FYI

Classical scales.

With a name like Thomas Pheasant, it’s easy to imagine a man with brilliant plumage. Dressed in a white Oxford, a tailored blazer, and a silk pocket square, however, he has more in common with his spaces.

A historic jewel.

FROM THE ARCHIVE: Hangzhou, situated in the Yangtze River Delta and a 38-minute ride by high-speed train from Shanghai, is one of China’s most unique destinations.

A monastic marvel.

Monasteries aren’t what they used to be. Today, we think of them as quiet, modest, even austere places in which monks pursue their relationship with God without the noisy distractions of the world around them. It wasn’t always thus.

New expressions.

Johnnie Walker is ubiquitous, stocked in the finest bars in the world and also found down dirt roads in Cambodia. People have been sipping it neat for close to 200 years.

Stollen 2.0.

FROM THE ARCHIVE: Fruitcake. It’s a word that strikes fear in the hearts of even the most diehard dessert fan. The holiday gift that everyone dreads, it conjures visceral memories of inedible, leaden creations chock full of luridly coloured and artificial-tasting fruit. Even award-winning pastry chef Thomas Haas readily admits that he’s never been a fan of stollen, the German bread-like version of fruitcake. So he’s taken it upon himself to subvert the conventional notions of stollen and elevate it from the brunt of countless jokes to a decadent, eagerly anticipated holiday indulgence.

Top knots.

The name the Rug Company, speaks volumes about the straightforward nature of its mission. Having collected rugs in the Middle East during the 1980s and ’90s, its husband and wife founders, CEO Christopher Sharp and creative director Suzanne Sharp, hung out their shingle in London’s Chelsea neighbourhood in 1997.

Bar none.

“Good things come in threes” goes the old adage. So what do you get when you add a crunchy, chewy base to an unctuous middle and top it all off with a crisp chocolate coating? Do the math and you find a Nanaimo bar in your hand.

Small obsessions.

You might expect the aesthetic of Gabrielecorto Moltedo, who grew up as a scion of the Bottega Veneta empire, to be one of understated luxury. But although he has tapped into his heritage of exceptional Italian craftsmanship, he is out on his own when it comes to design.