I’ve been putting these moodboards together (more for myself than anything) for a few months now. Previous ones have been a broad vibe; this month I’ve tried to be more focused, splitting menswear out from interiors.

We’re in the final stages of completing on the house — you know the stage, where you chase the solicitor every day and hear nothing back. With the end in sight, I’ve moved from collating everything I like to something closer to a view of how I want the house to take shape. It’s skewing warm: oxblood, deep green, dark wood, and stainless steel cutting through it.

On the menswear side, my saved folder last month was almost entirely outerwear and knitwear. Red is the colour I keep coming back to, though I’m open to more colour across the wardrobe this season generally.

Expect my next “bookmarked this week” to include at least one jacket and a sweater — layers for the drizzly days when it isn’t quite cold enough for the Barbour Transport or the Arc’teryx Atom.

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Menswear

_{1. Noah 2. Buck Mason 3. Auralee 4. Every Other Thursday 5. Noah 6. Another Aspect 7. Drakes 8. Aime Leon Dore}

Interiors

_{There are a few images from Zara Home below, and whilst I have serious doubts about the quality of the actual furniture (yet to experience it in person), they do an undeniably great job when it comes to styling and photography.}

_{1. Zara Home 2. Formaviet 3. Service Projects 4. Ingo Maurer 5. Fritz Hansen 6. Zara Home 7. &Tradition 8. Gubi 9. Tekla}

Until next time,

S

The older I get, the more aware I become of how I like things. Cups are one of them. For reasons I can’t quite explain, the inside needs to be white (or light at least). The handfeel needs to be smooth. The lip should be neither too delicate nor too thick, although, in the absence of perfection, too thin is always preferable.

I recently posted a note after the untimely death of my favourite espresso cup

Luckily, I’d finished the coffee pre-breakage, because the deep dive that followed required me to lock in, in a way that I cannot do undercaffeinated.

Links below.

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Had Julia Halperin used the adjective "best" in the title of her New York Times list of the ten most important chairs, I'd have skimmed it, considered her opinions interesting, and moved on. Taste doesn't need defending. But she settled on "important" — and important is a word you can be wrong about. It implies a test, and many of her picks fail to satisfy the brief.

To get a truer idea of importance, let's consider a few parameters:

1. Did the chair change how chairs get made?

2. Did it spawn descendants — not imitations of its look, but chairs that couldn’t exist without it?

3. Since the piece’s own subhead promises to tell us who furniture is for, did it change who could own a chair?

4. And separately: did it take a form that already existed and make it everybody’s?

The first 3 parameters judge how a chair changed the industry, and I’ll score them out of 3. Number 4 asks whether a chair has taken something old and made it universal. Call them popularisers. They matter, and they matter for reasons the first three tests can't see.

A chair can be beautiful, rare, expensive and rightly loved but still score 0/4. Below are the inclusions I disagree with and the chairs I believe merit inclusion.

The original NYT list omitted lounge chairs — most notably the Eames Lounge Chair. I’m going to assume that omitting lounge chairs in general is intentional, and do the same for my list.

The chairs that shouldn’t have made the cut

Out: Bibendum (1926), Eileen Gray

Score: 0/3 (not a populariser)

The justification for its inclusion in the NYT piece seemed to be more about the designer’s contribution than about the chair's. Gray’s influence on design and architecture is not to be understated, and while Bibendum is a more aesthetic chair than some on the list, the argument for its inclusion falls flat.

A new way of making chairs? No — the tubular steel frame and padded upholstery both used techniques already in circulation. Descendants? None you can name; nothing exists because Bibendum did, in the way that half the moulded seating on earth exists because the Eames shell does.

In: the Monobloc (c.1972)

Score: 2/3.

I suspect the Monobloc didn’t make the list because it’s not sexy (cynical read: it’s not held under license by a top European design company). However, when discussing the most important chairs in design history — at least of the twentieth century — it’s impossible to leave it out.

An estimated 1 billion of these plastic stacking chairs have been sold in Europe alone. Its construction — moulded in a single shot from a single material in about a minute. It’s one of, if not the cheapest chairs ever made, and every cheap plastic chair on earth is its descendant.

Out: 699 Superleggera (1957), Gio Ponti

Score: 0/3 (not a populariser)

Ponti once threw a prototype out of a window to prove it wouldn’t break, and it didn’t. I love this chair. It’s 1.7 kilograms of wooden refinement — but it’s just that. Refinement, not invention. Ponti took the Chiavari Chair (a Ligurian chair from the early 1800s) and pushed it to the edge of what ash can tolerate.

It’s an expensive study rather than a chair of true importance. It introduced no new process and spawned no new generation of chair design. It’s a recognised icon, but fails my populariser metric: where a populariser takes an old form and makes it cheap, Ponti took an old form and made it precious.

It belongs on a list — just not this one.

In: Polyprop / Polyside (1963), Robin Day

Score: 3/3

Day changed the economics of sitting down. The Polyprop was the first mass-produced injection-moulded polypropylene chair. If you went to school in Britain, you sat in one. Village hall, waiting room, church annexe — it is the seat of British public life.

