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ISSUE 01

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Welcome

Welcome back to Home House Magazine

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very warm welcome back to our in-house magazine! We are delighted to once again be able to offer you our very own publication created to keep you fully informed with everything that is happening here at Home House and deliver some interesting insights into many different subjects.

Obviously the past couple of years has been challenging for all sorts of reasons and so we are particularly glad to have our own magazine back to offer to members yet another added benefit to membership and deliver a fantastic read whether you are in Home House or indeed your own house. A new feature of our revived magazine is that as before copies are available for free right around the club, but they can also be sent to your home in either a printed or digital version! Just ask us for more details if you would like a copy sent to you home address or email account.

Diving right in Home House magazines dives right back in with a profile of one of our most flamboyant members on the cover. Joshua Kane is a fashion designer and tailor with a wonderful store close by in Marylebone.

Joshua has built an amazing reputation mixing traditional tailoring and design, with his own modern twist and has been the subject of many news stories and articles in the world of fashion so we are delighted to have him adorn our first cover in the returning magazine. Talking of fashion, this is just one of the exciting areas we are covering in Home House this issue, we have also included articles on ethical travel, wellness and heath, food and drink, the art-world providing a fascinating insight into some of the coolest and most cutting edge people and concepts operating in those areas. There is also a wealth of information about House House in this issue too. Staying At Home House, our Gym and Spa, special staff profiles and deep dives into particular parts of House House are all included. We hope you enjoy this issue, do let us know what you think, is there anything you would like to see included?

Home House 01

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02 Home House

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COMPANY ADDRESS GOES HERE COMPANY ADDRESS GOES HERE T: +44 (0)1234 567890 F: +44 (0)1234 567890 www.allthingsmedialtd.com Whilst we make every effort that everything printed in Home House magazine is factually correct, we cannot be held responsible if factual errors occur. All articles are copyright and remain the property of Home House magazine.

Home House 03

Meet The Members

Meet The Members Home House’s members are a diverse bunch. Here, we get to know more about them and what makes the club their home from home.

Vanessa Roberts

L

ife as a CEO and business-owner can be stressful, with lots of commuting, an endless stream of hotels and the everpresent challenge to find suitable meeting areas that have the right balance of service, style and privacy. Before I joined Home House, I found myself regularly spending days and nights away from home, on my own in a soulless hotel with no company, only a television for entertainment and the daunting prospect of sitting alone in a hotel bar to eat a drab meal.

I had never considered the idea of joining a members club until I was introduced to Home House by a friend. My friend knew I was travelling back and forth to London on business and I had on more than one occasion found myself wishing for a familiar face or the comforts of home. It might sound a bit twee to describe somewhere as home from home, but I think it’s the best way to describe what Home House has become to me after my incredible 10-year journey as a member.

The experience of being at Home House is like no other. It combines architectural splendour with quintessentially British service and a truly modern flair for entertaining. In its many beautiful rooms I can enjoy everything from a private breakfast meeting on the terrace with a new potential client, through to lavish cocktails at the bar, or a silent moment with a newspaper and afternoon tea, and at the end of the day I can enjoy one of the unforgettable fancy dress parties it famously hosts. It’s not surprising to know that I no longer dread my business trips to London, but look forward to what new and wonderful experience I’ll enjoy next, whether it’s rum tasting, learning how to play backgammon, or sitting beside someone totally remarkable at dinner.

One of the great privileges of being a businesswoman is that I get to meet amazing people. Home House allows me to do this in a beautiful, professional, safe and friendly setting. Through being a member I have made new friends and have changed my whole experience of business travel. I hope that I can show others the same warm welcome I have received from both staff and members. www.buttercupstraining.co.uk

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Meet The Members

Richard Balfour-Lynn

M

y wife, Leslie and I co-founded and jointly run Balfour Winery in Staplehurst, Kent. From planting our first vines 20 years ago, we’re now one of the largest English wineries producing over 400,000 bottles of still and sparkling wines a year as well as a range of beers and ciders. The wines are exported around the world and are available in many national retailers as well as some of the UK’s most prestigious restaurants.

The winery is located on our beautiful 400-acre Hush Heath Estate and boasts a 200-person tasting room that welcomes over 20,000 visitors per year. A far cry from when we made 10,000 bottles in our first vintage and no-one had ever heard of English wine!

I’ve been a member of Home House since its launch, as my office at the time was five minutes away in Marble Arch. I was cofounder and CEO of a property group that owned and managed several hotel businesses: Malmaison, Hotel du Vin, De Vere golf and leisure resorts and Village Hotels as well as London department store, Liberty.

Home House was where I held many private meetings and entertained many over a relaxed lunch or dinner. Nowadays Leslie and I use Home House when we’re staying in London and find its ambience and facilities the perfect place and location. www.balfourwinery.com

Dominic Warman

T

here’s something uniquely intoxicating about Home House. For me, it feels planetary in scale, yet as subtle as the front door. The place is a cornucopia of pleasures where you can experience as much or as little as you desire.

From my footloose and fancy-free days as a member, to now, my optics may have changed, but Home House always delivers.

Let’s face it, anywhere where the dress code simply requests that you’re not naked in a public area clearly wants to focus on the things that matter! I’ve come to know that what that is, is the people – not just the members, but the staff too. Thank you, Home House.

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Meet The Members

Luigi Ippolito

I

t’s been five years since I moved from Italy to London to work as foreign correspondent for Corriere della Sera, the leading Italian newspaper. And five exciting years they have been! Amongst the Brexit saga, the royal scandals and Boris’ antics, I discovered that this place can be even more colourful and entertaining than my home country.

When I am not wandering along the corridors in Downing Street (looking for news, not parties!) you can find me hanging around Home House. I came across the club by chance, having been invited to a work meeting, and I immediately realised that it was the perfect place to impress my own guests.

Whether I am interviewing best-selling authors or entertaining seasoned ambassadors, the drawing rooms or the restaurant provide the perfect backdrop. However, I soon discovered that Home House is much more than this, and that its most notable assets are the members.

By attending an amazingly diverse social events calendar, I have had the chance to meet such an interesting array of people that I ended up featuring some of them more than once in my articles about London life (while the garden acted as the setting for some of the podcasts).

Finally, a well-deserved mention goes to the superb staff: from the managers to the people at the cloakroom, they always go that extra mile to make you feel truly at Home.

Mike Hodges

I

am a busy family man, a loyal dog walker to Bronte, my Springer Spaniel, and the founder and Managing Director of Carrington Wealth Management. I have been a Home House member for about 11 years.

Home House has been an important part of my life during this time, as I when I moved my company to the West End in 2010 I wanted a space that would satisfy various needs for us – a place where we could meet clients, hold internal meetings, host events and socialise, and very importantly, somewhere to work off those calories from all the socialising! We are all about the personal touch at Carrington and therefore appreciate the quality service we receive from the team at Home House, especially Marcel and the two Alis.

Along with my business partner, Alistair Candlish (also a member), I run an award-winning boutique wealth management company, not far from Home House. We look after private clients, supporting them and their families, and helping them make key financial and life decisions.

When I’m not working or with the family, I can be found partaking in one of my many sporting passions: on the golf course perfecting my swing, at Lord’s following the cricket, or cheering on my beloved Hornets at Vicarage Road. www.carringtonwm.co.uk

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Meet The Members

Paul Bass

I

can look in the mirror and say quite confidently that I’ve not had a boring life, and I feel very fortunate to be able to make the choices I can at this stage of my life. I enjoy the good things in life – within reason – but I never forget my roots. I’m a Northern boy from a normal village near a normal town. Much to my parent’s dismay, I decided to leave home and join the Navy when I was 16.

Some 34 years later I left, as opportunities just kept knocking. I spent all my operational career on the UK’s nuclear submarines, and like my father before me I managed to climb the corporate ladder from the lowest sailor apprentice to be a Submarine Commander.

Many years ago, quite early on in my training, I was undertaking a leadership course. I was apparently the youngest ‘sailor’ ever to do it (at that time). The instructors called me an enigma (I had to look it up).

Strangely, I suppose that is still probably what I am! I crave socialising and enjoy nothing better than to party, but underneath it I’m also quite socially distant. I often dress to stand out and be a little different – I am not a follower of fashion, and at 6ft 3 I stand out anyway! I must admit to myself that I like attention, but I’m also not particularly confident when you scratch the surface (perhaps harking back to that normal Northern boy finding himself mixing where he doesn’t belong).

I went into Home House just before Christmas after work, in a suite, and the wonderful front of house staff asked if it was really me! I joined Home House years ago looking for something that was different, that would excite me and keep me interested, and it has definitely done that.

My wife and I often stay in the amazing suites once every few months (we have a favourite, but you should find your own). I joined for a reason, and that remains an eclectic mix of fun, frivolity, privilege, personality and clandestineness that fulfils the needs of someone like me – an enigma – or simply someone looking for that ‘thing’ to keep them on the edge.

Omer Shaikh

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s a proud member of Home House since 2008, walking through those large, double Georgian doors on Portman Square feels just as special today as it did the very first time I entered all those years ago.

The warm greeting of the team, the eclectic mix of members, the culinary delights of the regularly changing menus, the amazing and absolutely fabulous members parties, the varied selection of rooms and décor – from modern contemporary to (as I like to call it) shabby chic – this is all part of the magical and unique experience that makes Home House so special, and genuinely my home from home.

I’ve been lucky enough to create many wonderful memories here over the years and look forward to many, many more to come.

Home House is an enchanting hub of excitement, community, creativity, luxury, serenity, culture, decadence and whatever else you want it to be! www.exempla.net

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Georgian London

Talk Of The Ton Established in the 18th century, Home House was originally commissioned by the notorious Elizabeth, Countess of Home as a sophisticated palace purely for enjoyment and entertainment.

In 1773, the immensely grand Countess of Home, made plans for a suitably palatial home in London to entertain royalty as well as her glittering friends, and the House became a venue for the most illustrious parties of the 18th Century. Lavish parties, scandal and high-society gossip aside, we take a look back at what else would have been on the social calendar to keep Lady Home entertained during the Georgian era.

Theatre

T

he 18th century was the great age of theatre, and London was the place to be. Drury Lane, Covent Garden and the Haymarket theatres all prospered during the Georgian period, and by the 1760s, each of these venues seated several thousand people who would flock to the purpose-built auditoriums to see plays, musical performances, ballets, rope-walkers, acrobats and even horsemanship. Wealthy theatre-goers and opera fans were seated in boxes placed alongside the stage, while the wealthiest patrons were seated on the stage itself. What a lark!

08 Home House

Pleasure Gardens

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leasure gardens were also incredibly popular in Georgian London. First opening in 1746, Ranelagh Pleasure Gardens in Chelsea boasted acres of formal gardens with long sweeping avenues, attracting swathes of rich and fashionable pedestrians taking a stroll.

Vauxhall Gardens were established in 1729, and as Ranelagh Pleasure Gardens would go on to do, required a ticket of admission – making the experience an increasingly exclusive pastime. Other, smaller gardens were established at Sadler’s Wells, Marylebone and Hampstead, and all were sites for music, dancing, eating and drinking, as well as hosting regular fireworks displays, operas and masquerades.

Georgian London

London Season

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or the wealthy Georgian man or woman about town, the highlight of the year was the London Season – the annual period when it was customary for the country’s elite families to unite for balls, dinner parties, dances and theatre outings – decked in their finest attire. The concept evolved in the 17th and 18th centuries but truly hit its stride in the 19th when British high society was dominated by the landed gentry. A daily highlight of the London Season came to be known as ‘the fashionable hour’, whereby the cream of English society (members of the 2,000 or so aristocratic families known as ‘the ton’) paraded around Hyde Park – all exquisitely dressed, naturally.

Shopping

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ith increasing variety in clothes, food and household items, shopping became an important cultural activity in the 18th century. London’s various specialist establishments catered specifically to refined tastes, and shopping in them came to defined social status. In particular, milliners, haberdashers, goldsmiths and furniture sellers appealed to the latest tastes among the wealthy, and a wide choice of exclusive shops were opened in elegant urban districts such as in the Strand and Piccadilly.

Fashion

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eauty was an embodiment of nobility and of great wealth in the 18th century, and acquiring the latest fashion was a pursuit only available for a select few. Inspired by Marie Antoinette, fashionable London ladies were drawn to rich embroidery, full skirts, fine silk brocades, lace, and high heels – the latter also being worn by men, who donned elaborate wigs. Women’s hair varied from big to small and wavy to curly with each year, and caps were popular for the majority of women and were adorned with lace around the brim. For the better part of the century, women wore corsets and covered their legs with a petticoat and overskirt, which included a ‘false rump’ which was normally made of cork, although ‘fan hoops’-style dresses were later favoured which pushed out the fabric on all sides. At the end of the 18th century women favoured a one-piece dress, which featured a high waist, straight skirt (unsupported by petticoats) and short sleeves. However the flamboyance wasn’t reserved entirely for women; well-dressed men wore three piece suits paired with stockings, black leather shoes, ruffled shirts with waistcoats and cloaks – and always with breaches underneath.

Netflix’s Bridgerton is set in 1813 in the Regency period (1811 to 1820), which was towards the end of the Georgian era (1714 to 1830–37).

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Georgian London

Food and Drink

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ining and dining remained fashionable in high society (mainly for men), who could choose from a plethora of smart Mayfair hotels, oyster rooms, inns, chop houses, markets, taverns, coffee houses, inns, tea gardens and cake shops. By 1800, the men’s clubs in Pall Mall, such as the former chocolate house, ‘White’s’ oozed exclusivity and remained largely male enclaves – as were coffee houses where newspapers were read and matters of business and politics were discussed. Establishments such as the Piazza Coffee House in Covent Garden held elegant dinners for large and small parties.

