onefinestay has been redefining city travel since 2010. Our guests live like locals by staying in distinctive homes while their owners are out of town, enjoying a service which offers all the convenience and comfort of a hotel. Our hosts benefit financially from their house or apartment which would otherwise stand empty, without having to lift a finger. We look after an exclusive, carefully curated portfolio of remarkable homes across London, New York, Los Angeles and Paris, with more exciting locations on the horizon. We'd love to welcome you. Book in for a onefinestay by emailing reservations@onefinestay.com or call +44 800 612 4377 or from the US +1 917 383 2182. And if you want to find out more about signing up your home, visit onefinestay.com/hosts.
Guestbook 5: The food issue Editor Alex Bagner Art Direction/Design James Reid & TOM WATT www.field-projects.com Copy Chief Sara Norrman onefinestay Co-Founder & CEO Greg Marsh Published by onefinestay www.onefinestay.com Cover illustration Ken Fallin Words Liz Armstrong, Nick Compton, Luke Crisell, Hayley Fairclough, Francesca Gavin, Sara Norrman, Amy Serafin Photographers (The Salon) Steve Brahms, Patrick Lyn, Annabel Mehran, Steven Perilloux, Atlanta Rascher, Henry Roy, Philip Sinden Photographers (The Gallery) Andrew Beasley, Kate Berry, VĂŠronique Besnard, Inge Clemente, Heather Culp, Mitchell Geng, Benjamin Jarosch, Tom Lakeman, Mariell Lind-Hansen, Lionel Moreau, Bernard Wolf Illustrators Ian Bilbey, Ken Fallin For all advertising enquiries or to order more copies of Guestbook please email: guestbook@onefinestay.com Printed in the UK by Moore, a division of DG3. www.mooreprint.co.uk To read a digital version of this and past issues visit www.onefinestay.com/guestbook
EDITOR’S LETTER
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p till now I’ve resisted a theme for an issue of Guestbook, opting instead to tell the wide and varied tales that come with a onefinestay – from experiencing the charm of staying in a home to the thrill of uncovering the local secrets of a city. However, having reached a well-rounded and amicable fifth issue, it felt about time that we gather round the table and tuck into a home-cooked meal together. After all, having the space to entertain and a well-stocked kitchen to prepare the meal, not to mention a whole delectable city on your doorstep in which to forage for exciting new ingredients, is a huge part of the onefinestay feast. From the delight of experiencing the city through its various food markets and delis, as recommended by our hosts (page 42) to the comfort of hosting a dinner party in a home away from home (page 16), this issue of Guestbook celebrates the joy of food, travel and culture. All of which, argues Nick Compton in the Opinion piece (page 32), are now so entwined that surely the age of having to resort to the snacks in the mini-bar is well and truly over. And chef Anna Hansen explains how it was food inspiration picked up from her globetrotting days that spurred her to build up her very successful London restaurant, The Modern Pantry (page 28). All this is served up with some more regular fare, including our zestful and enlightening conversations with some of our hosts across the globe, as well as finding out what’s stirring behind the company scenes in The Snug. After which – if you’re not too full that is – we welcome you to withdraw to our digital salon, The Edition (www.onefinestay.com/ the-edition), where we’ll continue the conversation and offer up even more food for thought. Bon Appetit
Alex Bagner Editor, Guestbook guestbook@onefinestay.com
CONTRIBUTORS ….and their favourite meal to cook at home
LA-based Liz Armstrong writes for screen and page, for select publications including Nylon, Rookie, Bullett, The Fader, New York magazine and Chicago Reader. She was the online editor for Vice in New York before taking up her role as West Coast editor in 2011. ‘I cook a mean tagine.’ Photographer and director Steven Brahms' commercial and editorial work includes The Fader, Details, Havaianas and Bloomberg, and he is currently working on an episodic comedy series about a stoner alien scientist, among other things. ‘Picanha, a Brazilian cut of beef, grilled on our balcony with a glass of Rioja.’ Based in New York, Luke Crisell was previously executive editor at Nylon and is now editor-in-chief at Aritzia. He has written for The Independent, Elle, Monocle, Wallpaper*, New York magazine, and many other publications. ‘A mean frozen vegan pizza in my toaster oven.’ Ken Fallin’s intricately detailed pen and ink drawings of celebrities have graced the pages of The Wall Street Journal for over 15 years, and his work appears regularly in The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The New Yorker and The Hollywood Reporter. Fans and owners of an original Fallin include Madonna, Sir Cameron Mackintosh, Sir Ian McKellen, Helen Hunt and Steve Martin. ‘Super-crispy fried chicken wings known as Chicken Kenny, served with beer-battered onion rings and lemon pound cake topped with lime sorbet.’
Francesca Gavin is a writer, editor and curator based in London. She is the Visual Arts Editor of Dazed & Confused, the art editor of Twin and a Contributing Editor at Artsy, AnOther and Sleek. Her five books are all published by Laurence King. She is also the curator of the Soho House art collection and has curated exhibitions internationally including ‘The Dark Cube’ at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris and ‘The New Psychedelica’ at MU, Eindhoven. ‘Brussel sprouts steamed and sauteed in a little coconut oil, served with grated fresh parmesan.’ Annabel Mehran is a photographer based in Los Angeles and New York. Her work is regularly published in Cherry Bombe, The New York Times Magazine, Lula, Porter, Harper’s Bazaar and Interview. She is a contributing editor at Purple Magazine. ‘Roast chicken and tadik, a Persian rice with a buttery crunchy crust that requires an elegant flip at the end.’ Amy Serafin is a journalist and editor who writes on a wide range of subjects, from contemporary design to stem cells, for publications such as Wallpaper*, The New York Times, France Magazine and SmartPlanet. ‘Thai-Indian spicy beef curry – a ton of work yet totally worth it.’ A Londoner by birth, Philip Sinden shoots for British Vogue, Condé Nast Traveller, The Wall Street Journal, The Telegraph and Porter magazine, and he has also contributed to several coffee table books including The English Dandy, published by Thames & Hudson. ‘A Sunday roast.’