The Eames Shell Chair of the 1950s proved a one-piece seat could be moulded; the Monobloc proved a whole chair could be. Polyprop is the step between them — the one that took the moulded shell out of design mags and into the school hall.

Ninety seconds a shell. Four thousand a week at peak. Somewhere around fifty million sold across more than thirty countries.

Out: Back Slant 84-7 (1983), Donald Judd

Score: 0-3, not a populariser.

Judd’s chair is praised for being made from standard board sizes — a feat considered efficient, but the praise overlooks that standard board sizes had already been the basis of furniture production long before 1983. Judd argued the case against himself, in print. In It's Hard to Find a Good Lamp (1993), he complained there was no furniture "pleasurable to look at, fairly available, and moderate in price."

Made in small numbers, sold to collectors, copied by nobody and descended from nothing. Its inclusion tells you what the list is really selecting for: things with a signature, a foundation and a photographable provenance.

If we’re going to include an “artwork” as furniture, I’d choose the Red and Blue chair by Gerrit Rietveld, which arrived 65 years before Back Slant.

In: The Windsor Chair

Score: 3/3

The earliest reference I can find of the Windsor is a 1708 Philadelphia inventory listing “three Windsor chairs worth ten shillings”, but it’s commonly thought to have originated in England, where records of the chair run continuously from 1718.

The affordable chair of its age, Windsor was made by a division of labour rather than a chairmaker, from cheap local wood, and produced in the thousands before the factory system existed. Every “stick chair” in the world is its descendant.

The chairs that stay on the fourth parameter

Three of Halperin’s entries score badly on the first three tests. I’d keep all three, and the reason is the same in each case: they took a form somebody else had already arrived at and put it in front of everybody.

No.35 Folding Chair, Gold Medal Camp Furniture

Score: 0/3, populariser

The NYT article admits the X-frame system was not introduced by No.35 and that it traces back to ancient Egypt — “This form is something that’s repeated over and over throughout different cultures". As a result, it fails the first few parameters.

However, this is the chair that went on to become the director’s chair, rather than simply a director’s chair, to the point where the phrase now names the form and the object instantly signals who is in charge on a film set. Very few chairs acquire a semantic role, and for that reason, it stays.

B.K.F. (1938), Bonet, Ferrari Hardoy and Kurchan

Score: 1/3, populariser.

With a frame made from a single bent steel rod and a seat that is little more than a leather sling, the B.K.F’s form descends from Joseph Beverly Fenby’s folding campaign chair and therefore fails my first two tests. It passes the third though.

The B.K.F showed up in every student flat, rented room, and first apartment of the post-war period. Almost none of them were licensed, so the actual numbers are unknown. What we do know is that even though Knoll briefly had the American rights to the chair, the copies never stopped. It’s on the list because it made a certain type of modernism ownable to the masses.

Sacco (1968), Gatti, Paolini and Teodoro

Score: 2/3, populariser

Sacco passes the first test outright: it is a chair with no frame, no joints and no rigid structure of any kind — a bag of polystyrene beads that takes its shape from the person sitting in it. Nothing before it had abandoned structure altogether. It passes the second easily, too. Every beanbag on earth is descended from it.

However, the chair only became universal once others made it badly and cheaply. The descendants are democratic; the object is less so. That’s a populariser by proxy, and it’s worth a slot.

The spot I still can’t decide on

If we’re talking about the most important cantilever chair in history, there are 3 contenders: Marcel Breuer’s B33, B32 (now known as the Cesca Chair) and Mart Stam’s S33. The NYT article lists the Marcel Breuer B33 chair in the number 4 slot — I make that the worst choice of the three, and I’ll tell you why.

I’ve written about the origin story of the Cesca Chair here, should you want to dive deeper.

The B33 exists because Breuer was made aware of Mart Stam’s cantilever chair. Halperin concedes this in her piece, and by default, it rules B33 out of the running on parameters 1 through 3. B33 doesn’t pass the “populariser” metric either, because it was Breuer’s other cantilever chair that wins on that front.

Stam originated the cantilever. Breuer resolved it with Cesca. It’s the version that made the chair comfortable, the version that spawned endless copies, and the version that reached the masses.

For this list, you either recognise that nothing is possible without Stam’s chair, or you choose Cesca.

The revised ten

1. No. 14 (1859) by Michael Thonet

2. Monobloc (c.1972)

3. Moulded Fibreglass Chair (1950) by Charles & Ray Eames

4. Windsor Chair (early 1700s)

5. Polyprop (1963) by Robin Day

6. Cesca / B32 (1928) by Marcel Breuer

7. Aeron (1994) by Chadwick and Stumpf

8. No. 35 Folding Chair (early 1900s)

9. Sacco (1968) by Gatti, Paolini and Teodoro

10. B.K.F (1938) by Bonet, Ferrari Hardoy and Kurchan

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Unsurprisingly (because I’m not immune to trends), loafers were my top choice for this particular category.