When it came to alcohol, port was the drink of choice for those that considered themselves refined, whilst others favoured wine, brandy, claret, spirits, punch, rum, porter and sometimes beer or cider.

The aristocracy and gentry (and ‘honorary gentry’ like the clergy) often drank quite heavily in their day-to-day life, and men boasted of their ability to drink huge amounts and remain able to function.

During his time as Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger was said to drink up to six bottles of port a day, and was known to drink an entire bottle before giving a speech before the House of Commons. It’s no surprise, then, that gout was rife – especially in men – who were the heaviest drinkers.

Fairs

F

airs were important parts of the yearly calendar, which usually lasted for a week or more, and were attended by thousands of people. The largest by far was Bartholomew Fair, which was held in London every September for four days and was host to numerous entertainment options including tumbling, acrobatics, tightrope walking, exotic animals, boxing competitions, puppet shows, displays of human strength, comic sketches, theatre plays, operettas and various recitals – and much eating and drinking.

Sport

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opular sporting activities included tennis, golf, lawn bowling, Pall Mall (a precursor to modern croquet) and cricket. In the winter, ice skating was common, while the summer months saw an influx of boating for the purposes of fishing, picnicking and watching regattas. Hunting was also popular, as was horse racing.

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Georgian London

Transport

T

o get from A to B, a stagecoach was the order of the day.

These first appeared on England’s roads in the early 16th century, and the first coaches were fairly crude and slow.

The formation of a stage company in 1706 established a regular coach route between York and London, and by 1797 there were 42 coach routes throughout the country linking most major cities. In 1754, a company in Manchester began a new service called the ‘Flying Coach’, which it claimed could (barring accidents!) travel from Manchester to London in just four and a half days. A similar service began from Liverpool three years later, employing coaches with a new steel spring suspension. These reached 8 miles an hour and completed the journey to London in three days. In the last 30 years of the Georgian period, over 1,000 vehicles left London every day, using around 4,000 horses.

Other Entertainment

A

rt shows were another source of entertainment, where wax figures, sculptures, and paintings were popular.

High society balls offered opportunities for courtship, while gambling and card games were also common sources

of entertainment. Up and down the Strand in London, exhibitions of imported exotic animals were on display – some performing tricks for the amusement of the general public. At the end of the century, a famous ‘performing pig’ became well known across the country for its apparent ability to spell.

With the light comes the dark, and the unsightly side of the entertainment world included the public’s curiosity to gawp at ‘mad’ people at London’s Bethlehem hospital (or Bedlam), which attracted queues of sightseers who paid to watch the behaviour of inmates afflicted with mental illnesses. Giants, midgets, the obese, natives of foreign countries and a host of sufferers of various medical conditions were all put on display.

Georgian England also had very different attitudes when it came to the treatment of animals. Animal baiting and organised blood sports were also popular during the 18th century, including bull baiting.

In England during the time of Queen Anne, bull-baiting took place twice a week in London at Hockley-in-the-Hole. Animal baiting was outlawed under the Cruelty to Animals Act in 1835, which forbade the keeping of any house, pit, or other place for baiting or fighting any bull, bear, dog or other animal.

Home House 11

The Gym at Home House

The Gym at Home House

Dawit Haile Meet Dawit Haile, our very own fitness guru, Gym Manager and Personal Trainer. We would like to take this opportunity to offically introduce Dawit Haile as Gym Manager, having been part of the Home House family for over 15 years. We caught up with Dawit about his own personal fitness journey and what it’s like to work at Marylebone’s best kept secret.

I

was born and raised in a rural village in Eritrea, East Africa.

Growing up in an open space and from a farming family, everything we did was done manually and that involved a lot of physical activity. Transportation was limited as well, so walking large distances to and from destinations was a regular occurrence.

My own personal fitness journey started in my childhood, where we used to play a wide range of outdoor sports such as Shauki, which is very similar to American baseball but with the ball being made up of old fabric, tightly bound together. Farming life in Eritrea was very manual with little assistance from machinery. From planting the seeds to harvesting the crops, it always involved a lot of work and physical effort. It was rewarding at the end though.

Mohammed Ali is an all time role model to me. His dedication to boxing and achievements on the world stage were incredible, yet still he remained humble. That always impressed me. I think the highlight of my fitness journey now is knowing how I can encourage and motivate my clients to push and achieve better results, and ultimately, their training goals.

My fitness journey became more structured when I moved to London.

I was a member of LA Fitness and was going regularly to train myself. I

12 Home House

made good friends with the people who worked there and realised that I too could become a personal trainer and a running coach to help people to get fitter. At a later stage, an opportunity came up in the Home House health spa department for a role as a gym assistant. From there I then did my Level 2 Gym Instructor course and followed it with a YMCA level 3 Personal Trainer course to get my certification.

In terms of fitness advice, I’d say improving fitness comes from different aspects of life. Consider a balanced nutrition plan and approach your training with a full body workout method, i.e. from cardio vascular training to weightlifting – combining these together in a single session can bring improved results. But most importantly, enjoy what you do, push yourself within your own limits, keep a positive state of mind, and get great results to stay fitter and healthier for longer.

The Home House gym and spa is a unique place to be; we’re downstairs in the basement in what was the old kitchen and servants’ quarters. We have various pieces of equipment for strength training including two Olympic half racks, a wide range of dumbbells, cable machines as well as two Kinesis machines.

On the cardio side, we have Technogym Skillrun and Skillmill treadmills, Technogym cross trainers, Concept2 rowing machines, a Peloton and a Wattbike. We also have a Concept2 SkiErg and VersaClimber machine, both giving slightly different but very effective approaches to cardio training.

Currently on Monday evenings we have the workout of the day with Kamil Riha; Tuesday evening is yoga with Jo; Wednesday evening is high-intensity Tabata method with myself; and Thursday lunchtime is a Pilates-inspired class with Luigi.

We are in the process of finalising more classes and two running clubs with myself. One being express pace run: the aim of this is for seasoned regular runners to finish 5k in under 22 minutes, and there is another running club for all levels. This will be a one-hour long run, sometimes in Hyde Park and sometimes in Regents Park to mix things up a bit.

All fitness levels can join and everyone is welcome. All we ask is that when joining classes or doing PT, explain any injuries or limitations you may have so our trainers can modify accordingly and make it work for you.

A common misconception people have about improving their fitness is that running will wear out your knees. Many people think running is bad for joints. But actually, in-depth studies have shown runners are, if anything, less likely to develop knee osteoarthritis. The strategy to avoid knee pain is to learn to run properly with good technique and to train sensibly (which means not increasing your mileage by too much too quickly). It’s a great way of training when done correctly.

Physical activities and exercise can help mental and emotional wellbeing. Research proves that doing physical activity can help prevent many illnesses and promote better sleep.

People can find all the information they need via our Home House website under the gym section. We run a wide range of classes during the week and we encourage our members to take a part. We are here to support our members for any training and any questions they may have.

I enjoy working at Home House and helping our members get familiar with the gym and health spa. We have a steam and sauna room which are great to relax in after a hard training session. Also, working with my amazing colleagues and experienced PTs is a highlight as we all continue to deliver results for our members.

The Gym at Home House

About the Gym

L

ocated in the basement of House 21, the Gym at Home House is a subterranean haven for members and hotel guests alike. Nestled within the heart of Marylebone, the fully equipped gym offers state-of-the-art equipment along with a health spa including sauna, steam room and relaxation room.

Discover your best self in the gym or workout with our expert personal trainers to reach your goals. Members can enjoy a schedule of complimentary workouts throughout the week including running club, yoga, tabata, pilates and strength and conditioning classes.

Discover more: www.homehouse.co.uk/fitness

Home House 13

Interview: Antonio Mantelli

Antonio Mantelli, House 21 Manager Antonio Mantelli, explains his role as House 21 manager, there is never a dull moment!

M

y introduction to the world of hospitality was working for my father’s bar in Rome and then going on to run it. My family have always run pizzerias / trattorias and bars, so it’s in my blood. In my free time I competed in freestyle bartender competitions across the world.

House 21 is my baby! When I think of Home House, I think of 21. To me it’s the gem in Home House. House 21 offers the opulence and chic of Home House but with a focus on late night dining and drinks – it’s an antidote to the busy working day. We provide a unique cocktail menu devised by our bartenders, an extensive tapas menu, and DJs every night till the early hours – a true party atmosphere! It is sophisticated, without taking itself too seriously.

There are four main areas to House 21 – each of which appeal to different desires and moods. My favourites are the House Bar, which is your classic speakeasy, and then the Lounge – which thanks to the lively design and some of London’s best DJs – is a perfect place to let your hair down.

We are very proud of our informal sharing concept menu which encompasses many nationalities and styles. My favourite dish is without doubt the octopus carpaccio. The beauty of our bar menu is the sheer choice on offer, boasting more than the other bars in-house. Saying that, my favourite cocktail is far from obscure: the Espresso Martini.

You won’t find a better one in London!

14 Home House

For me, preparation is everything, and my day starts with learning from last night’s events, planning the day, and holding briefings with the team. We meet before every service as a team and learn from each other; communication is everything in hospitality and the only way we can grow. If I had to choose my favourite quality in my team members it would be those with the appetite to learn and develop. All of the team members have different talents, and helping them find their home within 21, whether it’s the vestibule bar with Robert, or in the lounge with Helen, is the fun part..

It’s hard to choose the best thing about House 21, but I must say that the team and the regular members are my two biggest loves.

Watching the team build friendships with the members and to see their performances flourishing are always my proudest moments.

The most challenging thing here, like every bar, is staying exciting, relevant and consistent. We put a lot of time and effort into constantly evolving the menus and décor. It’s hard work but we see the benefits every day.

We have plenty of new aspects to House 21 this year. The main two that spring to mind are our live music every Wednesday where four musicians stroll around the house serenading our members.

Secondly, we’ve increased the regularity of our live drag performances; we’re blessed with some of London’s best queens, and they never fail to dazzle.

The atmosphere does change throughout the night however, as our food menus run late into the evening. There’s no big shift in mood between dinner and post dinner; it’s a living space that caters to many moods and desires and there’s a spot in House 21 that is perfect for whatever mood a guest is in. The Gloucester Lounge is a big favourite for those wanting to talk the night away. Downstairs however, with the arrival of the DJ, the carpets are rolled up and people take to the dancefloor.

It’s hard to put into words what Home House can offer, there’s truly a spot for everyone. I think how it might differ from other members’ clubs is its elegance. Also we have dozens of staff who have been with the club for years and years, which says a lot about how we run things, and I’m sure that’s one of the main reasons the members can’t stay away.

Interview: Antonio Mantelli Setction Title

Home House 15

What’s On

What’s On Updated June 2022

Floral Installation The al fresco season is officially upon us and the garden has been transformed with a floral display fit for a Queen as we look forward to celebrating Her Majesty’s historic milestone at our hotly anticipated summer party! Come rain or shine, decadent dining and a warm welcome awaits with new spring dishes on the menu along with our gourmet barbecue – available at weekends and bank holidays.

16 Home House

What’s On

Your Very Own Al Fresco Hotspot

Weekend BBQ

Members and guests can make the most of the glorious sunshine and enjoy decadent dining and summer tipples against the backdrop of our beautiful floral facade. A stylish sun-trap in the heart of Marylebone, the beautiful courtyard garden is an idyllic oasis whether for a long lunch or a City date-night.

Enjoy Chef ’s gourmet barbecue menu every weekend, featuring a selection of mighty dishes from the grill such Lamb Cutlets with herb marinade and King Prawns with chilli and garlic sauce. Available throughout summer from Friday to Sunday. Book your table online via the Members Area.

Details: Monday – Sunday: 8am – 11pm

Details: Friday to Sunday, The Garden

Exquisite British Dining At The Restaurant

Afternoon Tea In The Drawing Rooms

New set menu available for lunch and dinner everyday Enjoy two courses and a glass of wine for £35 per person with delicious dishes on the menu including Burrata with Isle of Wight tomatoes, Chicken Paillard with Wye Valley garden salad and cherry tomatoes.

Book a table online via the Members Area.

A most necessary indulgence, the quintessentially British menu features delicious sandwiches, warm scones and a fabulous selection of sweet treats and mouth-watering cakes designed by our talented pastry team.

Book a table online via the Members Area. For groups of more than 8 guests, speak to our Events Team by emailing events@homehouse.co.uk.

Details: Served everyday at lunch and dinner

Details: Now served daily from 2pm - 5pm

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What’s On?

Live Music

House Lounge & Bar: Dine, Dance And Revel

Discover what’s on at homehouse.co.uk/events From weekly live jazz sessions from our House band to guest appearances from acoustic musicians and emerging artists, Members and guests enjoy a variety of live performances each week in the opulent surroundings of the Great Drawing Room.

Serving up seriously good small plates and exquisite cocktails alongside late-night DJs and regular entertainment, the House Lounge & Bar takes inspiration from the notorious Countess of Home’s wildly lavish parties and such hedonistic behaviour that broke the harmony of Georgian Society life.

Details: Jazz Wednesdays 8pm - 11pm

Details: Wednesday – Saturday: 5pm – 3am

Cocktail Hour

Resident DJ’s

In true Home House style, we like to celebrate every day as though it’s the weekend. Members and guests can enjoy a complimentary glass of Moët & Chandon Champagne or a cocktail when dining in the House Lounge and Bar between 6pm and 8:30pm. Book your table online via the Members Area.

Members and guests can enjoy an exciting line-up of regular entertainment designed to evoke a sense of freedom, from Drag Bingo to Live Band Karaoke. From 10pm every night, our resident DJ’s hit the decks in the House Lounge for dancing until the small hours.

