Great Reads, October 2019

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What's Hot on Your Bookshelf, October 2019

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‘THE MARS ROOM’ BY RACHEL KUSHNER

Romy Hall is starting two consecutive life sentences at Stanville Women’s Correctional Facility. Her crime? The killing of her stalker.

Inside awaits a world where women must hustle and fight for the bare essentials. Outside: the San Francisco of her youth. The Mars Room strip club where she was once a dancer. Her seven-year-old son, Jackson.

As Romy forms friendships over liquor brewed in socks and stories shared through sewage pipes her future seems to unfurl in one long, unwavering line – until news from beyond the prison bars forces Romy to try and outrun her destiny.

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‘CELESTIAL BODIES’ BY JOHKA ALHARTHI

Celestial Bodies is set in the village of al-Awafi in Oman, where we encounter three sisters: Mayya, who marries Abdallah after a heartbreak; Asma, who marries from a sense of duty; and Khawla who rejects all offers while waiting for her beloved, who has emigrated to Canada. These three women and their families witness Oman evolve from a traditional, slave-owning society slowly redefining itself after the colonial era, to the crossroads of its complex present. Elegantly structured and taut, Celestial Bodies is a coiled spring of a novel, telling of Oman's coming-of-age through the prism of one family's losses and loves.

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All Lina wanted was to be desired. How did she end up in a marriage with two children and a husband who wouldn't touch her?

All Maggie wanted was to be understood. How did she end up in a relationship with her teacher and then in court, a hated pariah in her small town?

All Sloane wanted was to be admired. How did she end up a sexual object of men, including her husband, who liked to watch her have sex with other men and women?

Three Women is a record of unmet needs, unspoken thoughts, disappointments, hopes and unrelenting obsessions.

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‘FIND ME’ BY ANDRÉ ACIMAN

In this spellbinding new exploration of the varieties of love, the author of Call Me by Your Name lets us back into his characters' lives years after their first meeting

In Find Me, Aciman shows us Elio's father, Samuel, on a trip from Florence to Rome to visit Elio, now a gifted classical pianist. A chance encounter on the train upends Sami's visit and changes his life forever.

Elio soon moves to Paris, where he, too, has a consequential affair, while Oliver, a New England college professor with a family, suddenly finds himself contemplating a return trip across the Atlantic.

Aciman is a master of sensibility, of the intimate details and the nuances of emotion that are the substance of passion. Find Me brings us back inside the world of one of our greatest contemporary romances to show us that in fact true love never dies.

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‘NIGHT BOAT TO TANGIER’ BY KEVIN BARRY

It's late one night at the Spanish port of Algeciras and two fading Irish gangsters are waiting on the boat from Tangier. A lover has been lost, a daughter has gone missing, their world has come asunder - can it be put together again?

Night Boat to Tangier is a novel drenched in sex and death and narcotics, in sudden violence and old magic. But above all, it is a book obsessed with the mysteries of love. A tragicomic masterwork from the award-winning Kevin Barry, Night Boat to Tangier is a work of melancholy beauty, wit and lyrical brilliance.

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‘QUICHOTTE’ BY SALMAN RUSHDIE

Inspired by the Cervantes classic, Sam DuChamp, mediocre writer of spy thrillers, creates Quichotte, a courtly, addled salesman obsessed with television who falls in impossible love with a TV star. Together with his (imaginary) son Sancho, Quichotte sets off on a picaresque quest across America to prove worthy of her hand, gallantly braving the tragicomic perils of an age where “Anything-Can-Happen.” Meanwhile, his creator, in a midlife crisis, has equally urgent challenges of his own.

Just as Cervantes wrote Don Quixote to satirize the culture of his time, Rushdie takes the reader on a wild ride through a country on the verge of moral and spiritual collapse. And with the kind of storytelling magic that is the hallmark of Rushdie’s work, the fully realized lives of DuChamp and Quichotte intertwine in a profoundly human quest for love and a wickedly entertaining portrait of an age in which fact is so often indiscernible from fiction.

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‘GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER’ BY BERNADINE EVARISTO

Girl, Woman, Other follows the lives and struggles of twelve very different characters. Mostly women, black and British, they tell the stories of their families, friends and lovers, across the country and through the years.

Joyfully polyphonic and vibrantly contemporary, this is a gloriously new kind of history, a novel of our times: celebratory, ever-dynamic and utterly irresistible.

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Designer Spotlight; Sophie Buhai

It’s not always easy to follow your heart but taking the lead from Sophie Buhai, self-reinvention seems all too easily attainable, not to mention rather stylish. 

Leading the way as the ultimate example of originality, Sophie Buhai is firmly back in her native LA lifestyle, having left her life in NYC and selling her stake in Vena Cava, the clothing line she co-founded and designed with her friend Lisa Mayock, straight out of Parsons. With 10 years experience in the industry, not to mention a manic New York City paced career in the rearview, she took a year out to develop other passions. During that time, Sophie thoughtfully designed her newly purchased home which led to her organic movement into an interiors role - a role she still holds today, designing for fashion insiders. However, it was in 2015 that she truly found her feet, launching her namesake jewellery brand, Sophie Buhai. Housed on her website, alongside a wide variety of life-style findings she has discovered along the way, including a Natalie Smith painting, Mark Pavlovits homeware and an Elsa Peretti terracotta vase, her designs and collections have been received with significant regard. Known now for her beautifully bold yet powerfully delicate modernist pieces, Sophie continues to reinvent the world of sculptural silhouettes, bringing to life her take on modern classics.

Shop the collection now at Net-A-Porter.com

Image Credits 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9

Great Reads, March 2019

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What's Hot on Your Bookshelf, March 2019

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If you’re like me, your reading list is forever growing and evolving and not to be moody or anything but life’s sometimes as weird as it is in your favourite fictional chronicles. Some days you just want the world to leave you alone and let you figure it out. No matter the situation or day though, there’s always an escape in a trusty book. And as I make this list a monthly feature on HSF, here are my top five picks for the month ahead.

