Six Working Men


Our photographs for our new men’s collection are a (modest) homage to Irving Penn and his great Small Trades series – portraits, shot in 1950/51, of tradesmen in Paris, London, New York, dressed in their work clothes, carrying the tools of their trades.

Neil Gavin took the pictures – portraits of six interesting men shot over two thoroughly enjoyable days. It felt refreshing to be taking pictures of individuals as they are, dressed as they might be – no pretence. It felt like the right way to show these clothes.

The eagle-eyed might notice repeated connections between the men here and Caught by the River, the excellent website/gentle affiliation of the like-minded; and Port Eliot Festival, the discreet queen of festivals. We have no official connection to either but this book’s second homage is to both for providing wonderful times and

View the collection here. View the photographs here.


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by TOAST ( 06.03.13 )

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The Flower Appreciation Society: Why Do Flowers Make Us So Happy?


The Flower Appreciation Society celebrate all things wild, floral and English. We asked founders and friends Ellie Jauncey and Anna Day a few questions and found out about their love of lilac and passion for poppies. The girls will be decking our Marylebone shop with flowers for its re-launch in March. As a prelude to this, Anna and Ellie will be featuring here regularly. Next week: The Flower Appreciation Society’s guide to flower arranging.

The flower you most relate to?
Ellie – All flowers, my middle name is Fleur… it makes sense.
Anna – red poppies.

You can’t wait for…
… the day we can buy a smart van.

What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
Appreciate…


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by TOAST ( 04.03.13 )

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Andrews of Arcadia Meets Toast Travels Uptown Part I


The first dispatch from author, printer and dealer in ‘Vintage Fishing Tackle for the Soul’ John Andrews (a.k.a Andrews of Arcadia). John is one of the six working men photographed by Neil Gavin for our spring/summer menswear collection. The photos here are by Jim Eyre (@scribblebag).

In the month of February all journeys to my stall at Spitalfields begin on the edge of the Heath at the un-Godly hour when only gangs of foxes are abroad, scattering the contents of rubbish bags as they scavenge, play-fighting gaily in the middle of empty streets like ghosts of London children past. Through bleary eyes I dare not look at the clock for it will tell me to go back to my warm bed, as even the birds have yet to wake and one’s senses are aware only of being surrounded by an utterly dense and inky stillness, akin to the end of everything, a blackout curtain thrown over the unwashed face of the city just before dawn…


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by TOAST ( 01.03.13 )

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The Flower Appreciation Society


The Flower Appreciation Society are not your average florists. Founders Anna Day and Ellie Jauncey met at the Scolt Head pub in North London two years ago. Ellie had spent the summer helping her mother, also a florist, with orders for wedding flowers, and Anna had just completed a (very uninspiring) year-long floristry course. They were both bored by the endless tweaking and prinking of professional floristry and instead bonded over a love of fresh, English flowers, arranged in a freer, more natural way…


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by TOAST ( 22.02.13 )

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Preserved


Orlando Gough.

Once upon a time it was mackerel and herring, then it was mackerel not herring, then herring was reprieved and it was mackerel and herring again, and now, shock horror, it’s herring not mackerel. A poke on the nose (or rather, a slap round the face with a wet fish) for those smug buggers, like Hugh F-W and Yotam – and me actually – who thought they’d got it every which way with mackerel – delicious, healthy, sustainable. Now it’s just delicious and healthy. As usual it’s all about greed – Iceland and the Faroe Islands unilaterally upping their quotas, which turns out, curiously, to be legal because they’re not part of the EU Common Fisheries Policy…


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by TOAST ( 18.02.13 )

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James Seaton, the Lifestyle Editor?


James Seaton, Toast’s co-founder and Creative Director, is interviewed by The Lifestyle Editor about his work, inspirations and achievements.

Who are you: James Seaton

What is your work: Co-founder and Creative Director of Toast

What is your website: www.toast.co.uk


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by TOAST ( 14.02.13 )

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In the Garden


Rachel Seaton-Lucas.

Though we’re bound to find the ground hard with frost again in the coming month or so, there was enough warmth in the air last week to feel optimistic about the arrival of spring. The Daffodils are making their first appearance above ground – bold, straight shoots with palest yellow-green bulbs, waiting for the right moment to display their glory. (That said, has anyone else noticed an absence of Snowdrops this year?)

With the merest hint of spring – a single day of limpid light is enough – my attention is drawn to the garden. I have just moved house, from a tiny top floor flat where we gazed wistfully down at others‘ lawns, to a slightly larger ground floor one with our very own patch of outdoors. It is a delight to know that this small stretch of earth, almost entirely surrounded by trees, is ours to do with as we will.

But it’s currently a soggy mess of over-long grass and ill-defined borders. I’m keen to get on, but am told I must not start in earnest just yet – wait until the spring proper they say – and so I bide my time, and I plan instead…

Tools seem a fair point of beginning…


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by TOAST ( 04.02.13 )

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The Pig


Luke Edward Hall.

I’ve wanted to visit The Pig since it first opened its doors back in July 2011. It looked heavenly in the newspapers  – a country house hotel in the New Forest, wisteria climbing up its walls, a remarkable restaurant and kitchen garden at its heart. An approaching birthday gave us an excuse to visit, so we booked ourselves in for two nights at the beginning of this cold, wet and generally rather glum January…

By half past five on Friday evening, we’re on the road, wellies and raincoats in the boot, hurtling down the M3 towards the New Forest National Park. I grew up in Hampshire and used to visit this part of the county as a child. Those wide, open plains, a riot of subdued colour – honey, heather and moss, are a very comforting sight indeed…


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by TOAST ( 27.01.13 )

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Horse


Orlando Gough. 

1.

Shortly before Christmas we went to the ghastly Excel Stadium in South London to see Adrenaline, a horse show directed by my exuberant and uncompromisingly French friend Roland Bréand. My wife Jo and I are horse agnostics, but we went with her sister Lucy who is a brilliant horsewoman. Roland gave us ‘VIP’ tickets, which meant that we had the right to arrive early, sit in a tacky enclosure in the airport-like foyer, and have a free glass of Cava and some of the most disgusting food I’ve ever tasted, food which must originally have been cooked several years before, the kind of food where you find yourself calculating the probability of ending up alive after eating it. Bits of solid material (meat?) served with jam, mushy fish with mushy chips and mushy peas… The other ‘VIP’s looked entirely content with all this horrible stuff. Considering that they had paid an eye-watering £145 each for their tickets, this showed remarkable forbearance on their part. I thought we were supposed to be a nation of whingers…


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by TOAST ( 21.01.13 )

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On Magic


Luke Edward Hall.

I have been obsessed with magic since childhood.

I’m not quite sure where the interest stemmed from, although I am certain that I cannot be alone in having fond memories of tearing around the house as a youngster, dressed in a makeshift cape (a towel and a few clothes pegs around the neck usually did the trick), zapping inanimate objects with my imagined third eye. Perfectly normal, I would claim. In fact, someone very close to me (he knows who he is) decided to clothe himself exclusively in witches’ garb for an entire year at the age of four. And I really do mean exclusively – I’ve seen pictures of him in a pointed hat, sat in a trolley at the supermarket…


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by TOAST ( 14.01.13 )

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