few years. Set in the town square, the COMO will offer experiences like vintage car tours through some of the world’s most stunning vineyards. Rooms from £330, comohotels.com
NUCLEUS BEAUTY
ALL OF A FLUTTER
A quintessential symbol of spring, butter ies are the inspiration behind Chantecaille’s new makeup collection. The capsule range consists of two limited edition trios of shimmery and pearly eyeshadows and four sheer balms in perfect tones of the season, ranging from Monarch (raspberry) to Ringlet (plummy pink). Butter ies also support the regeneration of more than 85 per cent of owering plants, so Chantecaille is donating to two non-pro ts that support the winged insect’s conservation worldwide. Les Papillons collection, from £37, chantecaille.co.uk
FIGURE IT OUT
Time for a new workout?
Hailing from LA, Lagree Fitness classes combine strength training and Pilates, using Mega Pro reformer machines invented by Sebastien Lagree. The 50-minute classes promise to boost strength, flexibility and cardiovascular conditioning, helping you achieve a sculpted body quicker. Now available in London at FORM’s Queensway studio. £35, formstudios.co.uk
SECRET WEAPON
Whatever your skincare routine, daily massage is the best way to stimulate lymphatic drainage and help de-pu and lift your face. The new N°1 de Chanel massage accessory is so chic, you will never skip this step again. £55, chanel.com
SAVE FACE
Votary’s new Super Renewal Serum is formulated with Sylibin, a natural alternative to retinol extracted from milk thistle seed that is suitable for sensitive skin. Like retinol, it stimulates collagen production to firm the skin, smooth fine lines and combat pigmentation, without the initial irritation that normally occurs with its traditional counterpart. £85, votary.co.uk
FASHION
FASHION
FLIGHTS of FANCY
Cole & Son elevates wallpaper to a bona fide work of art, from a coterie of flamboyant birds to more traditional designs, all with the signature quirkiness devoted customers have come to adore
WORDS FIONA MCCARTHY
When a Royal crested letter from Buckingham Palace arrived on Cole & Son Creative and Managing Director Marie Karlsson’s desk last December, the vivacious Londonbased Swede knew it represented a pivotal moment in the past, present and future of the revered British wallpaper company, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. Granted a Royal Warrant by HM King Charles III in his new reign as monarch (having held a Royal Warrant for nearly 70 years under Queen Elizabeth II), “I was so happy and I could finally sleep,” she laughs. “We were so proud because it was extraordinary recognition for our commitment to the highest standards of craftsmanship, innovation, sustainability and a passion for preserving the arts.”
These values certainly imbue the latest Cole & Son collection, launched during Paris Design Week in January. In ‘Baobab Tree’, a clamouring chorus of crowned cranes, kingfishers, flamingos, wading jacanas, African hoopoes, striking storks, parakeets, parrots and lovebirds can be seen adorning the boughs of one of South Africa’s most ancient and iconic trees, dancing and chattering amongst its dangling fruit, seedpods and powderpuff flowers. The original design took over 500 hours of hand painting by Cole & Son’s artist team, based at the brand’s HQ in Chelsea’s Jubilee Place, and the Ardmore Team in South Africa before being meticulously produced on a shimmering pearlescent background by one of the UK’s oldest printers. Hung as luminescent wallpaper panels adorning every wall of a chic Parisian
apartment overlooking the Jardin du Palais Royal in the heart of the French capital, the bedroom and bathroom spaces instantly enveloped visitors, transporting them to a fantastical jewel-hued moment in the African savannah. Presenting the new collection in this way, rather than the usual showroom in Saint Germain, was a new approach. “It was really important that for the first time we created a space where our clients could actually see what to expect when they use our wallpapers,” Karlsson says.
With the apartment’s 18th-century proportions flooded with abundant natural light, even on the greyest winter day, it was an immersive magical experience to stand in the space surrounded by such ebullient colour and pattern. Alongside ‘Baobab Tree’, the kitchen was given a lift with the painterly swirls of ‘Kawakubo’ from last autumn’s Shinrin YOKU collection, a nod to fashion designer and Comme des Garçons founder Rei Kawakubo. Meanwhile, the dining space was turned into a haute fashion moment with the brand’s forthcoming ‘Couture Carousel’, emblazoned with couture croquis sketches inspired by vintage Harrods magazine covers and designed in collaboration with the department store to honour its 175th birthday in 2024 (the collection is available directly from Cole & Son from July 2025).
‘Baobab Tree’ is a tantalising taste of Cole & Son’s third collaboration with Ardmore, the South African studio of Zulu artists founded by Fée Halsted on her farm located at the foothills of the Drakensberg Mountains in the wilder, more remote eastern region of KwaZulu-Natal. Both Karlsson and Halsted wanted to create a
Previous page: The original design of ‘Baobab Tree’ took the Cole & Son and Ardmore artist team over 500 hours to paint by hand. Clockwise: ‘Couture Carousel’ depicts couture croquis sketches inspired by vintage Harrods magazine covers; The Shinrin YOKU Collection is inspired by the practice of forest bathing and connecting with nature. Shown here, Japanese Chinoiserie — Grasscloth; Creative and Managing Director Marie Karlsson
panoramic ‘tree of life’ with the Baobab tree at its centre (a tree most fundamental to the arid savannah ecosystem and seen as a symbol of positivity in a landscape where little else thrives). “We then knew we could fill it with all the beautiful birds Fée and her artists have been painting on their ceramics for so many years,” Karlsson explains.
Cole & Son’s wallpaper collaborations with Ardmore have long been inspired by the studio’s sought-after ceramics, where multiple artists work together on each handmade piece, from teapots and trinket boxes to bottle stoppers and sculptures. These items are considered highly collectible by the likes of Christie’s and Sotheby’s, with some fetching tens of thousands of pounds at auction.
Actress Helen Mirren and singer Eric Clapton are among Ardmore’s fans. The studio is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.
Popular patterns such as the rhythmic ‘Leopard Walk’ debuted in Ardmore’s first collection with Cole & Son. Originally painted by Punch Shabalala (one of Ardmore’s oldest and most esteemed artists), it led to a riot of designs in the 2021 ‘Jabula’ collection, including the pink-eared ‘Bush Baby’ nestled in a canopy of leaves, the grand procession of animals at watering time in ‘Letaba March’, and the vibrant tableau of ‘Afrika Kingdom’ (where eagle owls, rhinos, crocodiles and zebras frolic amongst lofty palm trees and giant proteas).
‘Baobab Tree’, the first in a collection of “seven or eight new designs that will launch in the summer,” says Karlsson, is a manifestation of what she describes as ‘Design Meets Art’. “What we do is living art,” explains the tour de force Creative Director, who has led the brand for nearly a decade. “I work with a team of artists who simply love to paint, so I give them lots of creative freedom, which in turn fires my own passion and collaborating with the likes of Ardmore brings an added dimension to Cole & Son’s dynamic vision.”
“Translating the savannah’s raw excitement and the beauty of the African bushveld depicted in Ardmore’s ceramics is what becomes ‘quirk’ in our designs,” she adds. “Our customers buy into it because it’s fun and unexpected. We all need a little bit of that right now.”
Equally, customers turn to Cole & Son for its heritage, having provided wallpaper for some of the country’s greatest stately homes and historical landmarks, such as the Houses of Parliament. In tribute to its 150th anniversary, Cole & Son will launch Classics Collection Vol. I. in the spring. A series of designs drawn from the brand’s iconic archive. “We went back to seek out patterns that could be considered icons of tomorrow for us,” says Karlsson. With simple, graphic “analogue” patterns such as Acanthus, Strawberry and Willow Branch, it is a beautiful collection that is easy to buy into.
Traditionally printed, using cylinder technology — “emulating the rollers in our
“As trendsetters in the interior design industry, I know we can bring that feeling of hand, heart and soul to a room”
archive, produced in the same way it would have originally been done” — it has been lent a contemporary twist with “a firework of vibrant colours to make it relevant for today,” Karlsson furthers, where shades traverse cobalt and fuchsia to daffodil yellow, cornflower blue and forest green. In the age of AI, Karlsson stresses that the brand’s process of working with colour is never done electronically. “You need to see the colours in front of you, in the daylight, to really know what you are working with because it can turn out so wrong if you only look at them on a screen,” she says. “I can’t highlight enough how important it is that our work remains authentic and unique.”
Whether it is working with an expert printer or a design collaborator like Halsted, “for me, as a creative as well as leading a creative team, I get more and more inspiration through human interactions,” says Karlsson. “As trendsetters in the interior design industry, I know that we can bring that feeling of the hand, heart and soul to a room. That same feeling can then be extended by the interior designers who work with our wallpapers and fabrics — so that we can really inspire the person who will live in that space.” cole-and-son.com
HEAVEN scent
A spritz of perfume is an a ordable treat for many, which is one reason why the fragrance industry is bucking the current luxury business trend of decreasing sales. Simon Brooke follows his nose to nd out more
The luxury business, on the whole, might be struggling with falling sales and declining pro ts for many of the big brands, but one sub-sector is bucking the overall trend with impressive growth and expanding markets. According to market analytics specialist The Niche Research, the global luxury fragrance market is expected to reach US$30.5 billion by 2034, with a very respectable growth rate of 6.8 per cent CAGR until then. Meanwhile, fragrance is also the fastest-growing category in the prestige
beauty sector, with sales up 13 per cent in the rst quarter of 2024, states market research rm Circana.
Interparfums produces and distributes more than 20 upmarket fragrances, and it experienced record sales of €396 million in the rst half of 2023, an increase of 24 per cent compared to the same period in 2022. Its more luxurious lines enjoyed particularly strong growth with Jimmy Choo, Montblanc and Coach sales up by 44, 24 and 27 per cent respectively. Meanwhile, Spanish group Puig, with perfumes including Carolina Herrera
and Nina Ricci, purchased a majority stake in cool, contemporary Swedish fragrance house BYREDO for, it is reported, nearly €1 billion in 2022.
Typical of the exciting new high-end fragrance houses that have emerged over the last few years is Maison Francis Kurkdjian. Its latest collections, Grand Soir and Petit Matin, take their inspiration from Founder Kurkdjian’s home city of Paris.
Ironically, the economic downturn experienced by many aspirational luxury customers that has, in turn, dented so much
From left: Mojave Ghost has notes of musky ambrette and powdery violet; Petit Matin by Maison Francis Kurkdjian is a unisex fragrance
of the luxury sector, has bene tted fragrances, argues Dionne O cer, a research analyst at global market intelligence agency MINTEL.
“It’s the lipstick e ect — a theory that suggests consumers are more willing to spend on luxury goods that they view as small indulgences to lift their mood,” she says. “Fragrance is a highly gifted category, which further enhances its resilience during economic instability. Consequently, fragrances are likely to bene t from steady value growth, even as the cost of living crisis endures.”
But this latest boom in upmarket perfumes di ers from previous periods of growth. One key factor is the role of young men this time around. A recent survey by investment bank Piper Sandler revealed that fragrance spending among teenage boys in the US had increased by 26 per cent between spring 2023 and autumn 2024. Inevitably, social media is playing an increasingly key role. Jatin Arora, aka “The Real Cologne Boy”, has approximately
Clockwise from left: Escentric Molecules
Molecule 1 + Black Tea; Escentric Molecules Discovery Set; Lichen is one of the perfumes created by Kingdom Scotland, the country’s first fragrance house; Founder Imogen RussonTaylor has translated her knowledge gained in the luxury whisky industry
two million followers on TikTok and regularly chalks up around 60 million “likes” for his posts. The 18-year-old promotes fragrances by brands such as Jean Paul Gaultier, which can retail at around £800 a bottle — adding up to a lot of pocket money and Saturday jobs.