I put it off because, quite frankly, there’s always somewhere else for £200-300 to go these days (welcome to parenthood). Also, because I’d never worn loafers before, I wasn’t sure I’d feel comfortable (self-consciously speaking, not physically) and didn’t know how much wear I’d get out of them.

In early June, my procrastination, as it often does, came back to bite me on the ass. I needed a pair of shoes, and I needed them quick.

With no time to order online, try on, return and replace, I headed to the high street…

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It’s that time of the week again (well, it was on Friday, when this was supposed to go out)— he says, despite showing no semblance of regularity with this format until now — and below is what pulled me out of a doom scroll this week.

The lineup leans Autumn/Winter. Temperatures dropped, and it became obvious I’ve got a mid-layer, light-jacket-sized hole in my wardrobe. The non-clothing items are a nod to our upcoming home renovation. We’re still dialling things in, but expect to see some chrome/steel/aluminium contrasting softer elements.

YMC Curtis Shirt

I’ve been catching up on Throwing Fits episodes this week. In July, the boys sat down with Sage Tado-Nation of Sage Nation and talked about his new role as creative director of YMC.

It coincided with me finally getting around to having my YMC tearaway jeans repaired (the zip broke a few months back). Despite them being my most-worn jeans for years, they remain the only YMC item I own.

On the day of filming, Sage was wearing this YMC Curtis Shirt — a relaxed-fit seersucker shirt with corozo button fastening and chest pocket loop detail. Consider me influenced.

Curtis Shirt from YMC - £145

End and Means Coverall Jacket

Like a pair of Carhartt double knees, for your chest — that was my immediate impression of this coverall jacket from Japanese brand Ends and means. Durable, boxy and just the right amount of workie stolen valor.

I’m currently without a jacket that I can throw on when wearing black and this grey/purple was would solve that issue. It’s also versatile enough to throw on with most other trousers I own. Now, to find it in my size.

End and Means Coverall Jacket – £359

Service Projects Egg Cups

Some people will look at £45 for a set of egg cups and scoff, and fair enough — on paper it’s an absurd amount for something that holds a boiled egg. But I’ve never been able to properly explain what makes something “worth the money” beyond the obvious value-for-money maths, and I don’t think the maths is really the point.

Case in point: I bought an All Day Goods x Kerrygold butter knife for £35 back in January, another number that would get the same reaction from the same crowd. I still can’t tell you exactly why, but every time I reach for it, it does something a three-pound knife doesn’t. I suspect these egg cups will do the same. That’s the closest I’ve got to a working definition of “worth it.”

Service Projects Egg Cups – £45

RYAS Cotton Military Jacket

Mark Koob infiltrated my algorithm this week, and in the first video of his that I was served, he was wearing this jacket from RYAS, paired with some beige pleated shorts and dark brown loafers.

The military-inspired jacket features an army-green wash and a slightly oversized silhouette, and a broken-in aesthetic. The post is saved, and at £136, it’s a jacket I may come back to later this month.

Ryas Cotton Military Jacket – £55

Universal Works Cardigan

Cardigans are a transitional-weather go-to for me, and there are few brands I’ve got a better hit rate with (across all apparel) than Nottingham-based Universal Works. I shrunk a jumper in almost this exact colour last winter on a wash cycle I knew better than to run, so…this could be the replacement.

If you’re looking for a navy version, you can currently find it (in most sizes) on sale, marked down to £67 at END.

Universal Works Cardigan – £150

Sage Nation

Sage Nation are probably best-known for their box pleat, but these Mainichi (Japanese for “everyday”) trousers are more up my street (and possibly more age-appropriate). Made in England with a 50/50 cotton and nylon blend, they’re water-resistant, lightweight and roomy, without being billowy. Plenty of boxes ticked.

Sage Nation Mainichi Trousers – £380 £228

Formakivet Cubio Stool

Trends have been leaning metallic this year, which is welcome news for me (as I’ve always been a fan of chrome, steel and/or aluminium in the home). The playful, voluminous shape of the Cubio stool balances the raw aluminium aesthetic in a way that draws the eye in both minimalist and more expressive interiors.

I may have hit my metal quota for the new house, but if I could sneak one more bit in, it’d be in the form of Cubio.

Formakivet Stool – £803 £682

Mutimer Pleated Trousers

I can’t take any real credit for this find — that goes to the social media marketing team at Mutimer, who have absolutely blasted ads at me all over Instagram for the past month. I finally relented and gave them a closer look. I liked what I saw.

A wide straight-leg silhouette with double-pleated front in a sturdy 100% Cotton Twill. They claim they’re perfect for everyday, and at £120, they may be worth an even closer inspection.

Mutimer Everyday Pleats – £120

That’s it for this week. Until next time,

S

Nothing on this list came as the result of a deliberate search — they’re just things I happened across that made me pause long enough to screenshot / bookmark.

Here are five nine things I couldn’t scroll past this week.

