The excess of December is behind us, spring is still a promise, and what we find that we want now are things that feel both useful and uplifting. This month’s edit brings together objects, ideas and experiences that do exactly that: dahlias that bridge garden and design, a mug that makes the everyday better, a rug that challenges expectations, a book that feeds both appetite and imagination, and a handful of pieces that celebrate warmth, beauty and craft. This, then, is our shortlist for starting the year well.
Sarah Raven’s New Dahlia Collabs
Sarah Raven, aka reigning queen of the dahlia, has unveiled The Dahlia Collective, a new collaboration that brings fashion, interiors and design firmly into the flowerbed. Teaming up with five creative heavyweights – Butter Wakefield, Lucinda Chambers, Patrick Grant, Tricia Guild and Johnnie Boden – Raven has co-created five exclusive dahlia collections, each reflecting a distinctive eye for colour, form and mood. Long celebrated for their drama and longevity, dahlias are Raven’s signature bloom, and these new collections build beautifully on her three-decades mission to restore them to star status. The collections are available now, from £25.95. Time to get planning your spring planting. Explore the collection.
Dior’s Homage To Dracula
Like your high fashion with a side helping of literary allusion? Look no further than Dior’s Saddle Bag with Strap (£3,600)., emblazoned with a first edition cover of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Representing creative director Jonathan Anderson’s dream library, it’s perfect for squirreling away everything from your keys to classic reads.
Luke Edward Hall X Ginori 1735
Artist and designer Luke Edward Hall’s collaboration with Ginori 1735 is an ode to the abiding influence of the ancient world on his work. We love these mugs, which are handcrafted in Italy. At £115, they’re no snip, but given that they’ll bring joy with daily use, we say they works out almost inexpensive. (At least that’s the story we’re telling ourselves as we add to basket, and we’re sticking with it.)
Shame Studios’ Crosses Wool Kilim
The London-based Shame Studios works ethically with artisans all around the world to create its collection of painterly rugs. ‘Crosses’ (£4,320) is an especially beautiful tribal-style example – its tactility and idiosyncrasies belying the fact that it is, in fact, designed by AI. Love that fact or loathe it, we can’t deny that it would look ravishing in our sitting room.
Gennaro’s Hidden Italy
There is never a time of year that good Italian food doesn’t make life feel better. But now, in the depths of winter, we long for it all the more – the comfort it brings, along with the promise of, if we’re lucky, summer holidays on the distant horizon. Who better, then, to turn to than Jamie Oliver’s long-time mentor, Gennaro Contaldo? This tome comes out in February, and, region by region, brings us the recipes that are in danger of being lost – even in the context of a country that is deeply protective of its regional repertoire. No longer! We’re pre-ordering as we write…
Maison Margiela’s By The Fireplace
Our thoughts might be racing forward to sunny spring days, but we are concurrently trying to remind ourselves nonetheless to relish the cosiness of winter while it lasts. Leaning into that, we are loving Maison Margiela’s By The Fireplace scent (£98.84/100ml), which evokes the beguiling scent of woodsmoke like nothing else we’ve found. A true winter joy.
Cos Chunky Cashmere Funnel-Neck Jumper
One of the great recompenses for the rock-bottom temperatures outside is that we get to layer up in the loveliest of knitwear. To that end, we’re eyeing up this classic cashmere jumper from Cos (£249), which invites evenings by the fire, cocoa and book in hand.
Lucian Freud: Drawing Into Painting
The National Portrait Gallery puts paper centre stage in Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting (12 February – 4 May), the first UK museum show to zero in on his works on paper. Spanning the 1930s to the 2000s, it tracks the artist’s lifelong fascination with faces and bodies through pencil, ink, charcoal, etching – and a select group of paintings that show how drawings become flesh. Expect newly acquired material from the estate, including etchings new to the collection and a portrait of daughter Bella, plus archive surprises. A smart, focused show that promises, as with al things Freud to be brilliant and thought-provoking. Book tickets.
Penelope Chilvers Silk Bow Blouse
We are in full active Penelope Chilvers’ website stalking mode, pouncing on her unparalleled winter boots as they hit the sales. And, on our frequent perusals, we can’t help but notice a crop of new silk pieces that will, as the days draw out, shoot straight to the top of our most wanted list. Amongst them is this Silk Bow Blouse, £225, a fluid and beautifully cut piece that may be part of the AW collection, but which we will wear all year round.
Cambridge Imprint Three Assorted Memo Books For Pocket (Folio Red)
January and September are the two points in the year when we start to frenziedly buy stationery in a bid to become the organised people we imagine ourselves to be. Few do them better than Cambridge Imprint, and we especially love the vivid red of these Three Assorted Memo Books For Pocket Folio Red, £11.50. That way, even when that organised person fails once again to emerge, at least we’ll have something lovely to look at.