Daniel Schütz, also known as “Jeremy Fragrance”, has around 13 million followers on TikTok and Instagram combined, and he enjoys cult celebrity status among young men. Joining him is Tristan Rodriguez, aka “That Fragrance Kid”, who reviews brands such as Tom Ford and Bulgari and has nearly half a million followers — not bad for a 16-year-old. Meanwhile, “looksmaxxing”, the essential art of looking your best when you’re a teenage boy, is now being complemented by “smellmaxxing”, which requires thorough regular showering, vigorous deodorising and the application of copious amounts of cologne.
Another new development is the emergence of a range of new niche luxury brands alongside the big names. The Fragrance Shop, for instance, saw a 27.3 per cent increase in customers purchasing niche scents last year. “We’re seeing sustained growth driven by a younger, more diverse audience who view fragrance as part of their personal identity,” says the company’s Chief Marketing O cer, Rachel Goalby. “Digital innovation, such as virtual try-ons and discovery services like [subscription service] scentaddict, have also made luxury fragrances more accessible, changing how people discover and invest in scents.”
Escentric Molecules is one of these newcomers. “Escentric Molecules was born from my fascination with how single aroma molecules evolve uniquely on the skin. I wanted to strip perfumery back to its essence,” explains Berlin-based founder Geza Schoen. “As a niche fragrance brand, our position allows us to focus on creativity, authenticity and innovation without the constraints often faced by larger corporate players. People today are looking for experiences that feel personal and meaningful, and fragrance is a powerful way to express those desires.”
Imogen Russon-Taylor, founder of Kingdom Scotland, the country’s very rst fragrance house, worked in the aromatic world of luxury whisky for nearly 20 years before translating her knowledge into scent. “Kingdom Scotland is all about telling stories about the majesty of the natural world,” she says. “I learnt so much in the whisky world, from the nest ingredients to telling stories in aroma and taste.”
Russon-Taylor also o ers bespoke “Scent Experiences” trips for wealthy consumers, such as international HNWIs visiting Scotland who want to experience more memorable experiences. “This o ering approaches perfume in a very similar way that whisky companies deliver nosings and tastings,” she
“It’s the lipstick effect — a theory that suggests consumers are more willing to spend on luxury goods that they view as small indulgences to lift their mood”
explains. Other noteworthy events have included entertaining guests for the 200th anniversary of The Macallan — Kingdom Scotland has collaborated with the whisky brand to produce a collection including two candles — and delivering Scent Experiences for guests staying at The Waldorf Astoria and The Balmoral and onboard The Royal Scotsman.
As luxury houses develop new fragrance products to extend their brands and drive sales in this di cult trading environment and niche brands emerge, traditional high-end perfume manufacturers are also upping their game — and welcoming the competition.
“Acqua di Parma views this development as a natural evolution,” says Paola Paganini, product development and innovation director at the Italian company. “We’re rooted in fragrance, but we have always embodied the art of living, creating products and experiences beyond scent to celebrate Italian sophistication and craftsman0ship. This positions us as a versatile luxury brand that continues to set
the bar for authentic and timeless elegance.”
Brands such as YSL, Chanel and Hermès are focussing on issues such as sustainability and more inclusive marketing campaigns along with the use of storytelling as they respond to evolving consumer values, according to The Fragrance Shop’s Rachel Goalby. “Genderneutral scents are gaining traction as consumers reject traditional notions of masculinity and femininity,” says Holly Hutchinson, perfume expert and founder of niche, luxury fragrance brand Memoize London. “Fragrance layering, combining multiple scents to create a personal blend, is increasingly popular, with brands o ering complementary products for customisation.” Technology is also playing a progressively important role, according to Hutchinson. “AI tools are enabling brands to recommend scents based on an individual’s preferences or even their mood. This is bringing hyperpersonalisation to the market.” Scent-Sation is YSL’s in-store experience that uses
neuroscience to provide personalised fragrance advice based on clients’ olfactory preferences and their emotions.
Working with the neurotechnology company Emotiv, YSL o ers customers the chance to don a headset to create an electroencephalogram (EEG), which reveals the scents that appeal to them. In a similar application of technology, Puig took 45 million brain readings from men aged 18 to 35 to help create its cologne Phantom by Paco Rabanne. This research saw the company add lavender and lemon to improve the fragrance.
Creating fragrances is a millennia-old practice that works by activating some of the most deep-seated, primeval parts of the human brain to change our moods and stimulate attraction. Everyone has experienced a Proustian moment triggered by a smell. This deep-seated connection with the human psyche is why the fragrance industry o ers luxury brands and niche perfumers such lasting — and lucrative — potential.
Clockwise from left:
Acqua Di Parma launches Il Profumo based in its original 1916 fragrance; Prada Paradox; YSL has introduced in-store science to provide personalised fragrance profiles for customers
NCreature comforts
Across the globe and through time, talismans have gained important cultural signi cance, and now those good luck symbols — from snakes to ravens — are nding a loftier expression in high jewellery collections
WORDS AVRIL GROOM
ot every culture views certain animals as Westerners do.
Europeans may recoil from rats, but for the Chinese, they are sociable, chatty and hard-working and one of the pillars of their 12-year calendar cycle. Similarly, snakes get a bad rap for their venomous, sometimes fatal, bites, yet in some cultures they symbolise health and eternal life, and China sees them as mysterious and self-contained but also wise, determined and caring.
For 2025, it’s the Year of the Snake and, as China is still a major luxury goods market, the jewellery industry now has gold snake fever, putting focus on the growth of talismanic jewellery at a time of global uncertainty. Wearing a precious good luck charm is as old as civilisation, long derided by sophisticates as an outdated superstition yet still one from which individuals take comfort. Talismans today function at several levels, from status-signalling to the deeply personal. For big luxury brands, they link to the
House’s heritage, reinventing symbols dear to the founder but now identi ers of the brand itself, more subtle than a logo but a clear signal of the “if you know, you know” variety. Many are animals — no surprise, considering how many similes compare animal and human traits. Bulgari wins twice over. The Serpenti has been its talisman since 1948 when the Greek-founded house referenced ancient Greek and Roman belief in the snake’s shedding skin as a symbol of eternal renewal with coiling Tubogas bracelets and collars. The collection then expanded in the 1960s to handcrafted, enamelled scales and coloured gemstones, made famous by Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra. This bestseller is reborn for 2025 as exquisite, Oriental-inspired high jewellery and the new, modern Serpenti Viper ne jewellery collection in slinky, articulated, abstract form trimmed with diamond pavé.
Chaumet’s bee, a jewellery favourite now that the insect’s environmental signi cance is known, goes back to Napoleon’s court jeweller, Marie-Étienne Nitot, Chaumet’s forerunner.
The 2011 Bee My Love motif with its gemstone body and diamond wings is still used on pendants, earrings and rings, but new pieces morph into the hexagonal honeycomb, used from single-line rings to large, diamondscattered earrings and a graduated diamond collar. Ti any has taken ight with birds since French designer Jean Schlumberger created its rst Bird on a Rock in 1965 — a tiny, gem-set, sculpted creature atop a much larger, unique stone in the brand’s tradition of expert gemmology, now with the new Owl on a Rock, each one-o and di erent species.
But the best-known house symbol is Cartier’s panther, marketed through jewellery, watches and even perfume bottles, interpreted as big cats from leopards to tigers and chosen in honour of the brand’s visionary 1930s design director Jeanne Toussaint, nicknamed La Panthère. Variants in the panther bestiary run from nely sculpted poses, from leaping to sleeping, surrounded by high jewellery gems, or worked in enamel, marquetry or engraving on the dial of a watch, to the
or
Clockwise from opposite: Nada Ghazal Door of Opportunity pendant, 18-carat yellow gold, white and blue diamonds; Chaumet Abeille pendant with hexagonal honeycomb motif, 18-carat gold, diamonds; Bulgari high jewellery abstract snake necklace, white gold, oval tanzanite, 21.63 carats , sapphires, white diamonds, 31.14 carats, black onyx
abstract suggestion of spots in diamonds and hardstone, or traced on simple gold in the newest version of the bestselling Trinity range, yet their potential still seems limitless.
Toussaint was a close con dante of Louis Cartier, and her talisman was very personal to the House, something even more the case for individual designers whose symbols must speak to the client without the bene t of global advertising campaigns. The panther’s glamorous whi of danger can extend to less lovable creatures — for Dutch jeweller Bibi van der Velden, the alligator “is a symbol of strength, agility and perseverance, a fearless prehistoric animal with a perpetual will to live” and is depicted in striking articulated versions as earrings and bracelets, carved in mammoth tusk, gold or ebony and set with bright gems.
A poignant example is Shaun Leane’s Signum, a range of engraved animals on shield-shaped, customised signet rings or pendants — clients choose from a selection of animals and shades of translucent enamel. Leane, who has since left the business, developed it after hand-feeding a family of urban foxes and becoming enthralled by the kindred spirit animals in the culture of his ancestors’ remote region of Southern Ireland.
Talismans today function at several levels, from status-signalling to the deeply personal
Not all are as expected. The fox signi es wisdom rather than cunning, the hare intuition and the bee devotion.
Also steeped in myth is designer Natasha Wightman of NVW, whose Yorkshire moorland home is visited by ravens, long-lived birds woven into culture from the Tower of London to Game of Thrones. Studying their ight and habits, Wightman sketches them in motion, and talented craftspeople carve them in jet or boxwood, set with gold and diamonds. Beautiful creatures can acquire darker overtones in jewellers’ hands. Stephen Webster, a favourite of the ‘rockocracy’, has his Fly By Night collection — a mythical moth with the webbed wings of a bat. “No one knows what it is because they’ve never seen one,” he jokes, “but it can look very di erent — in white mother-of-pearl or pink opal with white diamonds, it’s sweetness and light, but in black opal and black diamonds it’s a more Gothic matter.” A Crystal Haze overlayer (faceted rock crystal) magni es the e ect.