‘Daisy Jones & The Six’ by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n’ roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.

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‘Hollywood’s Eve: Eve Babitz & the Secret History of L.A’ by Lili Anolik

Los Angeles in the 1960s and 70s was the pop culture capital of the world—a movie factory, a music factory, a dream factory. Eve Babitz was the ultimate factory girl, a pure product of LA.

The goddaughter of Igor Stravinsky and a graduate of Hollywood High, Babitz posed in 1963, at age twenty, playing chess with the French artist Marcel Duchamp. She was naked; he was not. The photograph, cheesecake with a Dadaist twist, made her an instant icon of art and sex. Babitz spent the rest of the decade rocking and rolling on the Sunset Strip, honing her notoriety. There were the album covers she designed: for Buffalo Springfield and the Byrds, to name but a few. There were the men she seduced: Jim Morrison, Ed Ruscha, Harrison Ford, to name but a very few.

Then, at nearly thirty, her It girl days numbered, Babitz was discovered—as a writer—by Joan Didion. She would go on to produce seven books, usually billed as novels or short story collections, always autobiographies and confessionals. Under-known and under-read during her career, she’s since experienced a breakthrough. Now in her mid-seventies, she’s on the cusp of literary stardom and recognition as an essential—as the essential—LA writer. Her prose achieves that American ideal: art that stays loose, maintains its cool, and is so sheerly enjoyable as to be mistaken for simple entertainment.

For Babitz, life was slow days, fast company until a freak fire in the 90s turned her into a recluse, living in a condo in West Hollywood, where Lili Anolik tracked her down in 2012. Anolik’s elegant and provocative new book is equal parts biography and detective story. It is also on dangerously intimate terms with its subject: artist, writer, muse, and one-woman zeitgeist, Eve Babitz.

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Water Cure: A Novel by Sophie Mackintosh

King has tenderly staked out a territory for his wife and three daughters, Grace, Lia, and Sky. He has lain the barbed wire; he has anchored the buoys in the water; he has marked out a clear message: Do not enter. Or viewed from another angle: Not safe to leave. Here women are protected from the chaos and violence of men on the mainland. The cult-like rituals and therapies they endure fortify them from the spreading toxicity of a degrading world.
     But when their father, the only man they've ever seen, disappears, they retreat further inward until the day two men and a boy wash ashore. Over the span of one blistering hot week, a psychological cat-and-mouse game plays out. Sexual tensions and sibling rivalries flare as the sisters confront the amorphous threat the strangers represent. Can they survive the men?
     A haunting, riveting debut about the capacity for violence and the potency of female desire, The Water Cure both devastates and astonishes as it reflects our own world back at us.

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‘The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays’ by Esmé Weijun Wang

An intimate, moving book written with the immediacy and directness of one who still struggles with the effects of mental and chronic illness, The Collected Schizophrenias cuts right to the core. Schizophrenia is not a single unifying diagnosis, and Esmé Weijun Wang writes not just to her fellow members of the “collected schizophrenias” but to those who wish to understand it as well. Opening with the journey toward her diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, Wang discusses the medical community’s own disagreement about labels and procedures for diagnosing those with mental illness, and then follows an arc that examines the manifestations of schizophrenia in her life. In essays that range from using fashion to present as high-functioning to the depths of a rare form of psychosis, and from the failures of the higher education system and the dangers of institutionalization to the complexity of compounding factors such as PTSD and Lyme disease, Wang’s analytical eye, honed as a former lab researcher at Stanford, allows her to balance research with personal narrative. An essay collection of undeniable power, The Collected Schizophrenias dispels misconceptions and provides insight into a condition long misunderstood.

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'The Lost Night' by Andrea Bartz

In 2009, Edie had New York’s social world in her thrall. Mercurial and beguiling, she was the shining star of a group of recent graduates living in a Brooklyn loft and treating New York like their playground. When Edie’s body was found near a suicide note at the end of a long, drunken night, no one could believe it. Grief, shock, and resentment scattered the group and brought the era to an abrupt end.
 
A decade later, Lindsay has come a long way from the drug-addled world of Calhoun Lofts. She has devoted best friends, a cozy apartment, and a thriving career as a magazine’s head fact-checker. But when a chance reunion leads Lindsay to discover an unsettling video from that hazy night, she starts to wonder if Edie was actually murdered—and, worse, if she herself was involved. As she rifles through those months in 2009—combing through case files, old technology, and her fractured memories—Lindsay is forced to confront the demons of her own violent history to bring the truth to light.

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'Gingerbread' by Helen Oyeyemi

Influenced by the mysterious place gingerbread holds in classic children's stories, beloved novelist Helen Oyeyemi invites readers into a delightful tale of a surprising family legacy, in which the inheritance is a recipe. 

Perdita Lee may appear to be your average British schoolgirl; Harriet Lee may seem just a working mother trying to penetrate the school social hierarchy; but there are signs that they might not be as normal as they think they are. For one thing, they share a gold-painted, seventh-floor walk-up apartment with some surprisingly verbal vegetation. And then there's the gingerbread they make. Londoners may find themselves able to take or leave it, but it's very popular in Druhástrana, the far-away (or, according to many sources, non-existent) land of Harriet Lee's early youth. The world's truest lover of the Lee family gingerbread, however, is Harriet's charismatic childhood friend Gretel Kercheval —a figure who seems to have had a hand in everything (good or bad) that has happened to Harriet since they met. 

