The Tastemakers 2025

Words: Joseph Bullmore

Photography: Barney Curran

Styling: Zak Maoui

In association with:

This edition of our annual list of Tastemakers, now in its seventh year, arguably lives up to its name better than ever before. The brief, as ever, was simple: to curate an interesting list of people who have done plenty to influence the way London looks, feels, eats, drinks, dresses and sounds over the past year.

There is a particular emphasis this time round on ‘taste’, quite literally, with a buffet of figures from the worlds of hospitality, restaurants, and drinks. But also on ‘making’, in the sense that many of the people we’ve singled out here are of the proper, roll-up-your-sleeves, make-things-happen school of thought. Collected, they represent a cultural capital that – despite some grumblings to the contrary – remains bold, bright, and ambitious.

All talent are wearing Sunspel, sunspel.com

Wearing Sunspel, sunspel.com

In Hannah Crosbie’s Corker, her “deeply unserious wine book”, the writer takes the wine-world’s obsession with pairings and teleports it to real-life situations. What wine should one drink when one has just been dumped? Or when one is on a plane? Or on a date gone wrong? Or when meeting the in-laws for the very first time? Like the rest of her writing (Crosbie was named The Guardian’s new wine critic at the end of last year), the excellent book demonstrates a sage (and perhaps even slightly serious) truth: that the wine we drink is much, much more than simply the wine we drink.

I’d describe my personal taste as “If Michèle Lamy ran a meme account.”

The person with the best taste I know is my friend, the creative director L’Oyin Ogunbusola. Everything she touches turns to cool.

One creative thing I wish I could do is draw.

Something surprising that inspired me recently was “The Lark Ascending” by Ralph Vaughan Williams. I re-listened to it and it moved me to tears.

The piece of work that makes me most proud is the fact that my second-most Googled search is “Hannah Crosbie parents”. You know you’re doing well when people can’t believe you’re not a nepo baby.

The advice I have for others starting out is don’t concern yourself with what other people think of you. Be nice.

Some of my favourite places in the world are The Griffin in Fletching, The Palmerston in Edinburgh, the Sidmouth Folk Festival, The Drapers Arms in summer. And Marseille.

The best way to spend £10 is on 10 packets of Sweet Chilli Sensations.

The best thing about London is everyone making it work, despite everything.

The best meal I’ve eaten this month was my first ramen in Tokyo.

The thing I’m most excited about doing tomorrow is going to my masseter Botox appointment. My jaw is killing me.

A third-generation sushi master who was born in Yokohama, Kazutoshi’s artform is the ancient Edomae style of sushi, a specialism peculiar to Tokyo. Today, it’s London that is the beneficiary of his genius, with Kioku by Endo and Endo at the Rotunda floating at the top of many diners’ bucket lists.

Inside a tropical modernist masterpiece in Soho, Dom Fernando’s Paradise has been delighting diners since 2019 with its swoony take on modern Sri Lankan food. Led by the charismatic Fernando and backboned by an astonishing tasting menu, it more than lives up to its name.

Café Deco’s Anna Tobias honed her considerable skills working under the likes of Margot Henderson, Ruth Rogers and Jeremy Lee. She’s known for a strong culinary identity centred around simple ingredients and pleasingly unfussy plating.

The BAO restaurant group continues to hop from strength to strength, thanks in no small part to Chang’s artful approach, reimagining traditional Taiwanese flavours with contemporary flair and a dollop of comfort.

Chef Jeremy Chan and restaurant director Iré Hassan-Odukale opened modern West African restaurant Ikoyi in 2017, since awarded two Michelin stars for its ecstatic marriage of organic British produce and West African spice.

Berg and Kratena’s Old Street bar, Tayēr + Elementary, was named second on the World’s 50 Best Bars in 2022 – no doubt because the couple seem to pour so much of themselves into everything they do.

