The return of rain definitely won't prevent a new edition of London Design Festival from taking over the streets of the British capital in full force like every September. If anything, the event will bring a much-needed splash of color, delaying the end of summer just a little bit longer, and we can't wait to join in its irreverence.

By now, design insiders should know the drill: nine days, dozens of neighborhoods, and more design exhibitions to see than any one person could realistically manage without a plan. This year's edition spans everything from Brompton Design District's Perfectly Imperfect programming to Soho's first-ever dedicated design district, and sees the return of a now-sprawling, diffused Shoreditch Design Week (fka Design London Shoreditch) hosted across warehouses, town halls, and showrooms all around East London. Whether you're after an immersion in craft, collectibles, or just an excuse to wander somewhere new, London Design Festival's footprint has only grown.

We've done the legwork of sorting through the districts, craft collaborations, collective exhibitions, and launches worth planning your route around, so you don't have to scroll through a hundred press releases to figure out where to start. Below are the shows you won't mind traveling across the city for and the product drops you'll regret not shopping this month — all mapped out so you can get on with the actually fun stuff at this London Design Festival.

1. Districts to Know

Brompton Design District

An LDF staple since its debut in 2006, Brompton Design District continues to be where cultural institutions, leading design brands and fresh talent meet. Its second iteration with TIWA Select's founder, British-Italian curator and gallerist Alex Tieghi-Walker, at the helm puts the emotional value of furniture, homeware, and collectibles in focus through pop-up exhibitions and installations united by a love of materiality and storytelling. Announced standouts include Rafael Prieto: On the Sunset, Which is Only One, a collaborative showcase led by the Mexican designer and chocolatier within the wider district's Perfectly Imperfect programme, featuring a series of six sunset-inspired chairs investigating our perception of objects displayed alongside works by friends Conie Vallese, Pierre Marie Agin, Laila Gohar, and Kadri Kashmir; a B&B Italia collection launch pairing contemporary genius and heritage reissues in a timeless setup; and new releases from Boffi|DePadova, marking De Padova's 70th anniversary and 40 years of Piero Lissoni's art direction at Boffi, among others. Also in the area, you'll find luxury, bespoke rug brand Tai Ping's Icons Underfoot, a showcase of seven landmark rugs curated for the house's own 70th year of activity, including George Nakashima's 1959 modernist Conoid and the flower-bud-heart-inspired Alizea (2024), and cementing the atelier's evolution from craft to contemporary design icon.

Sept 12-20. Various locations across Brompton

Soho Design District

A new addition to the LDF calendar and itineraries, Soho Design District translates the neighborhood’s electrifying atmosphere and rebellious spirit into a tangible legacy across disciplines. Reuniting architects, F&B specialists, branding agencies, developers, and creatives, the event's buzziest neighborhood yet will come alive through events, installations, talks, and collaborations exploring design, commerce, and community as inherently interconnected.

Sept 12-20. Various locations across Soho

Shoreditch Design Week

After a first edition titled Design London Shoreditch, Shoreditch Design Week revives the long-running Shoreditch Design Triangle as LDF's largest dedicated district. Presented across multiple iconic locations of the artsy East London neighborhood, the festival's satellite event gathers more than 60 showrooms, alongside galleries and creative spaces championing rising designers as well as pioneering brands, in a six-day program that aims to distil contemporary design's very best and what's next. Among the initiatives spotlighted in this year's edition are LDF-favorite Material Matters, bringing its ongoing investigation into biomaterials, recycled composites and advanced manufacturing to a 24,000-square-foot warehouse, UNLOCKED, across both curated displays and roundtable discussions; Neuroplaces, the UK's first B2B exhibition and conference centring exclusively on neuroinclusive and accessible design, hosted at Protein Studios; and House of ICON, which sees Milan and Dubai-based design platform Isola return for the second consecutive year to Shoreditch Town Hall's chambers, basement spaces and Victorian auditorium to showcase everything from Scandinavian minimalism to maximalist color.

Sept 15-20 (exhibitions: Sept 15-17). Various locations across Shoreditch

Blackhorse Creates

A hands-on celebration of craftsmanship, making and community, Blackhorse Creates is heading to Waltham Forest's Blackhorse Lane for a two-day inspiring marathon of open studios, workshops, and presentations. The 2026 edition, programmed by social enterprise Blackhorse Workshop with the council and themed Youth Opportunity, lets visitors inside the practices of some of the area's most exciting designers, encouraging manual learning and creative exchange.

Sept 18-19. Various locations across Blackhorse Lane Ateliers

2. Craft-Led Shows

Craft x Tech Tokai Project

The second edition of Craft x Tech Tokai Project pairs six Japanese artisans with international designers to challenge the notion of traditional craft as frozen in time through creative exchanges that push it forward. Highlights include Fushi, a lacquered desk with integrated lighting by Mino Yaki and David Caon, Arimatsu Narumi Shibori and Bethan Laura Wood’s sculptural tie-dye creations, Kataginu, and a series of dotted cloisonné vessels co-authored by Owari Shippo and Philippe Malouin.

Sept 12-20, to 18 Oct. Victoria and Albert Museum, The Daylit Gallery, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL

Reviving Craft: Reflection of the Mind

China's storied heritage takes on a new life in Reviving Craft: Reflection of the Mind, where the giant's craftsmanship is explored across three inward states of mind (Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist) as an ever-evolving journey through material and thematic experimentation. Brought to you by curators Su Dan and Yang Lan, the exhibition reunites captivating contributions across disciplines, from Shuang Xi's staggering textile works and He Yan'er's folkloristic ornaments to Diao Juan's immersive multisensory installations.

Sept 16-27. Somerset House, Embankment Galleries, South Wing Strand, London, WC2R 1LA

The Pangolin Shield

Taking over the pedestrian area extending along Somerset House's grounds at The Strand, Pratapnagar and Frome-based Studio Saar and British structural engineering company Atelier One's striking landmark installation The Pangolin Shield sees ceremonial Indian police Iathi shields and traditional woven "knups", the rain shields used by north-eastern Indian farmers, overlaid across an intricate, expansive bamboo grid shell. Woven into a spirited, undulating silhouette are India's histories of colonial legacy, ecological exploitation, and the movement of people and materials across borders. From tools of defense, subsistence and confrontation, the shields are reinterpreted into a canopy sheltering passersby from the heat. The piece, set to face the bust of modern India's founding father Jawaharlal Nehru outside the country's High Commission, renegotiates agency and heritage while establishing a new form of bond between India and the United Kingdom.

Sept 12-20. The Strand, The Strand, London, WC2 1HL

3. Collective Exhibitions to See

Progressive Permanence

Christopher Farr's near-40-year rug-making expertise and gallerist Max Radford's keen curatorial eye are out in full force in Progressive Permanence, a group exhibition hosted at Farr's Spitalfields studio as part of Shoreditch Design Week. The show sees Gary Hume's Door Rug 4031, modelled after his hospital-door paintings, juxtaposed with Carsten in der Elst's perfectly imperfect Graywacke OffCut Chair. Also on view are a diary-inspired knotted rug by Louise Bourgeois, finished the year before her passing, and LS Gomma's rubber-and-mesh XR Mesh 2-seater, a wavy number reminiscent of the bold resin experimentation of late Italian designer Gaetano Pesce.

Sept 15-20. Christopher Farr Spitalfields, London, SW6 2EH

Travel Light

Design gets moving at The Hoxton, Shoreditch, one of our favorite hotels in London, where Travel Light, a showcase for emerging talent developed in partnership with homeware platform Slancha, examines what travel and modern living mean and look like today. Selected from over 200 submissions, including porcelain vases, cast-bronze objects, tote bags carved from upcycled hotel bed sheets, and sculptures cast from the remains of demolished buildings, from more than 20 countries, the selection on display at the HOXSHOP captures the act of travelling as an intrinsically cultural and material affair. Reviving storied traditions such as Yoruba Aso Oke weaving, Ugandan barkcloth, and Welsh love spoons, the activation rewards pieces crafted to be compact, portable, and priced for a wider audience to collect. Part of The Hoxton's 20th anniversary celebrations, the hotel's ongoing series of conversations, Hox Talks, will also return to the hotel lobby during LDF, hosted by design gallery Unit.d's founder Duncan Riches and, again, curated by Slancha for the lifestyle group.

Sept 12-20. The HOXSHOP at The Hoxton, Shoreditch, London, EC2A 3HU

New Designers

This year's Shoreditch Design Week at Kachette marks the debut of New Designers' flagship graduate show, which platforms UK design studios within the first five years of their careers. Bringing together a thought-provoking collection of pieces from 12 practices, the display zooms in on contemporary craft as biomorphic, tactile and nature-inspired, putting handmade expression front and center. Must-see highlights include This is Oink's raffia-shaded lamps with turned-wood bases, Riolab Ceramics' spirited arched candle-holders, and Ceramakka's bulbous, hand-pinched, creature-like vessels, alongside Phil Berczuk's abstract wooden wall compositions and e.L.s. designs' painstakingly threaded, iridescent textile panels.

Sept 15-17. Kachette, London, EC1V 9LP

4. Galleries Worth a Detour

Design Museum

During LDF 2026, don't miss your chance to catch NIGO: From Japan with Love at the Design Museum, the world's first retrospective dedicated to the work of the pioneering KENZO artistic director and his trailblazing fusion of streetwear and luxury fashion. Also on site, you'll find PLATFORM: Simone Brewster, the latest installment of the institution's ongoing emerging designer exhibition series, which reinvents the first floor's atrium gallery through colorful wooden sculptures, furniture, jewelry, and collectibles united by an appreciation of archaic forms. Join curator Hadeel Eltayeb on a guided tour of the show on September 12, or listen to Brewster herself speak on design practice and motherhood as she shares the stage with Laxmi Hussein, Emefa Cole, and Hettie Judah in a conversation chaired by curator Danielle Thom on September 15.

To 4 Oct (exhibition), guided tour Sept 12, talk Sept 15. Design Museum, London, W8 6AG

Ruup & Form

Not far from the teeming-with-talent showcases of Shoreditch Design Week, Old Street's Ruup & Form gallery presents Bodily Inbetweenness, Seoul-born mixed-media artist Woo Jin Joo's debut solo art exhibition. Displayed in a living, immersive environment, her fuzzy freehand embroidery, amusing ceramics and sculptures, and animated textiles take the form of anything from faceless bodies and mystical creatures to material abstract compositions that surprise and inspire. The creative's attempt at 'myth-making', these whimsical pieces are imbued with folklore, embodied knowledge and shamanism. For Joo, they capture "innate worlds", internal, coexisting realities shaped through lived experience rather than separated from it.

Preview Sept 10, exhibition Sept 11-Nov 13. Ruup & Form, London, EC1V 9BQ

Carpenters Workshop Gallery

Over at Notting Hill's Carpenters Workshop Gallery, the clock is ticking to experience Mumbai designer Ashiesh Shah's debut UK solo exhibition, Taamr, before it closes on September 20. Informed by the essence of copper "as both a material and an idea", the presentation comprises a series of sculptures that have either been woven in it, or are held or structured by it, in a shape-shifting exploration of its narrative, artistic, and metaphorical potential. Favorites include the Brahmand Cabinet, coupling antique copper pots with a sharp, black granite base; the Mirror Mosaic and Dveep coffee tables, their hand-cut fragments echoing Jadau jewelry and Mumbai's archipelago origins; and the Matka Mobile, a back-lit hanging composition of hand-crafted earthen pots in a planet-like, celestial setup.

To Sept 20. Carpenters Workshop Gallery, London, W10 6AZ

5. Collection Launches to Shop

MADE x Barbican

Possibly the most iconic Special Project of this year’s LDF program, the MADE x Barbican collection translates the estate's board-marked concrete, teak joinery, and Miriam Howitt's original 1960s show-flat interiors into 23 pieces spanning furniture, lighting, textiles, and accessories. Expect warm wood tones, sculptural geometric silhouettes, and muted, architectural colorways that echo the brutalist landmark's textures and make them instantly collectible. In line with MADE's mission to make great design accessible to all, the range is available at a reasonable price point. Debuted on MADE.com in August, the co-authored collection is accompanied by an immersive installation exploring the historical inspirations behind the collaboration.

Sept 12-20. Barbican Centre, London, EC2Y 8DS

Lee Broom's The Chant Chambers

Birmingham-born designer Lee Broom can always be trusted to bring a magical touch to every appointment on the London design calendar. During LDF 2026, the release of his The Chant Chambers collection marks a new chapter for his celebrated Chant lighting design. Now reinterpreted into a full modular family, from oversized chandelier compositions and connectable architectural structures to sculptural wall lights, and also available in a new smoked finish, the expanded glass-block line is perfect to infuse theatrical charm into everyday life. Whether incorporated into the scheme as a jewel note or built into an expansive, glamorous statement with vanity light-like quality, it's a treat to the eye.

Sept 15-20. Lee Broom Shoreditch, London, EC2A 3AY

Sophie Ashby x Bert & May

This LDF, beloved tile manufacturer Bert & May and interior designer Sophie Ashby join forces on a new tile range packed with whimsy, color, and artisanal craft. Three animal motifs, rabbit, lion, and bird, are applied to a delicate set of pastels and earthy tones to inject playfulness and awe into your home environment. Style them with coordinated plain tiles for a jigsaw puzzle look, or go mismatched for an even bolder statement.

Now that you've got your London Design Festival 2026 itinerary, why not spend some time thinking about some extra stops to stock up on energy along the way? From the artsy restaurants in London every self-respecting creative needs to know to the rising design destinations making waves within the hospitality and retail space, you've got inspiration to spare.

Need a hand choosing your next dinner reservation? We have covered that, too. Just stick to the advice of seasoned restaurateurs and the five overlooked details that give away a great eatery.

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It is not every day that an independent designer gets to transform their love of making, and making in the most hands-on of ways, into a collaboration with the likes of SERAX, the heritage Belgian homeware brand known for its high-end, imaginative collections of lighting, furniture, decorative pottery, and dinnerware. But for Dutch emerging designer Annebet Philips, a Delft University of Technology Industrial Design Engineering graduate born in Gorinchem and now based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, reaching out on a whim worked out pretty well.

"I approached SERAX submitting a proposal with the concept and pictures of some of the first Carte Blanche prototypes," she says of how the line, which debuted at Maison&Objet last year, first came to be. The response was not long in coming. "They responded almost immediately and invited me to come in," Philips explains. "From that first meeting, there was a real sense of mutual enthusiasm, and things moved very naturally and quickly." They haven't quite stopped moving since, as "a completely new collection is launching this September".

How "Carte Blanche" Was Made — From Paper Dreams to Reality

"The name Carte Blanche refers both to the blank material that serves as the tableware line's starting point and to the feeling of freedom you get whenever you begin something new, fresh," Philips says of the name of her inaugural SERAX drop, her first-ever body of work in ceramic.

To envision it, she leaned into the honest essence of paper. "I've been making cardboard models for as long as I can remember as a designer, across all kinds of projects. I love working with cardboard because it's so immediate. You can just cut, fold, and tape, and see an idea come to life without complicated tools, technical drawings, or someone else making it for you. I love being able to capture a new idea quickly, in a raw and pure way."

In an AI-driven age, there is something quietly refreshing about getting to work with such an ordinary yet physical material, Philips suggests, joining in the manual crafts renaissance at the heart of the ongoing DIY revival. "There's no pressure for things to be perfect, which makes the process playful, intuitive, and a little naïve." Maybe, that's all you need, really.

The Goal — Searching for "the Essence of Archetypal Forms"

Philips's work strives to capture the essence of archetypal forms, and the flatness and slight stiffness of cardboard lend themselves perfectly to reducing a form to its most recognizable lines and shapes. "Carte Blanche is really about translating the character of those first raw cardboard prototypes into ceramic: the angularity of folded cardboard, the seams, the slightly naïve lines, and the spontaneity of making something quickly by hand."

I ask the designer whether focusing on tableware for this launch was always on the cards, or if the process itself led her to it. "The earliest prototypes were actually made during a stay in Italy, so perhaps it's no coincidence that the first object I made was a little espresso cup," she explains. Before she knew it, a cappuccino cup and saucer had found their final shape. Together with SERAX, Philips expanded that small coffee moment into a wider tea and coffee collection, adding mugs, a teapot and milk jug. Then came bowls, plates, and egg cups, making Carte Blanche a broader tableware collection. Most recently, the drop has grown even further to include vases and candleholders.

"In my work, I often take something very familiar and try to offer a slightly different perspective on it: a common silhouette with an unexpected twist," says Philips. "The white surfaces and black lines emphasize the essence of those familiar forms, while giving them a fresh and playful character." Explore the SERAX Carte Blanche collection, and keep an eye out for the designer's forthcoming launch.

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Rusty foliage gathering along the roads is the first indicator that summer is giving way to autumn. And while we all know how tempting it is to redecorate your home to match the atmosphere outside, things don't have to be quite that prescriptive. So, away with all plastic pumpkins, kitschy foliage, and garish rustic wall prints, and in with subtler, evergreen (no pun intended) touches sure to make you feel grounded year-round — we have just given your autumn decor moodboard a no-cliché style upgrade, and it's all thanks to Arthouse Glasgow.

Unveiled earlier this summer, this 76-room design lifestyle bolthole finds its home in a beautifully restored 19th-century listed landmark in the heart of the Scottish city, and boasts interiors signed by London-based multidisciplinary studio A-nrd. To inform its generously sized spaces, which were conceived to feel both "instinctive and lived-in," A-nrd's Lukas Persakovas and Alessio Nardi explain, was the "perfectly imperfect" ambiance of an artist residence.

One of the most exciting hotel openings of 2026, Arthouse Glasgow, a new entry by British hospitality group Oberland, is the place to know for a seasonal home rebrand. Recreate its tranquil look in three steps.

1. Set the Scene With a 'Biophilic' Palette

Orange might be the color most people associate with autumn, but really, if we think of how our surroundings morph as they prepare to welcome back the cold months, colors are far less vivid, yet earthier and more layered. Arthouse Glasgow's freshly unveiled lounge captures that vibe perfectly.

Tucked beyond a palatial lobby with meticulously preserved Victorian tiles, a signature birdcage lift, and a vintage-contemporary mix of furnishings balancing patina with sheen, this common area of the hotel feels sculpted in softness. From walls to ceilings and joinery, it is painted a deep olive green that grants the room a comforting feeling, the moss-y hue of the environment a nod to the frondiness of forests. This blurring of nature and interiors is the backbone of so-called biophilic design, and A-nrd know how to harness it.

Matching the peaceful shade of green across the lounge is a series of mismatched seating designs displayed to surround the building's towering arched windows and, therefore, benefiting from natural daylight. Think mid-century modern tubular steel upholstered numbers, 'chubby' sofa chairs, and boucle as well as velvety banquettes. Pair it with the studio's softly glowing linen wall sconces, and you've got a cocoon you'll hardly want to leave.

2. Layer in Some Chocolatey — Not Orange — Touches

In recent years, people wanting to leave pumpkin orange behind have been embracing soft furnishings and a specific shade of pink in its place to get their autumn decor up to level. This year, the answer for us might well lie in the insertion of selected chocolate touches. And, again, Arthouse Glasgow is a masterclass in styling the trend.

For a more balanced, non-overwhelming olive green room effect, consider warming up your scheme with the right choice of furniture and accessories, be it beautifully aged antique cabinets you have finally got your way around thrifting for your living — like the stunning piece framing the fireplace mantel of the hotel lounge — smaller highlights, like stools or carved sculptures, or some good old leather accents.

3. Go Easy on the Dry Foliage and Flowers — And Add More Natural Textures Through Artwork

In 2026, autumn decor stops being literal and starts aiming for sophistication. Take the immersive abstract canvases curated all around Arthouse Glasgow's residence-inspired spaces as an example of how, in art, too, you can find echoes of nature — its unruly lines, familiar textures, and chromatic vivacity.

