from the editor
From politicians shouting at each other from opposing sides of the House of Commons (does anyone find this as embarrassing as I do?) to people of all ages blaring their Insta-stories and TikToks across buses and train carriages everywhere (earphones people, earphones) and the ‘laaads’ driving souped-up, mediocre cars that make war-zone-level explosions as they rev around the 20mph-limited streets of east London… I know I sound like my usual grumpy self but, seriously, I’m just craving a bit of quiet.
In the home, too, there is kudos in calm. As you know, I’m a big fan of colour and texture (you can see from my monthly obsessions, right?), but everything needs to be tempered; light should be offset by dark, colour contrasted with neutrality, shiny set against matte.
During this year’s London Design Festival in September, I had the good fortune to host a discussion with John Pawson, perhaps the UK’s pre-eminent architectural designer and a proponent of all things pared-back. Refuting the ‘minimalist’ label, he prefers the term ‘essentialist’, streamlining all his work – whether a huge museum or the design of a fork – down to its simplest, purest iteration. It’s an approach I wholeheartedly admire.
The world of luxury is also coming into line with this philosophy. Once the preserve of garish bling, clamorous branding and – some would argue – style over substance, the landscape is now one where we find the likes of Hermès, Brunello Cucinelli and Loro Piana excelling at a sophisticated and stealthy approach to high-end design. Focusing on the finest materials and timeless shapes and proportions to woo the elite, these brands definitively prove that less is more.
While compiling the issue, we have kept this way of thinking very much at the forefront of our minds, from a decorating moodboard exuding a potent take on neutrality to a focus on luxury makers who shun the limelight to concentrate on their craft and a global selection of homes where understatement reigns. More than once, we examine the allure of blue, that m