The much-awarded Chetiyawardana (aka Mr Lyan) has done more to influence London’s cocktail scene than almost anyone. He’s just announced a TV series, Mr Lyan’s Taste Tips.

Wearing Sunspel, sunspel.com

Sometimes in life all you want is steak frites. And specifically, in this writer’s experience, the steak frites at Bistro Freddie – the Shoreditch outpost of Hamdy’s growing restaurant empire, which also includes the beloved Crispin in Soho. Hamdy, who started out making Scotch eggs at university, has imbued each of the spots along his rapid rise in London’s restaurant canon with things that are easy to identify but hard to conjure: namely warmth, generosity, and flair. All things, perhaps, that emanate naturally from Hamdy himself and the estimable team that has come up alongside him.

An object I would never part with is the Triumph TR6 that belonged to my great uncle. He bought it new in 1976. Two years ago, he drove it from his home in Germany to the UK and passed it down to my brothers and me.

I would describe my personal taste as considered, often restrained and material-driven. There’s something about tactility that can be beaten.

One thing I wish I had created is The French House, Soho, along with Michael Thonet’s 1859 No.14 “bistro chair”.

Something that inspired me recently was the rotisserie chicken at the Saturday market in Chamonix, with potatoes cooked in dripping chicken fat.

The creation of mine that makes me most proud is my daughter.

The advice I’d give to anyone starting out is to learn from a restaurant or hospitality group that inspires you, soak it up: the culture, the product, the energy.

The most overdone trend in my field is flatbreads, even if we do serve them…

The most authentic restaurant in the world is Mageirotechneio Taverna Paraga in Rhodes.

The best way to spend £10 is on a little 24-month Comté with Vin Jaune.

The best thing about London is Fergus Henderson’s legacy and impact on London’s food culture.

The best meal I’ve eaten this month is at Camille in Borough, Elliot [Hashtroudi] is a wizard.

The Modern House – and its classical sister site, Inigo – is an estate agent from heaven: editorialised, beautiful, superbly curated, and, in its own way, an excellent survey of the shifting architectural tastes of the nation

The founder of the Ennismore Group has found his magnum opus in Maison Estelle (and its countryside sister, Estelle Manor) – a project of dazzling depth, ambition, and sumptuous execution.

A maestro-esque conductor of London’s most iconic modern spots, Balazs’s exacting tastes and novelistic creativity remain much imitated but never bettered. London hopefully awaits news on the resurrection of Chiltern Firehouse.

The first design assistant and longtime associate of the late Virgil Abloh, Ross is a hugely influential name in global fashion - the winner of three British Fashion Awards, two GQ awards, and the Hublot Design Prize. His art, meanwhile, has had solo exhibitions at White Cube and sits within The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria & Albert Museum’s permanent collections.

Wearing Sunspel, sunspel.com

When Walé Adeyemi first founded his streetwear label, B-side, in 1995, he set up a stall in Camden Market opposite a record store. Soon, those in the know would buy their drum and bass records at the shop – and then pop to Walé’s afterwards for a B-side of a very different kind. In the decades since, Adeyemi, who was awarded an MBE in 2008 for his services to British fashion, has been the creative director of New Era and an Ambassador for the Prince’s Trust – as well as styling dozens of names in the musical pan theon: including Beyoncé, Outkast, Mos Def, Rihanna, Usher, and Missy Elliott.

I would describe my personal taste as “somewhere between the kerb and the boutique”.

If I could have created one thing out side of my field, it would have been the film La Haine – for how it captured the rawness of youth, identity, and resistance with such a sharp visual language.

The thing I’ve done that makes me proud is the weaving of old black and-white photographs of my parents in 1960s Nigeria into my work. Shot and developed in Lagos – it’s a visual thread between past and present, memory and movement.

I collect photographs, sneakers, old flyers, magazines, and beautiful ly crafted objects – anything with soul and story, including memories.

An object I would never part with is a perfectly tailored suit. It never goes out of style – classic, time less material.

