golden hour
This has hardly been the start to the summer we were all expecting, has it? Like many around the country, the Livingetc team has gone virtual, sitting at breakfast tables to put this issue together, making video calls while children and cats chatter away in the background, changing our email sign-offs to variations of ‘stay sane and safe’. And we really do appreciate how lucky we are that we get to carry on looking at incredible imagery and talking about design while front-line heroes do the heavy lifting for us all.
What has struck me most during this time is the huge amount of optimism managing to stay alive in the most unlikely circumstances, like a flower peeping through a crack in the pavement. I sense it in the way we’ve all hunkered down, enduring the strangeness in the hope of creating a brighter future. It’s in the spirit of care workers who keep doing their jobs and in the way my local shopkeeper is working 14-hour days to make sure the community is well fed.
I also felt it in the dozens of applications we received for the inclusivity competition we ran with Habitat, in which we were looking for three homeware designs to be made and sold by the high-street retailer, paying an industry-standard wage and hopefully launching careers for people who might not otherwise find a way in (look out for news of the winners in due course). Sifting through the entries this week, I was amazed by how even in times like this the human psyche is so often still able to turn towards the light and to new opportunities, to find things to enjoy and look forward to, even if – as highlighted by our choice of cover image – it’s as simple as the golden rays of the late afternoon sun.
With this in mind, we’ve tried to offer you even more beauty than we usually cram in. You’ll find an extended Fabulous Spaces portfolio on page 27, showcasing 10 rooms from around the world chosen for their sheer brilliance by our houses editor Mary Weaver, while our travel and news editor Patrick Hamilton Courtney has devoted the travel section on page 136 to his pick of wow hotels and destinations we can dream about now. For the fortunate among us, life goes on, and so our feature on page 22 about how to sell your home in this new cultural landscape is an invaluable glimpse into a market none of us could ever have predicted. I hope that whatever the next few months have in store, you manage to find a way to smile. To notice the golden hour.
We’re now offering single issue subscriptions, posted direct to your door. Order next month’s issue at magazinesdirect.com