Some of the 20th century’s greatest designers were deeply superstitious. Coco Chanel had a whole almanac of symbols, only one an animal — a lion (from her Leo birth sign) which, alongside four-leaf clovers,
Clockwise from opposite: Cartier Nature Sauvage collection Panthère Crépuscule brooch, 18-carat rose gold, agate background, 67.91 carats, rubellite beads, jasper, onyx, emeralds, brown, orange and white diamonds; Shaun Leane Signum butterfly pendant, engraved gold and translucent enamel; NVW Gold Raven pendant, carved yellow 18-carat gold; Stephen Webster Fly By Night ring, 18-carat recycled white gold, black opal, black diamonds, rock crystal; Bibi van der Velden Alligator Twist ring, 18-carat yellow gold, carved mammoth tusk, tsavorites
Clockwise: Dior Rose des Vents transformable belt/ necklace, yellow gold, lapis lazuli, turquoise, carnelian, tiger eye, malachite, motherof-pearl, onyx, diamonds; De Beers Forces of Nature high jewellery collection
Dignity Tassel transformable necklace, 18-carat yellow gold, rough brown diamonds, pear-shaped white diamond, 3.33 carats, white diamonds; Chanel high jewellery Lion
Solaire drop earrings, 18-carat white gold, white diamonds; Tasaki Balance Palace collection bracelet, 18-carat white gold, Akoya pearls, white diamonds
wheatsheaves (signifying prosperity in the poor region where she grew up in an orphanage) and camellias, her favourite ower, were used in prints and as accessories. Her one high jewellery collection, in 1932, was based on heavenly bodies from stars to comets, and all these symbols inspire her designer successors today. Christian Dior was equally superstitious, despite a comfortable childhood in Normandy where a tiled compass rose in the family garden inspired a lifelong interest in travel and expanding his business abroad, alongside a lucky metal star that he found on the street near his workroom just before he acquired a backer for his couture house. Both remain integral to the brand. Wearing a traditional religious symbol can be controversial in today’s polarised times. Stephen Webster says some Jewish clients will now not wear a Star of David, and the only cross in his collection is an equal-armed, goth-rock-inspired one. More general cultural symbols, especially for luck and protection, are taking over. These include Anoona’s gold circles or softly tactile hard-stone discs with gemstone centres, which are all based on the moon, a symbol of the eternal feminine; L’Atelier Nawbar’s bold, long-eyelashed
diamond and lapis lazuli eye motif, an unserious take on the evil eye and Nada Ghazal’s carved gold door motifs that symbolise new opportunity and the architecture of her native Beirut — as Lebanese brands, both she and Nawbar understand a craving for luck and protection.
Even modern corporate symbols re ect such concerns. The gems for Chanel’s 1932 collection were loaned by De Beers, but in 2005 the diamond company invented its own symbol. The Talisman collection was based on natural, rough diamonds in earthy shades long regarded as inferior to faceted brilliants but now prized for their individuality and their echo of ancient times, when their toughness made them a king’s choice for protection in battle. Set in textured gold, the now bestsellers are mixed with large, faceted gems for high jewellery like the Forces of Nature collection. In 2011, the modern face of Japanese pearl design, Tasaki, launched Balance, a simple line of sizable pearls beneath a golden bar; Creative Director Thakoon Panichgul was inspired by the calming Newton’s Cradle balance balls once found on every CEO’s desk. Another theme to bring solace in unstable times, as talismans become equally ancient and modern.
IN FULL SWING
The unfettered exuberance and more-is-more ethos of Art Deco design is back with an unapologetic bang in the capital’s most glamorous new residences
WORDS ZOE DARE HALL
An Art Deco-inspired living room by Joyce Wang Studio in one of
The Whiteley’s new apartments.
The 2020s may not have started with a roar to match their equivalent a century ago, what with the world shutting up shop just as the decade began. But as Art Deco design celebrates its 100th birthday this spring — marking the moment it burst onto the scene, with big jazz hands, at the Paris International Exhibition of 1925 — the spirit of an era synonymous with glamour and possibility can now be seen all over London’s most opulent new homes.
For those bored with the expensively tasteful but fairly forgettable design found in some high-end new schemes — an attempt to appeal to the widest pot of global super-rich buyers who will rarely be in residence — the apartments at The Whiteley, following the old Art Deco department store’s £1.2bn redevelop- ment, bring welcome pizzazz.
Behind the majestically columned façade are 139 private apartments, including a special collection by designers including the Joyce Wang Studio and former Soho House Design Director Linda Boronkay.
In Wang’s 4,000 sq ft paean to the 1920s — on sale for £17.25m via Knight Frank — it feels like Flapper dresses are the only suitable attire as you lounge beneath the reception room’s six-metre-high ceilings, whose huge windows form part of the building’s original façade.
Inspired by this louche, liberated era’s “larger than life” pattern and ornamentation, Wang describes how she hunted down turnof-the-century chandeliers for every bedroom and designed super-sized headboards in mohair velvet. “Art Deco is about boldness, luxury and the celebration of modernity. The furniture pieces inside the apartment re ect Art Deco’s emphasis on both form and function,” she comments.
Meanwhile, in Boronkay’s homage to this bygone era — it recently sold, with a guide price of £10.95m — the designer wanted to give the impression of a home that has been layered over years by an imaginary owner with a passion for art and literature. Greek gods adorn a living room screen, one wall is clad in decorative mirrored panels and rich reds and greens sit alongside Carrara marble, fossil oak wood and bronze.
In Mayfair, there’s a brand new tribute to this between-the-wars era awash with gin and jazz. On the site where a 1930s mansion block once housed Mirabelle, the restaurant that was frequented by presidents and Hollywood stars, the gleaming white 60 Curzon recreates the seductive aesthetic of this past golden age.
“We have embraced the design and cultural identity of the Art Deco movement but tailored it to the architectural and social context of today’s Mayfair,” comments Lee
Polisano, founding partner at PLP Architecture, who crafted the Deco-inspired shell with its Portland Stone façade bearing bronze accents and green, hand-glazed terracotta tiles.
“Adventure, energy and cultural exploration de ned this transformative era, and a sense of exoticism was portrayed through the style and craft, with luxe materials like walnut and jade and motifs inspired by travel and discovery,” Polisano adds. “We aimed to reclaim a tradition of luxury urban living that had been lost at the end of the last century.”
Inside 60 Curzon are 32 boutique residences — some designed by Thierry Despont, the late French designer whose signature Art Deco style is immortalised in Claridge’s hotel. Others have been curated by di erent designers, including one priced at £10.5m by Tatjana von Stein that feels like you have stepped back in time.
While some designers will drop the odd nod to Art Deco into a contemporary space, Von Stein has gone turbo retro. There are mirrored ceilings and hand-painted decorative walls, lamps and soft furnishings inspired by Oriental imagery, and a centrepiece curving sofa that’s pure Mad Men (Art Deco morphed over the years into Mid-Century Modern).
Another of the residences, by the Elicyon design studio, is also an Art Deco lover’s dream, recalling a time when high-society
“Art Deco reminds people of a more glamorous, and in some ways, simpler era. I think we will always look back as well as forward for inspiration”
mingling was done amid walnut side tables and mirrored drinks cabinets.
In a year in which Pantone tells us the colour that re ects the national mood is Mocha Mousse — a warm, sludgy hug of a shade that apparently re ects our need for connection, comfort and harmony in a world in disarray — all this jazzy, vibrant pre-war design packs quite a punch.
You can see tributes to it all over the place. At Holland Park Gate in Kensington, a new super-prime scheme of residences costing from £2.35m up to £32.5m on the site of an Art Deco cinema, the developers Lodha have recreated the entrance to the old picture palace, surrounded by a stone façade whose waves evoke the heavy curtains that would have once covered the screens.
Overlooking Hyde Park in Bayswater, Park Modern — whose residences, largely now all sold, are priced up to £60m for one of the biggest penthouses in London — also exudes old-school glamour with its ribbon-like exterior0 and curving balconies.
And the Golden Age of 1920s travel is the theme gorgeously harnessed by developers Berkeley St George at London Dock in Wapping. The showpiece Mauretania Lounge, a residents-only amenity space inspired by the luxury of cruise liners in the early 20th century, includes a double-height aquarium
Clockwise from far left: The Whiteley apartment bedrooms feature super-sized headboards in mohair velvet; at Holland Park Gate, developers Lodha have paid tribute to its past as an Art Deco cinema; Elicyon design at 60 Curzon
This picture: The striking doubleheight aquarium in the Mauretania Lounge, inspired by travel’s Golden Age. Opposite: High End Art Deco Style Dressing Table by Juliettes Interiors
in the Oceanic Lounge and a plant-peppered Palm Room in which renowned American author F Scott Fitzgerald would have felt utterly at ease sipping a Gin Rickey.
Maybe our reasons for being drawn to Art Deco aren’t as di erent as they might at rst seem, though, to our love of Mocha Mousse. Both are about a hankering for warm, enveloping comfort, in Deco’s case, from a more optimistic time. “Its timeless principles — precision, symmetry and rich materiality —o er a reassuring sense of stability and permanence,” agrees Polisano.
Designer Katharine Pooley — who has designed homes in London, Paris and New York that all have an Art Deco interior central to their theme — adds that “there is such a wealth of beauty contained in our collective history, I think we will always look back as well as forward for inspiration. But Art Deco reminds people of a more glamorous and in some ways simpler era. The familiarity of Art Deco still captivates people with its beauty
and perhaps a degree of this is escapism.”
Her furniture designers, Pooley adds, often use a touch of Art Deco in their bespoke bars, billiards tables, desks and screens. “For one client overseas, we created an incredible Art Deco-style study in shades of black and gold with beautiful sculptural pendants, all pulled together by a hand-painted copper wallpaper of cranes ying. The nal e ect was transportive and cocooning.”
Demand for Art Deco furnishings is on the rise, according to Juliette Thomas, whose company Juliettes Interiors specialises in manufacturing and selling furniture from the era. “Customers often don’t realise that it’s Art Deco,” she says, “but it’s a style that has never dated at the high end.” Her clients will pay handsomely, too, for a statement piece such as a large built-in glossy Italian bedroom wardrobe, priced £68,250, or several thousand pounds for Deco dressing tables, console tables and round-backed chairs. French company La Manufacture Cogolin,
founded in 1924 at the height of the Jazz Age, is a great example of how Art Deco de es age and moves with the times. The atelier provided handmade rugs on the 1930s cruise liner SS Normandie, whose interiors by architect Pierre Patout were considered the apogee of Art Deco luxury. Fast-forward a century and the company has been busy creating similarly Deco-inspired oor adornments on Daniel Craig’s latest lm, Queer
Sarah Henry, La Manufacture Cogolin’s managing director, points out that today’s nancial insecurity and ongoing wars provide a very di erent backdrop to the mood of post-WW1 exuberance that gave birth to the the Art Deco movement. “But even if we are not in the party mood of the roaring 1920s,” says Henry, “there are still many Art Deco codes, especially the rounded edges of cruise-ship style that are very present in contemporary furniture, that resonate today.”
In some of London’s prime new homes, maybe you will hear that roar after all.
BRAVE NEW WORLD
Jaguar’s controversial and headline-hitting rebrand in late 2024 highlights the high stakes risk when heritage car brands switch direction. Jonathan Bell examines the challenges experienced by previous luxury marques that also rebooted
What happens when an automotive brand pivots sharply and pitches itself at a di erent market sector?
Last year ended with a classic example, when the storied British luxury sports car brand Jaguar seemed to ditch 90 years of heritage for a new, more upmarket, all-electric future heralded by a rebrand and an all-new concept car. What drives car manufacturers to make such an irreversible lane change? Reasons range from the auto industry’s shifting sands — new markets, squeezed margins, changing technologies and tastes — and a mix of tari s, trade wars and legislative shifts all coming down the road. Given all this, a struggling brand like Jaguar
was right to rethink things. As the company pointed out, the idea of a complete reset recaptured the founding spirit of the company and its original guiding light, Sir William Lyons. Lyons’ statement that ‘a Jaguar should be a copy of nothing’ is harder to pull o in the internet age, but you can’t blame the company for trying something new.
However, will it work? The court of public opinion can be swift and decisive but also muddle-headed. The roar of vitriol that greeted the new logo in November was only drowned out by the deluge of think pieces that followed the Miami reveal of the Jaguar Type 00 a few weeks later. A conceptual electric grand tourer that previews the 2026 Jaguar GT, it was long, low and pink, with
faceted bodywork and minimalist detailing that gave few nods to the company’s legendary heritage, both on and o the racetrack.