My advice for others starting out is to enjoy the process. Take every obstacle as part of the journey. Don’t take it too seriously – and most importantly, have fun.

The best way to spend £10 is to jump on a bus or train and get lost in the city. Let London guide you.

The thing I’m most excited about doing tomorrow is waking up. That’s always the first gift.

A former human rights lawyer, Peugeot’s design studio brings rich, eclectic references and a monochrome palette to some of the smartest houses in both London and her now native Paris.

The brothers (part of a veritable restaurant royalty) are best known for the joyful Caravel, a charming floating restaurant on Regent’s Canal with the atmosphere of a water-bound dinner party.

The writer and Vogue contributing editor has a specialism in beauty and cosmetics – but it’s her distinctive Notting Hill townhouse, a baroque, whimsical temple, which best expresses her distinctive taste.

A longtime tastemaker with her eponymous style label, Freud has now paid quirky homage to the old family trade with Fashion Neurosis, a new podcast that is surprisingly revealing about its many famous guests.

Wearing Sunspel, sunspel.com

The coasters at The Dover read “A good place to be since 2023.” And the reviews whole-heartedly agree. The experience at the restaurant, on Mayfair’s Dover Street, is much more than good, in fact – a sultry, gorgeous spot, enriched by charming staff, a last-meal-worthy menu (an exceptional cheese burger; very good pasta) and a dizzying array of loving de tails, most of which go unnoticed but certainly not unfelt. This is down to the precise eye and generous spirit of Kuczmarski, who over three decades worked his way up through every rank of the hospitality industry to be Group Chief Operating Officer of Soho House – before striking out on his own with The Dover.

An object I would never part with is one of my two Rolex watches, gifted to me by my wife Ruby Hammer. It’s not the value but the love behind them.

I would describe my taste as classic, simple and driven by good quality.

I would love to have created a theatre musical. There is something magical about live acting, music, and lighting all coming together, to create the soul and atmosphere of theatre.

The creation I’m most proud of is The Dover. It’s an expression of my experience gained over the last 30 years. There are thousands of visible and invisible details that have made The Dover an instant classic within London.

My advice for others in my field is to be passionate about every aspect of your job, work hard, follow your gut, and if you believe in something, to never give up. All of this must be executed with kindness and generosity.

The best thing about London is that the city is resilient and always evolving.

The best meal I’ve eaten this month was at Taverna Del Marinaio in Portofino, where I had trofie al pesto (a local pasta dish) served with about two litres of local wine - the best.

I look forward to every day, as we have limited time on this planet. It is important to contribute, to learn, to be kind, and above all, enjoy every minute of our lives.

The FT’s hugely knowledgeable drinks writer, Lascelles added greatly to London’s collective jolliness in September with her impressive and bewitching book on the martini.

A gimlet-eyed observer of social conventions and the natural absurdities of modern life, Smith’s columns and books (including 2022’s Men) are wide-ranging and yet laser-focused.

One of the most in-demand interior designers in the country, Ashby’s creations are eclectic, crisp, and zippily refreshing. She celebrates 10 years of her eponymous studio this year, and has just released a beautiful monograph of her work.

Ilori’s ongoing triumph has been in bringing bold, playful colour to a city with a reputation for its drizzly greyness – a genius exemplified in his vibrant takeover of Piccadilly Circus last August.

With Café Francois, on its lovely, warren-esque site in Borough Market, O’Neill and Ryle have brought their dreamy French brasserie world to a grateful new crowd. Their rotisserie chicken (we recommend you get the extra merguez sausage) is the very best in town.

Wearing Sunspel, sunspel.com

Maker and designer Rio Kobayashi traces his creative roots to his upbringing in rural Japan and his “hippie parents”, as he told Wallpaper magazine on the eve of his very first solo show back in 2023. “If I wanted a toy, they would send me to the workshop suggesting I’d try to make it myself.” Today, his creations are more ambitious but no less playful – a body of work that reinvents furniture with eclectic references and a sense of un abashed fun.