At Arthouse Glasgow, specifically, the creative genius of a cohort of Scottish artists, makers, and craftspeople is out in full force, with original interventions commissioned to "create a hotel that feels rooted in its surroundings," say A-nrd.

Compared to autumn-only home buys, which are bound to clutter your cupboards once the season comes to an end, understated winks at the foliage, fields, and overall bronze-tinted atmosphere that comes with September make for a year-round statement. Start collecting them now, style them at your earliest convenience.

Neither rich nor famous, and with no access to a yacht even in my distant future, you might say that Monte Carlo was a peculiar place to find myself on a recent trip to the French Riviera. But the storied destination has a knack for drawing travelers to its studded stretch of the Mediterranean, and if it's good enough for Jacquemus (more on that later), who am I to argue with it?

Monaco, of course, is one of the destinations we look to when it comes to understanding Mediterranean interior design. But the hotels here, naturally, have their own take on the genre.

The refresh currently making waves in the principality is the ongoing renovation of Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo, one of the destination's oldest hotels. The iconic property is nearing its centennial, and with its signature Belle Époque façade just a stone's throw from the ultimate icon, the Casino de Monte-Carlo, the address that made this place what it is today, the updates make it an ever more attractive anchor for any trip here.

In the works is a renovation of the hotel's regal Diamond Suites, reimagined by Pierre-Yves Rochon and the Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer Design and Engineering Office, plus the addition of 40 new rooms and suites — with more on the horizon. Already home to a pair of Michelin-starred restaurants, the grande dame also unveiled a stylish new bar, Gustave, by interior architect Shirine Zirak, adding contemporary spirit and genuinely covetable interiors to the mix.

Monaco Is Buzzing — It's Where Fashion Hits the Beach

But it's the mix, after all, that's something of a secret perk — guests of the refreshed Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo can also indulge in other properties within the owner's portfolio. The one currently on my radar is Monte-Carlo Beach Hotel, the hospitality group's sun-kissed outpost, located a short (and complimentary) shuttle away to the coast. Here, the guests of Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo can indulge in something of a daytime resort getaway without leaving the destination. The former satisfies your cravings for urban elegance; the latter is your chic coastal retreat.

And what a retreat it is: this season saw the return of the Jacquemus takeover of the beach club's iconic pier — perhaps the most coveted sunbeds in Monaco this season — while resort updates open to Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo guests. These include Le Deck, the pool restaurant reimagined with maximalist verve by French interior architect Dorothée Delaye, and La Vigie Zanoni Monte-Carlo, a brand-new destination eatery set on bluffs overlooking the sea, both of which make it something of an irresistible day trip.

As I floated between both properties, I found myself noting the ways to bring their updated aesthetics home. Here's what's happening in Monaco this season — and a few shoppable items to help you capture the look.

Making Waves at Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo — A New Sea-Inspired Palette

It can be tempting to hold onto tradition for eternity — especially for a grande dame like Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo, which has welcomed guests for over a century. Under the guidance of French interior designer Pierre-Yves Rochon, the renovation underway intends to lift some of the hotel's old-school Belle Époque rooms into something more contemporary and relaxed.

The update working the hardest is the new palette for the hotel's Diamond Suites: a quiet mix of aqua, blue, and beige. The palette softens the room's ornate Auberley & Laurent crown molding, refreshing the look without erasing its period style.

Rochon kept the decorative elements light, maintaining an almost milky calm throughout the suites. The one exception — and the style lesson worth stealing — is the upholstered bench at the foot of the bed. Wavy textiles are increasingly popular lately (riffs on chevron, ikat, and moiré), and range from lightly playful to downright hypnotic. Here, the fabric is still restrained, with raised velvety zigzags in aqua and mint against a creamy ground. But the loose, intentionally 'messy' rhythm of the lines brings a casual feel to an otherwise composed, formal room without going overboard.

Fashion-Forward Interiors Head Out at Bar Gustave

The most dramatic reveal at Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo arrives beneath its most show-stopping space: the Belle Époque glass-and-steel dome built by the workshops of Gustave Eiffel. Here lies Bar Gustave, a new lounge designed by Shirine Zirak that levels up the setting. Inside, guests can drink beneath the dome itself, or slip through a door along the perimeter where amber-drenched interiors radiate warmth. And beyond that lies an all-new surprise — a chic terrace carved out of a formerly unused rooftop, making it entirely new ground for the storied property.

This is where the hospitality group really plays its hand, with new-wave cocktail ingredients you're unlikely to see anywhere else in Monte-Carlo (think pea shoots, cacao butter, and peach wine). The toast of the season, in my opinion, is the Madeleine, crafted to taste, as the name suggests, like a spiked Proustian reverie.

Given that few of us can install a glass dome at home, the space that has me smitten was the unexpectedly chic terrace, which really nailed the look of a well-designed outdoor living room.

Large checkerboard pavers lay a nostalgic base for the scheme, while plump upholstered furniture on black metal frames — a nod to the dome's structural bones — reinforces that lovely indoor feel outdoors. The element that ties it all together is the parasols: burned orange canvas with a double-top silhouette. That extra valence on top upgrades your everyday umbrella into something more substantial, and the scalloped edges — complete with white trim — tailor the whole look, making it all a touch fashion-forward.

Rounded Sunbeds Are the Jacquemus-Approved Summer Accent

In a destination where status is everything — and everywhere is status — the most coveted decor on the Côte d'Azur this season might just be the bespoke Jacquemus sunbeds and parasols at Hôtel Hermitage's sister property, Monte-Carlo Beach Hotel.

Lining a wooden jetty that juts into the Mediterranean, the bookable seats are part of the fashion label's current pop-up immersion — a re-fashioned jetée that brings a glimpse of the label's Riviera-ready runway to life. Tragically, none of the furniture is for sale, although we'd love to know where they end up after the season is over. But you can easily borrow Jacquemus' style with products well within reach.

The style note worth stealing, in my opinion, is the sunbeds' curved headrest. The thick cushions not only look comfortable for a full day of lounging in the sun, but the rounded backs just add a more contemporary edge to a usually traditional silhouette — it also brings the aesthetics of indoor furniture, like lounge chairs and chaise lounges, straight to the outdoors.

Dine Al Fresco, Monaco Style

Another arrival to these shores this season is La Vigie Zanoni Monte-Carlo, an Italian restaurant set on a scenic bluff. It's a charming location with fantastic views over the Mediterranean from its terraces, located at the end of a winding stone path flanked by lush plants.

The seasonal restaurant has the rare perk of being a 'dockable' reservation — for those lucky enough to have their own boat, they can float right up to the bluff and dock for a meal crafted by Michelin-starred chef Simone Zanoni, known for his fresh pastas.

The decor wasn't shy about leaning into coastal interior design: hand-blown water pitchers shaped like blowfish and seahorses, plates and saucers rimmed with sunbeam yellow. Altogether, the palette — sun-yellow, warm teak, and colorfully painted glassware — makes for a lovely, bright formula for your outdoor tablescape.

Those interested in taking the look home should start by using yellow as an accent, not a base — think napkins or placemats instead of a solid yellow tablecloth, making sure it's a splash of yellow that doesn't dominate. Teak can arrive through furniture, like the restaurant's woven rope chairs, while you can have your own fun with playful seaside references.

Get Inspired by a Refreshed, Maximalist Oasis at Le Deck

Maximalism is on full display throughout Monte-Carlo in more ways than one. But you'll get an extra taste at Le Deck, a refreshed space at Monte-Carlo Beach by French interior architect Dorothée Delaye (perhaps this writer's favorite space in the whole destination).

The poolside restaurant was inspired by the Roaring Twenties, albeit with a contemporary edge, and mixes patterns and textures at every turn: a green and white striped canopy stretches overhead and blankets the open-air terrace with a breezy atmosphere, while a painted trellis in vibrant terracotta climbs the tall walls. There's a lot going on in this space, yet it all manages to pull together — and the reason it works, beyond Delaye's penchant for mixing patterns, is that most of the upholstery and decor share a similar color palette as well as patterns of similar scale.

And while the actual mix is fantastic, there are a few specific items worth borrowing at home. The takeaways here are the floor-to-ceiling textures that Delaye incorporated. First on the list are the woven bistro chairs, which bring a certain character through their richly textured weave: it's the commitment to surface detail that makes them so visually compelling rather than any single color choice. A similar texture is picked up by the trellis-clad walls, which could look rather traditional if it weren't for the vibrant terracotta paint — and all of these tactile elements are softened by those flowing canopies overhead, making it a true maximalist moment.

Sometimes, more really is more.

In for the resort-core moment? Keep dreaming of more design-worthy getaways by revisiting our travel trends 2026 report, your online directory to all the sensations shaping hospitality in the months ahead, including the rise of 'monastery' hotels.

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There are people who have a knack for choosing the best restaurants and know instinctively how to recognize a reservation-worthy establishment the moment it opens its doors, looking for the details that will either confirm or refute their first impressions of a just-inaugurated spot, and others who, to put it very plainly, don't.

But if you think that identifying these addresses amid the myriad of new eateries that grace our cities every month is a talent you are either born with or, else, you can't acquire with dedication and time, well, we might have something that will make you change your mind.

To get to the bottom of what allows certain restaurant openings to instantly garner the approval of seasoned chefs, restaurateurs, and hospitality experts alike, while also charming the wider public, we asked a dozen gastronomy insiders to share the non-negotiable design credentials every self-respecting food destination should have — and the decor mistakes they wish they wouldn't have to see ever again. Read on to uncover the interior elements that give away a great restaurant.

5 Overlooked Design Details That Give Away a Great Restaurant, According to Top Restaurateurs

For many restaurant amateurs, the experience of a new foodie hotspot begins upon tasting the very first plate they have ordered from the menu. While we might have been taught that one shouldn't judge a book by its cover, hospitality gurus think you should already be able to tell whether an eatery takes itself and the diners it serves seriously as you step in, if not before that.

1. The 'Arrival Sequence', From the Exterior and the Host Stand to Fragrance

"The first thing I always notice is how the front is maintained," Max Venning, co-founder of London's award-winning cocktail bar concept Three Sheets, tells me. "It doesn't matter if it's a million-pound restaurant or one put together on a shoestring; you can clean the outside."

The most important thing an eatery should do is know how to greet, I am told by his peers. "Being greeted warmly by any FOH is, in my opinion, the precursor to a great experience," says Jay Patel, founder of MICHELIN Guide-approved Italian restaurant Legare and sibling wine bar Luna, both located in the Shad Thames warehouses. "To me, hospitality is about being looked after first, and that first moment of being acknowledged is key to visitors, especially when the restaurant is busy."

What that level of care looks like in (design) practice is deeply subjective, yet restaurateurs agree that entering a restaurant should be enough to have you feel or notice something. For Alex Young of Ltd Ltd, the hospitality group behind East London favorites Goodbye Horses, Day Trip Coffee, Stable Wines, and The Dreamery, what happens between the street and the table is particularly revealing.

"I'm suspicious of a monolithic host stand that turns a welcome into border control," he says. "I like being a little unsure where the restaurant begins and ends, and having a human resolve that uncertainty."

Being Goodbye Horses one of my favorite restaurants in London currently, I can assure you that its Lucy Stein murals and sculptural wooden bar are enough to communicate you have left the De Beauvoir Town to be somewhere else. It's a distinction that the interaction with staff and tactile detailing of its interiors make manifest more than any space designed off a 3D render could.

The acoustics of a space, the warmth of the lighting, and how you're met at the door are all things that "tell you a lot about whether a restaurant knows what it wants to be," Laura Hart, co-founder of London's Mediterranean-infused restaurant Wildflowers and its first-floor, next-level tapas spot Bar Flor, tells me. These are no restaurant design secrets. But smell is as crucial an element of the experience as sound, sight, and, of course, taste.

"The best restaurants engage all the senses, not just the obvious ones," Samyukta Nair, CEO and creative director at hospitality group LSL Capital, shares. "At the townhouse that's home to MiMi and MIKO Mei Fair, we developed a distinct fragrance that catches your attention the moment you walk through the door," she says of the special scents inebriating two of the addresses in their portfolio, which also include beloved Indian restaurants Jamavar and Bombay Bustle and lavish Italian Nipotina.

Bespoke fragrance can set a restaurant apart from another, but other tricks, like "scented towels, burning Palo Santo, or spraying a little Agua de Florida on the cloths we use when crumbing the tables", can still make for a memorable first impression of an establishment, Jo Radford, co-founder and sommelier of Michelin-starred Edinburgh restaurant Timberyard, tells me.

2. Glassware and Tableware That Reflects the Restaurant Atmosphere

If there's one restaurant element that, although easily missed, immediately classifies an eatery as either high-end or cheap, it's the glassware, restaurateurs claim. "The thought that goes into the choice of glassware is incredibly important and highlights that even the smallest of details can change how something tastes or feels," says Elliot Milne of recently launched Queen's Park hangout Bar Blondie, a restaurant and bar whose retro-fueled interiors and artwork draw cues from the cult of Spaghetti Western.

"Oversized cheap wine glasses are really a killer. If you can't afford fancy glassware, just go for simple small glasses," recommends Three Sheets' Venning. And if there's anyone you should be taking serveware advice from, it's the 2019 CLASS Bar Awards' Best Bartender winner.

But price isn't the only indicator of curated glassware. "At Nipotina, we chose colored glassware reminiscent of the amber-hued stained glass you might find in old Italian homes," LSL Capital's Nair says.

She suggests there's something instantly considered about glassware and tableware that have been picked to amplify the atmosphere of an eatery, rather than simply supplied. And it's thoughtful touches like this one that allow iconic addresses to retain their status long-term.

3. Materials That Age Beautifully as the Dining Room Acquires Its Patina

Whether people can envision how an address will change as years go by is another indicator of a restaurant worth booking today. Rather than focusing on freshly manufactured, Instagram-ready finishes, gastronomy insiders call for a return to lived-in authenticity.

Alex Young of ice cream and wine bar The Dreamery goes as far as to say that the patina of the surfaces and worn seating are exactly what he looks for in a beloved establishment. "There is something deeply reassuring about battered chairs: they suggest an eatery is well-trodden enough for objects to acquire a life", and won't just shut overnight.

Opulent fabric and expensive art can undoubtedly contribute to elevating a restaurant, but for Timberyard's Jo Radford, "there's much more interesting markers of quality than something obviously expensive: the weight of the cutlery, the feel of the napkins, the surface of the table, the baquette you are sitting on, the ceramics," he adds.

Textured wood, gritty terracotta or cement bricks, plaster that begs to be touched, and high-quality upholstered textiles hold the secret to dining rooms that don't just accommodate but dictate a restaurant's rhythm — how and for how long visitors feel they can engage with their surroundings. Together, they envelop guests in a distinctive ambiance that leads them to believe they couldn't find elsewhere.

Be mindful, though, as finishes can also be used the wrong way. Materials that imitate other materials, for example, are the ultimate nightmare of Logma's co-founders Farsin Rabiee and Ziad Halub: "think chipping laminate tables, wood-effect ceramic tiles, marble-effect anything, and, more generally, factory-fresh furniture that does not have the opportunity to age," they explain.

Avoiding that very mistake is something the favorite restaurants of Legare's Jay Patel do very well: Paris's Clamato with its reclaimed wooden furniture, small pillar candles, and vintage crockery and cutlery; Portuetxe Erretegia in San Sebastián thanks to its exposed wooden beams, stone and brick walls, and tiled floors; and South Kensington's The Lavery through its ornate high ceilings, intricate wall molding and panelling, floor-to-ceiling mirrors, and beautiful tables, chairs, and banquets.

Even in dining rooms aging gracefully, "the materials should feel cohesive and tactile, but not compete with one another; there needs to be somewhere for your eye to rest," says Laura Hart of Wildflowers. A great restaurant, after all, should comfort you, not exhaust you.

4. Nostalgic Ritual Objects That Capture the "Theater" of Service

If there's anything all restaurateurs I spoke with for this piece miss about old-school gastronomy, it's the "theater" of service.

"Ceremony. Celebration. Romance. Nostalgia... I want to bring back some of the 'special' and provide a space people know they can go to celebrate," Charlie Mellor says of what he's trying to achieve with his candlelit Soho spot, Osteria Vibrato.

"We became so determined to make restaurants relaxed that somewhere along the way we occasionally confused relaxed with stripped back," LSL Capital's Samyukta Nair says. "I love informality, but I also love a sense of occasion. There should still be moments during dinner when everyone at the table stops talking and watches."

The group is putting this vision into practice at MiMi Mei Fair, where the Applewood-fired Peking duck is carved tableside, and at Nipotina, where no meal really ends before the arrival of the dessert trolley. Something similar happens at Maison Francois in Mayfair, where "simple dishes like steak tartare, crudo, carpaccios, and salads are whizzed up before your eyes," recounts Jay Patel of Legare.

"There is a reason why places like the Connaught or Dukes bar have maintained their status as some of the best places to drink in London: they place importance on the ceremonial aspect of hospitality," Bar Blondie's Elliot Milne explains.

They might seem unnecessary frills, "but a trolley full of champagne or digestifs brings so much charm and old-school decadence."

5. Design Statements That Serve the Address's Story, Not Just the Gram

We are all fans of an aesthetically pleasing restaurant, but for many industry insiders, it is time to take the culinary experience away from Instagram and back to where it belongs: real life.

Anything designed primarily to be photographed rather than experienced, argues LSL Capital's Samyukta Nair, is exactly what today's eateries should shed to feel worth reserving, from "the obligatory neon slogan to the oversized fake-flower installation that feels entirely out of place".

Max Venning of Three Sheets, Logma's Farsin Rabiee and Ziad Halub, and Laura Hart from Wildflowers all agree: nowadays, too much of the restaurant design is built around Instagram rather than crafted for people to have a good time. That needs to change. As Venning puts it, "candles over LED lamps always."

"Too many spaces are starting to feel like copy-and-paste versions of each other, with personality sacrificed for whatever is trending," Hart explains, adding that the same trend-led mentality also spills into the service and the food. What stands out to experts, though, is "a restaurant with a strong point of view".

"We've become slightly obsessed with designing restaurants to be consumed through a phone: the statement ceiling, the bathroom mirror everyone photographs. But the things that make you return to a restaurant are much less obvious," concludes LSL Capital's Samyukta Nair. "The ultimate luxury isn't a restaurant that makes you want to photograph everything. It's one that eventually makes you forget to look at your phone."

The next time you catch yourself reaching for your phone at dinner, ask yourself what the room is missing.

In more F&B news, Marylebone's Cup of Joy is not just serving some of the best specialty coffee in the capital, but is alive with lighting inspiration, too.

Head to our restaurant design archives for all the latest openings worth knowing about, and the interior details breaking through the noise, or sign up for the Livingetc newsletter to receive our best stories across interiors, homes, expert advice, wellness, and lifestyle in your inbox weekly.

Calvin Trillin sang its praises in The New Yorker in the 1970s. Anthony Bourdain dedicated a segment of the Disappearing Manhattan episode of his Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations travel and food TV show to it. The Financial Times called the address one of the "50 greatest food stores in the world" in 2021. That Russ & Daughters is a New York City institution is a fact, but even the most devoted of fans would have found a West Elm collab highly implausible till 24 hours ago, when its serveware collection with the brand dropped. Now the fourth-generation family-run American Jewish appetizing store's cherished tabletops can be yours for a little over the price of one of its delicious hand-rolled cream cheese and lox bagels.

The origins of Russ & Daughters go back to 1914, when Joel Russ, a Jewish Immigrant hailing from Poland, opened J Russ International Appetizers not far from the deli's current 179 East Houston Street location in Manhattan's Lower East Side, where it would move six years later before finding its definitive name in 1933. The concept saw Russ grow from a street vendor of Polish mushrooms and pickled herring to the hard-working owner of a family business he ran alongside his three daughters, Hattie, Anne, and Ida, from whom the store gets its moniker. New Yorkers have since associated the historic shopfront with the smell of freshly baked bread, cured fish, and spiced babka.