In the end, Jaguar got the last laugh, brie y becoming one of the most talked-about automotive brands on the planet and securing widespread coverage about the company’s history, greatest hits and projected future.
Ful lling Oscar Wilde’s maxim to a T (“there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about”), the Jaguar rebrand prompted opinion, rage, analysis and reassessment, all within the space of a fortnight.
Before Jaguar, another longstanding British brand underwent a major revamp, taking it far away from its original ethos. Racing engineer
Colin Chapman founded Lotus in 1952, building lightweight, performance-focused road cars in parallel with motor racing campaigns at the highest level. Despite carrying a mountain of goodwill, Lotus always found the nancials heavy going and, despite building cars that everyone loved, it couldn’t translate this into sales. Bold ideas to reboot the brand came and went, hamstrung by a lack of funds.
Enter Chinese industrial conglomerate Geely, which took a controlling stake in the company in 2017. Under Geely, Lotus has rallied and diversi ed, hedging its bets between an ultra-high-end electric hypercar, the Evija, a conventional ICE-powered sports car, the Emira, and, most importantly of all, a range of all-electric, Chinese-built SUVs and saloons, starting with the Eletre and Emeya.
For brand a cionados, the switch to hefty EVs ew in the face of everything Chapman was famous for. “Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere” is just one of his many quotable thoughts on engineering. The Eletre is an elegant, capable machine, but it weighs in at over two and a half tonnes. The iconic Lotus 7, introduced in 1957 with a legacy
that continues to the present-day Caterham Super 7, could weigh as little as half a tonne. The Lotus badge may have stayed the same, but the brand could not be more di erent.
Go back nearly three decades, and another venerable British brand was at a crossroads. Rolls-Royce and Bentley had been joined at the hip for decades after the former bought its rival in 1931. When the aerospace arm of Rolls-Royce was hived o in 1971, Bentley became a small part of the Vickers-owned Rolls-Royce Motors Limited. The two brands shared a factory and body styles, with Bentley models pitched at the more sporting customer. Fast-forward to 1998, and Vickers sold out to the Volkswagen Group, a sale that included everything from factory to historic cars (with the important exception of the name ‘Rolls-Royce’, which went to BMW).
Under Volkswagen, the Bentley name suddenly had access to engineering skill and marketing acumen beyond its wildest dreams. Steered by an Anglophilic German management team, the reborn Bentley Motors revealed its rst all-new model, the Continental GT, in 2003. With a fastback coupé design overseen by Raul Pires and Dirk van Braeckel, the GT
shared its underpinnings with several other VW group cars, such as the mighty W12 engine that was also deployed in high-end Audi and VWs. The platform had much in common with the Volkswagen Phaeton, an impressively over-engineered luxury saloon that was the commercial antithesis of the popular Bentley.
There were rumblings about whether a re-skinned Volkswagen could ever live up to the high bar set during the Rolls-Royce era. Would the German link tarnish the aristocratic playboy image Bentley had engendered since its earliest days? The nay-sayers needn’t have worried. The Germans set about making Bentley more ‘British’ than it had ever been, and thanks to some deft investment in motorsport, including winning Le Mans in 2003 with the Bentley Speed 8, it transformed the company’s image and fortunes.
The Continental GT is now in its fourth generation; its components and technology developed alongside another VW Group stalwart, Porsche. Platform sharing is more widespread than ever before. Bentley’s rebirth showed the importance of bolstering and reinforcing a brand’s core values.
Jaguar will be hoping that the electri cation
Previous page: Jaguar’s divisive all-new Type 00 concept car. Clockwise: The Lotus Emeya R; The Smart #5 is an example of a successful change of direction for an automotive brand; Bentley’s Continental GT is now in its fourth generation
In the end, Jaguar got the last laugh, briefly becoming one of the most talked-about automotive brands on the planet
age presents a possibility of redemption and renewal. When the Mercedes subsidiary Smart began life 30 years ago, the plan was to create a car with the exibility of a Swatch-style fashion item. The ultra-compact car had its origins in a plan devised by Swatch CEO Nicolas Hayek a decade before. By the time Hayek’s idea came to market it was in partnership with Mercedes, and the little Smart (‘Swatch Mercedes ART’) rede ned the modern city car.
And then the company pivoted once more, steered by another new joint venture with Geely. No longer pitching at upmarket Milanese and Parisians, Smart is now an all-electric compact SUV brand, aimed squarely at China’s growing and adventurous middle classes. The Smart #1, #3 and #5 are a world away from the diminutive Smart City-Coupé, with rugged exteriors and seats that fold at into a double bed. A brand conceived for European city dwellers is now a symbol of freedom and mobility for a new demographic on the other side of the world. Brands change, but so do markets. If you’re smarting because your favourite rm has left you behind, it’s only because the company thinks the grass is greener somewhere else.
Image: Alex Lawrence
State of the art
Six curators working in beautiful, lesser-known galleries across the country share their personal picks and highlight this year’s upcoming exhibitions
WORDS CHARLOTTE METCALF
HENRY MOORE STUDIOS & GARDENS, PERRY GREEN, HERTFORDSHIRE
Laura Barlow, Senior Curator Collections and Research
“The home and workplace of Henry Moore is a unique opportunity to understand the artist’s work. Moore moved to Perry Green in 1940 and decided to stay, enlarging the site to place his work. His maquette studio, which still exists, next to the sheep eld, is particularly special to show where he developed his ideas. You can see the desk where he did his sheep drawings and there are still household goods, like the talc he used, so it feels as if he has just left the room. As the world-leading resource on Moore, we also have a peerless archive of more than 750,000 items accessible by appointment.”
Favourite exhibit: “The well-known 1966 Double Oval which sits on the green outside the visitor centre. Two parallel but unidentical bronze, arched forms show Moore exploring how abstract forms interlock and repeat. You can see and walk through them and the work represents such a turning point from where Moore jumped more into abstraction.”
2025 must-sees: “Encounters is our upcoming programme of performances, events and talks built around the collaborations between Moore and other creatives, like WH Auden, for whom he illustrated a book of poems.” henry-moore.org
GAINSBOROUGH’S HOUSE, SUDBURY, SUFFOLK
“Gainsborough’s House represents a fantastic art pilgrimage to the home and birthplace of Thomas Gainsborough in beautiful Constable country. The traditional silk weaver’s house — the family worked in the industry — stands in its historic garden with a 400-year-old mulberry tree. Alongside is the new building, enabling us to have a dynamic programme of temporary exhibitions. There are also print workshops for practising artists.”
Favourite exhibit: “An early 1746 landscape by Gainsborough, painted when he was just 19 and moving back to Sudbury from London. It sparkles with the beauty of a quintessentially East Anglian sky and landscape. I love it so much that it’s printed on my business cards. Importantly, it shows how Constable and then
JMW Turner were inspired by Gainsborough.”
2025 must-sees: “In spring 2025, we’ll be showing a magni cent collection of 18thcentury paintings borrowed from Highgate’s Kenwood House, including one of Gainsborough’s nest portraits of Countess Howe. In the historic house, we’re showing work by the renowned printmaker Katherine Jones RA, and in the garden, there will be beautiful organic carvings by Helaine Blumenfeld.
“In autumn, we are exhibiting a collection of works by Stanley Spencer and his brother Gilbert alongside those of his wife, Hilda Carline, while portrait painter, Humphrey Ocean RA, will create work in response to Gainsborough’s House.” gainsborough.org
Clockwise from left: Henry Moore’s Double Oval, 1966, image by John Chase; The Painting Room in Gainsborough’s House, image by Hufton + Crow; Wooded Landscape with a Herdsman Seated, c.1746–1747, by Thomas Gainsborough; Henry Moore at work in his maquette studio in 1968, image by John Hedgecoe
Calvin Winner, Executive Director
THE MCMANUS: DUNDEE’S ART GALLERY AND MUSEUM
Anna Day, Head of Libraries and Culture
“It’s such a joy to work in this beautiful, ornate George Gilbert Scott building. It was opened in 1867 as a memorial to Prince Albert and was Dundee’s original V&A. It tells the story of Dundee’s place in the world through extraordinary exhibits like The Tay Whale skeleton. Dundee’s immense wealth was built on whaling — alongside jute, jam and journalism — so it’s poignant that the whale found itself lost and hunted up the Tay.”
Favourite exhibit: “Two Auld Wi es, by New Zealand artist Ron Stenberg, who gifted it to us. There was a campaign to discover the identity of the ‘auld wi es’, and the painting actually depicts a mother and her son who lived in a mental health institution. The pair met on the bench every day for a chat. Although she looked like a typical Dundee wifey, she was, in fact, very well-o . So this is a story about motherhood, not being able to live with your child and hidden wealth; the McManus is a treasure trove of stories.”
2025 must-sees: “A Weather Eye is our beautiful free exhibition of paintings by Scottish artists throughout history. Our curator discovered there are more words for weather in Scots than in any other language — we have 421 di erent words for snow, even more than the Inuit.” mcmanus.co.uk
“Our curator discovered there are more words for weather in Scots than in any other language — we have 421 different words for snow, even more than the Inuit”
THE SHERBORNE, DORSET
Paul Newman, Dorset Visual Arts Creative Director
“After more than 30 years of unsuccessful revival attempts and being on the Heritage at Risk Register, our Grade I-listed Georgian house reopened last spring after an extensive restoration project. This represents a monumental achievement and is a testament to the extraordinary generosity and drive of Michael Cannon [who bought Sherborne House in 2018 and established The Sherborne Trust]. Michael was intent on handing this glorious house back to the community with a mission to champion the richness of art for everyone. It’s now a heritage landmark, o ering beautiful sculpture gardens, the historic Thornhill mural, a variety of exhibitions, a curated shop, and Macready’s bar and restaurant, which serves a menu of locally sourced food.”
Favourite exhibit: “The Thornhill mural, depicting the Calydonian boar hunt from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, painted in Baroque style. The mural gives such a sense of theatre as you can view the ‘start’ of it from a small black square inlaid in the ground- oor tiles at the bottom of the staircase. From here, you look to the window and either side with the drapery ‘revealing’ the drama about to unfold.”
2025 must-sees: “BIND, a Dorset Visual Arts Salon Collective, runs until 20 April when a new curator steps in. New work will explore relationships that bind and di erentiate various approaches to art.” thesherborne.uk
PETERSFIELD MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY
Louise Weller, Head of Collections and Exhibitions
“The museum celebrates local history, culture and community, featuring a fascinating variety of social history objects, photographs, fashion and art. The Buriton Hoard is a prized exhibit. It features four impressive bronze ornaments, including two necklaces, known as torcs, from the Middle Bronze Age period.”
Favourite exhibit: “My favourite recent area of work was conserving and presenting items from our fashion collection, particularly a selection of dresses from the 1930s. These pieces were part of our record-breaking summer exhibition focused on art collector Peggy Guggenheim, who lived near Peters eld during that time.”
2025 must-sees: “Bound Together: Modern British Bookbinding, celebrates the career of bookbinder Roger Powell, who lived and worked in Frox eld, Hampshire. The exhibition includes rare, seldom-seen books from private collections. There’s also a summer exhibition of Michael Craig-Martin’s work and, in the autumn, Rediscovering the Photographs of Winifred Joseph, 1917 to 1945, will present striking photographs of mid20th-century rural life.” peters eldmuseum.co.uk
STANLEY SPENCER GALLERY, COOKHAM, BERKSHIRE
Amy Lim, Curator
“Housed in the former Wesleyan chapel where Stanley Spencer worshipped as a child, the gallery is a unique opportunity to see Spencer’s paintings in the place that inspired them, only metres away from the many locations they depict in Cookham.”