An object I would never part with is my Karl Fritsch ring – I can’t take it off.

I would describe my personal taste as fun, beautiful, cleverly made, and high quality.

The people whose taste I admire are Tomoyuki Katsurada, Mariah Nielson, Kajsa Ståhl, Caragh Thuring, Maki Suzuki, Kate MacGarry – and too many inspiring people.

Something that inspired me recently is Jun Miura, a Japanese novelist and comic artist. Also, doing stretches in the morning.

The creation that makes me the most proud is the next one.

The advice I have for others starting out is to start as early as possible.

One of my favourite spaces in the world is JB Blunk’s house in California, where I spent some time last year, with its beautiful views of the sunrise and dawn.

The best way to spend £10 is on a pack of screws.

The best thing about London is the sunshine.

London could do with a lot more support for small independent businesses – the kind that can create culture, movements, and excitement in the city.

The best meal I’ve eaten this month is a ‘Sabich the King’ pita sandwich at Goldadelux in Berlin.

The thing I’m excited about doing tomorrow is flying to Milan for Design Week. It always feels like a reunion with my classmates, and the whole city is covered in blooming wisteria this time of year.

The Swedish-born designer’s 2021 book was called Every Room Should Sing – an ode to the colour, joyful details, and sheer imagination in her work. In January of this year, she released a BBC Maestro course on interior design.

Aside from Wendover Partners, his very smart development practice, Chipperfield’s recent genius has been in curating some of London’s most beloved modern sites – like the revamped Shreeji news on Chiltern Street, and now the excellent Sol’s on Leinster Terrace.

The owner of Tramp has returned the 20th-century nightspot to its heady pomp – a consummate host and high priest of fun, whose twin glories are spontaneous dancing and a very good late-night cheeseburger.

With Studio Nicholson, Wakeman has created a brand that is loved in all the right places but which retains a certain mystique and cachet. Minimalist yet never clinical, Wakeman’s magic is in her combination of fit and fabric.

Wearing Sunspel, sunspel.com

P Johnson’s London outpost sits below a row of townhouses in Fitzrovia, and you might miss it were it not for the procession of pleased-with-themselves men sashaying up and down its iron steps. They are met one and all by Gavan Lee, a tailor whose genius is to make his clients whatever they want – while gently ushering them into the cuts and cloths that will complement them the most. In this way, he is a soothsayer, psychotherapist, creative director, personal stylist, and confidante, all in one. Or, in other words: a very good tailor.

Something I collect is watches, but I’m not a reference number sort of guy…

An object I’d never part with is my wedding ring. Or my Ricoh GR2 camera.

My personal taste is influenced by simplicity and minimalism, quality over quantity, and timelessness.

The person with the best taste in the world is Bill Nighy. I’ve never met someone who’s so grounded and carries himself with such grace. His taste shows through his choices in cloth and cut.

Something that inspired me recently was the Stockholm Tunnelbana (sub way). It’s basically a really long art gallery and it’s incredible.

The piece of work that makes me most proud is a bespoke three-piece suit which I made as part of my training at Maurice Sedwell’s Savile Row Academy. It was one of the most incredible but challenging things I’ve done.

My advice for others starting out is that being a tailor isn’t just about wearing nice clothes and getting Instagram likes. When you’re making clothes for a client, it could be for a big occasion, which means core memories can be attached to these clothes.

The best way to spend £10 is on a box of Kashi from Omotesando Koffee in Fitzrovia.

The best thing about London is the free museums and galleries.

The best thing I’ve eaten this month is my wife’s slow-cooked braised beef.

The thing I’m most excited to do tomorrow is spending time with my wife and kids.

Nunn’s newsletter, Vittles, is perhaps the most informed and thought-provoking publication in London’s complex and kaleidoscopic food world – an editor whose lyrical essays and commissions richly capture the way we (really) eat now.