Today, with cousins Josh Russ Tupper and Niki Russ Federman at its helm, Russ & Daughters has just found a way to enter the home of its most loyal habitués — and become a permanent part of it. "We loved the idea of sharing the Russ & Daughters story, history, and aesthetic differently," the two tell Livingetc. Bringing together the heritage of Russ & Daughters with a modern design perspective was the guiding principle of the collaboration — a white-and-cobalt-blue-coded tableware set of some 20 pieces, including nostalgic stoneware bowls, plates, and mugs, alongside decorative trays, keepsake boxes, and kitchen linens, each reinterpreting the store's signage and familial atmosphere in functional form.

Of all items part of the West Elm Russ & Daughters collection, the large fish platters are Josh and Niki's favorites. "They really capture what Russ & Daughters is about: they are beautiful centerpieces for a table, but more importantly, they invite people to come together and share, not just for the holidays, but all year round," the two explain. "There is something special about an object that can become part of your own story while also connecting you to something bigger than yourself, a tradition that existed long before us and, we hope, will continue for many generations to come." Discover our own edit of the West Elm Russ & Daughters line below.

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Would you want to stay in a former monastery? Until just a few years ago, I'd be more drawn to the idea of visiting a vibrant città d'arte; a verdant hilltop town not too far from a lively beach; an overlooked European capital with an exciting nightlife scene; you get the vibe. Ask me the same question now, and I wouldn't think about it twice.

With the rhythm of everyday life hitting an all-time high, it's no surprise travelers are finding solace in more secluded stays. And design hotels tucked inside former monasteries are the ultimate peaceful retreat. There is a reason why digital detoxes and similar wellness-led alternatives to traditional vacations are trending: we all deserve a break.

Originally erected away from the crowds and the chaos of populated urban areas deep in the countryside, monasteries provided monks and nuns a place to work, pray, and be an active part of their religious community. Their championing of peace, study, and personal growth makes them the ideal location to put yourself first — not your weekly errands, not your work, or your laundry. Is this the start of a new monastery hotel renaissance? The five hideouts below give us good reasons to think so.

Vocabolo Moscatelli. Calzolaro di Umbertide, Perugia, IT

Via del Refari 2 Calzolaro di, 06019 Umbertide PG, Italy

Housed in a 12th-century monastery set on the Umbrian hills, Vocabolo Moscatelli is a 12-suite hotel with a storied past and just as layered design credentials. The work of Florence studio Archiloop's Jacopo Venerosi Pesciolini, it pairs the stone-clad monastery's original patina with tactile wood floors, exposed terracotta, and beamed ceilings.

For years, the owners, Frederik Kubierschky and Catharina Lütjens, dreamed of a vegetation-enclosed retreat where travelers could find and embrace their own rhythm. They made that dream into a reality when they inaugurated Vocabolo Moscatelli in 2022. Unlike other hotels, here breakfast is served at your convenience, even past 10am, the restaurant serves creative Umbrian cuisine jazzed by global influences, while each of the 12 suites — including garden and spa-equipped ones — writes a new chapter in the landmark's history through quirky-cool design pieces, original artwork, and enveloping fabrics chosen to expand and reflect the lure of its surroundings. See for yourself, but I suspect we have just found one of our new favorite hotels in Italy.

Book your stay at Vocabolo Moscatelli.

Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay. Cernay-la-Ville, FR

Domaine de l'Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay, 78720 Cernay-la-Ville, France

Founded in 1118 as a Cistercian abbey and later revived by Baroness Charlotte de Rothschild, 185-acre estate Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay reinterprets every anecdote and visual element that's been part of the history of its buildings into a tapestry of pattern, texture, and color. Beautifully orchestrated by Cordelia de Castellane, Dior Maison's artistic director, for Paris Society's Laurent de Gourcuff, the stay sees plush fabrics and eccentric motifs employed to soften the property's monastic bones. Now leaning on the baroque, Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay unfolds across the abbey, stable yard, and pavilions, and features over 145 rooms dotting the adjacent forest, lake, and gardens. With fine dining and a panoramic spa included in the price, this isn't the place to disappoint.

Book your stay at Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay.

Villa Paola. Tropea, IT

Contrada Paola, 89861 Tropea VV, Italy

A pink-tinted palace standing tall on one of the most beautiful viewpoints the southern Italian region of Calabria has to offer in Tropea, Villa Paola was built in 1543 by monks of the Order of Minims. Spanning five centuries, the life of this cliffside landmark has just been made more vibrant thanks to a thorough restoration led by Italian studio Palomba Serafini Associati, who preserved the 18th-century cloister and paired it with a playful Liberty-style wing.

Relaunched this summer, Villa Paola has been a hotel since the 1970s, when Swiss-born owner Marie Christine Born transformed the once sacred complex into an adults-only bolthole perched over the Tyrrhenian Sea. Yet, some nods to the rigorous religious faith that used to imbue its aisles remain, for example, in the vegetable-rich menu of in-house restaurant De' Minimi, inspired by the plant-forward diet of resident friar San Francesco da Paola. Where da Paola set the tone for the culinary register of the sojourn, the restraint of priesthood can be observed in its essentially chic, newly refurbished 14 suites: think sinuous lines, muted palettes, and the occasional, unexpected mural twist.

Book your stay at Villa Paola.

Botanic Sanctuary Antwerp. Antwerp, BE

Leopoldstraat 26, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium

Spread out across five buildings dating from the 12th to 19th centuries — including a former infirmary, chapel, rectory, and pharmacy — the Augustinian convent complex Botanic Sanctuary Antwerp calls home was restored by AIDarchitecten with architect Eric De Vocht and Maryse Odeurs in line with wabi-sabi principles, leaving its scuffed plaster and aged beams intact.

At the heart of the hotel rises the city's historic Botanic Garden, a green lung first planted by 16th-century apothecary Pieter Coudenberg in an attempt to cultivate medicinal herbs for the sick. 108 rooms, each exuding the grounding calm of the Japanese design movement, are placed all around it, decorated with dark woods, monochrome furniture in rounded forms, and earthy materials throughout. The convent's original invigorating spirit can still be breathed in the stay's spa, focused on physiotherapy and plant-based healing. Also on site are four Michelin Guide restaurants cooking up feasts merging rigour with urban indulgence.

Book your stay at Botanic Sanctuary Antwerp.

Hôtel du Couvent. Nice, FR

1 Rue Honoré Ugo, 06300 Nice, France

We've reviewed it, relied on it as an agritourism case study, and continued to admire its charming estate long after first coming across it: Hôtel du Couvent truly is the gift that keeps on giving. Formerly the home of the Order of Saint Claire, the 1604 building functioned as a convent through the 1980s. Then, having noticed that it had been left vacant, Valéry Grégo spent a decade restoring it with Festen and Studio Mumbai.

The resulting holiday retreat, inaugurated June 20, 2024, juxtaposes the original hand-built lime, stone, and timber structure alongside new sage-shuttered wings. Its 88 rooms range from austere former cells oozing with a sense of mystery and nostalgia to full suites overlooking the Mediterranean. True to the nuns' self-sufficient routines, the hotel runs its own bakery, herbalist shop, and terraced garden that supplies its kitchens, plus a Saturday farmers' market — turning monastic self-reliance into the property's whole hospitality model, as former design editor Aditi Sharma reported when she visited.

Book your stay at Hôtel du Couvent.

Booking a monastery hotel isn't the only way to ensure your time off will be peaceful this year. From the most picturesque places to visit and sleep outside of Paris to the coolest farm stays in the UK, we have got you covered.

For more bucolic getaways, revisit our annual travel trends report, or read our review of one of our favorite ones, Osip.

When in doubt, sign up for the Livingetc newsletter.

Simply looking at the textured, earthy terracotta walls of Marylebone's new specialty café, Cup of Joy, I could swear they smell of chocolate — or like the aromatic interior of a well-used coffee grinder. This kind of synesthesia might seem completely irrelevant, or rather obvious, to you, but acquires new meaning as you hear about founder Benni Allan's hopes and inspirations for this address.

The sensory atmosphere of Cup of Joy, which opened its doors last month, was informed by the richness found in stone walls and courtyard spaces in Istanbul, Turkey, where the concept is originally from. Nestled on 28 Blandford Street, the café strives to bring the city's coffee-drinking culture to the heart of the British capital, along with the warmth of its Mediterranean sun.

Spanning two stories over a surface of 168 square meters, the London coffee shop was designed by EBBA Architects to evoke a sense of calm and delight, a goal the studio set out to achieve through natural materials — clay plaster, Portland stone, timber, oak — textures and palettes that are subconsciously comforting. Though really, it's the lighting that takes the prize and makes Cup of Joy one of the most inspiring design cafés to know in the Big Smoke.

How Cup of Joy Takes Daylight Inside

Lighting, we know, is one of the key elements in every self-respecting restaurant design project, and EBBA Architects weren't caught unprepared. Overhead at Cup of Joy, "a paneled ceiling of timber and opaque glass distributes light evenly across the room, avoiding the harsh directionality of conventional hospitality lighting," the team explains on its website.

Rather than worrying about the intensity of light specifically, the glow produced by the vintage-inspired fixture deliberately provides "an ambient quality of light", which, together with woodblock flooring across both floors, a terracotta concrete staircase, and steel inserts here and there, gives the restaurant and coffee shop a grounding yet sophisticated aesthetic.

Back-lit accents in hospitality are a theme we have explored widely in a recent trend spotlight titled Space Oddity, which discussed the resurgence of the 1970s-80s staple feature in London's nostalgia-fueled foodie scene and beyond.

Cup of Joy, though, doesn't make it too obvious, and pairs its checkered, illuminated ceilings, similar to the coffered ones at fellow Big Smoke hotspot TOWN Restaurant and Rome's Tramae eatery at Palazzo Talìa, with equally warming, industrial-style pendant neon lights, EBBA Architects' own Pulse paper lanterns, and Frandsen sconces.

Meanwhile, downstairs, a James Turrell-esque illuminated porthole window stretches a soft seating niche beyond its architectural limits in a statement nook that leans into the surreal.

What You'll Need for Your Own Dining Room Lighting Accents

That most of the furniture styled inside Cup of Joy was designed in-house by EBBA Architects is enough of a reason for design lovers to head there to check it out for themselves, along with fans of Copenhagen homeware brand FRAMA, which provided its iconic chairs. If your aim is to recreate Cuo of Joy's golden hour glow in your own dining room, though, just know you don't need a structural glass ceiling to borrow the effect, but a little creativity. Here are four steps to follow to get the look:

I. Diffuse before you decorate. Swap a single downlight or pendant for a large, evenly-lit plane — an opaque acrylic or fabric panel back-lit with a slim LED array — and place it right over the dining table. The goal is soft, edgeless light with no visible source, echoing the opaque-glass ceiling's "even illumination".

II. Heat up the color temperature. Aim for 2700-3000K to mimic filtered sun rather than clinical daylight, and let it wash over warm materials like textured oak, terracotta, and clay-toned paint. In doing so, light and surface reinforce each other, much like EBBA's terracotta and warm oak contrast of light and shade does.

III. Layer in multiple — multi-level light sources. Add up to three secondary light sources, such as a paper lantern or a wall sconce, at a lower level, referencing EBBA's framed moments of light downstairs. This stops the room from feeling like a single flat glow and, instead, reads as light filtering through a courtyard canopy.

Yes, it's an industry-wide trick I picked up while interviewing Louise East, the designer behind the soulful Montcalm Mayfair hotel, who recommended that hotels always stick to low, mid, and high-level lighting schemes.

IV. Keep the ceiling honest. A shallow lightbox recess (anywhere between 5 and 8cm deep) with a diffusing panel and warm LED strip is the domestic equivalent of EBBA Architects' timber-and-glass ceiling — achievable in a standard ceiling void, without the need to even invest in a skylight.

Now, Get Prepping

Keep an eye on our lifestyle pages for more design-worthy restaurant and hotel openings, or revisit our travel trends 2026 report for a full immersion in on-the-move inspiration.

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What better way to see the world than through the eyes of our favorite tastemakers? In Hidden Trails, we look at the places that feel most like home to our community of design insiders — wherever those might be — to help you uncover what their cities have in store for you.

Should you be looking for evidence that Salù Iwadi Studio, the interdisciplinary design practice that architect, designer, and artist Toluwalase Rufai and creative strategist and curator Sandia Nassila set up between Nigeria, Senegal, and Marrakech in 2023, looks at Dakar as "one of its anchors, an important part of how we think about ourselves as Pan-African," as the two tell me over email, you'll likely find it in the porous essence and unconventional silhouettes of their functional, spatial, and experiential designs.

Standing out for their intricate geometrical structures and their ability to bring people closer together, the works of the two, which span anything from furniture to retail interiors and public art installations, promote "the belief that design is a powerful medium for storytelling and connection". "Working between three African cities allows us to move between different cultures, materials, craft traditions, and ways of living, while looking for the links that exist between them," Rufai and Nassila explain.

Dakar holds a special place in their heart. Their very first object, the Patewo Chair, was made here using metal, "a traditional material long associated with Senegal", while theirWater Basin Totem, unveiled during the OFF programme of the Dakar Biennale in 2022, "generated important conversations around water pollution and the transformation of everyday objects".

What they love most about Dakar is that "inspiration rarely exists only within designated creative spaces," say Rufai and Nassila. "You encounter it in its architecture, markets, workshops, textiles, street furniture, fishing boats, and everyday rituals. That process of observing what already exists and understanding the histories embedded within it is central to Salù Iwadi Studio and to the idea of iwadi: research, investigation, and a return to the source."

This very continuum between past, present, and future, nature and human-made architecture, also characterizes most of their favorite things to see and do in Dakar, which you can find below.

What to Do in Dakar, Senegal

Become Part of Dakar's Art Community at RAW Material Company

Villa 2a ZONE B, Dakar, Senegal

RAW Material Company is one of our favorite places for experiencing Dakar's contemporary art scene. It is as much a space for research and conversation as it is for exhibitions, bringing together artists, thinkers, and curators from across the continent and beyond. It was founded by the late Koyo Kouoh, who curated the 2025 Venice Biennale. We love its intellectual energy and the way its program feels deeply connected to Dakar while constantly opening conversations with the wider world. Their curatorial team — mostly women — does an incredible job.

Get a Glimpse Into the City's Dream of the Future at CICES

VDN x Route de l'Aéroport, Dakar, Senegal

The Centre International du Commerce Extérieur du Sénégal (CICES) is one of Dakar's most fascinating architectural landmarks. Built in the 1970s for the Dakar International Fair, the complex is a remarkable expression of Senegalese modernism, with bold geometries, sculptural volumes, and decorative details rooted in local visual languages. We love what it represents: a period when newly independent Senegal was actively imagining and expressing its own architectural and cultural identity.

Step Inside a Truly Unexpected Architectural Gem at Église Sainte-Épiphanie-du-Seigneur

83XC+4FW, Nianing, Senegal

A little outside Dakar, on the Petite-Côte, the Église Sainte-Épiphanie-du-Seigneur in Nianing is well worth the journey. Its extraordinary architecture takes inspiration from the spiral form of a shell found along the Senegalese coast.

We love how the building responds to its environment, from its sculptural succession of vaults to the natural ventilation created through its orientation and bell tower. It is a beautiful example of contemporary architecture drawing from place, climate, and local references without becoming literal.

Feel Energized and Inspired at Ban Café

23A Rue OKM 452, Dakar, Senegal

Ban Café is one of our favorite addresses in Dakar for its relaxed atmosphere, thoughtful food that uses local and seasonal ingredients, and understated setting. The kitchen is run by chef Aida and is the sister space of Ban Workshop, a pottery studio offering classes to explore making with clay.

We love this connection between food, craft, and creativity. More than a coffee shop, Ban Café is an active part of Dakar's growing community of independent creative spaces.

Savor the Dakar Coastline Along the Corniche

Route de la Corniche, Dakar, Senegal

The Corniche is one of our favorite ways to experience Dakar outdoors, whether for a morning run or a long walk toward the end of the day. With the Atlantic almost constantly in view, it offers a different perspective on the city and its rhythm. We love how alive it feels — especially around sunset, when people come out to exercise, gather, and enjoy the ocean.

Get to Know a Staple of Dakar's Indie Fashion With TONGORO

tongoro.com

TONGORO embodies a side of Dakar we find particularly exciting: confident, creative, and outward-looking. Founded in the city, the fashion label has developed a strong visual identity while building an international presence from the African continent. We admire that ambition and its founder, Sarah Diouf, who is a visionary. The brand speaks to a generation of African creatives who are defining their own language locally and allowing it to resonate globally.

One (Lesser Known) Thing to Note

One of the things we find fascinating about Dakar is its architectural heritage from the decades following independence.

Beyond the landmarks most visitors know, there are remarkable examples of Senegalese modernism throughout the city, where modernist principles meet local geometries, climatic considerations, and decorative languages. CICES is perhaps one of the strongest examples.

These buildings tell the story of a period when architecture and design were part of a much larger project of imagining what a modern, independent Senegal could look like. Looking at Dakar through this lens completely changes the way you experience the city.

Interested in more travel guides?

Revisit our previously published The Weekend Itinerary, or see how many of this year's biggest travel trends 2026 you are familiar with for more design-worthy destinations.

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From a larger-than-life, feral Viking prince in The Northman to a self-hacking, part-human, part-machine Security Unit ridden with cynicism and anxiety in ongoing Apple TV+ sci-fi comedy-action series The Murderbot, Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård isn’t new to morphing into the most eccentric, weird, and physically demanding of characters. With Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson's forthcoming romantic fantasy comedy film Wicker, which is scheduled to land on the big screen this autumn, Skarsgård, who has been acting since the age of seven but reached global stardom as vampire Eric Northman in hit HBO show True Blood, might have just outdone himself. Or so thinks the internet.

Debuting in the UK this October 30, Wicker follows the unexpected life turn that sees an ostracized, single fisherwoman (Olivia Colman) living in a rigid, gossiping medieval seaside village go from laughingstock to envied talk of the town after asking a local basketmaker (Peter Dinklage) to fashion her a husband out of wicker. In a rather Nosferatu twist — funny that Skarsgård's brother, Bill, was the latest actor to bring the iconic creature to life in Robert Eggers' 2024 movie remake — the resulting wicker man is not just a sentient being, but a loving, passionate, even extraordinary partner to the woman. She is once again preyed upon by the community. This time, though, out of jealousy, as her companion's imposing silhouette causes shock, lust, and pure frenzy among residents.

While even we at Livingetc are excited to see what Skarsgård's wicker man will look and feel like, there is more to the whimsical film we can't wait to dive into. A clue comes from its title, Wicker — an ancestral weaving technique that's enjoying fresh popularity within the ongoing UK craft revival and beyond.

To be precise, the staggering protagonist Fischer and Wilson envisioned appears to have been molded from lacquered bamboo-like strips rather than willow or rush, two of the most widely used materials for traditional basketmaking in England, where the film is set, and the rest of Europe. This didn't escape former T: The New York Times Style Magazine editor-in-chief-turned-basket-maker Deborah Needleman, who took Instagram to point it out, initially suspecting the costume was CGI.

Still, reassurance was not long in coming: "Fischer and Wilson worked closely with NZ-based Wētā Workshop (who did a lot of Lord of the Rings costumes) to create a 30lb suit of wicker affixed to a 3D-printed shell of Skarsgård's body, with only minimal digital effects around his eyes. It's legit, baby," artist Lily Stockman wrote under the post.