CONTENTS
The Salon 8 In Conversation With Michael Ryan and Sophie Demenge, St John’s Place, Brooklyn, New York Words Luke Crisell Photography Steve Brahms
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The Preserve of the Cognoscenti The most delectable delis and markets in LA, London, Paris and New York, as recommended by our hosts Photography Patrick Lyn, Steven Perilloux, Atlanta Rascher, Henry Roy
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Cook Club Chef brothers Eli and Max enjoy a onefinestay at Prospect Place II, New York Interview Sara Norrman
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In Conversation With Bub Burchman & Kathy Solomon, Folk House, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Words Liz Armstrong Photography Annabel Mehran
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In Conversation With Robin and Paola Wight, Union Wharf V, Shoreditch, London Words Francesca Gavin Photography Philip Sinden
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Well-Seasoned Traveller London restaurant owner and chef Anna Hansen on how to be inspired by exotic ingredients picked up on your travels Interview Sara Norrman Portrait Philip Sinden
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The Eat Generation Pulling pork and checking out ceps – why we are all foodies now Words Nick Compton Illustration Ian Bilbey
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In Conversation With Johanna De Clisson, Rue des Trois Frères, Montmartre, Paris Words Amy Serafin Photography Henry Roy
The Gallery 57 A SELECTION OF ONEFINESTAY MEMBERS’ HOMES In New York, Paris, Los Angeles and London The Snug 106 creative residencies Gavin Turk gets nostalgic in Paris and Emma Forrest takes refuge in LA 110
OUR SOCIAL WHIRL From a journey to the depths of Narnia to some downtown karaoke, find out what we’ve been up to in the past few months
112 END NOTE From Katy Andersen, Director of Service Development, London
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IN conversation with
michael ryan & sophie demenge st john's place, park slope, new york
words luke crissell photography steve brahms
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he first thing you notice when you enter the four-storey corner townhouse that Michael Ryan, his wife Sophie Demenge, and their two children Mae and Marius share on a particularly picturesque block in Park Slope, Brooklyn, is the trapeze. Suspended above the living area, between two grey, roll-arm couches on either side of an antique kilim rug from Turkey, it is just one idiosyncratic touch in a home (and it is a home – the term house does it a disservice) which, you soon realize, is teeming with such touches. From the art to the artifacts, collected on the family’s apparently peripatetic exploration of the world (we’re talking Cambodia and Vietnam as opposed to The Hamptons and Miami), this is a truly unique and multi-faceted place. A sprawling canvas painted by a friend in the living room depicts the family as they might appear on a
Bollywood movie poster and ‘Everything’s gonna be super duper’ is a motto decoratively inscribed on a bathroom wall. Formerly a boarding house for musicians – peep holes are still visible in some of the upstairs bedrooms – the house was on the market for a long time in a neighbourhood where houses are never, ever on the market for a long time. The seller gained a reputation for taking potential buyers through the protracted process before changing his mind at the last minute, put off by developers’ plans to break floors and turn it into condos. Demenge and Ryan, who lived in a nearby loft (the trapeze was installed there, too) and walked past the property every day, just wanted a home for their family and that, Sophie says, was what eventually sealed the deal. They set about removing useless walls, maximizing the space as they remodelled it, and now traditional weapons from Papua New
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Guinea sit on a mantlepiece a few feet away Even that fully functional trapeze, made by from a Saarinen Tulip table and an Eames lounge Demenge’s teacher at circus school, gets regular chair from the 1960s which originally stood in use. Demenge, you see, used to be an acrobat in Demenge’s childhood living room in Paris (a new the Pickle Family Circus in San Francisco, where one resides on the second floor). she moved after graduating with a degree in The lounge chairs, like the couch, the rugs, philosophy from the Sorbonne. After relocating the tables and the pair of original Bertoia chairs to New York to complete a degree in industrial upstairs were all picked up at an auction in a design, Demenge met her husband at a party in particularly rural part of the Catskills, where the SoHo, and the two soon set about establishing couple have a little home on a lake (‘It sort of their company, Oeuf. The couple had recognized looks like the Seven Dwarves’ cabin’), and are a gap in the market for contemporary furniture used regularly by the family. Nothing is for show and accessories for kids with well-designed, (except maybe those weapons), and when we practical pieces which didn’t need to be hidden arrive one bitter winter evening Mae and Marius in the back of a closet when playtime was over. are sitting cross legged on the ground floor’s ‘I was pregnant and we were really excited to centrepiece, a dining table that comfortably seats make a little nest but everything was ugly, not eight, in their pyjamas, simultaneously playing a well-made, expensive, and frilly,’ says Demenge. board game and doing their homework with their That was 12 years ago and in the intervening mother, who speaks to them in her native French, time Demenge and Ryan have not only grown their successful business (their office, where though they always respond in English. 14
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they have 10 employees, is a stone’s throw away), but reinvented the paradigm for children’s furnishings in the process: gone is the flotsam and jetsam that for so long has seemed like a necessary evil of having children and in its place are aesthetically appealing, sensible objects that focus on what’s necessary and ignore what isn’t. But the couple have been known to produce a few adult-centric pieces, too, such as the statement desk on the second floor made from a huge piece of walnut that Demenge designed while a student at the Pratt Institute in New York, and Ryan helped her build. (On working with her husband, Demenge says: ‘I mean, he drives me crazy, and I think I drive him crazier than he drives me, but it’s really nice to build something together.’) But for all the beautiful objects and whimsical touches, you leave this place as you arrived at it –with the impression that here, family comes first. Indeed, if there
were a fire Demenge says the one thing she would take would be her hard drive: ‘My whole life’s on it. All the pictures of my kids that I would want them to have for their kids, everything,’ she says, with a soft smile. www.onefinestay.com/new-york/st-johns-place
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cook club Max and Eli Sussman have one burning ambition – to make people cook. Here, while enjoying a onefinestay at Prospect Place II in New York, the chef brothers get busy in the kitchen, invite some friends and explain in four easy steps how to make eating at home so special – even if that home isn’t necessarily yours
interview Sara Norrman
Keep it Simple We don’t waste time running around to loads of different stores looking for various spices and ingredients. Our type of cooking is for those who don’t want to spend days of prepping but still want to make good food and impress their guests. For big groups of friends we like dishes that can sit around on the counter for a long time – big salads, cooked vegetables dressed in light dressings, pasta. Another trick to impress easily is to serve up handmade pasta – linguini, orecchiette, whatever – and people’s jaws drop.
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Get to know your New Surroundings As private chefs who cater to parties, we have often cooked in other people’s houses, so hitting the kitchen at Prospect Place II was just fine. What people all seem to have in common is where they store cutlery and bowls, they’re always easy to find. As to pots and pans, they could be hiding in the basement, or hanging up from the ceiling somewhere. The trick is to have a 10-minute walkthrough before you start cooking, and locate everything you’ll need before you turn on the hob.
Think beyond The food Cooking for friends at home rather than going out for a meal makes for a much more intimate experience – you spend time together making the meal happen, which is much more enjoyable than having a chef do it for you At a dinner party it is definitely not the food that is most important. You can serve up the finest dishes ever and still feel deeply uncomfortable. Creating a warm atmosphere with good friends and loads of wine is what matters.
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Make your Guests the centre of attention At home, the food is secondary and your friends the centre of attention, that's the difference between eating at home and in a restaurant. If you all go out to a fancy restaurant and pay $100 a head, and the food’s not right, you’re all just going to be pissed off. Sure there are dirty dishes and all that afterwards, but the feeling you get, sitting down with friends to eat what you have cooked… all together in the same experience. It’s comforting.
Max and Eli Sussman live in Brooklyn and work as chefs, Max at The Cleveland and Eli at the Mile End Deli. Their latest book, The Best Cookbook Ever, is published by Olive Press.
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IN conversation with
Robin & Paola Wight
union wharf V, shoreditch, London words Francesca Gavin photography philip sinden
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magine the quintessentially eccentric British couple. The effervescent Robin and Paola Wight would be a perfect fit. Robin who wears red glasses, a Lego ring and often paints one finger nail, is a serious player in the world of advertising. Paola in a tartan skirt makes her own marmalade and hangs out in Chelsea. Their conversation brims with enthusiasm, laughter and sheer creativity. Robin Wight set up his ad agency The Engine Group 35 years ago, and created some of the most memorable ads in recent history, including the iconic 118118 boys. There are two British Victorian Members of Parliament in his family tree and Wight himself once stood for parliament. ‘I didn’t get in as it was in a safe Labour seat but 19,000 people voted for me!’ His wife Paola, though brought up between Canada and New Zealand, cultivated her English roots. Originally a fashion designer, she ran a miliners in Knightsbridge before she read law, and now works as an intellectual property barrister.
