How to spend it in December
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
BUY
Saltburn-inspired T-shirts in aid of War Child
“It’s hotter than Barbados,” declares James Catton, played by Richard E Grant, as he strolls across the sun-crisped lawn in Saltburn. That expression, along with seven others from the film (“bootlicker”, “cold blooded”, “terrible person”), has now been immortalised on a T-shirt, with each saying printed in a different Microsoft Word licence-free font, in tribute to the aesthetic world of 2006, when the film takes place. The tees are the brainchild of actress Carey Mulligan and the film’s director Emerald Fennell, and were designed in a bid to raise funds for the charity War Child. 100 per cent of profits will support the work they do to protect, educate and stand up for the rights of children living through conflict. Baya Simons
SUBSCRIBE
A supply of books for espionage afficionados
Heywood Hill books subscription
Price: £295 a year
Click: heywoodhill.com
It was Heywood Hill’s proximity to MI5’s former headquarters on Curzon Street, Mayfair, that made it the favoured bookshop of the intelligence community. Its reputation was solidified when John Le Carré sent George Smiley off to browse its shelves in his 1974 novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The shop is now cashing in on its espionage expertise by launching a spy book subscription service. Six times a year, subscribers will receive a carefully wrapped package containing two books: one classic novel of the genre in paperback and a new publication in hardback, by authors such as Ben Macintyre or Claire Hubbard-Hall. BS
SHOP
Supermodel-approved partywear
Zara x Kate Moss partywear collection
From her insouciantly cool Glastonbury ensembles to that infamous sheer metallic slip dress, Kate Moss’s style has made an indelible mark on fashion. Now she is bringing her style nous to a collaboration with retailer Zara. The exclusive partywear collection, which has been designed with her close friend and collaborator Katy England, spans sparkly slip dresses, ankle-skimming evening coats, leopard print hotpants and skinny scarves, infused with the supermodel’s haute-grunge sensibility. “I wanted to create the perfect party capsule,” says Moss. “Pieces that feel effortlessly chic but with an edge.” Sara Semic
BUY
A book of magazine collages by artist and creative director Mat Maitland
Click: antennebooks.com
Price: €40
It was working on a découpage design for the cover of a Goldfrapp album that rekindled creative director and visual artist Mat Maitland’s interest in collaging. It became an “outlet” from his day job and, when word spread, he began to receive commissions for his surreal, fashion-oriented works. These have now been brought together for the first time in his new artbook, Collages For Magazines. Across Maitland’s works, headless bodies and disembodied heads are layered with plants, pillars and metallic lustres. For HTSI, he has created a custom artwork inspired by the holiday season featuring, among other things, a dove, a camel, a glacier in the shape of an arch, and the gilded wing of an angel. By bringing together incongruous objects through what he calls the “democracy” of collage, he conjures a “spiritual, otherworldly” scene. Rachel Rees
EAT
Wine-focused dinners at a buzzy bistro in Istanbul
Ritmo Wine Dinner series
Opened in 2022 in a converted 1960s villa in the Etiler neighbourhood of Istanbul, Arkestra has quickly become a hotspot, known for its blend of French-Japanese cooking and its bar, which is overseen by its co-founder, a former NTS radio DJ. In December it launches its first Wine Dinner series at its low-key bistro Ritmo at the same address, showcasing wines from different winemakers or guest sommeliers alongside specially designed menus. The first event will be focused on wines from Kuzubağ Winery, located in the Denizli region of Turkey, perched high above the Aegean coast. BS
SEE
Alexander Calder and Anne Imhof sculptures in Amsterdam
Stedelijk Museum Don Quixote Sculpture Hall
Where: Museumplein 10, 1071 DJ Amsterdam
Click: stedelijk.nl
Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum for modern and contemporary art and design received a slick white extension in 2012, making room for a restaurant and library but supplanting the historic sculpture garden. In its place now comes the newly opened Don Quixote Sculpture Hall, which fills the glass-fronted wing (dubbed the “bathtub”) with works by Alexander Calder, Anne Imhof and more. Marion Willingham
SHOP
Festive felt decorations at Diptyque
Lucy Sparrow x Diptyque Festive Felt Delicatessen
Where: Maison Diptyque, 107 New Bond Street, W1S 1ED London
When: until 7 January
Click: diptyqueparis.com
Felt artist Lucy Sparrow has collaborated with Diptyque on a “Festive Felt Delicatessen” this Christmas. The shop, which sits in the flagship store on New Bond Street, will house more than 2,000 felt creations that Sparrow made specially for the space. Each one is a unique piece of art available to purchase, from Christmas tree decorations to larger objects such as panettones, Christmas puddings, extra-large Diptyque candles, Christmas turkeys and bottles of champagne – all handmade in felt. Shelley Rubenstein
SEE
Jamie Hawkesworth’s lyrical photographs of life on a Kashmiri lake go on sale for charity
Project Water
Where: Program/me, 6 bis rue des Récollets, 75010 Paris
When: 15 to 31 December
Price: from £555
Click thecycle.world