Japanese Shirt

When someone like Zechariah Lee looks good in an item of clothing, it’s natural to think, “Is it good, or does he just look good?”

Luckily, the man has impeccable taste, so when I saw him post an outfit video on TikTok featuring this flowy Japanese crinkled shirt, I knew I had to have it. The only reason it got bookmarked is that it’s currently out of stock in my size. If you spot one for sale, hit me up.

Japanese Shirt in brown check from Ronning - £145

The Ghost Zipped Polo

Whenever your favourite menswear writer/influencer warns you off quarter-zips, file this one under “exception”.

Honest disclosure: I enjoy a quarter zip. Not those quarter zips, but some. This one from Brut is interesting — ghost pocket, faded wash, custom zipper, cord adjustment. For lack of a better description…it’s cool.

Brut Archives Zip Polo

Knoll Cesca Chair

I opened the showroom on Monday to find that someone had put a Cesca chair in the sale section over the weekend. It was marked down from £725 to £195.

I wasn’t necessarily in the furniture market (we’re still waiting for our house purchase to go through), but I couldn’t pass up a bargain like that. Just the week before I’d written about the chair for Utility’s Standard Practice Substack. It felt like a sign. I took it home.

You can shop the Knoll Cesca Chair, available at Utility – £725

Pexwear Tradesman Shorts

It’s shameful, really, that it took Peggs & Son in Brighton to put me onto a legacy workwear brand that originated in the very city I’ve called home for over a decade.

Pexwear began making what they called “democratic workwear” back in 1869 and went on to become a cornerstone of British manufacturing for 150 years. Like many companies, it didn’t survive the industrial decline of the 1970s, but thankfully, it has now been revived.

These shorts land right in the current trend cycle — wide fit, garment-dyed, with a worn-in feel, and for some added workie stolen valour, a hammer loop detail.

Pexwear Trademan Shorts – £55

COOR Multi-Stripe Pique Polo Shirt

I was stuck in a 30-minute-long doomscroll last night, paying little to no attention to the posts the algorithm was cherry-picking for me. Then, this reel from Will Phillips entered the chat.

It’s low in stock, but I did clock an XL available at Goodhood and a medium on Ssense. If the medium is still there this weekend, I’ll be taking that as another sign and will be taking it home.

Coor Stripe Polo Shirt

Carlo Giannini Moka Pot

A few days ago I posted a note about items I’d just missed out on on Vinted. This moka pot was one of those items. Do I need more coffee brewers? Absolutely not. Could I see this one in my new kitchen? Absolutely.

I’ll wait until we move, but someone may be getting a lowball offer on ebay soon.

Carlo Gianni Moka Pot

Western Hydrodynamic Research T-Shirt

I’m still dialling in my post-fatherhood Vinted algorithm right now (the Spotify algorithm is a lost cause at this point). I still have to swipe past a few Spiderman-themed bits, but then I’m finding items like this Western Hydrodynamic Research tee — I’m not sure if it’s the colour, the yellow tab or the fact that it’s a large that has been cropped to a medium, but it’s doing something for me.

Western Hydrodynamic Research T-Shirt

Goodlids Long Sleeve Pāua

This New Zealand brand is pretty new on my radar, but their current collection is looking pretty strong. My wardrobe is light on shirting at the moment, and the cut and pattern of this hemp number could be my next Summer to Autumn transitional pickup.

Goodlids Long Sleeve - Pāua

Smoky Paloma Incense

My house always has incense burning — at the moment it’s this PSG x Droplet collab — and I’ve also just kicked a nicotine habit, so these ciggies incense stopped me in my tracks. They might fall just on the right side of the tacky line, and I’ve not actually smelt them yet, but I think they’ll make for a fun experiment. If nothing else, they’ll accompany my growing vintage ashtray collection.

Smoky Paloma Incense

That’s it for this week. Until next time,

S

My first ASKET purchase was a grey t-shirt (seen here in a very 2017 IG post). The trending phrase in menswear content at the time was “capsule wardrobe”, and ASKET’s collection seemed built around the idea: fewer pieces, carefully chosen and designed to work together. Their sizing system also offered a solution to a lifelong struggle to find clothes that fit the way I wanted them to (without tailoring).

Over the years, I added sweatshirts, shirts, jeans and overshirts to my ASKET collection. I’d still wear all of them today, except that, for ASKET-level transparency, my waistline has proven not to be ASKET-level sustainable.

Almost 10 years have passed since that first purchase. Back then, buying fewer clothes was a conscious choice: I wanted a smaller, more considered wardrobe. Today, I buy fewer clothes because fatherhood has changed my priorities, and there are plenty of other places my money goes before another shirt earns a place in the wardrobe. The circumstances are different, but the principle remains the same: buy thoughtfully, and invest in quality.

Jonatan was kind enough to send over a few pieces to fill some gaps in my wardrobe, giving me the chance to revisit a brand that played a small but meaningful part in shaping how I think about clothes. Hopefully, waistline permitting, I’ll still be wearing them another decade from now.

