Rita Konig is one of London’s best-loved interior designers, and in a city known for them, that’s really saying something. This month, she’s expanding to the United States, running her business out of Palm Beach. But that’s only one of her many projects—she’s recently launched a range of fabric and wallpaper with Schumacher, debuted new products with the Lacquer Company, and is hard at work on a book about her own house, Oxford Gardens, with Simon & Schuster, which will be published in 2026. Herewith, she shares her key components to the good life. —Ashley Baker
Airline: One that serves really good, ordinary food. It seems that they can’t resist trying to make it fancy, and therefore it is always bad, whatever cabin I seem to be in. When I was 25 years old, I flew to Turkey with my mother and Mark Birley, who was then king of London’s nightlife. Mark produced a picnic on the flight that I think had been made at Harry’s Bar for him. It was a whole roast chicken, cold, sliced, and put back together and wrapped in foil. And a delicious bottle of red wine. I think there were linen napkins, too.
Airport: A small one. Toulon Hyères Airport, in France, is a delight. It seems to serve private planes and EasyJet. It’s about 10 minutes from the plane to the car. And then 15 minutes to the charming port that you leave from for Porquerolles, my new favorite destination.
Breakfast, weekday: I never quite manage that.
Breakfast, weekend: In my dressing gown with friends in a pretty house, sitting at a long table for hours, with people coming and going. I like sitting through many shifts until about 11 a.m., eating cold toast with hard butter and marmalade, possibly a sausage with English mustard and good coffee.
Car: The vintage Fiat 500 I had in New York. I was able to drive up the avenues in heavy traffic between the lanes. It also caused much merriment wherever I went.
Child: My very own, Margot.
Cocktail: A Telefonino, a favorite of the late Rose Gray of the River Cafe. Or a Whitebox freezer martini—so civilized and fun to be able to produce those at speed! I served them at my Christmas party this year, and they were a total hit.
Cocktail appetizer: Perello olives, pickled peppers, and M&S or Sally Clarke cheese biscuits. And really nothing beats a cocktail sausage with a jar of Dijon mustard.
Date: The one that starts at lunch and goes on all weekend.
Dinner, weekday: If I’m cooking, I order lamb curry from Holy Cow, the best Indian delivery, and decant it into my own Le Creuset. I’m stunned by what a winner it is every time. I am always either asked for the recipe or the name of my cook! And then oranges in caramel ordered from Caraffini, on Lower Sloane Street.
Dinner, weekend: Friends at home, with a fire going, the day to get everything ready, and nowhere to be the following morning. Friends at home on the weekend is the best. I actually love Sunday lunch at home. Bloody Marys, newspapers, lolling about all afternoon.
Dress: One that makes you feel feminine and usually want to dance. Kilts do it—they swish when you walk. I’m sure that’s why men like wearing them. It’s such a winning feeling.
Drive: To the North of England with Honor Fraser, my childhood best friend. When we were young and just had our licenses, we often drove north to her house in Scotland. We have just done it again and, as always, we miss highway exits because we are always chatting too much.
Enemy: The moth!
Escape: I remember once getting up from an interminably dull networking-type dinner to go to the bathroom for a breather. I walked out the door and just kept on going—it was the most tremendous feeling of escape. I got in a lot of trouble the next day with the friend of mine I’d taken with me. Quite rightly!
Good-bye:
I absolutely hate good-byes, so no good-bye is the one for me.
Indulgence: Caviar for two out of a large tin with a spoon, a lemon, and some melba toast. And no particular reason.
Insult: I wish I had Churchill’s quick wit. I love his put-down to the woman who accused him of being drunk: “I may be drunk, miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.” Like most people, I think of excellent put-downs about three days later.
Lunch, weekday: A gossipy lunch with a girlfriend somewhere like Sumi or Nobu.
Lunch, weekend: Outside at the River Cafe in the spring, eating new-season broad beans.
Match: Backgammon. I could play for days.
Movie: I just watched Lee, with Kate Winslet, and absolutely loved it.
Name: “Honey.” I love how Americans use it as a term of endearment. I have never managed to get it into my lexicon; also, I feel like you have to be American to use it. It sounds awful with a British accent.
Neighbor: My ex-husband! He isn’t bad at all and the perfect neighbor for our daughter.
Nonfiction book: Pavlovsk, by Suzanne Massie.
Novel: The Pursuit of Love, by Nancy Mitford.
Pen: Pilot V with erasable ink. Why buy a Montblanc when you can have a box full of these in your desk drawer?
Pet: My Eddie, a charming cockapoo. He would be even more perfect if he didn’t bark whenever I greet people or kiss them good-bye, though.
Piece of advice: My mother told me that if I wasn’t able to talk about money, I wouldn’t be taken seriously.
Podcasts: The News Agents, The Rest Is Politics, The Rest Is History, Wiser than Me—that’s actually my favorite one.
President: Kennedy. Decency and glamour.
Restaurant: The Waverly Inn, in New York. The closest I have got to the bar in Cheers. I used to decorate it for Christmas when I lived across the street, and my fee would be kept behind the bar. I always got a table, I never got a bill, and it was always like being at home. I knew all the staff well and was treated in the coziest, jolliest way. A crisp glass of white wine always put down in front of me within minutes of sitting at a table. It was heaven.
Second spouse: One’s best girlfriend in spousal form.
Street: I think that the best streets curve and are lined with trees, probably cherry trees. I love wondering what is around the corner.
Storm: Snow in the night. What is cozier than being caught inside with a fire roaring, puzzles to do, and movies to watch?
Television series: Slow Horses, Nobody Wants This, Modern Family.
Time of day: Cocktails.
Toast: Hot and buttered with Gentleman’s Relish on a cold afternoon.
Victim: Bette Midler in Ruthless People.
View: Hills, always. Scottish ones are my favorite. But Californian ones, with the ocean in the distance, come a close second.
Rita’s Essentials