An explanation for the factually inaccurate yet functional choice of weave came from self-professed absurdist basketmaker, artist, and curator Lewis Prosser, who runs his own studio in Wales: "he's definitely a braided basket, woven on the diagonal rather than being stake and strand," Prosser explained, adding that, requiring loads of interlocking frame baskets, willow would have been a more challenging material, and the result likely "a bit clunky". With Wicker, the directors hit an awkward middle ground between it being "rustic and unrefined but also defined enough to show human emotion". Emotion also runs through the striking wicker productions of these emerging design studios worldwide.

Chris Wolston

Split between Brooklyn and Medellín, Providence-born designer and artist Chris Wolston's practice grew out of his 2009 Rhode Island School of Design training and crystallized in 2018, when he reached for rattan to soften the edges of an anodized-aluminium wardrobe. He never put it down. In Medellín, he works with a profit-sharing collective of local weavers, using rattan sourced from the Colombian Amazon to build his signature Nalgona chairs — hulking, limbed seats he describes as "a human form embracing a human form".

The results have since traveled to Fendi, Dior, and Qatar's Culture Pass, and have become some of the most fantastical pieces in the ever-expanding collection of residential gallery The Future Perfect's founder, David Alhadeff, who regularly styles them in his LA home, New York, and Miami locations, as well as presenting solo and group exhibitions of his work.

Profile in Ecstasy, Wolston's debut solo museum exhibition, opened November 7, 2025 to February 1, 2026 at Dallas Contemporary, retraced ten years of the designer's work across four catwalk-shaped platforms that gave the display a fashion show look. Highlights included The Grace Jones Fountain, a cast-aluminum piece echoing the singer's iconic pose on the cover of the Island Life album, Wolston's signature wicker and rattan chairs, giving human limbs an unexpected, functional twist, and a series of voluminous terracotta thrones directly inspired by pre-Columbian pottery traditions.

Sagarminaga Atelier's Gabriela Sagarminaga Roldán

Based in Bilbao, Sagarminaga Atelier was founded in 2017 by Gabriela de Sagarminaga after a Medialab-Prado residency in Madrid, held on the site of an old esparto field, sent her down a rabbit hole into the grass's history and craft. She's stayed there since, pairing esparto and other vegetable fibers with numerically cut digital tooling to produce sculptural panels, headboards, room dividers, and full ceiling treatments — objects built, as she puts it, to "have something behind them".

We first came across her totemic, animal-inspired work while previewing 3daysofdesign 2025, where she led Fragment of the Fish, a hands-on workshop letting attendees weave their own amulet beneath her floating sculpture Tuna ExMachina. Most recently, she partnered with Belgian wallcovering brand Arte on its Milan Design Week 2026 debut, translating imagined scenes from ancient Memphis into life-sized, monochrome reliefs woven from raffia, cork, shells, and grasses that made our festival's highlights list.

Lørdag & Søndag's Salvador and Enzo Compañ

Founded in Mexico City in 2011 by brothers Salvador and Enzo Compañ, who grew up on an island in Campeche surrounded by their architect father's sketches, Lørdag & Søndag builds what it calls "artefactos": sculptural objects made in tandem with master artisans across Oaxaca, Chiapas, Veracruz, Guerrero, and beyond.

Fiber weaving sits alongside volcanic stone-carving and woodwork in the studio's toolkit, each piece carrying the visible fingerprint of the region and hands that made it.

This summer, that practice went on the road: as artists-in-residence at Rosewood's Las Ventanas al Paraíso in Los Cabos, the Compañ brothers installed their Artefactos throughout the resort and led guided sunset walks through the collection, while textile artist Daniela Chiñas — a longtime collaborator known for the studio's fiber pieces — ran Mixteco Knot Workshops teaching guests to weave their own fans and baskets, culminating in an "artifact dinner" built around the sculptures' own forms.

The Wicker Story's Priyanka Narula

Architect Priyanka Narula founded The Wicker Story in Hyderabad in 2019, after a master's in parametric design and robotic manufacturing collided with the reality that such technology was scarce, and pricey, back home in India. Instead, she set out on a journey to translate digital, algorithmic design logic into cane and rattan, weaving it entirely by hand. The result is a zero-waste practice spanning sculptural furniture, cane fabrications, and vast site-specific installations that stretch a village craft to architectural scale.

Her latest immersive spatial and woven exhibition, Where Space Performs, unveiled at India Design ID 2026, pushes that ambition further still, demonstrating how "form, light, and scale interact to transform craft into a living, tactile spatial experience". For Narula, wicker might be an ancient technique, but not a static one. Her production seeks to continuously redefine natural fibers' potential, stretching them into the most disparate directions, as well as transferring their malleable quality to other materials, including metal, in an attempt to rewrite the rules of mineral craftsmanship, too. Stay tuned.

Mestiz's Daniel Valero

Architect and designer Daniel Valero launched Mestiz in San Miguel de Allende in 2015 as an "alter ego" for merging craftsmanship, design, and art. The studio pairs wicker with wood, ceramics, and wool in an explosively colorful, zoomorphic language, built through long-running partnerships with local artisans who work with "the same tools they have always used".

We saw that world out in full force at sketch's 2025 art and design exhibition, ¡hola, London!, this past September, where Valero's El Charco installation — wicker cacti, crocodile-shaped shelves, dragons — turned the restaurant's hallways into what felt like a fever dream you didn't want to wake up from while walking through it.

Among his most notable projects is Las Flores del Mar, a multi-destination installation of flora-inspired wicker lamps and sculptural pieces Valero created specifically for the Auberge Resorts Collection. It landed across three of its Mexican properties — Etéreo (Riviera Maya), Chileno Bay Resort & Residences (Los Cabos), and Susurros del Corazón (Punta Mita) — last year, adding an extravagant touch to each address. For the designer, the creations are complementary: "they speak their own language, but when they are together, it's a whole conversation."

Take That 'Wicker' Magic Home

Get ready for Wicker to land with our curated edit of natural fiber tableware, accessories, and homeware.

From an interview with Rodrigo Martirena, the award-winning production designer behind Callum Turner-starring dark comedy thriller Rosebush Pruning, to the latest design destinations worth queuing for in London and food hubs embracing grounding interiors to fight the high pace of city life, like London Épicerie, Livingetc's lifestyle pages are your online directory to the latest in culture, travel, and hospitality.

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Living in London is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the British capital puts anything, from world-class theaters and music venues to award-winning restaurants, at your fingertips. On the other, everything — even simply daring the long-dreaded North-to-South of the River commute to spend the night at some friends' — comes at an increasingly high financial and time cost.

But what if basic actions like socializing or shopping at our go-to spots didn't have to feel like yet another commitment on our ever-busy agendas? Would life in London suddenly feel a little more quality-oriented and intentional? That's what Jared Wybrow and Raissa van Dijk are trying to find out with London Épicerie, the grocery shop they have just launched on Ebury Street.

Step inside, and you'll find the most aesthetically arranged shelves as the defining feature of the design, not only showcasing the products to their very best, but making a case for open shelving, love it or hate it, as a way to display the best of what you bring into your kitchen.

"The idea for London Épicerie came after years of conversations with our customers, independent producers, and each other," say the co-founders of the concept store. They add that those recurring discussions all led to the same conclusion: "the modern food system has normalized compromise."

For Wybrow and van Dijk, flavor, nutrition, biodiversity, and provenance have been sacrificed for industrial scale and efficiency. "On one end, you have fast, soulless supermarket runs, and on the other, hyper-niche specialty shops. Neither really solves people's everyday needs or offers a viable long-term future for small-scale farmers."

From that realization came a whole new business plan: "we understood that to help change the food system, we had to create a viable channel for the producers fighting for it; those practicing regenerative agriculture, preserving traditional skills, and prioritizing soil health," they explain. "London, and especially Belgravia, needed a true anchor that connects these growers directly to the community."

That's what they hope the city will find in London Épicerie. More than a luxury delicatessen for rare occasions, the address wants to be "a shop for everyday life: a place where picking up your daily bread, milk, seasonal produce, and pantry staples actively supports a fairer, more sustainable food model, one producer at a time." It's a mission Wybrow and van Dijk have set out to pursue in no small part through design, as the two recount below.

Tell Us About the Original Design Brief for London Épicerie: What Functions and Principles Were Key?

"The brief was born out of collective dialogue between Jared and me and interior designer Deidra Hodgson, who helped shape it before executing it. We brought our operational experience, knowing how a cheese room functions, how foot traffic flows, and how produce needs to breathe, and Deidra brought the architectural clarity to make those functions feel natural and visually harmonious.

"The key principles were two: simplicity and flow. Avoiding retail bottlenecks and ensuring every section felt connected was crucial to us. The brief required integrating distinct functional environments, from the high-sensory produce section at the front to the temperature-controlled cheese room and counter, through to the central pantry shelves, and down to the destination bakery at the back. Every space had to serve a practical purpose for daily shopping while encouraging exploration."

How Does Deidra Hodgson's Creative Vision Match and Expand Yours for This New Grocery Store?

"Deidra Hodgson's work is defined by a deep respect for materials, spatial harmony, and craftsmanship. She doesn't rely on decorative trends or overt retail gimmicks; instead, her aesthetic focuses on tactile textures, considered lighting, and clean, architectural proportions that create a sense of calm and permanence.

"What made her the ideal partner for London Épicerie is how perfectly her design language aligns with our approach to food. Just as we believe food should be unpretentious, high-integrity, and rooted in good agriculture, Deidra designs spaces that feel grounded, honest, and stripped of excess. Her layout doesn't distract from what's on the shelves; it gives the produce, wine, cheese, and bread the spatial dignity they deserve while making the act of daily shopping feel calm and meaningful."

London Épicerie Is Distinctively European-Inspired. What Finishes, Materials, and Accents Helped You Capture That Atmosphere?

"The European way of shopping treats food as a central part of daily life, not a chore to rush through. In traditional French épiceries or Italian alimentari, there's a seamless rhythm between necessity and pleasure. You buy what you need for today, talk to the shopkeeper, and trust the quality implicitly.

"To bring that atmosphere to Ebury Street, Deidra used a palette of honest, enduring materials: light oak joinery, natural stone finishes, and a clean, structural grid expressed through custom shelving. The materials feel grounded, tactile, and understated. There are no synthetic surfaces or glossy gimmicks just simple, high-quality finishes that age gracefully and put the focus back on the food."

The Custom Open Shelving of the Store Turns Groceries Into Its Greatest Design Accent Yet. What Does This Bring to the Interior?

"A lot of independent food products feature beautiful, considered packaging, but open shelving ensures that what stands out isn't just a pretty label: it's the substance behind it. By using simple, open joinery throughout Deidra's layout, the focus remains entirely on what's in store. You can see the care that went into every item, whether it's a beautifully designed jar or a simple brown paper bag of stoneground flour. It communicates that every single product earned its spot through quality and integrity, not because a big brand paid for prime shelf space.

"The best part of shopping at London Épicerie is that the space steps back and lets you engage directly with the food. The open sightlines and generous layout mean you aren't forced down narrow aisles or rushed toward a self-checkout. It gives you room to pick up a product, read the label, ask our team about the producer, and choose your food based on genuine quality rather than retail pressure."

Could the Same Layout Work in Your Home?

While open shelving has enjoyed significant popularity among home renovators and interior designers alike in recent years, the debate on whether or not this type of storage is better — more functional, clutter-resistant, and aesthetic — than wall cabinets has recently been settled by our in-house designer Maya Glantz.

To keep it short, a kitchen equipped with open shelves instead of concealed storage is ideal for: smaller rooms that can benefit from their 'airiness' and lighter architectural footprint; style-leaning hosts with plenty of beautiful collectibles to show off, but not so many they end up covering up every inch of the space; and open-plan kitchens where visible shelves can give the area a look that's more structured, distinctive, and cohesive.

The pale wood-clad one featured above offers a great example of how one can still get inspired by Hodgson's London Épicerie design for their own home, balancing traditional cabinets with a handful of aesthetically curated shelves. Clean lines and soft curves, artisanal finishes, and tactile detailing make the space grounding, familiar, and welcoming — much like the newly opened Belgravia store does with its Pantry Promenade, Bakery & Drinks Corner, and Cheese and Charcuterie Area.

How to Do It

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It's August 10, and if you, like me, grew up anywhere in southern Europe, chances are you are already savoring the nonchalance that comes with this month. August is for catching rays and rest; that's something we observe almost religiously in the Mediterranean. Still, if you, again like me, are sadly not on holiday right now — not just yet, at least — there is something we think you should see.

For the coming three weeks between August 15 and 29, cult Sicilian guesthouse, kitchen, and artist residency CASA LAWA will be taking its joyous culinary universe to London restaurant Rondo at The Hoxton, Holborn, technicolor stripes, seasonal, sun-baked flavors, and convivial setting included.

Founded in the fertile town of Sant'Alfio, a village on the slopes of Mount Etna, in 2021 by Lukas Lewandowski, CASA LAWA has since become an Instagram sensation, largely thanks to the ever-rotating succession of international creatives, chefs, food stylists, boutique brand founders, and photographers who, together, have helped shape its picturesque imaginary over the last couple of years.

Today, the creative bolthole, with over 155K followers on Instagram, is equally synonymous with cerulean blue skies, coruscating waters (pool, sea, you choose), and countryside charm as it is with pastel decor, checkered — or striped — tablecloths, vintage pool furniture, vibrant linens, and Memphis design-esque sculptural pieces.

A 3-Day Only, Whimsical Pop-Up

For three days only on August 15, 22, and 29, people will get to enjoy the CASA LAWA lifestyle a short stroll off from the City, at one of our favorite London hotels, with comforting bites like whipped butter-topped sea salt and rosemary focaccia, Sicilian green olive and provolone-stuffed arancin, and fragrant stone bass crudo with pickled nectarine, red chilli and mint brought in as starters for a taste of Sicily, followed by evergreen Italian staples like Pasta alla Norma and prickly pear granita with lemon verbena as one of the mains and desserts, respectively.

There'll be an original soundtrack for the night, bespoke Monkey Shoulder cocktail pairings, and no table turnover allowed. Instead, guests are invited to enjoy a prolonged meal, either at an intimate table seating up to eight diners, or at The Long Table, designed to bring together solo visitors, couples, and trios the CASA LAWA way. Exclusive merchandise will accompany the activation — caps, T-shirts, aprons — though the real protagonist of the takeover, diners aside, is blissfully mismatched tableware.

Mismatched, yes. Think all sorts of stripes in equally varied pastel shades, nostalgic lacquered cutlery, chunky Murano glass tumblers, and multiple table covers laid on top of each other: a look that's as vibrant as it is irreverent, and that can capture the unrushed, lulling feeling of "the holidays we never want to end". Book yourself in for a CASA LAWA lunch at The Hoxton, Holborn, or follow along to discover how we can help you bring that home.

Why Summer 2026 Is Time for an Irreverent Tableware Rebrand

Clashing elements, it turns out, are one of summer 2026's biggest tablescaping trends, and while the idea of letting go of strict rules might sound intimidating, really there isn't anything more summer-coded than embracing your instinct and having fun with it. Inspired by CASA LAWA's pop-up at The Hoxton, Holborn, we have gathered a handful of dining accessories sure that will make your gatherings holiday-like year-round.

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After years of planning holidays around destination hopping in a desperate attempt to tick as many addresses off our hot list as possible, people, it seems, are back enjoying their time off in a more intentional, even erratic, way.

It is a welcome shift that puts presence back into our itineraries, one that the recently opened design hotel Locke Canary Wharf has made even more manifest in its decor choices, which reframe each of its 279 suites as places to feel at home and linger in, rather than mere dormitories.

Unveiled earlier this summer, London hotel Locke Canary Wharf is the latest addition to the lifestyle group's interiors-forward portfolio and was conceived by local studio Holloway Li.

Here, against an earthy palette of pale woods, bare cement, and fiery reds, awaits a mid-century modern universe sculpted from bold lines, contrasting finishes — velvet and leather, paper, marbled stone and wood, lacquered — and warm lighting for a glamorously cinematic effect.

It is a design-coded creative hub you'll be happy to swap with mindless sightseeing, at least till you feel fully recharged after a day out, and that shows just how much of a difference specific furniture elements can make to the pace of your holiday experience.

Take a Seat — Inside Locke Canary Wharf's Grounding Design Ethos

We have all been there — exhausted after a long journey right after check-in, unable to either properly rest up or get ready to go out again because of the initial confusion hotel rooms spark when you first get there.

With its wide seating areas styled as retro-fueled, vintage pits, Locke Canary Wharf appears to say "don't worry, there is room for you to stay here."

Part modernist accent, part Japanese-style interior trick, the muted navy blue and chocolatey wood booths Holloway Li equipped the guest bedrooms at Locke Canary Wharf with help you rethink the way you conceive hotels from a place you barely see on the most frenetic trips to somewhere you could potentially live.

Taking up ample corners of the address's River Thames-facing suites, this type of cushioned seating evokes the social-first essence of 1970s conversation pits, and invites guests to get chatting.

Whether enjoying a moment of calm solo away from the frenzy of the Big Smoke or taking the design feature as an excuse to gather friends and family into one room, these booths capture the increasingly slower rhythm that sits at the heart of this year's travel trends.

Breaking 'the Bed-Desk Binary' Through Cushioned Banquettes Made to Linger

There is something about hotel bedrooms that hits different, and that lies, largely, in their ability to act as a third space. Not just a place to sleep, nor inherently a place to socialize, suites feel like a hybrid between actual bedrooms and living rooms, an in-between environment furniture helps bring to life.

Home bedrooms, on the other hand, are much more predictable: bed, desk, done. If you want to read, scroll, or just sit with a coffee before the day starts, you're more often than not forced to do it propped against pillows or perched on a stool that wasn't built for it.

Here's where these banquettes step in. Pits like these, or their more attainable cousins, from a simple window seat to low benches and daybeds pushed up against underused corners of a bedroom, bring something psychological along with the decor itself.

They transform the way a room asks to be used, signaling permission to slow down and allowing guests to savor its interior details, as well as their surroundings, comfortably and unrushed.

How to Actually Do It — A 3-Step Guide to Sinking Into Style

1. Placement — The first step in turning these bedroom banquettes into design accents consists of identifying the right placement for them. Under a window or tucked into a corner overlooking one is an obvious yet strategic move. Just like at Locke Canary Wharf, this turns the area into a panoramic viewpoint. In the absence of windows, deep seating like this can bring a twist to the foot of your bed, expanding it further, or a wall that's being underused.

2. Scale — To recreate the look and feel of real conversation pits, a banquette needs real depth (think 24 inches or more). Depth is what gives this interior design trick its lounging feel, setting it aside from ordinary benches. It also gives it its playful edge: unlike shallow seating, which is yet another place to sit 'properly', deep seating leaves room for a little whimsy, as attested by the basement scenes filmed around its conversation pit in Rosebush Pruning.

3. Materials — To make this area stand out from the beds, pull from the same mid-century palette Locke Canary Wharf is working in for a vintage-inspired, textured effect: bouclé and velvet in organic nuances, tailored piping, a low profile with clean, confident lines. Once you've settled on your choice of fabric, consider finishing up the booth with wood for a sculptural, movement-filled look.

Book your room at Locke Canary Wharf for more design inspiration to steal for your home.

Into the Locke aparthotel look? Revisit some of our previously published hotel reviews to explore how the group is reshaping the boundaries of modern hospitality through limited-edition collaborations, place-specific artistry, and stays rooted in immersion in local culture and lifestyle, or get shopping to recreate its cocooning seating booths.

• An Anthropologie-Designed Hotel Room? Here's Where to Find This Colorful Mediterranean Suite, and Shop the Look, Too

• Lisbon's Locke de Santa Joana is the Free-Spirited Design Hotel Where Old Meets New

• I Usually Wouldn't Stay in This Area of Paris, But This Hotel's Hip Decor Changed My Mind — Where Garden Lushness Meets Soho House Style

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"Getting dressed is a ritual… It's such a tone-setting moment for the day, and like so much else, it's best when you balance intuition and feeling with some degree of practicality," read the opening of INs and OUTs of getting dressed, an instalment of Kelly Wearstler's newsletter Wearstlerworld, where every Wednesday the Los Angeles design superstar distills life, style, and interiors advice, published April 3. Choosing the right outfit, Wearstler continued, is a ritual "as much rooted in space as it is in wardrobe: organization, lighting, which mirror you have, even the scents you bring in to create an environment and mindset. It's serious business."