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Despite their delight in their estimable British heritage, their home couldn’t be more modern. The first thing that hits you when you enter is the view. The big glass windows and balcony of the main living space open onto a perfect summary of the architectural history of London. The space overlooks the Regent’s Canal and a Victorian underwater cable factory. In the distance are scores of classic modernist buildings like the Sadler’s Wells theatre, while new architectural gems are being formed nearby by star-chitects Terry Farrell and Norman Foster. Robin bought the loft-like place three years ago. ‘I like the exposed concrete. I love big spaces. I’m sure there must be some positive way in which a bigger space changes you, releases your endorphins,’ he enthuses. As inspirational are the contemporary art pieces that hang on every wall. Highlights include a print by taxidermy artist and onefinestay Creative Resident (see www.onefinestay.com/the-edition/2), Polly Morgan and a set of black and white graphic
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prints by big-name Scottish artists like Bruce has done for the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, McLean and John Bellany. A red plastic Spun raising £50 million for one of the biggest youth chair by British architect Thomas Heatherwick, charities in the UK. Working with creative that looks a bit like a spool of wool, is central, charities is one of Robin’s passions. (Advertising as are pieces by designer Ron Arad. The result is doesn’t wear your brain out, he jokes.) His book a perfect example of British eclecticism. The Peacock’s Tail and the Reputation Reflex: The There is also something very personal about Neuroscience of Arts Sponsorship, with a foreword the space, with lots of photos and bits from their by Richard Dawkins, argued that there was an recent wedding. The newleyweds met at the evolutionary purpose to art sponsorship – to Chelsea Arts Club. ‘I would say under a piano, prove artists’ genes were so good they didn’t but it’s not strictly true,’ Paola laughs. ‘It was have to struggle to survive. His latest project, Sunday afternoon. There was a concert about to the Ideas Foundation, pairs brands with young start, a classical concert. This chap rocks up to me creatives, who create campaigns, gain experience and says, “What are you doing there sitting right at agencies and get a foothold in the industry. at the back of the room? You can’t see anything.” Despite all their energy and creativity, Robin And I said “Well, you don’t have to see a concert and Paola’s home is an oasis of calm. As Paola to hear it!” He chatted me up and that was it.’ notes: ‘On the weekend of course it’s really, Their first date was breakfast at the Wolseley really quiet in this part of London. We can’t hear on Piccadilly. anything – it’s like being in the country.’ They married in the Savoy Chapel, one of five royal chapels in the country. The theme of the www.onefinestay.com/london/union-wharf-5 wedding was Smarties, the colourful chocolate buttons. Both wore bright red shoes and Robin had on a purple suit. He snagged the venue as a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, a position he achieved for the incredible work he THE SALON
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interview
Well-seasoned traveller For chef Anna Hansen it is when roaming the globe that she is most inspired to create. Here she explains how it’s the impromptu ingredients you pick up en route that will provide culinary stimulation long after you return home. Just don’t get reeled in by the dried fish
interview Sara NoRrman portrait PHILIP SINDEN
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he Modern Pantry is one of the most original and innovative restaurants on the London scene. Its owner and head chef Anna Hansen has a true globetrotter background. Born in Canada, she grew up in New Zealand near her Danish maternal grandparents and is now living in Greenwich, London. Her idiosyncratic cooking has no national allegiance, and is instead full of flavours that crosses continents and breaks usual culinary boundaries.
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You speak in your cookbook about the importance of keeping an open mind when cooking. Is that something you recommend for travelling food lovers too?
AH
Absolutely. I always look for inspiration and unusual ingredients. One tip is to go for the strangest thing on the menu – I do.
SN
People often come back from holidays and travels full of taste and smell impressions and memories. What should they do to hang on to those sensations?
AH
Try to recreate them at home. I once had tripe for lunch in a marble quarry in Italy, in a simple worker’s café. It was so simply put together, but so beautiful, and the flavour perfectly captured the moment. I talked the chef into giving me the recipe, which I now slavishly follow every time I cook it (which is unusual for me).
SN
As you yourself say in The Modern Pantry Cookbook, your combinations of ingredients can occasionally come across as bizarre. How do you work out what flavours work together?
AH
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‘I always look for inspiration and unusual ingredients. One tip is to go for the strangest thing on the menu – I do’. 30
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Is it a bit like painting, ie can you visualize flavours and see which ones go well together?
AH
Yes, there’s a palette of flavours, or a wheel spectrum. You can substitute flavours for something that is close by, like mustard instead of wasabi, but you should also pair up tastes that are at the absolute opposite ends of that spectrum.
SN
Have you ever created a dish that really didn’t work?
AH
Sure. Smoked paprika ice cream. Never again.
SN
Do you have any flavours that specifically attract you?
AH
Sour stuff, tamarind, pomegranate molasses, different types of salt. That’s why I like Southeast Asian food so much, it has that fresh tanginess. I also adore Urfa chilli flakes from Turkey, they have a rich, deep flavour rather than macho heat.
SN
Is there any food item you always take home with you when you travel?
AH
Anything I’ve never seen before. I just came back from Sri Lanka with different flavoured sugars, plenty of spices and Indian karam seeds, which are great. But I’ve learned to avoid dried fish, it looks so cool but I’m just not sure about it. Oh, and skip any fermented meat.
SN
Best find?
AH
My coconut grater, I use it all the time.
SN
How adventurous is your everyday cooking?
AH
I tend to stick with comfort food, but when I entertain at home I either go for very fast or very slow food, for some reason, like slow-cooked octopus with artichoke hearts. Not sure why.
SN
What flavour or ingredient do you specifically associate with the four onefinestay cities?
AH
For LA I think raw, clean food, always served cold. New York is all about grilled flavours and great steaks, but also Japanese. The restaurant scene in London is too global for any specific flavour, it encompasses everything. But Paris is easy; pork! Lovely pâtés and brilliant sausages like Boudin Blancs… it’s all good. www.themodernpantry.co.uk
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IN conversation with
Johanna de Clisson
rue des trois frĂˆres, montmartre, PARIS
words amy serafin photography HENRY ROY
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J
ohanna de Clisson knew she would buy this To mirror the garden, she has brought the house in Montmartre before she even set foot tropics indoors by decorating one wall of the inside the front door. ‘It was the middle of living room with a lush palm-tree motif. The summer,’ she recalls. ‘I pushed open the covering is not wallpaper but fabric, which is gate to the building and saw the courtyard walls rare. ‘It is complicated to apply, really an art, covered with vines. There was bamboo every- but the visual quality is incomparable,’ she says. where, the tree was in flower. It was like being ‘And besides, textiles are in my family.’ Indeed, in the jungle or a little restaurant in Salvador de her stepfather is Patrick Frey, head of the luxury Bahia. I thought: this is for me!’ fabric manufacturer Pierre Frey. Growing up Having already visited about 70 properties in on the Left Bank, Johanna was ‘bathed’, as Paris, she knew how rare it was to find one with the French say, in good taste. She attended the green space and nobody living overhead, features prestigious ENSAD decorative arts school, where she and her husband both deemed essential. she majored in photography, then was artistic Once inside, she liked the house’s layout, too, director for a communications agency before seemingly bigger than its 80 square metres. co-founding a boutique agency called Simone. The living area on the ground floor has ceilings Dressed in an impeccable white shirt, grey reaching four metres and large glass windows top and jeans, she has a fondness for 1960s that overlook the garden. At either end, two steep furniture, and admits that hunting it down has staircases lead to separate sleeping quarters – one become a bit of an obsession. She found her side for the parents, the other for their two small Warren Platner armchairs on Ebay and the children. There are no doors, yet they still have Kramer and Rietveld dining-room set at a gallery a sense of privacy. ‘Our friends ask, “Don’t you in Montmartre. It was at the Vanves flea market worry that you can’t hear the kids at night?”But that she picked up a little red vintage high chair no, we love it,’ Johanna says. for her two-year-old daughter, who adopted it
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immediately. ‘Until recently, she didn’t want to get down,’ Johanna says. ‘I knew as long as she was seated there she’d stay put throughout lunch.’ There is always a bouquet of fresh flowers on the table, picked up from the florist Muse on the Rue Burq during the family’s weekend strolls through the neighbourhood. ‘We have our rituals, going to the local butcher, the various shops, teaching the kids about vegetables, stopping at a café.’ Like many Parisians, the family did not often visit Montmartre before moving here. Now, she says, they wouldn’t choose to be anywhere else. ‘When you live at the top of this hill it’s special. There aren’t many cars; we can walk down the middle of the street without fearing for the kids. It’s like living in a village.’ As soon as the weather is warm, their favourite place to have coffee is right at home, at a small cast-iron table in the courtyard. A typical Paris streetlamp has somehow made its way into the midst of the greenery, and in the evenings it gives off a soft light. Saturday nights, the couple often invite friends for dinner, open the windows to the garden and play albums at
maximum volume. Music is another essential element in their lives, from jazz to world to Serge Gainsbourg. In the living room, two guitars sit near a turntable and a vintage Sansui tuner Johanna reaches into a pile of old records and pulls out a colourful bossa nova album. As she lowers the needle, the room fills with the sounds of Brazil and a warmth only vinyl can offer. There is no question that we are in Paris. But at the same time, we feel exotically far away. www.onefinestay.com/paris/rue-des-trois-freres
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Opinion
The Eat Generation In a world where food has become a new faith system and dinner a communion, our demands for culinary exploration on holiday have fundamentally changed. We’re all prey to the cult of food now, says Nick Compton, so surely the era of the mini-bar is over?
