The January Edit
As I settle down to write this introduction, it is the beginning of the 76th week of January. Or at least, it feels like it is. Was that the longest month of all time? January has dragged on and on, filling my mind with possibilities for how I can spend the majority of the month abroad next year. It is, by far, my least favourite time of the year. We’ve had flood alerts, amber weather warnings, a full week of perilously trying to walk on solid ice and a fair few storms. Dry skin is creeping all over my face. How is the weather both drying out my skin and making my house damp at the same time? There have been days when we’ve had both the heating on and the fire roaring. I’m officially sick of it, and on a countdown until Thursday, when I’ll be heading to the French Alps for a long weekend of skiing and catching up with my friends who live there. Yes, it will be cold there too, but at least I can play in the snow.
I always feel frustrated when I haven’t travelled for a while, and November, December and January have felt very quiet travel-wise compared to the rest of the past year. This was somewhat intentional, to spend some time at home and to concentrate on my writing work for a while, but I miss travel and I’ve missed working for photography clients — so I’m excited for a busy month ahead. There’s going to be plenty of travel, both home and abroad. I’m home from France for just a couple of days before I head to Edinburgh for a shoot. A couple of days later, I’m flying to Marrakech for a week for a holiday. Then I have a meeting in London the following week, and the final week of the month I’m going to be on a week-long shoot in my favourite nook of the UK, Cornwall. Busy, busy, busy — so I thought I’d bring back my travel and work diary (which I last shared in August) to take you behind the scenes on all that travel and the shoots I have planned. I’ll be sharing that at the end of February, for my paid subscribers.
Let’s crack on with this months edit ….
I’m craving a trip to one of my favourite cities after stumbling upon The Apartment. This design gallery located in an 18th century Copenhagen apartment was conceived to feel like you’re wandering around someone’s private home, where everything from the art adorning the walls to furniture, trinkets and textiles is for sale. It’s a chaotically brilliant mix of treasures picked up while travelling, antique folk art, and beautifully crafted pieces created by artists all across the world. It’s all way beyond my budget, but I’d love to while away a couple of hours admiring each individual piece and daydreaming of a home filled with these textiles. Owner Tina Seidenfaden Busck’s own home is equally enviable.
My dream job would be photographing one of Ash Hotel’s ‘cinematic boutique hotels’ — the most beautifully designed places to sleep and play in the USA. Shenandoah Mansions is their latest project, a grand hotel in Richmond, Virginia that promises to be ‘a southern darling with a dark side’. I particularly adore the celestrial rugs created in collaboration with Nordic Knots, which will adorn the floors of each suite. They’re giving flashbacks to the sun-and-moons phrase of my childhood, but with a refined, contemporary spin.
Seeking a beautiful wastepaper bin to liven up your home office or bathroom? I’ve fallen in love with these hand-painted toleware bins from Rajasthan, available in a choice of four colours. These painted Mughal flower wastepaper bins are also beautiful, if you prefer a more whimsical design.
Every now and then I stumble upon an interior designer who I wish I could hire to renovate my entire home. Heidi Caillier’s work is just perfection: vibrant wallpapers, clashing patterns, plenty of rich woods (I adore this kitchen), a clever use of colour, beautiful antique finds, and she has a particular talent for stunning bathrooms (scroll across this project to discover the bathroom of my dreams).
If I was rich, my home would be filled with Penny Morrison’s vibrant patterns, from upholstered armchairs to long sweeping curtains and maximalist wallpapers. My own home is very plain, which is something I’ll be rectifying as we slowly renovate. I’ve already started adding colour upstairs, but I’m dreaming of contrasting Penny Morrisons patterns taking over my living room. I particularly love their Tulkan Olive, Gobi Green and Arabella Red fabrics.
I’m a strong believer of supporting other creatives, even those you’re in direct competition with. Tropico Creators (aka Wam and Lais) are among my favourite hotel photographers, injecting a sense of warm and life into all of their work. They’ve shot for places I dream of capturing through my lens, including Tonnara di Scopello and Le Caseta, transporting the viewer to sun-drenched Mediterranean destinations through their images. Follow on Instagram if you can resist the urge to immediate book flights.
Mille Notti’s bed linen is crisp and cool, and of the highest quality. I particularly like their frilled Camicia pillowcases, but what captured my attention for this edit was something a little more maximalist. How stunning is this jacquard woven leopard plaid, shown here hung on the wall as a tapestry? The main hue is a jewel-like bottle green, with intricately textured detailing. I adore it hung on the wall (and have a real thing for tapestries at the moment), but it would also perfectly finish your bed draped over the bottom as a throw. It’s not very ‘me’, but I just cant’ stop thinking about it.
I adore the simple yet effective packaging of Norfolk Natural Living’s parfums — that sleek brown glass bottle combined with the round cork top is just a beautiful piece of design. If you’re seeking a scent crafted from natural ingredients, these are deliciously light and fragrant — I have the basil and neroli, which is perfect for summer nights with hints of smoky vetier.
I recently bought two of my friends Couper et Coudre earrings, which I fell in love with and now have my eye on their beaded necklaces. Sourced from a supplier certified by the responsible jewellery council, they use a variety of beads including tigers eye, sodalite, freshwater pearls and agate for their simple designs. I love the idea of layering one of their chunkier beaded necklaces with a selection of gold chains and pendants for a layered look.