Sitting for prolonged periods of time isn’t good for you – that is a fact I won’t argue. I don’t need a study to tell me it’s true – I’ve spent the better part of two decades behind a desk, and I’ve got the scars to prove it.

But is a standing desk (or rise/fall desk) really the fix?

1. The fact is, if you’re like most people, you won’t use it to stand — and if you do, it’ll be for less time than it takes to make a coffee. Cornell’s ergonomics lab has the numbers if you want them.

2. And in my opinion, you’ll not find a rise-and-fall desk that looks nearly as good as the best regular desks. I said the same about the office chair — ergonomic means nothing to me if it hurts my eyes every time I walk past it.

So instead of a desk with zero character and functionality you’ll never use, here are twelve I’d actually have in my home — and two at the end for anyone who still wants the lift.

For small spaces

AV17 Pavilion Desk — &Tradition, by Anderssen & Voll.

Chrome legs, lacquered walnut and a forbo linoleum desktop that is a joy to work from, the AV17 is perfect in smaller and/or multi use spaces. The back panel creates more contained space on the desktop but also ensures the desk looks great from all angles, meaning you don't have to push this one up against a wall.

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We scroll through so much, so fast, that it's genuinely hard to know what you actually like sometimes — everything blurs into everything else. Collecting the images that stopped me long enough to screenshot or pin is my way of finding out: when I lay them side by side, a theme usually emerges, some thread I wasn't consciously chasing but was clearly drawn to anyway.

There's not much to read here, admittedly — it's mostly vibes.

But if you've never done this for yourself, I'd genuinely recommend it: pull together what's caught your eye lately and see what it tells you about your own taste. As for me, this is roughly the frequency I'm on right now. If it resonates, there's more where this came from — subscribe and stick around.

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Until next time,

S

Home now, catching up on work, the last bits of the house purchase, and going through what actually caught my eye in the gaps. Fewer scrolls than normal, but somehow still twelve things that, for now, are firmly on my wishlist.

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The experiment was a success

Morjas x Every Other Thursday, The Club Loafer

A few months ago I bought a pair of £40 loafers from Zara, treated as a calculated risk — if they didn’t work, I’d sell them and draw a line under it; if they did, I’d sell them and buy properly. They worked.

So: this. Ethan Glenn’s biggest gripe with loafers was the break-in period, so he took Morjas’s Penny Loafer and had it re-cut in unstructured, buttery-soft Italian aniline nappa with a collapsible heel — a loafer that arrives already broken in. Blake-stitched, made in Spain. Only problem?

They’re an in-store exclusive, at least for now. *crosses fingers*

Their nostalgia is vintage Americana. Mine’s a GAA pitch

Human By Nature Strawberry Gingham Picnic Shorts

I've followed Human by Nature for a few years — a couple of the shirts have sat on a wishlist the whole time. Their own line is "nostalgia and the new," and the actual reference points are running shorts and Japan's embrace of vintage Americana, but the size, the shape, and the side stripe are close enough to what I grew up playing GAA. So, nostalgia indeed.

Still not sure if I’m bold enough to rep this pair — my sensible side is edging towards these instead.

The first real tie I’ll own

J.Crew English Silk Twill tie in “Ocean Neats”

Of course I've owned ties. Loads of them. But they were all last-minute purchases required to complete a suit for a wedding or a — I’ve just never had one I’m truly happy to own.

I’ve had the J.Crew's English Silk Twill tie in "Ocean Neats" bookmarked since it turned up in my March moodboard, and I haven't stopped thinking about it since. The plan, eventually — white oxford, this tie, a knit over the top, Barbour Transport jacket over that. AW26 planning starts in June, apparently.

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We’re partway through buying a 200-year-old sandstone house back home, still waiting to complete, so staying in a converted mill — also sandstone, also old — feels like more than coincidence.

A preview, maybe, of the life we’re building back home.

Packing for a Mediterranean heatwave — the wins and the losses.

Average highs of 37 degrees celcius and lows of 32.

Shorts

Frizmworks Seersucker Cargo

Gramicci Twill G-Shorts

Adsum Site Shorts

Patagonia Baggies

Our Legacy Drape Tech Lilac

Wax London Dalston Denim

Shirts

Wax London

Wax London

ASKET blue oxford

Arket

Zara Textured Shirt

Zara Raised jacquard shirt

Trousers

Uniqlo barrel leg, white

Footwear

Keen Uneek convertible ii

Merrel Hydro Moc

Salomon XT6

Birkenstock Bostons

Zara Soft Loafers

Caps & Sunglasses

Fritz Hansen Sound Room

Another Aspect Another Cap 2.0 -

Another Aspect Another Cap 1.0 -

Polo Ralph Lauren - (similar)

Oscar Deen

Cameras & Editing

I brought a few cameras with me — a Fujifilm x-Pro 2, Olympus mju ii 35mm point and shoot (loaded with Kodak Gold) and an Instax mini evo (a fun little point and shoot that makes fun photos that always end up living on my fridge).