words NICK COMPTON illustration IAN BILBEY
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t struck me one Saturday morning, five or six years ago, how things had changed. I was on a mission to secure a couple of fine, plump and perfectly flakey pains au chocolat from a stall on London’s Broadway Market. One for me and one for my young son. Jackson was already something of a connoisseur of the chocolate-filled pastry and this one was a prize; big but soft with an actual solid bar of chocolate you could bite into in the middle, the sweetness of which was undercut by the salty butter in the pastry. I guess the idea was that you applied heat and the chocolate melted but we liked that sweet resistance (you see how easily I fall into a lazy approximation of hack food-critic speak, as we all seem to do now). Broadway Market’s collection of Saturday stalls selling artisan bread, Gujarati street snacks and vintage brogues, among other food and fashion items, was already established as London’s most celebrated hipster parade ground; a place where men with beards pushed custom-built bicycles with expensive bits and bobs from Campagnolo and Bianchi, while girls in asymmetric hair cuts took pictures of men with beards and bikes with their vintage Leica compacts.
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But the thing was, between the pushing and the snapping, they were buying cep and checking out different strands of chorizo and, if I wasn’t quick about it, stripping that stall of its pains au chocolate – to go with a flat white – before I got there. Young people who might previously have spent Saturday mornings, if they saw them at all, making a functional pit stop at a greasy spoon café were now obsessing about pulled pork and rare English cheeses. They were getting up early on a non-school day to join the long queue outside Steve Hatt, the fourth generation fishmonger on Islington’s Upper Street, and wondering what to serve with their monkfish tails, rather than rifling through 12-inch vinyl at Rough Trade. Or just staying in bed smoking Marlboro Lights. It wasn’t just that food was suddenly cool in London and New York and LA (I can’t really speak for Paris or Milan. Perhaps cool young people there have always trawled markets checking out dried sausages and mozzarella balls). It wasn’t just that people talked about ceviche and cronuts with a genuine urgency. It wasn’t just that hip young chefs were the new
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‘If we’ve moved from sweating on a beach to sweating over pancetta for fun, so then have we changed our requirements when we travel?’
superstar DJs. It wasn’t – and god, please make them stop – that people were Instagramming their starters, though all of those things point to this larger truth. It was that food, the making of, the ingredients and preparation, the talking about and the celebratory eating of, had suddenly inserted itself as the central, defining experience. Food has become a kind of faith system, dinner a communion. Food is community and communal space. Food is private space, the meditative attention paid to softening fat on frying pancetta and the stirring of a simple risotto. Eating is what we are here to do. So we should do it well. And so what is the point of talking about travel if you don’t talk about food? What is the point of going anywhere (and we do so like going places) if not to try the food, to find local ingredients from local grocers and delis, charcuteries, patisseries and cheese makers, and then take them back to where you're staying to smell, prepare and devour? Once upon a time, travellers went in search of upscale luxury and ostentatious relaxation. Today a different type of experience is being embraced. Rather than just sit and be served, we want to forage, cook and serve the food ourselves. Today no traveller’s tale is complete if it doesn’t involve the unearthing of some regional delicacy, handwritten recipes from trattoria cooks or rounded matriarchs. Cooking and eating engages our senses in ways that we had forgotten they could be engaged, dulled as they are by our time in front of flickering screens. It is handiwork and craft (and doesn’t involve expensive courses in cabinet making). And isn’t there something of the earth and the seasons and the elements and the eternal, merciless, bountiful cycle in good tomatoes or mushrooms in a brown paper bag? Can you not taste life and death in a good mushroom, even fried in garlic and butter? If we’ve moved from sweating on a beach to sweating over pancetta for fun, so then we have changed our requirements when we travel. If we trawl through food markets, traipse around butchers and deliberate over sourdough options even on holiday, we need somewhere to go back to where we can play and prepare and serve in the proper way. We want French casserole dishes and Japanese knives, and not just in France and Japan. We want decent coffee makers and a selection of glasses. Culinary exploration in travel is now a given. We’re all foodies now and the mini-bar and short pack of Pringles just ‘aint gonna cut it no more.
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feature
The Preserve of the cognoscenti Where we buy our food is as important as what we actually consume. Who better then than the locals to take stock of the situation?
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iving like a local takes on a whole new dimension when you not only eat like a native, but shop and cook like one as well. Stepping into a well-stocked deli or market, letting your eyes wander over the displays of unintelligibly wrapped packets, interesting charcuteries and cheeses that look like they have a life of their own, is one of the greatest take-aways of travel. But what do the good burghers of New York, London, Paris and Los Angeles actually put in their baskets when they’re picking up dinner? Here locals from four host-recommended foodstores invite us to their pantries.
