Canary Wharf Magazine March 2020

March 2020

Magazine

BRIDGET JONES IN THE #METOO ERA

How her working life would be so different today

KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS

The thawing of an ice queen

YACHT’S OCCURRING?

The secrets behind the wonders of the sea

PEARL LOWE

The former rebel explains how she sought solace in interior design

Street Style

Menswear trends from Reiss, London Fashion Week report and spring inspiration from Paul Smith

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CANADA PLACE

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E D I TO R’ S L ET T E R

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ondon in 1995 was pretty cool. Oasis, Pulp and Supergrass formed the soundtrack to the year. Combat trousers, backless vests and Kickers were the fashion staples and text messaging friends from our Nokia mobile phones was the way to find out where Pete Tong was DJ-ing that weekend.

It was also the year Bridget Jones popped onto the scene in a weekly column in the pages of The Independent (based, at that time, here at Canary Wharf ). The column chronicled the life of Jones as a 30-something singleton trying to make sense of life and love. She drank wine by the pint, chain-smoked, ate beans from a can, worried about her tights and desperately wanted to marry Hugh Grant. How times have changed. But it’s a fact this character, who was somehow both tragic and heroic, had a huge influence on women’s lives. In 2016 the Woman’s Hour Power List named her as one of seven women who had had the biggest impact on women’s lives over the past 70 years – alongside Margaret Thatcher, Barbara Castle, Germaine Greer and Beyoncé.

On page 28, Rob Crossan celebrates the 25th anniversary of the character and looks at the effect Bridget had on society – and how different her life would be in today’s more progressive working world.

And, as it’s Mother’s Day this month, more strong women are celebrated in this issue.

Actress Kristin Scott Thomas tells us how she balances her work and life (p.16) and sculptress Helaine Blumenfeld describes what inspired her to create many of the artworks displayed on the Canary Wharf estate later this month (p.38).

On page 70, Pearl Lowe – someone who was also a big part of the London scene in the 1990s - tells Ellen Millard how she swapped city life for the country and found strength in maximalism design and her relationship with her daughter Daisy.

There’s also a big fashion focus this issue.

We take a look at the highlights from London Fashion Week and menswear from Reiss with the brand’s perfect spring looks for the man about town. Have a great month,

Dawn Alford

THIS ISSU E THE TEAM HAVE BEE N ...

SEEING PINK – FOR AFTERNOON TEA AT SKETCH

The stunning venue, that never fails to impress, has recently launched an interactive app which brings artworks by Turnerprize winning artist David Shrigley to life through augmented reality.

STAYCATIONING...

at the fabulous St Martin’s Hotel in London’s West End. The hotel opened in the 90s and is as cool today as it was then.

PURPLE REIGNED…

at the launch of Jo Malone’s newest limited edition collection – Lavenderland. The scents and room fragrances are made from English lavender, blended with other natural ingredients like silver birch.

ADMIRING THE BEAUTY OF THE BOTANICA COLLECTION

BY LALIQUE

Founder René Lalique historically celebrated nature and the new collection by this French brand is stunning. See it at the Conduit Street boutique.

OBSESSED WITH DISCUSSING PARASITE

We’ve all seen it and we all wholeheartedly loved it. We can’t say too much more about the movie – if you’ve seen it you will know why – if you haven’t just go – don’t delay – just go.

Magazine

C ON TR IB U TOR S

CONTENT DIRECTOR

Dawn Alford

DEPUTY EDITOR

Ellen Millard

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Richard Brown

DIGITAL EDITOR

Mhairi Mann

SENIOR ASSISTANT EDITOR

Anna Prendergast

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Natasha Afxentiou HEAD OF DESIGN

Laddawan Juhong SENIOR DESIGNER

Ismail Vedat

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Alice Ford

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Eren Ellwood

GENERAL MANAGER

Fiona Smith

COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR

Rachel Gilfillan

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Samantha Lathan

BRAND EXECUTIVE

Dom Jeffares

Rowena Marella-Daw

Doug McKinlay

Julia Zaltzman

On page 88, writer Rowena Marwella-Daw explores Portugal’s Carvoeiro and Evora.

Freelance photographer and writer Doug McKinlay shares his candid snaps of Japan’s Hokkaido on page 94.

Yacht expert Julia Zaltzman discovers the boundary-pushing concepts transforming the yachting industry (p.64).

Where’s next on your travel bucket list?

French Polynesia has always been on my hit list, and my first visit to The Brando fulfilled that dream. Next time I want to sail around the lesser known islands, then dance Ori Tahiti at the annual Heiva i Tahiti festival.

What are you looking forward to in March?

March marks the arrival of spring, heralding new beginnings, new challenges, and more exciting places to explore.

What is your suitcase essential? I always take a couple of Canon EOS 5D Mark IVs, plus a variety of lenses.

I suppose with the camera’s tripod is really essential too.

What are you looking forward to in March?

Definitely the start of spring. The lighter offers we photographers a great deal more opportunity.

Which yacht would you most like to charter?

If I had the freedom (and finances) to charter any yacht in the world, it would be the inspirationally-designed motoryacht Elandess.

What are you looking forward to in March?

Cruising aboard an expedition yacht in the British Virgin Islands to track turtles, search for Anegada rock iguanas and snorkel the warm, transparent waters.

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CONTE NTS ISSUE NO. 176 – MARCH 2020

REGULARS 10

CONTRIBUTORS Meet the people behind the March issue

14

THE AGENDA Everything you need to know this month

46

24 WELLBEING

Fresh fragrances and new fitness programmes

33

FOOD & DRINK Lunch favourites and Mother’s Day treats

52

FASHION SHOOT Introducing Reiss’s Italian Fabric collection

69

KIDS’ CLUB Sustainable sneakers and smart childcare solutions

FEATURES

16

THE THAWING OF THE ICE QUEEN Kristin Scott Thomas on her new role in Netflix’s Rebecca

28

25 YEARS OF BRIDGET JONES How the beloved 90s heroine would fare in a post- #MeToo world

38

ROMANCING THE STONE Helaine Blumenfeld OBE presents her largest solo exhibition in the heart of Canary Wharf

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WHAT WE LOVED AT LONDON FASHION WEEK Trends, talent and truly beautiful clothes – the best from LFW AW20

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62

70

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BAG IT UP A new V&A exhibition in celebration of the handbag

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DREAMING IS BELIEVING The innovative designers steering the yacht industry into the future

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SWEET AND LOWE Former party girl Pearl Lowe on her love of interior design

76

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE Animal-inspired interiors

TRAVEL

84

WELLNESS RETREATS The top destinations for R&R

88

PORTUGUESE SURF AND TURN

94

Discovering the beauty of Carvoeiro and Evora

WILDERNESS, WILDLIFE AND WHISKY

Exploring Japan’s Wild North: the island of Hokkaido

1 0 0 OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH

52

Finding solace in Lancashire’s Forest of Bowland

PROPERTY

1 21

SMALL WONDERS Why small homes are big business

Book Club

Exhibition

Biophilia: You + Nature + Home

by Sally Coulthard

Radical Figures: Painting in the New Millennium at Whitechapel Gallery

We could all do with becoming more in touch with nature, and the newest book by bestselling author Sally Coulthard is on hand to help with just that. The links between home, health and happiness are explored across eight chapters which draw upon environmental research and neuroscience to show how the biophilia trend can positively affect wellbeing.

From incorporating natural materials into decor, to understanding light and rhythms, more of the natural world can easily be introduced into day-to-day life to achieve a more calming environment.

At Whitechapel Gallery, peruse a curation of 40 works created by artists during the past two decades which explore contemporary social issues, from politics and race to body image, gender, and sexuality.

The art pushes the boundaries of figurative painting and the bodies presented in the images are depicted in experimental ways, with some fragmented and morphed and others fluid and non-gendered.

Expect to discover works by 10 painters including Kenyan-born Michael Armitage, Tala Madani who explores sexual and cultural identity, British painter Ryan Mosley and contemporary artist Christina Quarles.

A

From £9.50, until 10 May, Whitechapel Gallery, Whitechapel High Street, E1, whitechapelgallery.org

the

FROM TOP NICOLE EISENMAN, PROGRESS: REAL AND IMAGINED [RIGHT PANEL], 2006, COURTESY OF RINGIER AG/SAMMLUNG RINGIER, SWITZERLAND; DANA SCHUTZ, IMAGINE YOU AND ME, 2018, COURTESY OF THE ARTIST, PETZEL, NEW YORK, THOMAS DANE, LONDON & CONTEMPORARY FINE ARTS, BERLIN; NICOLE EISENMAN, PROGRESS: REAL AND IMAGINED [LEFT PANEL], 2006, COURTESY OF RINGIER AG / SAMMLUNG RINGIER, SWITZERLAND

£14.99, published 19 March, Waterstones, Cabot Place

GENDA EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS MONTH WORDS NATASHA AFXENTIOU

4

NEWS

Theatre Witness For the Prosecution, London County Hall Given Witness for The Prosecution’s post-war, courtroom-based plot, you’d be hard pressed to find a better setting for the play than the historic debating chamber of County Hall. Completed in 1958, the grand, marble-clad hall boasts 210 stalls-style seats and three Public Galleries – meaning it doesn’t require a huge amount of poetic licence to imagine yourself sitting at the Old Bailey as we’re introduced to the accused murderer Leonard Vole. Charismatic turns from new cast members Taz Skylar (Vole) and Jo Stone-Fewings (Vole’s defending QC) inject an intense energy into this enduring legal drama, which corkscrews towards a conclusion that will gratify even the most attentionzapped of Netflix addicts.

of the best...

Mother’s Day gifts

Much like all the mums of the world, every bunch of flowers is unique.

Beautiful bouquets are a timeless, colourful and fragrant way to treat the women in your life this Mother’s Day. Arrangements from £50, Brown’s London, Canada Place, brownslondon.co.uk

From £12, witnesscountyhall.com

Even the busiest mums should find time to Restore and Recover. The two-hour Essential Therapie package rebalances the body, calms the mind and nurtures the skin with a soothing massage and Elemis superfood facial. £130, Essential Therapie at Canary Wharf, 139 Three Colt Street, E14

Exhibition

Film

Andy Warhol, Tate Modern

Mulan

The first Andy Warhol exhibition at the Tate Modern in almost 20 years opens this March.

Warhol’s most celebrated and iconic works will go on display (pop-art images of Marilyn Monroe, Campbell’s soup cans and Coca-cola all present and correct) alongside pieces not previously exhibited in the UK, including portraits of black and Latin trans women and drag queens from the artist’s 1975 series, Ladies and Gentlemen.

More than two decades since its original release in 1998, the live-action remake of Mulan will be released this March. Equipped with enviable martial arts skills, Liu Yifei plays the titular role in this much-loved classic, which follows the adventures of Mulan as she masquerades as a male warrior to protect her father.

From 12 March 2020, £22, Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1, tate.org.uk

From 27 March, Everyman Cinema, Crossrail Place

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Molton Brown’s newly launched Milk Musk fragrance collection exudes luxury from the inside out and is presented in a limited edition white box tied with gold thread. £75, Molton Brown, Jubilee Place

Renowned for improving complexion and calming puffy skin, rose quartz has been used in the new double-ended face roller from The White Company. £30, The White Company, Jubilee Place 15

KRISTIN SCOTT-THOMAS ATTENDS THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER PREMIERE DURING THE 70TH ANNUAL CANNES FILM FESTIVAL, ©TANIAVOLOBUEVA/ SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

T h e t h aw i n g o f t h e

Ice Queen DISILLUSIONED WITH FILM, DAME KRISTIN SCOTT T H O M A S S O U G H T O U T T H E S TA G E , W H E R E A C L U T C H OF ELECTRIFYING PERFORMANCES RESTORED HER FAITH IN HER CRAFT – AND IN HERSELF WORDS PETER WALLACE

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KRISTIN SCOTT-THOMAS ATTENDS THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER PREMIERE DURING THE 70TH ANNUAL CANNES FILM FESTIVAL, ©ANDREA RAFFIN/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

K

INTERVIEW

ristin Scott Thomas is known not only for her captivating performances but also for her ice-queen persona. Her impeccably chic fashion sense, perfect bone structure and alabaster skin combine into a dauntingly aloof beauty. She has said she finds it “funny” that she scares younger women, but it’s easy to see that she could be intimidating. There is no doubting her star quality, however – nor her steely determination.

In her late teenage years, for example, she decamped to Paris alone to pursue her acting career. “I was fleeing London, really,” Scott Thomas, now 59, explains. “I was teaching drama at north London comprehensives after a course at the Central School.

I had the feeling that if I stayed there I would never really try to become an actress. I had studied acting in London but my teachers were very dismissive of me, and one told me that I had no talent and should do something else with my life.”

The move to France turned out to be definitive – she adopted the country as her second home. “The advantage of going to Paris was that I was considered a little bit exotic – that is, if English girls can ever be exotic,” she now recalls.

“But the best place to go if you want to feel special is somewhere foreign, because people treat you as special because you’re different.”

Her 1986 silver-screen debut was perhaps not the most auspicious: she took a lead role in the admittedly woeful Under the Cherry Moon – “I was so appallingly bad” – starring and directed by Prince. But she has long since established her acting pedigree in some of the top films of the intervening decades, including A Handful of Dust and Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient, for which she garnered an Oscar nomination. In Four Weddings and a Funeral, her sorrowful yet stoical confession of unrequited love stole the show.

“I remember feeling like the luckiest person in the world,” she says of her work opposite Ralph Fiennes in Minghella’s 1996 masterpiece. “It was such a rich, beautiful role. I was so amazed they gave it to me. It was a total no-brainer that this would be fabulous. Just working with Ralph and Anthony even for half an hour, we got all excited about it. At last, something you’re excited about actually happens, comes true and makes you happy. It’s a rare thing.”

A decade or so later, however, and Scott Thomas had backed away from the big screen, choosing instead to ply her trade on stage. “Over the course of things, I think I made some very good films, but the work just didn’t satisfy me anymore,” she recalls. “So I fled to the theatre for a while and tanked up energy there. I made a pact with myself that I would spend some time away from film, and that when I did feel like working again, it would only be

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INTERVIEW

something that appealed to me on an artistic level, rather than part of what one does to earn a living. I was fed up and burnt out.”

This reinvention as a stage actress confirms the strength of Scott Thomas’s will – as do her early years, which were far from easy. A double childhood tragedy, in which both her Royal Navy father and stepfather were killed in plane accidents a few years apart, paved the way for her assuming responsibility as “the team leader of her younger siblings.”

“As a teenager, I thought of myself as the one who was always showing everybody a good example,” she nods. “I don’t know how my mother managed. There was a lot of pinching and scraping to get by. It was up to my mother to raise five children on her own, and she did a tremendous job. As a family, there were a lot of good times, so I hate the whole ‘Oh, the tragic childhood...’ It was bad.

But you just ride it. People have been through worse.”

In 1987 she married eminent French obstetrician François Olivennes – they have three children. Her daughter Hannah is a journalist and the mother of Scott Thomas’s granddaughter, born in June 2017; older son Joseph is an actor; teenager George lives in France. Scott Thomas acknowledges that a relationship with an actor is no picnic. “I’ve seen friends of mine, who I’m close to and know well, in performances where you cannot understand where that comes from,” she told Italian journalist Alain Elkann in 2018. “They’re unrecognisable. To be involved emotionally and intimately with somebody who does this magical thing of turning into someone else can be frightening, disturbing, and worrisome.”

Scott Thomas’s marriage ended in divorce after 17 years. “I don’t want to go into details, but I have had a pretty rough time recently,” she told The Guardian soon after. “I feel like I’ve climbed a mountain in some way. I’ve realised that I am who I am and that is it. Like it or lump it. I’m not around to please anyone any more, and it’s a huge relief.”

It’s no coincidence, surely, that as she scaled that particular personal “mountain”, Scott Thomas sank her teeth into some of her favourite roles – on stage, rather than the screen. Away from the glitz, glamour and superficiality of the movie industry she embarked on a series of tour-de-force performances. “I suddenly felt independent, you could walk on stage and you could stand on your head if you really wanted to. No one’s going to say stop, don’t do that, that’s a ridiculous idea. There’s this feeling of independence and trust – I could give myself permission to play things in a certain way and see if they worked or they didn’t. I could trust myself.”

OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM TOP THE ENGLISH PATIENT WITH RALPH FIENNES (1996); THE DARKEST HOUR WITH GARY OLDMAN (2017)

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“Actors all share that desire to explore what it means to be another person, what it’s like to be someone else” This trust was not misplaced. For example, the Royal Court Theatre’s production of Chekhov’s The Seagull won Scott Thomas an Olivier Award and then transferred to Broadway.

She was also Olivier-nominated for her mesmeric central performance as Sophocles’ eponymous Electra at the Old Vic. “I love the fact that the Old Vic stage is in the centre,” she says.

“The audience becomes a part of the show and it’s as if there’s much more direct connection between you and the audience.

What was also interesting is that you’re so close to everyone that you tend to notice very odd things. One night a spectator had his head buried in his programme and never looked up once. I was so angry that I wanted to snatch the programme out of his hands and tear it to pieces.”

From Sophocles to streaming sites: Scott Thomas will soon star in the Netflix adaptation of classic gothic tale Rebecca, alongside Lily James. This follows two high-profile appearances in WWII drama Darkest Hour and in the BBC smash hit Fleabag. Such projects diverge about as far from Under the Cherry Moon as a career can go. Scott Thomas has travelled far off-screen too. In 2015, she was appointed a dame – “it was very touching.”

Though she insists that she leads a “very mundane and quite boring life. There is nothing exciting about it. What has helped me to escape feeling that I’m living in a bubble as an actor is having been able to move in different worlds, not only in the film business. Although many of my friends work in the cinema, it’s been important for me to have many other interests in life and spend time with people who don’t live in my unreal film world – all that gives you perspective.”

She currently divides her time between Paris and London, and admits to worries surrounding the current political climate, especially Brexit, which has brought former feelings of not belonging back to the surface – “I’ve always felt a bit sans patrie, you know? Stuck in the middle.”

But Scott Thomas is clearly well aware of who she is – even if she remains an iconic figure in an industry where your merit is mostly based on how well you can inhabit another skin.

“Actors all share that desire to explore what it means to be another person, what it’s like to be someone else,” she says. “I am terribly inarticulate,” she adds with a laugh. “I find it very difficult to say what I think, which is why I am an actress. If you are inarticulate you can either become a painter, or a musician, or an actor, and the laziest of these three is becoming an actor, because somebody else writes it and you just put the hat on and say the words.”

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Object of

D ES IRE

Lavender hill: Jo Malone London’s trio of Lavenderland colognes offers a fresh perspective on the fragrant flower. £50 each, Jo Malone London, Cabot Place

T H E AVA B A N G L E

J U B I L E E P L AC E . C A N A RY W H A R F . + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 75 3 8 2 3 3 2 DAVIDMROBINSON.CO.UK

GLOW GETTER As the days get brighter, so should your skin. Perfect for banishing the dullness of winter, the newly-launched Le Blanc Rosy Light Drops by Chanel is an illuminating highlighting fluid.

Add this pearly iridescent product to your skin to give your complexion a shimmering glow. £38, Boots, Jubilee Place

ICE, ICE BABY

Wellbeing FROM FRESH FRAGRANCES TO NEW FITNESS PROGRAMMES, IT’S TIME TO INDULGE IN A LITTLE ME-TIME WORDS NATASHA AFXENTIOU

Feeling the chill is cool – sort of.

Cryotherapy, a treatment that involves spending several minutes in a freezing chamber, has great wellness benefits.

Le Chalet Cryo opened in Canary Wharf last year and is the only clinic in the UK to offer a combination of cryotherapy, dry hydro massage and luminotherapy.

Good enough for some of London’s Premier League clubs, the cryotherapy chamber provides a three-minute treatment to aid muscle mending and reduce inflammation. Luminotherapy, meanwhile, is a great stress-buster that uses artificial light to activate inactive brain cells and improve memory skills. £49 for the first session, Le Chalet Cryo, Canada Place

NEWS

Spring Scents Three of this season’s most exciting fragrance launches

FLOWER POWER Put a spring in your step with a citrus-floral fragrance that celebrates the season. Herbae par L’Occitane L’eau is centred around the white clovers found in Provence. The flower grows in unexpected places, giving it softness and strength – qualities the fragrance embodies. £50 for 50ml, L’Occitane, Jubilee Place

PASHA DE CARTIER The new edition of Pasha de Cartier Parfum, the men’s fragrance first introduced in 1992, has been given a contemporary update with heady notes of amber and cedarwood.

BRAIN TRAINING Typically known for its strength and cardiovascular workouts, Barry’s Bootcamp has recently turned its attention to focus on mental fitness with its new initiative, Barry’s Cares. As part of this, students from The John Roan School in Greenwich have been making weekly trips to the Canary Wharf studio, which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary.

During their trips, students have taken part in special classes and talks which stress the important

link between physical and mental wellbeing.

Additionally, Barry’s new challenge, Face Yourself, pushes you to complete a certain number of classes to win a prize. Alongside the obvious physical benefits of this challenge, the mind also benefits from complementary use of the Calm.com app. For each person who completes the challenge Barry’s, will be donating to the mental health charity Mind and hopes to raise £5,000.

Barry’s Bootcamp, Crossrail Place

From £75, Cartier, harrods.com

BIGGER IS BETTER The classic Bleu de Chanel for men has gone super-sized.

A limited edition 300ml bottle of the scent has been released, making it three times the size of the original and three times as enjoyable. £231 for 300ml, chanel.com

FULL STRETCH When it comes to stretching, Flexology knows its stuff. In collaboration with fitness coach Carli Wheatley, the Canary Wharf studio has extended its offering to include a new programme: Re-Balance.

Mindfulness and stretching techniques are combined to strengthen the connection between body and mind. The new classes use stretching and breathing techniques to target tight muscles and shortness of breath and take control of stress, fears and negative mindsets for total realignment of the body and mind.

Flexology, Canada Place

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DISCOVER THE

BEAUTY

HEALTHCARE . PHARMACY . SKINCARE . WELLBEING

PROMOTION

S m ash H i t HAVING OPENED ITS DOORS IN C A N A RY W H A R F AT T H E E N D O F L A S T Y E A R , B X R L O N D O N ’ S PAY- A S - Y O U - G O B R A N D S W E AT B Y B X R I S P R O V I N G T O B E A H E AV Y HITTER IN THE BOUTIQUE GYM GAME

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hen opening a boxing gym, it pays to have the heavyweight champion of the world in your corner.

Backed by Anthony Joshua himself, London’s BXR quicky rose to the top of the capital’s fitness ranks when it opened in 2017. Its popularity was further bolstered by the launch of Sweat by BXR, a pay-to-train concept that allows time-poor fitness fanatics to enjoy the perks of a boutique gym without the commitment of a contract.

Last year, Sweat by BXR opened its second location and first standalone studio in Canary Wharf. The site offers Sweat’s signature Full Body Programme of classes, which are based on strength and conditioning, cardiovascular exercise and core training. Each Sweat by BXR

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workout is created in collaboration with elite coaches, osteopaths and physiotherapists, to create low impact, balanced workouts. Inspired by the core pillars of athletic training, the result is an optimal workout generating maximum results and calorie burn, based on scientific research and consultation.

Boutique-sized classes allow for a major focus on form and technique.

The brand’s signature Versaclimber Cardio studio has proved a particular hit.

First unveiled in the Marylebone studio as Europe’s first Versaclimber-based class, this effective, full-body workout has garnered a reputation as one of the most intense cardio classes in London, with an estimated 800 calories burned in each 45-minute session. The high-energy cardio machine activates all major muscle

groups by mimicking the natural motion of climbing, strengthening muscles to improve posture and balance.

This February sees the launch of StrengthBOX in the Canary wharf studio, which offers curated sessions designed to develop boxing technique and total body strength. Boxing is widely renowned as one of the best exercises to work out the entire body and has become a favoured training method among individuals looking to improve their overall conditioning. StrengthBOX classes will combine traditional boxing skills training with resistance and weight training.

Paired with high-energy music, this class will offer a unique and intense full body workout. Gloves at the ready…

Sweat by BXR, Crossrail Place 27

25 ye a rs o f B ri dg et Jo nes A QUARTER OF A CENTURY SINCE BRIDGET JONES WAS INTRODUCED TO T H E W O R L D , AT T I T U D E S T O W O M E N IN THE WORKPLACE HAVE CHANGED. HOW WOULD THE NINETIES HEROINE FARE IN THIS POST #METOO ERA? WORDS ROB CROSSAN

THIS PAGE BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY, 2001, IMAGE COURTESY OF MOVIESTILLSDB.COM; OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM TOP BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY, 2001, IMAGE COURTESY OF MOVIESTILLSDB.COM; HELEN FIELDING, IMAGE COURTESY OF DFREE/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM; RENÉE ZELLWEGER, IMAGE COURTESY OF JSTONE/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

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as it really barely two decades ago that we wouldn’t bat an eyelid if a man pinched a woman’s bottom in an office lift? It sounds like the culture of a particularly unpleasant episode of Mad Men. But this isn’t early 1960s advertising culture. This was the mid-1990s and Bridget Jones was getting referred to as ‘skirt’ in the workplace in the 2001 hit Bridget Jones’s Diary.

It’s a quarter of a century since Helen Fielding’s character, a 32-year-old chain smoking, heavy drinking, Londoner made her very first appearance in a column published in The Independent.

Her daily updates on calories consumed, wine drunk and men bedded were a huge success, with the columns being turned into books and then three wildly commercially successful films.

“They (the columns) were funny and very reflective of the period,” says Eric Feller, co-chair of the British production company Working Title Films, which made all three films.

“They were about being a single girl, but they seemed fresh and exciting, almost about an anti-hero. She wasn’t selling the image of who she wanted to be – she was selling who she was.”

But reading Fielding’s early columns now, and watching the first two movies complete with the Austen-esque Darcy, played

by Colin Firth, and the lascivious Daniel Cleaver, played by Hugh Grant, can feel like a portal into an entirely different, infinitely more misogynistic age.

“I think one of the reasons the movie went on to strike such a chord was not that it was just funny, but it was also wish fulfilment,” commented Sharon Maguire, director of all three Jones movies. “We curvy girls in our 30s could be presented with the likes of not one, but two dashing men. It was about the fear of loneliness. In an age when feminism had handed women

so many choices, the fear of being alone was still a valid fear.”

But is Bridget still a heroine in the era of #MeToo? To read her 1990s entries is to time travel back to when it was de rigour for a young, white British woman, in the decade when Loaded magazine, Oasis and the zenith of the ‘lad’ era were at their peak, to stick to patriarchal tradition and believe that happiness can only be achieved through finding a dreamy male suitor.

But the cultural shifts have been seismic since that far off era. It feels more than a little passe to focus a female-led story simply on monitoring ones calorie intake and finding a man, particularly in what feels like a time of genuine change in terms of gender equality.

Last year, Fielding, herself now 61, said in an interview with the Indian news website Firstpost: “Bridget had two bosses, one of them was harassing her and the other, Daniel Cleaver, she was harassing him. Bridget today would not have been treated the way she was.”

We most recently heard from Bridget last year when she wrote a collection of new diary entries for Scarlett Curtis’s essay collection Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (and Other Lies), where she looked back on her old diaries and reassessed her old self.

“I felt like ‘a Feminist’ was another intimidating thing you were supposed to be: along with thin, in a relationship, a mother, running your own business and gliding from person to person at parties like Tina Brown,” she writes.

“I just accepted that part and parcel of having a job was that my boss would stare freely at my breasts, not know my name, and ask me to put a tight dress on to make an idiotic speech,” Her attitude has now changed: “Feminism is once again . . . a Thing. It’s a different thing. It’s not appropriated by solemn,

F E AT U R E

self-righteous intellectuals. It’s every woman’s now.”

Despite this recognition of her past, the debate continues about almost every aspect of Bridget Jones. Is she really a feminist now? And what would a millennial age reader learn, if anything, from her diaries?

“Today, Bridget Jones needn’t be limited to the confines of its chick-lit designation,” wrote Daniel Wenger in an appraisal for The New Yorker. “The notion that the equations of life do not add up is still a particular problem for women of all ages, but many young people, no matter their gender, will find some of Bridget’s story familiar.”

Though this interpretation of Bridget for Generation Y is very far from ubiquitous. Take the umbrage unleashed by noted feminist Suzanne Moore for The Guardian: “The identification with Bridget is the one pimped by so much media aimed at women: self-improvement as selfempowerment. Self is the key word. Go girl, at a time when women actually have less and less… The humour that comes from her rhetoric about being a strong independent woman is always undermined by her pseudo neurosis – waiting for the man to ring or, now she has discovered social media, to ping…

Sorry, I am not buying this fiction. The fiction is that postfeminism is not in fact anti-feminism.”

A quarter of a century on from her first appearance and perhaps it wouldn’t displease Bridget (who, Fielding notes, currently has three Instagram followers) that we’re still finding her so fascinating.

As for whether she’s a throwback to a less enlightened age or a harbinger to a more woke one, the debate, just like Bridget’s cigarette habit, shows no signs yet of reaching a happy conclusion.

LU X U R Y L ON D ON .C O.U K

RENÉE AND HELEN’S MILLIONS The Bridget Jones franchise has made extremely wealthy women out of author Helen Fielding and Renée Zellweger: Helen Fielding is rumoured to have a personal fortune of more than £30 million from the four books and three films in the series The second Bridget Jones movie The Edge of Reason may have been critically panned but it grossed more than 260 million dollars worldwide Although Zellweger has stated she would love to reprise the role for a fourth movie, the closest thing to new material that’s confirmed is a BBC documentary Being Bridget presented by Helen Fielding that is due to air this year At the time of writing the

first two Bridget Jones books alone have sold more than 15 million copies in more than 40 countries 31

NEWS

THE MAIN SQUEEZE

ELECTRIC AVENUE

Juice lovers rejoice: Joe & the Juice has landed in Canary Wharf. Satisfy your juice and organic coffee cravings in the Scandinavian-inspired surrounds of the new spot, which is a great one stop shop to enjoy your drink of choice and healthy sandwiches made freshto-order.

After opening at the end of last year, Electric Shuffle has launched a new lunch menu which is served within 20 minutes for just £10, making squeezing in a game of the venue’s shuffleboard adaptation still possible during a mid-week lunch break.

Choose a drink and dish from the daily set menu which includes delights such as a fresh Greek salad, satisfying steak and onion sandwich, kale superfood salad, truffle mushroom pizza and a selection of soft and alcoholic drinks to wash it all down with.

Joe & the Juice, Churchill Place

Lunch served weekdays 11:30am-3pm, Electric Shuffle, Cabot Square

Food & Drink W H AT ’ S O N T H E M E N U I N C A N A RY W H A R F THIS MONTH WORDS NATASHA AFXENTIOU

SWEET TREAT End Mother’s Day on a sweet note at The Ivy in the Park. Indulge on the Tulipa dessert, a white chocolate mousse with raspberries, meringue and warm chocolate sauce, which is being served especially for Mother’s Day this month. Enjoy the treat alone or after a meal with the special woman in your life to ensure she is left feeling rightly spoiled this month. £9.50, available Sunday 22 March, The Ivy in the Park, Canada Square Park

A SLICE OF ITALY Canary Wharf’s Café Brera reopens its doors in early March with a new state-of-the-art design incorporating a wine dispenser with more than 40 Italian wines to taste by the glass. Feast on favourites such as sourdough Neapolitan pizza produced by resident chef extraordinaire Patrick Durastanti, Café Brera’s own blend of coffee roasted to perfection, and homemade pastries, cakes and breads made fresh each day in the central kitchen. Buon appetito!

Café Brera, Cabot Place LU X U R Y L ON D ON .C O.U K

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PICK BOLDLY REAL CRISP APPLES. REAL JACK DANIEL’S.

DRINK RESPONSIBLY f or t he f a c t s dr ink aw a r e.c o.uk JACK DANIEL’S is a registered trademark. ©2020 Jack Daniel’s. All Rights Reserved.

FOOD & DRINK

Review

HUMBLE GRAPE WORDS ELLEN MILLARD

H

aving your friends round for a glass of wine rarely spawns a business idea – or at the very least not one good enough to execute in the morning. But for James Dawson, the simple act of popping corks in his kitchen segued into a sparkling new career.

Having charmed his friends with tasting flights served in his own home, Dawson founded Humble Grape in 2009, initially as a wine importer serving his favourite tipple to private clients. One successful Crowdfunding campaign later and Dawson opened Humble Grape’s first bricks-and-mortar space in Battersea in 2015. Part restaurant, part bar, part bottle shop, the space was designed to connect discerning oenophiles with small-lot vineyards and put a cork in the elitism typical of the wine industry.