Favourite exhibit: “Spencer worked on his last, enormous imaginative painting, Christ Preaching at Cookham Regatta, for almost a decade. It was still un nished at his death, which gives us a great insight into his working methods. I spot something new every time I look at it. My favourite part is the group of swans mobbing a punt. No one painted swans better than Stanley Spencer.”
2025 must-sees: “Our exhibitions will focus in depth on Christ Preaching at Cookham Regatta, bringing together lots of the associated paintings and studies, many of which are in private collections. It will be an opportunity to take a deep dive into Spencer’s memory, imagination and vision. The gallery is only a stone’s throw from the Thames, the painting’s setting, so visitors should take a stroll along the Thames Path and see some of the locations that inspired Spencer.” stanleyspencer.org.uk
Clockwise from above: Evening dress with cape, 1930s black crepe woven with lines of metallic thread; detail from Christ Preaching at Cookham Regatta (1952–1959), Stanley Spencer Gallery
Chelsea Power Show
Auriens Chelsea o ers the ultimate luxury and limitless possibilities for third-act mavericks who want to join an exceptional, likeminded community
WORDS ZOE DARE HALL
The King’s Road in Chelsea has long drawn those who think and live outside the box. Think of such Swinging Sixties fashion game-changers as Vivienne Westwood and Mary Quant, or the two Australians, John Rendall and Anthony Bourke, who kept a pet lion in their at. It was here too, that the quintessential rule-breaker James Bond lived, in Ian Fleming’s mind at least.
Now this world-famous, well-heeled address has given rise to a stylish counterculture of a di erent sort. Auriens Chelsea is a place that tears up the rulebook when it comes to retirement. It smashes age-old perceptions of, well, old age. And it shows that even those in life’s third act are ripe for disruption – at least when it’s done with the highest levels of luxury, comfort and panache.
Auriens is a later living community for those with a zest for life. From live jazz dinners, culinary masterclasses and wine tastings to guest speakers, book launches and piano recitals, Auriens’ colourful and varied social calendar ensures that its residents – successful, spirited and often globe-trotting individuals – continue their lifelong passions for self-improvement and fun.
This is all in addition to weekly events such as singing sessions, art classes and à la carte dinners prepared by head chef Panos Kotalakidis, previously of The Savoy and Simpson’s in the Strand. Head concierge Dan McCaskie brings years of experience in the highest echelons of London hospitality to curate an ever-expanding array of events and outings. A permanent xture is the ve-star facilities, including a 15-metre swimming pool and gym, a speakeasy bar and a library.
Auriens is the ultimate private members’ club in a sense, where every amenity and service is designed to build a warm and wonderful sense of cohesion and friendship.
Top: Wellbeing and health is a key priority, with amenities including a swimming pool. Above: Live jazz dinners are part of a carefully curated social calendar for residents
We know that quality of life isn’t just about where you live, or how you live it, but who you are fortunate enough to share it with. By becoming a Friend of Auriens – an opportunity that is open, by invitation only, to residents’ friends and family, prospective residents, neighbours and long-standing supporters of Auriens – those of similar mind and spirit can become part of this exceptional community.
“The essence of our philosophy is the enduring relationships fostered by sta ,
many with backgrounds in luxury hospitality, and the friendships that form naturally among residents, cultivating a profound community spirit,” comments Auriens Group’s chief commercial o cer, Henry Lumby.
Like any club worth its salt, not everyone can join. Yes, of course, you need to be of su cient means to purchase or rent a residence at Auriens. Crucially, too, you need to be aged at least 65. At last, a reason to look forward to growing older – gloriously and gracefully, of course, in true Chelsea fashion.
One and two-bedroom apartments are available to purchase from £2.75m. auriens.com
Paws for thought
The sky really is the limit for your pampered canine companion, with a new “dogs- rst” transatlantic ight o ering, plus a host of other luxury travel experiences aimed at the four-legged traveller
WORDS BEN MCCORMACK
Flying with a dog might conjure up images of a chihuahua poking out of an Hermès Birkin bag stowed beneath the seat in front. While there’s some truth in the cliché — small dogs are, bien-sûr, allowed in the cabin of all Air France ights — for most airlines, dogs must be transported kennel-class in the cargo hold.
Since May last year, however, a new transatlantic carrier has welcomed dogs of all sizes to sit with their owners. Bark Air (air. bark.co) is not only the rst all- rst-class airline that accepts larger dogs in the cabin, but also the rst to operate a ‘dogs- rst’ policy. Co-founder Matt Meeker was inspired to get Bark Air o the ground by his Great Dane Hugo, who had accompanied the Meeker family to 22 US states but was left behind for overseas trips.
Pooches on board Bark Air are given dog treats, noise-cancelling earmu s and calming pheromones; humans are calmed with access to a full bar. Once pets and owners have, ahem, disem-barked in New York, they can take a connecting Bark Air ight to Los Angeles if
a bite of the Big Apple isn’t on the cards. Bark Air ights come with all the usual trappings of rst-class air travel, such as access to a dedicated lounge. The price, however, is around double that of an average rst-class ticket. One-way from London to New York for dog and owner starts at $8,000; ights from New York to LA add a further $6,000, which might sound barking mad when one considers what one could experience in dog-friendly luxury a little closer to home.
At Six Senses Crans-Montana in Switzerland (from £653, sixsenses.com), there are 200 miles of Alpine paths for dogs and owners to explore. Back at the hotel, pet-friendly spa treatments, using only natural ingredients, include facials and paw massages. Does your pooch prefer a city break? The V.I.P. — Very Important Pets — programme at Rome’s Cavalieri hotel (from £325, hilton.com) includes dog walkers who will explore the hotel’s 15 acres of parkland with your pet before taking them for a massage and grooming session at a nearby pet spa so they can look their best for dinner in the hotel’s Tiepolo Lounge and Terrace. Both do, of course, require getting to the
Continent in the rst place (dogs are allowed on Eurotunnel, but not Eurostar), not to mention the fa of sorting vaccinations and an EU pet passport for around £175 per trip. It’s easier all round, perhaps, to staycation in the UK, where the options for dog-friendly travel are becoming ever-more luxurious.
Journalist Lottie Gross began to focus on pet-friendly travel writing when she got her own dog and has written two UK guides: Dog Days Out (Conway, £20) and Dog-Friendly Weekends (Bradt Travel Guides, £16.99). She cites the boom in pet ownership during lockdown as the main reason for dog-friendly travel taking o domestically: there are now approximately 12 million pet dogs in the UK, which equates to 31 per cent of households. And for these pampered pooches who have become accustomed to having their working-from-home owners present at all times, a kennel is out of the question. “Since writing my books,” Gross says, “I’ve noticed
Right: Arnie the dog settles in at Knightsbridge’s Egerton House Hotel. If he’s a good boy, he can have his portrait painted during afternoon tea
Clockwise: One small step for pawkind: a dog takes a Bark Air test flight; actual pooch heaven awaits at the 15,000-acre Glen Dye estate; dinner time has never been so delectable, thanks to a special canine menu o ered by The Aubrey at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park
the luxury o ering for dog owners is only getting better — and perhaps more ridiculous, in the best way.”
Gross might be referring to London’s The Lanesborough hotel (from £955 per night, oetkercollection.com), where a team of butlers is on hand to help with dog walking in neighbouring Hyde Park. “Pooches in residence” receive a welcome card upon arrival, in addition to a special bed and a bespoke “woof homemade menu” of doggy dinners such as Labrador lasagne and poodle noodles.
Canine cuisine is also on the menu at the nearby Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park (from £829, mandarinoriental.com), where The Aubrey restaurant o ers the likes of steamed free-range minced chicken with coconutscented rice. If your dog needs to brush up on its table manners, consider checking in to the Rosewood London (from £537, rosewood hotels.com). The hotel’s concierges can recommend dog trainers during guests’ stays, plus dog walking, sitting and grooming services. Once suitably brushed up in every sense, owners can parade their dogs around a list of dog-friendly London restaurants and shops provided by the hotel to show
“The luxury offering for dog owners is only getting better – and perhaps more ridiculous, in the best way”
o their mutt’s newly acquired social skills. And should one of those happen to be the ability to sit still for a couple of hours, pay a visit to Knightsbridge’s Egerton House Hotel (from £455, egertonhousehotel.com). The ‘paw-trait’ experience (£550) includes a three-hour afternoon tea of both human and doggy delicacies enjoyed while the hotel’s resident artist, Shelley Levy, paints an A4-sized watercolour of your pet. Humans get to feast on the likes of nger sandwiches, scones and patisserie while their canine companion sco s chicken liver meatloaf, peanut butter biscuits and a carrot cupcake made by the hotel’s kitchen with ingredients designed to promote a healthy coat.
Prefer to get in touch with your inner Manet and paint something yourself? At Glen Dye (from £290, glendyecabinsandcottages.com), a collection of dog-friendly cottages and cabins on a sprawling 15,000-acre estate in the Scottish Highlands, guests can learn how to draw their dog (£60) under the expert tuition of local artist Mel Shand (she is equally happy to accept commissions of your four-legged companion, from £450).
Other dog-friendly activities include an interactive baking workshop where you
Clockwise: Set on Windermere, Langdale Chase has dog-friendly rooms complete with doggy baths if Fido decides to take an impromptu dip; the royal treatment is on o er for pooches at Glenapp Castle; Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons has walkers or groomers on hand while you indulge in Raymond Blanc’s two-Michelin-starred tasting menus
will learn how to make healthy dog treats (£20).
There is also the option of a guided walk around the glen with the resident wilderness expert, which, after all, is perhaps the whole point of owning a dog: to get out in the great outdoors instead of sitting around inside. For that, few UK hotels have as magni cent a location as Langdale Chase (from £390, langdalechase.co.uk) on the shores of Windermere, which re-opened at the end of 2023 following a multi-million-pound refurbishment. The Lake District’s 13 valleys are there to explore while, on the doorstep, the hotel’s dog-friendly rooms provide easy access to the gardens and lake and come equipped with a doggy bath to clean o any mud. And for the perfect (pawfect?) post-walk refuel, there’s pooch-friendly strawberry and vanilla ice cream.
But if all this doggy decadence seems a little too focused on pets rather than people, than rest assured that some of the country’s
most luxurious hotels with Michelin-starred restaurants attached are also welcoming to dogs (in the guest rooms, at least — the Michelin Man usually draws the line at dining with dogs).
At Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons (from £925, belmond.com), for instance, dogs are allowed in nine of the guest rooms and walkers or groomers can be booked to look after pets while owners indulge in Raymond Blanc’s two-Michelin-starred tasting menus. Follow a spectacular breakfast the morning after with a walk in the nearby Chiltern Hills.
But as with any long-term relationship, the secret to a successful dog-friendly holiday is one that has something for everyone. And they don’t come more all-encompassing than at Glenapp Castle (from £444, glenappcastle. com), a dog-friendly Relais & Châteaux property in Ayrshire on the west coast of Scotland, set within 100 acres of woodland and gardens. For dog owners with a taste for
adventure, however, the hotel’s USP is a Hebridean sea safari in which every aspect of the experience is tailor-made to ensure that both dogs and owners get as much out of the ve days of cruising and camping as possible.