Her commitment to bridging the interior design and fashion universes is manifest in her forthcoming collaboration with H&M, which sees her release 29 unique homeware buys, including furniture, lighting, and artsy accessories, alongside eight Wearstler-coded ready-to-wear pieces for the Swedish apparel giant.

Landing in stores and online September 3, with the clothing drop available exclusively via the H&M site, the Kelly Wearstler x H&M collection captures her eye for architectural structure, texture, and aspirational curation, confirming what we have known all along: Wearstler dresses in the same way she dresses her captivatingly conceived spaces — boldly, unexpectedly, and with an eye to color, form, and strategic contrast. With her clothing for H&M, Wearstler offers the design-world answer to Zendaya's ongoing method dressing moment. A joy to see for the interior obsessives among us, who will soon be able to give her iconic looks a go themselves.

Kelly Wearstler's Method Dressing Moment Is Nearly Here — 3 Principles to Get Her Look Right Across Fashion and Decor

While Wearstler's savoir-faire and allure belong only to her, some of the Kelly Wearstler x H&M buys hold clues to mastering her edgy-chic aesthetic, starting with the sheeny, black bomber leather jacket she wears, irreverently, over a matching bodysuit with lace tights in the collection campaign.

1. Find Brave Balance Through Proportion

It's a look that, in itself, sums up her flair for proportion — her ability to craft rooms, functional designs, and, yes, outfits, where seemingly irreconcilable styles and materials feel perfectly balanced.

This is clear in the double-faced bordeaux trenchcoat she created for H&M, pairing a matte, muted exterior with a chocolatey, glossy leather finish, as it is in the wood and stained marble Solin Side Table.

Across all Kelly Wearstler x H&M designs, you'll notice a recurring tension between sharp and soft, and that materials traditionally employed in geometrical forms — like stone and wood — take on new, more fantastical and enveloping silhouettes.

She does the same with many of the pieces of her apparel debut: a linear, wide-collar shirt, loose-fit, zipped cargo trousers, and a floaty, silken dress. These are the kind of everyday essentials one feels comfortable in but can't leave without.

2. Swap Color With Texture

From the Memphis-reminiscent Aurex Table Lamp and the cloud-like Poma Accent Chair to the swirly Morra Table Lamp, the Cova Candle Stick, and the Cyma Vase, a wood revival of ancient Greece's traditional black ceramics, most of my favorite buys from the Kelly Wearstler x H&M line are surprisingly monochrome.

I say "surprisingly" as, contrary to Wearstler herself, I am a fan of vibrant palettes. But If there's one thing that the collection does well, it's reminding us that, sometimes, all a piece needs to stand out is feeling tactile, more than eye-catching hues and intricate patterns.

Just like her wardrobe has been curated for Wearstler to be able to style leather, linen, satin, and crochet into a single, evocative look, her H&M catalogue, too, wants people to experiment with their looks. And so you get distressed denim and white-washed cotton, a slanted velvet skirt, and crunchy cargo trousers, along with lacquered accessories, shearling, and fabric and chrome finishes in the interior department.

3. Mix Old and New, Vintage and Designer

A lifelong fan of legendary fashion houses like Rick Owens, Maison Margiela, Schiaparelli, and Alaïa, Wearstler knows how to elevate her wardrobe through selected vintage and contemporary statement pieces that pair material quality with the sparkle required of A-listers like her.

To recreate her look, whether in fashion or at home, consider getting into how to thrift like a vintage pro. Experts recommend to start small — a single collectible or accent at a time, building a collection that grows with you over the years.

Mind you, though, there's less than a month till the launch of the Kelly Wearstler x H&M collection. So better be oculate with your purchases — as we predict it to sold out fast.

Whilst You Wait for the Kelly Wearstler x H&M Collection to Land, Get Ahead With Your Homeware

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Had French director known of interior designer Pandora Taylor when writing his surreally beautiful film The Science of Sleep, chances are she would have got a production design credit for it. Or so the ethereal and nostalgic aesthetic of her residential projects leads me to think.

Established in the British capital in 2018, her namesake practice takes pride in bridging old-world charm with the contemporary scene's finest materials and techniques. The balance between past and present isn't the only one Taylor has taught herself to straddle seamlessly in her work, each of her commissions a bridge between the textural nature of country house interiors and the sophistication of the Big Smoke's most coveted hangouts.

Now developing bespoke furniture collections alongside her imaginatively crafted homes, the British interior designer is not letting any occasion to push her whimsical-chic view of interiors fall by the wayside. At the heart of Taylor's projects is the belief that great design has the power to "enhance lives", and a desire to infuse a touch of drama into everyday life, she tells Livingetc.

What Would You Say Is Your Greatest Design Obsession?

"I can never resist adding a bit of theatrical flair into our interiors. Theater stage dressing and interiors have a lot in common — in both instances, you are thinking deeply about how the backdrop is going to influence the characters within it. We always like to take things that little bit further and allow our clients to be constantly inspired by the items that surround them every day."

How Does This Love of the Theatrical Show in Your Projects? And What Kind of Design 'Genres' Does This Marry Best?

"We achieve this through various elements, but the shape and lines of furniture are both key starting points for these kinds of schemes.

"We are always thinking about how we bring movement into every space, adding arabesque lines into headboards and curves into chairs and sofas, as well as creating modern homes that thrive off of asymmetry and juxtaposition.

"These ideas feed naturally into the sort of maximalist, farmhouse style that has dominated the British interiors scene for the past couple of years."

What's One Element or Detail That Makes a Scheme Feel Playful or Dramatic? How Do You Go About Styling It in the Space?

"Playing with shapes in the home does require more thought to ensure everything is balanced, but when we bring furniture that has an unusual shape or unexpected silhouette, it immediately makes the room feel interesting and considered. To me, it is the backbone of a more unique and idiosyncratic home.

"We always end up incorporating a fair few antiques in our interiors as historical furniture makers were very good at experimenting with shape and lines. I particularly love Jacobean period furniture for its oversized bobbin-shaped legs, wavy edges, and often decorative brass detailing around the handles.

"When it comes to upholstery, you can introduce playful shapes and lines using contrast piping and fringes. This is actually why we created our Cord fabric, which has a repeating arabesque line. The fabric is an easy way to break up a more contemporary silhouette like a square-edged sofa or headboard by giving the appearance of a wavy outline."

What's a Project or Design of Yours That Distills This Whimsical Approach to Interiors?

"Our headboards often play with this idea of breaking 'the square'. In particular, our Shard, Bubble, and Tassel Headboards all feature strong outlines that spread across the wall and create an unexpected backdrop for the bedroom.

"In the primary bedroom of our Mayfair Townhouse project, we created a dramatic, decoratively edged headboard with a contrast drape behind to add depth and a sense of drama.

"In the living room of our Herne Hill House project, we added triangular pediments to the built-in bookshelves, a wavy skirt to the sofa, and wall lights with a petal design. It's this layering of different-shaped elements that draws the eye around the room, sparking interest."

What's One Piece of Advice You'd Give to People Wanting to Be More Creative and Daring With Their Homes?

"Whether designing a whole room or just adding a new piece of furniture, don't settle for the ordinary. Spend that little bit of extra time finding something that offers something unexpected, from an unusual silhouette, a contrast paint design, or an interesting handle. It is these small differences that will elevate the space and bring character and intrigue."

Browse our archive of designer interviews for further advice on crafting interiors that feel like a reflection of your personality.

Captivated by the connection between interiors and drama? See how production designer Rodrigo Martirena made a brutalist villa in Catalonia one of the protagonists of the Callum Turner-starring dark satirical thriller Rosebush Pruning, or revisit our deep-dive into the making of A24's 2026 hit release The Drama.

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All that glitters is not gold, an old saying goes, and that is clear within seconds of glimpsing the seemingly glamorous yet morally corrupt reality inhabited by the broken American family of billionaires that serves as the beating heart of Karim Aïnouz's new satirical thriller, Rosebush Pruning.

No coveted mid-century modern furniture piece, sinuous sports car, or designer bag can hold together the saturated, sumptuous paper castle siblings Ed (Callum Turner), Anna (Riley Keough), Robert (Lukas Gage), and Jack (Jamie Bell) have built alongside their widowed father (Tracy Letts) with the money inherited from their deceased mother (Pamela Anderson), each nook in their sprawling Catalonia countryside villa a temple to their self-destructive vanity. Not that they aren't aware of that, either.

"This fact that none of us ever had to work, ever in our lives, didn't affect our characters," Callum Turner's magnetic Ed explains in a suspense-building passage of the film. "We always were interested only in music and fashion. We were all lazy, mediocre, vapid egotists. All of us. Except for my eldest brother, of course, Jack. Jack's different. Poor Jack." What's the price to pay for being different? That's what the twist-ridden plot of Rosebush Pruning indirectly answers, as it exposes the rotting essence of the relatives' material existence.

Dressed head-to-toe in custom and vintage Versace, Bottega Veneta, Hermès, McQueen, and Chanel, to name a few, and surrounded by all sorts of possessions others could only ever imagine, the family doesn't lack anything, at least in theory. In practice, what eats them from within is their inability to relate to one another, production designer Rodrigo Martirena tells me over Google Meet, speaking from the location of his next film job in Brazil. Their lust for connection, depraved fantasies, flaws, and fragilities are the blueprint around which he built their domesticity; director of photography Hélène Louvart's sun-drenched aesthetic is the thermometer measuring tension as it builds.

What Was the Original Intention Behind the Making of 'Rosebush Pruning'?

"Years ago, people talked about millionaires. Now, we are talking about billionaires and what they do with their money. While filming Rosebush Pruning, for example, the Epstein files were released. We see all the disgusting things that are taking place in the world, and cinema being a political thing gives people a different way or perspective to look at what's happening.

"The idea for Rosebush Pruning was not to show the luxury and the wealthy, how it is and feels to be rich, but to try to get to the psychology of this rich family — to create the environment to understand why they are so deranged. After the pandemic, isolation is a theme and situation we all feel really strongly about and understand. We put this very concept into the film, which follows an isolated American family with a lot of money who live by themselves in a villa tucked away in the Spanish countryside. What happens to them? Well, they go nuts."

Tell Us About the Spanish Villa the Film Is Set in — What Made It the Ideal Home for It?

"When I read the script, I knew that finding the right house was the most important thing, as 80% of the film would be shot there. It was always very clear to me that a Brutalist-style building would be the perfect place to portray this family. Born in post-WWII UK, Brutalism goes to the root of the material, showing concrete at its rawest, barest.

"The distinctive trait of Brutalist houses is that, once you are inside, you are not just inside a house. You're inside its structure; you see its bones, unfinished and uncovered. That situation, that feeling, is like being in a jail to me. And I knew that's what we needed to tell Rosebush Pruning's story.

"We wanted a Brutalist, functional house where the entire movie could be filmed, with five good-sized bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms. We settled on a villa located a few kilometers north of Barcelona, Catalonia. The first detail to catch my eye was its entrance: a concrete structure very similar to Le Corbusier's Notre-Dame du Haut chapel in Ronchamp. I looked at it and thought, 'I am walking into a temple.'

"At some point in the film, a delivery guy riding an electric motorbike stops right in front of it, his silhouette microscopic against the imposing cement roof. It's a detail that reflects the contrast pervading every scene of Rosebush Pruning, ideal for immortalizing the oppressive psychology of the family."

What's It Like Inside? Were There Any Quirky Details That Had You Say "This Is the One"?

"At first glance, it might make you think of Frank Lloyd Wright — the wood, the stone, the glass, the lines — but the scale of this place is nothing like his low-rise Fallingwater house. It is the opposite: it's vast, with a central patio opening up like the Pantheon. The idea with this residence was to combine its different architectural and decorative elements to build the Rosebush Pruning world.

"Near the main entrance, for example, we found six golden deer. It was the most amazing coincidence, as not only is the family made of six people, but initially, Karim and I had even discussed the weird idea of them having deer instead of dogs as pets inside the house. When we arrived and saw them on the doorstep, we said, 'of course, this is the one.'

"The other great thing about the house is its double circulation: you have an interior circulation, connecting all the rooms, and an exterior one, which does the same but through a wrap-around terrace. That meant you could go from bedroom to bedroom from both inside and outside, and show the continuity of that — how big the house is — in very long shots.

"As we ventured deeper into our visit of the property, we uncovered all of these stunning textures. The cherry on top, though, lay in the bedrooms, which had carpeted walls, the most claustrophobic, stifling material in the world, dirty and a little bit disgusting. They had stripes and all sorts of patterns, which inspired me to associate each sibling with different motifs and materials."

In 'Rosebush Pruning', You Built the Characters' Bedrooms to Be a Mirror of Their Personality. How?

"It all comes from the script, the individual characters, and the scenes that are set to take place in each space. Robert's bedroom, for example, had to feel very hedonistic, and so we worked with sensual materials. Fetishist interior elements, like tubes that can be used to tie someone up to the bed headboard, have been included in the scheme to create expectation: you don't necessarily see them, but you feel them; you know something is waiting to unravel there.

"Robert struggles with his mental health — he is on medication — and is not allowed to drive. So he loves playing with little car models, which we placed in a corner of the room. Nobody will notice them, but they are there. I also hid a golden reflection in the closet as a teaser of what will happen...

"Ed, on the other hand, studies a lot how to fake his voice. He has a very nice bedroom, mainly concentrated on this 'voice' situation: there is a corner styled like a podcast recording setup, instrumental to something that will unfold later in the script between him and his father. The father himself has a very big bedroom — bigger than most, really, more like a living room.

"Here, the wardrobe area is crucial, and you'll realize why when you watch the film. From his exterior, forest-facing bedroom terrace, he can access and control the rest of the house even if he's blind. My idea was to use textures on the walls similar to the siblings' rooms, but treated in a more modern, cleaner, less 'over-the-top' way. Because the oppressive feeling belongs to the siblings, the father is up in the clouds.

"Anna's bedroom was even more complex. After her mother's disappearance, she is the only woman living in the house, constantly cooking and prepping the clothes. She acts like a servant for her own family and is always asking herself, 'what am I even doing here?' Anna is obsessed with faces, so we designed a metal mask with glass fragments for eyes. This also links to her blind father, whose relationship with her is very strong and, at the same time, creepy and sickening.

"In her case, objects were the most important thing. When her father dies, Anna is in her bedroom alone. Behind the head sculpture resting on her desk, we see something we created specifically for her: roses, wrapped in a plastic bag. Why? Throughout the film, we see her cooking and wrapping up leftovers in cling film. She is used to conserving everything that way, and tries to do the same with the last memory she gets of her dad, as if immortalizing that situation forever."

The Family Feels as Trapped in Their Own World. What Specific Design Elements Allowed You to Convey That Situation?

"One of the environments that renders this best is the basement. Entirely red and equipped with a fireplace, it is where the siblings spend time sitting in strange, tense positions.

"That space, for me, was the cave inside the cage that's their home: upstairs, the whole family is together, but downstairs it's just the siblings, talking about things meant only for them, and about their father. The idea was to frame it as an interior within the interior. It is the only place where red is so prominent, and that's because it is where the tension between the siblings reaches its climax.

"Another concept I wanted to develop for Rosebush Pruning was the idea that the family is in a sort of jail. To do so, I swapped traditional curtains with knitted, textured mesh ones, which express the feeling of being inside a fishing net you can't escape. In Anna's bedroom, you can see how the light filters through them, adding only a colorful tinge.

"The curtains recur from bedroom to bedroom all the way to the dining room, and it's one of my favorite touches to the film. They are also in the most upsetting scene, styled in layers — one curtain, very soft, in one color, but with the net in front of it so that you can have one or the other or both together — just like multiple layers are pressing on the people inside the house. That pressure is nothing exterior; it's something interior to the family, who are all stuck together, sick on the inside."

Was There Anything You Had to Custom-Design and Build on Set for 'Rosebush Pruning'? If So, What's Its Role Within the Film?

"Something I built especially for Rosebush Pruning was the dining table, around which one of the film's most hilarious scenes takes place. It is a very large table in shiny bronze, treated so the reflection is warped as if in a distorted mirror. The idea was that everyone at the table can see each other, but not clearly — we see what they want to show, not what they really are.

"That's the best space I designed for this film: you have a golden, distorted reflection on the tabletop and transparent glass legs, as a mirror suspended in the room, with everyone trying to be sincere while still concealing their true selves at all times. One reflection sits on the table, another on the wall, constantly twisting and reframing what you see. It is a perfect metaphor for the people brought together in this movie."

What Do You Feel Was the Hardest Part of Crafting the 'Rosebush Pruning' Universe?

"The most challenging aspect of this project was finding a way to portray a dysfunctional family showing crisis and discomfort rather than resolving it. The spaces, like the characters, had to feel plush, but also childish, weird, and uncomfortable — all of that mixed.

"To capture the family and its intricacies, I needed very old furniture that looked like it had been in the house for a long time, alongside a sleek Bang & Olufsen sound system. Getting the balance right was the hardest part of the job: I didn't want a beautiful house that ticked off all major trends in a mainstream way and implied that rich people have good taste, as beauty is entirely subjective and that wouldn't have shown what this family is all about anyway.

"Instead, I needed to mix things in a weird way — an electronic Roche Bobois bar you can operate by pressing buttons, right next to Picasso's Cat Catching a Bird (1939), is just an example of how that weird manifests. Art, of course, puts the family on another level, as having a Picasso in your home isn't the norm, but right beside it, you get a kitschy console. You have the best home speakers but, right next to them, are black, shiny sofas in cheap-looking leather treated to look like plastic. They creaked with every movement, and the sound recordist wanted to kill me for it, but that was the whole point.

"I also included accents, like a naked statue of the mother on the patio and some golden stones on the floor, that don't make much sense — something that makes you ask, 'what is that? What does that mean?' They're provocations: I don't fully understand this family either, and the house reflects that."

How Did the Cast React to Seeing the Set for the First Time? What's One Fun Anecdote You Kept With You From Your Time Shooting 'Rosebush Pruning'?

"One of the best moments on set was when Jamie Bell, Callum Turner, Riley Keough, and Lukas Gage walked into the finished house. Because everything was functional — every room in its original function — when they arrived, it felt especially real.

"They looked like an actual family on vacation, fighting over the best bedrooms in a holiday rental. That's the moment the set stopped being a set and became another character in the film. Seeing them smile, head to the sofas, light the fire, I could tell they were genuinely happy to be in that house.

"Another funny memory comes from when Callum and I went to scout a location — we needed another house to stand in as the mother's house. When we arrived at this beautiful old converted factory studio in Barcelona, Callum's now-wife, Dua Lipa, was there waiting for us. She joined us on a tour of the property. Every time we walked into a new room, people would whisper among each other, incredulous and excited.

"She's gorgeous and clearly very intelligent — she made excellent observations about the architecture of the place we visited that morning — and it was so interesting to meet her. Getting to watch Callum act was incredible, too — in person, he's handsome, of course, but trust me when I say that the camera loves him in a whole different way."

How Do You Feel About the Way in Which The Film Has Been Received So Far?

"I think part of the reason why some people might not like the film is that it makes them uncomfortable, but for me, that's a success. Depending on where they're coming from, people either love it or hate it. That's not surprising: Rosebush Pruning is a somewhat revolting film, and some viewers prefer empathy reflected back at them. Personally, I hope nobody sees themselves reflected in its characters, because they are all crooked in a different way. Whenever people ask me to describe this experience in three words, I only ever have two: beauty and disgusting. That's what we were working with in bringing these characters' reality to life, and I hope I did them and their stories justice, as that was the hardest tension to hold."

