Design and decoration
Two French interiors trade fairs kick off in Paris next week. The team behind Maison&Objet, which is held annually in the Paris Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center, has no doubt been inspired by the pandemic for their theme, playfully titled ‘Take Care!’. It will explore ‘the Good’ in design as well as ‘what is Beautiful’. The decoration fair Paris Deco-Off meanwhile, largely based in the Saint Germain des Près district, has similarly aimed to put sustainability at the forefront of their agenda this year.
Maison&Object from 19-23 January (maison-objet.com) & Paris Déco-Off from 18-22 January (paris-deco-off.com)
Salone del Mobile or just ‘Salone’ is Milan's esteemed furniture and design fair. This year, lighting is taking the spotlight, as the Salone as teamed up with Euroluce biennial, and will exhibit over 420 different lighting designers and companies.
Salone del Mobile di Milano from 18-23 April (www.salonemilano.it)
At Design Centre Chelsea Harbour's Wow!House, awe is the aim of the game. In a 400 sqm show home, 17 rooms will showcase the work of top interior designers from across the globe in a ‘kaleidoscope of different styles, colours, patterns textures, craftsmanship, art and objets, all with their own story to tell.’
Wow!House at Design Centre Chelsea Harbour 5 June - 6 July (www.dcch.co.uk/wowhouse)
In London, two fairs promote the Big Smoke as a global capital of design and decoration. This Spring, London Design Week at DCCH will bring together hundreds of designers, with over 100 events and talks focusing on decoration, furniture, lighting and textiles. In the autumn, the London Design Festival looks at the more cutting-edge, socially-focused side of the creative design scene.
London Design Week at Design Centre Chelsea Harbour and Pimlico Road from 13 - 17 March (www.dcch.co.uk/london-design-week) & London Design Festival from 16-23 September (londondesignfestival.com)
Up until this point only open in Stockholm, Nordic design specialists Modernity will open a new gallery space in Pimlico later this month. The Pimlico Road Design District is a sacred site for collectors and designers, and this new address will be a delight for Scandiphiles, with pieces by the likes of Hans Wegner, Finn Juhl, Arne Jacobsen, Alvar Aalto.
Modernity will open on 24th January at Newson's Yard, Pimlico Road Design District, SW1W 8NE (www.modernity.se)
“I always enjoy having a good ferret around The Decorative Antiques & Textiles fair in Battersea Park (the next one is from Jan 24th-26th). There are a lot of regulars that have the most inspiring stands: Dorian Caffot de Fawes, Katherine Pole, Gwen Pilard from Quindry to name a few. I always come away with lots of ideas, contacts and a spring in my step.” – Rémy Mishon, Assistant Decoration Editor
The Decorative Antiques & Textile Fair from 24 - 29 January (decorativefair.com)
I'm looking forward to seeing what some of the underdog design districts have in store for us – Greenwich Design District for example. It opened just before Covid and has since found its feet with small creative companies taking residence, it seems the community that GDD originally envisioned is beginning to blossom. From what I hear, neighbouring companies are collaborating within the district and exciting things are always bound to happen when creatives come together. So I'd say, watch this space!" - Rémy Mishon, Assistant Decoration Editor
Greenwich Design District, The Gateway Pavilions, Peninsula Square, London SE10 0QE (designdistrict.co.uk)
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The Calico Club is House & Garden's community for devotees of interiors, design and food. This inspirational club brings the magazine to life, offering privileged, exclusive access to the people and the places featured on the pages of House & Garden. In 2023, events will include talks from Jane Scotter and Kitten Grayson at Heckfield Place; artist Lora Avedian; Richard Parr and Adam Ellis. For more information on how to become a member of The Calico Club and the events and talks on offer, visit The Calico Club website.
Travel
You are no doubt familiar with the Orient Express, the luxury train operator that first left the station 150 years ago. The train is launching its Italian edition, ‘La Dolce Vita’ which will whizz down the boot of Italy, from tip-to-toe in tip-top style, with interiors designed by Dimorestudio. The train might not be operating until 2024, but it is available to pre-book now, with spaces likely to go fast.
The Old War Office is a heavyweight historic London address – once occupied by famous spies and statesmen, including Winston Churchill and Ian Fleming (Bond scenes have even been filmed here). This Spring, it will become the location for the first UK Raffles hotel, the luxury hotel chain with 85 global sites. With 120 suites and rooms, Raffles OWO is sure to make a grand entrance onto the London hotel scene.
