Dean Edmonds is a man obsessed with tradition, preservation, utility, and, perhaps more than anything else – ritual. With his life and business partner Natsumi Sashida, whom he happily spends most of every day, Edmonds runs his eponymous furniture and product design brand, known for its idiosyncratic industrial metal work as well as more classical…
A true multidisciplinarian, Brazilian composer, singer, designer and visual artist Heitor dos Prazeres was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1898. A pioneer of samba — music that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century, continuing its development through the urban communities of Rio — dos…
The Neo-Dada Organizers’ destructive activities, often centred on the demolition of art objects, prompted critic Yoshiaki Tōno to coin the Japanese term “han-geijutsu,” translating in English to “anti-art.” In 1960, Japanese conceptual artist Masunobu Yoshimura founded the controversial art collective. Widely abbreviated to Neo-Dada, the group would meet at Yoshimura’s studio in Shinjuku, Tokyo, to…
The journey of Mitshel Ibrahim’s Ombra – a small Italian trattoria on the corner of Vyner Street in east London – is unique, a restaurant which in 2023 is defined by its extraordinary dynamism and adaptability through the COVID-19 pandemic. Before March 2020, Ibrahim ran a successful neighbourhood Italian restaurant, whose most notable moment had come after…
During the course of the last three years, Adejoké – Joké – Bakare has emerged as one of London’s most important chefs. Her restaurant brand Chishuru, which came to life in Brixton Market in 2021, after the chef won a competition, has helped to deepen the city’s understand of Nigerian cuisine, specifically, and West African culinary culture…
Missy Flynn is the co-founder of London restaurant Rita’s – a brand which began life in residency at iconic Dalston nightclub Birthdays in the early 2010s, evolved to its first permanent premises on Mare Street in Hackney by late 2013, before moving through various iterations and evolutions, including as a sandwich shop in King’s Cross, and a…
Three years after Monica Lee closed her legendary Los Angeles restaurant, Beverly Soon Tofu, she still gets calls about green onions. Lee, who is 70, used to wake up at 4 am to call the big produce markets and secure the best ingredients, rather than rely on a delivery. If she found a good deal…
Japanese artist Tarō Okamoto reached the peak of his fame in 1970 with his appointment as Theme Producer for Expo ’70 in Osaka, the first world fair to be held in Asia. There he created his best-known work, Tower of the Sun, 1970, a monumental sculpture installed outdoors. His visually arresting works delve into profound…