It is when Jonny Brownlee casually mentions what he is doing to the conservatory on his townhouse that you realise there are limits to the “back to basics” mantra he has been so authentically outlining. “I put heaters in last year,” he ­explains, “but I am just getting it insulated […]

It is 10.30pm on a Tuesday in Tokyo and the distinct Brooklyn rasp of the godfather of boutique hotels fills my otherwise serene 35th-floor suite. “We got more plants in yesterday, but we need more! If it’s a lobby with plants, it will be a failure. It can’t be a […]