Open from Spring 2023 (theowo.london)
Le Grand Mazarin in Paris, due to open early this year, has been inspired by the great literary salons of history. Located in Le Marais, the hotel's decor, designed by Martin Brudnizki, harks back to the times past and nods forward to contemporary French luxury.
Le Grand Mazarin, 17 Rue de la Verrerie, 75004 Paris, France (legrandmazarin.com)
Its biggest refurbishment since 1989, works started on iconic London hotel The Dorchester in February last year. Martin Brudnizki Design Studio has also been behind this one, as well as Pierre-Yves Rochon (who has masterminded the new entrance.)
The Dorchester from 23 January 2023 (dorchestercollection.com)
Purveyors of luxury travel, &Beyond will open their first Asian outpost this year. In the Himalayas of Bhutan, the River Lodge draws on traditional Bhutanese architecture, and promises to be a utopia of peace, wellness and tranquility. It doesn't open until September, though, so in the meantime, explore &Beyond's other global destinations.
&Beyond The River Lodge from September (www.andbeyond.com)
Gardens
2023 will be the first Chelsea Flower Show since the death of Queen Elizabeth, who would famously grace the festival with her attendance every year. Whilst it's hard to imagine British Summer Time when it still gets dark at 4pm everyday, Chelsea Flower Show aka the botanist's Glastonbury, will soon be underway, kicking off at the end of May.
RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023 from 22-27 May 2023 (rhs.org.uk)
Also from the RHS, the Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, which will take place in early September is another gardener's paradise. Taking place in that magical time late in the British summer, it is bound to inspire everyone from the amateur to the professional gardener.
RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival from 4-9 July (rhs.org.uk)
Art & Culture
In addition to the exhibitions highlighting Alice Neel and the female abstract expressionists, this spring will also see a Berthe Morisot exhibition opening at Dulwich Picture Gallery. Then, the contemporary Margate-based ceramicist Lindsey Mendick, whose work stood out at the Hayward’s 2022 Strange Clay exhibition (and it is strange indeed) - is having a solo show at Yorkshire Sculpture Park; it opens in April.
‘Alice Neel: Hot off the Griddle’ is the biggest show of Neel's paintings to-date in the UK. A communist and militant activist, her portraits depict working class women, labour leaders, eccentrics as well as other artists and performers of her day, with a frontality that feels at once hotly urgent but also casual and intimate.
‘Alice Neel: Hot off the Griddle’ at The Barbican from 16 February to 21 May (barbican.org.uk)
Abstract Expressionism is synonymous with macho male artists like Pollock, Rothko and De Kooning. ‘Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-70’ explores the freedom of the gesture amongst its underlooked, female figures in the post-War era: Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, as well as non-Anglophone figures such as Bertina Lopes and Wook-kyung Choi.
'Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-70' at Whitechapel Gallery from 9 February to 7 May (whitechapelgallery.org)
Vienna-born, Lucy Rie's career as a potter spanned six decades, creating elegant tableware which is frequently described as ‘metropolitan’ or ‘cosmopolitan’. Her elegant vases and bowls are delicate and often colourful, with influence from Japanese ceramics subtly evident.
‘Lucie Rie: The Adventure of Pottery’ at Kettle's Yard from 4 March - 5 June (kettlesyard.co.uk)
May is a big month for photography - the V&A is opening phase two of the museum’s Photography Centre, creating the largest permanent space dedicated to photography in the UK - and it’s Photo London at Somerset House, which is one of my favourite art fairs of the year. This edition is extra exciting as the legendary Martin Parr is ‘Master of Photography’, meaning there’ll be significant space dedicated to him - he’s promising "a totally new exhibition of work of images taken in the UK, a project that I have been working on for the last 50 years!’
For the past three years, the National Portrait Gallery has been closed for renovations, with changes to include a new, bigger entrance as well as a reopening of the East Wing. With the launch slated for June, the exhibitions programme is yet to be announced. But in the meantime you can explore their existing collection of portraits online.
National Portrait Gallery, reopening from 22 June (npg.org.uk)
June in the art world calendar is marked by London Gallery Weekend, which sees 150 or so of London’s commercial galleries throwing open their doors with outstanding exhibitions, events and happenings - promising diversity, opportunity for discovery, and a significant dose of high-octane fun.
Then, before we know it, it’ll be October, and Frieze London and Frieze Masters will return to Regent’s Park for the crowning week of London’s art scene. Those fairs coincide with major Post-War and Contemporary sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, i.e. it’s the best time to see and appreciate masterpieces that usually languish in private collections.