Fast forward five years and three more shops later – Fleet Street, Islington, Liverpool Street – and Humble Grape’s fifth and newest outlet in Canary Wharf is bustling. As the wind from Storm Ciara whips brollies and commuters into frenzy, those of us perched on Humble Grape’s dusky pink banquette are feeling smug – and not least because a menu of more than 400 wines awaits our perusal.

Spanning 11 countries, Humble Grape’s extensive wine collection lines the walls of the Mackenzie Walk space, giving the impression you’ve accidently entered somebody’s private cellar. The good news is you needn’t be an expert to navigate the shelves. Sommeliers float between tables imparting wisdom on their favourite tipple as they go, from origin stories (there’s one involving wild pigs and a government official) to tasting notes.

Available to drink by the glass, carafe or bottle, each wine is handcrafted in small-lot vineyards, with the majority touting organic, biodynamic or sustainable attributes. We try Alvarinho Reserva Edmun do Val 2013, a rich white from a grower in Portugal who’s dedicated their entire craft to this singular tipple, and Cabernet Sauvignon Bartinney 2014, a red from South Africa that, when breathed in, clears your sinuses like the wine-equivalent of bulbous oil.

An accompanying menu of cheese and charcuterie boards, small plates and bigger dishes are on hand to help those teetering on the edge of sober. We line our stomachs with creamy burrata served on a bed of sorrel pesto; zingy seabass ceviche tacos that we wish were bigger than bite-sized; and crisp pork belly doused in white miso and soy glaze. A grilled hispi is the only bum note; served with a béarnaise sauce and scattered with sweetcorn, it is overshadowed by its more flavoursome counterparts.

The menu teases with hearty weekend brunch dishes of pancakes and steak and eggs, and Sunday roasts that come served with all the trimmings. Find three or more of your mates to join you and Humble Grape will throw in a free bottle too – if only to help you narrow down that 400-strong list.

Each wine is handcrafted in small-lot vineyards

18-20 Mackenzie Walk, E14, humblegrape.co.uk

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HELAINE BLUMENFELD IN HER STUDIO IN CAMBRIDGE, PHOTOGRAPHY ©ANNE PURKISS

Ro ma n c i n g the

S ton e

FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS OF F O R T U N A I N J U B I L E E PA R K , A R T I S T HELAINE BLUMENFELD OBE PRESENTS HER LARGEST SOLO EXHIBITION TO D AT E : A N U R B A N S C U L P T U R E PA R K I N THE HEART OF CANARY WHARF WORDS ELLEN MILLARD

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THIS PAGE HELAINE BLUMENFELD IN THE STUDIO WITH ESPRIT II, PHOTOGRAPHY ©BO LUTOSLAWSKI; OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM TOP HELAINE BLUMENFELD, ASCENT, 2018, PHOTOGRAPHY ©HENRYK HETFLAISZ; HELAINE BLUMENFELD, FORTUNA, 2016, PHOTOGRAPHY ©HENRYK HETFLAISZ

n a museum in Naples, Helaine Blumenfeld had an epiphany. For years she’d felt the urge to create, but struggled to find an appropriate medium with which to do so.

For her, words seemed the natural tool, but, halfway through studying a PHD in philosophy, she was yet to find the creative awakening she’d been searching for.

“I just didn’t have enough words to create these visions and dreams, which were extraordinary, into something to communicate with,” she says. “And then, suddenly, I saw these small terracotta figures from the Greek archaic period, which were full of gesture and expression. And then, in another cabinet, Cycladic pieces from 4,000 BC, which are simple and reductive.

With each of them I thought ‘that’s the language’.”

She finished her PHD at the encouragement of her husband, the writer Yorick Blumenfeld, but her path was set. Today, in her home in Granchester, a village just outside of Cambridge, some of Blumenfeld’s sculptures are perched on plinths amongst South African and African works, collected from a lifetime of travels. She’s in her 70s now, and, more than 50 years since her artistic enlightenment, has created more than 90 large-scale sculptures, and several smaller works, for private and public collections around the world.

Her creations are abstractions of the human form, striking, undulating shapes that encapsulate emotion, movement and spirituality in tactile marble, bronze and terracotta. You may have seen them at Clare College in Cambridge, at the Smithsonian Institution in her native America, opposite Hyde Park at The Lancasters, or amongst the al fresco diners in Canary Wharf’s Jubilee Park. She has exhibited alongside Henry Moore, served as vice-president of the Royal Society of Sculptors for six years (her tenure ended in 2009), and was given a nod from HM The Queen in 2011 when she was awarded an OBE. Born in Queens, New York City in 1942, Blumenfeld grew up in the Jamaica Estates, a neighbourhood perhaps most famous today as the birthplace of Donald Trump.

She met her husband in a bookshop while studying the aforementioned PHD at Columbia University and they married when she was 20, moving to Paris and eventually Cambridge, where they had two sons.

The family home, an 18th-century house bought from King’s College in 1970, is tucked behind a charmingly untamed garden that blooms under the watchful eye of a central cedar tree. At the back is Blumenfeld’s studio, a former coalhouse with a natural light at odds with the rest of the property. The fruits of her labour are scattered on the central work surface — miniature, twisting figures that hint at the sculptures to come. Her latest is hidden beneath a Sainsbury’s carrier bag, a makeshift cover to protect her work-in-progress from drying out.

INTERVIEW

“The clay is built up very gradually, and it can go any way I want it to; I have no preconceived idea of where I’m going when I start working,” she says, her soft, American lilt still intact despite her years in the UK. “I do hundreds of models and reject most of them. I just wait until I get a group of work done and then it’s easy; you see it. And then sometimes…” She trails off, lifting the carrier bag and turning her current project towards the light. “This is going to work,” she says, more to herself it seems than to me. “I see what I have to do.”

When it’s ready, she will take it to Pietrasanta, a town in northern Tuscany that is considered something of a mecca for sculptors. It is here her visions truly come to life, transformed into large-scale forms cast in bronze, or carved from Carrera marble, terracotta or cedar wood from her very own tree.

She first visited Pietrasanta in 1975 when her children were young, at the time one of the first women who wanted to learn how to carve. Her apprenticeships with “really old men who weren’t going to live long” proved invaluable.

“It was probably very good,” she says, when I ask how she found working in such a male-orientated environment. “If I were to go to Pietrasanta today, I wouldn’t ever get the education, discipline and training that I did, because there was no respect for women, and the only way to get respect in a very male-dominated society was to work and follow the same discipline. It was extremely trying some of the time, and tiring.”

It became her second home, and she would go for weeks on end to sculpt in her Italian studio. “I was very influenced by something Virginia Woolf was asked, which was why there had been no great women artists,” Blumenfeld explains. “She said the one thing an artist needs to really work freely and creatively is complete lack of distraction; being in a state, she said, was candescent. I felt that enormously; I could never escape all the thoughts that were going on, and I think being away and being in the studio, sometimes not talking to anyone for days, was very releasing.

“What it also meant was that my family didn’t come, and that was very painful,” she continues. “It was a decision I made and regretted at some points later, because I think certainly my younger son felt very abandoned. It was hard on everybody.”

Her decision was as much about gaining respect among her colleagues in Pietrasanta as it was about focus. “When I was establishing this kind of persona,” she says, “which was quite a tough character, I thought all they have to do is see me with my kids and suddenly that will evaporate.”

“The only way to get respect in a very male-dominated society was to work and follow the same discipline”

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INTERVIEW

In her own sacrifices, Blumenfeld paved the way for female sculptors of the future. Even when she won the prestigious International Sculpture Prize: Pietrasanta and Versilia in the World in 2007, the first woman in the award’s history to do so, she “campaigned not to be just a token. It took five years to get another one, and I was very active in making sure that happened”.

Having deliberately kept a low profile for most of her career, Blumenfeld decided that in order to have a legacy, she “had to have a name”. Around 15 years ago she began working with a gallery for the first time, and so followed major exhibitions, a Sky Arts documentary, Hard Beauty, and a series of public commissions.

One of these was unveiled in Canary Wharf four years ago; Fortuna, named after and inspired by the Roman goddess of luck, sits in the heart of Jubilee Park.

It was originally created for Wood Wharf (a new district due to complete in 2023) and put in Jubilee Park temporarily, but its reception was so positive that Blumenfeld has had to make a second sculpture for the new space (Metamorphosis is on view now).

It’s the success of Fortuna, along with recent exhibitions in the grounds of Salisbury and Ely cathedrals, that inspired Blumenfeld’s next project: a solo exhibition in Canary Wharf.

“I’ve never really seen a museum as a place to look at sculpture; it’s too sterile in a way,” the artist tells me. “Canary Wharf is the largest hub there is, practically, with all the parks and outdoor areas; it could be a sculpture park. But I wanted to do more than that. I wanted to stop people looking down at their phones and their feeds, and not only see the sculptures that are around them but see the world that’s there, the nature, the possibility, and the spirituality. That’s why the exhibition is called Looking Up.” Featuring more than 25 sculptures, Looking Up will focus on Blumenfeld’s signature materials: Carrara marble, terracotta, cedar wood and bronze. Spanning some 46 years, the show will include pieces dating from the 1970s to the present day, with seven new sculptures created especially for Canary Wharf.

A second exhibition at Mayfair’s Hignell Gallery will open in June, to run in tandem with the Canary Wharf show. At both, Blumenfeld will encourage audience interaction. Some larger scale pieces will be big enough to walk in-between and, unlike with most artworks, touching will be encouraged.

“At almost every show I ask for a sign to say “please touch”, because we don’t touch,” she says. “We live in a society where we’re tapping, and now with #MeToo we’re too afraid to touch LU X U R Y L ON D ON .C O.U K

OPPOSITE PAGE HELAINE BLUMENFELD WITH TAKING RISKS, 2019, PHOTOGRAPHY ©HENRYK HETFLAISZ; THIS PAGE HELAINE BLUMENFELD, EXODUS METAMORPHOSIS, 2016

people. We learn so much from touch, even as little children your first memory is touching your mother or having her touch you.”

She tells me a story about one of her first shows in New York, which was visited by a group of people from the charity Lighthouse for the Blind. “These people who couldn’t see — wow, what they had developed,” she says. “They came in with no expectation, and were touching – and each one at the end said what they thought, and it was not only so close to what I was saying, it was as though I had been coaching them. It was after that I decided you have to touch.”

As my studio tour comes to a close, she pauses to show me a final sculpture, her first attempt at drapery from her early days in Pietrasanta. It’s white marble made to look like sheets of fabric, layered over the top of one another. It is admittedly, even to my own untrained eye, not her best work, and she laughs as she shows it to me. “It was a failure, but I like to see it; it’s encouraging” she smiles. “It’s a reminder that you can get better.”

Looking Up: Helaine Blumenfeld at Canary Wharf, 16 March — 26 June, One Canada Square and throughout Canary Wharf, helaineblumenfeld.com 43

CANADA PL ACE, LONDON E14 5ER

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T H I R D S PAC E . L O N D O N

12/02/2020 12:21

S T Y L E

The power of actor Michael B. Jordan’s smile will no doubt sell this T-shirt alone, but there’s a lovely, philanthropic reason too, should his grin not sway you. In partnership with UK Youth, Coach has launched the psychedelic Dream It Real tee, for which 100 per cent of the net profits will be donated to the charity, which offers support, advice and training to young people across the country. £50, Coach, Cabot Place

Highlights from London Fashion Week AW20 (p.46)

Stylish work wardrobe updates courtesy of Reiss (p.52)

Sharp suiting for men and women

by Paul Smith (p.60)

What we loved at

L ONDON FA SH I ON WE E K RECYCLED FABRICS AND A WEAR-FOREVER M A N T R A WA S AT T H E H E A R T O F A M O R E S O C I A L LY C O N S C I O U S L O N D O N F A S H I O N W E E K , WHICH STILL SERVED A JOYFUL DOSE OF Q U I N T E S S E N T I A L LY B R I T I S H W I T, I R R E V E R E N C E A N D D E V I L - M AY- C A R E F E M I N I N I T Y WORDS MHAIRI MANN & ELLEN MILLARD

STYLE

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Brilliant florals

1

Royal fashion A pregnant Hannah Weiland presented a new Shrimps collection at a Grade I listed Georgian Townhouse in St James’s. Dramatic mutton sleeves, Scottish tartans and Balmoral-ready faux furs paid tribute to HM The Queen and the monarch’s brightly coloured, quintessentially British wardrobe. Shrimps also introduced an innovative new faux sheepskin in royal blue, made from recycled materials. Playfully regal accessories punctuated the show, from sustainablysourced woollen balaclavas and oversized pussy-bows to glossy satin gloves and, of course, a new bounty of top handled beaded bags.

LU X U R Y L ON D ON .C O.U K

2 Sustainable style Mulberry kicked off London Fashion Week 2020 with a three-day programme of events themed around its commitment to sustainability. The brand’s carbon-neutral Somerset factory was transported to its New Bond Street store, where guests had the chance to see Mulberry’s wizard craftspeople in action as they created the recently launched Portobello Tote, the house’s first to be made from 100 per cent sustainable leather. Mulberry also launched its first progressive circular economy programme, The Mulberry Exchange, for which guests were invited to have their Mulberry bags authenticated and appraised, with the opportunity to put this value towards a new purchase.

Good-time glamour

Nobody does prints quite like Richard Quinn, who seemingly lives by the rule ‘the bolder, the better’.

The British designer’s AW20 show was held at the Royal Horticultural Halls, a suitable setting for what turned out to be a brilliantly floral collection. With a backdrop designed by Derek Hardie-Martin, who transformed the slate grey building into Quinn’s “fashion dreamhouse”, the show was a riot of colour, with bulbous ballgowns and matching gimp masks (naturally) in granny-chic blooms and rainbow hues.

But it was Quinn’s first foray into menswear that stole the show: an embellished two-piece fit for the most fashion-forward of Pearly Kings.

3

Halpern’s buoyant bubble dresses and sequin super-flares are an instant mood booster, presented this season in a kaleidoscopic colour palette of shimmering gold, forest green and fuschia pink. The American designer, who has applied for British residency, paid tribute to the British haute hippies and fashion designers who inspire his glamour-suffused collections, including Ossie Clark, Bill Gibb and Zandra Rhodes.

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STYLE

7

Spice Girl platforms

Audience participation

5

For Molly Goddard’s AW20 show, guests were arranged around dining tables, set with bottles of wine and dishes of bread and butter. The audience thus became part of the set, while Storm Dennis raged outside. A nineties photograph of her toddler self and her father on Portobello Road was the impetus for Goddard’s new collection, which styled the designer’s trademark frothy tulle with Fair Isle knit cardigans and beanie hats topped with taffeta bows. Goddard also presented menswear for the first time in the form of retro-infused checked suiting.

Team Beckham was out in force on the front row to support mum Victoria’s AW20 collection, presented at a banquet hall opposite 10 Downing Street.

Her new knee-length tweed skirts were met by sleek thigh-high leather boots for a trendsetting look that was both minimalist and statement-making. There were also velvet blazers and wistful fluid silk dresses, inspired by Richard Avedon’s dynamic 1960s portraits and imagery of Marisa Berenson, the granddaughter of legendary Italian designer Elsa Schiaparelli and muse of Yves Saint Laurent during the 1970s.

6

Lena Dunham

Lena Dunham made her London Fashion Week debut on the 16Arlington runway. The Londonbased label, founded by Marco Capaldo and Kikka Cavenati, is best known for its feather-trimmed jeans that have been doing the rounds on Instagram.

The label takes its name from the London address where the Italian-born designers were living when they thought up the brand, which couples laidback shapes with dancefloorready sequins and theatrical embellishment.

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Bags for life

In lieu of a scheduled show this year, Anya Hindmarch closed her boutiques for three days during London Fashion Week and filled them with used plastic bottles, to raise awareness of the dangers of throwaway synthetics. The installation coincides with the launch of Hindmarch’s new eco-friendly ‘I Am A Plastic Bag’ tote, made from recycled plastic bottles. These are melted down to form a yarn, which is then meticulously woven to create a cottoncanvas-like material and finished with an innovative recycled plastic coating, which took more than two years to develop. The trendsetting new tote follows Hindmarch’s 2007 collection, ‘I’m Not A Plastic Bag’, which sold out worldwide at the time.