Regal by name and by nature, King is the softly spoken, immaculately tailored panjandrum of good taste whose restaurants – Arlington and The Park – are odes to the transportative power of dining.

Thoughtful, generous, affable, and with a distinctive personal style, Casely-Hayford has contributed greatly to the collective dressing ability of London’s men for more than a decade.

Who else could turn a beloved magazine into a perhaps-even-more-beloved restaurant? With an editor’s eye for detail and a restaurateur’s eye for the good life, the Noble Rot industrial complex marches merrily on.

It’s the sublime Guinness which often steals the headlines at The Devonshire, London’s most successful modern pub – though Rogers’ other genius is in the incredibly jolly and always excellent dining room upstairs.

Former Net-a-Porter president Alison Loehnis spent 18 years at the e-commerce behemoth, shaping global e-commerce through innovative strategies and brand partnerships. She is set to join Mytheresa in the coming months.

The longtime maitre d’ at Chiltern Firehouse has always been one of its chief appeals – an endlessly friendly figure with a distinct personal style and a meticulous eye.

Bold chef, raffish style icon, and now London’s favourite butter merchant: Straker and his team continue to outpace the hype with excellent food and endless energy.

Wearing Sunspel, sunspel.com

James Harvey-Kelly’s flat is exactly as you’d hope James Harvey-Kelly’s flat to be. It sits atop a modern high rise in East London, but sits inside a kaleidoscope of the many worlds that Harvey-Kelly is so good at conjuring – a brush of prep py Americana here; a stretch of the Provençal good life there; a dollop of high English summer. In a discombobulating digital world, Harvey-Kelly stays f fiercely, with rich hues, nostalgic warmth, and a genius for capturing a lost world that, you feel, may yet survive – if only one could just get invited to the right Tuscan palazzo.

An object I would never part with is the Leica M7 that was given to me by my parents for my 21st birthday. It felt like an acknowledgment, both for myself and from them that photography was something I could be serious about.

I buy a lot of belts at the moment, particularly western belts.

My personal taste is eclectic – more on the classic end but not stuffy. And I’m a sucker for anything with a story. I’m enjoying looking at pictures of Peter Fonda from the 60s and 70s. Also my friend Patrick, who owns P Johnson, has wonderful taste.

The one thing I wish I had invented is the Peking duck pancake. It’s the most perfectly balanced dish of all time.

My advice to others starting out in my field is to use the camera as a tool to explore and better understand things that are of interest to you.

The most overhyped thing in photography at the moment is shooting film. I’m kidding, of course. But sometimes it becomes a shorthand for a lazy heritage aesthetic.

Some favourite places that I’ve visited recently are St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, the lobby and swimming pool of the Aman in Tokyo, and the bar at the Kronenhalle in Zürich.

The best way to spend £10 is on three oysters.

Something I’m looking forward to doing tomorrow is visiting Paris. I’ll probably get a croissant in the morning.

Despite hailing from the world of management consultancy, Tank’s Caroline Issa has forged a name for herself as a magazine publisher, fashion director, creative consultant, designer and all-round sartorial style icon.

The British-Nigerian designer, artist and skateboarder creates large-scale street-art-inspired canvases, caricatures and murals. Still just 24 years old, in 2023 he became the youngest person to design the Britannia statuette for the annual BRIT awards.

Oborne’s Dirty Hit, home to The 1975, The Japanese House, and Wolf Alice, is the UK’s most exciting independent record label, with a reputation for championing its artists’ individuality.

From the Bull, to the Pelican, to the Hero, to Canteen and now to the gastro-speakeasy The Fat Badger, everything the Public House trio create is routinely excellent and completely moreish. London has become a richer place for their sites and ambitions.