Helmsley & Co are one of my favourite places to look for vintage art. This particular piece of folk art particular captured my attention, and I’m still kicking myself that I didn’t take the plunge and buy it. It’s a vintage Swedish lithograph titled The Flower Tree by Stina Sunesson from 1969, and really reminds me of the film Midsommar (which I love). I’m heading to Sweden for Midsommar this year, so will be keeping my eyes peeled for loppis (flea market/barn sale) signs along our way in the hope of unearthing something similar.
Another piece of art I’ve had my eye on lately is Fee Greening’s ‘Sun’, a vibrant giclee limited edition print. As I mentioned when waffling on about Ash Hotel’s collaboration with Nordic Knots, I’m really into sun and moon iconography at the moment, and I adore how this would liven up your walls and add a warm glow to even the darkest winter days.
I’m not usually a big jewellery person, but another beaded necklace has caught my eye lately. This dainty glass beaded necklace is a collaboration between Cypriot brand, Sister and Budapest-based Kamay Ko, born of a mutual love of the Mediterranean sea. I love the idea of attaching this sun pendant to it for an extra reminder of Mediterranean summers.
To finish on the sun theme, I was recently reminded of this ‘woven sun with palm leaves’ piece by Joan Miro that I adore. This led me down a rabbit hole to this Vogue article, and now I’m daydreaming of visiting the artist’s former home.
I’ve reviewed everything I read in January below. It’s hard to choose my favourite read of the month, as I adored The Bee Sting, Gliff and Tilt, but I’m still thinking about Paul Murray’s hefty tome and that ending a full month after reading it. (Affiliate links used below)
This was my first read of the year, and I adored it. I have to admit I had been slightly put off by its length, and subsequently waited until it was out in paperback to get hold of a copy. I wish I’d read it sooner! It’s the story of four members of an Irish family, initially examining how they are all coping with the family business struggling, but becoming more of a deep dive into their pasts. Sections of the book are narrated by each of the four characters — and we return to each character several times as the present narrative develops. Personally, I enjoyed the voices of the father and the daughter the most, but I was interested in all four sides of the story. The ending is brilliant — if you’ve also read this, please send me a DM to discuss!
Honestly, I struggled with this. Positives first: the cover is beautiful, Miranda July’s writing is wonderful, and I loved all the parts of the story that focused on peri-menopause. However, I HATED the protagonist and found the majority of the book just really self indulgent. Why would anyone spend 20,000 dollars on renovating a motel room they were staying in for a couple of weeks? Who has that much money to throw away? And I might be a bit of a prude, but there were just too many detailed descriptions of sex and masturbation (I don’t mind sex scenes usually, but these just felt a bit icky). I found myself questioning all of the character’s decisions and getting angry at her. Was she even really in a polyamorous relationship at the end, or just living with a person who wasn’t her partner? I can see why this is such a marmite book, and really do appreciate that July is a great writer, but it just wasn’t for me.
I really, really loved this book, and am beyond excited to read its companion novel, Glyph which will be released later this year. This is only the second Ali Smith book I have read and WOW can she write! I loved all the clever word play throughout, and adore that she wrote a story that had me hooked at the same time as playing with language. The two siblings at the heart of the story completely captivated me, as did the totalitarian world they lived in, which was introduced to us slowly, through the eyes of the young girls. I’m a sucker for dystopian novels set in a believable near future, and this one nailed it, giving me nightmares about what could be just around the corner.
The Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan
I stayed up late to finish this, as I couldn’t put it down. It wasn’t my favourite read of the month, but I really enjoyed the tale of four generations of women living in Ireland, and completely fell in love with the three women at the heart of the story. There’s just something about Irish authors and books set in Ireland that I can’t get enough of at the moment.
Tilt by Emma Pattee (pr copy)
I literally read this in one sitting, picking it up when I finished work one evening and staying up until 1am reading. That’s how good it is! Tilt is the story of a heavily pregnant woman trying to find her husband during a devastating earthquake in Portland. She was shopping for a crib at an Ikea on the edge of the city when the disaster hit, and is slowly making her way towards her husband as both society and buildings crumble around her. It’s also the story of her relationship with her husband, with alternating chapters focusing on their past. Alongside her romantic relationship, it also tackles her relationship with her pregnancy, the unrealised dreams of both her and her husband, and how we all behave in a crisis. It’s really, really good, and will be released on 13th March.
Consider Yourself Kissed by Jessica Stanley (pr copy)
This wasn’t my usual genre of book, dipping more into contemporary romance than the literary ficition I’m normally drawn towards, but I did really enjoy it. The story depicts the relationship between Coralie and her partner, Adam over a ten year period, covering everything from how they met and the early days of their relationship to how they deal with the loss of people close to them and the births of new members of their family. Set in London and with a political journalist (Adam) as one of the main characters, Brexit, Covid-19 and the various political shake ups and events of the past decade play out in the background. It’s a fun, quick read that does have some depth.
Coming up this month for my paid subscribers:
A week in Marrakech — I’ll share my tips on where to eat, shop, stay and spa following my trip next week.
Work & travel diary — I’ll be writing a daily diary covering all my writing and photography work plus my travels over the next month.
No newsletter next week, as I’m travelling, but I’ll be sharing stories on my Instagram if you want to stay up to date while I’m away.
Emma x
This is excellent. Thanks especially for the Helmsley & Co recommendation - just clicked over and want about 7 new pieces of art now.
Love Love Love — a fabulous edit!