For anyone travelling to the region who’d like to shoot film — there’s a little camera store in Pisa so best to purchase what you need there rather than gamble on the airport scanners.

I’ve spent the run-up to this trip on Duolingo, learning Irish. I’m Irish; my son isn’t — born and being raised in England — and that gap felt worth closing, even slightly.

Whether Duolingo actually teaches a language or just trains you to solve increasingly elaborate puzzles, I genuinely don’t know.

I haven’t met anyone who’s come out the other side fluent. But as an Irishman abroad I guess “Is fearr Gaeilge briste, ná Béarla clíste” — broken Irish is better than clever English.

Anyway, look — it’s hot as f**k so we’re popping down to the river for a cold plunge.

Until next time, S.

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The next time you find yourself in the city and looking for a hearty dose of interior inspiration, open this map. It’s got all of the showrooms catalogued for now, but I’ll work through the non-interior stuff in time (food, hotels, shopping, etc).

Louis Poulsen

I’m a sucker for a lamp, and Louis Poulsen are top of my list (slightly ahead of Flos) for all things lighting.

This year they unveiled a selection of re-editions and line extensions marking 100 years of Poul Henningsen designs. Our group were split on the new PH 1/1 Piano Lamp (seen below) but I personally feel that in the right interior, it'll look incredible.

As always, the Danish brand went all out on their showroom activation — DJ, lighting installations, talks and even an arcade/slot machine type setup giving visitors a chance to win one of their iconic PH5 Mini pendant lights.

Top marks for effort.

&Tradition / Lille Petra

Already on record about Lille Petra being the best breakfast in the city, so I’ll just confirm it remains true.

The showroom, as ever, looked the part. The collection as a whole is still one of my favourites in this category. Nothing this year hit the same heights as previous visits — sometimes that’s just how it goes — but there’s a consistency to what they do that I respect. You know what you’re getting, and it’s usually very good.

Fritz Hansen Sound Club

Clayton Chambers made a video earlier this year about how brands were increasingly using audio and sound systems as storytelling tools at design festivals. He was right, and 3daysofdesign 2025 confirmed it hasn’t slowed down.

Fritz Hansen’s Sound Club — done in collaboration with Japanese audio brand Technics — was the most prominent example. Transparent speakers continue to appear in almost every showroom worth visiting. And Dynaudio opened their first permanent European flagship on Frederiksgade, designed by Norm Architects, presenting a collaboration with Karimoku Case called A Moving Presence — furniture in dialogue with speaker design, Japanese craft meeting Danish acoustics.

Transparent speakers continue to pop up in almost every showroom and exhibition space. This one may yet end up in my house.

GUBI

I wrote about this briefly in the last letter, but it deserves more space.

Two or three years ago, I left the GUBI showroom quietly and filed them away. The 70s references had tipped from considered into costume, and however good the underlying product, I couldn’t get past it. I stopped paying attention.

This year I went back, mostly out of obligation, and came away having revised my position fairly significantly.

The pivot isn’t an abandonment of what GUBI were trying to achieve — the Italian midcentury DNA is still there, and the reissue programme is still central to the offer. The edit feels sharper. The new work — particularly pieces from AMDL CIRCLE and Linda Korndal alongside the reissued Scarpa and De Carli — sits more comfortably alongside the archival material rather than being overwhelmed by it. The Bistra rattan collection reads as contemporary rather than nostalgic. And the Beetle Bar setup at Nordhavn, predictably, was a good excuse to sit down for a while.

The collection feels liveable now in a way it didn’t before. That’s the whole job, really.

MOEBE

Caught up with Anders at the MOEBE café, their temporary space during the festival. I don’t say this lightly: MOEBE consistently punches above their weight. The product looked great in the space, and the team remains one of the more quietly impressive operations doing this.

Normann Copenhagen

Their new hero launch is Marmite — looks good here in black leather, though I’m not totally sold on how commercial it actually is.

One thing I will say: Normann Copenhagen know how to throw a party. The parties at 3daysofdesign aren’t just an excuse for a free drink after 20,000 steps. They’re where you actually meet people — once the work-mode has dropped off a bit, you get a sense of who someone is rather than just what they do. That matters more than it sounds, even in a business context.

I ended up talking to a Danish guy who’d just finished a three-month hiking trip through South America, a Welsh woman called Meg who’s opened a cool design store in Cardiff, and caught up with Tracy, who runs BTS Concept Store — one of my favourite spots back in Ireland.

Good times, all round.

Frederiksgade 1

House of Design at Freferiksgade 1 is not to be slept on if you’re in the city for 3daysofdesign. 4 floors and endless rooms that are filled with brand exhibitions — this year it included USM's Greater Than The Sum installation, a tribute to the essence of the iconic USM Haller furniture.

Bongusta

Tekla have had a bit of a monopoly on the aspirational bedding / towelling front over the past few years. I’ve never been able to justify the price, and a few reviews I’ve read lately don’t do anything to help.