Photographer Jamie Hawkesworth is known for his tender documentary portraiture taken around the British Isles, and the naturalistic fashion campaigns he’s shot for Loewe and Chanel. These particular photographs, however, were taken on a trip to Kashmir in 2015, where he came across the vast expanse of Lake Dal, just north of Srinagar. “It was gigantic. There was so much going on there,” he says. “People live on the lake, so you just have an extraordinary sort of ecosystem.” Rowing around its shores, he saw two boys swimming, jumping in the water, collecting rubbish and “just having a laugh… It just seemed like a very honest, genuine moment.” His photographs of the pair splashing around are now going on show at Paris’s Program/me gallery and will be up for sale, with all proceeds going to fund work by The Cycle, who work to provide water, sanitation and hygiene services for communities around the world. BS
BUY
Dinnerware inspired by the lavender fields of southern France
Tiffany & Co Comtesse de Grignan tableware
Price: from £125
Click: tiffany.co.uk
Deck your halls – and your tables. Tiffany & Co has reprised its “Comtesse de Grignan” pattern from 1961, which was named for the lavender fields in the Grignan commune of south-eastern France, in a new dinnerware set designed by artistic director Lauren Santo Domingo. IC
BUY
Alasdair McLellan’s photographic tribute to Scotland
Fashion Eye Scotland by Alasdair McLellan
Price: £46
Click: louisvuitton.com
In Scotland, the newest addition to Louis Vuitton’s Fashion Eye photobook series, photographer Alasdair McLellan shares photographs of his ancestral homeland. The nation he depicts places tartan traditions amid vibrant diversity, and rugged mountains alongside lofty industrial towers. RR
SHOP
Loro Piana takes over Harrods
When: until 2 January 2025
Where: 87-135 Brompton Road, London SW1X
How to make London’s most luxurious shopping destination even more deluxe? Wrap it in cashmere. This Christmas, Italian brand Loro Piana has taken over Harrods in Knightsbridge with 36 window displays featuring Merino sheep and fluffy cashmere clouds. Inside, the pop-up is stocked with limited-edition accessories, the home range and a cashmere atelier, where visitors can create their own textile baubles or swing by the monogramming desk for some last minute gift personalisation. IC
MAKE
Pierogis at one of east London’s best bakeries
When: 18 December
Price: £75, including dinner and an alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink
Click: e5bakehouse.com
This winter, cult London bakery E5 Bakehouse is adding to its workshop offering with a select number of classes dedicated to Pierogi, the Polish dumplings. Students will learn how to mix the dough using freshly milled grain flour, fill and shape dumplings and prepare Surówkam, a traditional red cabbage salad, to be eaten with their dumplings at the end of the class. IC
BUY
A photography book exploring the world of amateur astronomy
Route de la Belle Étoile by Daniel Stephen Homer
Price: £40
Click: gostbooks.com
One of Daniel Stephen Homer’s only memories of his grandfather is the way he “would hoist me atop his shoulders, point upwards and name the constellations”. So, when the Midlands-born photographer read an article about an amateur astronomer in 2018, it caught his attention. He soon went down a “gargantuan rabbit hole” investigating stargazing enthusiasts who are aiding scientific research through their study of the heavens. This community is the focus of Homer’s new – and first – photobook, which spans amateurs working in Hampshire fields, on rooftops in India, mining towns in Australia and the rural Route de la Belle Étoile (Route of the Beautiful Star), which gives the book its title. RR
SEE
Paintings exploring the funny side of dinner parties
Where: Teresa Tarmey, 206-208 Kensington Park Road, London
When: 4 December 2024 to 31 January 2025
British artist Jack Penny has collaborated with The Dot Project gallery and skincare expert Teresa Tarmey on a solo exhibition of his works, which will be on view at Tarmey’s clinic in Notting Hill throughout December and January. Penny’s subjects are often depicted at dinner parties, and this exhibition, titled Blue Cheese, explores the potential for chaos and comedy within meals. IC
BUY
Photographs of people reading, taken over a lifetime, in a new book
On Reading by David Hurn
Price: £35
Click: rrbphotobooks.com
Since the 1950s, David Hurn has been photographing people as they read, capturing them absorbed in their books in every corner of the world, from Arles to Qatar. He has caught moments snatched with a novel in the front seat of a car, children crouched over picture books in the middle of a park, and women reading outside cafés. He has pictured them in offices as others type in the background, and lounging in the back of exercise classes. Now for the first time, the photographs have been collected into a book. Taken over a period of 70 years, they form a paean to the total immersion that reading can offer. BS
DRINK
Central European wine and small plates in a north London pop up
Basket Press x Quince Bakery
Where: 267 New N Rd, London N1
When: Thursday to Saturday, 5.30pm to 10pm, until 21 December
Click: quincebakery.co.uk and basketpresswines.com
Quince Bakery in Islington was quick to draw a queue to its doors. Only opened in February this year, it has already become beloved for its well-fired country loaves, rice pudding tarts, and loganberry swiss roll. This winter it joined forces with central and eastern European wine importer Basket Press, which has taken over the bakery space in the evenings to serve a menu of natural-leaning wines and cheese and charcuterie. BS
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