LU X U R Y L ON D ON .C O.U K

You had me at

H A L A W H Y J O N H A L A’ S N E W S A L O N I N J U B I L E E PLACE IS YOUR NEW GO-TO FOR HIGH-END HAIR AND TOP-TIER SERVICE WORDS ANNA PRENDERGAST

I

t’s never easy finding a hairdresser, but Jon Hala’s approach makes it difficult to resist booking an appointment on the spot. “We will never, ever sit a client down and ask them what we’re doing today,” says Jon. “Instead, we try and take the reigns a little more, because the reason you come to an expert is to benefit from that expertise. I’ll often tell them what I think they need, and how we can make that work with their lifestyle. It has to be collaborative.”

Expertise is something Hala has by the bucketload. He started out with Sassoon and worked with Nicky Clarke, and has spent the last decade cutting and styling for fashion editorials, celebrities and high net worth clients, running a salon in Chelsea and pivoting to Canary Wharf late last year. Now, he’s a colour specialist, offering completely bespoke colour treatments that lift natural shades and transforms texture. “I take inspiration from all over the word, such as Korea, where hair botox is big – we’re one of the few salons who offers that in the UK, and it adds so

much volume and gloss. Sometimes we’ll pop a bit in the colour to make the most of it, too,” Hala explains.

As well as pioneering treatments like hair botox, he offers a ‘boho perm’ – a sort of loose-wave, beachy look that lasts and ‘protein shots’, as well as a VIP room where clients can have a full makeover experience (including make up and eyelash extensions). “Several clients bring their laptops – we’ve created the space for it, plus the privacy with extra-large units and USB charging ports – and work while we cut, or they’ll take a conference call in the VIP room. There’s also printing facilities and, of course, free wifi.” It’s perfect for professionals, but Hala also wants to bring a sense of fun and community to Jubilee Place, hosting events and offering clients treats like home-made cookies and good luck charms that mean that many don’t just become fans, they become friends, too.

Jubilee Place; jonhala.com canarywharf.com

@yourcanarywharf

@canarywharflondon

Spring fashion event YOU’RE INVITED TO CANARY WHARF’S SPRING/SUMMER FA S H I O N E V E N T T O K I C K S TA R T THE SEASON

E

njoy three days of store discounts, fashion shows and much more!

Canary Wharf’s Spring Fashion Event returns with three days dedicated to fashion, beauty and style. Free-to-visit fashion shows will feature the latest collections from leading womenswear, menswear and accessory brands such as The Kooples, Maje, Orlebar Brown,

MAJE SS20

PINK BLAZER, £235, AND SHORTS, £120, REISS; PURPLE BLAZER, £315, AND TROUSERS, £209, SANDRO; ECRU BLAZER, £870, AND SHORTS, £355, PAUL SMITH

Sandro, Reiss, Warehouse, Ted Baker, Bimba y Lola, Claudie Pierlot and many more.

Discounts of up to 30 per cent will be available throughout the event as well as exclusive promotions, pop-up lounges and giveaways, so you can invest in key pieces of this season’s tailoring trends (think pastel shades and high-waisted shorts), summer dresses (vintage-inspired in hertiage florals) and summery accessories.

This is the perfect event for all fashion lovers, stylists and influencers to update their wardrobe and save on a collection of our favourite brands.

PINK CARD HOLDER WITH CHAIN, £125, ASPINAL OF LONDON; YELLOW DRESS, £225, REISS; BLUE HEELS, £250, LK BENNETT

REISS SS20

C AN AR Y WHAR F ’ S SP R I NG F ASHIO N E V E N T WHE N : Thursday 26-Saturday 28 March Thursday & Friday 9am-8pm Saturday 10am-7pm WHE R E : CLAUDIE PIERLOT SS20

Canary Wharf shopping malls

HACKETT SS20

TAILORED TROUSERS, £500, PAUL SMITH; STRIPED T-SHIRT, £185, SANDRO; SUNGLASSES, £195, ORLEBAR BROWN; RICHMOND LOAFERS, £425, CROCKETT & JONES

canarywharf.com

@yourcanarywharf

@canarywharflondon

PHOTOGRAPHER GARCON JON MODEL BEN DESOMBRE

The Italian Job

F R O M I TA LY W I T H LOVE: REISS’S NEW I TA L I A N FA B R I C COLLECTION COMBINES C O N T I N E N TA L STYLE WITH FINE M AT E R I A L S A N D E X P E R T CRAFTSMANSHIP

OPENING PAGE: Arezzo overcoat, £775; Capri wool cashmere blazer, £495; Capri wool cashmere trousers, £250; Napoli Oxford shirt, £150; Jackson tie, £95; Barstow Monokel D frame sunglasses, £90, all Reiss, reiss.com THIS PAGE: Omero double-breasted car coat, £575; Bologna gabidini blazer, £395; Bologna gabidini trousers, £195; Caine merino wool rollneck, £95; Barstow Monokel D frame sunglasses, £90, all Reiss, reiss.com OPPOSITE PAGE: Bolzano Crombie coat, £550; Milan wool cashmere blazer, £525; Napoli Oxford shirt, £150; Lefty tie, £45; Barstow Monokel D frame sunglasses, £90, all Reiss, reiss.com

Bologna gabidini blazer, £395; Bologna gabidini trousers, £195; Caine merino wool rollneck, £95; Moon pocket square, £30; Jake suede monk strap shoes, £245; Barstow Monokel D frame sunglasses, £90, all Reiss, reiss.com

THIS PAGE, TOP: Bolzano Crombie coat, £550; Milan wool cashmere blazer, £525; Milan wool cashmere trousers, £275; Napoli Oxford shirt, £150; Lefty tie, £45; Barstow Monokel D frame sunglasses, £90; Jake suede monk strap shoes, £245, all Reiss, reiss.com THIS PAGE, BOTTOM: Omero double-breasted car coat, £575; Bologna gabidini trousers, £195; Caine merino wool rollneck, £95; Cassius cashmere beanie, £95; Tobias cashmere scarf, £145; Barstow Monokel D frame sunglasses, £90; Boston suede shearling gloves, £95; Jake suede monk strap shoes, £245, all Reiss, reiss.com OPPOSITE PAGE: Arezzo overcoat, £775; Barstow Monokel D frame sunglasses, £90; all Reiss, reiss.com

Paul Smith’s

SUIT SOLUTIONS PAUL SMITH, CABOT PLACE

THIS SEASON’S MOST WEARABLE TREND FOR BOTH MEN A N D W O M E N C O M E S I N T H E F O R M O F R E L A X E D TA I L O R I N G : T H I N K L O W - K E Y, C O O L S H A D E S O F P A L E P I N K , P I S T A C H I O G R E E N A N D E C R U I N I N N O VAT I V E M AT E R I A L S

P

aul Smith’s SS20 collection was designed to evoke Downtown New York, channelling the neighbourhood’s burgeoning art scene of the 1970s (of which the designer was a part) and the resulting need for utilitarian construction and movement. With that in mind, jackets are low-buttoning and oversized – not just ideal for creating flow but also a breathable shape just in time for temperatures to begin creeping up.

Suits also get the hot weather treatment, with tailored shorts and matching blazers translating from workwear staples into clothes that feel fun enough to wear out of hours, too. Top of our list at the Cabot Place store in Canary Wharf is the muted raspberry two piece with military-style patch pockets and high-waisted shorts. In menswear, heritage patterns such as checks and pinstripes are supersized RASPBERRY JACKET, £605; BLACK AND WHITE to coordinate with PRINT DRESS, £1,025; BACKPACK, £550 lengthened jacket DOUBLE-BREASTED BLAZER, cuts and tall peaked £870; STRIPED SHORT-SLEEVED SHIRT, £290 lapels, and on the catwalks, suits were styled in such a way that we’ll be layering a singlebreasted blazer beneath a doublebreasted one ( just don’t forget to size up).

Leather has also been reclaimed for the season, cut into jackets we’re more used to seeing in wool or linen and fluid trousers in soft, tonal shades that are a far cry from the tougher, aged leather we’re used to – both the women’s and men’s collections will have you rethinking the material for this season. Paul Smith has also had some fun with men’s shirting, creating a capsule of contrasting prints and camp collars, plus his women’s collection features maxed out floral prints with a matching trench coat for those moments you get caught in spring showers – because, after all, while we might dream of being in Downtown New York, this is still London.

Cabot Place; paulsmith.com

canarywharf.com

@yourcanarywharf

@canarywharflondon

BAG IT UP A NEW EXHIBITION AT T H E V I C T O R I A AND ALBERT MUSEUM EXPLORES THE WORLD’S L O N G S TA N D I N G FA S C I N AT I O N WITH THE HUMBLE HANDBAG

WORDS ELLEN MILLARD

STYLE

P

icture this: the year is 1959 and Robert Dumas-Hermès is poised to mark a decade at the helm of his family business. Just three years previously, the now world-famous design house had rocketed into sartorial stardom thanks to actress Grace Kelly, who had used the brand’s Sac à Dépêches (renamed the Hermès Kelly in 1977) to shield her pregnant belly.

The rectangular body and short handle made it the perfect size to swing from an arm – and to hide a swelling stomach – but entirely impractical once the baby was born.

Pregnant herself with her fifth child, Hermès designer Catherine Chaillet set to work on what would become the next Hermès icon, with function – and free hands – at the forefront of her vision. The result was a flap top, cross-body tote with an adjustable strap for slinging over your shoulder. Christened the Constance after Chaillet’s daughter, who arrived a day before her namesake left the Hermès production store, the bag was a roaring success, finding a fan in First Lady Jackie Kennedy. Today it is considered part of the Hermès ‘Holy Trinity’, along with the Kelly and the Birkin.

The Constance, designed with form, function and women in mind, perhaps best sums up the handbag as an accessory, for which design constantly straddles practicality. Your bag could be a lifeline, a portable storage unit for life’s most treasured possessions, or an entirely superfluous object worn for aesthetic alone. See Olympia Le-Tan’s minaudières, designed with storybook covers or in collaboration with artists (her latest collection features prints by Jean-Michel Basquiat), or Anya Hindmarch’s kitsch branded totes – a Frostie’s shopper; a Heinz Tomato Ketchup evening bag. It can even be a force for change: Hindmarch was one of the first to dismiss single-use plastics with her 2007 canvas tote that bore the missive ‘I’m not a plastic bag’, while Bottletop champions sustainability through its recycled ring pull accessories.

This April, the Victoria and Albert Museum will explore the handbag as an icon of function, status and craftsmanship in a new exhibition, Bags: Inside Out. Alongside collectors’ items such as Fendi’s Baguette, Dior’s Lady Dior and the aforementioned Hermès Birkin, there will be totes of historic note: Margaret Thatcher’s grey Asprey, Queen Mary’s WWII gas mask bag and Winston Churchill’s despatch box.

A section on design, meanwhile, will explore the Surrealism and humour championed through such accessories – think a Chanel milk carton, a Thom Browne sausage dog and a 17th-century purse in the shape of a frog.

“Bags can be functional and beautiful, public and private,” says Thierry Andretta, CEO of Mulberry, which is sponsoring the exhibition. “They carry cultural and personal meaning, as well as our belongings, and they are iconic pieces of design worth celebrating in their own right.”

OPPOSITE PAGE MARGOT SHOULDER BAG, £345, BOTTLETOP.ORG; THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE BASQUIAT CANVAS CLUTCH, £1,210, OLYMPIA LE-TAN, MATCHESFASHION.COM; CIELO STAR BAG, £918, ROSANTICA, MATCHESFASHION.COM; SPEEDY HANDBAG, MARC JACOBS FOR LOUIS VUITTON, AUTUMN–WINTER 2006, COURTESY OF V&A; BASQUIAT DINOSAUR BOOK CLUTCH, £1,075, OLYMPIA LE-TAN, MATCHESFASHION.COM; ANYA BRANDS KETCHUP TOTE, £895, ANYAHINDMARCH.COM; MODEL WITH LAIT DE COCO EVENING BAG, KARL LAGERFELD, 2014, ©JASON LLOYD EVANS, COURTESY OF V&A

“Bags can be

functional

and BEAUTIFUL,

public and

private”

Bags: Inside Out, sponsored by Mulberry, 25 April 2020 – 31 January 2021, V&A, Cromwell Road, SW7, vam.ac.uk LU X U R Y L ON D ON .C O.U K

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F O R T H E M A J O R I T Y O F U S , A S U P E R YA C H T WILL FOREVER REMAIN IN THE SPHERE OF P U R E A S P I R AT I O N . B U T I N T H E P L AY G R O U N D O F T H E E L I T E , A YA C H T I S A S Y M B O L O F ORIGINALITY AND ADVENTURE, AND MORE O F T E N T H A N N O T T H E C R E AT I V E J O U R N E Y B E G I N S W I T H A B O U N D A R Y- P U S H I N G C O N C E P T WORDS JULIA ZALTZMAN

DRE AM ING is

BE LIEV ING

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

Not when it comes to superyachts. For yacht owners embarking on a new build project, originality is the Holy Grail. That said, design inspiration needs to come from somewhere, which is how the radical world of ‘yacht concepts’ has grown to such prominence.

From Igor Lobanov’s 133m Star with its dramatic central peak to Italian studio Lazzarini Design’s 58m Caronte inspired by 17thcentury pirate ships, concepts are intended to push the envelope and stretch the boundaries of our imagination. More than just playful fantasy, however, the best concepts also look to identify areas of real potential for future new builds. Today’s trends for beach clubs, fold-out balconies, handheld remote controls for docking and submarine capabilities are all born from visionary concepts.

“Concepts educate and inspire owners, and help to steer them towards a certain design and/or a designer,” says designer Steve Kozloff, whose Caribù concept – a polar-class sailing yacht equipped with an aircraft hangar that can fit three helicopters – aims to answer the need for a capable green explorer yacht.

Green technologies are at the forefront of many owners’ minds at present, and rightly so. Aqua, the new 112m five-deck concept from Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design in collaboration with Lateral Naval Architects is the first superyacht based on liquid hydrogen and fuel cell technology. With a speed of 17 knots and a range of 3,750 nautical miles, Aqua boasts an optimised hull, green energy (by way of a hydrogen-electric system) and space efficiency while providing the ultimate in comfort and luxury while at sea.

An integrated front bow observatory dubbed the ‘Aqua room’, which forms part of the owner’s pavilion, also taps into the new build trend for large expanses of onboard glass. And designed to provide guests with the closest possible proximity to the water, the aft deck features a unique and innovative series of platforms cascading down towards the sea, while a large swim platform allows guests easy access to the big blue at sea level.

“We took inspiration from the lifestyle of a discerning, forward-looking owner, the fluid versatility of water and cuttingedge technology to combine this in a 112m superyacht with truly innovative features,” says designer Sander Sinot. “Our challenge was to implement fully operational liquid hydrogen and fuel cells in a true superyacht that is not only ground-breaking in technology, but also in design and aesthetics.”

While initiatives around green technology are beginning

to trickle down to new builds thanks to some owners who are helping to drive this technology forward, the aforementioned trend for glass is one of the biggest design elements currently being adopted. Fresh from the boards of French designer Thierry Gaugain (who co-designed Motoryacht A alongside Philippe Starck) is the ultra-modern 120m superyacht concept Project L, his first solo design project with boutique brokerage house SuperYachtsMonaco. Inspired by the “smooth form of a beach pebble” and powered by a diesel-electric hybrid propulsion package, Project L has been designed to act as an ever-changing sculpture, using one-way glass treated to match the exterior paint

enabling her silhouette to transform according to her location, light and surroundings. Other impressive features include the likes of a high-tech underwater media room, drive-in tender garage and submarine escape pod.

But not all concepts are fanciful imaginings. Project Sapphire is an avant-garde concept designed by the award-winning studio 7seas Yacht Design in collaboration with Ocean Independence.

A 43m yacht with hybrid propulsion that offers comfortable interior and exterior spaces, not to mention versatile cruising potential, it has been conceived as an off-the-shelf option ready for an owner to customise as they see fit, and take to the shipyard of their choice to commence build.

More often than not, however, for a design to have a fighting chance of becoming reality, it helps if it’s developed in collaboration with a shipyard as it links designs with existing clients who may choose to take the next step, says Rob Armstrong, creative director at British design studio ThirtyC.

F E AT U R E

“In most cases, yacht owners wish to have an original design unseen by anyone until launched,” he explains. “With some projects taking three to four years to build, they want to have a design that is completely original and new when it finally hits the water, so concepts and designs often go though many revisions before they become reality.

