Ellie Stathaki, architecture & environment director
'Lovely Los Angeles-based media consultant Meara Dally was in Europe during the US holidays this week and we had the opportunity to catch up and talk about life, architecture and upcoming projects. She also gave me an advance copy of landscape architect Walter Hood's The African Ancestors Garden: History and Memory at the International African American Museum, which is what I will be flicking through this weekend. His work is wonderful and I am looking forward to the deep dive.
Hugo Macdonald, global design director
While London’s snow turned to slush, I headed to the Swiss Alps for the weekend, where the snow lasts a bit longer. I was staying at The Brecon, a recently opened small hotel in Adelboden, beautifully designed by Amsterdam studio Nice Makers. Following the vogue for hotels that behave more like homes, The Brecon has gone further than most by including all food, drink and spa treatments in the room rate. The absence of a price on any collateral throughout one’s stay really does induce a different level of domestic relaxation. Between the mountain air and the vast beds, bedecked in brushed linen bedding, I had two of the best nights’ sleep I’ve had in a very long time.
thebrecon.com
Sofia de la Cruz, travel editor
Last week, I decided to take my taste buds on a little adventure and visited the newly opened AngloThai in Marylebone, London (recommended by Ben McCormack in our review of new London restaurants). The debut restaurant by the husband-and-wife duo John and Desiree Chantarasak represents the evolution of their namesake pop-up concept, already successful for its unique spin on Thai-British cuisine. The intimate 50-cover restaurant, designed by Thai-American designer May Redding, is dressed with traditional wooden furniture imported from Thailand and beautiful objects by Thai design studios, such as Objects From Uncle, Moonler and The Yarn Story, as well as crockery by Welsh ceramicist Matthew Jones. If dishes like Comice Pear, Candied Beetroot & Suffolk Rapeseed or Pollock Fish Balls, Sour Orange Curry & Watercress whisk you away on a flavour trip to Southeast Asia, AngloThai’s selection of European wines brings you back down to earth with their bubbly familiarity.
anglothai.co.uk
Gabriel Annouka, senior designer
Earlier this week, I visited Sprint, Milan’s independent design book fair, sprawling across Spazio Maiocchi and the neighbouring Regina Giovanna warehouse. This wasn’t your average book fair – it was a sharp, provocative playground for all things DIY and boundary-pushing. With a line-up brimming with independent publishers, zines, and emerging design studios, Sprint felt like a hotbed of bold ideas and experimental forms. Talks dived into themes like bootlegging and queer liberation through print, ensuring the air was charged with creative rebellion at every turn.
Later, I made my way to ‘Meriem Bennani: For My Best Family’ at Fondazione Prada, an entirely different kind of spectacle but no less enthralling. The artist's ‘Sole Crushing’ installation – a sensational choreography of custom flip-flops and slippers sourced from all over Morocco – was a hypnotic blend of sound and movement. Equal parts rhythmic marvel and sly cultural commentary, it unpacked Moroccan identity with a cheeky edge. Meanwhile, her accompanying film For Aicha offered a heartfelt meditation on family, motherhood, reinvention, and identity. Bennani’s signature playfulness gave way to a story that was raw, intimate, and deeply universal.
Melina Keays, entertaining director
I saw Steve Coogan in Armando Iannucci’s version of Dr Strangelove, a satire based on Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 film set in the Cold War era. Theatre can be a hit-and-miss affair, but this show’s a hit – accomplished, funny, and thoroughly entertaining, There was never the moment of wondering how long we had to go until the end (often the case for me at the theatre, I admit). Coogan is a tour de force, playing four different roles, and I particularly enjoyed Tony Jayawardena as Bakov, the Russian Ambassador.
