“They’re movable works of art,” says Budapest-born, London-based decorator Gergei Erdei of his new collection of hand-painted pine folding screens. Part of his Objects of Desires series, the six designs include trompe l’oeil columns, winged mythological figures and interlocking geometric shapes. Erdei found inspiration for his pieces, which exceed seven feet, in a recent retrospective of the works of Italian couturier Elsa Schiaparelli at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the lacquered screens of Art Deco multimedia artist Jean Dunand. The crumbling frescoes and ancient mosaics of Pompeii informed the soft, ocher tones of the mythological design, which was achieved through multiple layers of acrylic paint. “I keep coming back to Pompeii in my work,” says Erdei. “I find the layers faded by time so beautiful, like veils of history.”
Screens believed to have originated in China’s Han Dynasty became popular decorative pieces in Europe in the 17th century, when they were used for privacy and to divide rooms and block out designs. A few centuries later, Coco Chanel lined her Paris apartment with black and gold Coromandel lacquer screens. Erdei, who once worked as a womenswear designer at Gucci in Rome, also wants his displays to stand out. “I can see them being used as a theatrical backdrop behind a bed or sofa or on either side of a fireplace,” she says. A special display will also make an appearance, along with his signature acrylic murals, in his next project, the interior design of a private hotel-turned-Riad called Le M, opening in the Marrakech medina this summer. Objects of Desire screens from $6,700, gergeierdei.com.
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Chef Calum Franklin brings his savory pies to Paris
English dishes rarely get their due in France, but British chef Calum Franklin, nicknamed the “Pie King” from his years crafting savory pies at London’s Holborn Dining Room, aims to change that this month with the opening of the Public House. , his first work in Paris. Occupying an American bar-nightclub in the Opera District, the restaurant combines the brasserie format — spacious and bustling dining rooms with deep booths — and the relaxed spirit of a British pub. Franklin wanted the menu to be an approachable mix with a selection of his signature pies (among them beef and bone marrow, Montgomery Cheddar, dauphinoise potato and caramelised onion, chicken and wild mushroom and lobster for two) alongside pub classics such as Scotch eggs. sausage rolls and sticky toffee pudding. “If we’re going to introduce old British pies to Parisians that are inspired by 600-year-old recipes and history, we have to do it gradually,” says Franklin. For the interiors, architect and designer Laura Gonzalez wove in hand-finished oak furniture, tartan fabrics that vary on each of the three floors, and a patchwork of bright tiles. On the lower level, there is a bar with its own entrance, while on the top floor, guests can sit in a spacious winter garden and play a round of darts or chess in the games room. It all makes for something fresh about Paris and an adventure for Franklin. “When I was young, many of my chef friends came to work in Paris, but I was very shy. I didn’t speak French and it was very easy to stay in London,” he says. “I always regretted it because I saw how Paris changed them. Now it’s my turn.” Public House opens March 26, publichouseparis.fr.
Passover, the Jewish holiday marking the Exodus from Egypt, is built around a meal – the Seder – and the story of the flight to the Promised Land that goes with it. On the same night, everywhere in the world where there are Jews, the ritual meal takes place, although the food and flavors vary according to the local culture. “The Jewish Holiday Table,” a new collection of recipes edited by the Jewish Food Society, covers all the Jewish holidays and Shabbat, the Friday night Sabbath meal. The recipes – and family stories – come from cooks with roots in Iran, India, Iraq and Israel, Morocco, Hungary, Denmark and the former Soviet Union. Many of the contributors’ families settled in New York, among them Ethiopian-born chef Beejhy Barhany, who owns Harlem’s Tsion Café and contributed Shabbat dishes from her family’s village in Tigray. These include dabo, an Ethiopian honey bread, and messer wot, a red lentil stew. Fany Gerson, whose family immigrated from Ukraine to Mexico City, where she was born, and who now makes doughnuts at her Fan Fan bakery in Brooklyn, gets her Passover flavor, adding chiles and cilantro to matzo ball soup and spicy sauce tomato. the Gefilte fish. Her brisket is cooked in tamales. Serve the food you end up making on a Seder plate from Hayom, a Brooklyn-based company that works with artists in Judaica. Conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas has created a plate with a photograph of “Reach” (2023), his work with artist Coby Kennedy on display at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, while ceramist Frankie Aziz has designed one with her signature cobalt. drawings.