Is There Any Room Left for the Family in 'Rosebush Pruning' to Redeem Themselves — And If So, Where Should We Look for It?

"Rosebush Pruning is a reinterpretation of Marco Bellocchio's 1966 film Fists in the Pocket. That earlier version showed a new Italian bourgeois family rising after WWII. This one is set in the present, among billionaires who don't know what to do with their money. The characters in Rosebush Pruning are empty inside and desperate to fill that void with something, but there's nothing there — because of the isolation, because of being trapped with each other. Only Anna speaks a little Spanish in the film; otherwise, none of them really speaks the same language as the locals around them. They're locked in themselves.

"The most interesting thing about Elle Fanning's character, Martha, is that she's not far removed from this family's psychology, wealth, and luxury — once she enters the house, she also wants to be part of that world. It might sound like a slightly naive answer, but like in many other stories before this one, in Rosebush Pruning, too, it's love that changes everything. Because of the love between Elle and Jack's characters, the whole story shifts. That love still makes the difference."

Karim Aïnouz's Rosebush Pruning is out now in UK and US cinemas, and is landing on MUBI later this month

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"I was standing in a factory in China watching lots of cheap shoes going down a line, and I remember thinking, 'I don't want to be doing this,'" recalls Beth Swade of a pivotal moment in her 15-year career as a shoe designer.

Partly, the epiphany was about waste and over-production in the fashion industry — subjects, she says, that were rarely discussed in the early days of that journey, but became harder to ignore as time went on. But it was also about the changing nature of creative work.

"I studied fashion and did a lot of sewing, and when I first started working we did a lot of hand drawing," Swade says. "But over the years, it became increasingly digital, and maquettes never went down as well as shiny renders. I could feel everything going in a direction that wasn't natural to me."

What did feel natural was making. Swade took a five-day upholstery course, reduced her hours at work, completed a diploma, and eventually left her corporate design job to set up a sustainable upholstery business in North London.

Nearly five years later, she earns less than she once did, and has had to contend with the less romantic logistics of running a business, yet she is happier and less stressed. "Sometimes when I'm sitting here sewing, I can't believe I'm getting paid for this," Swade says.

Swade is not alone in feeling disillusioned with the seemingly inexorable drift of creative work into the digital realm. In a recent Instagram post, former fashion journalist Katherine Ormerod described her own career pivot: retraining in construction skills.

"The creativity and artistry that goes into brick or carpentry is no different from any other handcraft," she wrote. "Whether it's gender or class, prejudice or facilities, there are endless hurdles to get more girls on site. But when it comes to actual work? It is just such good fun."

The post elicited hundreds of responses, many from women, expressing a yearning for a more hands-on way of working — and for the satisfaction that comes from making something tangible.

Daniel Charny, professor of design at Kingston School of Art, isn't surprised. "There are a lot of creative people who are good at problem-solving sitting in front of screens, saying, 'I love making, and I'm not getting to do it,'" he says. "They miss the agency, the activity, the connection between thought and action, the visible progress as you make."

In 2012, Charny founded what began as a micro-volunteering scheme connecting people with a problem-solving mindset to opportunities to fix things locally. It has since evolved into Fixperts, an education program embedded in over 50 higher education institutions across 25 countries.

For Charny, the project emerged from a concern about our rapid disconnection from making. "Many people haven't seen their parents or even grandparents make or repair," he says.

That has consequences. In universities, Charny says, students can design complex forms digitally without knowing how to make them in real life. Teachers, meanwhile, report declining manual abilities among children, including difficulty using scissors and handwriting. "With dexterity levels dropping this way," Charny asks, "what does it mean if someone wants to study to be a surgeon, or even make their own food?"

There are signs that things are changing.

From the right to repair movement — an ongoing global campaign that demands that products be designed for repair and that manufacturers support independent repairers and consumers with spare parts, tools, and diagnostics to extend their life further — to the popularity of pottery classes and YouTube dressmaking and mending tutorials, many people are seeking a more direct relationship with the material world.

In a culture where digitization often flattens aesthetics and dematerializes experiences, using our hands can become a way to express ourselves and take ownership of our surroundings.

At its heart, making is about agency — about taking an active role in shaping your world and therefore caring for yourself, your environment, your home, and the people around you, rather than seeing it all as an interface that sits at arm's length.

Artist Farwa Moledina was motivated by many of these things when renovating her home in Birmingham. "I love color, pattern, and texture, and would have loved a period property, but what we could afford was a new build, which had bare white walls and boxy rooms," she says.

Over the past seven years, she and her husband have undertaken an ambitious DIY project, learning as they went. For Moledina, who grew up in Dubai, and her husband, who grew up in Tanzania, the work was about making a space that felt genuinely theirs.

"My parents and friends always gather here," she says. "It's not a massive house, but having spaces designed thoughtfully to the best of your ability makes a difference."

Her confidence came partly from her existing relationship with handwork. Moledina's art often incorporates textiles, and she grew up in a family of women who crocheted and knitted. That background gave her a willingness to experiment.

"I know that, if something goes wrong — say, with paint or wallpaper — it's almost always fixable," she says.

Some interventions were simple: tile-effect wallpaper used as a kitchen splashback, basic cabinets transformed with paint and brass handles. Others were more involved, including a built-in wardrobe under a sloped ceiling, made by customizing standard units.

When one cut went wrong, she and her husband repaired rather than replaced it — cutting a slice out of the offcut, then gluing, filling, sanding, and painting the area. These are the deeper lessons of such endeavors: a tolerance of mistakes and the patience to try again.

For designer Ana Bridgewater, making her own home was a way of rebuilding after personal upheaval. She started out in graphic design, branding, and coding, and later turned toward ceramics and art, creating lighting, jewelry, and sculptural objects in porcelain, wood, and other materials.

When, following two dramatic events that reshaped her life, Bridgewater bought a house of her own, she embraced its renovation as "a laboratory": a place where both she and her practice could evolve.

The previous owner had stripped out many of its original features — "there was plastic everywhere," the designer says — but Bridgewater saw it as a blank canvas. Rather than handing the project wholesale to a builder, she used her understanding of materials to break the work down, finding specialists for specific tasks and experimenting herself.

"I knew, for example, that once concrete is cured it can be treated in a similar way to porcelain, so I needed someone to pour the raw material and sand it," Bridgewater says.

The house is now a home and studio, as well as a testing ground for her work — she has designed and installed her own lighting features in the space. For her, making is also a form of therapy.

"Working with clay, for example, is instinctive and direct — you put your fingers on it, and straight away you are physically envisioning your interior life and how you feel. It makes you focus and be in the moment, rather than overthinking — or it's never going to work."

There is a risk of romanticizing manual work from a safe distance. Connor Pearce, who is currently completing his architectural training at London- and Liverpool-based practice Turner.Works, understands both sides of the argument.

His father was a carpenter, and from a young age Pearce worked with him during weekends and holidays. He studied carpentry and project management before turning toward architecture after seeing the toll that construction work took on his father's body. "It was evident to me that you can't do this for the rest of your life without a physical downside," Pearce says.

He continued to work on construction sites during university holidays, though, and now values hands-on work as a counterpoint to desk-based architectural practice. "Often I sit at my chair all day and think, 'humans haven't evolved to be like this,'" Pearce says. "When using your hands, you definitely feel like you're using a different part of your brain."

He has found that making skills are an advantage in architecture, and believes they will give him the ability to adapt to a changing world — in which the skills that AI can't replace will be valuable. "My USP is that I can actually build things," Pearce says.

His background in carpentry gives him a greater understanding of joints, connections, materials, and waste, and the ability to research ideas in practice. He eventually wants to develop properties himself, from design to build. Pearce has also been making furniture as an antidote to the slow pace of architecture. "It's validating to see things from conception to reality in a quick timescale," he says.

At the same time, the training architect is wary of the current glamourization of craft. "For many people I grew up with, hands-on jobs felt like the only thing you could earn money from if you didn't have enough education for anything else," Pearce says. Manual work can be satisfying, but it can also damage bodies and expose workers to risks that are often ignored by those who see it as a lifestyle choice.

The point isn't that either type of work is more worthy than the other, but that the way we value them — and therefore the people who do them — has been shaped by deeply rooted social norms and prejudices.

"Making is often seen as not an intellectual activity," says Charny. "But material intelligence, a combination of problem-solving and self-expression, is one of humanity's most precious resources, and it is critical to our future."

While the growth of artificial intelligence represents a shift in how we work, could it also prompt a re-evaluation of the skills that matter and, therefore, the extent to which we respect them?

There are hints that this is happening. Pearce believes manual skills are becoming more valued in architecture, while Swade has noticed that people are increasingly averse to throwing away objects and willing to pay more for repair.

For architecture historian Neal Shasore, this is vital for restoring humanity back into a built environment that has become increasingly synthetic and distant from craft.

"We need a cultural shift that says, 'this is what life is about' — we are connected through space and time to other people, to other places, and that's innate to what it is to be human," he says. "People want to feel that there's meaning in the places that they occupy, particularly their homes."

He is working to establish a new educational institution that connects architecture back to craft — a link that has been hard to sustain because of the comparative cost of employing people over mechanizing processes.

The irony is that what people value most are older buildings that have traces of human intention. "Ultimately we have to shift our conception of value, from the short term — primarily in terms of money and a quick appreciation on capital — to meaningful long-term value," Shasore says.

This is, of course, a bigger cultural shift than any one craftsperson can make. But it's one we all have some power over — even if you don't leave your desk job to take up a craft, you can support others who do make: whether by buying a handmade dining table or commissioning a plasterer for your home.

"We're all part of a supply chain and can create opportunity for makers, even though modest choices," Shasore says. "It may take a bit longer to find, but you'll reap the reward forever."

Keep an eye out for more The Meaning of Home long reads on our lifestyle pages, and don't forget to subscribe to the Livingetc newsletter to stay ahead of the curve with weekly updates on the latest design, retail, and hospitality launches.

If there's one conviction that defines the work and vision of designer, curator, and collector Brigitta Spinocchia Freund, it is the belief that no object is ever just an object, but an unassuming portal into its owner's life. An organically shaped vase bearing the imprint of its maker all over its unruly surface; an imposing, framed photograph of a palatial residence that feels just a little too large for the wall it's hung on, as if striving to imbue the corridor it appears in with that same sense of regal grandeur; a squiggly, carved-wood coffee table that, placed in an otherwise linear, glamorous interior, appears to have fallen into the living room from some place else.

These furniture pieces don't just stand out to the eye for their appearance — what they reveal at first glance — but for the emotional value that's trapped in them; the anecdotes, relationships, and long-standing connections that have made it possible for them to land between those walls. The residential, hospitality, and development projects of the London-based interior designer's namesake multidisciplinary studio are environments that ask questions and demand closer attention rather than providing immediate answers. That's largely what makes them so captivating, and what she suggests you should be aiming for in your own home — to create a space that knows and says more about you than anything or anyone else.

How? By making the right conversations their foundation.

What Are the Interiors You're Most Drawn to?

"I love interiors that have meaning. For me, that comes from filling a home with pieces chosen because they matter to the people who live there.

"It might be an inherited chair that's been reupholstered, a favorite painting bought years ago, or a ceramic discovered on holiday and carefully carried home in a suitcase. These are the pieces that make a home feel individual because they reflect the lives and interests of the people who live there.

"That's also why I've always been drawn to collectible furniture. I'm interested in the thought behind a piece, the skill of the maker, and the care that goes into making it.

"I enjoy bringing those pieces together with older furniture, whether that's a Max McLintock table, Pierre Jeanneret chairs, a 1930s credenza, contemporary ceramics by a London maker, or objects that have already been part of someone's life. Every object contributes something different, and together they create interiors that couldn't belong to anyone else."

How Does Your Studio, Spinocchia Freund, Approach a New Project?

"We always begin by understanding our clients and the pieces that already mean something to them. We talk about how they live, how they entertain, what they collect, and the objects they would never part with. Those conversations shape every decision that follows.

"I think it's an approach that anyone can adopt, whatever their budget. Start with one piece that you'll enjoy living with for years to come. It could be a vintage side table, a handmade ceramic from a local maker, or a painting from a nearby gallery. Once you've chosen something you really love, it becomes much easier to build the room around it."

How Can Getting Into a 'Collecting Mindset' Help People Shape Truly Unique Homes?

"Collectible design is sometimes seen as something that's reserved for galleries or collectors, but I think there's another way of looking at it. Collecting can begin with a single object that catches your eye and continues one piece at a time.

"Supporting independent makers, visiting antiques fairs, or discovering an emerging artist can all become part of that process. Before long, you've created a home that's completely your own.

"This approach informed our work on The Collector's House at Chelsea Barracks. Throughout the house, furniture by emerging makers is positioned alongside pieces by iconic makers, commissioned artworks, and handcrafted objects.

"Each piece was chosen because it contributes something to the overall composition, while also having a strength and identity of its own. The result is a home that feels rich, personal, and full of interest."

What's the Most Rewarding Aspect of This Creative Process?

"One of the things I enjoy most is introducing clients to artists, designers, and makers whose work they would not have discovered otherwise. This can be the beginning of a new and rewarding chapter for us both, as a collection continues to grow long after a project has finished.

"I also love creating collections within a home. It might be a group of vintage mirrors gathered on a wall, a shelf of ceramics collected over many years, or an antique textile cushion.

"These collections can keep growing as new pieces are discovered, allowing a home to change naturally over time. For me, that's what makes an interior feel personal. It's a reflection of the people who live there, and that's something that never goes out of style."

If reading about Spinocchia Freund's person-specific interior curations ignited your curiosity for all things collecting, our guide to how to thrift like a vintage furniture dealer might make a natural read-next.

For an ever more detailed breakdown of what it takes to run an ever-evolving homeware emporium, revisit our Setting Up Shop interview with Spazio Leone's founder, Gennaro Leone, or dive into our recent report on London's hottest new design destinations (spoiler: they look like... homes?).

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There are people for whom summer holidays equate with nothing else than recharging. But if you are anything like us at Livingetc, time off also equates with greater opportunities to capture your sense of style, whether it'd be through an impromptu creative project you decide to pick up while OOO or, more simply, via the travel essentials that follow you around on your vacation.

As I write this, uninterrupted sunshine and sweltering temperatures have been hitting London for weeks on end now. And so, while certainly still key to a smooth, stress-free itinerary, there is a feeling that luggage itself — left in your chosen hotel or apartment rental at check-in to be emptied out and, then, filled up again right before departure — is somewhat losing its relevance. What's gaining momentum, instead, are all of those objects and lifestyle accessories that, rather than merely helping you in the transit to your destination, get to be out in the wild with you as you spend another summer you'll do anything not to forget. Laid out on sand and imbued with salty air, beach towels are one of them.

From print-like compositions carrying the humor, wit, and captivating atmosphere of decades that belong in a celebrated past to stripy numbers that'll make any sun lounger and bathroom rack look simultaneously playful and sophisticated, our beach towels 2026 edit is for daring globetrotters who fear not being seen and admired out in the sun, and for everyone wanting to keep a slice of that sunshine in their home year-round. Discover our picks of the ultimate summer 2026 buy.

In need of more tips? Revisit and browse our editors-led 2025 summer packing list to discover what each Livingetc staff member decided to bring with them on their long-awaited holiday — and what unique buys shaped the look of it.

For an even wider selection, explore our latest travel essentials edit for design-discerning globetrotters.

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Drop all lookbooks, log off Pinterest, and most importantly, stop scrolling: if the color, material, or motif of your kitchen and dining room renovation is all you've desperately been trying to wrap your head around recently, and if, despite all that, you still haven't managed to make up your mind just yet, you're in luck.

You might think our habit of constantly monitoring all the best restaurant openings is all about knowing where to dine out next. But really, the addresses high on our radar come in handy the next time we decide to dare a dining room glow-up, as they are ideal for satisfying our cravings for surprising interiors and mouthwatering plates.

Now that many hospitality addresses begin to resemble the look and feel of a home, we believe it's time to swap your usual interior design catalogue with some on-field research. Selected for their striking floors and the way they reinterpret traditional, vintage, and contemporary aesthetics into one, each of the eateries below is a masterclass in being bold from top to toe.

Mount St. Restaurant. London, UK

First Floor, 41-43 Mount St, London W1K 2RX

There's a reason why Mount St. Restaurant has made the cut in our edit of the best restaurants in London for design connoisseurs, or more than just one. What's certain, though, is that, together with its spectacular painting collection, its mesmerizing, terrazzo-style Palladiana mosaic floor played a role in the final decision. Composed of several types of marble fragments, this architectural element of the establishment is actually a hidden-in-plain-sight work of art itself. The brainchild of American artist Rashid Johnson, Broken Floor is a piece diners can "explore, interact with physically, and stand on", making a truly unusual masterpiece, and a pretty functional one. Upstairs at Mount St. Restaurant, more terrazzo extravaganza awaits, as Verde Api marble brings shine to the floors of the level and its central bar.

At home: terrazzo-marble flooring like this statement Palladiana one is the perfect way to infuse any home with the old-world grandeur of a storied Italian palazzo. Placed underfoot, it allows you to bask in it all day long. Easy to clean, resistant, and cool even in the hottest temperatures, terrazzo is the ultimate trick for homes that resist fleeting trends while seamlessly readapting to today's warmer climate. In one word, timeless.

SIX Coffee+Wine. Almaty, KZ

Bogenbai Batyr Street 117, Almaty 050010, Kazakhstan

Choosing a floor for your kitchen and dining room also allows you to bring a different kind of rhythm, or twist, to your interiors. That's what Kazakh coffee shop, wine bar, and restaurant SIX Coffee+Wine's shell limestone-inspired, tinted terrazzo floor does best with its chessboard aesthetic. All around, minimal furniture in chrome and pale wood, colorful stained glass windows, industrial-style lighting, and creaturesque, velvety soft seating are styled into a cadenced composition of straight and soft lines, to which the floor itself provides an eye-catching base. Inspired by the minerals and materials that characterize Almaty's own architecture, the interiors of SIX Coffee+Wine also show how even flooring can help you bring that outdoor-indoor living feeling into your home scheme.

At home: tinted terrazzo is a pared-back alternative to more extravagant, fully speckled surfaces like that of Mount St. Restaurant, great for kitchens wanting texture without pattern overload. Pair it with natural stone counters or wood for a crafty, grounding look.

Deux Gares Express. Paris, FR

2 Rue des Deux Gares, 75010 Paris, France

I know an iconic Paris hotel when I see one, and boy, is Hôtel Les Deux Gares iconic. Inaugurated last autumn, this proudly maximalist base in the city is sandwiched between Gare du Nord and Gare de l'Est railway stations, ideally located for a pitstop vacation. Inside, you'll find spirited retro café and neo-bistro Deux Gares Express, where alongside the most delicious brioche croque-monsieur, Boulangerie Sain pastries, and Taka & Vermo selected cheeses thrives interior inspiration for the most irreverent among us. Designed, like the rest of the eatery, by British tastemaker and writer Luke Edward Hall, the bold geometric tiled floor of Deux Gares Express is an explosion of color not everyone will necessarily appreciate or seek to recreate in their own space. Still, boasting complementary tones of brown, yellow, and green, this kaleidoscopic look rings immediately country-chic, as if we were somewhere in rural Burgundy rather than in the much more trafficked, grayer Paris. For Hall, the color combo is a timeless, even neutral, one, "a million times warmer and easier on the eye" than those preferred by millennials.

At home: if anything, the designer's whimsical attempt proves patterned tile floors need not rely on traditional colors (black-and-white, navy blue) at all costs. Opt for earthy, saturated color combos styled with organic and wooden furnishings for a home that feels soft, welcoming, and nonchalant, instead of clinical.