Wearing Sunspel, sunspel.com

The original pitch for Kol raised eyebrows in London’s restaurant community: Mexican food, done with fine-dining execution. Lastra, who had previously worked at Noma’s landmark pop-up restaurant in Mexico, was soon vindicated in his vision, however, with Kol earning a Michelin star in 2022, 14 months after opening. It currently sits at number 17 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list – a feat aided by Lastra’s energetic leadership, clever use of exceptional British produce, and a good measure of first class mezcal.

I collect wooden spoons. I love eating with wooden spoons. I think you can taste things better.

I love bold, exciting flavours and, at the same time, clean and healthy food.

The person with the best taste in the world is my brother. If he says something is good, you know it’s good.

I’d love to make a movie. I like the idea of putting together amazing professionals to tell a story. I think it is something we do with food.

Something unusual that inspired me recently was a train ride. Listening to a podcast and being on a train has given me so many ideas.

The thing I’m proud to have created recently is a cuttlefish dish that is inspired by having coconut on the beach. We dress the cuttlefish with gorse oil and woodruff syrup, and confit it for less than two minutes to have a similar texture and flavour to coconut.

My advice for those starting out in my field is to be humble and try to use every single opportunity to learn something new. I always recommend trying to learn at least one thing every day.

The best way to spend £10 is to buy flowers for your girlfriend.

The best thing about London is its diversity, and that you can try new things every day if you want to.

London could do with more Mexican food, and high-quality Mexican ingredients.

The best meal I’ve eaten this month is pho, which I tried yesterday for the first time.

Born to an English mother and a French father, Charrière, a fashion week fixture, has long held a playful Anglo-Franco sensibility and been an influential, singular voice amid the cacophony of the Insta-sphere.

A trailblazing winner of the Turner Prize, Himid’s far-reaching work addresses themes of race, history, feminism, and cultural memory. Next year, she will represent Britain at the Venice Biennale.

Their social snippets are some of the most handsomely produced on the internet – a dollop of playful sheen which belies the serious, insidery restaurant knowledge that Burgess and Warr both possess.

A studio resident of Somerset House, Davies’s moving short film Lizard was nominated for a BAFTA and won at Sundance in 2021 – a piece characteristic of his thoughtful explorations of identity and cultural heritage.

With those distinctive, Yves Klein-blue covers and some bold editorial choices, Testard has turned kitchen table publisher Fitzcarraldo Editions into a prize-winning powerhouse that has given the book world a much needed bucking-up.

Wearing Sunspel, sunspel.com

Harry Styles was one of Daniel W Fletcher’s very first customers back in 2015, when he started to wear the designer’s graduate collection – an endorsement that did wonders for the burgeoning creative’s brand. Fletcher has flourished over the past 10 years, thanks to his whimsical, inherently British designs – think collegiate striped, subtly-flared trousers and corset-cum-shirts. Often his work is politically charged: for his SS '17 collection, Fletcher staged a mock rally, presenting clothes emblazoned with the word “Stay” – a stand against Brexit. Today Fletcher, who is based in London, helms his own eponymous brand, as well as Mithridate, a hugely popular Chinese label, and is the creative director of Ascot, where he’s finally showing men and women you can have fun amid the stuffy rules.

An object I would never part with is a painting my grandmother painted in Arizona in 1994. I have it hanging in my hallway. It used to hang in hers, and I always loved it, so she gave it to me for my 21st birthday. I could never part with it.

The person with the best taste in the world is Miuccia Prada. And also David Hockney. Nobody makes spots and stripes work together quite like he does.

Something unusual that inspired me recently was a photo of Emma Roberts in [teen comedy] Wild Child. It’s on my moodboard for PS26 – which I think was a complete shock to everyone in the studio!

One of my favourite places in the world is the Great Court at the British Museum. With those huge steps and all that white marble, it also happens to be my dream fashion-show venue.

A thing I’m excited to do tomorrow is to fly home to London and sleep in my own bed!

This article first appeared in the Spring 2025 issue of Gentleman's Journal. Read about it here...