My personal style signifier is an old IWC Schaffhausen, one of the earliest designs in the portfolio. It’s very simple, doesn’t need batteries and it gives you what you need from a watch and nothing more. It’s useful, minimal and still beautiful. Reissued vintage hand-wound watches from £6,250; www.iwc.com and see Harrods, 87-135 Brompton Road, London SW1 (020-7730 1234).
The last thing I bought and loved is a small table by a ceramicist called Carol McNicoll. The base is of interlocking ceramic pots she made, all covered with photos she took of things that struck her as provocative or beautiful. There’s a tea set built in, with six plain ceramic teacups, like Japanese ones. It’s a mix of media and colours, ideas and images – a really unusual and clever combination. Barrett-Marsden Gallery, 17-18 Great Sutton Street, London EC1 (020-7336 6396; www.bmgallery.co.uk).
An unforgettable place I’ve travelled to in the past year is Port Cros, an island off the coast of France in the Mediterranean. It’s a nature reserve, and you can only get there by boat. It’s also tricky to find a place to anchor because the water’s protected as well, so it’s truly solitary. But you’ve got access to Club 55 just across the water, should you need a fix of it or any of the rest of all that Côte d’Azur build-up. Le Club 55, Plage de Pampelonne, Ramatuelle (+334-9455 5555; www.club55.fr).
The last meal that left me truly impressed was at El Paradiso in St Moritz. You have to take a ski lift, and then walk or ski to this incredible hut. In the middle of winter there were these amazing products: tiger prawns from Saudi Arabia, super-fresh goat’s cheese. You think: “How did they get all of this up here?” It’s run like a three-star restaurant, except everyone’s in après-ski and snowy boots. It’s a well-known hangabout for bankers and such, but not really fussy. Via Engiadina/Randolins, 7500 St Moritz (+418-1833 4002; www.el-paradiso.ch).
The best gift I’ve given recently was a pocket-sized tape measure clad in black crocodile skin from Hermès. Sometimes you give the thing you actually want. I’m quite mad for tape measures; I have a sentimental relationship with those small ones, which you rarely find any more – except at Hermès, covered in all these beautiful leathers. From £225; 179 Sloane Street, London SW1 (020-7823 1014; www.hermes.fr) and branches/stockists.
And the best gift I have received was a pencil with an integrated sharpener, from Faber-Castell. As an object it is just so beautiful and simple. Definitely a desert-island item; I’d not want to be without it. Perfect Pencil gift set (three pencils), £35; www.faber-castell.com for stockists.
The last music I downloaded was by Naturally Seven, a band recommended by my son. All the rhythm and instrumentations are vocals, and it’s amazing; so much depth, composition, arrangements – and all human voices. www.naturallyseven.com.
My favourite websites are FT.com and Bloomberg.com. I don’t do blogs or surfing, just the news.
In my fridge you’ll always find a bottle of sancerre – it goes with everything. And a bottle of crème de cassis, in the event that I feel the urge to turn my sancerre into a kir, to start the evening with a little party.
The books on my bedside table are Le Système des Objets by Jean Baudrillard, who tries to explain the relationships between people and objects; also The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain de Botton, which I haven’t yet started and which is very… thick, and nicely bound. And Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Lustre by Dana Thomas, which is very much about the past 20 years in which we’ve all been participating.
The people I depend on for style include my Greek-Cypriot barber, Andreas of Knightsbridge, who gives a great traditional shave. There are just three chairs, and the interior is painted a shade of pink that is so horrible as to somehow transcend ugliness and achieve a kind of beauty. 17-23 Pavilion Road, London SW1 (020-7245 9380).
The one artist whose work I would collect if I could is Oscar Niemeyer. I’d collect his architectural drawings because I was trained as, and still am, a draughtsman, so we share a heritage. He draws the minimum required to get the idea across, and he was a monumentalist, so very understated lines became huge buildings. And he’s living; he’s not Palladio, who’s a bit hermetically sealed in history. Niemeyer is of my time.
The grooming staples I’m never without are Chanel Allure for men. And Trevor Sorbie hair gel with firm control; it comes in a tiny travel size, so I buy lots of them and throw them in every bag. And my father’s tortoiseshell comb. Chanel Allure for men, £39 for 50ml (020-7493 3836 for stockists). Trevor Sorbie Mg Firm Control gel, £4.88; 27 Floral Street, London WC2 (020-7379 6901; www.trevorsorbie.com).
