Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors' picks of the week

A Lunar New Year feast

Bill Prince, Editor-in-chief

Last week I celebrated Chinese New Year in a restaurant I know well but hadn't visited in a few years - China Tang at the Dorchester Hotel, London. Thankfully little had changed - the stately progress through the hotel's refurbished Promenade - opulent without being overwrought - a fitting prelude to the restaurant itself, which is set a floor below with an adjacent bar that's perfect for more clandestine moments than this. As befits a class act, the year of the snake was rung in with traditional Cantonese style steamed fish and a whole Peking Duck prepared to perfection.

A revolutionary hair tool

Hannah Tindle, Beauty & Grooming Editor

'I visited Larry King’s new Marylebone salon for a trim and blow dry. The latter was done using Dyson's lightweight Chitosan products and the Airwrap i.d., which uses a Bluetooth connection to automatically carry out a customisable drying pattern set in the Dyson app. Although Wallpaper* covered the news when the tool launched in August 2024, I had yet to experience it in the flesh. With thick, frizz-prone and low-porosity hair reaching down to the middle of my back, the drying and styling process is usually akin to an arduous upper-body workout. But for the Airwrap i.d., each section took seconds to conquer. I left looking something like Farrah Fawcett in less than an hour.'

A multi-disciplinary show

Gabriel Annouka, Senior Designer

'This week, I caught George Rouy and Sharon Eyal’s 'Bodysuit' at Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, commissioned by Hannah Barry Gallery. 45 minutes of hypnotic choreography that gripped me from the start: the dancers were precise, relentless, and the score hit like a jolt of electricity. Left me with the feeling you get when something lingers just past the point of comprehension.'

A Parisian watch showcase

Hannah Silver, Watches & Jewellery Editor

'This week, LVMH Watch Week hit Paris. After a change of location and date due to the emergency situation in Los Angeles, brands including Zenith, Louis Vuitton, Bulgari, Tag Heuer and Hublot pulled together to present an impressive selection of new watches. A particular highlight was this vivid Gerald Genta watch inspired by the prickly sea urchin. In bright orange, and studded with fire opal gemstones, it stays faithful to Genta’s brilliant watchmaking creativity.'

A Brutalist icon

Ellie Stathaki, Architecture & Environment Director

'The Barbican Centre is heading towards a major revitalisation project, and to mark the launch of the project's public consultation, I was lucky enough to hop on a site tour earlier this week. Many of its iconic public areas are due to be thoroughly refreshed - some of its tired building fabric has never been properly fully updated. Allies and Morrison and Asif Khan Studio, and engineers Buro Happold are heading the works and exciting plans include a range of updates and accessibility improvements at its lush, green, brutalist conservatory - a personal favourite.'

A Shoreditch restaurant

Tianna Williams, Staff Writer

'I ventured out of the office to check out a new restaurant in Shoreditch called Bar Valette. With its bright green facade it is hard to miss, while its interior offers a casual and intimate setting. The dishes varied from lamb chops to deep fried prawns with a spicy mayonnaise, but the showstopper, and staff favourite, was chef Isaac’s chocolate mousse. In a large tapas dish the mouthwatering mousse is light and fluffy, yet incredibly rich and decadent. Topped with cream it's a dish made to share, but it took much restraint to not polish off the whole thing myself.'

A star-studded dinner

Nick Vinson, Contributing Editor

'I had an invite I could not say no to; an intimate dinner in Milan with Ginori 1735 and their brand ambassador Jake Gyllenhaal.

So I flew to Milan, spent the night at the Portrait Hotel Milan and headed to Langosteria Cucina, Enrico Buonocore’s fine dining restaurant.

Ginori introduced two new colours for their Oriente Italiano service, Castagna and Meringa or chestnut and meringue. We ate Sicilian Langoustines, puntarelle and anchovies, red prawns "alla catalana” with tomato, celery and Tropea onion, red snapper and spring onion tempura with Wasabi mayonnaise, charcoal grilled black grouper chateaubriand and then paccheri with wild seabass olives, capers and Amalfi lemon. Each dish was a masterpiece, served with my favourite wine, Am Sand, a Gewürztraminer from Alois Lageder from Alto Adige and looked especially good on the chestnut colour.

Gyllenhaal told me he’s a hug fan of Wallpaper*, he always looks for it at the newsstand and that his Instagram feed is all design. This trip he took home a set of a set of Colonna, Giovanni Gariboldi’s 1954 stackable service that Ginori just re-edited, for his New York apartment.'

A pop-star pop-up

Anna Solomon, Digital Writer

'Another week, another pop-up in London. This time the destination was Harrods for an early-morning event complete with Swarovski-branded beetroot and apple juices. The jewellery maison has partnered with pop princess and all-round it-girl Ariana Grande to release a Glinda-coded capsule collection. There was a lot of pink – predictably – in this confection of a collab, as well as an Old Hollywood theme (pink popcorn machine and all). Stop by the ground floor of Harrods (look out for the Mert and Marcus window displays on Brompton Road) to ogle some whimsical crystal jewellery, including a very bling-y showpiece pendant.'

A toast to the Bard

Charlotte Gunn, Director of Digital Content

'Saturday night involved a Burns supper and merriment at The Cow in Westbourne Park. We ate in the upstairs dining room and then headed down into the melee on the promise of a piper and poems. The entertainment was rather tardy – I suspect he'd been doing the rounds of London pubs, a dram at every stop – but eventually arrived with a solid pair of lungs and the appropriate Rabbie works memorised. Until next year!'