The Aesthete’s Wish List: 10 Of The Best Things You Can Buy This April

Covering April’s new drops, restocks, and promising auctions, Something Curated has compiled a list of ten of the most coveted items available for purchase this month, spanning art, fashion, home and more, alongside links to a number of charities and grassroots initiatives whose brilliant work is especially in need of support at this precarious time.  

Donate

NHS Charities COVID-19 Urgent Appeal
Opening Doors London
Age UK
The Trussell Trust
Compliments of the House
Mind
Action Homeless
UK QTIBIPOC Emergency Relief & Hardship Fund
Unicef

Art

Lo Oscuro Invade (The Dark Invades), 1970 || Alexander Calder & Carlos Franqui

Alexander Calder worked as an abstract sculptor, employing industrious materials like wire and sheet metal, transforming them into delicate non-objective forms that respond to the wind or float in air. In addition to his mobiles, Calder produced an array of public constructions worldwide as well as drawings and paintings that feature the same brand of abstraction. This intriguing print was made in collaboration with Cuban writer, poet, journalist, art critic, and political activist, Carlos Franqui. Available at Phillips.

Untitled, 2015 || Sorayama Hajime

Hajime Sorayama is a Japanese illustrator known for his precisely detailed, erotic portrayals of feminine robots, along with his design work on the original Sony AIBO. He describes his highly detailed style as “superrealism”, which he says “deals with the technical issue of how close one can get to one’s object.” This editioned print was executed in 2015, and is work number 11 of 25. Available at Sotheby’s.

Accessories

Beige & Silver Dalmatian Stone Earrings || Bottega Veneta

At the end of 2018, Daniel Lee was named creative director at Bottega Veneta, tasked with reviving the storied Italian house. Previously Céline’s ready-to-wear director, Lee has introduced a successful line of accessories that modernised the brand’s famous techniques. Crafted in Italy, this pair of sterling silver hoop earrings comprise a Dalmatian jasper stone in tones of beige, brown, and black, fastened with a hinged-post. Available at Ssense.

Vintage Multicolour Crochet Knit Hat || Missoni

Ottavio Missoni and his wife Rosita founded Missoni in the 1950s when they started producing crochet knits in the brand’s now-signature style. Their daughter Angela is now at the helm, and the label continues to produce high-quality garments in its iconic, colourful zigzag weave. This extraordinary crochet knit hat in signature Missoni style is hand-crocheted from a mix of beautiful colours. It features a flexible brim and hidden wire which allows the wearer to shape the hat in different ways. Available at The RealReal.

Fashion

Cargo Pocket Pants || Martine Rose

London-based Martine Rose garnered attention with her innovative shows at London Collections: Men, where she first presented in 2012, the inaugural event. Her collections are a nod to subculture and blur the boundaries of masculinity, via retro prints, androgynous shirting and street-inspired separates. Rose champions directional designs that reject conventions. The Cargo Pocket Pants are crafted from wool in a suiting weave, featuring all-over woven-check pattern, belt loops, front slip pockets and cargo patch pockets. Available at LN-CC.

Archive Open Weave Top, 1990 || Gianfranco Ferré

Hailing from the early 90s, this unusual brown and beige open weave off-the-shoulder top comes from the atelier of Italian fashion designer Gianfranco Ferré. Ferré was often known as “the architect of fashion,” having studied the built environment. Highly sensitive to form and outline, Ferré showed collections that bear the hallmarks of one whose early training was in the careful study of detail, in analysis and in planning. His intellectual approach to design, produces powerful and controlled clothes which are often folded and layered to create his precise statements. Available at Farfetch.

Home

Starry Night Cashmere Cushion || The Elder Statesman

Based in Los Angeles, The Elder Statesman began in 2007 with a series of custom rugs, and has since designed everything from kidswear to opticals, but has become known for creating the finest, softest knitwear with a relaxed Californian ethos. The yellow stars and sun-jacquard characterising The Elder Statesman’s navy Starry Night cushion takes cues from the work of Brighton-based illustrator Sophy Hollington. It’s handmade in the USA from luxurious cashmere and filled with a corresponding cushion insert. Available at Matches.

Lansdowne Crescent London W11 || Jeremy Lever

Occupying a wedge-shaped gap between two Victorian houses on Lansdowne Crescent is this masterfully designed, RIBA-award winning house by architect Jeremy Lever. Completed in 1973, the house was granted a Grade-II listing by Historic England in 2012, commending the architect for his “courage, invention and skill.” The house is in wonderful original condition, having only ever been lived in by the architect and his family. Accommodation is divided over six levels, with balconies on the first, second and top floor that reveal dramatic views to the north west across the gardens and rooftops of Notting Hill and beyond. Available at The Modern House.

Books

Cabinet of Natural Curiosities: The Complete Plates in Colour, 1734-1763 || Albertus Seba

Albertus Seba’s catalog of natural specimens is not only one of the 18th century’s greatest natural history achievements but also one of the most prized natural history books of all time. Inspired from a rare hand-coloured original, this collection gathers all his extraordinary illustrations of strange and exotic plants, snakes, corals, as well as “double-headed monsters”, dragons, and many more. Available at Taschen.

Mark Leckey – Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore || Mitch Speed & Mark Leckey

In 1999, the British artist Mark Leckey released his video-montage Fiorucci made me Hardcore, a dreamscape vignette that communes with the rapturous promises of youth. Putting archive material to use, Leckey entwined footage of underground dance and street culture in Britain with audio grifted and recorded in the artist’s studio. In this illustrated study, the first comprehensive examination of the work, Mitch Speed argues that by interweaving personal and collective memory, this work gives voice to the complexities of class and cultural transformation during Britain’s Thatcherite era. Available at Tenderbooks.



Selected by Keshav Anand / Feature image: Earrings by Bottega Veneta (via Ssense)