“But concepts allow designers to explore design directions without limitation, running with ideas or a single thought,” adds Armstrong. “At ThirtyC we try to balance our concepts with an air of feasibility while exploring and developing concepts we feel the industry and our future clients are asking for. An owner’s approach to yacht design is different in almost every case, but the vast range of concepts have allowed owners to quickly find design styles and directions they wish to explore in their own creations, whereas previously we had owners pulling out books and photos of existing boats they like as a starting point.”

ThirtyC’s 88m DynaRig and 70m explorer companion vessel, Lotus, is designed in partnership with Dykstra Naval Architects and Dutch shipyard Royal Huisman and pitched as one project with ‘two integrated components’. Launched to all-round applause at the 2019 Monaco Yacht Show in September, Lotus is a fresh take on the yacht owner’s dream setup, and attempts to intelligently address their multifaceted needs by catering for all elements of life on the water with full flexibility.

From adventurous world cruising under sail to the excitement of superyacht racing at legendary regattas such as the St Barths Bucket, to day sailing among the world’s most beautiful archipelagos and recognising that various groups might wish to pursue different itineraries at the same time, Lotus makes adventure, diving, the ability to explore rias and fjords, and even a simple run ashore all possible.

But whether looking to break new environmental ground or keen to turn heads with outrageous design, the important element to hold on to is that a concept it exactly that – an idea – and in the world of the billionaire superyacht owner, the sky is the limit.

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OPPOSITE AND OPENING PAGES PROJECT LOTUS; THIS PAGE, FROM TOP CARIBU SAILING YACHT BY STEVE KOZLOFF; THIERRY GAUGAIN’S 120M SUPERYACHT CONCEPT PROJECT L, BOW VIEW; THIERRY GAUGAIN’S 120M SUPERYACHT CONCEPT PROJECT L, STERN VIEW

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NEWS

Kids’ Club D I S C O V E R T H E C A P I TA L’ S S M A R T E S T C H I L D C A R E A N D G R E AT F U N W AY S TO DITCH THE SCREENS WORDS MORAG TURNER

SUPER SNEAKERS

LISTEN UP

Eco-friendly brand Veja has partnered with super-stylish French kids’ brand Hundred Pieces to create these dream trainers. In keeping with Veja’s commitment to ecological fashion – think sustainable materials, and fairtrade production methods – the collaboration focuses on the signature V10 style, which is made from leather, Amazon wild rubber and 100 per cent organic cotton.

Bright and funky, yet comfortable and practical, these are the perfect sneakers for spring.

All children love to hear a great story and the new Yoto Player is an excellent way to help your little ones tune in to their favourite tales whenever they like. Yoto’s extensive and ever-expanding content library is packed with stories from some of the world’s greatest children’s authors, including Roald Dahl, Judith Kerr and Julia Donaldson, and also features music, activities, podcasts, radio and sound effects. It’s easy to use (simply insert a story card) and there is no camera, no microphone and no adverts – just the simple pleasure of listening to a story.

smallable.com

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yotoplay.com

CLEVER CLOGS

A NOVEL IDEA

Hailed as ‘London’s smartest childcare’, Student Nannies is the new super flexible option for working parents looking for babysitters who can really engage with their kids. The concept is simple; by matching university students who are keen to take on part-time nannying work with local parents who need flexible childcare, this clever company is creating the perfect partnership.

Around 500 new nannies have signed up in the past few months from top universities such as UCL, LSE, King's College London and Imperial College London, bringing a range of talent and skills to their new jobs.

If you are trying to ditch the gadgets, pick up a copy of 101 Things for Kids to do Screen Free. Bestselling kids’ author Dawn Isaac has included all sorts of games and activities – from creating a mini golf course and mastering handsfree eating, to squirt gun painting and microwave mug cakes. With exciting makes including no-sew sock creatures and stress balls, and wacky games such as outdoor noughts and crosses and thumb wrestling tournaments, Isaac’s engaging ideas are sure to provide hours of entertainment – and not a screen in sight.

studentnannies.com

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Sweet

Lowe and

HAVING SPENT THE 90S IN A WHIRLWIND O F PA R T I E S , D R U G S A N D D E P R E S S I O N , PEARL LOWE SWAPPED LONDON FOR L E A F Y S O M E R S E T, W H E R E S H E F O U N D S O L A C E I N T H E C O U N T Y ’ S S L O W E R PA C E OF LIFE. AS SHE LAUNCHES A NEW BOOK D E D I C AT E D T O H E R I N T E R I O R D E S I G N F E AT S , S H E D I S C U S S E S M A X I M A L I S M , ADDICTION AND HER DAUGHTER DAISY WORDS ELLEN MILLARD

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obody could accuse Pearl Lowe of being understated. In her home in Frome, Somerset, it’s hard to know where to look first. In the living room, a tiger print ottoman vies with a floral sofa for attention, its black twisted tassels brushing against an equally vivid red antique carpet. In the master bedroom — one of 11 — a velvet bed frame in bottle green provides a full stop to an otherwise endless stream of pink, while the bathroom continues the sugarplum theme with cherry blossom zigzag tiles by Bert and May. To say the house has been a labour of love for Lowe is perhaps putting it lightly; three years in, she’s on her third transformation. “It drives me mad; I hate the way I am,” she cries, putting her head in her ring-embellished hands.

“My kids get really upset because I constantly change their bedrooms; my son went off to university and when he came back his room was so girly he wouldn’t go back in it.”

Born in London in 1970, Pearl Lowe’s path to designer wasn’t the most natural of trajectories. Back in the 90s, she was the front woman of the otherwise allmale indie band Powder and a prominent member of the Primrose Hill set, a group of celebrity socialites that included Sadie Frost, Kate Moss and Jude Law. “I loved being on stage for that one hour, but I hated being the only girl,” she admits of her music career. “It was really tough; travelling on a bus with loads of sweaty men was just really not appealing, and there was all the other bullsh*t that went with it.

“If I was in a band now, I would 100 per cent employ a girl to come on tour with me. That’s why I didn’t last. I was quite violated and I just felt really victimised.

I was a strong, powerful girl and the press would try and bring me down; it was vile.”

Rock and roll tales of Lowe’s heroin and cocaine addiction kept the newspapers keen, the gossip further exacerbated by paternity rumours concerning her supermodel daughter, Daisy (Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale was revealed to be her father in 2004).

Today, in a coffee shop in Paddington, not far from her former stomping ground, Lowe admits she wouldn’t recognise her old self now. “I’ve been 15 years sober, so it’s a really long time ago; I’m normally in bed by 9pm now,” she laughs. “When people show me interviews from back then, it honestly feels like a different person.”

Indeed, her life in Frome sounds positively idyllic in comparison. When she moved there 15 years ago with her husband, Supergrass drummer Danny Goffey, and their three children, Alfie (23), Frankie (20) and Betty (14), her friends didn’t think they’d go the distance, so engrained were they in the London lifestyle. Today, they “thank the gods we made the great escape”.

Swapping the stage for Somerset allowed Lowe to channel her energy into a different passion: design. As a child she would rip out pages of Vogue and craft sweatshirts for her mother’s Covent Garden boutique, but a love of music blindsided her to her sartorial talents.

Her passion for vintage clothes inspired her first fashion line, a collection of lace dresses that were sold in Liberty of London and The Cross in Notting Hill.

Her designs caught the eye of high-street

“I’ve been 15 years sober... When people show me interviews from back then, it honestly feels like a different person” PHOTOGRAPHY BY AMY NEUSINGER

XXXXX

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DAISY LOWE IN PEARL LOWE’S GOLD SHIMMER EDITH DRESS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY AMY NEUSINGER

PHOTOGRAPHY BY AMY NEUSINGER

INTERVIEW

retailer Peacocks, and in 2010 they launched a sell-out collection that was worn by the likes of Courtney Love, Holly Willoughby and Natalie Imbruglia.

“It was a blessing but also one of those things you regret slightly,” she admits now. “I learnt so much, and people tell me they still buy the collection on eBay. But stupidly I didn’t hang onto my high-end stuff, and it was really hard to go back into that world.”

She took a break from fashion after Peacocks went into administration, honing her interiors style and building up a collection of clients and contacts in the process. She briefly ventured into childrenswear, creating a collection of dressing up clothes inspired by her youngest daughter Betty, before relaunching her eponymous brand of bespoke dresses — vintage-inspired (of course), and made to flatter every woman.

“I’ve always been a curvy girl; I’ve got boobs and a bum and I just don’t look nice in high-street stuff. Lots of my friends buy from Zara but I always end up looking like a balloon,” she jokes. “That’s why I have to make my own dresses – they’re the only ones that flatter me. And if they flatter me, they’re going to flatter the whole nation.”

They certainly flatter her daughter Daisy, who models all of Lowe’s designs.

As a fashion designer, having a supermodel LU X U R Y L ON D ON .C O.U K

in the family must be handy, although Lowe, whose son Alfie is also in the public eye thanks to his band Cousns, admits she would prefer her children to have more conventional jobs.

“I would love to keep my children out of the limelight,” she says. “It’s really annoying actually. I don’t think it necessarily brings you joy. I would have liked them to have had regular careers and not be self-employed; it’s a hard life — but my husband Danny and I have been very relaxed parents. We’re not very strict, and very much try to make them live their own lives and see what works for them.”

She did impart one pearl of wisdom to Daisy, however – invest in property.

“I pressurised Daisy to buy a house really early on and she’s so happy now,” she says.

“It’s really important to invest, even if it’s just a little bit. We’ve always owned our own place — even if it’s been by the skin of our teeth.”

It’s her own home that inspired the launch of a new book, Faded Glamour, which riffs on Lowe’s unique brand of “gloriously decadent yet well-lived-in” style. Her 18th-century, Grade II listed house has such a fairytale charm it could have been plucked from the mind of Hans Christian Andersen. Whimsical turrets, yellow Bath stone and scalloped slates perfectly complement Lowe’s maximalist interior design.

Along with the designer’s house, the book showcases eight homes cherrypicked from her group of equally enchanting friends — jewellery designer Solange Azagury-Partridge, fashion designer Alice Temperley, and gallerists Manuela and Iwan Wirth are among the contributors. Theirs is a style that mirrors Lowe’s: maximalist with a vintage twist.

“Some people can’t stand what I do; it’s loads of patterns and textures and it’s too much for the brain to take in,” Lowe says of her taste. “I just go on my gut; that’s how I’ve always decorated.”

Gut instinct is a mantra Lowe lives by (“I’ve really learnt now, just don’t listen to other people”) and it seems to be working for her. Next in the pipeline is a jewellery collection, although she remains tight lipped on the details, and a potential second interiors book that further explores the concept of faded glamour.

“I’d also love to write a follow-up to my autobiography,” she adds, referring to All That Glitters, which was published in 2007, “because that was written so many years ago and people are only finding it now, which is quite embarrassing. I was in a dark place at that time; I was newly sober.” I ask her if she regrets writing it, and she shakes her head. “I don’t think you should ever regret anything,” she says.

“I just think if I had waited a couple of years it would have been a very different book — you get labelled a little bit, and it’s hard to be labelled something you’re not.”

That chapter of Lowe’s life is finished now, a distant memory amidst a new era of country walks and teenage quibbles about bedroom designs. As we say our goodbyes, she jumps up from her seat, thrilled she’ll have time to make the same train as her son Alfie – back to Frome, to her family and to her fairytale home.

Faded Glamour: Inspirational Interiors and Beautiful Homes

by Pearl Lowe is out now, £19.99, pearllowe.co.uk 75

BEDDING AND CUSHIONS, FROM A SELECTION, EMMAJSHIPLEY.COM

Wh e re t h e W I LD T H I N G S A RE FEAST YOUR EYES ON A FOREST WONDERLAND OR GO WILD ON THE PLANES OF AFRICA – OUR LOVE OF ANIMAL DÉCOR C O N T I N U E S A PA C E , F R O M LIGHTING ARRANGEMENTS TO ARMCHAIR FABRICS, AND EVERYTHING ELSE IN BETWEEN WORDS JULIA ZALTZMAN

F

rom jungle fever to menagerie madness, interior design has run amok with animal-themed creations. Striking leopard print fabrics and stirring cowhide rugs have long been a mainstay in the home, but the enduring popularity of quirky and eclectic creature décor has propelled this theme into a new dimension altogether. And it’s not just animal lovers who are embracing the trend.

First appearing in the form of sculptural objects – a flocked greyhound nestled by the fireplace or a statuesque porcelain bull making a statement on the kitchen sideboard – 2019 saw our love of mystical beasts translate from the merely decorative into functional design. And in turn, 2020 has already witnessed a raft of new mammalian incarnations.

THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT MIDNIGHT CHIMIRACLE WALLPAPER SILHOUETTE LAMPSHADE IN JADE GREEN, FROM £40, LOVEFRANKIE.COM; PERCH LIGHT, POA, UMUTYAMAC.COM; NIGHT BIRDS, APPROX. £557, BROKIS, FMDESIGNELEMENTS.COM; OPPOSITE PAGE MONKEY TABLE LAMP WITH BLUE VELVET SHADE, £112, AUDENZA.COM

Light the way Typically, nature finds its place outside, but as we’ve welcomed the great outdoors over our interiors threshold, the likes of mice, monkeys and elephants have joined the bandwagon. Decorative lighting in particular has proven to be the perfect vehicle with which to display a veritable interior design zoo, and the latest range from French lighting specialist Nedgis showcases this aptly with its collection of bird-themed lighting. Delivering a chic and elegant touch to the home, the offering brings a soft illuminating glow to any room by way of suspension lights, wall lights and even table lamps that are reminiscent of traditional origami paper birds.

Cotterell & Co’s Can Can Flamingo lamp taps into the desire for customisation in the home, too, with a vast selection of bespoke shades handmade to order. The fanciful fluffy grey fabric shade paired with antique silver feet and complemented by a soft champagne-coloured liner will sit pretty on a bedside table or hallway console. The effect is both delicate and tranquil. While for those wanting to be brave and bold, the Italian brand Seletti’s array of inventive and artistic animal lamps exemplify how far the trend can be taken. Originally launching with large monkey lights crafted from white or black resin that are suitable for both indoors and outdoors, the range highlights the playful nature of this genre of décor.

INTERIORS

Decorative lighting has proven the perfect vehicle with which to display a veritable interior design zoo LU X U R Y L ON D ON .C O.U K

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Animal magic Our lives are becoming more intrinsically linked to explorative travel and conservational safeguarding. Beyond having pets, we care for the welfare of the world’s animals more now than probably any other time in human history, so it’s only natural that we would wish to decorate our homes with emblems of these exotic creatures. Brands and designers are working to meet these needs with more interactive and playful designs and inviting us to become more experimental with bold colours, textures and patterns. Combining all of these attributes is the collection of work from Emma J Shipley.

“People have been getting braver in their interior choices, in part because of social media; you can get so many ideas from Instagram alone and see how to make strong pattern and colour work for you,” says Shipley. “People crave a connection with nature, especially in the modern day, and I think animal and nature patterns can do that in the home. I visited incredible rock painting sites in South Africa last year, which date back to 10,000 years ago, and saw caves covered in hundreds of paintings of animals. It’s human instinct to feel a strong connection to nature and to want to bring that into our homes.”

Encompassing tableware, accessories, fabrics and wallpaper, Shipley’s inventive designs are rich with jungle fever. Dress up your dining table with placemats dripping in intricate safari scenes in vibrant teal. Set a scene of discovery in the living room with a sumptuous velvet cushion awash with details reminiscent of Jules Verne’s adventure novels. For those looking to make a bold statement in the home, upholster an antique armchair in the fierce tiger-laden Tigris fabric for dramatic effect. Or envelop a Chesterfield sofa in the bold and daring Amazon design; printed onto luxurious velvet it features jaguar faces and surrealist parrots in an enchanting jungle scene.

INTERIORS

Standing tall

OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM TOP TAHITI SIDE PLATES, £52 FOR A SET OF FOUR, SARA MILLER LONDON FOR PORTMEIRION, PORTMEIRION.CO.UK; BEDDING AND CUSHIONS, FROM A SELECTION, EMMAJSHIPLEY.COM; THIS PAGE, FROM TOP WHITE CUBANO 1-LIGHT FLUSH MOUNT, £820, WAYFAIR.CO.UK; SILVER SQUIRREL POT HANGER, £10.50, ELLA JAMES, NOTONTHEHIGHSTREET.COM; POLAR BEAR SIDE TABLE, £142, KARE DESIGN, WAYFAIR.CO.UK

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For the more subtle interior design option, objects that are understated in nature can still pack a meaty punch. The odd bird leg here or a tiger’s claw there adds some tropical flair. And don’t be scared to suit the breed to your environment. While some home accessories trends are quite specific to a certain home décor style, animal home accessories can be used to match most styles. Depending on the material, colour, size and use of the product, there is something for everyone.