Decades later, when teenaged Perdita sets out to find her mother's long-lost friend, it prompts a new telling of Harriet's story. As the book follows the Lees through encounters with jealousy, ambition, family grudges, work, wealth, and real estate, gingerbread seems to be the one thing that reliably holds a constant value. Endlessly surprising and satisfying, written with Helen Oyeyemi's inimitable style and imagination, it is a true feast for the reader.

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Jewellery Brands To Fall in Love With

Dainty jewels are always a good idea. And as we come to the end of January, not to mention the end of those January blues there’s absolutely every excuse to treat yourself to a little self-gifting of some pretty little treasures. In a follow up edition to my new “Considered Curation” series, a new venture in which I share the brands, people and places I love, today it’s all about decorating yourself and those you love with something beautiful from local and international designers who have built something that simply must be shared and worn.

So darlings, get in, we’re going shopping!

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SORU JEWELLERY

Soru is a UK based jewellery brand that has brought all my jewellery dreams to life. Soru, meaning sisters in Sicilian, was aptly created and curated by two half English-Sicilian sisters Francesca Kelly and Marianna Doyle in 2013. Full of ornate flair and made for the every-day wearer, carrying her to those every-night occasions, each Soru creation is ethically handmade in Italy or Turkey using gold plated sterling silver, set to precious metals and semi precious gemstones. Francesca and Marianna’s story is a gorgeous one and their philosophy, that jewellery should complete a look and make you feel transformed, is part of the brand’s elegant aesthetic. To say I’m in love would be an understatement.

FOLLOW @sorujewellery // SHOP harveynichols.com

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BEATRIZ PALAOIS

Founded in Madrid in 2011 by Beatriz Palacios Jiménez, Beatriz Palacios, is an elegant mix of feminine strength and unconventional sophistication. After graduating as a mining engineer, Beatriz worked as a jewellery designer in Dublin before moving back to her hometown of Madrid to embark upon her own creative journey with her now well-established brand. With a strong insistence on quality and craftsmanship, each season sees a newly developed collection originating from the depts of her innate sense of playful experimentation with new forms and previously unused materials.

FOLLOW @beatrizpalaois_jewelry // SHOP beatrizpalacios.com

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LEAH ALEXANDRA

Creating the pieces that can’t be found anywhere else, Leah Alexandra, knows exactly what we need in to create the most beautifully adorned jewellery wardrobe. Having spent time as a metalsmith, Leah now marries her love of creation by traveling the world to source the most unique, beautiful materials which play part in the distinctive nature of all her designs. Versatile and timeless, investing in a Leah Alexandra piece will never loose it’s charm.

FOLLOW @leahalexandrajewelry // SHOP leahalexandra.com

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MOMUSE

Delicate by nature and simply irresistible, MoMuse Jewellery is a stunning collection of contemporary jewellery pieces designed by Irish native Margaret O’Rourke. Margaret has seen herself go from selling her designs at weekend markets to being recommended by the New York Times as one of the most coveted shops to visit in Dublin (don’t miss her haven, MoMuse in the Powerscourt Townhouse in Dublin’s city centre). Classic and unapologetically simple, her designs are a clear vision of her own beautiful way of seeing the world and have made their way into the lives and wardrobes of many in all their elegantly understated glory. Expect diamonds in white, champagne and black as well as emeralds, sapphires & rubies set to the backdrop of 9 karat gold metals.

FOLLOW @momusejewellery // SHOP momuse.ie

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MEJURI

Setting the ethical standards high, Mujuri is an everyday touch of luxury at dangerously seductive prices. Working to make luxury so affordable, this beautiful brand teams up with their manufacturers to sell directly to their consumer, meaning they get to create using top quality materials and craftsmanship without the mainstream markups. Each piece is inspired by the idea of quality essentials being a fun and fabulous part of your everyday looks.

FOLLOW @mujuri // SHOP mejuri.com

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Image Credits 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5

Spritz Up Your Life

Scent is an important part of one’s identity. Unlike the clothes we wear and the manner in which we act - both of which are only linkable to a physical interaction, the scent a person wears is a beautiful, delicate impression that lingers and lives on long past the time spent in their company. It can also ignite memories- sometimes in the most unassuming and unexpected places, reminding you of them from a far. Frangrance is sexy. In a way, so sneakily suggestive, you don’t even need to see or feel the person to know it’s theirs.

It’s important to really know what you want and love when it comes to fragrances, to find something sexily unidentifiable yet distinctly all encompassing. I’m a believer in building out a wardrobe of scents, ones for different situations in life; the one you wear during the day and then a special one for nighttime only. Ones for summer and others for winter. Our senses change all the time, be it due to seasonal changes or situational ones. Really it’s all about moods, the mood you’re in or the one you want to project and a scent always helps create that.

In an age where brands bang out a million products and cover every imaginable genre of commodities, it’s an understatement to say how much I love a good niche perfume brand! My all time favourite is ROADS, an Irish brand that has gone super global. They focus on incredible, multi-layered scents which take a year to create from the birth of idea to the end product and the luxuriousness of each scent transport you into the person you want to be while wearing it. Here, we take a look at some of my favourite luxury perfume brands and a personal favourite in each one..

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ROADS

Unsaid Eau de Parfum 50ml

£95

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BYREDO

Bal D'Afrique Eau de Parfum - Neroli & Cedar Wood, 50ml

€98

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Maison Margiela Replica

Beach Walk Eau de Toilette 100ml

€112.80

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LE LABO

Santal 33 - Eau de Parfum, 50ml

€152

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FREDERIC MALLE

L'Eau D'Hiver Eau De Parfum 100ml

€226

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ACQUA DI PARMA

Colonia Eau de Cologne Spray 100ml

£95

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DIPTYQUE PARIS

Philosykos Eau de Parfum 75ml

€125

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KILIAN

Good Girl Gone Bad Icon Eau de Parfum

€203.68

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Top Image via Pinterest

Stay at The London EDITION, Soho London

Primely situated on the edge of Soho and just a seven-minute walk from Oxford Circus, The London EDITION is a faultless blend of edgy elegance. The brainchild of American entrepreneur Ian Schrager, the once co-founder of Studio 54, it’s a bucket list London stay that doesn’t disappoint. 

