Culture

Music, books, film and the habits that outlast trends.

I look for the things people keep doing long after they stop being fashionable. This autumn that means records, paperbacks and the rooms built for listening.

Mei TanakaCulture writer

3 stories in Culture

Culture

Why we're buying film cameras again

A generation raised on infinite photos is paying for 36 at a time. We asked them why.

A woman in a cream knit jumper winding on a vintage film camera in a red-walled camera shop

26 OctoberMei Tanaka9 min

Culture

The return of the listening bar

Small rooms, big speakers and one rule: you are here to listen.

A turntable playing a record on the counter of a dim listening bar, with vintage speakers and listeners behind

21 OctoberDesmond Price7 min

Culture

Paperbacks are the new status object

Why the cheapest format in publishing is suddenly the one people want to be seen with.

A reader holding an open paperback beside stacks of worn paperbacks in a lilac-walled bookshop

17 OctoberMei Tanaka6 min

Elsewhere in Oriel

Every story

Design

In praise of the enamel mug

The camping mug that quietly became the best-designed object in most kitchens.

A steaming white enamel mug with a navy rim on a picnic table beside a misty lake at dawn

20 OctoberClaire Dunmore5 min

Food

Figs, and the art of eating things at their peak

Ripe for three days, perfect for one. A short guide to catching it.

A bowl of ripe purple figs, one torn open, with honey and bread on a plum linen tablecloth

19 OctoberLucía Ortega6 min

Technology

The case for an alarm clock in the bedroom

The simplest way to stop checking your phone first thing is a twelve-pound clock.

A cream twin-bell alarm clock, a glass of water and a paperback on a bedside table against a mustard yellow wall

16 OctoberRavi Mehta5 min

3 stories in Culture

Why we're buying film cameras again

The return of the listening bar

Paperbacks are the new status object

Elsewhere in Oriel

In praise of the enamel mug

Figs, and the art of eating things at their peak

The case for an alarm clock in the bedroom

Five good stories, every Sunday