A home decorated in country chic will be complemented by the likes of Ella James’s range of pot hangers that take in squirrels, chameleons and even pugs by way of plant pots, vases, containers and candles. Alternatively, a woodland cottage might find Decorelo’s range of bear side tables is just the ticket. Made from polyresin with a circular wood shaped top, these kitsch designs are a real treat for the eye.

From animal lamps and potted plants, to life-sized gorillas and head wall décor, experimentation is to be encouraged. Just be sure to limit the number of animal features per room to avoid your home from becoming too Orwellian in nature.

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TRAVEL

The top treatments, spas and wellness destinations to help you relax in 2020 (P.84)

Exploring the picturesque Portuguese towns of Carvoeiro and Evora (P.88)

Discover Japan’s Wild North, a.k.a the island of Hokkaido (P.94)

WELLNESS R E T R E AT S FROM QUARTZ MASSAGES TO GIANT F L O AT I N G I C E B AT H S , H E R E A R E T H E T O P T R E AT M E N T S , S PA S A N D W E L L N E S S D E S I N AT I O N S F O R 2 0 2 0

WORDS ANNA PRENDERGAST

New (and improved) A gradual move away from ruthless exercise routines and calorie-counting has seen space open up in the wellness world.

From crystal therapy at Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok opening this month (top of its game is the Quartz Massage, based on channelling the earth’s energy to ground the body and mind) to the highly personalised healing programmes at Shou Sugi Ban House in the Hamptons and Borgo Egnazia’s Blue Zones programme (inspired by five regions around the world where people live long, full lives), a holistic approach is taking over. In Paris, two big names are opening on the Seine – The Dior Spa at Cheval Blanc lands later this spring,

SHOU SUGI BAN HOUSE, NEW YORK

Ballet bra, approx. £55, and yoga pants, approx. £110, theupside.com

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AIRELLES CHÂTEAU DE VERSAILLES, FRANCE

GRAYSHOTT SPA, SURREY

Home turf

and Bulgari’s first crashpad in the French capital arrives nearby in the Triangle d’Or (where, surely, it will include its 24-carat gold facial). South of the city, get the royal treatment at Airelles Château de Versailles, which gives guests the chance to stay on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles for the first time, with a spa by Valmont that harnesses the natural power of Swiss glaciers. The most talked about opening this year, though, is the giant floating ice bath at Arctic Bath in Swedish Lapland, where certified therapists help guests connect with nature on a truly elemental level, and everything down to the locavore menu is designed to instill an instinctive sense of health. In warmer climes, book into the Oberoi Marrakech for its signature Ayurveda dhara treatment – it opened last December, and just in time, too, as the iconic La Mamounia will close between May and September for its own revival.

Thailand’s biggest news is ChivaSom’s £20million renovation, which has seen regulars returning for pioneering wellness treatments devised by the industry’s most revered experts. fourseasons.com; borgoegnazia.it; arcticbath.se; oberoihotels.com; chivasom.com; airelles.com; chevalblanc.com LU X U R Y L ON D ON .C O.U K

BORGO EGNAZIA, ITALY

Last year’s big UK opening, Monkey Island Estate, is a country-house-turned-riversideinn-turned-private-hotel in Bray, a village with seven Michelin stars on the Thames.

A pretty blue barge rests under the willow trees by the water, with The Floating Spa in its hull and an apothecary inspired by 12th-century Augustinian monks. In London, Lanserhof’s medically-driven, tailored service arrived at The Arts Club in Mayfair, the cutting-edge concept’s first opening in the UK, and the Zedwell opened in February in Piccadilly, the city’s first ever sleepcentred hotel with sound-proofed, mood-lit, Egyptian-cotton-clad ‘cocoons’ that are calm-inducing and clutter-free. Grayshott Spa in Surrey has also introduced the Mayr method (an intensive fasting plan not for the faint-hearted); head there around May, when the redbrick country retreat is cloaked in wisteria. theartsclub.co.uk; grayshottspa.com; zedwellhotels.com; monkeyislandestate.com

MONKEY ISLAND, BERKSHIRE

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BAWAH RESERVE, INDONESIA

Eco spas There’s no excuse for single-use, and this year guests will continue to drive the demand for alternatives to disposable slippers and plastic bottles. Hotel bedrooms have been fairly quick to adapt, adopting muslin cloths in place of cotton pads, biodegradable bamboo toothbrushes and solid bars of shampoo and conditioner, and now leading industry names are setting the standard for spas, too. Look for lotions and potions by brands like Kerstin The pros at Aman have developed their own skincare range, such as this purifying marine face wash. £50, shop.aman.com

Florian and Bamford, who use natural ingredients and take an ethical approach to skincare, and check out credentials like LEED certification and Green Key awards. The idea of wellness should extend to the environment in which it’s practised, an ethos upheld by eco-pioneer Six Senses, which opens two new hotels in Manhattan and Israel later this year.

The latter, set in the Negev desert, has a signature Alchemy Bar where guests can create bespoke treatments using local ingredients. Also drawing on its natural surroundings, Islas Secas opened in December on Panama’s Pacific Coast with open-air treatment tents in the jungle and organic, native remedies such as ylang ylang and jasmine (the tents are designed for couples, so surprise your better half with a trip). There’s something romantic about being castaway on an island retreat, too, at Bawah Reserve’s new sister property Bawah Elang. On an untouched scrap of the same Indonesian archipelago, treatments go above and beyond with life-coaching sessions, jade stone facials, one-to-one training and an implicit immersion in nature. The irony, of course, is that these places are only accessible by air – offset your flights with a donation to Tree Sisters, whose mission is tropical reforestation. sixsenses.com; islassecas.com; bawahreserve.com; treesisters.org

CREDIT XXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXX

A planet-friendly manifesto for business and travel by Patagonia’s founder Yvon Chouinard. £20, patagonia.com

ISLAS SECAS, PANAMA

ISLAS SECAS, PANAMA

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KISAWA SANCTUARY, MOZAMBIQUE

Trends and tech

JACK’S CAMP, BOTSWANA

With a new decade comes the chance to both reflect on age-old rituals and look forward to new ones, including those that incorporate staggering technology such as Brain Photobiomodulation Therapy (phew), available at SHA Wellness Clinic in Spain. Developed with NASA & Harvard University and overseen by neurologist Dr Bruno Ribeiro, it uses an infrared technique to improve cognitive performance. If you want to switch off, rather than on, Esqapes in LA uses virtual reality paired with a leisurely massage to transport users to a courtyard filled with cherry blossoms or a palm tree-trimmed sandy beach, offering a sense of seclusion in the middle of the city.

In Botswana, traditional but Teslapowered safari lodge Jack’s Camp is expanding with a new wellness tent; meanwhile in Mozambique, Kisawa Sanctuary opens this summer on Benguerra Island as the first hotel to patent 3D sandprinting technology, used to create the components of the wellness centre. The spa itself

SHA WEL LNESS CENTRE, SPAIN

will specialise in Chinese medicine, but you can also meditate upon the surrounding wildlife such as humpback whales and sea turtles. Kisawa’s not the only one inspired by the East: Tibetan sound bowls are a key offering for 2020, and will be available at Hacienda de San Rafael in Andalucia, Royal Mansour in Marrakech, Marbella Club in Spain and Mandarin Oriental in Miami. The ancient healing method is thought to restore harmony through generating healing energy and tuning into the frequency of our brainwaves, allowing for a deepened meditation and the restoration of balance. In a sleepy corner of Seville, Malabar Retreats also incorporates Tibetan Healing Yoga into their four-day Lu Jong retreats, a practice developed by monks more than 8,000 years ago. shawellnessclinic.com; myesqape.com; naturalselection.travel; kisawasanctuary.com; haciendadesanrafael.com; royalmansour.com; marbellaclub.com; malabar-retreats.com

Track your skin’s UV exposure with La Roche-Posay’s discreet sensor. £54.95, apple.com

L’Oreal’s Perso tech personalises your skincare using artificial intelligence – but the results are very real.

Launching 2021, loreal.com

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P O RTUGUESE

Surf and Turf FROM ANCIENT MONUMENTS TO ECOLOGICAL ESCAPES, THE CONTRASTING LANDSCAPES OF P O R T U G A L’ S C A R V O E I R O A N D E V O R A ARE RIPE FOR EXPLORING WORDS ROWENA MARELLA-DAW

THIS PAGE, FROM TOP JUNIOR SUITE AT TIVOLI CARVOEIRO; EVORA GIRALDO SQUARE, ©RAFAEL MARTINS, TURISMO ALENTEJO; OPENING PAGE CARVOEIRO CARVALHO BEACH, ©ALGARVE PROMOTION BUREAU

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ortugal has always been on my hit list, and when I finally made it, a sojourn in Evora, capital of the Alentejo region and a UNESCO World Heritage site, unearthed many surprises. Evora played a major role in shaping the nation’s identity, the foundations of which can be witnessed in ancient monuments built under a succession of invaders – Moors, Romans and Roman Catholic rulers. Within the walled city, the Roman legacy is marked by ruins of the Roman Temple (Temple of Diana) built in honour of Emperor Augustus.

Around the corner is the Cathedral of Evora, Portugal’s largest medieval cathedral. Constructed between 1186 and 1250, it underwent several transformations over the centuries, melding Romanesque and Gothic influences into one magnificent structure. Opulent details pervade, among them a rare statue of a heavily pregnant Virgin Mary (Nossa Senhora do O) cradling her womb. Silent corridors evoke mystery, and a narrow spiral staircase leads to a rooftop gallery for another perspective of the towers and garden below.

II finally seized absolute power in 1232 with help from the Templars, to whom he bequeathed the village.

Markers of the Templars Order can still be seen within the exterior walls. Well-preserved white-washed houses and cobbled lanes evoke the spirit of its past, although Monsaraz Castle’s formation ground now serves as a bullfighting arena during annual celebrations.

The region around Monsaraz is also home to Dark Sky Alqueva, the world’s first Starlight Tourist Destination.

Spanning 4,000 square miles, the observatory allows visitors to learn about the universe and observe the galaxies through powerful telescopes. A captivating talk by the resident astronomer was followed by stargazing, and although fast-moving clouds dominated the skies that night, a gap in the clouds allowed me to view the crescent moon and its craters close up.

Although the Alentejo is endowed with historical landmarks, vineyards and olive groves, its veritable gem and unsung eco-champions are its cork oak (Sobreiro) trees, from which cork wine stoppers are made. It’s the only tree known to have a renewable bark, so when the

Evora played a major role in shaping Portugal’s identity, the foundations of which can be witnessed in ancient monuments built under a succession of invaders To say that religion ruled Portugal in the old days is an understatement. Saint Francis Church makes no excuses for its Chapel of Bones (Capela dos Ossos), where literally thousands of bones and skulls of friars dug up from ancient cemeteries cover every inch of walls and pillars. Perhaps macabre to 21st-century visitors, this chapel built by Franciscan monks in the late 16th century was intended to remind us of life’s transience. To make a point, an inscription on the top entrance reads: “Nós ossos que aqui estamos pelos vossos esperamos”, which translates to “We bones are here waiting for yours”.

Leaving that grim reminder behind, gin tasting at the Sharish Gin (sharishgin.com) distillery on the outskirts of Evora couldn’t have been more enticing. Effervescent owner António Cuco talked passionately about the distillery’s beginnings and the variety of botanicals that give Sharish gins their distinct taste – from Bravo de Esmolfe DOP Apple, Alentejo oranges and lemons to fresh Lucia-Lima, spices and seeds. The beautifully bottled Blue Magic Gin changes from cobalt blue to pink when you pour tonic water, owing to the exotic blue pea petals used during distillation to infuse a floral hint. It certainly did the trick, and I had no ‘bones to pick’ with this refreshing drink.

Another historical gem is the medieval village of Monsaraz, perched on a gentle hill overlooking Lake Alqueva and plains stretching to the Guadiana river bordering Spain. Control of Monsaraz see-sawed between the Moors and Spanish kings, until King Sancho LU X U R Y L ON D ON .C O.U K

outer layer of cork has been harvested, it will take another nine years for it to regenerate.

These ancient cork oak forests are the largest in the world, protected by law for very good reasons. By absorbing moisture, they nourish vulnerable soil that sustains plants and wildlife, while also storing carbon vital to bark regeneration, which in turn reduces levels of greenhouse gases. In fact, a harvested tree is said to absorb five times more carbon that an unharvested one.

Cork’s remarkable cell structure also renders it ideal for heat insulation, soundproofing, waterproofing and as a shock absorber, and one place that reaps these benefits is Tivoli Evora Ecoresort, my boutique abode on the outskirts of Evora. For starters, the building’s exterior walls are covered in cork, setting the benchmark in sustainability as the world’s first cork hotel. There’s cork everywhere, and the overlapping slabs of this dynamic material adorn the walls of Cardo Restaurant to evoke a retro look, which I reckon will set a trend in ecofriendly décor. The hotel also harnesses geothermal energy to warm the central building, while the swimming pool and running water are heated by solar panels. All 56 suites spread across the grounds feature a small inner courtyard, making the most of natural light.

During a cooking workshop led by the hotel chef, I was introduced to Alentejano culinary traditions, typified by Carne do Alguidar (marinated pork loin), sausages, Migas (side dish made with bread), and Serica (Portuguese egg pudding), all washed down with organic 91

red from a nearby vineyard. A delectable ending to my journey was dining at Sem Fim Restaurant (sem-fim.com) in Monsaraz, where a former olive press room had been transformed into a dining area. The old mill’s mechanical remnants form part of the decor, and the adjacent art gallery features works by owner Kalisvaart Gil. Black Pork Tenderloin al whiskey, Rabbit Crunch, and Roast lamb with cinnamon comprise some hearty dishes served in this chilledout location.

JEWELS OF THE SEA Leaving Alentejo behind, I headed south to Carvoeiro, where craggy cliffs and hanging valleys define the coastline. My cliffside bolthole, Tivoli Carvoeiro Algarve Resort, overlooks Praia Vale Covo beach, its mysterious cave an exclusive attraction for resort guests. After a few grey days, the sunshine finally came out in time for an al fresco lunch at the Azur Bar. With the ocean as my backdrop, the Cataplana de Mariscos, a juicy hotpot of plump giant prawns, clams, mussels and calamari cooked in a special clam-shaped copper pot, tasted even better.

Culinary indulgence is easily offset by invigorating treks. The Seven Hanging Valleys trail (Percurso dos Sete Vales Suspensos) is a challenging 11.5km (round trip) hike for heart-stopping clifftop vistas between Praia da Marinha to the east and Praia do Vale Centeanes to the west. Access to secluded golden beaches requires descending steep passages, but it’s well worth the effort. Praia da Marinha is hailed for its monolith-like sea stacks, arches and caves sculpted over time by crashing waves and mighty winds, and trails hugging the cliff’s sandy rim present a seagull’s perspective of the beach, shimmering waters, even rock castles carved by landslides.

Back at the resort, aches and pains are best soothed by a spa massage or a dip in the huge circular pool, followed by cocktails at the rooftop Sky Bar Carvoeiro, my favourite spot, where stunning sunsets come with chilled out music, even the seagulls were strutting to the beat.

The Algarve will always be a popular destination, but lessertrodden Evora and its environs opens up a different, if not more authentic facet of the country’s heritage and traditions. Still unspoilt by mass tourism, this pocket of Portugal needs protecting. Storks that once nested on chimneys in ancient times are now settling on telegraph poles and electricity pylons. Cork oak trees and the precious habitat they protect will become extinct if plastic cork and screw caps continue to replace them. Portugal’s land and sea ecosystems both need safeguarding if we are to continue enjoying their beauty and bounty.