photography Atlanta rascher, London; HENRY ROY, Paris; Steven Perilloux, Los Angeles; PATRICK LYN, New York
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Marché des enfants rouges PARIS
Just like its vibrant and evocative Le Marais surroundings, it is the sheer range and diversity of the merchants and products that make this one of Paris’s most atmospheric marchés. A compact, covered space, the market offers plenty of exotic takeaway lunch options. However it is the rich and varied supply of groceries including fruit, vegetables, bread, meat, cheese and wine that spill out of the cheerful stalls that will challenge even the most hardened bistro addict to keep that dinner reservation. Recommended by the host at Rue Béranger, Le Marais, Paris
previous page: Name: Vincent Marino Lives in: Le Marais Occupation: artistic director Bought: AN APPLE
Name: Raphaëlle Messmer Lives in: Avron Occupation: student Bought: A coffee
Name: Karine Marsac Lives in: Le Marais Occupation: make up artist Bought: croissants, bread and taramasalata
Name: Cyril Breward Lives in: Oberkampf Occupation: Works in a wine shop Bought fish and chips
Brooklyn Larder NEW YORK
Artisanal cured meats and locally sourced cheeses teamed with curated provisions that has a nostalgic slant stocks this Flatbush Avenue store. But as this is Brooklyn, the modern space has clean lines and retro-cool packaging, with a window-seat bar for peckish customers to tuck into a provolone and pickle sandwich as they pick up their organic granola. www.bklynlarder.com Recommended by the host at Bergen Street, Prospect Heights, New York
Name: Patty Intrator Lives in: Park Slope, Brooklyn Occupation: Graduate Student Bought: Roasted Root Vegetables and Cauliflower
clockwise from top left: Name: JAMES LEGUR & LILY SIRITARATIWAT Lives in: PARK SLOPE & WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN Occupation: COOK & SERVER Bought: CHEESE, BAGUETTE, PISTACHIOS Name: Greg WHITe, Liz & Emily Lives in: NEW JERSEY Occupation: CHEF & STUDENTS Bought: CHEESE, BREAD, CHOCOLATE Name: Regan Kelly Lives in: Prospect Heights, Brooklyn Occupation: Photographer Bought: Panade, Gnocchi, Cheese
Allens of Mayfair lONDON
With its carcass-dangling window and central wooden cutting slab, there is no doubt that this is a butchers shop, and has been for the past 120 years. But this is no ordinary butchers. This is Allens, and the joints, brisket, rumps and escalopes that get cut up here are surrounded by Victorian tiles and snap-happy tourists, come to soak up an air of Mayfair’s grandeur, both past and vividly present. www.allensofmayfair.co.uk Recommended by the host at Princes Street, Mayfair, London
Name: Spencer Forster Lives in: Loughton Occupation: Production Manager Bought: HAM
Farmshop
Brentwood Country Mart los angeles In true LA fashion, there’s plenty of global clout behind even the most earthy of enterprises. Though the outside of the mart looks like a Disney cartoon barn, the chef owners of Farmshop have gastronomic top names like French Laundry, El Bulli and Per Se on their CVs. This is food that comes with a back catalogue, and the simplest bite of burger can be disseminated and traced back to the growers, breeders, farmers and cheesemakers that put it all together. www.farmshopca.com Recommended by the host at Robinwood Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles
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Name: Jennifer Simpkins Lives in: Santa Monica Occupation: Owner of Art On A Wire Jewelry Bought: McConnell’s Salted Caramel Chip Ice Cream
Name: Nancy Di Toro Lives in: Pacific Palisades Occupation: Developer Bought: Cheese, Sausage
Name: Pete VanLeeuwen Lives in: Beachwood Canyon Occupation: Artisanal ice-cream maker Bought: Askinosie 72% Dark Chocolate, Tenende Brook Ritual Chocolate, Balao 2012 Harvest Ritual Chocolate, ANTHEM CIDER
Name: Jason Rosenwach Lives in: West Hollywood Occupation: Actor / Retail Bought: 'Cream Party' Juice
IN conversation with
Bob Burchman & Kathy Solomon
Folk House, Santa Monica, Los Angeles
words Liz Armstrong photography Annabel Mehran
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W
hen Bob Burchman, a painter and songwriter, and Kathy Solomon, a jewellery and fashion designer, came across a 1912 Craftsman home cocooned under a stucco façade on a tree-canopied street in Santa Monica, California, they intuited its possibilities right away. Never mind the painted wainscoting, the 1980s baby-blue walls, the blackened hardware on the built-in features, the recent, low-grade tile installations, the contemporary readymade wooden deck – they purchased the home and immediately set upon restoring it to its original intent. With decades of working experience in artistic restoration, textile imports and folk-artist representation, the couple has the type of x-ray vision granted upon the rare among us who truly take the time to appreciate the spirit of everyday artisanship. And their home reflects this ethos, not just in the meticulous way they obeyed the visual instructions of photos sourced from the home’s original owner (the property had been
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kept inside one family’s lineage for 85 years), but also in its vast collection of soulful art objects. ‘We both like wabi sabi,’ says Solomon, speaking of their home’s confident collection of mixed aesthetics, ‘and elegance in decay.’ Sitting in the living room, one of the sparser areas of the house, one can from its central vantage point see an ornate armoire from India, American arts and crafts chairs, stacking trunks from Bali, a copper lamp custom-made in Mexico, where they own another house, and pieces of mosaic pottery spread around an antique side table as though they have crumbled off their vessel with age. Along with the home’s original light fixtures and Art Nouveau, leaded-glass cabinet doors, cleaned and restored after they were discovered discarded on the side of the house, the couple have incorporated the spoils of their world travels and joys of their respective trades. Yet for all the ornate giddiness, their home is not so much a vault or an opportunity to flaunt, but rather a celebration of the liveliness of existence,
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fully curious and ever exploring. Burchman, when she moved to Los Angeles. Paintings by who co-wrote It’s About Time for the Beach Boys Chicano artist José Lozano, whom Solomon used and has composed R&B songs for other artists, to represent very early in his career, adorn the currently restores architectural decorative hallway, created so the main image spills over painting and murals, ‘any kind of ornamental onto its frame. It’s a good metaphor for the way painting in buildings’, he says. ‘I just have a sensi- Burchman and Solomon live in their space: it’s tivity and appreciation for keeping things true difficult to tell where the home ends and their to the architecture and original intent of a lives begin, the two are so intertwined. building. It’s more soulful.’ ‘Everything put into this home has been His fascination with the past started in high determined by the house itself,’ says Burchman. school, collecting Civil War signatures, and ‘It dictates what it needs through its restrictions.’ continues to express itself through his accumu- The high decorative plate rails in the study, for lations of framed turn-of-the-century sheet instance, eliminated the possibility for any large music from African-American performances and artwork, so Burchman painted a banner in the decorative vintage mescal bottles. frieze around the entire room. It’s a portion The whole house is a curious treasure, of an ancient Sanskrit prayer translated into sourced from two lifetimes of studying fine details English, a celebration of transience reflected in of everyday art. Solomon’s design business has, its surroundings: ‘From the unreal lead me to over the course of two decades, included anything the real; From the darkness lead me to the light.’ from reworked vintage Japanese kimonos to A mantra that could have been created with this imported Mexican folk skirts and jackets. ‘I just very home in mind. bought what I liked,’ she says. ‘I never studied it.’ As we walk through the home, personal www.onefinestay.com/los-angeles/folk-house stories abound: unspeakably beautiful perfume bottles sourced in China, where Solomon couldn’t resist the night markets; California pottery purchased at a yard sale in one fell swoop THE SALON
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Living with
SPACE Grandeur both in spirit and ceiling heights can be found in these homes from lofts to pied-à -terres, there’s plenty of room for living large
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Space
Paris
Boulevard Saint-Germain Saint-Germain-des-PrĂŠs
Lowdown 3 bedroom apartment, designed by Haussmann on one of the city's grandest avenues Location In the cultural HQ of Paris, near L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts Host A doctor and costumier of opera, both of Greek origin Seal the deal... You can host a full ensemble in the opulent dining room
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Take the leading role in this stage-size Parisian home, filled with lovingly collected Biedermeier and French Restoration furnishings. The grand salon (above) has immaculate parquet floorboards, giving off squeaks in that cultured way when you step on them, and velvet-covered armchairs that encourage discourse. The bathroom (left) sports an antique rug with its claw-foot bath, and the hallway’s ceiling has beautifully daubed stucco and a gilt mirror perfect for adding a jaunty angle to a beret before heading out for dinner or a concert. The sense of carefully conducted luxury continues in the bedroom (top left), where the vast floor space is one of the main components, adding to the feeling of well-being that radiates from this lofty home. THE gallery
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Space
New York
Prince Street IV SoHo
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This epic concert of a home opens with a bang. A massive, modern kitchen shares space with the dining and living areas (right), with a painting that slides over to reveal the flatscreen TV. Memorabilia from the Rolling Stones and other bands line the walls, and speakers built into each room keep the tunes coming and the biggest entourage happy. Complete satisfaction can be found on the upper roof deck, which has a glass-enclosed sunroom and a gazebo (bottom). When the lights go down and the last notes fade into the evening, retire in luxury. Each bedroom has a queen bed, flatscreen TV, and personal dĂŠcor (left). And to round off a perfect day, soak in the deep tub, or make it quick in the walk-in shower (below).
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Lowdown Loft with 3 double bedrooms and rockstar appeal Location The birthplace of New York’s startists-in-lofts movement Hosts Work in advertising and jewellery design, and scour SoHo’s art galleries and antique shops for finds Seal the deal… The roof terrace is too magical to miss
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Space
Los Angeles
brushton street Culver City
Lowdown 3 bedroom house with room to roam outside Location Movie studio and art hotspot Culver City Host An antique dealer with a leaning to anything 1950s Seal the deal‌ An acre and a half of lush garden surrounds the home
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Inside this retro home, the autumn colour palette and fireplace evoke warmth and family-room sock hops. From the WesternHolly oven to the mid-century modern chairs, it is clear this home never left the fabulous 1950s. In the great room (far left), the oversized wooden dining table fits all and sundry. A master bedroom with mid-century storage manages to feel thoroughly modern, as do the talk-inducing Barcelona chairs (below). Outside, an acre and a half of outdoor space encompasses a lush garden, with a vegetable and herb patch, a sparkling pool and views of the LA basin (top).