Details: Wednesday – Saturday 6pm - 8:30pm

Details: Wednesday to Saturday, 10pm - 3am

Member Benefits We’re delighted to be able to offer Home House members the opportunity to play 18 holes of golf at Harleyford Golf Club for the privileged guest rate of £37.50 per person. Set in truly magnificent surroundings on a private estate, the top Buckinghamshire club is nestled by the River Thames in Marlow and home to Tyrrell Hatton – one of the best golfers in the world.

Details: Find out more via the Members Area

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What’s On?

The Bison Bar Presents: Arcadia Throughout the Western and Eastern canon of art history, depictions of landscapes have been a significant preoccupation for artists, often blending the inner and outer worlds into metaphysical or spiritual scenes that capture our deep connection with the natural world.

Founded by Melissa Digby-Bell in 2020, Offshoot Arts is a gallery and art consultancy based in the UK which collaborates with a global roster of artists that question and explore universal themes and issues that connect us all; often expressed through unusual, innovative materials and techniques.

With regularly changing art exhibitions at the Bison Bar, Home House is thrilled to present this exciting new show that has been curated by Offshoot Arts in collaboration with A Space for Art. We hope you take a moment to enjoy the show during your visit, and wish a very warm welcome to our very talented new artists.

Arcadia April to September 2022 This exhibition is presented within the beautiful Georgian interior of Home House, designed by renowned architect Robert Adams in 1775. In the 18th century, the landscape paintings of Claude Lorrain became highly collected in Europe and their bucolic visions of pastoralism inspired artists of the time to focus on the genre. It eventually became the dominant art form in the 19th century, particularly during the Romantic movement when representations of nature could dramatically and empathetically reflect the human condition.

It is this extraordinary tradition of responding to and capturing the natural world that this exhibition seeks to engage: celebrating utopian and idyllic scenes that transport the viewer. The works in the exhibition

highlight our profound connection with nature – ever more poignant and deeply felt given recent global events. The exhibition also explores diverse artistic representations of landscapes and the environment, and emphasises the strength and value of our relationship with the natural world, while also hinting at its peril.

Participating artists are Amy Beager, Elizabeth Magill, Freya Douglas-Morris, Hannah Brown, Rene Gonzalez, Saad Qureshi and Sue Williams A’Court. What aligns these artists are not topographical records of the landscape or locations, but evocative, dream-like scenes that create a sense of solace, contemplation, memory and human connection.

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What’s On?

Meet The Artists Amy Beager lives and works from her studio in Chelmsford in the UK. She obtained a National Diploma in Art and Design and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Nottingham Trent University, and was selected as a winner for the Delphian Gallery open call in 2020. She has since exhibited with a number of London galleries including the Saatchi Gallery, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Huxley Parlour Gallery and Wilder Gallery, among others. Beager’s work has been acquired by Soho House and placed in multiple private collections globally.

Elizabeth Magill - Fota Park Red

Freya Douglas-Morris lives and works in London and studied Fine Art at Brighton University before receiving an MA from the Royal College of Art. Since then she has had solo shows in London, Milan and Edinburgh and has been included in numerous exhibitions. She was selected for the Bloomberg New Contemporaries, The New Sensations and The Catlin Guide. She has had her work featured in several publications, most recently ‘The Anomie Review of Contemporary British Painting 2’ as well as ‘100 Painters of Tomorrow’ and ‘Paper’ at Saatchi Gallery, and in various magazines.

Amy Beager - Climbers

Elizabeth Magill was born in Canada and grew up in Northern Ireland. She now lives and works in both London and Ireland, and is a painter who depicts and explores aspects of landscape and the effects of the sublime through her practice. She works primarily with oil paints, and more recently with silk screened images imprinted onto her painting canvas. She has exhibited widely, with notable solo shows held at The New Art Gallery in Walsall, Ulster Museum in Belfast, RHA Galleries in Dublin, Towner Art Gallery and Museum in Eastbourne, IKON Gallery in Birmingham, and more, and her works are also represented in museums and public collections including London’s Tate gallery, The British Museum and The British Council and The National Art Gallery of Australia.

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Freya Douglas-Morris - Evening Sun

What’s On?

Hannah Brown was born in Salisbury, England and completed her BA in fine arts at Central St Martins, and her MA at the Royal College of Art. Recent major exhibitions include ‘This Muddy Eden’ in 2020 (two-person with Christopher Orr, Broadway Gallery, curated

by Kristan Day) and ‘Before Long’ in 2019 at the Union Gallery in London. In 2021 she was featured in the John Moores Painting Prize and in 2020 in the exhibition ‘The Green Fuse’ at the Frestonian Gallery. Her work is held in private collections in the UK, USA, Switzerland, Korea and UAE among others, and has been acquired for the permanent collections of the State Art Collection of Ireland, Dublin and the V&A Museum, London.

Hannah Brown - Hedge 1

Rene Gonzalez is a London-based artist of Latino background who was born in Montreal Canada, and began as a graffiti artist for many years in Costa Rica before moving to the UK to undertake a BA in Fine Art Painting at City & Guilds of London Art School. Rene has exhibited in solo and group shows in galleries and art events across the UK, Europe and America, including collaborations with the Messums Gallery, The Great Western Studios, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Auc Art, The Auction Collective and The Arcs Cotswolds. He was awarded first place in the Clyde & Co Blank Canvas Art Prize 2015 where he created a 20m painting, and his work has been featured in articles and magazines such as Art Maze Mag, i-D Vice, Luxe Magazine, Fad Magazine and Dateagle Art.

Rene Gonzalez - Deer Garden

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What’s On?

Saad Qureshi received his BA in Fine Art from Oxford Brookes University and an MFA in Painting from The Slade School of Fine Art in London. Described by Laura Cumming in The Observer as “one of our most pensive and poetic artists”, his sculptures give form to the ideas or stories by which we give meaning to human existence. Recent solo exhibitions include ‘Something About Paradise’, conceived for the Chapel at Yorkshire Sculpture Park at Aicon Gallery in New York and Gazelli Art House in London, and he’s had public commissions at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford and Victoria, London. His work has been acquired by public collections including the Dipti Mathur Collection in California, The Farjam Foundation Collection in Dubai, The Bagri Foundation in London, the UNESCO Creative Cities Collection in Beijing, The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in New Delhi, the Boston Consulting Group and the Almarkhiya Gallery in Qatar, as well as British and international private collections, and he has received three ACE awards.

Sue Williams A’Court was born in Lincolnshire and studied BA Illustration at Brighton Polytechnic. She was shortlisted for The Columbia Threadneedle Prize Mall Galleries in 2014, and other awards and prizes include the FID International Drawing Prize 2017, The Jerwood Drawing Prize selected by Kate Brindley, Michael CraigMartin RA and Charlotte Mullins, and Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2013 and 2015, selected by Anne Desmet RA and David Remfry RA. Solo shows include ‘Escape From Eden’ at Saatchi Gallery in London and ‘I Will Meet You There’ in Geneva, and she exhibited in Only Connect, curated by Professor David Remfry RA in the Keepers House Royal Academy, and in Table of Elements, curated by Graham Crowley and Julian Perry. Future exhibitions include ‘For the Love of the Master’ at Coach House Gallery Museum in Dublin.

Sue Williams A’Court - Desire and Longing 12

www.offshootarts.com www.aspaceforart.com

Saad Qureshi - The Blue Hour IV

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Discover What’s On at homehouse.co.uk/events

An Interview with Joshua Kane

Joshua Kane: Designer, Director and Rule-Breaker Joshua Kane, founder of the eponymous tailoring label, talks about how it all began, his latest collection and what the club means to him.

When did you first become a Member and what does Home House mean to you?

I first became a member about a year and a half ago in September 2020. It was just after the lockdown ended and I was super excited to be going out and socialising again, and I started meeting with clients, other designers and graphic designers. It seemed like a really good location (near my office in Marylebone) to meet people and begin to work with people again. I also hosted a collection shoot at Home House which was really special, where we hosted an immersive dinner event for 12 ambassadors in the Asylum private dining room and on the balcony overlooking the Garden.

Tell us about some of your favourite memories at Home House?

That’s a really easy one. My absolute favourite memory from Home House would have to be the end of January this year when I hosted my engagement party for 100 guests. Myself and my fiancé took one of the private rooms and we had all of our friends and family there to celebrate our engagement, which was really special. It was such a magical experience and we made many memories that night. Without a doubt, that is absolutely my favourite memory of Home House so far.

We hear a guge congratulations are in order for recently making your US debut with your latest collection. Why did you choose Atlanta?

Thank you! I chose Atlanta because I’m currently designing and developing a video game and the technology team I wanted to use are

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An Interview with Joshua Kane

based there, so it made perfect sense for me to travel over there so that I could meet new people in the film and TV industry we could create with something really special. It was a real coming together of artists, designers and creatives to put on my first ever show in the US.

How did you get into designing and developing a video game?

I started designing video games about three years ago, but it’s been a childhood dream of mine for as long as I can remember. All of my runway shows are very much about world building, character building and concept building, and within that there’s always limitations. I can’t do certain things I would love to do for runway shows that I’ve always wanted to do. But stepping into the digital realm, I can do all of that and more at the click of a few buttons. We’ve been creating an 1850s scale of London within the game as the map, and that creates the most amazing setting for the video game.

Tell us about the Dandy Rebels collection?

The Dandy Rebels collection is probably one of the most personal collections I’ve ever created. I’ve always felt like a dandy rebel character, so it was a self-reflective design where I was finding all of these different representations of dandy rebels within tailoring – tailcoats, tuxedo suits, day suits and really pushing the boundaries of what the dandy rebels could be – both in my menswear and women’s collections. I’m tying it back into this idea of these dandy tailors in the 1850s – it kind of transcends time as well. There’s a lot of different references to old world dandies, from the original dandies like Beau Brummell to my personal brand story around the ‘Painted 3 Tailors’ which is about three dandy tailors circa 1890 located on a British dock awaiting a ship to begin a tailoring adventure.

When did you know you wanted to become a designer?

I would say it was probably when I was in sixth form, so I would have been around 17 years old. In art class we had a fashion design module where we spent two weeks becoming a fashion designer, which is of course quite a brief introduction, but I’d always loved designing outfits and characters from a young boy when I was designing superheroes’ costumes. So it became a natural transition to design and create characters within that early impression of what fashion could be for me. I fell in love with it right away.

What made you decide to strike out on your own?

That was quite an easy transition for me. I’d worked for Jaeger, Burberry Prorsum and did a runway collection for Sir Paul Smith for a number of years. I spent about 12 to 15 years working in the industry, harnessing my skills and experience – all the while creating my own bespoke suits at home. It became a natural transition where I felt like, at some stage, I had to take a big risk. I was already designing my clothes and it was just calculating that risk to a point where I thought that people would want to order them. I definitely took the risk and took the shot, and I’ve never looked back.

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An Interview with Joshua Kane

Where do you get your creative inspiration?

What’s next for you in 2022 and beyond?

My creative inspiration mainly comes from people... from my family, friends to people I work with and meet along the way. I always say I love to be a sponge when meeting people. It’s characters that inspire me more than anything. I love hearing what people are doing and when people tell me stories about their lives. Even looking back at old stories of Beau Brummell, the original dandy, and what his narrative was – that’s the most inspiring thing. It’s very much about storytelling and character-building.

I really love the idea of a travelling tailor; I think that’s what’s next for me – the idea of taking the collection to more places. I love the idea of doing pop up, immersive engagements where people can witness the collection that wouldn’t normally be able to in the regular space. I love the idea of going back to America this year with the existing collection and some additional designs for something smaller than a full runway show. I’m harnessing some ideas at the moment. Watch this space!

How does your approach merge traditional tailoring and design with your own unique style and innovation?

All of the above. I’m definitely a big amalgamater of things. I love taking bits of technology within the video game format, mixing it with the oldest bespoke hand-sewn design techniques and fusing all of those things together to personally express myself. I like to break rules. I don’t like to conform to boundaries that other people have set. I was always taught: once you know what the rules are, you always have the ability to break them where you see fit.

What do you love most about working in fashion?

I love meeting people. I love all the different characters from all different walks of life that I’m lucky enough to work with and create designs for.

So whether it’s someone’s wedding suit and they’ve saved up their entire life to come and get something beautifully made by me, it’s a red carpet outfit for someone’s that’s never walked a red carpet, or it’s for someone that’s performing on stage for the 12 hundredth time, I love all the inspirational characters I get to meet. That’s what I love most about the fashion industry. It brings really interesting people together.

What advice would you give to young designers trying to make it in the fashion industry today?

The industry now is a very different industry to when I started in 2008, which is when I graduated. There’s so many more ways to get into it now than there used to be. It used to be very linear: you go to art school, you go to fashion school, you graduate, you try and get a job. There’s a million different ways to access the industry now, and technology has a big part to play in that. One thing still stands true though, if you want to be successful and if you want to make it, it’s literally about working harder than anyone else around you in that room and being more dedicated than anyone else. I was definitely never the best drawer or designer in my year of graduation, but I was very determined to succeed and to keep learning new skill sets to try and differentiate myself from everyone else as a designer. Determination and dedication would be my best advice. www.joshuakanestore.com

Tell us about some of your career highlights so far?

My career highlight is always the thing that I last did, so it would be putting on my first ever show in the USA - I really don’t think that has sunk in yet. It was a massive achievement to do an entire runway collection halfway across the world, with loads of people working on the collection internationally, flying the collection back, taking the entire team with us and setting up shop temporarily to pull it off. Yeah…that hasn’t really set in yet! But that’s definitely a big achievement.

