Designs for life

Auctioneer Stéphane Aubert rolls up on his Vespa at the entrance to an enormous storage space in the industrial no-man’s-land northwest of Paris. He’s sharply dressed in a shirt and tie, his navy pinstripe suit is crease-free and his black brogues are polished to a shine. He slips off his helmet and smiles.

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The List

The list was long and hand-written, spidery in black ink. It was structured by shop, the name of each underlined and followed by the shopkeeper’s name in brackets. It had a neat tear along one side and a doe-eyed donkey wearing a bulky saddle bag on the reverse. When my mother handed it over, saddle-side up, I said, ‘You ought to get me one of those.’

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Raging worlds: Reading and re-reading Austen

When Rachel Cohen was a child, she tried to etch her future self in her mind. “I hoped, when I grew older, I would be able to somehow come back and revisit this version of myself and tell her what had happened.”

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In the Studio with Eileen Cooper

When Eileen Cooper was a child, her mother used to sit and draw with her in biro on a notepad. “Not that she was ever able to pursue a career in art and I don’t know if she ever had an interest really,” says Eileen, “but I obviously did.”

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What a Woman can Do

A woman wheels towards a large blank canvas. In one hand she brandishes a brush, in the other a palette daubed with paint. She’s rolled up the sleeves of her fine silk dress, the lacy white fringe of her chemise curling over the cuffs.

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Group dynamics

Cromwell Place is in good company. Spread across five white, stucco-fronted Victorian townhouses in London’s South Kensington, the new exhibition and co-working space shares a neighbourhood with world-renowned art, design and history institutions.

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Art and Soul

Smart collectors follow their taste and inclinations when they’re buying but they also have the nose to expand and explore new fields. We speak to four insiders about where the market is heading – and what sectors are piquing their interest.

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