Upon stepping inside, one is left somewhat open-mouthed at the splendour of the lobby. Swiftly captured by the sheer opulence, it’s a room within itself, doubling as a meeting space come day or night with it’s statement, low-lit bar and stylish seating area. A destination of sorts, the hotel conquers the quintessential magnificence of London with it’s social hub spirit. Whether staying the night or just spending a few hours hiding out from the hustle and bustle, the hotel’s selection of hangout spots is exceptional. Starting with bespoke cocktails at the Punch Room to the back of the building, followed by dinner at the now infamous Berners Tavern, a dining delight directed by famed Michelin-starred chef Jason Atherton; while later winding down the evening back to the lobby bar for a night cap where the atmosphere sparkles with out-of-towners and locals alike.

Retiring to your room, guests are treated to a minimalist affair; one that lovers of contemporary interiors will really appreciate. Cosy in a chalet way, the rooms are a true escape; the perfect place to unwind. From loft to penthouse, each room captures the essence of old world London while being flawlessly à la mode. Wood panelled walls lend themselves to the perfect contrast of crisp whites and calming tones of modern luxuriousness, while an array of amenities make you feel right at home. 

The London Edition is a new generation of luxury with an attainable feel at the heart of exactly what makes London have that London feel. 

10 Berners Street, Fitzrovia, London W1T 3NP, England  //  020 7781 0000  // www.editionhotels.com

Images from The London EDITION

Online Stores HSF is Loving Right Now

Online browsing (ok who are we kidding, it’s full on shopping) is a dangerously addictive and highly enjoyable act. However small and no matter the price, if you’re like me and you much rather shopping online these days, my new series “Considered Curations” in which I will be sharing the brands I love to hit up is here to help you find your next wardrobe hit. With the excitement of your parcel arriving to the door and getting to try things on in the comfort of your own home, while also getting to test it out with other existing pieces and do the whole mix-and-match review (we all do it) and well, with the ease of online returns these days there is little left to say but this..

Get in darlings, we’re going shopping!

FRANKIE THE SHOP

Classic with a twist, Frankie the Shop is consistently a firm favourite. Authentically cool in pretty much everything they produce, it’s a perfectly inspired place to seek out your next ‘unfussy, minimal, wallet-conscious’ purchase. With locations in NYC and Paris their online store is a mixture of on-the-pulse designers and Pinterest worthy pieces.

FOLLOW @frankietheshop // SHOP frankietheshop.com

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LES HEROINES

Founded by Australian born fashion stylist Vanessa Cocchiaro, Les Heroines is a stunning creation focusing on occasion-wear and custom made designs for bridesmaids; taking care of your every wedding day dress dream; whether your looking for your bridesmaids or simply something fabulous to wear as a guest. Elegant and gracefully stylish, Cocchiaro designs for the abundance of shapes, ages, tastes and styles of women everywhere.

FOLLOW @lesheroinesofficial // SHOP lesheroines.com

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WITCHERY

From simple everyday essentials to tasteful one-off finds, Witchery covers your every need in terms of taking you from a casual look on your day off to the bright lights of a Saturday night out. With a focus on muted tones and a satisfactory balance between separates and one-piece buys, shopping on Witchery is exactly the place to add a little something different to your style story.

FOLLOW @witcheryfashion // SHOP witchery.com

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GU-DE

Gu-De, one of the hottest new kids on the block, is a luxury leather handbags brand that had just been picked up by Net-a-Porter. Timeless beauty and unique design dusted with delightful ladylike details are the foundations to this 70’s inspired handbag collection, brought to life by Seoul-based founder and designer, Ji Hye Koo.

FOLLOW @gu_de_official // SHOP gu-de-official.com

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A.EMERY

For those who shop summer in winter (cause let’s face it, whoever let the weather deter from a good shoe investment), A.Emery is an Australian shoe brand that is set to light your heart on fire. It’s minimalist modernism meets Ancient Greek and their core collections are something your wardrobe will forever thank you for.

FOLLOW @a.emery_ // SHOP aemery.com

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Image Credits 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5

Designer Spot Light, Noha Raouf, Dallas

Born and raised in Egypt, Noha Raouf is a Dallas-based womenswear designer whose love of design stems way back to her early childhood when, by the age of five, she delved into the art of dress making under the mentorship of her grandmother. 

After attaining her BA in Mass Communication in Egypt, Raouf worked in the PR world for a number of years before moving to Dallas with her husband to pursue her love of design. She attended El Centro School of Design where upon graduating, her graduate collection earned her well-deserved recognition and the best fashion collection accolade. 

Having since launched her synonymous brand, the designer is focused on extraordinary textures, clean cuts and distinctive constructions. On her own personal direction and as the driving force behind the brand, she says, “NOHA RAOUF is specifically designed for the fiercely independent and the exceptionally original.” With both read-to-wear and demi-couture pieces available, the NOHA RAOUF brand is one of Dallas’s finest and is committed to bring character to women’s wardrobes while enhancing the individual character of her consumer.

Website noharaouf.com |  Location, Dallas, Texas  |  Graduation Year, 2017

All Images: Noha Raouf

At Home Loungewear, What To Wear

Over the past number of years we’ve seen loungewear completely come into its own. Stepping out of the house in your Olivia von Halle pyjama’s (accompanied by killer heels of course) seems altogether normal right? Not to mention, dressing up a comfy Zoe Jordan tracksuit for a Thursday night dinner date with your girls. Loungewear as daywear; well, it’s a thing that can’t be denied.