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Space
London
brackenbury road II Shepherd's Bush
In its previous life, Brackenbury Road II was a block full of busy employees and humming workstations. But gone are the office politics and carpet tiles – this home is crisp, pure and architecturally stunning. Lime-washed floors spread out in the open-plan living-cum dining space (above). Skylights beckon above the capacious dining table and sliding doors lead out into the garden. If the West London chill draws in, the best thing to stave it off is a roaring fire in the woodburner (top right). Glass, white walls and light make this home feel luminous in very nook and cranny, including the bathroom (above right). With four children, the hostess centred the garden smartly, with sightlines to all the rooms for supreme supervision (right). 66
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Lowdown Ex office transformed into 4 bedroom family home Location A stroll from the luxe boutiques of Westfield Host Divides her time between London and France's Sud-Ouest Seal the deal... The courtyard is a state of perfected nature
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Space This spacious penthouse rises just above the beach with half of its square footage al fresco (right). It’s a sanctuary that harnesses the elements of metal, earth, fire, water and wood into your own personal haven of feng shui – with soothing heated floors. Dousing the living room in light, a wall of windows overlooks the deck (below), where a hot tub, hammock, fire pit and ample seating all face toward the gorgeous undulating sand and sea. Inside, you’ll feel the pull of the outdoors, with skylights above the kitchen and modern art that evokes the sea. There are two nice surprises when it comes to sleeping arrangements – a secluded guest house, private and closed off, and the quirky geodesic dome that allows you to sleep in plain view of the stars (below left).
Los Angeles
Brooks Avenue Venice
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Lowdown 3 bedroom penthouse neighbouring the sea Location Welcoming Venice Host A professional at finding the right house for the right person Seal the deal‌ Sleep under the stars in a geodesic dome
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Living with
creativity These locales are the muses in the onefinestay portfolio, serving up a palette of cultural impressions and nurturing the artistic impulses of guests
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Creativity London
Kilburn Lane III Queen’s Park
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Turning this former 1840s warehouse into a family home is a mind-bending brief. But that is exactly what the hosts set out to do, preserving exposed brickwork and beams and anointing them with concrete, glass and wood. The original warehouse, situated in Queen’s Park, is still visible in the eat-in kitchen (below), with hand-crafted units, copper piping and a chandelier spun around a frame that’s over 170 years old. In the double-height sitting room (left), a chimneybreast soars upwards with oil paintings and prints hung in ever-ascending lines. The secluded garden, with its quiet pond, potted plants and gnarled trees (below right) is a rare delight in this city, as is the majestic view through the skylights in the living room. But it’s the open, communal bathroom (right) that most clearly shows the hosts’ no-limits approach – with its enveloping retro tiling and dip-friendly tub, it’s a reminder of the laundry that occupied these premises in Victorian times.
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Lowdown Former warehouse turned into 3 bedroom family home Location Locals’ well-guarded secret Queen’s Park, northwest London Host An architect, his wife and two children, who on warm nights sleep in the garden Seal the deal… The double-height sitting room with its soaring chimneybreast is a wonder to behold
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Creativity
New York
McCarren Park III Williamsburg
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Lowdown 1 bedroom apartment with terrace Location Williamsburg, trendy Brooklyn Host A jewellery designer, using nature as inspiration Seal the deal... The views over New York are genuinely awe-inspiring
Though the Manhattan skyline spreads out outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, inside this Brooklyn apartment a sense of wilderness prevails. The hostess designs jewellery taking symbols and imagery from nature, no doubt finding inspiration on a daily basis from her home. The living room (left) is rammed with animal references from the Wild West to the African savannah, with hides softening sofas and chairs and antlers displayed on walls and tables. Pushed up against the floor-to-ceiling windows, both for maximum light and views of the city, is the work station, inviting to all kinds of creative pursuits. Flour-sack cushions and bleached-linen pillows are scattered around (top left), making soft spots to lie back with a book or magazine. In spite of the abundance of textures, animals and objects, the natural hues of the sheep skins and hides around the home make this a gently relaxing bolthole, high above the buzzing streets of Williamsburg.
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Creativity
Paris
Rue du Grand PrieurÉ Canal Saint-Martin
Lowdown 1 bedroom apartment with artistic visions and lofty dreams Location Canal Saint-Martin, close to Republique and Le Marais Host Novelist and playWight who likes to stroll by the canal Seal the deal‌ The bedroom is true drama with its rough concrete walls
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With glossy floorboards to tread, books to thumb and raw walls to fill, this author’s retreat on the Right Bank is cheerful, bright and quietly remarkable. The open-plan living area (left) collates the joys of creative cooking, intelligent conversation and stimulating reading, with only a few strides across soft rugs to take you between the various noble pursuits. The daring, bare-all walls in the bedroom (below) carry a natural beauty in their raw concrete patterns, making art stand out proudly (right). Located in visionary Canal Saint-Martin, this one-bedroom pied-à -terre sets the mood for romance with locally purchased blooms, and the novelist host has lit the apartment carefully for after-dark pursuits (below left), also highlighting her carefully curated pieces of art.
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Creativity
London
Murray Mews Camden
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In this creative space, anything is possible: gravity is defied in the glass viewing platforms suspended above the garden, and velvet skies are spied upon through the roof in the master bedroom (below). Designed by the team behind London’s iconic Gherkin, this mews house forgoes tradition in favour of striking design features, including minimezzanines (right), a built-in, ground-level TV and a circular skylight. Take a seat at the tiled bench forming the terracotta kitchen’s border (far right), or fling wide the patio doors and relax under a palm tree in the idyllic garden. And when the mercury begins to dip, inside there’s a range of supremely comfortable seating, from the plush blue sofas (below right) to the bedroom’s wicker recliner (below), and an impressive collection of design tomes to snuggle up with.
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Lowdown Mews house with attitude, with one of the two bedrooms sheltered by a glass roof Location Creative hotbed Camden Host Huge architecture fans, with matching offices at the end of the garden Seal the deal‌ This house is designed by the team behind the Gherkin
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Living with
COMFORT Sink-down sofas, hideaway terraces and peaceful gardens‌ These homes are territories of total relaxation, providing refuge from the maddening streets outside
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Comfort
London
King Henry’s Road IV Primrose Hill
Lowdown 2 bedroom, limewashed retreat Location Villagey Primrose Hill in North London Host Interiors photographer with a similar escape pad in Cornwall Seal the deal… The flower shops, bakers and booksellers of Regents Park Road are on your doorstep
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If it were possible to leap into the pages of an interiors monthly, this is where you’d land: an apartment of quirky touches and thoughtful, original elegance in muted colours. But beyond the pale palette, the swathes of reclaimed wood and the savvy vintage lighting, every item has a story to tell. In the kitchen (above), there’s a tap fashioned from old plumbers’ pipes and the sofa is filled with cushions that were once French linen sacks (previous page). If the gentle letterbox tiles and exposed beams are deserving of a centrefold, then the vintage finds are as characterful as the classifieds. Settle into a slouchy chair and page through a periodical, or better yet, nestle down with breakfast in bed (right) as the morning sun gently chides you to come out and play with the fellow genteel people of Primrose Hill.