Tell us about your last ‘pinch yourself ’ moment?

I pretty much get one of those a day at the moment! But it was probably the morning after the Dandy Rebels show – waking up and then searching the images on Google and seeing pictures of the show that I hadn’t seen. Obviously being backstage, I didn’t see what was happening, so then you see a professional photo of the models in all the looks and the staging in the setting with the video game projected 360 degrees all the way around the show. That was a crazy moment. I’m still pinching myself about it every morning.

Home House 25

An Interview with Executive Head Chef, Home House

Introducing Robert Panek, Executive Head Chef at Home House Robert Panek is in charge of all the wonderful dining opportunities available at Home House.

W

hy aren’t there any questions here? It’s really hard to read, we need to have the original questions or headers or interesting snippets highlighted. Otherwise it’s like a very disjointed essay... Should there also not be quotation marks around any direct quotes from Robert?

The first thing I remember cooking is pancakes with cottage cheese; at that point I just flipped them in the air as a kid. It was such good fun, not to mention the feeling of achievement when they land perfectly in the pan!

It’s almost 20 years since I came to London for the first time, and since then I have worked in a mix of restaurants, member clubs, several new openings, private events and even working for Etihad Airways as a chef for their first class cabin.

I have worked with Giuseppe, our general manager in the past on a few projects and we get along very well, so when this position became available he put me forward to meet with Andrew, our managing director, and that’s how it all started! After that it was a case of a few months of meetings and discussions with regards to trying to make sure we all are on the same page regarding the future for Home House.

Home House’s food offering is a combination of well-sourced produce, all-time favourites, classic dishes and new fresh ideas. It is extremely important for us to be working with good suppliers. High quality products make our job much easier as the food speaks for itself.

I’ve worked with Aubrey Allen (our meat supplier) for several years now in a number of places; the quality of the meat is exceptional and consistent, so it’s no surprise that Buckingham Palace uses Aubrey as their main butcher as well.

26 Home House

At one point of my career I was linked with the position at Buckingham Palace; it was a great experience to be part of the recruitment process, to meet the head chef of the Royal Household and see the inside of such an iconic place.

While we are focusing on using British sustainable suppliers, our multicultural team of chefs (made up of 14 different nationalities) will try to make your experience a little bit more memorable. In the past we have had a few comments about our menu not changing often – that’s why we are now focusing on changing our menus on a regular basis, with all our outlets offering different styles of food. House 21 is all about small plates packed with flavours, and the idea is to keep an informal atmosphere and still provide high quality food in a sharing concept.

In our restaurant, the focus is on high quality produce cooked to perfection, and naturally, it is well presented – perfect for a special occasion but also it’s relaxed enough to have a working lunch or dinner.

The drawing rooms are all about comfort and the all day menu is packed with some of our best sellers and all-time favourites, so you can come at any time of the day or night and feel at home, have something to snack on, dive into a club sandwich, or even have a full three-course meal.

Our garden offers a mixture of what Home House has to offer in addition to BBQ weekends – which have been a big success in the past years.

Right now there are few dishes on the menu which I taste more often than the others. Our Sunday roast is a must for me if I’m here on the weekend. The other one is our Reuben sandwich. I just love the combination of salt beef, sour cabbage, melted cheese and mustard mayo. There is something very naughty about that sandwich!

And I can’t go through the kitchen in House 21 without trying some Bomboloni (hot Italian mini doughnuts with a chocolate centre).

The best thing about being a chef is: full belly, happy heart! Usually when you have a nice meal you feel happy and satisfied; for the chef it’s a little bit easier to achieve. The most challenging thing is managing your work alongside your private life. When I’m not at work, my favourite food depends on my mood, however most of the time I will be up for a good Thai curry, steak, or a nice sourdough pizza.

The London eating scene is like no other, it constantly changes with new restaurants, hotels and pubs opening and closing every day.

Right now more and more people are starting to look at what they eat and you can see the changes around with more healthy food offerings available. Sustainability is a big part of our world now and things need to change – we all know that. At Home House we are doing our bit and are constantly trying to improve on this front.

An Interview with Executive Head Chef, Home House

Exquisite dining is at the heart of Home House and Chef Robert’s mission is to make sure it always delivers ‘full bellies and happy hearts’.

Home House 27

London’s Leading Business Club Established in 2019 as part of the Home House Collection, Home Grown is the private members’ club for experienced entrepreneurs, sophisticated investors and world-class business leaders. It offers a space for exclusive and unrivalled access to the brightest minds in London’s thriving business community.

Just moments away from Home House and with 35 stylish bedrooms and preferential rates for Home House members, it makes the perfect base for enjoying all the City has to offer this summer.

Members rates from £155 per night.

Non-members rates from £168 per night.

Find out more about memberships by emailing membership@homegrownclub.co.uk or discover more at homegrownclub.co.uk.

Reinventing House 21

Grand Designs

Reinventing House 21 with Russell Sage Studios Interior designer Russell Sage has taken no. 21 Portman Square back to the club’s famously neoclassical roots.

Under the direction of acclaimed designer Russell Sage, the interiors of No.21 have been dramatically reinvented to honour the club’s historical and colourful past, taking inspiration from the notorious Countess of Home’s wildly lavish parties and such hedonistic behaviour that broke the harmony of Georgian Society life. Adorned with contemporary art, lavish furnishings and glamorous lighting, each room embodies the House’s history as Elizabeth the Countess of Home’s personal playground, revealing untold stories in every corner.

Members and guests can enjoy a creative menu of seriously good small plates and exquisite cocktails influenced by the Countess of Home’s voyages across the globe, alongside late-night DJ’s and an exciting line up of regular entertainment designed to evoke a sense of freedom.

About Russell Sage Studios

I

n 1773, James Wyatt was commissioned by Elizabeth, Countess of Home, to design build a sophisticated palace purely for enjoyment and entertainment. Unfortunately for Wyatt, he was sacked, and in 1775 his competitor Robert Adam was

appointed to complete the interiors of the house in the sumptuous

Established in 2005, Russell Sage Studio comprises a thriving team of 40 dedicated interior designers, FF&E designers, planners, restorers and art and antiques experts. Since inception, the studio has built a solid reputation for creating unique interior designs for five star hotels, exclusive members’ clubs, premium restaurants, luxury bars and private residences around the world.

Russell Sage Studio prides itself on developing a bespoke design that is perfect for each client, designing a space that is timeless, beautiful, functional and durable, while paying close attention to the smaller details, both front and back of house, that results in the most thrilling and sumptuous interiors.

For Russell Sage Studio’s most recent design project for Home House, the team understood that only a bespoke, opulent interior made with care, craft and skill would do.

Neo-Classical style. Today, No 20 Portman Square is acknowledged as Adam’s finest surviving London town house.

www.russellsagestudio.co.uk

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Reinventing House 21

30 Home House

Reinventing House 21

H

ome House Magazine catches up with the design team behind the reimagined House 21, to give insight into crafting a bespoke space that seamlessly combines 18th century Georgian heritage with 21st century style.

How does Russell Sage Studio pride itself on its bespoke work?

Russell Sage Studio has a long tradition of working closely with bespoke projects and craftspeople, as well as collaborations with artists. It always makes projects more exciting to have added layers of creativity and craftsmanship as part of the overall design.

Tell us about the House 21 project; how did Russell Sage Studio get involved?

We were lucky to have worked with Home House collection on various projects before, including the restaurant upgrade, as well as overseeing the complete design of Home Grown. The team thought of us for the House 21 project as we were already well connected to the business and understood the overall ethos.

Was it challenging to work with a building with such a rich history?

There were no challenges, just a huge love for the House having been to many parties and events there over the last 20 years. This was our opportunity to add to its history in a creative and energetic way, which compliments both Home House and Home Grown.

Home House 31

Reinventing House 21

The interior owes so much to the Georgian period it was founded during; how did you go about updating the space?

I always say, ‘Roll with the architecture’. We were inspired by the character and the history, and our colour palettes were rooted in this era, before thinking about the proportions of the space and how that affects the furniture we put in it. Paying homage to the Countess and the hedonistic behaviour of Georgian society, we injected colour with bright finishes and playful objects.

What are some of your favourite aspects of House 21 now that it is finished?

I love the grandfather clock bar! I had this idea for a while where I wanted to make a bar out of grandfather clocks, and House 21 was the perfect spot with its fantastic high ceilings, so clocks suddenly celebrated the architecture as well as being of the correct era.

What has the feedback been like from members and visitors?

It’s always a pleasure to get any feedback. Mostly we are just trying to make inspiring and engaging spaces for guests and we’ve been pleased that so many members have taken to the space.

You have worked with a few members’ clubs; how did Home House stand out?

Home House is special as it has a remarkable history and a fantastic, energetic membership which really brings the building alive. The architecture is inspiring and the people are creative, which is just perfect.

What aspect of this project is a personal highlight?

I love the secret dance floor which can fill the room with colourful lights on party nights. At the flick of a switch, the room can become party central! www.homehouse.co.uk/house21

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Arts & Culture

The Imaginary Project

Surrender to a New Way of Experiencing Art

T

he Imaginary Project exhibits online and in real space locations – the former guiding viewers through virtual galleries and cinemas, enveloping them into a surreal art experience.

Each exhibition is designed as a module which features photography, fine art, music, film, and the written word, culminating in an interconnected platform of experiential, creative immersion.

The architecture of the galleries, cinema and screening room have been created from images taken from around the world, photographed specifically for The Imaginary Project’s virtual spaces.

Art-lovers visiting the website are encouraged to explore The Imaginary Project’s virtual exhibitions, comprising works by a collection of artists, musicians, photographers, filmmakers and writers, often accompanied by voice overs from the artists themselves.

The Imaginary Project works closely with Rocks International Film Festival, allowing them to feature winning short films from around the world.

The website’s cinema screening rooms are platforms for art house films and music videos, including Faith and the Mystic, A Distant Murmur: modul 2.2, and Crowman: modul 2.1.1.

Home House 33

Arts & Culture

Mark Nelson, Founder of The Imaginary Project

34 Home House

M

ark is the founder of the First Light Gallery in the heart of Brighton’s Lanes, and is a photographer and filmmaker who began his career as a fine art printer for some of Britain’s best-known photographers in the 1980s.

Mark’s photography career saw him creating exhibitions in Berlin and at his hometown in Brighton’s University Gallery, exhibiting a large-scale retrospective of works with other First Light photographers.

In 2008 Mark’s filmmaking developed, culminating in a film made in India about Buddhism and the Untouchables for National Geographic channels worldwide, which was shown on main channels throughout India and China.

Following his Berlin stills exhibition, Mark worked on Berlin Alexanderplatz, a film that won Best Film at the Brighton Rocks Film Festival in 2016 and was shown at festivals and venues across Europe.

As the pandemic took its toll on in-person events, Mark, like other creative artists, adjusted by working on virtual exhibitions. This inspired him to design and trademark The Imaginary Project.

As the exhibitions expanded worldwide, suddenly in 2022, concurrent real space shows became possible. Already scheduled is an installation in a church crypt in Hastings, Sussex in April 2022 alongside the online virtual experience. Titled ‘Of Ghosts and Angels’, the installation will feature images, film, surround sound and projections.

Mark’s next film for The Imaginary Project is set in New York and is a contemporary appreciation of the abstract expressionist movement born in New York in the middle of the last century. Titled, A Place About 50 Miles West of Here (A New York Abstraction), the film is approaching the film editing stage – and an early trailer is unique to Home House.

Here, Mark delves into the themes behind his films and explores the personal journey he has undertaken through his work.

Arts & Culture

Your films often involve a journey. Why is this?

We are all moving forward through time and space, and I guess this is acknowledged through the spiritual content of my films. My New York film will examine more of an inward journey through contemporary abstractions in photography and film, shot at the home of, and influenced by, the original abstract expressionist movement in New York.

What has been your favourite location for working?

Certainly New York is up there. I often stayed in New Jersey and commuted into the city after a morning gorging on books by Walker Evans, Edward Hopper and Paul Strand.

It seems in your latest works you are investigating human movement through space and time and conveying what that really means. Why does this idea appeal to you?

It’s true that in the new film on New York there is often a sense of movement. I am trying to capture what the eye sees in a second as you look, look away, and then look back again in a flash. It’s as if your brain

has captured an imprint of the movement of a subject, of something we, as humans, experience all the time.

Are you exploring something of a personal journey through this film?

I think it’s more like a journey that involves my personal set of skills as a filmmaker, developed over the last 30 years. I was pleased to find upon beginning shooting that my artistic, native instinct was guiding me, along with a creative eye. From there I worked with cameras that could capture this imaginative landscape and help me with an interpretation of my mind’s eye.

The Imaginary Project’s film, A Place About 50 Miles West of Here (a New York Abstraction) is scheduled for completion in Autumn 2022.

The Installation ‘Of Ghosts and Angels’ is on Friday/Saturday 2223 April 2022 at St Mary’s in the Castle Hastings and is part of the Hastings Rocks International Film Festival. www.theimaginaryproject.com info@theimaginaryproject.com

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Arts & Culture

When Art Goes Rogue Art curator and founder of Gone Rogue, Kim Shaylor, explains why she’s shaking up the art world for the better.

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one Rogue collaborates with interior designers, architects and private clients to curate art collections to suit their space and desires. Supporting both established and emerging artists, Kim and her team work with clients to get their art seen and enjoyed worldwide.

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Arts & Culture

How did you become involved in the art world?

It all began with a background in print and then a business venture called The House of Artists with an artist called Ben Allen. We created large wall murals in spaces and worked with lots of different artists. I discovered that not only were many artists struggling to be seen, but that they had huge amounts of work that was lying around in storage or in their studios, never seeing the light of day. It made me realise that there must be more spaces to show art than galleries, and maybe other ways of doing it. I thought I would give it a go and see what happened!

