From a chic off-Google shop to the latest designer collaboration and some Valentine-friendly floral workshops, here’s the best of February’s interiors offering in the capital.
Object of desire
It’s day 3,925 of the longest winter on record and the small mercies are still blankets, chuckling at Gladiators on a Saturday afternoon and burning fancy scents.
Top of our wish list is Ruan Hoffmann’s Veti-Vert candle for L’Objet, which features a surrealist mask for a lid and hangs jauntily off its side as a “nose”.
The burn time is 125 hours, by which point we hope there’ll be finally signs of spring.
£475, uk.l-objet.com
For retail therapy
Is there anything chicer than not appearing in a Google Shopping search? Or for that matter: smelling like everyone else?
Torti, the perfumery which prides itself on being offline, has opened its first store outside its native Italy for the first time in 30 years.
It’s a sophisticated spot with the calming decor conceived by Torti’s nose, Nina Simona Briazu, who will charm the socks off you as she imparts her unique layering techniques.
57 Brewer Street, W1. Closed Mondays
Get crafty
Be in charge of your own floral destiny this Valentine’s by signing up to a flower workshop. Neighbourhood café The Dawn Seal on Abbey Road is hosting a spring bowl workshop (£85) on February 13 with Chelsea Flower Show silver medalist Greenfield Studios; there promises not to be a gaudy red rose in sight.
On the same night in W1, Flowers by Holly is staging a Galentine’s Day bouquet masterclass (£49.46) at fashion re-sale specialist The Cirkel’s pop-up on Aybrook Street.
And if you’ve no plans on the 14th itself, ditch the clichés and book in to an introduction to ikebana with InBloom Wellbeing in Balham (£45).
Book The Dawn Seal; Flowers by Holly; InBloom Wellbeing
The collaboration
London’s only paint manufacturer — the esteemed and family-owned Mylands in West Norwood — has tapped award-winning Swedish interior designer Beata Heuman to collaborate on a paint collection.
The Dependables is a 24-strong range with names as quirky as the shades themselves — see Crayfish Party, a surprisingly versatile rusty red, and Uncle Maths, an airy neutral with a hint of blue.
Best of all, Heuman has road-tested them all in her Hammersmith house, so you can view them in situ online. King Charles renewed 140-year-old Mylands’ royal warrant last December; bet he’s now glad of that…
Launches February 12
For culture
Warmer times are coming, but if you need transporting to the Med (minus the Gatwick Express) then check out Richard J Butler’s exhibition of paintings created last summer when the artist enjoyed residency on the island of Naxos.
The atmospheric canvases were inspired by the landscape of the Greek island, as well as those from Butler’s native Yorkshire.
February 6 to 28, Canopy Collections HQ, 3 Bloomsbury Place, WC1
Alt-purchase of the month
Drop in to Béton Brut to catch multidisciplinary designer Grace Prince’s first UK solo show, Held Absence. The six pieces on display emerged from a period Prince spent living
in a traditional house north of Kyoto in Japan. Our money is on the set of cast bronze and polished stainless steel candleholders, which are sure to be a conversation-starter over cosy dinners (sold in threes, £2,500, edition of 10).
February 28 to March 9, 47 Theobalds Road, WC1
Do try this at home
Contemplating an extension? Whatever you do, don’t leave your skylights plain old white.
The interior designer Stephanie Barba Mendoza makes a case for wrapping your dining nook in patterned wallpaper — right up to the Velux windows. Brownie points if said pattern matches your door frames.