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Comfort Los Angeles
Spanish Garden House Santa Monica
From outside, this home appears as a slightly atypical twostory SoCal cottage in a charming strip of Santa Monican suburbia. But move beyond its heavy wooden threshold, and you will find yourself transported to a different place and time, when a home being easy and relaxed mattered more than being stocked with designer pieces. From its 1920s Spanish Colonial Revival foundation, to centuries-old fixtures and flowingly decorated bedrooms (far right), this home floors visitors with its ability to simultaneously exhibit temporal flux while keeping a relaxing, idiosyncratic unity of origin and palette. It’s a space that embraces any pace and any wish, gently sweeping visitors through the lush garden and swimming pool (below, centre), back to the verandah (below, left) for a tall drink.
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Lowdown Larger than life, 5 bedroom house with 4 bathrooms Location The soulful ocean-side town of Santa Monica Host An interior stylist and textile designer, with three sons Seal the deal ‌ A garden out back offers a secluded poolside bolthole
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Comfort New York
Park Avenue Mansion
Upper East Side
Mansion by name, mansion by nature. With plenty of sink-down leather sofas, a diner-size kitchen (below) and five bedrooms (accompanied by five bathrooms) comfort here comes in the shape of size – one of the kids’ rooms even has a basketball hoop and indoor climbing wall. But warmth exudes from the pastel-coloured kitchen and corner sofa set up around the chess table. This is a place of conviviality, of burgers flipped on the terrace barbeque (top right), of cups of coffee sipped in reading chairs and morning papers rustled in king-size beds (right).
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Lowdown Imposing townhouse sleeping 12 Location A morning skip from Central Park and afternoon stroll from Park Avenue Host An active family of seven, with an added exchange student Seal the deal ‌ This is a Manhattan adventure on a grand scale
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Comfort London
Highgate Woods
Lowdown 2 bedroom forest bolthole
Highgate
Why sacrifice your fresh-air fix for a taste of the high life? This former coach house has an enviable position on the edge of ancient woodland, but never strays from the path of urban sophistication and oldfashioned relaxation. A cosy, timeless retreat, it might inspire a spot of reading in the garden (below right) from the full wall of tomes (top right), knitting in the Eames rocking chair (right), or a trip to the deli to forage for food to devour on the plank benching (far right). Just think of it as your own Little House on the Northern Line.
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Location On the edge of Highgate Woods, with the restaurants and shops of Muswell Hill at close range Host A well-travelled architect and her family Seal the deal‌ Ingenious design tricks, including mirrored doors and glass floors make for an incredibe space
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Comfort
Paris
Rue Mouffetard Latin Quarter
Luxuriantly sprawled over five floors, Rue Mouffetard is an ingenious time machine. Built during the 16th century in Paris’s oldest arrondissement, this bâtiment housed a nunnery during the 1700s, and today it comfortingly transcends the ages. Each floor presents a new and beguiling anachronism: in the open living and dining area, contemporary lighting and art offset rustic beams (right), modern accessories sit atop marble fireplaces, and Nordic-inspired furnishings rest their feet on period tiling. In fact, each room attests to past, present and future dimensions and you can feel the ages of Paris distilled inside them. Up a brick and timber staircase, French doors open onto a peacefully private garden terrace (above), and if clouds loom, retreat to the glassroofed orangerie (left), before heading out to explore the ancient Quartier Latin.
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Lowdown 4 bedroom, 5 storey time machine of a townhouse Location Left Bank in the venerable 5th arrondissement Hosts Modern globetrotters who have settled with their three children Seal the deal‌ Fresh croissants can be warmed in the quaint antique stove
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Living with
delight Freedom through personal expression is the core message in these homes, with quirks, whimsies and originality coming through in every room
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Delight
Paris
Quai des Grands Augustins Latin Quarter
Watch the sun set on Notre Dame from the balcony, but even Quasimodo will be outshon by the frankly marvellous delights of this home. The salon’s designer furniture is spread over a brilliant white wood floor (above), the better to balance the bursts of colour on the canvas-clad walls that continue into the bedroom (bottom right). The kitchen is all butcher-shop tiling, with a central light that hangs like a cluster of pearls over a long slab of marbletopped table (previous page). From there, take your aperitifs to the balcony for a little fresh air and a peek at Our Lady, then head out to catch an old movie at one of the arty cinemas round the corner, on Rue Saint André des Arts. 94
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Lowdown 1 bedroom apartment on the river bank Location In the evocatively historic Latin Quarter Host An art curator, arranging exhibitions on a global scale Seal the deal… You can see the Seine from the sofa
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Delight New York
Adelphi Street II Fort Greene
Lowdown 4 bedroom townhouse with an independent soul Location The quintessential artistic Brooklyn neighbourhood Host Designer duo with a portfolio of international clients Seal the deal‌ The marble-clad bathroom has a rather grand Jacuzzi
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Though this four-storey pad is firmly rooted in the culturally adventurous, brownstone land of Brooklyn, there is a faint whiff of West Coast glam. A golden whippet stands guard in the hallway (left), and the bathroom is unabashedly clad with marble (below right). The living room basks in natural light and is full of icons from the 1920s to the 1970s (right). These time turners appear in the form of glass globes hanging from the ceiling, an Art Deco drinks trolley and conversation pit-esque, low-slung sofas. Hydrangea and apple tree plants dress the backyard while the outdoor shower creates a mod space bordered with a brick wall and a bundle of bananas dangling as practical art (below). Post East Coast sunset, revel in the Jacuzzi tub, with infinite fashion and culture books at your fingertips.
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Delight
Los Angeles
KUBRiCK HOUSE
Santa Monica
For the stargazers and film fans among us, you’ll find this avant-garde home’s futuristic construction to be proof of how far we’ve come. The unique layout has been put together with contemporary minimalism and optimal utilization of space. Windows let in light for activities in all areas, be it a flash fry in the stainless steel kitchen (right) or a quick spin in the bubble chair in the bedroom (left). Rooms are divided by plastic walls with embedded fluorescent lights like that of an interstellar vessel. And in the cathedral-style ceiling above, skylights retract to allow couchside access to the mysteries of the universe (below left).
Lowdown 1 bedroom low-impact house of a personal nature Location Breezy Santa Monica Host Is a terrestrial astronomer, working with Hollywood stars Seal the deal… Star gaze from the sofa with the retractable skylights 98
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Delight
New York
White Street Tribeca
You’re in control of the narrative in this imaginarium, and every choice you make spins a different fabulous story. The home is constantly adapting: the vintage circular sofa (left & below left) separates into individual chairs while the loft overlooking the kitchen becomes a guest bedroom, accessed by stairs with an intricately sawed handrail (far right). Flip a switch to raise a table from the floor for Japanesestyle seating, or keep it lowered for an impromptu dance floor (below right). Wherever your New York adventure takes you, north into SoHo’s boutiques or south to the movie wonderland of Tribeca, it’ll be hard to find a space that challenges and stimulates quite as much as this.
Lowdown 5 bedroom wonderland apartment Location Former industrial zone gone seriously upmarket Host Interior designer who with her husband has created a playground for their children (and adults) Seal the deal… The wooden dance floor can be turned into a Japanese dining area. And back again.
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Delight
LONDON
Long Lane II Bermondsey
Here’s a warehouse conversion whose origins are still proudly in evidence. And just as in the past, when ships would fill this home with their precious cargos of silk and spices, its contents are today equally cherished and exotic – a bewitching blend of reclaimed furniture, mismatched chairs (above), hand-painted crockery and antique rugs. Art is everywhere, and is especially striking on the white curved gallery wall of the second bedroom (right). Equally enchanting are your host’s fabulous touches throughout, like stacked suitcases atop a wardrobe, a weathered backgammon board and butcher’s tiles adorning both the kitchen and the two modern bathrooms.