THIS PAGE, FROM LEFT MONSARAZ; TIVOLI EVORA, CARDO RESTAURANT; OPPOSITE PAGE TIVOLI EVORA

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SHIRETOKO NATIONAL PARK, ©SHUTTERSTOCK

W I L D E R N E S S, WILDLIFE A N D W H I S KY H O K K A I D O I N J A PA N I S T H E S P E C TA C U L A R B A C K D R O P T O H I K I N G AND FISHING, BEARS AND SEA E A G L E S , S PA R K L I N G LY F R E S H S U S H I AND A WORLD-CLASS DISTILLERY WORDS DOUG MCKINLAY

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he international spotlight shone favourably on Japan in 2019. The G20 Summit in June was followed by the overwhelmingly successful Rugby World Cup in the autumn, and Japan’s moment in the limelight is not over yet. This year the country will host the Summer Olympics for the first time since 1964.

Autumn 2018 presented a very different picture. A shallow but powerful earthquake rattled the southern end of Hokkaido, Japan’s second largest island, knocking out power supplies and transport networks, destroying homes and not only hitting fishing and farming, two of the island’s economic mainstays, but also affecting visitor numbers. The cost to the tourism industry was estimated at 35.6 billion yen (£261 million).

But Japan is a resilient country and it wasn’t long before central government was marshalling its resources to help the island get back on its feet. Since September 2018, Hokkaido has worked tirelessly to improve responses to natural disasters, and let the world know that is still there and has much to offer visitors.

Hokkaido is often referred to as the Wild North; it has 20 per cent of Japan’s landmass but only five per cent of the country’s population. More than two million acres – 10 per cent of the island – is national parkland. There are mountains, lakes, volcanoes, waterfalls and forests, with great opportunities for hiking, skiing, canoeing, and fishing. But really getting off the beaten track means making a beeline for Shiretoko National Park, at the north-eastern tip of the island. UNESCO has identified it as “one of the richest integrated ecosystems in

the world,” and in 2005 designated it a World Heritage Site. The 95,000acre national park is open year round, but the prime hiking season is June to September. Waterfalls and hot springs abound, as does a rich variety of wildlife, including brown bears, sika deer, foxes and Steller’s sea eagles.

The most epic hikes lead across the volcanic backbone of the peninsula, but gentler routes are also rewarding, and even a few hours in this pristine wilderness will help declutter an overstressed mind.

Alongside outdoors adventure and natural beauty, Hokkaido has more to offer. The culinary scene is excellent, with some of the freshest seafood to be found anywhere. Sapporo, the island’s capital city, is vibrant, with a quirky winter festival, and there is a history almost unknown outside Japan – the story of the indigenous Ainu people.

Distinct in appearance, language, and custom, the Ainu crossed a land bridge between Hokkaido and Siberia 15,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age. Today about 24,000 Ainu live in Japan, mostly in Hokkaido. In recent years their culture has experienced a resurgence as interest from both Japanese and foreign visitors has expanded. One of the best places to gain an understanding of Ainu culture is the Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum in Biratori, which displays some 10,000 items, including clothing, utensils, and hunting equipment. In the Ainu Kotan village on the shores

Hokkaido has 20 per cent of Japan’s landmass but only five per cent of the country’s population

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Virtually every restaurant in every town and city has spectacular seafood, fresh from the island’s cold, plankton-rich waters

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All IMAGES ©DOUG MCKINLAY

of Lake Akan, eastern Hokkaido, the 200 Ainu inhabitants often perform traditional songs and dances for visiting guests.

Every February the residents of Sapporo wrap up warmly, venture into the sub-zero temperatures and take part in the Yuki Matsuri snow festival.

Its panoply of fantastical snow sculptures, some more than three metres tall, depict everything from cartoon characters to temples to television and sports celebs. It began in the 1950s as a festival for kids and caught the attention of the world in 1972 during the Sapporo Winter Olympics.

Now it attracts more than two million people during its week-long run, so planning ahead is a must.

Seafood is a mainstay of Hokkaido’s diet. Virtually every restaurant in every town and city has spectacular seafood, fresh from the island’s cold, plankton-rich waters.

On offer is a vast array including crab, squid, scallops and salmon. But for a truly memorable seafood experience it has to be the canalside town of Otaru, about an hour from Sapporo by train.

Along Sushiya-dori – which means sushi shop street – pick a restaurant and prepare to be blown away by the freshest sushi on the planet.

Of course, sushi is nothing without a few drops of sake. At the Tanaka Sake Brewery a tasting session gets visitors up close and personal with a wide variety of sake, from sweet and smooth to strong and powerful.

Much to the chagrin of Scottish distilleries, Japanese whisky is among the best in the world and the Nikka Whisky distillery on Hokkaido is one of the most respected producers in the country. It was founded by Masataka Taketsuru in 1934 after he spent a couple of years in Scotland learning the process. He eventually returned to Japan with his Scottish wife, and established Nikka – its 10-year-old Yoichi single malt is among the best of the lot today. The Wild North is clearly not without its sophisticated side.

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O ur f ri e n ds IN T H E N ORT H THE FOREST OF BOWLAND IS A SECRET CORNER OF THE NORTH WEST LOW IN CROWDS BUT HIGH IN B L I S S F U L LY U N S P O I LT R U R A L C H A R M WORDS ROB CROSSAN

‘Y

ou’re not in a rush to get the Lake District are you?’

I’m asked. ‘That’s the mistake most people make.”

The flat capped man takes another deep glug from his pint of mild and gets to his feet. “Gotta get going. The wife has hotpot on the table around this time.”

With an excitable springer spaniel leaping up at his knees, the gentleman strolls off down the kind of winding country lane that you’d usually expect to see in a film adaptation of a George Eliot novel.

Slaidburn doesn’t get much in the way of coach parties or backpackers. A village deep in the crumpled folds of the Forest of Bowland, this is a corner of Lancashire where it seems the 20th century, never mind the 21st, has yet to intrude.

Dry stone walls, treeless hills, thatched roof cottages, stout churches; this is the kind of English countryside that is usually

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only seen in watercolour prints from the early 19th century or in the dreams of Brits condemned forever to metropolitan lives in London or the Home Counties.

HM The Queen, the Duke of Lancaster and the Duke of Westminster all own parts of the Forest, though don’t be fooled by the name. The word ‘forest’ refers to ancient hunting rights and this is still a prime area for grouse, pheasant and duck shooting, which takes place amid 300 square miles of heather moorland swelling to fells, bogs, vertiginous valleys, squirming rivers, sheep and proud little farmhouses built with blood red brick.

And, as the flat-capped septuagenarian attests, all this is almost unknown by non-residents. In the hurtling rush to reach the better known Lake District further north in Cumbria, the Forest of Bowland has been bypassed for centuries by tourists.

Though perhaps, not for much longer. A recent survey by the Office of National Statistics revealed that the Forest of Bowland is the happiest place to live in the entire country. Two days into my stay and I’m convinced that, much as the landscape certainly lifts the spirits, the real reason for disproportionate amounts of felicity here is down to the local larder.

The Hark to Bounty pub in Slaidburn is just the beginning.

Dating back to the 13th century, underneath the wonky wooden beams is a menu being served up to locals that is the very essence of homely Lancastrian goodness. Black pudding fritters in ale batter, cheese, leek and potato pie, roast ham and piccalilli baps; it’s the kind of food that should come with a screening of Kes and a meerschaum pipe to smoke afterwards in an allotment shed.

And is all the better for it.

Afterwards, I catch a local bus into the region’s main hub.

Clitheroe is the kind of traditional northern market town that many people think has vanished under the pressure of supermarket giants and out of town retail stores.

The narrow streets, made famous by painter L. S. Lowry who was captivated by the place during his visits here in the 1950s, are now full of utterly enticing independent stores that I wanted to transport to my own road at home. Cowman’s was my first stop: a butcher specialising only in sausages. This is pork paradise with more than 70 varieties to choose from. I have my doubts about the pork, lemon and chilli sausages, but the beef and beer and the pork, stilton and port bangers are superbly blowsy, fulsome looking creations.

The wine merchant D. Byrne is another Victorian curiosity that dates back to 1879 complete with an ‘Open All Hours’ style pay till and huge floor to ceiling shelves.

I bend double to get into the vast crypt area though where thousands of esoteric wines from the Loire Valley to Lebanon are on offer.

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OPPOSITE PAGE NORTHCOTE HOTEL; THIS PAGE, FROM TOP FOREST OF BOWLAND; WHALLEY

All this charm is fewer than three hours from London; a train to Preston and a half hour drive and you’ll be pulling up onto the smooth asphalt drive that fronts Northcote, a Michelin starred hotel and restaurant housed in a 19th-century manor where another leap in the quiet revolution in Lancastrian cooking is taking place.

With spiky, cropped, blonde hair, the diminutive Liza Goodwin Allen may be small of stature, but she is one of those chefs who don’t just have a cult following among the culinary cognoscenti, she’s one of the rare kitchen gurus who also has a sizable fan club amid the famously ill-natured chef’s fraternity too.

After settling into my huge room, bedecked in shades of purple and grey and with a rainforest shower head the size of a family pizza, complimentary homemade biscuits and copies of Tatler to browse while reclining on deckchair striped lounge chairs, I head to the Northcote restaurant to experience Goodwin’s contemporary take on traditional northern cooking.

A plump squab pigeon is the highlight; as silky as pork, this clearly pampered bird was served with yoghurt and mango; a robust high note followed by an unctuous slab of mutton, cheekily placed next to a tubby, squat mutton sausage, carrot and Seville orange. To cook such lusty carnivorous food without it resulting in the diner feeling the need of a sedan chair afterwards is a testament to Allen’s quite extraordinary deftness of touch, paired with a clear, blue-eyed enthusiasm for this northern soul food.

Stepping out into the chill Lancashire night after dinner, the darkness is absolute; the kind of sheer blackness that Londoners simply never experience. I hold my hand up in front of my face.

Nothing. I place my hands on my stomach. Contented and full. The Forest of Bowland might not compromise on its rural isolation. But the sense of well-being achieved here is genuinely a tonic to anyone who wondered whatever happened to the Great British Countryside.

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What’s on at CANARY WHARF Looking Up: Helaine Blumenfeld Monday 16 March-Friday 26 June FREE Daily 7am-8pm Lobby, One Canada Square Plus external locations Looking up: Helaine Blumenfeld at Canary Wharf is the largest solo sculpture exhibition to be presented at Canary Wharf in over 20 years of temporary shows.

Curated by Ann Elliott in close collaboration with Helaine Blumenfeld OBE, it has provided an unrivalled opportunity to present the work of this notable artist in the context of the lofty interior of the Lobby of One Canada Square as well as in different exterior locations including the new development at Wood Wharf, where Blumenfeld’s latest work, Metamorphosis (2019), was recently installed. This monumental bronze and her earlier sculpture Fortuna (2016), already located in Jubilee Park, represent the two works specially commissioned by Canary Wharf Group for the company’s permanent collection, and now form part of this exhibition.

The selection of sculptures on show, which date from 1974 to 2019, reflects Blumenfeld’s wide interest in materials and demonstrates how she persuades the best out of each while maintaining her constantly developing vision through intuition, touch and close scrutiny. The exhibition embraces sculptures created in marble quarried from many locations in Europe and the Middle East, works cast in bronze with her scrupulous choice of patina, carvings in wood, pieces fashioned in terracotta, and one work cast in crystal clear resin. All of these media she pushes to the limits of risk, sometimes teetering on the edge of impossibility, particularly in her carving. Over the span of her career, she has carved deeper into fine marbles, using both the material density and translucency to create lyrical and complex forms in sculptures that reflect life, myth and our irrefutable place in the natural world.

Her subject matter, which fuses organic, natural forms spiced with abstraction, has developed over the years from figurative to more non-representational expression, although a feeling for human form remains essentially present, if camouflaged. Her sculptures express her personal musings on history, mythology, the challenges that face humanity and the formal considerations of materiality in making sculpture.

Read our interview with the artist on p. 38.

Canary Wharf would like to thank Mtec for their support and sponsorship of the exhibition. Helaine Blumenfeld is represented by the Hignell Gallery, London; visit www.hignellgallery.com for more.

FORTUNA, 2016, PHOTO © HENRYK HETFLAISZ

Exhibition Tours Tuesday 12 May and Tuesday 9 June, 6.30pm-7.30pm Curator Ann Elliott tours the exhibition with Helaine Blumenfeld, exploring the materials and themes expressed within the work.

Free but please contact Canary Wharf Public Art Office to reserve a place on 020 7418 2257 or email publicart@canarywharf.com www.helaineblumenfeld.com; www.canarywharf.com

METAMORPHOSIS, 2020, PHOTO © SEAN POLLOCK

EXODUS V, 2019

What’s on at CANARY WHARF Old Flo Key Stage 2, Draped Seated Woman Art Competition Thursday 12 March-Tuesday 12 May Community Gallery Canada Place In celebration of Canary Wharf hosting Henry Moore’s Draped Seated Woman sculpture, known as ‘Old Flo’ among the residents of Tower Hamlets, Canary Wharf Group invited primary schools in Tower Hamlets to participate in an Art Competition. The competition asked students to create 3D sculptures representing a human form inspired by Henry Moore.

The participating schools were offered a grant of £50 towards buying materials to help them run the competition and a prize of £1000 was offered to the school of the winning entry. The winner and runners-up will be displayed in the Community Gallery at Canada Place Mall from Thursday 12 March till Tuesday 12 May. The aim of the competition is to raise awareness to the younger generations, most of whom would not have been born when the Draped Seated Woman left the borough in 1997.

Walking Tours: Art, Architecture and Old Flo Saturday 21 March Experience a fascinating walk around Canary Wharf, led by architectural photographer Grant Smith, who will introduce you to Henry Moore’s Draped Seated Woman and artworks that have a direct affiliation with her, either through the materials, the poses of the figures in the artworks or the style of work. You will gain insight into some of the architecture and be able to identify buildings designed by some of Britain’s leading architects. Through this guided walk, you will have an opportunity to photograph the artworks and buildings and recognise the necessary elements in composition and framing for your photographs.

These tours are free to attend, but please contact Julie Dang at julie. dang@canarywharf.com or call 0207 418 2346 to reserve your place

AFFINITY BY AMIGO & AMIGO

DESIRE BY UXU STUDIO

STRATUM BY STUDIO CHEVALVERT

Open Doors Monday 16 March-Saturday 21 March Canary Wharf Contractors will once again be taking part in Open Doors, giving a unique chance for the public to see behind the scenes at major live construction sites, and find out, not only how the buildings and structures in your community are constructed, but also about the diverse range of skills and professions needed in construction.

Between Monday 16 March and Saturday 21 March 2020, members of the public can gain an insight into the project and learn more about the construction industry and associated career paths by speaking with the project teams.

Our participating projects are Newfoundland and Wood Wharf. To book your place, please visit www.opendoors.construction

The winners: Winter Lights The Winter Lights festival has proved its place in London’s must-visit lists once again, taking home the award for ‘Best Creative Lighting Event’ by a prestigious panel of design judges at the [d]arc awards, hosted by the lighting design publications arc and darc magazines.

Up against Portugal’s Lisbon Under Stars and Sweden’s Lights in Alingsås, Canary Wharf’s installation won judges over with an eclectic collection and a reflective theme of sustainability. www.canarywharf.com

TO READ TO MORE READ TO ARTICLES READ MORE TO MORE ARTICLES READ LIKE ARTICLES MORE THIS LIKE ARTICLES VISIT THIS LIKEVISIT THIS LIKE VISIT THI READ MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS VISIT TOTO READ MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS VISIT LIKE THIS LIKE VISIT THIS LIKEVISIT THIS LIKE VISIT THI TO READ TO MORE READ TOwww.luxurylondon.co.uk ARTICLES READ MORE TO MORE ARTICLES READ ARTICLES MORE ARTICLES www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk LIKE THIS VISIT READ MORE ARTICLES www.luxurylondon.co.uk LIKE THIS VISIT TOTO READ MORE ARTICLES www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk TO READ TO MORE READ TO ARTICLES READ MORE TO MORE ARTICLES READ LIKE ARTICLES MORE THIS LIKE ARTICLES VISIT THIS LIKEVISIT THIS LIKE VISIT THI READ MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS VISIT TOTO READ MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS VISIT www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk

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NEWS WOOD WHARF COMES TO LIFE W H AT T H E N E W D I S T R I C T M E A N S TO CANARY WHARF AS THE FIRST RESIDENTS BEGIN TO MOVE IN

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ood Wharf, the Estate’s new neighbourhood, blends living, working and leisure facilities in a waterside community master planned by Allies and Morrison. Global corporations and tech companies will rub shoulders with start-ups, SMEs, co-working spaces, retail experiences, residential streets and arts and cultural events, with up to 3,600 new homes and 2 million sq ft of office space. At 10 Park Drive, the very first residential building to be constructed

on the Estate, 70 homeowners will be welcomed in summer 2020, and at One Park Drive, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, homeowners can take advantage of 24-hour hotel style concierge services, with its first residents predicted to move in at the end of this year, and last month saw Vertus’ first built-to-rent development, 10 George Street, open its doors to its first occupants. As the district develops, residents will also have access to a new NHS doctor’s surgery and school, plus Canary Wharf’s existing retail and leisure

offerings – recent additions include The Alchemist, Electric Shuffle, Humble Grape and No.35 Mackenzie Walk, and Wood Wharf will soon welcome a Gail’s bakery, Pedler and Grind. This year marks an exciting evolution in the Estate’s history, moving London’s center of gravity ever further East.