However what about the all original concept of loungewear. The kind you actually lounge around in at home. With the sizzle of summer well behind us, it’s no longer so hard to fathom the act of lounging again, now that the beauty of Fall days are creeping in. It’s all about getting cosy and igniting that hygge life again. Whether you work from home, simply don’t like wearing (quote unquote) real clothes or are planning a gorgeous snuggly night in - insert Netflix and chill - HSF has you covered for every lounge-worthy situation..

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River Island

Blue floral satin jacquard maxi kimono

€45

SHOP

Skin

Dakota Pima cotton-jersey jumpsuit

£135

SHOP

Love Stories

Cirque de la Nuit

June Bralette, €100 | Vicky Briefs, €50

SHOP

Emma Harris

Tamara Blue Mist Luxury Gown

€359

SHOP

River Island

Pink rib frill hem flared mix & match

Top, €40 | Trousers, €35

SHOP

Olivia von Halle

Lila Roba PJ Set

£395

SHOP

Jigsaw

Mila Stripe Jersey Pyjamas

£60

SHOP

Skin

Ribbed stretch-Pima cotton and modal-blend travel set

£295

SHOP

Oysho

Velvet fringe dressing gown

€49.99

SHOP

Sexy Fish, London

A regular hit on almost every London hotlist, Sexy Fish is one of London’s most seductive Asian fusion restaurants. The experience-style eatery, located on the corner of Berkeley Square, Mayfair, is not just a hit in the sushi department but notably celebrated as an meeting place of the senses, where Japan hits London with a flavour difficult to describe as anything other than sexy AF. 

The upmarket seafood brasserie is another brainchild of British businessman Ricard Caring, who boasts Annabels, The Ivy Group, Le Caprice and Bam-Bou as just a few of the famous restaurants he light’s up London’s food, drink and club scene with.

Designed by the infamous Martin Brudnizki of Martin Brudnizki Design Studio, the interiors are lavishly over-the-top and just as much an attraction as the food itself. With works of art that reportedly make it the most expensive collection of artworks created exclusively for a London restaurant ever, it’s a feast that delights many tastebuds. Damien Hirst collaborated with Caring to create bronze mermaids that bookend the bar while Vanity Fair’s style editor-in-chief Michael Roberts produced a custom-made golden mural that spans a large part of the ceiling. One of the prominent features is the statement bar, which lays beneath the largest collection of Frank Gehry’s iconic Fish Lamps. A huge live coral reef tank features in the basement’s private dining room which hosts a party of 48 and is supposedly the largest in the world. Drinking in the reality of your surroundings, it’s more a museum vibe than just simply another place to grab a bite to eat. 

Taking your eyes from the room to your plate though, the food itself is a delectable treat too of course. And in keeping with it’s general grandeur, Sexy Fish is home to the largest collection of Japanese whiskies in Europe - 358 varieties and counting. 

|  Book Online Here |  Monday - Saturday 12pm to 11pm / Sunday 12pm - 1030pm  |

PHOTOS: SEXY FISH

Yvonne Lin, Womenswear Designer

With an MA in design from the Royal college of Art and a BA in womenswear from Central Saint Martins, Yvonne Lin is a womenswear designer carving out her niche with an innate and intimate  understanding of the creative as an all-encompassing state of being.

Speaking through many forms of visual language, Lin incorporates her love of theatre, performance and the body into her mastery of the female form; within which each piece combines an element of powerful elegance with conscious modernism. Laster pattern cutting and structured coats meet billowing layers of dreamy draping and the contrast of heavy fabrics against exposed skin.

Through a compilation of accessories, footwear, installation art, stills and film, the Chinese-Canadian designer, who grew up in a small town in China, brings to life her empowered silhouettes while playing homage to both the feminine and masculine, honouring the delicate while acknowledging the indestructible. 

Her graduate collection, as pictured below, comes from her inspiration of the latin words Vulnus Cura which mean ‘to wound and to heal’ as she seeks to confront the human emotions that require us to mend the parts of us that have become fragmented and fractured. 

Minimal to the eye yet deeply meaningful in her approach, Lin continues to evolve through an array of multi-disciplinary processes and seeks to stay true to the confluence of contrasting cultures and realities that influence her everyday. 

 Website ylin.co.uk  |  Location, London  |  Graduation Year, 2017

PHOTOS: YVONNE LIN

What's On Our Bookshelf; September 2018

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The HSF Bookshelf Hotlist; September 2018

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‘MY YEAR OF REST AND RELAXATION’ BY OTTESSA MOSHFEGH

Our narrator should be happy, shouldn't she? She's young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, works an easy job at a hip art gallery, lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it isn't just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva. It's the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong?

My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a powerful answer to that question. Through the story of a year spent under the influence of a truly mad combination of drugs designed to heal our heroine from her alienation from this world, Moshfegh shows us how reasonable, even necessary, alienation can be. Both tender and blackly funny, merciless and compassionate, it is a showcase for the gifts of one of our major writers working at the height of her powers.

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‘THE HATE U GIVE’ BY ANGIE THOMAS

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. 

But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

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‘NORMAL PEOPLE’ BY SALLY ROONEY

Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small town in rural Ireland. The similarities end there; they are from very different worlds. When they both earn places at Trinity College in Dublin, a connection that has grown between them lasts long into the following years. This is an exquisite love story about how a person can change another person's life - a simple yet profound realisation that unfolds beautifully over the course of the novel. It tells us how difficult it is to talk about how we feel and it tells us - blazingly - about cycles of domination, legitimacy and privilege. Alternating menace with overwhelming tenderness, Sally Rooney's second novel breathes fiction with new life.

