Boots considers weddings, honeymoon and architectural friendships

Dressed to impress

Thomas Heatherwick dressed as a pearly king for his anniversary bash at the V&A Museum last week, while several of his staff came as Routemaster buses and his partner, Maisie Rowe, as the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.

The party, “personally curated” by Heatherwick, involved giving each guest a specimen label on which was written the particular role they’d played in the 18 years since the studio was founded.

Heatherwick made a rambling speech but, despite the rain that prevented it being held outside, it was a delightful evening.

 

Piano’s square deal

This week’s hot ticket was Renzo Piano’s sell-out talk at the RIBA. Best pal Richard Rogers was in the front row, so Boots asked what the pair would design if they were to reprise their collaboration in London.

It wouldn’t be a skyscraper because they couldn’t agree on who would design the top, they said, eventually plumping for the other end of the scale. “I am just as happy to make a piazza with Renzo,” said Rogers.

 

White wedding

As you’d expect, Architecture Foundation director Sarah Ichioka chose a building by the foundation’s own architect to celebrate her recent nuptials to Wordsearch’s Jack Stiller.

Last weekend, David Kohn’s White Building, a converted warehouse on the edges of the Olympic Park in Hackney Wick, played host to a BBQ and drinks reception attended by a host ofAF staff, Peter Murray and the er, electro-pop superstar David E Sugar. Congratulations Sarah and Jack!

 

Money goes to money

Who could this be, fretting about how to pay his Venice hotel bill on honeymoon?

“We went to a casino where I won an extraordinary amount of money,” he told the Sunday Times. “I’d put one euro in a one-armed bandit and €400 tumbled out. Even so, it wouldn’t have been enough.”

Why, it’s Living Architecture founder Alain de Botton whose inherited wealth is estimated at more than £200 million.

Sinking in venice

Plans by the AA’s student-run newspaper, Fulcrum, to publish a daily paper during the Venice Biennale got off to a rocketing start largely down to the promise of sponsorship from the AA.

However, the association’s finances — it is thought to have lost up to £5.5 million through dodgy computer leases — mean the offer has been withdrawn and the project abandoned.