Bongusta might be a genuine alternative, though. It leans a bit more fun/colourful, so it’s not a like-for-like, but I’m feeling it, and in feeling it, I’m feeling incredible quality. One to watch.

Not enough people are talking about Bolia

My timeline is full of OMHU Teddy (fun, good pricepoint) and Camaleonda (a classic for a reason) chat but not enough people are talking about Bolia.

In past years their creative direction has been a bit “minimal scandi” and perhaps found itself on the wrong side of a trend cycle, but they’re really dialling it in right now. Their showrooms are beautiful and the products are incredible.

Caveat: if you sit on a sofa in Europe, be prepared for a 10-20% firmer sit when you purchase in the UK. You can thank UK fire regulations for that.

Chat soon, S.

Gate E101. Copenhagen Airport. My feet have logged somewhere north of 40,000 steps over the last few days and they'd like a word. There's a mild hangover involved too — the brand parties at 3daysofdesign are, it turns out, still fun.

I've got 30 minutes before boarding…

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GUBI redemption

I’ll cover this in more detail in a future post on 3daysofdesign, but just know that after 2 years of essentially filing GUBI under “no longer for me”, I returned to their showroom this year and have come away with a fresh perspective.

Gone is the full-blown 70s revival and in its place is a more refined vision.

A note on the Zara loafers:

I did half of this trip — somewhere just under 20,000 steps — in a pair of Zara loafers. Bought cheaply and deliberately as a test case. I’ve been uncertain about loafers and me for a while, and I didn’t want to find out the hard way at full price.

Two conclusions: they’re more comfortable than they have any right to be, and I do, in fact, like a loafer. The Zara pair aren’t the loafers I actually want long term, but they’ve done the job of working that out.

Lille Petra Café

&Tradition’s showroom café remains the best breakfast in the city – both food and setting. I’ve said it before. I’ll keep saying it until somewhere proves me wrong.

While I was there, I paid more attention than usual to how they frame artwork — prints set within oversized coloured mount card. I’m stealing the idea for the house. I can sense a pending “custom mountcard” rabbit hole.

The Long Shoe, by Bob Mortimer

I finished it on the flight over. Never did shake whatever mental block I had about Bob's narration. The story wasn't especially compelling but it was readable — the literary equivalent of a Sunday movie. You know the ones. On in the background, not asking too much of you, one eye on your phone.

Film photography, my old friend.

Rising costs and limited free time have kept me away from film for longer than I’d like to admit. A few rolls of 120 had been sitting on a shelf for well over a year.

I finally sent them off. Tried a new developer — Come Through Lab, Manchester.

Film developing is like going to the barber. When you find one you like, you keep coming back, and one bad trip is enough to never sit in front of their clippers again.

I’ve found the one I’ll be coming back to.

The photos themselves are nothing special. Snapshots of life — cherry blossom, the garden, a camping trip. But getting the scans back is a feeling I’d forgotten I missed. No instant feedback, no second chances. You made something, then you waited. That’s it.

It’s made me want to shoot more.

The Beast in Me

Planning to finish this on the flight home. It’s on Netflix. Author Aggie Wiggs has withdrawn from public life since the death of her young son — can’t write, barely present — until the house next door is bought by Nile Jarvis, who becomes an unlikely subject for a new book.

Clare Danes and Matthew Rhys are both very good. The show has thick, moody tension, a retro visual aesthetic, and excellent pacing. I want to see how it ends.

Next time: Tuscany.

– S

Like this post? Stick around,

S.

May Auctions

We're in the middle of buying a place, which means I've spent more time than I'd like to admit in auction house listings looking for furniture bargains. Turns out it's a genuinely good place to shop — if you know what you're looking for.

I had a May version drafted but failed to schedule it…so, this is the first of what I'm planning to make a regular edit: the lots worth watching each month, with deadlines included.

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1. Sori Yanagi Butterfly Stool

   Starting strong with my favourite low stool design (sorry Aalto) of all time – this 1954-designed Butterfly stool in Santos Palisander would be coming home with me if I weren’t on a strict temporary spending ban. Bidding starts at £200 – view lot here.

   Note: The Butterfly Stool is still in production (by Vitra) and retails for £895 new. This model dates circa 2020, so it’s not exactly vintage. When you take into account the auction house fees, a £400 winning bid would be a great deal.

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French workwear is having a moment. Austin Butler, Jacob Elordi, and Jeremy Allen White have all been photographed in some version of a blue vintage overshirt/jacket.

The images are all over my timeline, from moodboards to trend reports.

But it was the Richard Haines for Sperry campaign that piqued my interest and kickstarted a month-long search for the perfect blue chore jacket.

Shot in his studio — slouchy blue jacket, pleated navy trousers, a pair of CVO sneakers, a distressed cap that had earned its shape.

I bookmarked it and have kept coming back to it.

The Search

My search started with “French chore jacket” — the keyword doing the rounds.

Plenty of options. Spoilt for choice. Narrowing them down was the challenge — proportion, sizing, and if I'm honest, I wasn't entirely sure what material I was looking for either.