Capiche. Surat, IN

1st, Samanvay, Gymkhana Rd, near Chandni Chowk, Piplod, Surat, Gujarat 395007, India

After Yiaga in Melbourne, one of the most impressive restaurant openings of this year so far, Surat's pizzeria Capiche is the second interior I come across in 2026 entirely clad in terracotta bricks. In the case of the latter address, the choice is thematic, its space designed to evoke the structure of a traditional brick oven. For architects Chinmay Laiwala, Jigar Asarawala, and Tarika Asarawala of Neogenesis+Studi0261, the earthy reddish-brown and burned-orange palette "radiates warmth, enveloping guests in a cocoon of rustic sophistication." We couldn't agree more. And you, will you be so bold as to go for a total brick look?

At home: continuous brick flooring is a flooring trend that infuses rustic warmth into open-plan kitchens, and works especially well when paired with extra earthy layers, such as wooden and rattan furniture. Consider it for a sturdy, textural, and truly unusual outdoor patio dining room, or experiment with it indoors for a Mexico City-inspired, tactile look.

Brown's of Leith. Edinburgh, SCT

4-6 Shore, Leith, Edinburgh EH6 6QS

Ever since I came across the sensual industrial interior of Peckham's new bar and nightclub Palais, one of the coolest red-tinted bars in London, I haven't stopped thinking about its paint-drenched, lacquered interiors, matte chrome decor, and overall boldness. Brown's of Leith in Edinburgh, a former 130-year-old engineering works factory turned multi-restaurant food hall and nightlife venue, brings a similar edge to Scotland. The work of studio GRAS, the space captivates with its mix of exposed metal architecture and piping, sleek silver furniture, and soft cream curtains, though really it's the floor that gives the space its immersive ambience. Retained from the warehouse, the original red-stained and raw concrete flooring has been completed with reclaimed sandstone bricks sourced from a quarry. The result is perfectly imperfect.

At home: perfect for loft conversions or kitchens wanting that 'unfinished' warehouse aesthetic, worn, exposed, sealed concrete flooring is a low-maintenance option that pairs well with reclaimed materials and patina, evolving in tandem with the house and those who live inside it.

La Sponda. Positano, IT

Via Cristoforo Colombo, 30, 84017 Positano SA, Italy

Already spotlighted in our recent deep dive into the most beautiful pools in the world, Positano's legendary hotel Le Sirenuse is back on Livingetc for the sea of hand-painted, hand-glazed terracotta floor tiles that make its in-house restaurant, La Sponda, even more magical. Created specifically for the stay by the stay's late style curator, Franco Sersale, and the historic family-run ceramics workshop Fornace De Martino, these crafty design details stand out for their natural pigments — earths and oxides — and subtle reflections, coming to life at night when the restaurant terrace glimmers with lights.

At home: handmade glazed ceramic tiles like the ones of La Sponda are your secret to bringing Mediterranean romance home after your holiday in Il Bel Paese. Their uneven surface and one-off finish, a sign of the artisanal crafting and firing behind them, make them one-of-a-kind. Pick them for a veranda or outdoor dining terrace that captures the beauty of coastal Italy year-round.

Bar di Bello. Los Angeles, US

3300 Sunset Blvd #109-110, Los Angeles, CA 90026, United States

Any avid reader of Livingetc's lifestyle stories will know I am a real sucker for a listening bar. Los Angeles's Bar di Bello captures the enduring charm of 1970s Italian design, the soul-filled ambience of London's coolest sound hangouts, and the electrifying atmosphere of a film set into one. In the dim light of this 22RE-designed address, the marble and stone mosaic flooring could almost pass for checkered carpet, feeding further into its nostalgic vibe. Chocolatey brown and ochre travertine and basalt tiles have been laid to facilitate wayfinding in the space, paired with wood-heavy, walnut furnishings, back-lit surfaces, and sculptural lighting. It's a choice that conveys depth and character to a dining room that would otherwise risk coming across as flat, perfect to root people in place through patterns and warmth. We have a new contender for our list of the best Los Angeles restaurants.

At home: mosaic marble flooring makes for a glamorous, mid-century modern Italian pairing straight out of a Gio Ponti home. The understated, yellowed-like palette of Bar di Bello, specifically, gives it an old-Hollywood look that makes me think of sumptuous dinner parties and exclusive gatherings; a dreamy setting for keen hosts and their social life. Finish it with intentional pops of color in the form of eccentric vintage furniture or artwork for an even more striking result.

There's no stopping restaurant openings, and while every year we attempt to bring you a curated edit of some of our favorite and most recently unveiled culinary establishments, we know no roundup will ever suffice to capture the full range of design inspirations gathered in their dining rooms. Looking out for the five details top restaurateurs judge restaurants on can still give you a fresh start, though.

Here are just a few of the places we have fallen for since our latest list came out:

• First Look — Inside Le Fou, Vienna's New Anti-Trend Cocktail Bar With Big 'Main Character' Energy

• Finally, a Restaurant Terrace in London Serving Design Inspiration Fit for a Heatwave and Beyond — Here's All You Need to Bring Its Instantly Iconic Look Home

• "Like a Rustic Small Town Square You Stumble Upon on Holiday" — How Notting Hill's Romantic Lebanese Restaurant KINZ Mastered the Art of Indoor-Outdoor Dining

Subscribe to the Livingetc newsletter today for all the latest design, lifestyle, and hospitality news in one place, and for the hottest travel trends as they surface, including the rise of 'monastery' hotels.

As two of Europe's keenest collectors, deciding where to hang an artwork has gone from dilemma to everyday job for couple and interior designers Johanna and Friedrich Gräfling. The duo has been acquiring contemporary pieces from as early as their university years, when, to remedy their tight budget, they would collaborate with artists and even exchange creative services. Slowly building their archive from the ground up with an eye toward innovation in conceptual work, installation, sculpture, painting, and video art, they managed to gather enough pieces to launch Schlachthaus, an experimental exhibition space set inside a former slaughterhouse, which opened in the early 2010s.

Unsurprisingly, their eponymous, Frankfurt-based multidisciplinary design studio, Gräfling, has since become known for its refreshing blending of art, architecture, and everyday life inspiration. Versed in the three-dimensional language of plastic arts as they are in the chiaroscuro of the most compelling canvases, the designers bring the same theatrical quality to the residential transformations, historic renovations, and immersive art-led spaces they bring to life. This approach is best distilled by Salon Kennedy, the domestic gallery concept Johanna and Friedrich Gräfling inaugurated in a storied 1904 villa in their home base of Frankfurt, crafted to favor a more intimate, immersive experience rooted in IRL connection and dialogue.

The owners of over 400 original artworks, including masterpieces by prominent names like Alicja Kwade, Michael Sailstorfer, and Grace Weaver, the wedded duo and creative powerhouse knows a thing or two about how to hang art. What's clear from the start when I speak with them, though, is that simply placing artworks on a wall is not enough to ensure your interior feels artful. Instead, what lies around, over, and below your chosen inspirations is just as important — if not more — than the artworks themselves. Carry on reading to find out more.

What's the Biggest Mistake People Make When Decorating a Space With Art?

"There's a common misconception that art belongs at the very end of an interior design project. The walls are painted, the lighting is installed, furniture has been placed — and only then does someone ask what should be hung above the table. We have always approached it the other way around.

"For us, art is rarely the finishing touch. More often, it is the starting point. An artwork can shape the atmosphere of a room long before decisions are made about materials, colors, or furniture. It can influence scale, introduce visual tension, dictate rhythm, and even determine how someone moves through a space. Rather than filling an empty wall, we prefer to let art establish the room's point of view from the outset.

"That doesn't mean designing an interior to match a painting. In fact, we would strongly advise against it. One of the most common mistakes we see is treating an artwork like a color chart — lifting its dominant shades and repeating them in cushions, rugs, and curtains. This often diminishes both the artwork and the room. Instead, we think of art as a compass rather than a blueprint. An interior should respond to a work, not imitate it."

What's the Ideal Relationship Between the Artworks of an Interior and the Interior Itself?

"The strongest relationship between art and interiors doesn't always come from harmony; often, it comes from contrast.

"That response might be inspired by the emotional tone of a painting, the rhythm of its composition, the texture of its surface, or a subtle secondary color rather than its most obvious shade.

"A bold painting can feel even more expressive within a muted interior, while a quiet conceptual work may gain unexpected presence against richly coloured walls or highly tactile materials. Tension can be just as rewarding as perfect visual agreement."

We Often Hear About 'Gallery Walls' — Is That a Good Way to Include Art in a Scheme, or Not?

"Art behaves differently in a home than it does in a gallery. A museum offers the ideal conditions for viewing: uninterrupted walls, controlled lighting, and very little visual competition. A home is something else entirely. Here, art has to coexist with furniture, books, windows, lamps, architectural details, and the constant movement of everyday life.

"We don't see this as a compromise. Quite the opposite, these relationships make art feel more alive. Living with art means encountering it repeatedly — passing it in a hallway, catching sight of it through a doorway, or noticing how it changes with the afternoon light.

"A home should never become a white-cube gallery. Instead, art should help shape the character of everyday life, becoming part of the way a space is experienced rather than simply observed."

How Can One Ensure Art Supports an Interior Scheme, Instead of Crowding It?

"This is where what we call 'white space' becomes so important. Also known as negative space, white space doesn't necessarily mean white walls. It's the visual pause that allows an artwork to breathe.

"It might be an uninterrupted section of pigmented plaster, a low piece of furniture beneath a painting, an unoccupied corner, or simply the decision not to hang another work nearby.

"These moments of restraint are just as carefully designed as the objects themselves. Not every surface needs to be activated, and not every wall has to tell a story. Empty space is never synonymous with an unfinished interior; it creates hierarchy, gives the eye somewhere to rest, and allows individual works to maintain their own atmosphere."

How Do You Decide How — And Where — to Style an Artwork?

"Whenever we place an artwork, we ask ourselves a series of questions: what emotional energy does it carry? Is it quiet, confrontational, melancholic, or playful? Does it need distance or intimacy? Natural light or a darker, more enclosed setting? Should the surrounding interior create harmony or deliberately introduce contrast?

"We also think about movement: what is the first glimpse of the artwork from a doorway or adjoining room, and how does it reveal itself as someone walks through the space?

"These questions have informed many of our projects. At our Frankfurt exhibition space, Salon Kennedy, we deliberately avoided creating a conventional white-cube gallery. Instead, artworks sit alongside furniture, textiles, color, and architectural details in a distinctly domestic setting, allowing visitors to imagine how they might live with art themselves."

What's the One Piece of Advice You Wish Someone Had Shared With You When You First Started Engaging With Art in Interiors?

"For anyone designing their own home, our advice is simple: begin with an artwork you genuinely want to live with, not one that happens to match your existing scheme. Introduce important pieces early in the design process, before all finishes are finalized.

"Think about sightlines throughout the home, not just the frontal view. Most importantly, resist the temptation to fill every empty wall. Leave room for your collection to grow.

"An art-led interior isn't about matching a room to a painting — it's about allowing art to give the room direction."

Shop a Gräfling-Inspired Wall Art Selection

Want to get the inner scoop on Friedrich and Johanna Gräfling's latest Berlin Villa? See how the duo transformed a 120-year-old house into a kaleidoscopic canvas.

In more curatorial news, Brigitta Spinocchia Freund has just joined our pages to share expert advice on building evocative personal interiors.

Need more hot takes? Revisit our conversations with today's burgeoning designers for opinionated explorations of home and living, or become a member today by subscribing to the Livingetc newsletter to read all of our stories before everyone else.

Retail destinations in London (and beyond) are beginning to resemble someone's beautifully curated and lived-in home. As Tom Horne, co-founder of essential menswear fashion label LESTRANGE, puts it in the notes behind the brand's just-unveiled new Soho concept, The Apartment, from greater demands come greater responsibilities, and room to evolve. "Ten years ago, retail was primarily about acquisition," explains Tom, one half of the label, known for its With Less, Do More motto and minimalist-chic seasonless wardrobe.

However, now that brands can go viral without ever opening a physical door, old-style brick-and-mortar stores have one challenge: attracting people by offering "something the internet simply can't replicate". The Apartment stems from that very aspiration. Completed by Tabitha Organ's namesake design studio, Tabitha Isobel, and launched earlier this month, the London concept store is a perfect synthesis between LESTRANGE's environment-conscious vision of fashion and the designer's "grounded, tactile, and instinctively calming" aesthetic, as she herself described it in a recent interview published in Livingetc.

Just like LESTRANGE moves away from the dynamics of fast fashion by releasing capsule lines comprising just a few high-quality designs made to last for a lifetime, Tabitha Organ, too, took the "low intervention" route. Instead of preparing for a full-scale renovation, the studio went on the lookout for striking vintage furniture to layer alongside curated pieces crafted for the occasion, as well as art and printed-matter collectibles. "A well-placed material or a single strong gesture will always feel more intentional than an accumulation of details," she told us a couple of months back.

That single-gesture confidence is what makes the space an instantly iconic design destination in London, as if it had always been part of the spirited geography of 68 Berwick Street. But let's look at The Apartment more closely.

Design Higlights — How The Apartment Welcomes Guests Home

As visitors come in, the first thing they meet is a vintage oak cabinet with glass-fronted doors, styled with books and objects and lit by a faceted hexagonal paper pendant hovering above their heads. Compared to a typical tillpoint, this is a quiet yet meaningful shift that sells passersby an atmosphere and a lifestyle, rather than foregrounding the transactional nature of shopping right away.

Past the cabinet opens a cocooning central seating area anchored by a striped olive-green rug, two vintage mid-century William Plunkett armchairs in deep green leather, and smoked glass nesting tables. These aren't just for ambience: visitors wanting to spend more time at The Apartment, browse for buys, and enjoy the shop at its fullest are encouraged to sit here for a while, discussing options while sipping a cup of coffee with friends or loved ones and, simply, relax.

Perfectly in sync with Organ's earthy, biophilic palettes of browns, greens, and burned reds, the clothing itself becomes an active protagonist in the interior scheme. Hung up mid-air on linear, built-in rails, it reads less like anonymous stock and more like a wardrobe you've stumbled into.

Here, the label's signature Trouser Bar sits against walnut-stained timber paneling reaching picture rail height, while a reimagined French Art Deco dresser — complete with chrome detailing and glass shelving — does double duty as both storage and display for extra sizes and colorways.

Toward the back, a vintage burl wood drinks cabinet has been repurposed into a crafty coffee station, paired with a newspaper rack and a sculptural Ferro wall lamp designed by Organ and crafted by Dom Callaghan — a folded stainless-steel piece that catches the light in what's easily the moodiest corner of the store.

Downstairs, the pace slows further even further: a dedicated wardrobe consultation room and sprawling changing rooms, softly draped in curtain rather than harsh doors, continue the same warm material story — oak flooring, Farrow & Ball's Slipper Satin on the walls, soft curtains from Nordic Knots — down to its quietest, most private moments.

Style Advice — How to Pull Off The Apartment's Look in Your Base

1. Give Furniture a Second Chance

Poetically curated throughout by Organ and the team at Tabitha Isobel, the strongest pieces on display at The Apartment aren't necessarily new, but carry the memories and the emotional and material patina they have gathered in their past lives, from their former owners.

What was once a drinks cabinet finds a new raison d'etre as a coffee station. A dresser is turned into a display case. To do this at home, visit your favorite antique markets or vintage dealers for buys with presence — then turn them on their heads (not literally, of course).

2. Forget Bright and Even Lighting: Go Warm and Low

Skip the shopfront-style overhead strips, spotlights, and skylights. All retail, restaurant, and hotel design experts agree: a single sculptural pendant or wall lamp, particularly those with a tactile surface, does more to set an intimate, welcoming tone than any amount of even, shadowless lighting. Whether applying the rule to your new shop or a corner of your home, you'll be thanking us when the trick entirely revolutionizes the feeling of your rooms.

3. Root in Place Through Sensory Touchpoints

When it comes to designing and furnishing a shop, it is easy to slip into overdoing. The truth, though, is that you'd never want to spend more than a few minutes in a store that feels suffocating and overly bright, let alone call it your home.

Organ knows that well, which is why she lets a single interior accent pull the weight of the flagship at a time. A rug, a stack of books, a thrifted ceramic vase: here, every component feels like a long-cherished piece of decor, aged in tandem with those who own it, or a souvenir from some remote destination.

By giving each element its own place and purpose within The Apartment, Organ reminds us of the beauty that lies in being intentional with the environments we inhabit. Indirectly, she also reminds us that clothing, too, should be something we treasure and choose — a mission statement LESTRANGE has embraced from the very beginning.

Learn more about LESTRANGE.

In more retail news, Jared Wybrow and Raissa van Dijk's London Épicerie are bringing Mediterranean-style shopping to the city.

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The pink-shaded Strawberry Moon, symbol of abundance, union, and harmony, wasn't the only thing to hypnotize Bali's cultural and spiritual capital, Ubud, this June 29. As Moon Gang, a 5-suite luxury stay immersed in its lush rice fields and winding jungles, debuted in the village, it became instantly clear that a new cult destination was born — or so it was for us at Livingetc.

The boutique hotel, designed by Sydney interior design studio YSG, finds its home in a former private holiday residence that had deteriorated over the years. Acquired by Australian multidisciplinary platform Firstbase Studio, it was transformed into a spirited sanctuary rooted in "Indonesia's ancient and modern health, music and spiritual rituals, with a utopian spin," the group shared.

Sleeping up to ten guests, this intimate, airy retreat packs a vinyl-led hi-fi sound experience, complete with a DIY DJ station, and a panoramic outdoor spa into a sojourn that will be hard to forget. Once a bare concrete bunker, Moon Gang is now a contemporary tropical utopia — what would come out if Space Age and Boho design and Japanese modernism had a child. It is also one of the most exciting hotel openings of 2026.

Produced in collaboration with 15 of the country's most innovative artisans and makers with locally sourced, eco-conscious materials, the interiors of Moon Gang read as a letter to the future of interiors, catching a glimpse into what the design world could — and should — become: whimsical, climate- and nature-responsible, and yet, undeniably original. Become part of that transition and let your surroundings indoors with the three decor ideas listed below.

1. Move Over, Chemical Dyes — Embrace Plants as the Secret to Pollution-Free, Textile Extravaganza

It's hard to look at pictures of hotel Moon Gang without being taken by the crisp curtains that, cascading as if in a slow dance from its high ceilings, drape the space almost in its entirety. And so it's no surprise this was also the first detail to have me think of the destination as a masterclass in future-forward interiors.

Commissioned by YSG for Moon Gang, these custom curtains were hand-dyed by the Balinese textile specialists at Pagi Motley, founded by Andika Putra in 2019 with the goal of "increasing people's awareness of the dangerous chemical usage on textiles" and its impact on soil.

To color them, they used natural pigments derived from botanical ingredients like indigo, mango, coconut, and ketapang leaves, applying them by hand directly onto the fabric to obtain watercolor-like abstract impressions ranging from marigold and earthy tones to matcha green, aqua, and deep-sea blue. An artisanal process whose manual essence yields results that are unrepeatable and fully unique.

2. Bring on the Porthole Window — And Let Light and Air Through à la James Turrell

The earth-based limeplaster YSG used to breathe new life into the cement architecture of the mansion that now houses Moon Gang — a structural trick that allowed the studio to restore aesthetically damaged walls while giving it a crafty, adobe-style touch — isn't the only design element of the stay to ensure its interiors stay fresh at all times; so do the Space Age-y organic portholes that, carved into existing structures of the property, create a direct connection between the hotel environments and its tropical outdoors.

Now, blame it on the recently unveiled As Seen Below – The Dome, American artist James Turrell's 100th 'skyspace' artwork, and his most ambitious yet, but I can't help looking at porthole windows as a key component of innovative interiors.