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‘THE PISCES; A NOVEL’ BY MELISSA BRODER

Lucy has been writing her dissertation on Sappho for nine years when she and her boyfriend break up in a dramatic flameout. After she bottoms out in Phoenix, her sister in Los Angeles insists Lucy dog-sit for the summer. Annika's home is a gorgeous glass cube on Venice Beach, but Lucy can find little relief from her anxiety — not in the Greek chorus of women in her love addiction therapy group, not in her frequent Tinder excursions, not even in Dominic the foxhound's easy affection. 
 
Everything changes when Lucy becomes entranced by an eerily attractive swimmer while sitting alone on the beach rocks one night. But when Lucy learns the truth about his identity, their relationship, and Lucy’s understanding of what love should look like, take a very unexpected turn. A masterful blend of vivid realism and giddy fantasy, pairing hilarious frankness with pulse-racing eroticism, THE PISCES is a story about falling in obsessive love with a merman: a figure of Sirenic fantasy whose very existence pushes Lucy to question everything she thought she knew about love, lust, and meaning in the one life we have.

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‘EXIT WEST’ BY MOSHIN HAMID

In a country teetering on the brink of civil war, two young people meet—sensual, fiercely independent Nadia and gentle, restrained Saeed. They embark on a furtive love affair, and are soon cloistered in a premature intimacy by the unrest roiling their city. When it explodes, turning familiar streets into a patchwork of checkpoints and bomb blasts, they begin to hear whispers about doors—doors that can whisk people far away, if perilously and for a price. As the violence escalates, Nadia and Saeed decide that they no longer have a choice. Leaving their homeland and their old lives behind, they find a door and step through. . . .

Exit West follows these remarkable characters as they emerge into an alien and uncertain future, struggling to hold on to each other, to their past, to the very sense of who they are. Profoundly intimate and powerfully inventive, it tells an unforgettable story of love, loyalty, and courage that is both completely of our time and for all time.

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‘DV; DIANA VREELAND’ BY DIANA VREELAND

D.V. is the mesmerizing autobiography of one of the 20th century’s greatest fashion icons, Diana Vreeland, the one-time fashion editor of Harper’s Bazaar and editor-in-chief of Vogue, whose incomparable style-sense, genius, and flair helped define the world of haute couture for fifty years. The incomparable D.V. proves herself a brilliant raconteur as she carries the reader along on her whirlwind life—from English palaces to the nightclubs of Paris in the 1930s to the heart of New York high society, hobnobbing with everyone who was anyone, from Queen Mary to Clark Gable to Coco Chanel.

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‘MIND ON FIRE’ BY ARNOLD THOMAS FANNING

Arnold Thomas Fanning had his first experience of depression during adolescence, following the death of his mother. Some ten years later, an up-and-coming playwright, he was overcome by mania and delusions. Thus began a terrible period in which he was often suicidal, increasingly disconnected from family and friends, sometimes in trouble with the law, and homeless in London.

Drawing on his own memories, the recollections of people who knew him when he was at his worst, and medical and police records, Arnold Thomas Fanning has produced a beautifully written, devastatingly intense account of madness - and recovery, to the point where he has not had any serious illness for over a decade and has become an acclaimed playwright. In a remarkably vivid present-tense narrative, Fanning manages to convey the consciousness of a person living with mania, psychosis and severe depression. 

Very few people have gone through what Arnold Thomas Fanning went through and emerged alive, well, and capable of telling the tale with such skill and insight. Mind on Fire is a book anyone who has experienced mental illness, or is close to someone who is mentally ill, or who wishes to understand the workings of the disordered mind.

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Thumbnail Image : Pinterest

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Stay At Soho House Amsterdam

Superbly located amid the Dutch-gable-house-style lined canals in the heart of Amsterdam's city centre, Soho House's latest edition is officially open for business on Spuistraat and is undoubtedly another architecturally successful venture for the members club brand which prides itself on an impressive portfolio of houses around the world. Housed in a six-storey, 'monumental' (listed) 1930's Bungehuis that is as strikingly sturdy as it is imposingly powerful, the house features 79 hotel rooms, the brand's infamous screening rooms, a gym, HIIT and yoga studios, a Cecconi's restaurant and a Cowshed Spa (both of which will open this coming September).

Design director, Linda Boronkay, keeps the tradition of the group's distinctly characteristic interiors well and finely intact with prompts from local landmarks and the building itself. Incorporating new touches such as the wall-lighting, produced by local designers, and contemporary signage which compliments the 1920's tiled floors around the building. Guestrooms possess an art deco feel with an innate sense of the luxuriousness of any of the group's 21 locations. Crowned by the wraparound rooftop which boasts a graceful lap-pool where guests can enjoy days spent on parasol-covered sun loungers bar all which can be enjoyed with panoramic views of the city, Soho House, Amsterdam is perhaps one of this stylish city's best new hotspots.

Soho House is accepting applications for new members now.

www.sohohouseamsterdam.com

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Images from Soho House Amsterdam

The HSF Documentary List

From climate change to fashion, iconic singers to the dark and dangerous underground of the drug world, the contemporary art space to politics, documentaries have quickly become one of the finest means by which to consume incredible, intelligent and eye-opening content. Here we take a look at some of the top documentaries you cannot miss..

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Javier Martin's Miami Hotlist

Javier Martin's Miami Hotlist

Favourite way to spend a day alone?

I spend a lot of time in my studio. I don’t just make art but meditate and explore new ideas. Also I enjoy going to the beach at sunset and writing or running. When I’m alone I use the day to refresh and clear my mind.

Favourite cocktail spot?

The Standard Hotel as they have a beautiful view of the beach. It’s an amazing place to enjoy a cocktail after a long day and I love to catch the sunset there too. 

Favourite breakfast?

There’s a tiny Cuban cafe right around the corner from me; I go to every morning.

Favourite brunch?

