Lucy Loves: April
My monthly round-up of art, design & travel recommendations
Spring has sprung in Istanbul and I couldn’t be happier. I’m all for roaring fires in cosy country pubs but I’m ready to welcome the longer, brighter days with open arms. Istanbul is surprisingly cold and rainy in winter so I’m hoping a tad more sunshine will make the long neighbourhood walks with a crying tiny a little more bearable.
At the moment there’s of course much talk about the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale (20 April — 11 November 2024). Sadly, I’m unable to attend this year because of said tiny but as ever it promises to be a dizzying carousel of openings, parties, drinks dos, talks and satellite events.
Not surprisingly, I’m particularly excited about the Türkiye Pavilion featuring sculptural works by the pioneering Gülsün Karamustafa and the British Pavilion, which presents Listening All Night To The Rain, a multi-media installation by John Akomfrah that explores themes such as memory, migration and racial injustice.
In other news, I’ll be touching down on home turf this month which I’m super excited about. I can’t wait to introduce our tiny tot to our friends and family, go for long countryside walks and see some of the exhibitions I’ve heard so much about, notably The Time is Always Now at the National Portrait Gallery. I’m also looking forward to swinging by Christie’s to see my team before scoping out Mayfair’s hottest new cocktail bar on Duke Street. I’m delighted that negronis are firmly back on the menu!
As long-term subscribers will know, the Lucy Loves monthly edit of art, design & travel recs is free for all to read, but if you’d like access to all articles including curated edits and travel guides (like these on Istanbul, Sifnos & Portugal), I’d love it if you’d consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your support really does mean the world to me as it allows me the time each week to curate and write The Istanbulist for you.
Here’s to a new season of adventures.
Love Lucy Xx
A new Parisian bolthole for your radar
We spent the final tranche of Olly’s paternity leave in the Alps. The change of scene, mountain air and the bountiful supply of croissants, Raclette and delicious vin rouge did us the world of good. Living the French way for a time also made me really want to go to Paris again. It’s been some time since I last visited the City of Lights and so many new restaurants and hotels have opened in the intervening years.
One I’m particularly keen to explore is Château d’Eau, the latest opening from the group behind Hôtel de la Boétie, the much-hyped boutique bolthole designed by Beata Heuman. A stone’s throw from the Garde du Nord, the new 36-room property has been transformed by Necchi Architecture to encapsulate the bohemian spirit of the Château d’Eau area. Expect chic, compact bedrooms, sleek, graphic bathrooms and communal areas peppered with Flea market gems.
New Substacks
I’ve yet to master breastfeeding on the go, so I can often be found plonked on the sofa, baby in one arm, phone, kindle or book in the other. Over the past couple of months, I’ve spent a lot of time scrolling through the Substack homepage and have come across some brilliant newsletters by well-known journalists, authors and stylists centred on my favourite themes of art, design & travel. I hope you’ll love them as much as I do. And, yes, please do let me know of any others I should subscribe to.
- — I love her writing style and the randomness of it
- — a goldmine of style and interiors inspiration
Flora’s Files by
— a curation of all things lifestyle, food, wellness, fashion and travelUnmapped Storylands with
— featuring story fragments, anecdotes, musings and writing tips
Covetable ceramics
I was recently introduced to the work of the Turkish ceramicist Esma Dereboy and now I can’t stop talking about it. Because, well, it’s simply divine. Using a combination of traditional techniques and pioneering embossing and engraving methods, she creates contemporary designs that are unlike anything else I’ve seen on the market. Think pastel tones, sleek lines and sensuous shapes that make you want to run your hand over them again and again.
Her tableware collections come in a range of colours and sizes and, happily, are not break-the-bank expensive. As the lucky owner of two of her gorgeous coffee cups, I can safely say they’d make for an excellent gift for the interiors lover in your life. The bonus? She ships worldwide.
Meet me here
There’s little I love more than a well-stocked independent bookshop. Sadly, they are few and far between these days but a gorgeous new one, Minoa, has sprung up in Istanbul’s Beyoglu neighbourhood. What’s even more pleasing is that it has a very fine selection of art, design and fashion books in English as well as Turkish. It also has a French-style brasserie where you’ll find well-heeled Istanbulites chatting day and night over a cup of steaming chai. All of my favourite things under one roof. Just love!
An exhibition worth travelling for
If you haven’t heard of Houghton Hall in North Norfolk, Google it now. Built in the 1720s for Britain’s first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, it is now home to the Marquess of Cholmondeley and his family. The Palladian mansion, which is set in 300 acres of glorious parkland, is also home to a herd of white fallow deer and an impressive permanent collection of contemporary sculpture.
For a few summers now, Houghton has also played host to a temporary contemporary art exhibition. This year is the turn of Antony Gormley and Time Horizon (21 April – 31 October 2024), one of his most spectacular large-scale installations to date. Installed across the house and grounds, it comprises 100 life-size cast-iron sculptures which are buried, or part buried according to the topography.
A new Jazz spot in Istanbul
Last week Olly and I enjoyed our first evening out without the tiny. We ferried over to the European side, put our phones on silent and settled into a night of live jazz at Pera 77. The bar-bistro, which opened last year on the ground floor of The Marmara Pera hotel in Beyoglu, serves modern classics and an extensive menu of craft cocktails, drawing the great and the good of Istanbul.
Pera 77 is not a boutique venue so it lacks the sexiness of more intimate jazz clubs and the food could do with a tad more refinement but the music more than makes up for it. We had the fortune of catching the brilliant Dilek Sert Erdogan who was accompanied by a band of unbelievably talented musicians — the saxophonist and drummer were truly exceptional — and I can honestly say we didn’t want to leave. The programme changes daily (there are four live performances each week), so check the schedule online or on Instagram in advance if you’re in town.
Women in the spotlight
The National Portrait Gallery’s new exhibition centred on photographers Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron has had rave reviews — and for good reason. Bringing together more than 160 rare vintage prints, it spans the career of both artists — who lived a century apart — and suggests new ways to look at their powerful portraits. It’s gratifying that these two leading lights are getting the mainstream recognition they deserve.
Spring refresh
Like the rest of the Northern hemisphere, I’m ready to welcome spring and give my interiors a little freshen up. Last year, I published a round-up of my favourite interiors buys to brighten mood and home which I’m resurfacing now because I still love all of the pieces in the feature. I’ve updated it with a couple of new season favourites that I hope you’ll appreciate as much as I do. Happy sprucing.
And finally…book your tickets now for the #SheInspiresMe Car Boot Sale on 18 May in the Selfridges car park. Described by Vogue as the ‘chicest car boot sale ever’, it offers new, past-season, vintage and pre-loved designer fashion donated by luxury brands, designers and fashion and beauty insiders at very reasonable prices. What makes this event extra special is that 100% of the proceeds go towards Women for Women International’s work supporting women survivors of war.
Those ceramics are stunning! I'd be ordering if I could fit any more into my kitchen cupboards!
Thank you so much for the mention! Love this x