In steps Tess Sullivan…

Below: aVinted seller with a ton of blue chore jacket listings at solid prices

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I'm writing this from a sun-filled corner of the garden, letting the last slow hours of a bank holiday weekend drift past. Same ritual as last time, different postcode. Shropshire was good, but there's something to be said for a bank holiday that ends at home rather than in a car.

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The light layer hunt that started last time has taken a turn.

What began as a fairly open brief has narrowed quite specifically into a blue chore jacket rabbit hole. I’ve gone deep enough on it that it warrants its own post, which I’ll link to [here] once it’s up. The short version: they’re on trend at the moment (thanks, Elordi) so Vinted is awash with options – finding the real thing, with the proportions I’m after is proving difficult. More on that soon.

A few weeks ago I booked a family trip to Tuscany for June. It follows my annual work trip to 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen (I wrote about last year’s edition here), so it’ll be flat whites and Danish design, then Chianti and slow lunches, within the space of a fortnight.

What struck me afterwards was that when I put together my April moodboard – before the trip was booked – the Mediterranean was clearly already somewhere in the back of my mind. Terracotta, linen, stone walls. Apparently, my subconscious had already packed.

I’ve finished the Lonesome Dove series. The whole run. It felt like a natural place to stop, and I needed a palate cleanser before diving into something new.

I’ve landed on The Long Shoe by Bob Mortimer, narrated by the man himself. It’s off to a strange start, which feels on-brand. The issue, if I can call it that, is the narration. I like Bob. I think he’s very funny. But there’s something about how I think of him – the gentle chaos, the chat show anecdotes, the general vibe, that makes it hard to fully settle into whatever world he’s building. Whether that shifts over time remains to be seen.

I watched Project Hail Mary, having read the book last year and enjoyed it thoroughly. I was quietly nervous. A lot of what makes the book work happens inside the main character’s head (the problem-solving, the slow drip of memory returning) and that kind of thing doesn’t always survive the jump to screen.

It did, mostly. Ryan Gosling carries it with the kind of effortless, slightly awkward warmth that makes you forget you’re watching someone try quite hard. The film has real heart. As I mentioned last time, I don’t come at these things through the lens of a media student – even though at one point in time, that’s exactly what I was. I watch it, I enjoy it, I go to bed.

I've been building a playlist lately. It's called Full Tilt Boogie, after the song that started the whole thing, and it's become the default soundtrack for weekend mornings – making breakfast for the family, pottering around with a coffee, not being in a rush to be anywhere. I've been enjoying it more than I expected. It's below if you want a listen.

Back to the week. More soon.

– S

Between late-night scrolls, tab-hoarding, and falling into many Instagram rabbit holes, I’ve gathered a small list of things that got screenshot, made it into a saved folder or a Chrome bookmark. A few I’ll probably come back to. One or two I might even buy. But for now, I thought I’d share the love.

Here are five things I couldn’t scroll past this week.

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There are certain objects that people slowly convince themselves are attractive through sheer exposure. I’m convinced that the modern ergonomic office chair is one of them.

I know they’re practical. I know they’re adjustable. I know some bloke on Reddit with a standing desk and an Oura ring will tell me the lumbar support changed his life. But aesthetically? They are among the worst things ever allowed into domestic space.

I’m sorry but I cannot live alongside an object that looks like it was designed for deep-sea research.

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The problem is they’ve become so normalised that people no longer register how insane they look. A £1,400 mesh insect skeleton parked next to a nice oak desk. A black plastic exoskeleton lurking in the corner of the study. Every "desk setup" video featuring enough exposed mechanism to qualify as light industrial equipment.

You may have convinced yourself that you genuinely like the look of the Aeron. Maybe even the Embody. But I suspect that’s less about beauty and more about familiarity. Years of seeing them in tech offices, podcasts and productivity YouTube videos has eroded your instincts.

You start calling things “clean” when they look like medical equipment.

And listen, if you’re an engineer, or you work in tech, I understand why this happened. You care about performance. Metrics. Optimisation. Cable management. I respect it. But I refuse to apply the same logic to furniture.

Because furniture has to live in your house.

Which brings me to the Eames EA217 Soft Pad.

Or more specifically: the only office chair I’ve ever looked at and thought, yes, that deserves to exist in a home.

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Unsurprisingly, Barbour kept coming up.

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I nearly dismissed the brand as an option. I’ve tried Barbour jackets before and they’ve never quite worked for me. The Bedale Jacket looks great on some people, but on me – landed in an awkward no-man's-land somewhere between hip and thigh, neither committing to one thing nor the other. Proportionately, it just didn’t feel right. Honestly, it felt like I was trying to cosplay as someone I’m not.

Then I came across the Barbour jacket that feels like me. I’d seen it a few times online and it felt like it could work. The proportions looked “better”—slightly shorter, a bit more relaxed, less of the traditional Barbour silhouette. I didn’t get a chance to try it on, but pulled the trigger anyway.

I’m glad I did.

It was the first one that didn’t feel like a costume.

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