WELCOME TO ISSUE 37…

Our Spring/Summer issue 2026 (a double issue with our sister magazine The Mayfarer) takes a bold step into the world of feet, from ballerina toes and mathematical measures, to the unmentionable realities of toe fungus. No topic is too trivial for this issue; we’re braving it all.

Royal Academician Chris Orr MBE has created the covers for both magazines and we couldn’t be happier – I dare you not to smile (my favorite characters are the snails who appear on each cover). You’ll find an exclusive preview of what Orr is preparing for this year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Flip the magazine over to The Mayfarer section, you won’t want to miss it.

Theatre professional Mark Fox steals the show with his remarkable shoe collection, from clogs to tap shoes and hobnail boots to patent leather pumps. Art historian Lucy Moore tells us how dancers modify their ballet shoes: shaving, steaming and shaping them, to meet the demands of their craft.

Clive Boursnell brings us a striking vintage photograph from 1983, capturing life at The Royal Ballet.
History meets arithmetic here in Covent Garden: John Kersey, who once lived near the Piazza, wrote The Elements of That Mathematical Art Commonly Called Algebra, a seminal work that helped shape the study of algebra in English. Kersey often used feet as a unit of measurement in his calculations, giving a very local and practical angle to his mathematical explorations.

For those who prefer long walks to long sums, the London Marathon stretches 26 miles and 385 yards, roughly 55,000 steps, and we’ve included tips on blisters, routes, and where to enjoy a refreshing drink once you’ve finished.
Closer to home, the new Mr Turner’s Bar at The Porterhouse on Maiden Lane, the birthplace of Turner, is now open. Our Covent Garden art competition finalists, judges, and prizes, from a beer a week for a year to a chauffeur-driven Bentley for a day courtesy of Jack Barclay Bentley, are featured across a six‑page section starting on p12.

Finally, we invite you to follow our one‑mile, self-guided history tour, tracing the footsteps of five historical characters from The Covent Gardener map: J.M.W. Turner, Charles Dickens, William Blake, and two more surprises to keep you intrigued. If you enjoy the route, tell us which figures you’d like to see next, we’ll craft the next tour inspired by your suggestions. Contact us via Instagram and have your say.

And if you turn the issue upside down…

WELCOME TO ISSUE 12…

Welcome to a very special Spring/Summer issue of The Mayfarer, a double issue with our sister magazine
The Covent Gardener. This season, we focus on feet: stylish, sculptural, practical and sometimes provocative.
Both covers have been created exclusively for us by artist and printmaker Chris Orr MBE RA. His witty, Spring-ready feet set the tone perfectly. Known for his unmistakable humour and storytelling, Chris has served as treasurer of the Royal Academy of Arts and was awarded an MBE in 2008 for his services to the arts. But you’d never guess any of that from the warmth, humility and humour that pours from his work, or from the way he tells stories about his creative world.

Inside, Orr speaks about his practice at the Royal Academy and gives us behind-the-scenes insight into the works he is preparing for this year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, including a new lithograph inspired by Mary Anning, the intrepid 19th-century fossil hunter of Lyme Regis. There is much more to read, but you’ll need to see the full feature on p8.

Staying firmly in Mayfair, we take you on a short sculpture walk, from Dame Elisabeth Frink’s Horse and Rider to Antony Gormley’s Cinch above the Burlington Arcade. In Hidden in Plain Sight, we feature David Breuer-Weil and his striking two-footed sculptural presence on Park Lane. André de Trichateau brings insight to Bond Street’s long-standing relationship with shoes and fetish culture. Further afield, we travel to Ghent and check into the extraordinary luxury boutique hotel 1898 The Post. You’ll also find a curated selection of seasonal gifts designed to pamper and polish.

At Piero Publishing, our belief in print is absolute. We are proud to produce magazines that are collected, revisited and treasured. When you reach the centre of this double magazine, turn it over and begin the Spring/Summer issue of The Covent Gardener.

Or better still, put on your walking shoes and enjoy the 20-minute stroll from Mayfair to Covent Garden. Both are our home, and together, they shape the stories we tell.