Whatever the sandwich of the day is on at Soho Beach House.

Favourite Dinner?

Cecconis. Always Cecconis.

Favourite Museum?

PAMM.

Favourite Gallery?

Valli Art Gallery.

Favourite Artist?

It's got to be Daniel Arsham.

Favourite Hotel?

I adore staying at The Edition.

Favourite Beach?

The one at Soho Beach House.

Favourite Café?

Henriquetas, they have the best Cuban sandwich and cafecito which is a Cuban take on the espresso shot.

Favourite hidden gem?

Soyka, they have live jazz nights that are absolutely amazing. 

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What to Pack for Miami

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A Winter Weekend in Montreal, France

Planning a trip to the South of France may, as a default, come to mind as something firmly on your summer to-do list but what if the perfect Winter weekend away could be spent elegantly in the magical surrounds and the wonderfully French backdrop of Montréal, tucked away at Camellas-Lloret at the beginning of December. 

With a short three nights and four days to spare, my Love and I set off on a romantic weekend together that saw us fly into Carcassonne airport from Dublin. Direct flights with Ryanair are irresistibly inexpensive in the off-season months. What took us there? Well, it was almost two years ago that I found a dreamy hotel on Instagram and ever since I just knew it was a place my soul absolutely needed to experience in this lifetime. I was prepared for Camellas-Lloret being a wonderful little haven but in all honesty, it is even dreamier in real-life than I could ever have anticipated (and my oh my the dreaminess is off the charts on their wonderfully curated Instagram account).

Set in the medieval hilltop village of Montréal in the Languedoc region, Camellas-Lloret, is the epitome of what one would imagine everything to be in the South of France (this was our first ever visit), refined yet rustic, touchable yet otherworldly beautiful. A ‘love-project’ of a beautiful couple Annie (a New Yorker) and Colin (from South Africa) Moore, the 18th-century house boasts the most incredible, authentic original structure. With five uniquely designed bedrooms, a simple but beautiful walled garden, the enticing greenhouse which plays home to the lemons and mandarins that make their way to the tables each morning for breakfast in the form of Annie’s marmalade and a terrace perfectly fit for summer evenings dripping in rosé, the place is so divine that you could spend a month and never leave. 

Annie, an interior designer and someone whom I think I'd like to be the I grow up (she’s great at everything from wonderful chats, marmalade making, baking, photography, cooking and just generally being fabulous) - is from New York and has designed the house to feel like ‘home’. White-washed walls and draping vintage linens, contrasting textures with original chandeliers and old-world sculptures are met with the chicest of the chic modern touches throughout. With furniture slipcovers, the perfect kind of magazine stacks and all the buildings original pine flooring, it is founded on authentically refined French elegance along with the toppings of a truly talented interior designer and is exactly where one finds peace and space to relax, surrounded by the kind of beauty found only in the South of France. 

Colin is fantastic with kindly helping guests plan out their days if you are set on exploring the areas around Montréal. His suggested routes guided us to wonderful cafes, tapas bars, museums, the local castle and a beautiful little village nearby famous for its bookstores. All in all, winter weekends at Camellas-Lloret are all about long lie-ins as the sun beams through the shutters, afternoon strolls exploring the beautiful countryside, followed by a glass of white beside the crackling fire, which is where we spend our evenings reading, all cosied up catching up on our favourite books and enjoying wonderful conversations with Annie and Colin. 

Whether you visit in summer or winter, find yourself there for a night or a month, it is a haven that re-ignites the soul and leaves you wondering how you’ll ever leave. 

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LOCATION

Montréal, France just a 10/15 minute drive from Carcassonne Airport or one hour from Toulouse

RATES

Starting from €140 per room per night

WHAT TO DO & SEE

Incredible local antique/vintage shopping

Get lost in the surroundings of the Cathar castles

Book in for a body and attitude balancing session with Colin who is a world-renowned doctor of Chiropractic and a wellness coach

Head off for afternoon bike rides by the Canal du Midi

(In summer) Spend your days on beautiful Mediterranean beaches

Spend time relaxing at the house with a book and rosé (all day)

Organise a wine tasting and visit near-by vineyards

TIPS

Renting a car is essential to explore the surrounding towns and villages

Families are very welcome but really the property is much more oriented toward and appreciated by adults

TO BOOK

You can contact Annie directly at annie@camellaslloret.com

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To book, you can contact Annie directly at annie@camellaslloret.com

Architect & Designer Gulla Jónsdóttir, The Interview

In person, Gulla Jónsdóttir is as fabulous as her work is fierce and quite frankly put, a force to be reckoned with. Based in Los Angeles, California she heads up her own firm, Gulla Jónsdóttir Architecture + Design which she set up in 2009. After years of designing hotels from LA to Hong Kong, private residences in California and New York, restaurants in Paris and Mexico, a superclub in Beirut and a skyscraper in Dubai, the infamous designer has a portfolio that puts her on the map as one of the 21st centuries most skilled and sophisticated engineers of design. Growing up in Reykjavik, Iceland she left for LA where she studied architecture as an undergrad in SCI-Arc. Following in the footsteps of those who truly succeed in their trade and ultimately find their own path, upon graduating she sought out the greats and looked to learn from those who inspired her. After years of creating as part of incredible teams at Richard Meier & Partners Architects, Dodd Mitchell Design and Walt Disney Imagineering she now takes pleasure in leading her own team and continuing her work which now inspires and ignites the lives of all who enjoy her creations. I was thrilled to chat with Gulla and discuss where it all began, her inspirations and aspirations, taking in exactly why this visionary has been hailed as the new Zaha Hadid. 

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Gulla, where did your love of design begin?

In Florence Italy when I was 12 years old.  I was mesmerized by the beauty of the city and the arts. Architecture and design are undoubtedly one and the same, merging aesthetics with structure, formational with the ornamental.