Activities might include lunch on the Isle of Gigha (famed for its halibut), a trip to an Islay whisky distillery, eagle, dolphin and seal spotting and glamping under star- lled skies while feasting on local lobster prepared by a private chef. Along the way, dogs can run along the pristine (and usually people-free) white beaches of Colonsay or Oronsay, or roam the McCormaig Isles, the former home of Irish Christian monks sent to convert the Scots.
The sea safari costs £15,950 for two people and their dog — about the same price as a one-way ticket to New York with Bark Air, admittedly, but rather longer-lasting. Because while luxury holidays might increasingly resemble a dog’s life, remember that it’s your life to enjoy, too.
DANCING to her own beat
In an exclusive interview with SPHERE, ballet star Darcey Bussell talks about her exceptional career and why she has no plans to stop moving
WORDS MARK MONAHAN
The rst time the BBC asked Darcey Bussell to become a full-time judge on Strictly Come Dancing, she turned them down. The then recently retired Royal Ballet star had guested on the panel for a month in 2009 but, she admits, “I remember being terri ed! They also asked me to perform a jive at the same time, so I had to come on and do that. I wasn’t worried about the audience — I was more worried about the judges.”
Bussell received the invitation in 2011 when she was living in Australia but admits she declined. “It was quite scary,” she explains. “It was amazing to be asked, but I felt it really wasn’t for me, it was too much.” However, when Strictly approached her again a year later, Bussell had a change of heart. “I said to my husband Angus, I’ll really regret this if I don’t do it. So I just jumped at it.” Bussell was to become a permanent judge
on the show from 2012 to 2019, lending an unprecedented (and since unequalled) dash of class and sparkle to the proceedings. “I loved it,” she tells me when we meet backstage at Covent Garden. “I think for me what was magic about being on a show like that was you felt part of a company again.”
If it was Strictly that made Bussell a 24-carat household name, it was her work with her original company that ensured her a glittering place in dance’s history books. Over her 20-odd years with The Royal Ballet (1989–2007), she became the most celebrated British-born dancer of her generation, famed for her lofty, athletic physique and physical brio, marvellous musicality, total commitment to character and undeniable glamour.
Since Bussell’s departure from The Royal Ballet on a remarkable night in June 2007, with waterfalls of owers cascading from the upper circles in her honour after a pitch-perfect
performance in Kenneth MacMillan’s Song of the Earth, she has done anything but sit around. Strictly duties aside, she has — among too many other ventures to list — toured with her own show, Viva la Diva, founded the charitable, now chie y schools-orientated Diverse Dance Mix programme, and become both president of the Royal Academy of Dance (2012–present) and one of The Royal Ballet’s most cherished guest coaches. Appointed DBE in 2018, Bussell has been married to Australian banker Angus Forbes since 1997 and is also the doting mother of two girls: Zoe (21) and Phoebe (23). Only this spring, she swelled her CV still further, becoming an ambassador for Angela Rippon’s nationwide initiative, Let’s Dance, to get grown-ups o their backsides.
Bussell’s career reads like such an unstoppable torrent of success that one instinctively imagines her as a four-year-old
From left: Bussell performs in Balanchine’s Apollo; on stage as Juliet; The Royal Ballet is staging a revival of Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet to commemorate its 60th anniversary this year
who saw The Nutcracker, decided then and there what she wanted to be, and coasted from then on. It was not quite that simple.
Born in London in 1969, she went rst to the regular Fox Primary School in Kensington, and then to Arts Educational stage school a few miles west in Chiswick. It was not until the age of 13 that Bussell joined the Royal Ballet Lower School (aka White Lodge), in Richmond Park. And, even then, she wasn’t sure that the dance discipline was for her.
“When I joined,” she says, “I was far behind everybody else. Physically, I had the attributes, but I was very loose, oppy and uncontrolled, and not strong.”
Had she reached her full 5ft 7in by that point? “No,” she says. “I was quite an average height. My rst year was a big struggle, and I thought, wow, how am I ever going to catch up? And it was an awful kind of weight on my shoulders. This was my choice — my mother didn’t want me to go... I’ve got to make this
work! So it took a good year, until I was 14, that I felt I was on a par with everybody else. I know everybody associates me with always having been this strong dancer, but I wasn’t. I was very weak, with limbs all over the place.
“I didn’t shoot up until I was about 16, at the end of White Lodge. And that’s when I found my strength.”
It was also when things started to snowball for Bussell in the most astonishing way. Having joined the Upper School (then in Barons Court), she was given the lead in the annual school performance at Covent Garden, in Kenneth MacMillan’s Concerto. Although only 17, she was a knockout and soon caught the eye of none other than MacMillan himself. She was just 19 when, dauntingly, the genius behind Romeo and Juliet, Manon and Mayerling decided to make his new fullevening ballet Prince of the Pagodas for her; and just 20 when, on the opening night in 1989, after just a few months with The Royal Ballet, she was made a principal dancer.
But Bussell’s and MacMillan’s professional relationship was soon cut cruelly short. In 1992 — backstage at Covent Garden, during a performance of his dark-as-night Mayerling — he died of a heart attack, aged just 62. It was a colossal blow for his new muse, who in fact had been dancing in that evening’s show — and yet, Bussell’s career continued to go from strength to strength, and the great man remains a crucial gure in her life. For one thing, she is currently coaching two lead couples in The Royal Ballet’s 60th-anniversary revival of his Romeo and Juliet (we meet between rehearsals). For another, when I ask her if she has a desert island pick of the dozens of roles she has performed, it is to that same ballet that her thoughts go.
“A lot of the Balanchine comes naturally to me — that physicality, that attack — but they’re not always my favourite roles. I liked the parts that challenged me,” she says, “or that people
Clockwise from far left: Performing in Sleeping Beauty; with Anna Rose O’Sullivan in rehearsal for Cinderella at The Royal Ballet and Opera; Bussell loved her time as a Strictly judge
“My first year [at The Royal Ballet] was a big struggle, and I thought, wow, how am I ever going to catch up? And it was an awful kind of weight on my shoulders. This was my choice — my mother didn’t want me to go... I’ve got to make this work! So it took a good year, until I was 14, that I felt I was on a par with everybody else”
Clockwise: A performance of Song of the Earth marked Bussell’s exit from The Royal Ballet; dancing the part of the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker
didn’t see as ‘me’. So, I suppose something like Juliet, because I was the tall, athletic dancer, so how could I be the fragile, naïve girl? I knew I had to deceive my director and everybody and make them believe that I could do this.”
Speaking of “tall and athletic”, it is often said that this is very much the direction in which ballet dancers in general have been heading in recent years. Over the remarkable ve-decade span of Bussell’s involvement with The Royal Ballet, is this a change she has noticed in those around her? “Well,” she says, “I think the physicality has changed. When we were ‘going through’, we didn’t have any nutrition knowledge. Now, there’s an understanding of what’s going to get you through a ballet and going to help you repair quickly. I mean, we just thought carbohydrates were the thing you had to have. And that’s all wrong! Now, it’s protein, protein, protein.”
Certainly, if anyone in Britain knows how to look after themselves, it is Bussell. Every bit as una ected and engaging in person as you would hope, she is also in truly fantastic shape, as good as 55 (she turns 56 on 27 April) can ever have looked. How, I wonder, does she do it? “I focus on my every day,” she says, “doing things that get me out of breath, instead of being a gym bunny, which I don’t think I ever will be. I just do my pilates. I’ll get on a bike, I’ll always walk up the escalators or walk up the stairs instead of getting a lift.”
As our interview comes to its close, I wonder, on a comparable note, if Strictly — the show that in 2016 turned a certain recent Labour Shadow Chancellor into an outrageous Gangnam Stylist — has perhaps had a similar e ect on the rest of the nation. Has it encouraged us all to move more? “Oh gosh, totally!” Bussell replies instantly. “I
mean, the number of times I’ve been asked to go to the House of Commons because they do a Strictly dance-o there...” Really? “Yeah,” she says, “the MPs. That’s what we forget, that in most institutions they’ll have a Strictly party of some kind. And they were like, ‘Please could you come and judge us?’ And so, I found myself going to the House of Commons to see a whole lot of MPs, or civil servants, doing their ballroom.”
Did any stand out? Is she even allowed to say? “Well,” she replies, diplomatically but with a big, mischievous laugh. “We had Ed Balls, didn’t we?”
The Royal Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet is in rep at The Royal Ballet and Opera, London WC2, until 26 May. Tickets: 020 7304 4000; rbo.org.uk. Mark Monahan is Chief Dance Critic of The Daily Telegraph.
ROCK STARS
In volcanic regions, grape varieties grown in mineral-rich soil can produce wines with an eruption of memorable notes on the tongue. Nina Caplan takes a tour of some of Europe’s most unlikely vineyards, where ne wines are born from natural disaster
All explosions are not equal — not in the wine world, at least. Nobody loves a fruit bomb, those cheap and undistinguished wines that seem to use berries as bullets. But a natural detonation is very di erent, and a volcanic eruption, while often hugely damaging, can have surprising bene ts. Vesuvius burying the city of Pompeii in lava in AD70 was a terrible tragedy, but we who can wander Roman streets preserved by ash for 2,000 years can appreciate the upsides.
The same is true for wine. Vineyards buried under boiling lava are a disaster: before AD70, the Vesuvius slopes grew the Roman Empire’s nest vines. But wait a couple of centuries.
Clockwise: The T-Oinos vineyard is located on a plateau 1,500ft above sea level; clay amphorae used to age Oeno P wines; Gaïa is a wine producer on Santorini
Volcanic soil is extremely fertile and full of minerals bene cial to vine roots. The best wines have an energy, like a seismic tremor, and they taste amazing: saline, inty, and exciting, like licking a delicious rock.
This is why there are so many volcanic vineyards, despite the risks. Modern predictive technology helps, but volcanoes are still scary. The last time Mount Etna, one of Europe’s most active volcanoes, erupted, in 2021, it emitted so much volcanic matter that the mountain grew by nearly 100ft.
Whatever they have in common, volcanic regions di er vastly — and therefore so do the wines. Climate, grape variety, altitude and geography all play their part, as, of course,
do people. White wine from a steep slope with a river at its foot, made principally from the Garganega grape, is going to taste very di erent from Malvasia grown in depressions like a giant’s thumbprints on black volcanic ash. The former is Soave, the latter is Lanzarote. There are fantastic wines in both places… but you don’t need to be an expert to tell them apart.
One of the rst volcanic wine styles I fell for was Assyrtiko from Santorini. The island is now a tourist haven, as it’s a west-facing crescent, perfect for watching sunsets, but that shape is due to the explosion that sank most of it 3,600 years ago. On this porous rock, thirsty vines must wind deep in search of water, but all that e ort is good for the lifespan: some vines are upwards of 200 years old. They are trained into circlets that resemble birds’ nests, to shade the grapes from the Greek sun, which looks weird, but it works — these white wines are entirely distinctive, pure and saline. Gaïa’s textured Wild Ferment and smoky, vivacious Ammonite are standouts, as is the new range by Paris Sigalas, formerly of Domaine Sigalas, who has founded his own label, Oeno P, with the aim of “taking Assyrtiko to a higher level”. His extraordinary wines are aged in
clay amphorae, and have notes of white stone fruit and honeysuckle, underlaid with a thrilling minerality. Sigalas has even called one Akulumbo, the local name for the sunken volcano, which is still active. On Tinos, an island farther north towards the mainland, T-Oinos is making precise Assyrtikos with beautiful acidity on a plateau at 1,500ft that resembles the moon.
