Check list
Anthony Teasdale on this month’s must haves
Rose & Grey filing cabinet
It’s not often we get excited about filing cabinets, but this gorgeous retro job from Rose & Grey is rather special. Made in enamel, it holds your underwear and T-shirts every bit as well as it does papers. It also looks pleasingly 1960s, giving your bedroom the look of a boutique from the days of swinging London. This is no bad thing.
£795, www.roseandgrey.co.uk
Louis Vuitton Jorn bag
Weekends away demand decent luggage. And for the ultimate two-day bag, you cannot beat the Jorn by Louis Vuitton. Rather than the more obvious green and gold pattern, plump instead for the Damier Graphite, which is both businesslike and elegant. Made from canvas and cotton with silver buckles, the Jorn is big enough for your laptop, a change of clothes and a copy of Voyager.
£885, www.louisvuitton.com
Alessi Pito kettle
Designed by architect Frank Gehry, the man who built the extraordinary Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, this Pito kettle makes your everyday water-boiler look, well, ordinary. Made from mirror-polished steel and mahogany, this kettle shows off Gehry’s sculptural genius – all swooping curves and blobby shapes. The result resembles a robotic woodland animal. The Pito is perfect for the person in your life who’s as obsessive about design as they are about their hot drinks – don’t give it to someone who’ll make a Pot Noodle with it.
£236, www.alessi.co.uk
Fratelli shirts
If you’re lucky enough to be able to afford a bespoke suit, it could be worth going the whole hog and investing in a made-to-measure shirt – perhaps one from Turin brand Fratelli. The company has offices in Zurich, Geneva, Paris and Frankfurt, meaning a dream garment made with silk stitching and pearl buttons – handmade in time-honoured tradition by skilled Italian tailors – is but a short diversion away. Just don’t put it on company expenses.
€320, www.fratelli-sartoria.com
Musuc sleeping bag
Half sleeping bag, half pyjamas, this piece of cuddly technology is ideal for when you’re camping or staying over as a house guest this winter. The person-shaped bag is padded in the appropriate places to keep you comfy when you’re sleeping and it means you can go to the loo in the middle of night without having to get cold. Even better, anyone who wears it immediately looks like a teddy bear.
€79, www.musucbag.com
Ski-lift
The newest products to see you through this skiing season in style
1 | BURTON METHOD SNOWBOARD
Say hello to the lightest snowboard ever made. This utilises space-age technologies such as carbon strands, S2 glass, and a Teflon base. The catch? It is the most expensive snowboard you’ll find.
£1,350, www.burton.com
2 | RED PHONE AND RED HELMETS
It’s always been hard to listen to music on the slopes. That is until technical experts RED came up with an ingenious solution. Their headphones have removable earpieces that zip into the padding of all adult RED helmets.
£30, www.ss20.com
3 | GARMIN FORETREX 401 GPS
Live out those 007 fantasies with this fiendishly clever gizmo. It is an easy-to-use wrist-mounted GPS navigator for hands-free use on the slopes and could have been issued by Q himself.
£199, www.garmin.co.uk
4 | PENFIELD SUMMIT PARKA
A lot of snowboarding outerwear is not quite suitable for everyday use. Step forward Penfield: their Summit parka bridges the gap between high-slope fashion and home down-time perfectly.
£200, www.penfieldusa.com
5 | IPHONE SKI AND SNOW REPORTS APP
The iPhone revolution has reached the winter sports world, and there are a bewildering number of Apps out there. Most are useless, but the odd one is actually quite handy, like the free Ski and Snow Report. As the name says, it keeps you up to date with snow conditions in your favourite resorts.
www.apple.com
6 | SKIING EUROPE GUIDEBOOK
>Respected guidebook publishers Footprint are the latest to dip their toe into the ski guidebook market with their Skiing Europe guide. As well as picking up plaudits from top ski broadcaster Ed Leigh, the Ski Club of Great Britain has adopted it as their official guide. High praise indeed.
£13.99, www.footprintbooks.com