For more information regarding Wood Wharf, One and 10 Park Drive visit www.canarywharf.com/residential and for Vertus visit www.thisisvertus.com

Canary Wharf-January 2019 edition-Maxlight.indd 1

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PROPERTY

BERT BY PRECHT (P.121)

PIPE DREAMS HOW SMALL HOMES ARE BECOMING BIG BUSINESS

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3 ZEALAND ROAD, BOW E3

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his East End home features a playful mix of the modern and the period, sitting within nearby Victoria Park's Chisenhale Conservation area.

Renovated with love by the award-winning Chris Dyson Architects, the property has been extended and finished to high specification throughout.

4 B E D R O O M S | 2 B AT H R O O M S | 2 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S | W E S T- FA C I N G L A N D S C A P E D G A R D E N O P E N P L A N E N T E R TA I N I N G S PA C E | A P P R O X I M AT E LY 1 , 5 1 2 S Q F T | E P C D C A N A R Y W H A R F S TAT I O N 2 . 2 M I L E S | B O W R O A D S TAT I O N 1 . 3 M I L E S

Guide price ÂŁ1,650,000 Freehold Knight Frank Canary Wharf lee.oneill@knightfrank.com 020 3641 6112

knightfrank.co.uk

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10 GEORGE STREET, CANARY WHARF E14

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he very best in luxury managed living within Canary Wharf's newest district, Wood Wharf. These high-specification apartments have 24-hour services and amenities including a residents' lounge, private dining room, gym studio, a self-service bar, guest suites and a south-facing terrace.

S T U D I O - 3 B E D R O O M S | 1 - 2 B AT H R O O M S | R E C E P T I O N R O O M | F U R N I S H E D B Y C A M E R I C H 2 4 - H O U R C O N C I E R G E S E R V I C E S | AVA I L A B L E F U R N I S H E D O R U N F U R N I S H E D A P P R O X I M AT E LY 4 5 8 S Q F T | C A N A R Y W H A R F S TAT I O N W I T H J U B I L E E L I N E 0 . 2 M I L E S

Prices from £462 per week Available with Zero Deposit Guarantee Knight Frank Canary Wharf christopher.paxton@knightfrank.com 020 3461 5890

knightfrank.co.uk

All potential tenants should be advised that, as well as rent and the deposit, an administration fee of £288 and referencing fees of £48 per person will apply when renting a property (if not an AST). (All fees shown are inclusive of VAT.) If the landlord agrees to you having a pet, you may be required to pay a higher deposit (if not an AST) or higher weekly rent (if an AST). Please ask us for more information about other fees that will apply or visit www.knightfrank.co.uk/tenantfees.

Mayfair Showroom 66 Grosvenor Street, London, W1K 3JL 35 offices in central London and over 70 across the capital

Basin Approach, E14 ÂŁ1,825,000

This four bedroom penthouse apartment has an impressive 2,800 sq. ft of living space arranged over two floors. There is a wraparound terrace with views of Canary Wharf and Basin, ideal for entertaining during those summer months.

With the rarity of two parking spaces in such a central location, this property is a must see, energy rating d.

Dexters Wapping 020 7650 5350

Western Gateway, E16 ÂŁ1,400,000

Ideally located in Royal Victoria Docks and close to transport links, a three double bedroom penthouse apartment with direct views of the City. Set over two floors, the property has a spacious open plan kitchen/reception room which leads on to your very own balcony. There is also the luxury of allocated parking and a porter, energy rating c.

Dexters Canary Wharf 020 7517 1199

dexters.co.uk

Fairmont Avenue, E14 ÂŁ912 per week

Within this popular riverside development, a spectacular two bedroom penthouse apartment with a bright reception room and private terrace offering incredible views of the River Thames. There is the added bonus of access to the facilities in the neighbouring Raddison Blue hotel, energy rating c.

Dexters Canary Wharf 020 7517 1190

Fairmont Avenue, E14 ÂŁ925 per week

Located moments from the shops, bars and restaurants of Canary Wharf, a fantastic three bedroom, three bathroom penthouse apartment with a huge amount of living space. There is a wonderful wraparound balcony with far reaching views, this is riverside living at its best, energy rating c.

Dexters Canary Wharf 020 7517 1190 For further information on the costs associated with renting a property, please visit our website or ask one of our local experts.

VISIT OUR NEW

SHOWHOME ARRANGE A VIEWING TODAY

Enjoy the very best of London living in a contemporary village environment at Kidbrooke Village. With 86 acres of beautiful green parkland to explore, shops, restaurants and other amenities on-site including Kidbrooke station, resident’s only gym and a 24 Hour Concierge, it offers an enviable urban lifestyle with a thriving community.

1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments available from £447,500 Limited availability of London Help to Buy† is now available on selected homes at Kidbrooke Village.

Estimated completion dates from August 2020.

Experience Kidbrooke Village for yourself Delivered in proud partnership with:

Call 020 3925 1826 to book your viewing appointment today

OVER

35

HECTARES OF GREEN OPEN SPACES

19

MINUTES

FROM CENTRAL LONDON

ZONE

3

ON-SITE

RETAIL HUB

CONNECT

W I T H L O N D O N

C Y C L E

AWA R D

W I N N I N G DEVELOPMENT

RESIDENTS

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FAC I L I T I E S

www.kidbrookevillage.co.uk Sales & Marketing Suite open daily 10am - 6pm (Thursdays until 8pm) 5 Pegler Square, Greenwich, London SE3 9FW

KIDBROOKE STATION

BLACKHEATH 3 MINUTES*

LONDON BRIDGE WATERLOO EAST 16 MINUTES* 19 MINUTES*

CANARY WHARF 22 MINUTES*

Photography depicts Showhome, views and lifestyle and is indicative only. Prices and information correct at time of sending to press. *Timing is approximate only. Source: www.tfl.gov.uk. †London Help to Buy is subject to the Homes and Communities Agency’s (HCA) terms and conditions and is available on new build homes up to £600,000 to customers where the property represents their only residence. YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON A MORTGAGE OR ANY OTHER DEBT SECURED ON IT. CHECK THAT THIS SCHEME WILL MEET YOUR NEEDS IF YOU WANT TO MOVE OR SELL YOUR HOME OR YOU WANT YOUR FAMILY TO INHERIT IT. IF YOU ARE IN ANY DOUBT, SEEK INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL ADVICE.

YOUR AMAZING VIEW

WESTWOOD HOUSE BACKING DIRECTLY ONTO CHIGWELL GOLF COURSE

High Road, Chigwell, Essex On The Central Line The Penthouse apartment is the pinnacle of Westwood House, it boasts an expansive living area including a spacious entrance lobby, three double bedrooms with master benefitting from walk in wardrobe, three en-suite bathrooms, and a central open plan living/dining/kitchen area, utility room and integral balconies.

PRICE £1,640,000 0208 0165 333

contact@ejpr.co.uk

Westerham Road, BR2 £1,499,000 F/H

Beautifully appointed five bedroom, Mock Tudor detached family home, located close to the pretty village of Keston.

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Contact Locksbottom 01689 882 988

Kings Hall Road, BR3

Woodmere Close, CR0

Chain free, five bedroom semi-detached period house, located in central Beckenham close to schools and stations.

A versatile five bedroom detached dormer bungalow, located on a popular cul-de-sac in Shirley.

£1,295,000 F/H

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£695,000 F/H

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Contact Beckenham 020 8663 4433

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Contact West Wickham 020 8432 7373

The new home of property

acorngroup.co.uk/lr

Bromley Lane, BR7

Court Road, BR6

A spacious detached family home boasting over 5,900 sqft of internal living space and set behind electronically controlled oak gates.

Excellently maintained and desirable three bedroom semi-detached home, situated in a popular location close to all amenities.

£1,750,000 F/H

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£525,000 F/H

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Contact Chislehurst 020 8295 4900

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Contact Orpington 01689 661 400

Westbury Road, BR1 OIEO £1,800,000 F/H

Stunning five bedroom, contemporary family home, excellently located for transport links and highly regarded state and private schools.

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Gloucester Circus, SE10 £2,750,000 F/H

This is a rare opportunity to purchase a property in one of the most sought-after and exclusive locations within the West Greenwich area.

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Contact West Greenwich 020 8858 9911

Vanbrugh Hill, SE10

Holme Lacey Road, SE12

Stunning three bedroom, four storey Victorian terraced house finished to a high standard throughout. Located only a short walk from Maze Hill station and within easy access of North Greenwich tube.

Beautiful, extended four bedroom 1930s semi-detached family home situated in an extremely popular road within easy reach of Lee train station, shops, restaurants and outstanding local schools.

£799,995 F/H

£895,000 F/H

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Contact East Greenwich 020 3846 1414

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Contact Lee 020 8852 8633

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The new home of property

acorngroup.co.uk/jp

Parade Ground Path, SE18

OIEO £480,000 L/H

Beautiful two bedroom ground floor apartment, offering spacious accommodation. Positioned in a magnificent converted historic building.

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Contact Blackheath Standard 020 8858 6101

Pegler Square, SE3 £825,000 L/H

Stylish penthouse apartment comprising large terrace with impressive views. Situated in the Kidbrooke Village development, Marsden House.

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Contact Blackheath Village 020 8318 1311

Follow us on social   @acorngroup,  /acornestateagency or visit us at acorngroup.co.uk/jp

The new home of property

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Red Lion Lane, SE18

Canberra Road, SE7

£1,425 PCM

£1,850 PCM

Modern two bedroom cottage located within the Shooters Hill Conservation area.

Stunning three bedroom 1930s family home, situated on a popular residential street.

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Contact Blackheath Standard 020 8858 6101

Contact Blackheath Standard 020 8858 6101

Maidenstone Hill, SE10

Trafalgar Grove, SE10

Attractive Victorian terraced house in the heart of the West Greenwich Conservation area.

Immaculate four double bedroom townhouse situated within Greenwich.

£2,400 PCM

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£3,250 PCM

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Contact West Greenwich 020 8858 9911

Contact East Greenwich 020 3846 1414

Horseferry Place, SE10

Kidbrooke Grove, SE3

A spacious, fourth floor river front apartment in the Royal Borough of Greenwich.

A beautiful extended five bedroom semi-detached family house.

£2,200 PCM

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£3,800 PCM

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Contact West Greenwich 020 8858 9911

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acorngroup.co.uk/jp

Contact Blackheath Village 020 8318 1311

Follow us on social   @acorngroup,  /acornestateagency or visit us at acorngroup.co.uk/jp

S MALL WO ND ERS LITTLE HOMES ARE BIG BUSINESS. AS THE WORLD S E E K S M O R E S U S TA I N A B L E A N D A F F O R D A B L E W AY S T O L I V E , P R E FA B R I C AT E D P R O P E R T I E S A R E E X P E R I E N C I N G A R E S U R G E N C E . D I S C O V E R T H E I N N O VAT I V E A R C H I T E C T S F I N D I N G B I G G E R A N D B E T T E R W AY S T O B U I L D S M A L L S PA C E S AT A T I N Y C O S T WORDS ELLEN MILLARD

Y

ou really can buy anything on Amazon. From batteries to bestsellers, the e-tailer has everything you could ever need for your home – including the house itself. Tapping into the tiny home trend, a downsizing movement that sees residents eschewing chunky mortgages for prefabricated homes, Amazon is now selling a range of DIY dwellings.

Once seen as an inferior alternative to bricks and mortar, prefab homes are experiencing a resurgence as a solution to rising house prices and increasing space restrictions.

Delivered part or fully assembled, the buildings dramatically cut construction time and costs and, in some cases, allow owners to move their entire home from one location to another. Flat pack properties sound about as exciting as flat pack furniture, but a new generation of designers are injecting a fresh wave of ideas into the modular market.

Should you wish to avoid parting cash with a corporate overlord (lest we forget the pitiful £220m Amazon paid in UK tax in 2018, despite its £10.9bn revenue – but that’s a different story for a different day...), there are a number of innovative architectural

PROPERTY

firms and start-ups driving the prefab movement – and their motives are decidedly more ethical and their designs decidedly more desirable.

Brandishing eco-friendly credentials, Birch Le Collaboration by Michigan design company Hygge Supply is a Scandi-style home made almost entirely from sustainable materials – think responsiblysourced wood panelling and recycled kitchen countertops. It cuts a pretty picture, too, with a minimalist design, black timber panelling and floor-to-ceiling windows. Hygge Supply kits start from $53,000, but you can also stay in the original model currently based in Lake Leelenau, which is listed on AirBnB for £151 a night.

In Estonia, brothers Andreas and Jaak Tiik have

created ÖÖD. Merging hotel suite aesthetics with bold design, this two-person prefab spans just 18 sqm in total. Made from steel, insulated glass and wood, and taking fewer than eight hours to build, the tiny home is clad in mirrored glass to allow it to blend into the surrounding landscape. It comes complete with LED lighting, adjustable heating, custom-designed furniture and a BOSE sound system. All new owners need to do is hook it up to water, internet and sewage systems. It is currently only available in Estonia, but the company is considering exporting overseas.

More striking still is Bert, a truncated treehouse created by architecture studio Precht for Baumbau, a start-up company that plans to expand its offering of tiny homes. Its first foray into the market is a tree trunk-shaped modular home with an eco twist; designed to work off-grid, the building features solar panels on the roof and composting toilets at ground level. Dark 122

OPENING PAGE BERT BY PRECHT; THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP BIRCH LE COLLABORATION BY HYGGE SUPPLY, PHOTOGRAPHY BY WILL JOHNSON (@THIS_SIMPLE_LIFE); BERT BY PRECHT; ÖÖD

interiors have been designed to allow the spherical windows to do the talking.

Not just a means for sustainability, modular homes are increasingly being used as forces for

social change. In London and Greater Manchester, the charity Centrepoint is building 300 modular homes for residents of the company’s temporary homelessness accommodation, who are ready to move out but don’t have the funds to do so. Rent will be capped at a third of the tenants' incomes for the first five years, with the first wave of properties expected in 2020.

In Japan, meanwhile, Muji has unveiled a prefab property designed for the country’s ageing population. Dubbed Yō no Ie House, the onebedroom, one-bathroom home is spread across a single storey (no stairs to tackle in later life) and features an open-plan design, passive solar principles and customisable finishes.

Whether for fun or future proofing, each tiny home builds on the idea of a more diverse, climate-sensitive era of architecture – which these designers intend to champion, one flat-pack property at a time.

LU X U R Y L ON D ON .C O.U K

AMAZING HOMES WITH SPECTACULAR RIVER VIEWS Call 020 3925 1557 to book an appointment today and experience this fantastic place

This limited collection of 2 and 3 bedroom apartments is ready to move into now. With a location next to a new landscaped park, riverside walk, exciting range of dining options and the superb facilities of The Waterside Club, it offers a truly luxurious lifestyle.

Residents also benefit from proximity to Woolwich Works Creative District, set to rival the South Bank as a major cultural destination, and excellent transport connections via the DLR, National Rail, Thames Clipper, forthcoming Crossrail and a six-minute journey to London City Airport.

Visit the Showhome and experience it for yourself.

Prices for these Premium Apartments start from ÂŁ949,995.

Sales & Marketing Suite open 10am to 6pm (Thursdays until 8pm) Imperial Building, No. 2 Duke of Wellington Avenue, Royal Arsenal Riverside, Woolwich, London SE18 6FR Photography depicts Waterfront Premium Apartment Showhomes and The Waterside Club at Royal Arsenal Riverside and is indicative only.

Approximate travel times taken from Woolwich Arsenal. Prices and information correct at time of going to press.

www.royalarsenalriverside.co.uk