Mount Teide in Tenerife also looks like a lunar landscape. This is another active volcano: it last erupted in 1909. The Canary Islands’ location o the African coast made them a useful refuelling point for explorers including Christopher Columbus, which meant that, 500 years ago, “Canary wines” were famous around the world, and judging from today’s versions, they deserved to be.
Jonatan García Lima of Suertes del Marqués points out that the rst wine ever drunk in Australia came from here: Captain Cook was another explorer who stopped by. García Lima’s vines are huge, thick curling trunks on slopes so steep they can cause vertigo. They produce a red mostly from the indigenous Listán Negro variety, shimmering with cherries and raspberries, while his Listán Blanco Edicíon 1 perfectly balances
oral notes with green-apple acidity. Roberto Santana of Envinate is another great Tenerife producer, making exceptionally elegant, inty wines from, among others, a seaside vineyard called Táganan, where the vines are around 100 years old. And there are even more otherworldly vineyards planted on Lanzarote, in a top layer of black volcanic ash that is the result of a massive volcanic eruption in 1730. At El Grifo (founded in 1775) or Los Bermejos, individual vines sit in small depressions shielded from wind by walls of volcanic rock. The vineyards look like they should produce nothing… but the dry Malvasias, in particular, are delicious.
Italy is dotted with volcanic vineyards, from Soave in the north, near the lovely city of Verona, to Sicily, where the vines grow in the shadow of Mount Etna, belching smoke — and more — above. Soave’s problem is that many of the wines are lacklustre, which hurts the reputation of the top producers: try Pieropan’s La Rocca Soave Classico, an extraordinary, stony single-vineyard Garganega, its citrus acidity softened by hints of honey. Or Gini La Froscà Soave Classico, all smoke, spice and toasted almonds. Like Soave, Sicily, located 670 miles south, has a winemaking
Clockwise from above left: Lanzarote’s fertile volcanic soil is packed with minerals, which nourish the vines; Mount Tiede in Tenerife last erupted in 1909; Envinate harvests grapes from vines that are around a century old; the Lanzarote vines are protected from harsh winds by walls of volcanic rock
Images: William Craig Moyes
history stretching back thousands of years, but the vineyards on Mount Etna were moribund by the 1990s. “Etna was [gloomy] because it was an abandoned volcano,” said the late Andrea Franchetti, who arrived in 2000. “There was the misery of blackened streets and ashen churches… It seemed crazy to restore vineyards so high up the mountain — above, it was erupting — but I liked that they were planted so high.”
Franchetti’s winery, Passopisciaro, is one of the region’s stars, and his six Contrada wines are expressions of the mountain’s Nerello Mascalese grape, all from vines over 70 years old and subtly di erent, although they all o er combinations of red fruit, rhubarb and black pepper. Planeta, one of Sicily’s most successful wine-producing families, makes several they call Eruzione 1614 because the vines grow on the remains of lava from that year’s big eruption. No surprise perhaps that the local Nerello Mascalese and Carricante varieties like these parched and mineral soils, but so does Riesling, and theirs is electric, with notes of petrol, honeysuckle, lemon and stone.
Hungary’s volcanoes may have been extinct for about two million years, but you can still taste them. Furmint and Hárslevelű, the grapes of the famous sweet Tokaj wines, also produce vibrant dry whites: try Tokaj Nobilis’s singlevineyard Hárslevelű, which has lovely, pure notes of lime and white ower, or Orosz Gábor’s spicy Király Hárslevelű. One of my absolute favourite wines of 2024 was an oddity from this region, Szamarodni Pajzos Tokaj 2011, a tangy dry Muscat that makes a great aperitif.
West of Budapest is Lake Balaton, Central Europe’s largest lake, with stunning landscape to the north, the traditional wine-growing
WHERE TO BUY VOLCANIC WINES:
Maltby&Greek
maltbyandgreek.com
Hedonism hedonism.co.uk
Berry Bros. & Rudd bbr.com
The Wine Society thewinesociety.com
Vinum Fine Wines vinum newines.com
Novel Wines
novelwines.co.uk
area. Here, strangely at-topped hills glint blue beyond the vineyards, a lasting reminder of ve million years of volcanic activity. This is white wine country, and all sorts of fabulously named grape varieties thrive: perfumed, inty Kéknyelű, rounded Olaszrizling, tropical and salty, and oral Pinot Gris — known here, catchily, as Szürkebarát. Sabar’s herbaceous, saline Kéknyelű is a good starting point. Then venture farther north, across the at plain that was once a sea, to Somló, a small hill thrown up by an ancient underwater volcano, where producers such as Fekete and Kolonics make wine from another intriguing white variety, complex, nutty Juhfark, in Hungary’s smallest wine region.
Our last volcanic outcrop (and another pitstop for busy Christopher Columbus) is the beautiful island of Madeira, o the west coast of Africa, where scenic, walkable streams called levadas lace the richly wooded terrain that gave the place its name. (Madeira in Portuguese means wood.) The wines, which range from dry to sweet, have been famous for centuries: Shakespeare mentions them and wealthy colonial-era Americans were mad for them. To roll their evolution across your tongue, taste Blandy’s, one of the oldest producers, and Barbeito, a mould-breaking whippersnapper. You’ll be astonished by the combination of caramel, hazelnut and orange-peel acidity. But perhaps you shouldn’t be. Those ancient eruptions moved mountains. No wonder they can still move us.
Clockwise from far left: Familyowned Planeta is one of Sicily’s most successful wine companies; the harsh but beautiful landscape of Madeira produces wines that were mentioned by Shakespeare; a church seen from a Madeira winery; grapes ripening on the volcanic soils of Mount Etna
Silence is GOLDEN
New-generation superyacht owners are prioritising soundless sailing over speed and luxury features as pioneering onboard electric motor technology gathers pace. Josh Sims dives into maritime travel’s silent yet exciting revolution
When the boatbuilder Wider launched its rst superyacht prototype a decade ago, it surprised the industry by making a big deal about one particular characteristic.
The Wider 150 was, the Italian company said, the rst superyacht to obtain a perfect score for levels of sound and vibration from the Royal Institute of Naval Architects, the global governing body of maritime engineering. Yes, it wasn’t how luxuriously well-appointed the yacht was that was highlighted, nor its speed or range, but how quiet it was.
“Over the years since, it’s become a major challenge for superyacht builders to make their boats as soundless as possible,” says Wider’s Chief Technology O cer, Massimo De Luca. “As with the automotive industry, clients are increasingly used to the idea of electrical propulsion and the tranquillity it provides. The desire for quiet [maybe more so than sustainability] has become a real factor in whether to opt for that form of propulsion.”
This is the ip side of the supercar world, De Luca proposes, in which electric motors have left automotive brands with a quandary: does silence take away much of their car’s personality, and should it be replaced with some arti cial noise generation? Unless speed is your main selling point, with superyachts, quieter is better, he suggests, so Wider has experimented with such radical ideas as putting the power plant in the awkwardly narrow bow of its boats — as far away as possible from the stern where passengers spend the most time — and, later this year, looks set to become the rst shipyard to launch its own solid-state battery technology.
Superyacht electric motor technology to date has been borrowed from the car industry. Developing its own will allow it to massively increase the density of energy for the weight of battery. The result? Full hotel systems running for several hours at a time without the need to switch on generators — and so less noise.
Indeed, the superyacht world is going to extraordinary lengths to keep the noise down.
“As with the automotive industry, clients are becoming increasingly used to the idea of electric propulsion and the tranquillity it provides”
It’s long been standard for anything that vibrates to be mounted on sound-suppressing rubber supports, for example. This special rubber has the right balance of dampening and sti ening, so what it supports doesn’t dance around. Bigger yachts are increasingly built with a box-in-box system of a kind used for the more advanced auditoria around the world, in which the living quarters form part of an interior box ‘ oating’ insulated — by way of an air gap and rubber dampeners — from the hull’s outer box. The space between the hull and the propeller, another major source of noise, has been extended.
“We aim for around 35–45 decibels when not sailing [akin to the sound of a room fan at low speed] and 55–60 decibels when sailing [like soft rainfall], which is still quiet,” says Peter Van Der Zanden, General Manager of Design and Development at the Dutch boat-building company Heesen Yachts. As one of its promotional pitches has it: “In a world full of noise, silence is the ultimate
luxury.” Though be careful of what you wish for, Van Der Zanden stresses: “There’s actually a point where it can all be too quiet, and then you start to hear absolutely everything. You’re suddenly aware of all the background noise.”
Certainly, Heesen has been notably pioneering in the development of major boat technologies that, while their primary purpose may not be sound reduction, have that added bene t too. Hull vane technology, for example, is an underwater wing that improves a yacht’s stability in rough waters but also means that less power is needed to propel it, allowing for the installation of smaller, quieter main engines. In addition, its streamlined fast displacement hull form increases the ease with which a yacht can move through water with minimal vertical movement, which gives better fuel economy and, since there’s reduced resistance and enhanced hydrodynamic performance, it’s also generally quieter than other types of hull. Feadship, another well-known Dutch boatbuilder, has
made e orts to sti en the structures of its vessels, such as its new Concept C, to greatly reduce vibration.
But much smaller systems also matter. Heesen’s Van Der Zanden says that bow thrusters, propulsion devices built into the front of a boat to help with manoeuvring, tend to be especially noisy, owing to the action of their small, fast-moving propellers on the surrounding water. Consequently, there’s increased experimentation to make a concept rst introduced in 2005 suitable for ever larger craft — the shaft-less, electrically powered bow thruster, which makes use of magnetic rings with composite blades for much quieter action.
Meanwhile, Centek Marine, a US-based specialist maker of ventilation and exhaust systems for superyachts, has developed an apparatus that separates waste gas and water. Why so? Because typically these are ejected and splash into the sea. Centek’s innovative system allows the water component to
Previous page: Heeson’s Project Orion yacht produces “noise levels hardly any higher at top speed than at anchor”. From left: Wider was the first superyacht company to obtain a perfect score for levels of sound and vibration from the Royal Institue of Naval Architects; Cantiere delle Marche vessel
empty silently below the boat’s waterline.
“Reducing noise is about that level of detail now. We’re constantly trying to nd ways of moving air [around a boat] with less noise, such as trying di erent pitches for the blades,” explains Tom Hodges, Director of Centek. The company is also driving the latest iterations of wet exhaust systems — introduced in the 1970s and making use of seawater to cool the heat exchanger and other parts, but also because that water helps mu le the sound — so they’re useable on larger, 70m-plus boats that have long been limited to dry systems. Hodges laments that, for many boat builders, “sound attenuation”, as the experts like to call it, still takes a back seat, but attitudes are changing.
As notes Maria Roberto Morso, spokesperson for Italian boatbuilder Cantiere delle Marche, while it’s a strange enough idea to those outside of the superyacht world that “during sea trials you’ll see technicians with decibel counters wandering everywhere from engine room to sundeck”, this is all part of
meeting the expectation of a younger breed of superyacht owner. That’s one reason why, over the last few years, the company has introduced the likes of a rubber sealing system around its heavyweight doors, which entirely contain sound to within (or without) that cabin.
