Reclaim the seats: A new breed of designers is transforming scrap into desirable home furnishings

Thursday, 15 May 2008

Beauty and the beach: At home with designer Barbara Hulanicki

Wednesday, 14 May 2008

I first came to Miami in the Sixties with my husband, Fitz. We used to come here for short breaks to capture the amazing Florida sunlight and the relaxed vibe. That's when we could get a direct flight. In those days, it was hard: you often had to take about three connecting flights.

Design: A breath of fresh air

Wednesday, 14 May 2008

Has the Conran era come to an end?

Monday, 12 May 2008

The name of Sir Terence Conran is so evocative of smart restaurants and stylish shops selling modernist goods to discerning customers that it seems odd that his long, fabulous career – now apparently coming to an end – began in the years of austerity and ration books.

Jean-Christophe Novelli: How I rebuilt everything

Wednesday, 7 May 2008

When I purchased Crouchmore Farm in late 2000 I was still recovering from losing everything. I didn't have a penny left. This place was the stepping stone for me to start again.

Occidental tourist: Katie de Tilly has filled her home with a priceless collection of Asian art

Sunday, 4 May 2008

It was the location that sold this house to me. The original building was little more than a granite shell but it was set high in the mountains in the countryside near Sai Kung, in the east of Hong Kong's New Territories, and was completely secluded. It's only a half-hour drive to central Hong Kong, but a world away from the crowds.

Peter York: The way we live now

Saturday, 3 May 2008

Are you 100 per cent flexible? It's the sign of a modern person, flexibility. Business books and life-science guides are tremendously keen on it. It's all about surviving those 21st-century challenges. New Labour was v v flexible to start with and more than a little eclectic; another double-plus good word. Is your cranium open to the four winds, as receptive to Kabbalah as to Catholicism? How about your house? Can it demount and reassemble overnight like something in a computer-tricks commercial? One minute it's a sitting room, next it's a kitchen.

Comedian Ben Miller: Somerset, here I come

Wednesday, 30 April 2008

This part of Islington wasn't always the most salubrious of areas. I was born in Stoke Newington, just up the road from my current residence in Highbury, and back then it was actually rather grim. Our local walking spot, Clissold Park, was lovingly known as Dog Shit Park. Now, it's like celebrity central. Our near neighbours include Jonny Lee Miller, Clive Anderson and Jimmy Carr.

Design: The burning issue

Wednesday, 30 April 2008

Summertime and the living is, well, still a bit chilly, frankly. You've dug the garden furniture out from the shed and risked the odd drink outside, if not yet a barbecue. But the evenings still have a nip in the air, and after the washout that was last summer, it might be time to consider some form of outdoor heating.

Scatter brains: Wherever boutique owner Anna Park lays her cushions, that's her home

Sunday, 27 April 2008

I hated this house when I first came to see it. The agent kept asking me to view it and I kept telling him to stop calling me, as I didn't want to live in Camden [in north London], but eventually I relented and came to have a look. It's had some interesting past occupiers – the jazz musician George Melly used to live here, and so did the director Stephen Frears.