Explain what Gone Rogue does?

After realising that there are way more talented artists than there are galleries to show their work, I realised that there was a huge opportunity to find spaces to show them and make a difference to those environments. It’s a win-win: the hotels get to showcase new art to their guests and visitors, and the artist gets to showcase their art to a constantly changing audience. The idea started with Hotel ME London about four years ago and from there it has grown and we now have curated art shows in Barcelona, Ibiza, Dubai and have lots more lined up this year. Last year Todd Lamming joined me on this Gone Rogue journey and we are planning on shaking things up and helping artists that are underrepresented to be seen.

What have been your highlights so far?

The highlights aren’t necessarily the huge success moments like the recent collaboration with McLaren and Nat Bowen. Of course they are going to be the important moments for the business and are a massive highlight but it’s not always those that stick. It can be the connection between a buyer and a piece of art and witnessing how they see that artwork and what it means to them. Some people have such a strong connection to art that they simply can’t walk away from it. Other highlights are doing ‘rogue’ things like showing Sophie Tea at Pikes which we organised in two days whilst I was there on a family holiday. I like to do things that organically happen and try not to force things too much – they are always the best experiences. Recently, an artist named Saki produced a whole collection of work for a show we exhibited at ME London; the journey that she went on producing it was super emotional and personal and being a part of that for both myself and Todd was a real privilege and something we will cherish for a long time.

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Arts & Culture

What do you have coming up?

Recently we have had shows at ME London called Queen of Arts. It’s a group show with some incredible artists: Kristjana Williams, Heath Kane, Dan Pearce and Hannah Nijstan, and a Nat Bowen show at ME Dubai. Plus we have some amazing things lined up in Barcelona and some pop-ups over the summer.

Do you have any recommendations away from Gone Rogue?

Of course! There are so many great shows and the more you see, the more you understand what you love and what moves you. The Other Art Fair is always a good one as you get to see such a range of artists there. Lauren Baker has a new solo show at 99 projects called Ten Days of Silence in May which will be amazing. Hauswirth in Somerset is a stunning art gallery that is well worth a visit. But also just walking around the streets of London is an incredible free art show. The streets of Shoreditch, for example, are surrounded by spaces celebrating local artists and paying them to display street art, which is awesome.

How has the art world coped with the pandemic?

It’s been good and bad. I would say for curators and galleries, obviously bad as everything has been closed, but for a lot of artists it’s been a real opportunity to stop, think and pivot their style and adapt to a new way of selling and growth. I know a lot of artists that have taken the time to get confident with social media and engage with their buyers directly, and it has been a great time for them. Things are definitely getting back to normal. We have now had two shows without any restrictions, one at Mondrian Shoreditch and one at ME London, and it felt soooo good!

People just want to be back out and share space with other humans.

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Why is art so important to humans?

Art has so many different levels. People’s reasons for buying art can be as simple as it fits into a certain space, but most of the time people really connect with a piece of art and they want to be inspired by it daily or reminded of a certain emotion when they look at it. From an artist point of view, of course this is their everything – often the only way they can envisage living a healthy, happy life is by creating art. So many artists I work with don’t even really enjoy the selling and marketing aspect, which is why I love to come in and help with that part of their journey. They would be happiest just creating new artworks.

Arts & Culture

Do you have a favourite work of art you keep coming back to?

This is a really tough one to answer because I have bought many artworks for many reasons. I have an amazing piece by Bonnie and Clyde called Everybody Loves The Sunshine that reminds me of an amazing time of my life when I lived in L.A. Another piece called Norms by Gerry Buxton, I like for the same reason. I have a large collection of Ben Allen’s work, and love to try and collect a piece from all artists that I work with. I have a pair of custom painted Nikes from Nat Bowen that I will treasure.

What is next for the art world?

The art world is about to or is already going through one of the biggest transformations for a long time. With the aftermath of Covid and the evergrowing world of digital art and NFTs, it is getting a major shake up. For us personally it’s a great thing. We celebrate disruption and changing the direction that it has been going in for a long time. It’s time to celebrate art from all walks of life, all kinds of backgrounds, self taught or trained, and to move forward into the world of art in any type of media. We are only here once so let’s use art as a universal language, to unite us and share ideas. I love the idea of someone buying a piece of physical artwork that can also be used in their home in their meta verse. How cool is that! It’s a way of expressing yourself in the real world and in your digital world. www.gonerogueldn.com

The art world is gearing up for big changes, Gone Rogue will help facilitate and fuel positive change

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Staying at Home House

Suite Dreams What’s in a name? When it comes to any of Home House’s 23 luxurious bedrooms and suites – everything. Each exquisitely decorated room has its own story to tell, and visitors’ first clue as to the delights that await them behind each door lie within the rooms’ names themselves…

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ome House began as an idea in 1773 when George III’s architect, James Wyatt, was commissioned by Elizabeth, Countess of Home, to build a sophisticated ‘Pavilion’ designed purely for enjoyment and entertainment at N° 20 Portman Square. The Countess, aptly known as ‘The Queen of Hell’, was in her late 60s, twice widowed, childless – and rich.

Unfortunately, Wyatt was sacked from the project in 1775, and his competitor Robert Adam, one of the most celebrated architects of his day, was appointed to complete the interior of the house in the sumptuous Neo-Classical style. Today, N° 20 Portman Square is acknowledged as Adam’s finest surviving London town house, and although Home House’s breathtaking imperial staircase, which rises through the entire height of the house to a glass dome, may be what immediately grabs your attention when welcomed through our doors, the unique, resplendent bedrooms really need to be seen to be believed.

Once you step foot into your room for the evening, you’ll immediately be transported to a different time and place. Each of the 23 luxurious bedrooms and suites have a unique story to tell, with exquisite features that range from hand-painted silk wallpaper, baths made for royalty, to shimmering gold ceilings.

In 1784 after the Countess’ death, Home House was left to her young nephew who was still a schoolboy. The house was subsequently let to tenants including amongst others, the French Ambassador, the Dukes of Atholl and Newcastle, as well as Earl Grey (of tea fame).

One of our most impressive and spacious rooms is the Duke of Newcastle suite, named after Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham-Clinton, the 4th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne. A British nobleman and

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Duke of Atholl

Staying at Home House

Duke of Newcastle

politician who played a leading part in British politics in the late 1820s and early 1830s, Pelham-Clinton embarked upon life with many personal advantages, and with a considerable fortune.

He married great heiress Georgiana Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Miller Mundy of Shipley, Derbyshire, served as Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire from 1809 to 1839, and was also Steward of Sherwood Forest and of Folewood Park. If that wasn’t enough, in 1812 he was made a Knight of the Garter.

Not everything was plain sailing however, and he certainly ruffled some feathers. Notably, in 1821, he published a letter to the Lord Liverpool protesting against a Bill for Catholic Emancipation, and although he did not hold any national office, he was extremely active in politics.

From about 1826 he became one of the leaders of the so-called ‘Ultra-Tory’ faction, staunchly supporting the traditional establishment of Church, Country and State – although he always rejected the label of Tory.

He was also a vehement opponent of electoral reform, and this stance led to attacks on his property during the Reform Bill Riots of 1831. Nottingham Castle was burnt to the ground and his residences at Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire and Portman Square, London also had to be fortified against a mob.

Just as well that he had the light and airy Duke of Newcastle suite at Home House to make use of, then. Comprising an elegant lounge, bedroom and bathroom, this grand room boasts views overlooking Portman Square through no fewer than four impressive Georgian sash windows, and is one of the most majestic bedrooms in London.

Lined with exquisite dark green wallpaper, this large bedroom is flooded with natural light and features the Duke of Newcastle’s actual mirror, and will lure you in with its stunning half tester super kingsize bed complete with heavy drapes that are fit for a king, queen – or duke. This large, plush bed is adorned with intricately embroidered

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Staying at Home House

velvet cushions that scream luxury – complemented perfectly with a dark wooden finish – a theme which is reflected in the rest of the stately furniture.

The opulent bed will likely vie for your attention, but little touches like the ornate, understated chandelier, the heavy red and gold curtains in the walkway, large fireplace, the red, ornate rug that perfectly offsets the room’s green, and the black and white paintings that hark back to a time gone by all contribute to the room’s lavishness.

The bathroom is not to be outdone, however. Guests will be soothed by this pale green, brightly lit, cleanly-designed room, which is all turquoise squares and hard angles aside from the large archway that perfectly frames an impressive marble bath.

Meanwhile, the lounge continues the green theme, offset by two plush, red velvet sofas, large, gold-framed paintings and a fireplace – the perfect place to relax, take tea or get a bit of work done.

Our Duke of Anthol room is also something to behold, and is named after John Murray, the 4th Duke of Atholl and Scottish peer.

In 1786 he was created Baron Murray, of Stanley in the County of Gloucester, and Earl Strange in the Peerage of Great Britain, which gave him an automatic seat in the House of Lords. He later served as Lord-Lieutenant of Perthshire from 1794 to 1830 and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1797.

In 1800 he was made a Knight of the Thistle, and in 1793 was appointed Captain-General and Governor in Chief of the Isle of Man. He succeeded his mother in the barony of Strange in 1805 and was also Grand Master of the Antient Grand Lodge of England from 1775 until 1781 and again from 1791 until 1812.

Interestingly, he introduced the Japanese Larch into Britain, planting the trees at Dunkeld, where they hybridised with the first European Larch in Britain, planted by his uncle, the second duke, which gave rise to the Dunkeld Larch.

Situated on the third floor of House No. 20, the Duke of Atholl suite features rich mahogany furniture and a truly resplendent kingsize bed.

If you’re a lover of clashing prints, then this is the room for you.

Gold flowered wallpaper, a carpet like a maze and a luxurious red and gold bedspread with an exquisitely decorated large floral headrest make this room hard to resist.

If you do manage to extract yourself from the queen size bed’s allembracing grasp, the bathtub is the real talking point. The bright and elegant bathroom features a bath originally made for His Highness Say Aji Rao III, Maharaja Gaekwad of Baroda.

The room boasts views overlooking Portman Square. To top its splendour, it’s the only suite that includes three unique, decorative fireplaces.

Our Drury Lowe room is Home House’s hidden gem, and interestingly, is one of our rooms that is not named after a previous tenant of ours.

Nestled at the rear of House No.19, the Drury Lowe room offers cosy seclusion and opulence in equal measure. This large, imposing room is flooded with natural light and its walls are an inviting, deep red.

The bedroom features a resplendent super king-size four poster bed made of polished maple wood and edged with chintz, featuring a beautifully embroidered red and gold bedspread with lavish bed hangings to ensure you’re truly sleeping in style.

If you manage to pull yourself away from the bed, the blue and white tiled bathroom is tucked under the staircase of House 19, and features a grand marble bath and sink.

Drury Lowe

Drury Lowe

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Grand, Eccentric, Iconic Unforgettable Events at Home House With its eccentric charm, beautiful Georgian-style rooms and exceptional menus in London’s Marylebone, Home House offers an impressive backdrop for special events from weddings and glamorous parties to special suppers and all-important meetings.

Get in touch with our Events Team to discuss your occasion by emailing events@homehouse.co.uk or discover more at homehouse.co.uk/meetings-events

Health, Beauty & Wellness

Intuitive Eating Comes To London As the London Centre for Intuitive Eating opens its doors in London’s E8, Home House looks at the growing anti-diet trend with LCIE Director, Dr. Laura Thomas.

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rom Keto to calorie counting, paleo to 5/2, there is no shortage of fashionable diet trends to kick start a new resolution to lose weight. Yet as studies show 80% of those embarking on fad diets eventually see the weight go back on, statistical evidence is clear: diets don’t actually work for the majority of people.

Perhaps that is no surprise. Dieting is a billion-dollar industry, with much of its skilful marketing rhetoric aimed at keeping women in particular feeling insecure about their bodies. Our diet-driven culture and social media’s idealised body aesthetic has seen an explosive rise in disordered eating behaviours such as fasting, skipping meals or taking drug-based appetite suppressants (smoking, caffeine, yohimbe etc) to lose weight. In a small but significant number of cases, disordered eating can be the precursor to clinical eating disorders such as bulimia.

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Dr. Laura Thomas is the UK’s leading authority on Intuitive Eating and author of two best-selling books on the subject. She is also Director of LCIE, London’s new hub for people looking to get their head together around sustainable, life-long eating habits and family nutrition, while bucking diet culture.

“Disordered eating is becoming an increasing problem in a western culture driven by social media trends to look and feel a certain way,” says Laura. “Yet disordered eating is thought to affect between 50% and 75% of women and, in a recent survey of over 1,600 adolescents, 61% of females and 28% of males reported some form of disordered eating behaviour. Mintel figures from a few years ago suggest nearly half the UK population have tried to lose weight at some point, rising to nearer 60% of women. Mix in the plethora of media attention around the next big diet craze and we are cooking up a popular culture that encourages disordered eating.”

Health, Beauty & Wellness

What is Intuitive Eating?

“I like to think of Intuitive Eating as our default way of eating,” says Laura. “As babies and young children, we have a good sense of when we’re hungry, what we want to eat, and how much of it we need. We eat for pleasure; food brings us joy and we’re attuned to our bodies. Babies don’t sit in their highchairs counting calories or worrying about whether a food is ‘good’ or ‘bad’. They will cry for food when they are hungry, stop eating when they are full, and be happiest with foods they enjoy.