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A cafe and art space in a former Berlin amusement park
For more than two decades, the Spreepark amusement park, located along Berlin’s Spree River, lay abandoned. Its retro rides were overgrown with grass and vines, and its owner was eventually jailed for drug smuggling. In 2014, the Spreepark was bought by the city of Berlin and handed over to the state park management company Grün Berlin with the obligation to bring it to life with culture and food. Now, the first project within the renovated complex is open and ready for visitors: Eierhäuschen, a newly renovated 19th-century building just outside the amusement park, contains Ei 12437, a café run by restaurateur Jessica-Joyce Sidon and Chef Alexandra. Strödel which opened in February, as well as the multidisciplinary Spreepark Art Space, which opens on Friday. (Its inaugural exhibition is a group show of artists — Marcus Maeder, Sabine Scho, Sissel Tolaas and Annett Zinsmeister — who were asked to survey the park and present their findings.) For lunch, the beer garden serves up German pub grub. . hearty potato salad, pretzels and pickled herring and onion sandwiches. In the evenings it gets a little more formal, with a small but sophisticated menu served in a dining room with parquet floors and carmine walls. The latest seasonal dishes include an Onsen tamago-style egg served with potato foam and cabbage stuffed with Jerusalem artichokes and hazelnuts. ei-12437.berlin.
Sanderson, the British tapestry company dating back to the Victorian era, draws on a deep design heritage with each new collection it releases — and their latest collaboration, with London-based fashion designer Giles Deacon, is no different. Deacon looked to Sanderson’s archive of British outdoor flowers and added his own flourishes to fabrics and wall coverings in a soothing palette of pastels and soft earth tones. Faraday Velvet takes the humble concept of chicken wire and transforms it into a swirling pattern that would feel right at home within the walls of an elegant estate. Andromeda’s Cup transforms its title theme into a tapestry motif framed by acanthus leaves and sweeping curtains. Perhaps fit for a couturier, many of Deacon’s prints have a hand-crafted look — the Aperignon Parade wallpaper features saw-tooth stripes that appear to have been made with pinking shears, while intricately ruffled bows and Deacon’s own calligraphy add an element of the unexpected whim. the botanical Cupid’s Beau print. The designer wanted the collection to be “stunning yet classic”, he says, “always tied to an unwavering sense of Britishness”. From $196 per roll of wallpaper and $220 per yard of fabric, sanderson.sandersondesigngroup.com.
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A healthy dose of color refreshes a hotel on the Finnish coast
In the early 1930s, Finnish architects Alvar and Aino Aalto completed the Paimio Sanatorium, a modernist masterpiece dedicated to the treatment of tuberculosis. At Paimio, patients could recuperate in rooms with green roofs, get fresh air on curved balconies, and walk up yellow stairs that led to bright common areas. The idea of a building that could influence human well-being resonated with Aino Brandt, founding partner and interior architect at Helsinki-based design firm KOKO3. Tasked with renovating the Original Sokos Hotel Royal in Vaasa, a shipping town said to be Finland’s sunniest city, Brandt used the Aaltos’ “clever use of bold color,” he says. The hotel’s two-story 1980s tower lobby — which reopened last month and is now home to a vibrant multi-panel work commissioned by Finnish artist Jenni Rope — is the nexus around which the hotel’s social spaces, including a cinema , of a rooftop pool with at least three saunas and a trio of restaurants, are being organized. Above the dining tables, Muller Van Severen lamps for Valerie objects refer to the Aaltos’ preference for functional, indirect lighting. In the hotel’s 139 bedrooms (121 more rooms will be added once the second part of the hotel opposite opens in 2026), shades of yellow, deep orange and blue appear on the walls, while fabrics designed by KOKO3 and made by the Finnish textile mill Annala makes carpets and cushions pop. From about $180 a night, sokoshotels.fi.
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