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Lowdown 2 bedroom warehouse apartment, so close to the Thames you can hear the gulls Location The cobbled streets surrounding the evocative Borough Market Host An actor, with a particular penchant for industrial lighting Seal the deal… The enormous arched windows flood the space with sunshine, especially in the mornings
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Special project
Show & tell As part of onefinestay’s Creative Residency project, artist Gavin Turk and writer Emma Forrest swap an original artwork for time in a new space, and book in for onefinestays in Paris and LA
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t was Gavin Turk, along with his fellow YBAs (Young British Artists) including Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and the Chapman Brothers, who transformed the British art scene in the mid 1990s. Rebellious, cocky yet incredibly compelling, Turk’s work formed part of Charles Saatchi’s notorious Sensation show at the Royal Academy in 1997, which launched the artist and his contemporaries as superstars. Two decades on, Turk remains a major force in British art. A self-titled hefty tome on his work was recently published by Prestel, and he currently has a solo show running at the Bowes Museum in Britain and several group shows in international galleries.
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GB
What intrigued you by onefinestay’s offer of a creative residency?
GT
It was an irresistible offer of a beautiful place to stay in Paris coupled with a non-institutionalised swap of ideas for time in a new space.
GB
How much, if at all, do your surroundings inspire the work you produce?
GT
60 per cent.
GB
What kind of environment did you grow up in and do you think it has inspired you today?
GT
In many ways we are all the product of our surroundings; it seems inevitable that where I grew up has had a formative impression on me but it seems more interesting to undo and continue to rethink the concept of me in relation to my cultural environment.
GB
What made you choose Paris for your onefinestay?
GT
To see some exhibitions; Pierre Huyghe at the Pompidou centre, Philippe Parreno at the Palais de Tokyo and Paris Photo at the Grand Palais where I had some of my work on display.
GB
What have you found most inspiring about the city?
GT
The two first exhibitions were a chance for me to see large bodies of these artists’ work that I was intrigued by but had only experienced previously
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Gavin Turk's 'photographic observation' during his stay in Paris, donated to the onefinestay art collection
in part. They have collaborated together, and are amongst the best current French artists. I like Paris. I did a residency there in 1989 as a student and stayed at The Cité Internationale des Arts that has left me both with nostalgia and a good perspective to see the way that Paris has changed over the last 25 years. GB
Is there anything about the particular home you’re staying in that has inspired you?
GT
The apartment was on the top of the building. The view of Paris’ rooftops from there was terrific – it was archetypal of the Marais.
GB
Most Paris moment?
GT
The Eiffel tower emerging out of the fog, ablaze with lights flashing and dazzling.
GB
What have you donated as a memento of your stay for the onefinestay art collection?
GT
A photographic observation. Gavin Turk stayed at Rue Beaubourg, Marais, Paris
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special project
J
ournalist, novelist and screenwriter, Emma Forrest was first published at the age of 15 when she wrote a story on Madonna for the London Evening Standard. A flourishing career as a music journalist followed and by 22 she had a column in The Sunday Times, had moved to New York and had written her first novel, Namedropper. Today, she lives in Los Angeles, and her memoir, Your Voice In My Head, published in 2011, is being adapted into a feature film starring Emma Watson.
GB
What’s the oddest thing you’ve ever exchanged your work for?
EF
A sniff of someone’s smelly sticker.
GB
How much, if at all, do your surroundings inspire the work you produce?
EF
Very much. There are rooms that just feel wrong or sad, or it’s too dark or too light. And then I can’t work at all. That’s why you see so many writers in cafes, because they’ve said ‘I have to get out of here!’
GB
You live in LA, yet chose the same city for your onefinestay. Why?
EF
Because the great thing about LA is there are such disparate neighbourhoods, like their own little villages, you can go on holiday without leaving the city.
GB
What have you found most inspiring about your new neighbourhood?
EF
LA is generally a driver’s city but Venice is almost all on foot. It’s very good for the creative mind.
GB
Is there anything about the particular home you’re staying in that has inspired you?
EF
We became fascinated by the owners, by all the photos of their lives they have on the walls, the story of their dating and then marriage and growth of their baby and their ancestors. I built a whole novel about them in my head.
GB
What have you donated as a memento of your stay for the onefinestay art collection?
EF
A poem. Emma Forrest stayed at Victoria Avenue II, Venice, LA
To find out more about what Gavin Turk and Emma Forrest got up to during their onefinestays see The Edition, issues 3 and 4, www.onefinestay.com/the-edition. Creative Residencies invite artists of any discipline from around the world to apply for free stays, and in return ask them to donate a unique piece of work inspired by their stay to add to onefinestay’s art collection. Submit a proposal at www.onefinestay.com/creative-residencies. Inspire us enough and we’ll get back to you. 108
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Untitled poem by Emma Forrest, illustrated by Nina Cosford
Our Social Whirl Through the wardrobe It was in top hats and furry tails that London and HQ staff descended on London Fields for the belated-Christmas, very-Narnia celebrations on 17 January. Under dimly lit arches, unexpected flurries of foamy snow billowed out from behind wooden gates to announce the arrival at our own magical world. Inside, pine trees lined the walkway to the face-painting grotto, and generous portions of Turkish delight and hog roast lined stomachs in the banquet hall. Slack-jawed we witnessed the magician produce a goldfish from a £10 note, but it was the latter portion of the evening’s entertainment that really piqued our curiosity – wardrobe doors parted to reveal a secret dance hall, complete with a swinging 1940s band. And though January’s chill nipped at extremities, fortunately the dancing was fiery enough for the majestic Aslan ice luge to spill into its fair share of thirsty mouths belonging to overheated revellers.
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: Not so silent night Proving that good things do come to those who wait, our ever-festive NYC team were treated to a diverse mix of holiday treats on 5 February. Beginning at the office, they cried ‘¡arriba!’ over tasty burritos from local favourite Dos Toros, ‘bonjour!’ while twirling an array of prop moustaches in the photo booth, and ‘eek!’ in horror as the onefinestay trivia questions leapt from the topic of pertinent booking figures to the much more salacious. Naturally a round or two of flip cup was enough to furrow brows and rouge cheeks in concentration. And come wind, come polar vortex, you can’t keep a New Yorker from a karaoke bar – so it was, then, that the merriment spilled out 40-strong to nearby Biny for rousing renditions of Queen classic Bohemian Rhapsody. And to think, all of this on an otherwise unremarkable Wednesday evening.
THE SNUG
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END NOTE
All in good taste A stay in a beautiful home in London, Paris, New York or Los Angeles is a flavoursome offering in itself, but it’s the onefinestay dedication to service that makes it such a delectable spread
words Katy Andersen Director of Service Development
M
y love of all things epicurean has never been a secret. So, when I moved from New York to London and took on a new adventure, looking after the guest and host experience at onefinestay, my friends and family were understandably puzzled. ‘But what does it have to do with food,’ they asked. I grew up on a farm outside of Philadelphia, where summer’s sweet corn was the stuff of celebrations. After business school, I stuck with what I knew best and became the Gourmet Food Specialist at a venture-backed start-up in the States, spending my days discovering the best artisan chocolates and wagyu beef in the country. My friends might have had a point. What does a well-cooked steak have to do with the unhotel? A year in and it turns out that my role as Director of Service Development is not unlike preparing a fine meal for friends – albeit a little more frequently, and with a lot more guests. A dinner party starts with welcoming friends at the door, just as our friendly ‘meet and greeters’ do for guests when they arrive. Rather than hang their coats, we take their bags and help them get settled into their new home away from home. While a dinner party host may check that the table is set, the candles are lit and the wine has been decanted, we’ll make sure that the home is prepared down to the last fluffy towel. As for the cooking, well, I’ve got my finger in a lot of pies – a little spice here and a little sauce there all combine to make a well-rounded onefinestay feast. So, when friends ask me, what does my role now have to do with food, the answer is simply this. My love of food is magnified by cooking and sharing meals with others. When I hear that our guests have had a wonderful stay in one of our host’s homes, I find a similar sense of fulfilment. And, as this issue of Guestbook proves, a huge part of any onefinestay includes a very generous helping of good taste.
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