“Yet as we get older, our innate instincts around food are overridden; we are taught to clean our plates before we can get down from the table, and food becomes conditional - we have to force down broccoli to get the ice cream. We hear adults around us talk about their diets and how they hate their bodies and how they must restrict themselves to fit into narrow body and beauty ideals. Our Intuitive Eating instincts are eroded, and we lose touch with our bodies. The gears of our brains become clogged with pointless information about carbs and protein, ‘superfoods’, gluten, and juice cleanses! Intuitive Eating is a framework we can use to regain a more joyful relationship with food and attuned connection with our bodies.”

Intuitive Eating has gained a great deal of attention in the last few years thanks to the work of Laura and similar pioneers, although the concept was first developed by two registered dietitians in the 1990s.

The architects of Intuitive Eating, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, developed 10 principles that helped their clients break away from what they termed ‘the tyranny of dieting’ and towards ‘food freedom’. Over the past 25 years, the scientific community has become interested in these concepts and began to study them; there’s now a burgeoning library of literature documenting the benefits of Intuitive Eating.

“Intuitive Eating can benefit both our physical and psychological wellbeing,” adds Laura. “It can help improve our mood (which makes sense because who enjoys dieting?), the way we feel about our bodies, and has been associated with higher life-satisfaction. In terms of our physical health, early studies show that it can improve markers of heart health, blood glucose regulation, and can help us break the bingerestrict cycle that so many of us become trapped in.”

London Life Intuitive Eating isn’t a quick fix though. It can be tricky to unpack a lifetime of dieting information, calorie counting and analysing macros, and it isn’t easy to avoid the next big diet ‘fad’ extolled by the popular Sunday newspapers. Some people get the hang of eating intuitively using books and podcasts but, for others, especially those who have disordered eating or maybe even a more serious eating disorder, they may need professional support.

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Health, Beauty & Wellness

This is where the London Centre for Intuitive Eating comes in. Run

by Dr. Laura and her team of trained nutritionists and dietitians, the Centre offers a wealth of help, support and advice on Intuitive Eating through one-to-one counselling, seminars, well-being sessions, events, and wider media outreach through podcasts and Dr. Laura’s books.

Consumer courses specifically for women and those for parents looking to nurture Intuitive Eating habits in their children, are among the most popular that the Centre offers.

Alongside the consumer-focused courses, the Centre has a growing reputation for providing in depth professional courses aimed at health practitioners, dietitians and anyone involved in childcare. These are conducted on the Teachable platform and can be used as credits towards Continuing Professional Development (CPD) accreditation.

Expanding on the Intuitive Eating concept, LCIE has a retail shop offering local, eco and sustainable goods and produce, as well as literature on IE from around the world. The venue also hosts a new fitness studio with classes designed to help and encourage those otherwise intimidated by regular commercial circuit fitness classes to give movement to music for fitness a go. The overriding theme is 100% inclusivity, with the LCIE open to all.

“We specialise not only in Intuitive Eating but also weight inclusive and body affirming care,” adds Dr. Laura. “Using non-diet and person-centred approaches to nutrition and health, we value the lived experience of the person in front of us and aim to create a safe and inclusive space for everyone. Our new LCIE venue is just that.”

If you would like to find out more about Intuitive Eating, the LCIE and its personal and professional courses, pop along to the LCIE at Springfield House, Tyssen Street, London E8. www.londoncentreforintuitiveeating.co.uk

Dr. Laura is one of the experts advocating for a ‘healthier’ relationship with food

Dr. Laura’s Top Tips for Intuitive Eating 1.

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Be aware of diet culture, diet marketing and ‘fad’ diet trends Delete food tracking apps, calorie counters and step counting Be mindful of your physical sensations to hunger, fullness, and enjoyment of foods Look after your body with care, not harsh diets and aggressive physical regimes Dress it in a way that’s comforting, nurture your choices with delicious food Join with like-minded individuals to exchange ideas and experiences Seek help if you are having difficulty interpreting your body’s signals around food Use the time and energy you save by rejecting diet culture to fulfil your ideals Notice when you are speaking harshly about food you’ve eaten and practice being more compassionate with yourself 10. Remind yourself that foods are not ‘good’ or ‘bad’; all food provides nourishment for the body and soul

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Fashion

Fumbalinas

Making a Statement

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odie Cartman – AKA Fumbalinas – creates unruly yet sophisticated statement headwear and accessories, from couture metallic PVC Turbans to unique origami and floral infused headpieces that are made to turn heads. Fumbalinas was established in 2012 due to the lack of unique, handcrafted headwear available on the market. Fast forward to today

and Fumbalinas’ distinctive work has featured in British Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, in music videos and on celebrities including Madonna, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Kylie Jenner, Fearne Cotton, Travis Alabanza, Morcheeba and Jayde Adams, as well as delivering workshops around the UK and raising money for a number of charities. Home House gets to know the woman behind the iconic headwear.

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Fashion

What did you do before founding Fumbalinas?

I’m Yorkshire-born and bred and I moved to Brighton after studying dance and drama at university – realising it wasn’t the right career path for me. After experimenting with making costumes for festivals and parties I found I had a love and a knack for it, and it wasn’t long before I started getting requests for pieces from friends, etc and realised I could use my skills to earn a bit of extra cash and eventually perhaps a proper income. I was working in a call centre at the time. Twelve years on, and with a lot of determination and hard graft I now entirely and successfully work for myself as Fumbalinas full time.

Tell us all about Fumbalinas; how do you make your pieces?

Fumbalinas champions unique and statement headpieces and accessories, and more recently clothing too. From the get go it’s always been about standing out, not blending in. I find and use vintage jewellery, oddities, materials and rejects, and work them into wearable pieces. I like to source all my materials from used or secondhand origins where possible, and the majority of the fabric I use is deadstock / last of the batch – meaning each piece we make is rare, special and the majority of the time, one of a kind.

Do you have a target market in mind when creating your products?

It’s for anyone that wants to add some panache to their look! Be it a finishing touch to a day-to-day outfit, or a showpiece for an extravagant party, a ‘Fumbalinas’ brings a flavour of flamboyance-meets-elegance.

It’s not for the faint hearted, but if it works for you, there’s a whole world of designs we can conjure. All my work and collections come straight from me and what I want to offer the world. I never design with a specific audience in mind. I think it would suck the soul out of it for me.

Where do you get the inspiration for your designs from?

I draw a lot of inspiration from fashion and photography of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Designers such as Paco Rabanne and Mary Quant blow my mind and have me itching to try new ideas. Flash Gordon is probably THE film I admire most for its costumes, and I obsess over film photography from the ‘50s too.

What are some of the most interesting projects that Fumbalinas has been involved in?

I was commissioned a few years ago by the Royal Academy of Art to make an interactive headpiece for one of their events that guests could try on and be photographed in. The piece was wired with lights and an accelerometer, meaning that the wearer could change the colour and intensity of the lights as they moved their head in different positions.

More recently I collaborated with singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor to create a ‘Kitchen Disco’ crown, raising money for the Stonewall charity with each sale.

‘Unruly yet sophisticated statement headwear’ Can you expand on that statement a little?

There’s a fine line between extravagance and the ridiculous. I want my pieces to stand out and get attention, but for the right reasons.

They are bold, unique and attention-grabbing but need to be refined, practical and ultimately, wearable. I want my pieces to embolden those who wear them.

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Fashion

You are involved in delivering workshops; how does that work?

Pre-covid I delivered quite a few workshops. Some were for large events, such as for Aberdeen Art Museum where I led a ‘gothic headdress’ workshop, whereas for the Royal Academy of Art it was Alice in Wonderland themed, and then I did some smaller workshops where people could bring their own ideas and I’d help them create what they had in mind. Post-covid I don’t have as much time to commit to these as I had to find ways of filling those work gaps in lockdown, but it did allow me to come up with our ‘make your own’ kits and tutorials, which you can buy directly from my shop. These are aimed at all ages and abilities to inspire you to have a go at making a headdress yourself and learn a few new tricks. They are very popular and it’s wonderful to see the things people create.

What is the best thing about doing what you do?

That it’s everything I thrive off doing: crafting, fashion, photography, modelling and working with friends. I genuinely would be doing exactly what I do for fun anyway if it wasn’t my career. So I’m THRILLED that I’m able to make the thing I love into what I do for a living. I couldn’t ask for more than that really!

What does the future hold for Fumbalinas?

More of the same but on a grander scale. Bigger shoots, couture collections and some fresh collaborations would be wonderful.

What do you get up to away from working on Fumbalinas?

RELAXING! For me that’s hanging out with my partner and my son at home or drinking ale at our local pub with friends. It’s the best.

The photography that goes with your creations is stunning; how do you go about creating those images?

www.shopfumbalinas.com

I’m obsessive when it comes to vintage photography, and therefore employ its practices to my own work. I take and/or direct all my photoshoots myself using only 35mm film – developing it myself too. The process as well as finishing result and aesthetic is so much more satisfying than anything I could take digitally, so it has become a fundamental aspect of our shoots and very much part of the visual aesthetic of the brand.

How does the bespoke service work?

You tell me what you want, and I make it happen! I’m generally given a brief with some reference points in relation to size, style, textures, materials, shapes and colours, and from there I’ll draft design ideas and we go back and forth until my customer is 100% satisfied with the final design. Very often these types of commissioned pieces are for a specific event or stage show, so the design will be composed and realised for that occasion.

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Member Parties

Bond, By Invitation Only New Year’s Eve Party 2021 Photography by Dom Martin

We were thrilled to be able to welcome 2022 with members and guests at our James Bond inspired New Year’s Eve party. The House was resplendent with live music, DJs, roaming artists, blackjack, roulette, menus to die for and killer Martini’s for a dangerously good end to 2021.

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Member Parties

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Member Parties

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Member Parties

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Member Parties

Scary Tales Halloween Party 2021 Photography by Dom Martin & Sally Twigg

Once upon a nightmare... Last Halloween the Club was transformed into a haunted house of twisted fairy tales for the long-awaited return of the annual Home House Halloween Party. Members and guests dressed as their favourite fairy tale character for a night of creepy performances, roaming artists, killer menus, devilishly good cocktails, DJs and deadly dancing. A huge thank you to everyone that joined us to celebrate the spooky season in true Home House style!

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Member Parties

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Member Parties

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Member Parties

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Member Parties

Jubilee Summer Party 2022 Photography is by Dom Martin, Sally Twiggs and Orlando Iorio

After 16 long months without our legendary parties, the palace of pleasure most certainly came back to life at our festival-inspired Summer Soirée! An incredible union of artists, performances, music, BBQ feasting, delicious cocktails and of course our lovely members and guests, glamorously grooving like it was 1969.

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Member Parties

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Member Parties

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Member Parties

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Cool Gadgets

The 12 Cool Tech Gadgets You Need In 2022

Leading UK tech expert Steve May rounds up some of the coolest gadgets and high-performance audio-visual products to add to your wishlist.

Maunakea Luxury Entertainment system L-Acoustics Creation / C-Seed

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his collaboration between the audio wizards at L-Acoustics and monster screen maker C-SEED, named after a volcano in Hawaii, combines a 165-inch 4k LED screen - which rises out of the floor - with an Island Prestige sound lounger.

If that sounds outrageous, that’s because it is! This personal auditorium features 13 forward-facing speakers, five more to the rear, with two earth-shaking subwoofers and as many overhead speakers as you can accommodate. Movie nirvana for your summer retreat or superyacht. www.l-acoustics-creations.com Price: Available on request

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Cool Gadgets

Mark Levinson ML50 Hi-Fi amplifier

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eleased to celebrate the 50th anniversary of legendary US Hi-Fi brand Mark Levinson, the limited-edition ML-50 amplifier is intended for the most discerning of audiophiles. Limited to just 100 pairs globally, this formidable monoblock duo demands a lot of floor space but should sound appropriately gargantuan. Adopting heritage design cues, the amp has a glass top cover to reveal internal LED lighting, and silver machined handles. www.marklevinson.com $50,000

Loewe bild s.77 OLED TV

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uxury German TV maker Loewe has produced a 77-inch OLED flatscreen, handcrafted with gold-plated elements fused into its cabinetry. The extravagance is in celebration of its 99 years as a telly maker, and the design has already secured Red Dot and iF Design Award status. Naturally, the set features all the bells and whistles expected of a premium 4K flatscreen, including Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos cinema audio and a built-in hard drive recorder. Hand-built in Kronach, Franconia, only 99 are being produced. www.loewe.tv £12,999

Echelon Extreme Mk II stereo speakers

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hen it comes to floor-standing loudspeakers, few make quite as loud a statement as the astonishing Echelon Extreme Mk II. Their stunning two-module design stands over 2m tall, the upper chamber separated from the lower section to combat unwanted vibrations. Available in a variety of high-gloss finishes, the Extreme MKII features an all-new ceramic midrange driver said to portray vocals, piano, strings, horns, and cymbals with remarkable realism. www.estelon.com €198,000

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Cool Gadgets

LG 65-inch Objet OLED TV

Transparent Light Speaker

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www.lg.com £5,999.99

www.transpa.rent/uk £290

Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin wireless speaker

Ruark Audio R5 MiE wireless music system

G is getting arty with an all-new 65-inch OLED TV as part of its 2022 lifestyle television range. The LG Objet OLED TV (model 65Art90) features a canvas cover which can be raised or lowered by remote control, to show all, or part, of the screen - full view for box-set bingeing, partial view for news and weather updates. This interchangeable fabric cover is from Danish textile innovator, Kvadrat, and comes in a choice of three colours (Beige, Redwood, Green). Interiors note: the set is designed to recline up against a wall, art gallery style.

