New In - Jan_Feb 25

A new year, same us, more recommendations – for the first stint of the year, we finally watched an award-winning classic, have been watching back-to-back episodes of a well-loved travel docuseries, and are reminiscing on an unforgettable dining experience.  

Finisterre’s Hell or High Water

Podcasts have been big on our agenda recently. In Season 3 of Hell or High Water, Finisterre’s Head of Community and host, Lawrence Stafford, meets Swim Dem Crew founders Peigh Asante and Nathaniel Cole for a dive into community, identity, and water as a sanctuary. Through bracing sea swims and studio conversation, we hear how swimming becomes a vessel for inclusion, resilience, and self-discovery in inner-city London. The episode feels like a manifesto: that public waters should belong to everyone, challenging ego, fear, and exclusion. We’re listening on Apple. 

Collect Art Fair

We had the pleasure of attending the Collect preview this year, and as ever, it never disappoints. Headed up by the Craft Council, and interweaving between Somerset House’s 18th-century rooms, the annual art fair presented forty galleries, dealers, and collectives, as well as over 400 internationally renowned artists, across ceramics, textiles, glass, wood, and more. It brings together makers, curators, and critics while pulsing at the intersection of craft, design, and contemporary practice – a convergence that is becoming increasingly familiar in the art world. Collect is on until 2 March 2025, and we’ll never miss an opportunity to fawn over a Lucie Rie.

Credit: Masaaki Komori

Credit: Oxford Ceramics Gallery [Collect]

Credit: Bella Rose Bunce [Finisterre]

A Single Man

We’re late to the game, but we finally watched A Single Man – and it’s impeccable. Tom Ford adapts Christopher Isherwood’s novel, exploring loss, identity, and grief, starring Colin Firth – a film that earned him Academy and Golden Globe Award nominations and a BAFTA win. The film explores George, a British professor living in Southern California, as he navigates life without his partner. As you can imagine, with an adapted screenplay and direction by a well-respected designer, it’s a masterclass that exudes style and elegance. Watch on MUBI.  

TOAST x Mr Ben
We love Mr Ben’s ceramics, and we are especially glad to see his S/S25 collaboration with iconic, slow brand TOAST for their latest stoneware collection. Benjamin Hall, as he’s known offline, is a multifaceted Northern creative – a potter, singer-songwriter, and all the rest – has developed a range of hand-thrown mugs and bowls, illustrated with blue, swooping gull motifs. Exclusive to TOAST, so buy before they're gone!

Credit: Icon Film Distribution [A Single Man]

Jardin de la Lune

Earl of East are the original contemporary masters in candle creation – it’s a key part of their origin story. What started as a home scent brand quickly evolved and developed into a wider lifestyle store, stocking a wide range of independent products, and with locations across many London hotspots, including Redchurch Street and Coal Drops Yard. Although, Jardin de la Lume holds a special place on our personal re-purchase list. With top notes of tuberose, blackberry leaf, bergamot, and cade, it’s a candle we cannot stray from.

Sessions Arts Club

An otherworldly form of dining. Nestled in a Grade II* building in Clerkenwell, Sessions Arts Club is a ritual, a sanctuary and could almost be described as magic. A dream that merges art and dinner, with dim mood lighting (on an evening, which happened to be our encounter) and worn walls, they offer a menu that delivers Modern European excellence. It feels like a secret discovery, despite being well-known in the London hospitality scene – a balance is a hard one to strike – quietly under the radar, yet incredibly established in the industry. 

Credit: TOAST

Credit: Earl of East

Credit: Jessica Wang [Sessions Arts Club]

Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown

What better than to binge-watch any Anthony Bourdain series ever made?! We took on Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown from the top, a show that transcended travel TV. Each episode is a masterclass in curiosity about culture and uncovering overlooked parts of the world. Bourdain moves beyond the menu – into politics, diaspora, and power. He listens first, and eats second, learning through his conversations with chefs, fishermen, activists and allowing them space to tell their own stories. Our re-watches include his journeys through London, the French Alps, and New York’s Lower East Side.  You can watch all episodes on YouTube, and we miss him.

Self-Portrait as a Coffee Pot

William Kentridge’s Self-Portrait as a Coffee Pot is a nine-episode essay in the theatre of creation – part autobiography, part metaphysical play. Shot in his Johannesburg studio during the pandemic, the series blends animation, drawing, performance and dialogue. He argues with his doppelgänger across episodes, wrestling with memory, image and voice. The series is less about a final, finished product and more about process, ideas, and experimentation – like a form of interwoven inception, exposing the mind of an artist – another MUBI delight.

Credit: CNN [Parts Unknown]

Form Nutrition’s Protein Powder

A harmony in nutritional science with culinary imagination, Form Protein’s formula is delicious, with beautiful packaging and a plant-based friendly approach – we always choose vanilla. In a crowded wellness field, Form is a quiet powerhouse leading the way in product innovation, a B Corp, and is backed by Chief Wellness Officer, Orlando Bloom. We whisk ours into banana bread and our morning porridge.

NON

Australian brand NON is a non-alcoholic drink line with the ambition of creating soft drinks that refuse to be second best, offering a perfect replacement for wine-tasting. Crafted for adults, they balance texture and narrative, hitting notes of herb, peel, and bark. They avoid gimmicks – no masking or excessive sweeteners – instead leaning into subtle bitterness and depth. It’s an art form in shapeshifting the modern drinking experience, proving that choosing moderation and intentionality can co-exist with socialising. In the UK, you can find them at Dayesford Organic [Oxfordshire], Top Cuvée [London], on Delli, and at many more stockists. 

Credit: Form Nutrition

Credit: Louverture Films

Credit: NON