Kanye West visited an Ikea in Sweden fueling speculation of a new design collaboration March 8, 2016 Superstar rapper Kanye West hasn't been shy about his money troubles. He turned to Twitter in a now famous rant asking Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg for some cash to fund his (as yet unspecified) ideas as well as revealing that he is millions of dollars in debt. Has West now decided to rein in his spending? The musician has been [...]
Putting the “art” in startup: UK art marketplace Artfinder raises $2.2m December 14, 2016 UK art startup Artfinder said today it has raised $2.2m (£1.7m) – some of which came from the man behind the Amazon Echo. The company, which bills itself as an art marketplace, said it had brought on a new VC investor, Oxford Capital – and the round was also backed by William Tunstall-Pedoe, the Cambridge AI [...]
How to build a hipster housing development in ten days September 19, 2016 Mike, 32, works as an accountant for an international development charity, but, despite having a healthy salary, he cannot afford a house in London. His story is unremarkable. Londoners have come to accept that owning a home is an ambition for later in life if they don't have help from relatives. Millennials like Mike aren't in desperate circumstances, but [...]
Property interview: Melissa York speaks to CEO Fredrik Korallus of upstart hostel brand Generator about breaking America January 13, 2017 From the way chief executive officer Fredrik Korallus talks about his hostel group Generator, you’d think he was heading up a trendy Shoreditch club night. He speaks about “having the right art, the right music, the right culture” and even aspires to turn the £20-a-night shared accommodation hubs into “living art centres”. But exceeding expectations [...]
FTSE 100 history: how the index has changed over 33 years July 3, 2017 The FTSE 100 index has just seen one of its quarterly changes with security firm G4S and real estate investment trust Segro promoted to the top 100. Although perhaps small in themselves, these regular events have changed the face of the UK’s leading index since it was formed in 1984. For the many investors whose [...]
Interiors: We ask the experts how to snazz up your dinner table before the Christmas hordes arrive November 11, 2016 Staying in is the new going out; we want to bring friends home to warmth and hospitality. Being able to light intimate candles for dinner is one of the overlooked joys of shorter days. However, with the trend for simplicity, and sharing, we need to be careful not to make boring choices when it comes [...]
Forget peak oil, Ikea says we’ve hit “peak stuff”: It’s curtains for home furnishings says sustainability boss Steve Howard January 18, 2016 Someone clearly got Marie Kondo's book for Christmas. Apparently we've reached "peak stuff", bringing to an and the era of cheap flat pack furniture frustration and a desire for the latest designer cushions, according to – of all people – an executive at furniture giant Ikea. "If we look on a global basis, in the west we [...]
CEO of Johns & Co has just launched a custom furnishing business for busy – and overseas – landlords October 7, 2016 In this bustling metropolis of ours, some of us are landlords, some of us are renters and some of us are both. It’s complicated. Now both can benefit from an innovative new scheme that allows tenants to have input in how their flat looks, and lets landlords divorce themselves from the aesthetic side of things [...]
High street sales struggled for the seventh month in a row in August September 9, 2016 High street retailers haven't managed to increase sales since the beginning of the year, according to data released today. Sales fell by 1.5 per cent year-on-year in August, which is the seventh month in a row of no growth for the sector, according to accountants BDO. Consumer confidence has bounced back somewhat since its immediate trough [...]
Exclusive: Walkie Scorchie, more like: City A.M. uses the rays of the Walkie Talkie building to fry an egg | City A.M. July 22, 2016 The developers of the Walkie Scorchie skyscraper – aka 20 Fenchurch Street – had hoped their building would be known for its striking design and its blue chip clients. But instead City A.M. has revealed how the building has begun emitting a curious ray of light, started melting cars, set a carpet on fire and [...]