“We have several owners who were former sailors, and they don’t mind a noisier vessel,” Morso says. “But for a new generation of owners, who may perhaps spend longer on board, the quiet is part of the luxury experience that noise can detract from.” This is the superyacht as a oating home or hotel. And, of course, adds Tom Hodges, this isn’t just about the owner’s comfort either. “Keeping the noise down on a superyacht is just as important for the crew, whose quarters tend to be nearest the engine, with the engineer right next to it,” he points out.
While there are no regulations about decibel levels at sea, it might even be about the comfort of marine life, too. Sound travels further and four times faster in water than in
air, and multiple studies suggest that the noise from boats can negatively a ect the behaviour and physiology of marine mammals in particular, leading some major shipping lines to recon gure the propeller action on their vessels to make them quieter.
“[Potential superyacht] owners want to express their interest in environmental matters too and have an increasing interest in sound levels, so consequently, now there’s always an exploration of new materials and technologies for their sound-dampening qualities,” says Van Der Zanden. He cites Heesen’s latest boat, which goes by the working name of Project Orion, that has a fast-displacement hull form and uses a hybrid propulsion system which, he suggests, produces “noise levels hardly any higher at top speed than at anchor”. It even has a “silent cruising” mode. Heesen’s other new boat, Agnetha, is perhaps a little less well-placed to make claims to quiet. It is named after pop sensation ABBA’s warbling songstress.
L ife
GIVING | LIVING | NATURE | NURTURE
IN FULL BLOOM
SOWING THE SEEDS
With a penchant for artistic arrangements and unusual blooms, Peckham’s Sage Flowers has become the go-to florist for the fashion industry, counting Prada, Loewe, Gucci and Fenty among its clients. Its FutureFlowers Scheme works on fostering a more inclusive industry: after providing free training to over 100 aspiring florists from ethnic-minority backgrounds, it now o ers a 1:1 paid internship and mentoring scheme. Order a weekly season arrangement delivery for £40, sageflowers.co.uk
STYLE IT OUT
JEWEL IN
THE CROWN
East London-based fine jeweller
Rachel Boston’s new capsule collection of 15 engagement rings and wedding bands features only antique and repurposed diamonds, sourced at auction or repurposed from existing pieces. Inspired by Art Deco, her designs juxtapose vintage stones with modern silhouettes. Highlights include the Cassian engagement ring, featuring a 3.55ct grey fancy antique diamond set in an 18ct yellow gold double band. £27,000, rachelboston.co.uk
Hailing from the small town of Biella in Northern Italy, Artknit Studios focuses on circularity, crafting luxurious basics using natural and biodegradable materials. Currently, 88 per cent of its supply chain is fully traceable (with a goal to reach 100 per cent in the next few years), and it offers an in-house repair service. The Linen Cotton Sahariana Jacket, £270, artknit-studios.com
HOME COMFORTS
French-born and Lisbon-based ceramicist Laetitia Rouget's playful and tongue-in-cheek creations are made in Portugal by local artisans, in limited quantities and through environmentally conscious practices. Colourful and quirky, her animal-shaped candle holders and patterned serving platters are sure to bring a touch of fun to any table. Indigo Tulip Fruit Platter, €160, laetitiarouget.com
ARM CANDY
For Spring/Summer 25, Rabanne’s Creative Director Julien Dossena paid tribute to the brand’s iconic 1969 assemblage bags with a capsule of three Artisan Editions. Each an exquisite work of art, they have been reimagined in a di erent material in collaboration with a historic house. Maison Arthus Bertrand recreated the signature disks in 18ct yellow gold, Astier de Villatte in glazed ceramic and glassmaker Venini in coloured Murano glass. rabanne.com
LIVING
IN THE PINK
Make a splash this season with West One Bathrooms’ smart curved concrete trough Iva basin with corrugated edges, in Blush, £2,880, alongside a bespoke cabinet, by Mia Karlsson Interior Design. All made to order, other colourways include Storm or Forest. Dress with chic 5th Avenue brassware in Brushed Copper, £732. westonebathrooms.com com
SERVED WITH A TWIST
Bringing together some of the most stylish names in interiors, design duo Campbell-Rey has launched a collection with The Lacquer Company, including this Felix Drinks Table (£1,200), a nod to the golden age of 20th-century Art Deco lacquering using the Son Mài technique. With a geometric top and shelf, it is the perfect spot for a wellmixed cocktail. The range also includes trays and consoles. thelacquercompany.co.uk
MAKING WAVES
Referencing the watery hues of seasonal shifts, Marea, which means tides in Italian, is the new range from Ochre. Crafted in Murano glass, the pieces echo the soft Venetian light and terracottas found in the city’s architecture. The triple-layered dome shapes with internal brass spirals are handmade by artisans including some of the trade’s few female glassblowers. Marea small, £4,482. ochre.net
Only a 40-minute drive from Marrakech, in the spellbinding Agafay Desert, Caravan by Our Habitas is now o ering families the chance to experience adventures ranging from desert treks and pottery making to stargazing and enjoying a Berber dinner served in a traditional tent. The resort o ers 40 Moroccan tent-style dwellings and lodges, a pool and wellness centre. Take to horseback, camelback or foot to explore the contours of the desert, with a tea or picnic lunch. With some of the clearest skies in the world, budding astronomers can take in the nighttime constellations, or hone pottery skills with a lesson by a master craftsman. Rooms from £160, ourhabitas.com
HOT STUFF
They have cornered the market in making gym going an artform and Third Space have now opened their 13th club in leafy Richmond. Designed with sculptural arches alongside natural stone and glass and tonal green interiors to match the natural surroundings, there’s a 20m pool, a Reformer Pilates studio, gizmos like Normatec recovery boots and Cowshed products. From £240 a month, thirdspace.london
FIT THE BILL
Wellness retreats don’t always need to be set against the backdrop of Austrian mountains or Mexican beaches. Take to the stunning Cornish coastline, where you can choose from activities at St Michaels resort, including wild swimming, stand-up paddle-boarding and a three-day fitness boost that incorporates yoga, hiking and strength training. On the shores of Gyllyngvase Beach and the Southwest Coastal path, the hotel has the southwest’s most expansive hydrothermal pool and a state-of-the-art health club. Enjoy mindfulness workshops, sound baths and foraging in this beautiful landscape, followed by locally sourced nutritious fare. From £775 per person, stmichaelsresort.com
SMALL WONDER
Evoking old-school holidays filled with secret gardens and sandy coves, the new collection from Pepa feels like the well-made clothing of yesteryear, replete with pretty Liberty florals, hand-smocked weaves and Mariner stripes. This smart jungle-themed cardigan is adorned with gira es and elephants. Just add a glass of freshly made lemonade. pepalondon.com
CREAM OF THE CROP
Harking back to the fun-loving ’70s, Wheat’s new collection conjures the carefree spirit of summer — a childhood spent with sand between the toes and running barefoot. The lightweight, breathable pieces feature floral prints to surfboard motifs. Familyfounded in Denmark, the clothing is rooted in the sensibilities of Scandinavian design. wheat.co.uk
NATURE
THE GREAT OUTDOORS | ECO-AWARENESS | SUSTAINABILITY
FLOWER POWER
B-Corp certified British jewellery brand Anuka only uses Fairmined gold, recycled silver and repurposed vintage chains for its creations. Its Spring collection, created in collaboration with fashion designer Patrick McDowell, is inspired by the life and works of British artist Glyn Philpot, drawing in particular from the blooms featured in his paintings. Daisy Drop earrings, £360, and Small Petal Ring, £125, anuka-jewellery.com
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD
Recently opened on the hilltops surrounding Florence, Collegio alla Querce, part of the Auberge Resorts Collection, is housed in a series of picturesque 16th-century buildings in a former boarding school, including a chapel and theatre. Immersed in the Tuscan countryside but only a few minutes’ drive from the city’s sights, and with Duomo views to enjoy, it’s the perfect base for a spring getaway. Rates from £965, aubergeresorts.com
BEST FOOT FORWARD
Équipement de Vie sailing shoes are designed for the sartorially discerning yet performance-conscious sailor. Co-founded by Charles Finch and James Barshall, both passionate sailors, the footwear is crafted from sustainable materials for optimum grip and comfort on board. A proprietary system, designed with a sailing boat’s winch button mechanisms in mind, avoids heel slips and provides extra comfort. From £155, equipementdevie.com
ON THE NOSE
A gift for the host who has everything? Aromaria’s Scent Garden Collection, a selection of 14 colourful incense sticks presented in an elegant box. With scents ranging from serene White Tea and refreshing Verbena Ginger to the deeper aromas of Cedarwood and Matcha, choose a di erent one every day according to your mood. Developed in Grasse and handcrafted in Mexico, each stick burns for 40 minutes. £72, aromaria.co.uk
Digging in
Nicholas Balfe is Chef Director and owner of the award-winning HOLM restaurant and rooms in Somerset. Here he shares his foraging tips for making the most of nature’s bounty
What is the essential kit you always carry when you’re out foraging?
I have a wood-handled Opinel folding knife that I always take with me and I’ll pull on some sturdy waterproof boots – Blundstone is a ubiquitous brand in Somerset, but I’m more of a Red Wing guy. I also take a good-sized tote bag to carry my haul.
Can you forage all year round and in every kind of weather?
In theory yes, but there isn’t much growing from November to February. Spring is a really lovely time – and a favourite of mine – to go out and look, followed by the late summer/ early autumn when the hedgerows are t to burst with natural produce.
What “homework” can you recommend for those considering taking it up?
The Forager’s Calendar by John Wright is very good and a great place to start.
What is the most common thing you forage for in the South West?
Wild garlic is hugely abundant in Somerset,
I’m not sure why... It’s much harder to nd elsewhere, so I’m always very grateful to have access to so much and it’s brilliant for pesto, oils, soups, ferments and pickles. In London, it would cost us around £15 per kg from our wholesalers!
What sort of things are typically found inland in the UK and what do you use them for in the restaurant?
Elder ower makes beautiful vinegars, syrups and cocktails.Sloe berries are perfect for gin, tinctures, tonics and infusions, and if you salt them they have a similarity to olives.
How about coastal areas? Alexanders are a wild vegetable and a favourite of mine. Every part can be eaten, from the root to the owers and I especially like using them for pickling, and the leaves are perfect for making purées. Rock samphire, apparently a protected plant, grows like the clappers along the South Coast and is wonderful blanched and avoured with sharp lemon to go with sh. I also pick the sea beet that
ourishes in Dorset’s West Bay and sauté it like spinach – delicious.
What should you be REALLY wary of?
Hemlock! With its fern-like leaves, it looks a bit like Sweet Cicely, which is delicious and sprouts up along river banks and hedges all around the country. But no matter what the plant, if you are even slightly unsure, don’t take the risk.
What are some of the least-known produce you have found and how do you use them? I love sprouting sea kale; it makes a tasty crudité for an anchovy dip. At the beginning of its season in February, the buds are a beautiful shade of purple and so tender.
Is there any etiquette or rules that newbie foragers should bear in mind?
Yes, as a rule of thumb, never take more than a third of what is there. That way, there will always be some left for the next person who comes along, or the animals who rely on it as a source of food. holmsomerset.co.uk
Right: Nicholas is an experienced forager and regularly picks locally found ingredients to use in his restaurant kitchen