Was it a natural evolution for you to move away from straight architecture to what you do now?

I am still very involved in architecture and especially architecture with artistic integrity, this is my first passion and design is my second passion and indeed a very fluid transformation from architecture. There is no limitation to creativity so whether I'm designing a skyscraper, interiors or a piece of furniture, it's only a different scale and mindset to me, but it all relates to the same DNA of site-specific beauty that can complement its surrounding nature.

What was your first job in the industry and what stands out to you as some of the most important lessons from early on in your career?

I was very lucky with my first job and grateful to land a job right out of architecture school at Richard Meier's office working on the Getty Center Museum; then the largest project in California. I learned so much from Richard Meier and I still appreciate his work and how peaceful it is. There is an element of elegant geometry in all of his work and since I majored in mathematics before studying Architecture this very much appealed to me.

Your work takes you around the world, what’s been your most exciting project to date?

There are many and I feel like they are all like my children, just living in different cities. I like working in Mexico and my recent project there, Comal at the Chileno Bay Resort and Residences in Cabo, is very close to my heart. So is the Macau Roosevelt in Macau China, which is the first ground-up hotel I designed under my own company name; a 368 room lifestyle resort which just got an award as the Best Resort Design 2017 from Interior Design magazine.

When working on projects abroad, how important is it to bring about contextual elements to your creations?

It's very important to me! It's the first concept I start working on with each location. I like to walk around the site, scope for natural elements that can influence the design and always prefer to use local materials and handcrafted local furniture whenever possible. 

The new Kimpton La Peer hotel in L.A is your latest gift to the world. Could please explain the creative process involved in such a huge work of art..

This project is particularly dear to me as it is the same location as the studio I started in 2009. We have taken it step by step for the last few years through careful consideration of the neighborhood, and fellow artists and artisans are installing a piece of their energy and soul in the project and in the end I feel like we have succeeded in our tempt of creating a symphony of the arts for the neighborhood in a very comfortable setting that can feel like your home.

How do you balance consistency in your work as a designer while never letting your ideas become repetitive?

I follow my heart and I believe that design comes from within. The exciting challenge derives from creating something new for each project and this is what drives me. Always.

I hear you’re working on a jewellery line too, can you tell us a little about it?

The jewellery line came organically as looking at a 3D model of a facade I previously designed but didn't get built. Rotating it around I thought it could look like an interesting ring. We test printed it in 3D and gold plated it and it feels good so this is the beginning of something more brewing that we will launch later this year.

You have a great sense of style and are always dressed so beautifully, has fashion had an impact on your story thus far?

I believe high fashion is an art form so yes sometimes it does inspire me. I can see a flowy fabric and imagine it in a solid concrete shape and so forth.

Where do you feel the world’s of art and fashion collide? Do you consider them to be one and the same?

The real haute couture in terms of artists such as Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen and others in that calibre is in many ways equal to fine art, the only difference is that it is wearable for your body and other art is sometimes a social and or political statement or for its pure beauty and storytelling. What they have in common is beautifying the world with creative energy.

That is such a beautiful way of explaining it. Wow. What does a day in the life of Gulla Jonsdottir look like?

I wake up around 8 am and make an espresso, shower and answer emails at home, although my New Years resolution is always to start with meditation instead of looking at my phone.. ( one day.. ! ). I arrive at my studio around 9:30 am and catch up with my team and clients and walk down the street to get a delicious almond milk cappuccino. Late morning I visit my nearby projects that are under construction in West Hollywood and downtown LA.

Twice a week at lunch, I work out with my trainer at the park and usually eat a healthy lunch like a salad with salmon or chicken at my desk. In the afternoon I have conference calls and continue on designing, sketching new and ongoing projects and thankfully no day is the same when you work in a creative environment. Right now we are working on our first atelier which will be inside one of the hotels I'm designing so this is a new exciting challenge for us and a new business that I will invite other artists to participate in.

Late afternoon I call my mom in Iceland before she goes to sleep, text with a few friends and by 7 pm its time to grab a glass of wine with friends or colleagues and some snacks at the bar and then I go home and pick up my suitcase that I half hazardly packed late last night, and catch my midnight flight to Hong Kong or anywhere the projects take me.

I make sure to set up dinner with friends in that city when I land and happily turn off my phone because I refuse to believe there is wifi on planes and this is my time to do absolutely nothing. I love it.

Is there a fundamental rule you live by, personally and professionally?

To be true to my heart, genuine, loyal and honest. I sleep very well at night because I live an honest & peaceful yet adventurous life filled with very good people around me both in my personal and professional life and for them, I'm very grateful.

How do you navigate between the public's view of you and your own private life?

I'm always the same, I don't have a poker face and I treat everyone the same; with kindness. 

What are up-and-coming architects catching your attention right now?

The architects in China are doing some fantastic things right now. I see a big growth in Asia in pushing the boundaries and exploring new forms and materials in a very interesting way.

What was the last book you read?

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami.

Who or what is your greatest inspiration?

Nature, always nature.

Is there something you dream of designing?

A museum, a skyscraper and an Olympic stadium. 

..and what building do you wish you had designed?

Anything by Santiago Calatrava 

What are your unfulfilled ambitions? 

Learning more languages fluently. I speak a few but I need to find the time to fulfil this ambition.

If you weren’t a world-renowned designer, where would we find you and what would you be doing with your days?

Interesting thought, wow. I think I would be a Sherlock Holmes or James Bond sort of a woman solving mysteries and travelling and then would retreat to my villa in Tuscany painting paintings and drinking red wine from my vineyard.

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Photographed below is Gulla's latest project, Kimpton La Peer Hotel which recently opened in West Hollywood, LA.

Read more about Gulla's career on Haute So Fabulous here.