Taking the form of a monumental ceiling porthole positioned in the subterranean expansion beneath the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum in Aarhus, Denmark, and opening up to a cerulean sky-like view, this installation seeks to reveal "that human vision is not like an objective camera: what we see inside arises through the controlled meeting of light, space, and the senses".

The same, of course, is true of what we perceive in a home interior, or, like in this case, inside a hotel, something portholes can contribute to altering, and largely in a positive sense. The uneven, glass-less porthole located on the left outer end of the music-filled Nongkrong Lounge, for instance, reframes the inside of the communal area as nothing but an extension of what lies around it — thriving vegetation, undulating tree trunks, and the green-themed Amang Pool Club.

In the suite named Sun Dust, drenched in dense indigo from wooden walls to curtains and artwork, and boasting a distinctively Japanese-infused look, something similar occurs. Casting shadows on a bamboo-base futon bed, a roof porthole stretches the beamed roof beyond its top, just like Apollodorus of Damascus is believed to have done in envisioning the oculus of the Pantheon in Rome back in 126 AD.

Whether implemented for their surreal effect or due to temperature-related concerns, porthole windows provide structural integrity and prevent cracks by evenly distributing pressure. They maximize natural light in tight spaces, improve ventilation without compromising safety, and even add a striking, space-saving architectural feature sure to attract the attention of your guests. No wonder so many design destinations, from Los Angeles' Melrose Hill district and Madelynn Ringo's NYC wellness design projects to Vietnamese restaurant Lai Rai in Peckham, are going full 'Turrell'.

3. Think Old as New — And Let Yourself Be Surprised by the Past Lives of Materials and Furniture

Perhaps, the greatest lesson Moon Gang's interiors hold is never to look at objects that have been discarded as something void of potential. Many of the boldest furnishings you'll encounter in the hotel were made from recycled materials: from the terrazzo-like speckled surface of the Concierge Desk and the Cosmic Kiosk's POS — bespoke designs realized in collaboration with recycled plastic bottle sheets by Balinese waste-recycling company Weedoo — and the reclaimed timber furniture bringing catching your eye with its odd shapes and uneven silhouettes — custom-designed by YSG and produced by Furnistool Bali — to the BYO Living-manufactured pool loungers, side tables, and bench seats crafted from the Sydney studio's bespoke designs in recycled plastic.

Rather than hiding or minimizing the use of plastic in the organic scheme of Moon Gang, YSG took a different, more daring approach, and addressed its extensive production by reworking it into something else. At the jungle-like Moon Gang's Ambang Pool Club, upcycled plastic is the real protagonist; its heritage-inspired knitted outdoor furniture demonstrates that the best way to reduce the negative impact of design is putting a spin on what's there already.

The benefits of reappropriating these materials aren't purely aesthetic: essentially beautiful and tactile at heart, the shou sugi ban elements integrated in the scheme (timber slabs made rot-, insect-, moisture-, and UV-resistant through surface charring with fire) guarantee natural weatherproofing without chemical treatment. Finally, the bedside Cloud Pendants that adorn suites like the Velvet Mood, dreamed up by YSG and sculpted from dyed banana leaf paper by studio Greenman Banana, are emblematic of how agricultural waste can be reinterpreted as one-off lighting elements that add instant atmosphere and awe.

Completing Moon Gang's transportative interior scheme are soft seating and cushions upholstered in fabrics designed by Raf Simons for Kvadrat, and others bearing the signature of leading Italian textile house Rubelli. Surprise statement touches by other designers, like a sculptural standing lamp by Alexis Dornier, also feed into the stay's colorful triumph.

But really it's the nature-inspired decor that, impressing more with less, takes the prize this time around: could a new era of hospitality design be on the rise? Hard to tell, but if it were, we know Bali would be leading the charge.

Revisit our travel trends 2026 report for more wanderlust-driven stories, or subscribe to our newsletter to have all the best Livingetc articles sent to you click-free.

With dozens of hotel openings announced in London every year, it's easy to miss the hottest new openings. St Clement, though, the first hotel concept in London by Soho House's former CEO and founder, Nick Jones, certainly wasn't one of the debuts to go unobserved. Nestled above the pioneering group's 180 The Strand private members' club, St Clement soft-launched in early June and will be fully operative in autumn. Although a preview was enough for it to catch our eye.

Discreet, elevated, and uncompromisingly irreverent, its Eagle + Hodges-designed scheme leans heavier on a residential feel than the flashy aesthetic typical of short-term holiday stays. That's exactly what makes it one of the best design hotels in London for Livingetc. St Clement is the latest addition to the 180 Quarter, a slowly growing 360-degree lifestyle conglomerate comprising a collection of 140 fully serviced, loft-style private apartments, London-favorite restaurant Toklas, workspace and creative studios, and multifunctional coffee shop, bakery, and deli Corner Shop 180, among others.

Swapping the grand, ceremonial essence of traditional hotels with an inspiredly curated selection of mid-century modern furnishings, striking artworks, and (the odd) timeless touches, the property confirms what we have concluded from our explainer on resort-core: that the time we take off our commitments shouldn't be viewed as fleeting, or with a due date, but as an inspiring reset that continuously inform the way we think of and experience life in our day to day.

Design Notes — Quietly Exclusive, Uncompromisingly Curated

Our desire to retain the feeling of our favorite holidays year-round is what's turning more hotels into sophisticated boltholes whose pared-back look and taste-heavy object and art curation make for longer-term engagement — whether we're looking to get energized or for repose.

That's what the stylistic choices of the design studio's co-founders, Alex Eagle and Sophie Hodges, conceal. Compared to the notoriously bold, layered look private members' club Soho House is known for across the globe, St Clement feels intentionally restrained.

Soft plaster walls, natural stone, brushed steel, oak flooring, stained-glass screens by Brian Clarke, and a kaleidoscope of geometrically cut, handcrafted furnishings, alongside vintage George Nakashima and Jean Royère homeware, bring the address closer to a private residence for the extra-rich than your average London stay.

The interior styling, which purposefully juxtaposes contrasting textures — from velvet to rattan, from wood to marble — and forms — sharp edges contrasted with softer silhouettes — throughout, reads as collected over time rather than imposed-on.

This is also evident in the generously sized (from 450 square feet up) suites of St Clement, complete with luggage-dedicated wardrobe compartments, end-of-bed benches storing yoga mats as well as hand-weights, and the characterful books, sculptures, and accessories resting on their shelves — not too many, nor too few. This is a place crafted to be lived in, not simply to be treated as a base, and God is in the details.

The Holiday Ethos — Fewer Touchpoints, More Unhurried Fun

Many people conceive hotels as a place to check into simply to get elsewhere. St Clement, on the other hand, is a destination in itself, and, as such, comes free of all admin-y steps associated with the hotel experience as we know it — in-person check-in, paid-for minibar snacks, laundry forms.

Similarly to New York's capsule hotel Now Now Noho, St Clement, too, has made the whole stay process paperless and digital-first: pre-arrival WhatsApp direct messaging and online payment links are shared with visitors to make them feel welcome, assisted, and with plenty of time in their hands to do as they please.

It's a model that can sound impersonal at first, but really strives to be the opposite: returning guests will be monitored in an 'orange book' and rewarded with preferential rates, while Jones also argued that reciprocal respect, kindness, and an appreciation for St Clement's model — not money or visibility — are the values he expects from his ideal clientele.

What Else Is In for You — Fine Dining, Wellness, and Uninterrupted River Views

You know a hotel restaurant is truly good when people head there even without sleeping at the same address — or head out to it on purpose from elsewhere. That's exactly what Jones hopes the newly launched Café Clement, the property's all-day French-Italian brasserie from chef Danny Bohan, will be for the British capital: one of its best restaurants.

Bobbi's Bar, the in-house speakeasy-style late-night venue, injects rhythm into every sojourn with vinyl DJ sessions running until (yes!) 3AM. Set to land in time for the real opening of St Clement in September, rooftop restaurant Lunette will see Sessions Arts Club alumna Florence Knight at the helm, promising mouthwatering food served against a jaw-dropping backdrop. Also incoming is the stay's three-floor health club and spa, a wellness incubator bringing together a 25-meter pool, hammam, banya, sauna, steam and treatment rooms, and ice baths.

Every St Clement resident will also be granted access to Soho House membership, a perk ideal for those looking to establish deeper connections in the city — and beyond. Because, as well as feeling reinvigorated, contemporary travel is all about chasing moments that matter, and savoring memories as they unfold. That, not hotspot ticking, is what St Clement is really for.

Book your stay at St Clement.

With its expansive spaces and quietly luxurious interiors, St Clement proves there is no need for excess to make a lasting impression.

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For some unknown reason, it seems much easier for restaurants with outdoor seating in London (and beyond) to slip into pastiche — garish fake flower arrangements and plants, cheap or démodé furniture, kitsch branded cocktail banners that wipe away the most remote sense of atmosphere. Luckily, though, there are exceptions to the rule that show al fresco dining doesn't renounce style, like owner Nick House and executive chef Theo Hill's Tower House.

The eatery, inaugurated in November 2025, revives the premises of a former mid-19th-century riverside home sandwiched between Richmond and Twickenham Bridge, and boasts a sprawling, elevated garden from which to savor its "spontaneous, generous, and full of joyful flavor" menu while soaking in the Thames golden hour. But that's not all.

Compared to most restaurants with outdoor seating in London, Tower House retains a consistently sophisticated aesthetic inside and out. Upon entering, visitors are greeted by a vaguely Asian-infused, golden-hued bar enriched with intricate floral wallpaper, velvety stools, and sheeny brass touches. With an antique Rosso Levanto marble fireplace as its beating heart, the eatery oozes a sense of undisturbed calm, and anchors people in place through a range of sensory accents, from wall-to-ceiling glazed tiling to patchwork flooring and sleek cabinetry.

Downstairs at Tower House, where the mood is defined by the live flame of the open-plan kitchen counter, the energy shifts from glamorous to eccentric-chic modern heritage: old-style wrought iron chandeliers complete with chunky candles hover above diners' heads. Together with the William Morris-like floral carpet and the flared-leg marble tables styled alongside sculptural upholstered stools in a lounging nook of the dining room, the unsuspected lighting fixture makes this past-present theme even more evident.

But back to Tower House's true piece of resistance: the restaurant terrace. Seating up to 100 guests and tucked behind a balcony door on this lower level, this is the ultimate spot to sip your drinks out in the sunshine. Lush palm trees, softly glowing lanterns, and considered outdoor furniture turn the patio into a vibrant oasis I have rarely seen before in the capital (if not at cult eatery Petersham Nurseries). You'll find winding grape vines spreading like paint on an abstract canvas on textured pergolas, gently illuminated Punica trees, and seasonal blooms to complete the scheme with a pop of color.

Designed for typical British weather, the terrace at Tower House is protected by a see-through glass roof, which opens up to make room for blue skies whenever the forecast predicts some sunshine. A timeless detail, black wax stamps seal the menus every day, turning the discovery of Hill's delicacies into a hands-on performance. They've thought about everything, haven't they?

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Speaking of restaurants, are you sure to have all of the best restaurant openings of 2026 so far on your radar? If not, you're still in time to up your reservation game: just make note of your favorite dining rooms for serial interior enthusiasts, starting with our top eateries for floor inspiration. We promise you won't regret it.

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Forget minimalist listening bars designed to bear no sign of decor other than their color-drenched neutral walls: in romantic Vienna's First District, a new moody cocktail bar is challenging the stripped-back look of Europe's coolest nightlife spots through plush patterned fabrics, shimmering lighting, and a rabbit-hole-like journey through intentionally contrasting textures, rich materials, and colors.

An experiential manifestation of the saying "more is more", Le Fou brings back old-school glamour and grandeur, recasting it for the style-discerning bon vivant and keeping shabbiness in check. Ask us, and we'll confirm: we're obsessed. Opened last December, Le Fou unfolds as a series of four interconnected rooms anchored by a central stone bar and located in one of Vienna's most charming neighborhoods, and is the work of London-based Austrian designer Theresa Obermoser.

She imagined the sprawling cocktail destination for owner Alexander Schrack in less than 12 months, having first received a call from the entrepreneur while she was still in the hospital recovering from giving birth in January last year. As Obermoser took to Freisingergasse 4, the location was born again, too — not by sticking to dominant trends, but by setting an aesthetic of its own.

Move Over, Trends: Le Fou Is Here, and It's Not Afraid to Experiment

Obermoser intentionally kept away from the biggest interior design trends to foreground a layered look where each element of the scheme "have presence while forming a cohesive whole". The same principle also applies to the venue itself: "Alexander wanted every room to tell its own story, almost as though each had its own main character," she says. "My job was to translate those characters into design."

Heavy with drama, the result is part Paris at nighttime, part London private members' club, with densely draped curtains revealing each ambience "one by one, rather than a single monolithic room".

"The decision to give every room its own personality — its own wallcovering and palette — and let the bar do the work of connecting them expresses our belief that interiors should be experiential and emotionally distinct, not uniform," adds the designer.

Again, this goes against the airy schemes we have seen trending over the past few years, where walls were knocked down, and spatial divisions vanished to embrace continuous home environments, an outdated living room layout trend that's now being reversed by using separation to create a sense of intimacy, comfort, and surprise.

Each Room, Its Look: Behind Le Fou's Environment-Specific, Progressive Scheme

Across Le Fou, curated art is replaced with bespoke wallcoverings, and abstract motifs set the mood for every individual space. To put it in Obermoser's words, here, "the architecture itself is the canvas", and each of the four rooms boasts its own standalone color story.

In the Main Room, alive with the same rusty tones of London's premium jazz club Upstairs at Ronnie's, and wrapped in striking moiré wallpaper by Arte, guests are welcomed in the most sensational of ways — staggering Murano glass chandeliers, velvet red banquettes, and an aura of spectacle.

A jewel-like atmosphere awaits inside the Blue Lounge, where an Arabian-blue palette is balanced off by glossy and matte brass, and with textured wallpaper and romantic drapery by Beata Heuman.

Even more opulent and eccentric is the Golden Lounge, possibly the most daring and 'transitional' of all four rooms — an irreverent mix of heritage and contemporary influences distilled across cocooning olive green seating, Art Deco lighting, navy accents, and lacquered surfaces, with Lizzo's peacock-pattern fabric and theatrical curtains bringing it all together.

Last but not least comes the Leopard Room, the most exclusive space in the house, serving as Le Fou's coveted retreat. Its floor-to-ceiling (and walls) Pierre Frey leopard print, fluted glass ceiling lamps, and punk stone tables aren't for the faint-hearted, but even then, "they're the most photographed corner in the whole bar," reveals Obermoser.

The Balancing Act: Lean Into a Sense of Bravery

The list of manufacturers that contributed to the project is almost as eclectic and varied as Le Fou's kaleidoscopic atmosphere, from textile pioneers Dedar and Ege Carpets to bespoke furniture makers Leta and Topos Workshop, curtain and cushion artisans Raumgestaltung Thomas Albrecht GmbH & Co KG, and bespoke joinery and built-in seating by Landeka Massmöbel GmbH, among others.

"Coordinating Austrian craftspeople with international fabric and wallpaper houses on a one-year program was the real test," Obermoser confesses. Without them, Le Fou wouldn't have turned out the vibrant mosaic of interior inspiration it is today. Recently featured in the prestigious Prix Versailles World's Most Beautiful Restaurants list, this riveting spot is a reminder that, unlike bravery, trends alone won't get you far.

Book your table at Le Fou.

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Feel as though you need more guidance? Read about how textile artist Mia Sylvia embraces fabric to capture the emotional essence of her surroundings, or browse our curated shopping buys for an extra decor spark.

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As someone who is almost begrudgingly type-A, the key time of year this trait comes in especially handy is summer. To be more specific, summer holidays. It results in being the friend who has that extra thing you forgot, rolls into airports unnervingly calm, and returns home with a suitcase with laundry items sorted and ready.

And this year's suitcase organization trends take these travel tricks to a new level. From the way you fold your clothes for travel to how efficiently you can unpack within your hotel and back at home, it contributes to a seamless holiday experience.

Think vertical packing, sorting by outfit, using packing cubes, having a dedicated bathroom bag, organizing with laundry in mind, and choosing luggage that stays neat. So, if you're planning your next holiday, here's what the experts recommend.

1. Vertical Packing

"When you fold all your clothes using the KonMari folding technique, you can pack your clothes upright, rather than in piles," says professional organizer Hester van Hien. "Now you can see everything you've packed, avoiding the need to rummage around to find the items hiding at the bottom of your suitcase."

She tells me this is also called file-style packing, as you’re ‘filing’ your clothes in a similar way to how papers are stored in a filing cabinet. "If you don’t already store your clothes vertically, I would also recommend changing the way you organize your wardrobe at home," she adds.

Whether you're packing for a short trip in something like this Small Weekend Colour-Block Cotton-Canvas Tote Bag from HAY or you're planning a long getaway with luggage like this Mykonos 4 Wheel Hard Shell Medium Suitcase from M&S, vertical packing is the trick to steal.

2. Packing Cubes for Everything

If you're travelling without packing cubes to organize your luggage, you're doing it wrong. And Hester explains that this trend is at its most alive in 2026. It's a clever way to sort your clothes, but she tells me these organisers are also being used to categorize the rest of your on-the-move necessities.

"Consider storing electrical items, like chargers and travel adapters, medication, and even your out-of-office entertainment, like books, magazines, and pocket games, in packing cubes," she suggests.

"And this trend is an extension of rule four of the KonMari method — to tidy by category. Except, you're now taking this trick beyond your home and influencing how you travel."

I love this Charcoal Set of 3 Packing Cubes from M&S if you're a minimalist. Or, you can try these Compression Woven Packing Cubes from THULE.

3. Sorting by Outfit

The way you pack might seem like just a task of the moment, to get your clothes from inside your closet to the shelves of a resort's wardrobe. However, the way you pack can truly change the way you unpack your suitcase in a hotel. And the trend of packing by outfit proves just that.

"Tidy travellers are no longer packing by clothing type," says Stephanie Dinnie, director of operations at Packmate. "They're now packing by occasion, too. Think one cube for your airport look, one for date night, and one for your beach stylings."

This genius trend of using packing cubes as wardrobe capsules will save you so much time. And it'll help you style the outfits you thoughtfully planned, rather than forgetting what goes and where a missing piece of apparel is at the last minute. Which is why I've got my eyes on this Striped Packing Cubes Set from Oliver Bonas.

4. Quality Wash Bags

While toiletry bags are not necessarily a new concept by any means, the importance given to them has only grown. Whether that's in part to advancing AM and PM skincare routines or luxury brands elevating the way these accessories look, it's a new trend to take inspiration from.

Not to mention, it plays an important role in organizing your suitcase. "Toiletries are being packed like a tiny bathroom, not tossed in as an afterthought. Clear pouches or hanging wash bags mean fewer leaks and less counter clutter," says Stephanie.

"And no frantic digging through socks to find your cleanser when you are already late for dinner. You also don't have to listen to your lotions and potions rattling around when wheeling your suitcase!"

If you prefer a toiletry case you can hang in your hotel bathroom, the Essential Hanging Wash Bag in Stone from Antler. Or, if you like to keep your wash bag right by the vanity, this 5 Pack Large Utility Bag Set from M&S offers organization by type of product.

5. Considering Laundry

"The humble laundry bag is finally getting the respect it deserves. Keeping worn clothes away from clean ones makes the whole trip feel calmer, and it stops the journey home from becoming one big suitcase of things to wash," says Stephanie.

Using a shopping bag to sort your laundry from your clean clothes no longer makes the cut. Instead, the trick is to carry a dedicated laundry bag that keeps the rest of your apparel from losing its freshness.

This Ruffle Laundry Bag from Not Another Bill is a cute way to bring this organization trend into your home. Or you can opt for something simpler like this Laundry Bag in Green from Antler.

6. Luggage that Links