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he iconic wireless speaker is back! The all-new Zeppelin, from Bowers & Wilkins, updates the classic blimp design with streaming music services, Amazon Alexa built-in, and improved musical performance. With Bluetooth and Airplay 2, the stereo system packs 240W of power and employs driver technology trickled down from the brand’s prestigious 800 Series Diamond speakers, as used in Abbey Road Studios. This new Zeppelin is multiroom capable, so buy a fleet and enjoy whole-home audio.

www.bowerswilkins.com £699

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bright idea from Swedish audio brand Transparent, The Light Speaker is a funky fusion of portable Bluetooth speaker and outdoor lantern. Using an LED bulb to mimic the flicker of real flames, you can take the lantern sound system out onto the decking, or to the beach, and add instant party atmosphere to any outdoor jam. Battery life is rated at 10 hours, so that should see you comfortably through the evening. The lantern’s speaker output is rated at 5W.

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contemporary music centre from British audio outfit Ruark Audio, the Limited Edition R5 MiE boasts a finish handcrafted by artisans. The company’s Made in England (MiE) project features collaborations with UK craftspeople, using traditional techniques and high-quality timbers and veneers. This model has a slatted wooden grille sourced from Italy.

Multiple layers of lacquer are applied with hand-sanding between coats, for a rich, premium luster. The hardware is cool too, with Wi-Fi streaming, CD playback, aptX HD Bluetooth, and a DAB/FM tuner. www.ruarkaudio.com £2,000

Cool Gadgets

Sky Glass streaming TV

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f you’ve missed out on Sky TV because you can’t accommodate a satellite dish, Sky Glass is an elegant new solution. This allin-one Sky TV needs only a Wi-Fi network connection (you need a minimum of 11M/b for it to work) to deliver a rich suite of Sky channels, catch-up and on-demand content. Available in 43-, 55- and 65-inch screen sizes, you get the set included as part of your monthly subscription package. The 4K QLED screen certainly looks more stylish than the average flatscreen and comes with a potent 215W six-channel Dolby Atmos sound system built-in. Unlike Sky Q , there’s no local storage for recordings, instead you just add shows to a Playlist and stream them when you want to watch. In addition to Sky, Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ apps are built-in. You can also extend the Sky Glass experience to other TVs around the house, using a Sky Stream Puck device, which is a subscription add-on.

Astell&Kern Acro CA1000 headphone amplifier

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ooking to take your headphone listening to another level? The Acro CA1000 from Astell&Kern is a stylish, compact headphone amplifier designed to deliver premium performance from any pair of wired headphones. The Acro CA1000 offers an array of inputs and outputs, making it easy to integrate with any music system, and features a high-quality Quad ES9068AS DAC for the highest of Hi-Fi. It also sports Bluetooth, has a 4.1-inch tilting touchscreen and a built-in battery that gives 10.5 hours of playback when used out and about. www.astellkern.co.uk £1,999

www.sky.com Price: Depending on subscription package

Meze Audio Liric headphones

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Cabasse debuts Pearl Keshi 2.1 wireless sound system

f you want to put something extraordinary on your head, may we suggest these premium headphones from Romanian headphone auteur Meze Audio? The Liric is a closed-back wired planar magnetic design, crafted from high-grade magnesium, leather and aluminium. They look stunning and should sound good too, thanks to innovative new driver technology.

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www.mezeaudio.eu £1,850

www.henleyaudio.co.uk £2,299

i-Fi gets a serious style upgrade with the Pearl Keshi Bluetooth audio system from Cabasse. This novel stereo setup features a pair of 8cm satellite speakers, and a powered 22cm spherical subwoofer. Able to generate a room-filling 1050W, the system works with Deezer, Qobuz, Spotify and TIDAL streaming services, but can also be coupled to a CD player or turntable.

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AV Tech

Smart Thinking

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ome House Magazine talks to Gary Lewis, co-owner of Cornflake – the Fitzrovia-based home automation and home cinema specialist – about its smart living solutions designed to enhance your day-to-day life.

n an attractive side street just off of London’s Charlotte Street are two signs – both the same – each displaying a single word: ‘Cornflake’. One is for the company’s head office and the other, two doors down, is above the entrance of its two-floor showroom,

open by appointment only.

This isn’t like most showrooms, because its lower floor is designed,

in the main, as a prime residential apartment where clients can visit to experience the latest smart technologies for their homes. It is here that Home House meets with the calm and convivial Gary to discuss the concept of smart living and Cornflake’s specialist approach.

Gary co-owns Cornflake with CEO Robin Shephard, who bought the eponymous business in 2010, but the company began as an AV specialist retailer in 1984. While it no longer purveys rows and rows of TVs, Hi-Fi systems and speakers on its shelves, its focus remains in the development of smart audio and visual solutions for the home.

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AV Tech

Homeowners can also enjoy high-quality entertainment outside

When Cornflake first opened its showroom, smart technology was still in its infancy. Now, there are countless off-the-shelf connected products available for the home. With that in mind, does Gary think that people have a greater understanding of smart living these days?

“I think it’s a generational thing, but people do tend to understand the benefits of being able to use connected apps to control different aspects of the home, whether that’s answering the doorbell, switching the lights on, or turning the heating down,” he answers.

As we are talking – whilst sat in a stylish, traditionally-designed open plan living area – Gary picks up an iPad and with one-touch, changes the mood lighting in the room from cool to warm.

When asked about the drawbacks to all this new technology, Gary answers honestly: “One of the pitfalls is that manufacturers all use different operational platforms, so you end up with loads of different apps to control different parts of the home. This defeats the object, as technology is ostensibly designed to make life easier and less time-consuming.”

Cornflake’s solution has been to develop an umbrella platform that controls every aspect of the home, using one single app with an easyto-use interface on a smartphone or tablet, from security to lighting and heating, to audio and visual, and even the curtains and blinds.

“We want to create life-enhancing experiences for people to live their finest lives in their homes, so we do all the hard work in the background,” he states.

Cornflake specialises in smart home solutions for owners of prime and super-prime UK residences, and it also offers a smart backup option. Its 24/7, 365-days-a-year concierge service will remotely handle any technological aspects in the home – and it will fix any issues as well.

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AV Tech

“Our clients can be away on holiday or on business,” he explains.

“On the day they return, we will remotely activate lights, heating or air conditioning and create the perfect ambience so that their home is ready for them as soon as they walk through the door.”

With many of Cornflake’s clients now able to travel abroad again, keeping their homes secure when they are away is a major consideration.

“Security is absolutely paramount,” he nods. “We work closely with trusted security companies to integrate CCTV, analytics, controls, and home data security options into one single package. We have a very proactive approach and we can put in place multiple systems to keep people safe and undisturbed at all times.”

The company regularly works with architects and interior designers, and Gary finds that one aspect in particular makes all the difference to the aesthetics of a smart home: “Smart lighting is crucial,” he stresses, gesturing around the room as an example. “We have a dedicated lighting room in our showroom to demonstrate how the ambience in any space can change at a single touch, or we can create lighting scenes that will adapt to light variations throughout the day.”

Cornflake has worked on a number of subterranean living projects in locations like Mayfair and Kensington. “We can simulate the look of natural light in areas that have no access to it,” Gary points out.

Do smart home technologies help save money on energy bills?

“Yes, definitely. Our solutions are designed to be truly energy efficient.

Examples include sensors that can be installed so that when you leave a room, the lights will automatically switch off, while smart heating can be regulated room by room. In addition, the temperature will automatically increase or decrease as you move through the house, and we can pre-set options too.”

During the summer months when high temperatures are the issue, blinds can be programmed to close automatically to block out direct sunlight, keeping rooms cool at all times.

Gary touches the iPad again and a projector screen descends from the ceiling. Now we are listening to some powerful-sounding classical music whilst watching an orchestra play in full 4K high resolution. As this takes place, the lighting in the ceiling changes colour to perfectly reflect the activity on screen. We are now completely immersed in the entertainment in front of us.

Modern and period properties can both be accommodated

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AV Tech

Gary explains: “Many London homes don’t have the space for a separate room to encompass gaming or big entertainment in a meaningful way, so we make existing living areas truly multifunctional by designing state-of-the-art media rooms.”

Cornflake works with top tier audio and visual brands to incorporate their products in its media rooms. “We also specify powerful speakers that can be integrated within plaster, or behind fabric wall coverings so they are concealed from view,” he notes.

The company has designed and specified media rooms for contemporary or traditional homes, including listed buildings – recently winning two CEDIA industry awards for a media room project in a converted museum at Clink Wharf in central London.

“We absolutely respect the fabric of every property and we develop bespoke solutions for each client so they have the right systems for their requirements,” says Gary, escorting Home House through to a gaming and bar area. He then slides another unassuming side door back to reveal a fully acoustically-treated home cinema room that seats 12 people.

Cornflake has designed and installed many home cinemas over the years in properties across central London, including in Knightsbridge and Mayfair. The company has also won awards for creating the firstever subterranean 18-seat IMAX cinema in a private residence in Kensington. “That was a very satisfying challenge,” he says with a smile.

So what’s next for the business?

“We are developing new products under the Cornflake brand name,” he reveals.

This includes a package solution for people that want to convert a spare bedroom or a garage into a home cinema. The company is also focusing on the outdoors with the development of a bespoke mobile bar called The Eden Chest that conceals a weatherproof TV that rises from within – ideal for sports fans that want to watch the big game in their garden with friends.

“It’s an exciting time for us,” he smiles as we settle down to watch the latest blockbuster in the Cornflake home cinema.

A tour round the Cornflake experiential showroom is a thrilling experience, and if you are thinking about smart solutions for your own home, then this is definitely the place to visit. www.cornflake.co.uk

Cornflake designs easy to use automation systems for the whole house

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The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

Queen Elizabeth II’s 70-Year Reign

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022 marks a historical year in British history and its monarchy, as it is the year that Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II celebrates 70 incredible years on the throne – making her first British Monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee. Known for her sense of duty and her devotion to a life of service, she has been an

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important figurehead for the UK and the Commonwealth during times of enormous social change. The Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II is being celebrated across the Commonwealth and beyond, culminating in a fourday UK bank holiday weekend in June. Home House of Home House Magazine reflects on highlights from the Queen’s 70 years of service.

The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

1953: Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation On June 2nd 1953, 27-year-old Elizabeth’s coronation ceremony was the first to be broadcast live on television. It was watched by 27 million people in the UK, with 11 million listening in via the radio.

1965: First State Visit To West Germany The Queen visited the Federal Republic of Germany – the first official visit by a British royal since 1913. Her visit marked the 20year anniversary of the end of World War II, helping to symbolise the reconciliation between the two countries.

1970: First Walkabout During a royal tour of Australia and New Zealand with Prince Philip and Princess Anne, the Queen bucked centuries of royal tradition when she took a stroll to greet crowds of people in person – rather than wave to them from a protected distance.

1977: Silver Jubilee On June 7th 1977, The Queen and Prince Philip rode in the Gold State Coach from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul’s Cathedral to officially celebrate her 25th year on the throne.

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The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

1981: Charles and Diana Marry On July 29th 1981, an estimated 750 million people around the world tuned in to watch Prince Charles marry Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul’s Cathedral. The romance between the heir to the British throne and Diana (who quickly earned the adoration of the public) cemented the monarchy’s popularity. Diana gave birth to Prince William in 1982, providing the next in line to the throne.

1986: Visit to China In 1986, the Queen became the first British monarch to visit the Chinese mainland. Preceding this in 1984 was Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government agreeing to return sovereignty over Hong Kong to China beginning July 1st 1997.

1997: 50 Years of Marriage The Queen and Prince Philip celebrated 50 years of marriage on November 20th 1997, celebrating their Golden Wedding anniversary at a lunch at Banqueting House in London. The Queen made a speech in which she looked back on “a remarkable 50 years”, where she declared that Prince Philip had been “my strength and stay all these years”.

2002: Golden Jubilee As the first British monarch since Queen Victoria to celebrate a Golden Jubilee, the Queen travelled more than 40,000 miles that year, including visits to the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, as well as visiting 70 cities and towns in the UK. The Queen’s celebration of her 50th year on the throne was sadly marred by a double loss when her sister, Princess Margaret, and their mother died within weeks of each other.

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2011: Visit to Republic of Ireland In May 2011, the Queen and Prince Philip visited the Republic of Ireland – the Queen’s first-ever visit there, and the first by a British monarch in 100 years. Her visit was considered to be the beginning of a new era of friendship.

2012: 60 Years on the Throne The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations underlined public support for the monarchy, which also benefited from the excitement surrounding the London Olympics.

2013: Birth of Prince George On July 22nd 2013, The Queen welcomed a new great-grandson, Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge, the first child of Prince William and Kate Middleton, who married in 2011. His birth marked the first time since Victoria’s reign that three generations of direct heirs to the British throne were alive at the same time. The Succession to the Crown Act was executed by the Queen in 2013, which amended the order of succession so it is now determined by order of birth rather than gender – meaning that Princess Charlotte is fourth in line to the throne, ahead of both Prince Harry and her younger brother, Prince Louis.

2015: Longest Reigning Monarch On September 9th 2015, the Queen became Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, surpassing Queen Victoria.

Travel

Biosphere Expeditions

Travelling Again After The Pandemic: THE ETHICAL ANGLE

By Sam Mittmerham

A sperm whale diving, Azores islands. On the Azores, Biosphere Expeditions runs a whale & dolphin project. © Lisa Steiner.

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n a post COVID world, everyone is wondering whether life will get back to something approaching normal ever again. As the virus moves towards its endemic phase, this possibility is on the horizon. At the same time, life before and after corona will be different and perhaps we should seek to get back to a new – rather than an absolute – normal and think about the way we treat the planet and how we behave as humankind towards nature.

Post-pandemic travel, in this sense, is a hot topic. How should we approach this when normal holidays are possible again? Let’s look at an ethical travel option.

