Good morning! It’s a beautiful Sunday here in London, and I’m home with a cold. It was one of those that came overnight, aggressively and without reason. It’s given me the chance to make homemade ginger tea with honey, read a number of articles I’ve had saved, and get used to my new hair length (two inches shorter that looks like four and feels like a world of difference).
Yesterday afternoon we went to Covent Garden, where 100,000 white balloons have filled the high ceilings of the market’s south hall. Designed by Charles Pétillon, the balloons en masse are a striking site, with white lights pulsating behind the giant balloon cloud to resemble a heartbeat. He agreed to do this as Covent Garden, when it opened in 1552, changed the landscape of the area and was really the heart of the town, much as urban markets still are today. It’s his first installation outside of France, and he is known for using white balloons to add playfulness and bring a different perspective to otherwise mundane structures. We learned this in a nearby small pop-up gallery with photographs of his other works. (“Cloud Computing” was my favorite.)
The installation is only on for four weeks, and ends September 27, so make haste! Make an evening of it by going around the corner to the London outpost of New York institution Balthazar for champagne and plateaux de fruits de mer afterwards. Fines de Claire oysters are sublime! x
With shorter hair and selfies galore.
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