WALLFLOWERS
Why hang a single piece of art on your wall when you can cover the entire room with it? The Lancashire-based brother and sister duo behind 1838 Wallcoverings recently launched their second collaboration with the V&A, taking inspiration from the museum’s archive of patterns to create a range of bright and bold wallpapers. The collection includes a stunning silk pattern from the museum’s treasured Leman Album from 1700s London, an intricate Indian mural from the same era, and a wonderfully kitsch reproduction of an original wallpaper pattern from 1920s England. The V&A Decorative Papers II range is priced from £84 a roll.
1838wallcoverings.com
PERFECT PAIR
Once you see it, you can’t unsee it: Tom of Finland and Beryl Cook — a pair of iconic artists born in the 1920s and rising to prominence in the 1970s — are two sides of the same ribald coin. (And if they’d designed cash, perhaps it wouldn’t be dying out!) Now, a new exhibition at Clapham’s Studio Voltaire gallery highlights the undeniable similarities between these two iconic artists. Tom, of course, is remembered as the OG thirst-trap master for his fantastical and comically virile takes on working-class masculinity. Cook, meanwhile, made waves for her similarly exaggerated and equally fabulous responses to the female form, most memorably in her recreations of the raucous hen parties she witnessed in Plymouth. Both Cook and Tom subverted gender tropes in knowing but loving ways that were ahead of their time. Think of it as the dream collab that never was.
Beryl Cook/Tom of Finland is on from 15 May–25 August
BOW WOW
The Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London, has launched a dog-friendly Pawfect Stay package. In the room, guests will find a stuffed toy bone and stylish pooch bag by British luxury brand Teddy Maximus for their pampered pup. Dog bowls and a dog bed are provided exclusively for in-room use, though Attitude’s resident sassy Pomeranian-chihuahua, Freddie (pictured), chose to sleep in the big bed with his dads. There is also a doggie newsletter curated by the hotel’s concierge with an illustrated map showing some of the local dog-friendly restaurants and shops. The stay includes breakfast for two overlooking Hyde Park. During the weekend, The Audrey, the hotel’s Japanese izakaya restaurant, is dog-friendly and has its own menu for your canine.
