City Notes
Can we just get something straight? Creative spaces in disused, barely converted industrial spaces are still cool. OK? Sure, there'll be a handful of sanctimonious hipsters offering up some kind of inverted snobbery about having outgrown warehouses,...
City Notes
Following on from last year's debut 'project' - Papaya Playa a temporary beach hotel in Tulum, Mexico - German hotel curation giants Design Hotels™ have just unveiled their second foray into the physical world of hospitality. Bringing their two...
City Notes
Taking Warhol's 'tinned food as art' obsession to the nth degree, Studio Opa's design for Israeli pizzeria Shumis has turned entire walls into fascinating works of art. There's fabulously gaudy neon too, reminding me a little of Tracy Emin's neon...
City Notes
Effortless is a word I use a lot, effortlessly this, effortlessly that; but it's a word that's hard not to use here. I imagine that there's very little effortless whatsoever about newly opened Islington design store Folklore, yet it's a word that's...
City Notes
It doesn't seem it, but it's over half a year since we introduced MEATliquor, the first permanent home for Yianni Papoutsis’ MEATwagon (the burger van that had been causing quite a stir all summer), seems all went well; as the same team are back...
City Notes
Presented by footwear brand CLAE, Our Favourite Shop (OFS) is a shiny new concept store; packed with the typical concept store malarkey... super-hip books, super-limited editions, super-cool accessories, collabs and entertainment. Sure, nothing new...
City Notes
Let me tell you, having lived in the region for 3 years, I can sum up the design of luxury Asian hotels in two words. Cream. Marble. It doesn't matter which hotel superpower owns it, Hilton, Hyatt, the result is the same. Comfortable? Yes. Well...
The Edit
The windswept seaside resort of Blackpool wears many hats. The Kiss Me Quick variety of saucy postcards. Cowboy Stetsons of the hen party gaggle. Granddad's knotted hanky as he sits cooking in his deckchair. The cheap foreign package holiday has...
City Notes
I get asked all the time, "I'm going to X, know any good X there?". People assume (quite rightly) that, as the founder of these fair pages, that I should know a little about design-led hotspots; and, quite frankly, it'd be a concern if I didn't. So,...
City Notes
A beach shack in Manhattan? Whaaaa? That's right, you heard me. Miss Lily's is just what you never realised you wanted, until someone did it. A laid-back Jamaican-themed diner smack dab in the middle of a city famous for serving up everything with a...
City Notes
Camper do nice stores. Really nice stores. Thing is, they're usually big, bold and playful (take the Rotterdam and Tokyo stores we've previously featured), which makes Japanese designers Nendo an unusual choice. Famed for their minimalism, they can...
City Notes
OK, where shall we start? I'll tell you what, to get the ball rolling, scroll down, have a look at the pictures, then come back. Look like we've cobbled together a series of images with little or no connection? Perhaps. Look like we've lost our...
City Notes
Bringing understated Scandinavian elegance to the edge of Warsaw’s historic Old Town, PURO Warszawa Stare Miasto is the latest addition to the design-led hotel group’s growing Polish portfolio, and possibly their most considered space...
City Notes
In Milan’s ever-evolving Isola district, MOGO has arrived on the scene, offering a destination where music, mixology, and modern Japanese cuisine come together in a high-design setting that will have aesthetics addicts frothing at the mouth. A...
City Notes
Opening its doors in February 2025, Ned’s Club Washington, DC marks the second collaboration between Soho House’s luxury brand and the design and architecture experts at Stonehill Taylor. Set across the 9th to 12th floors of two historic...
City Notes
After a century spent as apartment residences, and following a meticulous two-year transformation, Hotel Granada reopened its Spanish Colonial archways to guests in August 2024. Located at 1302 West Peachtree Street NW, this 120-room property now...
Dispatches
In a country where club floors open with Buddhist chants and Ladyboys offer dawn alms in corsets and stilettos, Elizabeth Waterman has found a world of contradictions too vivid to ignore. Over the past three years, and across four extended trips,...
Dispatches
Hard water. It's one of those household nuisances everyone talks about, but what exactly is it, and why is it such a big deal? Essentially, hard water is water that contains high levels of dissolved minerals, primarily calcium and magnesium. These...
Dispatches
For those designing the future, few accolades carry the weight of the A’ Design Award & Competition. With the submission period for the 2025—2026 edition well under way, this international juried competition calls on designers, innovators and...
Dispatches
Running a business in Frisco means keeping your property clean and inviting, which includes tackling the risk of pests before they can cause problems. Frisco businesses stay bug‑free by partnering with local experts in Frisco pest control,...