A snow leopard in Kyrgyzstan, where Biosphere Expeditions have a snow leopard project in the Tien Shan mountains. © S. Henning

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Travel

Citizen science and ethical travel

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iosphere Expeditions is an award-winning wildlife conservation non-profit first and foremost, driven by science and citizen scientists. It allows ordinary travellers, through its citizen science conservation holidays, to make an active contribution towards a sustainable biosphere. It does this through empowering ordinary people, by placing them at the centre of scientific study as wildlife conservation volunteers and by actively involving them out in the field as citizen scientists, where there is conservation work to be done.

Expedition scientist Dr. Andrea Friebe (left), her dog and a citizen scientist on the way to an island to check for bear dens in Sweden. © Biosphere Expedition

Rangers and a citizen scientist working together in the Kenya Maasai Mara, where Biosphere Expeditions runs a biodiversity study. © Biosphere Expedition

History

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he NGO started in 1999 as one of those famous ‘in the shower’ ideas. Its founder, Dr. Matthias Hammer, with a military career behind him, some Oxbridge student expeditions under his belt and disillusioned with the ivory tower mentality of academia, was looking for a way to combine his training as a biologist with some real-life, hands-on conservation work within a volunteer holiday setting. When someone suggested, “Why don’t you take people on expeditions with you?” – the idea for Biosphere Expeditions was born.

It took a year to set up Biosphere Expeditions as a non-profit organisation in the UK and another year to recruit the first expedition team. The first expedition ran in 2001 to Poland, studied wolves of the Carpathian mountains and was instrumental in establishing a wolf hunting ban there. Demand was high and many expeditioners, once bitten by the bug, came back for more, so the expedition portfolio quickly increased to include Peru (studying macaws and other parrots) and the Azores (protecting whales and dolphins), the latter still running today, amongst a portfolio of over a dozen conservation expeditions around the world.

Citizen scientists on the top deck of the research vessel, looking for whales and dolphins and recording data. This picture was taken on the Azores whales & dolphin expedition.. © Biosphere Expedition

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Travel

Dr. Matthias Hammer, Executive Director of Biosphere Expeditions, answers some tough questions on the future of sustainable travel.

The coronavirus pandemic seems to be giving nature some breathing space. That must please you as a nature conservationist?

Of course! I am very happy about nature being given a chance to recover for a change, instead of the continuous assault of the last decades. There is also the hope that humanity as a whole will stop to ponder for a while. We have realised it is possible to work from home and to fly around less.

What’s the situation like in nature conservation?

Well, for us, for our citizen science / wildlife conservation expeditions, the effect is of course that we weren’t able to carry out any projects in 2020 or 2021. But that is the lesser of two evils. The bigger evil was the situation of our local partners.

What do you mean by ‘the bigger evil’?

It is much worse for our local partner organisations. In the developed world, we can apply for state aid. Besides, we are a very lean organisation. We don’t have large offices which we have to pay rent for, and our running costs are very low. State aid, as limited as it may be, helps us a lot. But our local partners were in a difficult situation.

There are, by and large, no such programs, and much of their income has disappeared. For example in Enonkishu, a conservancy in Kenya, their main income is the fees that tourists pay when they come into the reserve. This has dropped to zero practically overnight, so they now have a real challenge on their hands to keep paying their rangers and other staff. And if no rangers are being paid, how do they fight poaching? Not only that, the increasing poverty through the crisis also increases the pressure from poaching as cash-strapped people go in search of bushmeat, for example.

So what does this mean?

There are two sides to it: it’s both a chance and a challenge. On the one hand, it’s a chance for nature to recover because there are no visitors. In the Red Sea, for example, the water is clear and the reefs are recovering as the ecosystem remains largely on its own, because of course there are no divers or tourists causing disturbance. On the other hand, the lack of money is a real problem. Conservation costs money.

How can we counteract this? Both on a larger scale and as Biosphere Expeditions?

We are a relatively small organisation. Our influence is correspondingly small. At best we can do something on the ground with our partners and bring money and, of course, manpower to advance their conservation projects. But since this ground to a halt, we started a fundraising campaign, which was very successful.

How does Biosphere Expeditions deal with the fact that there are now those calling for a fundamental change in the way we travel?

Air travel in itself is of course bad for the environment. There is no question about that. If there are no contrails in the sky, everyone has a basic understanding that this must be good for the planet.

How does Biosphere Expeditions deal with this dilemma?

We have several approaches. First, it is a fundamental concern of ours to eliminate ourselves in the long run. In other words, we want to advance projects to a point where we are no longer needed. Take the Maldives, for example: via expeditions there for eight years, we have established a non-profit organisation, www.reefcheckmaldives. org, which is now entirely run by locals. The reef research that we have done with volunteers is now under their leadership. Point two is that we encourage our participants to offset their carbon footprint. I am aware that this is also under criticism, but as part of the mix, I believe it is a positive thing. We as an organisation naturally compensate for the CO2 our activities produce as well. Thirdly, we must not forget that the alternative to tourism is often the chainsaw or total overfishing. In other words, nature conservation takes place because there’s an economic benefit for local people to preserve wildlife and wild places. This is what we conservationists call the ‘what pays, stays’ principle, whether it is via safari tourists or through citizen science projects. It’s too shortsighted to reduce everything down to CO2 exclusively, although we must keep an eye on this. The world is more complicated than just CO2 budgets.

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Travel

How will the pandemic influence your citizen scientist projects?

That’s a difficult question to answer. The crisis will be with us for a long time; years rather than months. We have contingency plans in case expeditions are still impossible in 2022. I do believe that the desire to do something useful in your holiday time will keep increasing in people.

This was already evident before the pandemic, and will hopefully get a further boost now.

Is this the end of tourism?

I am afraid not. As soon as restrictions are relaxed, people will by and large fall back into old habits. Still, it would be nice if humankind could become significantly more mindful through this crisis.

What should politicians do to support nature conservation and environmental protection?

On no account lower environmental standards! Under no circumstances save the big polluters. The money that is saved by not bailing out destructive corporations should be put to good use elsewhere in combating climate – the other and more dangerous challenge humanity faces – and preventing destruction of wildlife and wild places. We need the planet as the basis of all life and economic activity. For on a run-down planet, there will be no life worth living and no economy to speak of.

If you would like to help Biosphere Expeditions and spend your next holiday with a conscience and a purpose, then you can join one of about a dozen Biosphere Expeditions projects around the globe. Or you can make a donation or join the Friends of Biosphere Expeditions, a society of supporters of their nature conservation cause. www.biosphere-expeditions.org

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Home & Interiors

Gabriella James, Chairmakers

The Best Seats In The House Home House Magazine talks to Felicity Randolph and her daughter, Ella Sims about their family chair-making business, sustainability, and why comfort is so important in day-to-day living.

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Home & Interiors

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elicity Randolph is always on the move. When she isn’t working on her next bespoke order or personally liaising with clients and interior designers, she is researching the latest artisan textiles and blogging about the latest trends.

“It’s ironic, because I rarely get time to sit down these days,” she says, introducing her daughter Ella, who’s here to talk about their business, Gabriella James, Chairmakers.

Entering its fifth year of successful trading, Gabriella James, Chairmakers started small in a barn on Felicity’s country property in Kent. Originally called Cheeky Chairs, the company has recently rebranded and is now named after her adult children, James and Ella.

“I wanted to recognise their input and hard work and to emphasise that ours really is a family business,” says Felicity. “James concentrates on our e-commerce channel, Ella is head of brand, and I handle sales, service and product development. Together, we make a great team.”

Where did your interest in chairs come from?

“From my father, who had an incredible collection of 18th and 19th century chairs made by skilled craftsmen, and an encyclopaedic knowledge to go with it. Because of him, I have had a lifelong love affair with carved, wooden chairs. However, it isn’t why I started the business,” she points out. “That was because I identified a gap in the market. I’ve always had a passion for beautiful fabrics and textiles, and when I couldn’t find attractive upholstered chairs or bar stools that were either comfortable or fashionable for my own home, I realised I was not alone. That is why the business began.”

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Gabriella James, Chairmakers is a family business

Home & Interiors

When she started out, Felicity, who is a brand insight marketing specialist, conducted formal research, talking to various kitchen and interior designers.

“The same subjects kept coming up,” she shares. “Kitchen islands aren’t all the same heights and people aren’t all the same heights, but most kitchen stools are a standard height. I realised that to offer a real point of difference, we needed to make our bar stools to suit the exact height of our clients, and this is part of our service. Choice was another factor. We wanted to offer greater choice for clients, whether it is the colour of the frames or the designer fabrics the seats are upholstered in.

You can’t find that choice on the high street, and we liken our business to being a couture fashion brand – just for the home.”

Today, Gabriella James, Chairmakers features nine different madeto-order luxury dining and occasional chairs and bar stool models with a painting and polishing service that will match with any interior colour for the wood frames.

There are Signature and Portfolio Collections of designer fabrics, many by eminent British artisan textile designers such as Kit Kemp, Kitty McCall, Margo Selby and Josef Frank, alongside brands including Fermoie, Designers Guild, House of Hackney, Korla, Liberty London, Northcroft, Sanderson and Veere Greeney.

“However, what makes our business truly bespoke is that we can also upholster our chairs and bar stools in our client’s own choice of textile fabric to perfectly suit their existing interior schemes.”

“Quality craftsmanship is also key to our offer,” adds Ella. “We work with the finest craftspeople, and the timbers and materials we use are from sustainable sources. Our carved chair and bar stool frames are crafted from solid wood: either kiln-dried beech or locally sourced English hardwood ash or oak. Our skilled team uses time-honoured traditional woodcraft and joinery skills including mortise and tenon joints to ensure that our frames will last year in, year out. We make the soft seats using traditional methods as well. They are all individually upholstered using webbing, stuffing ties and tacked rolled edges.”

Most importantly, for Gabriella James, Chairmakers, it is what fills the soft seats that sets the business apart. Many seating companies use non-biodegradable foam fillings, but Ella, who previously worked in marketing for ethical brands, says that this was never an option for them.

The company combines sustainability, sharp on-trend designs and traditional manufacturing

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Home & Interiors

“Foam is a petrochemical bi-product, and because it can’t be easily recycled, it ends up in landfill,” she explains. “We are one of the first chair-makers to use 100% natural materials, including layers of wool and ginger coir, with breathable latex derived from sustainable rubber trees, which is antibacterial and antifungal.”

The result is that the seats retain their original shape after compression, making them, in the words of one happy client, ‘ridiculously comfortable’.”

Felicity has made it her mission to champion textile businesses that she believes are influencing interior design trends, and today that also means those that are working in ever-more sustainable ways.

“It isn’t just the beautiful and colourful designs they create, it’s the materials they are using too. I love the idea of block printing using natural dyes and pigments, or making stunning textiles from recycled fashion fabrics. This has to be the way forward in a world of fastfashion, where reams of fabric are discarded after just one season, which is such a waste.”

The company accordingly has introduced its Chairs for Life offer on behalf of clients who refurbish or move home. Master upholsterers will refresh the soft seats and re-cover if required, while their expert polishers will hand-sand and then repaint the frames to match the colour of new interiors.

“The ability to repurpose and reuse is very important to us as an ethical family business,” Ella explains. “Buying a set of dining chairs or bar stools is always an investment and we want our clients to be able to keep them for life.”

Their principles are also good business – in both traditional and online sales. Since launching their new brand in January, Felicity reports large orders within the UK and abroad.

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“As a British bespoke brand, we have seen huge interest from America, and this is definitely a growth area for us. We work with interior designers who recommend us, and there is increased activity from our social media campaigns, too. We can be found on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.”

As a luxury brand, Gabriella James, Chairmakers has clearly carved its niche by combining fashion with fine furniture, whilst ensuring that its clients are always sitting comfortably.

Felicity explains, “People underestimate the time they spend sitting down, whether in the kitchen or the dining room, or in a home office.

Comfort is absolutely paramount to day-to-day living and we believe that everyone should always have the best seats in the house.” www.gabriellajames.co.uk

Food

The Best Meal Delivery Services to Try in 2022

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ou’ve seen the targeted social media ads by now – you know the ones. The rise of meal kit delivery services in recent years has, for those of us who like to cook from scratch, gone from a guilty secret to a routine occurrence.

During the pandemic, meal kit delivery services thrived. While we were all stuck at home, unable to dine out and trying to avoid crowded supermarkets, as a nation we gave into curiosity and ordered that first meal kit box. And we were hooked.

And it’s not just the convenience of an introductory discount code and having a week’s worth of meals delivered to your door that’s making it hard to wean yourself off these services, it’s the promise of injecting that spark of inspiration back into the dinner routine rut, taking the stress out of food shopping and prep – all the while knowing that you’re doing your bit to reduce waste.

All of the meal kit delivery services provide the exact ingredients required for zero food waste, reduce unnecessary packaging, and many are B Corp businesses – a global community of companies that think about their impact on the environment, people, customers, suppliers and the wider community.

So whether you’re after an entirely plant-based food service, tailor-made meal plans, gourmet dinners with paired wines, a solution that helps you maintain your chosen lifestyle, or you want to attempt a lavish meal, there are an abundance of meal delivery services available.

Looking to break the routine? We’ve rounded up a few of the most popular options that are helping to overhaul dinner-time whilst fighting food waste.

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Food

Gousto

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t’s one of the most well-known for a reason, offering everything from calorie controlled meals, healthy choices, everyday favourites, 10 minute meals, ‘prepped in five’ options, as well as vegetarian, plant-based, gluten free and dairy free choices to help you whip up wholesome, impressive meals no matter your skill level.

They send you step-by-step recipes and all the fresh ingredients you need, delivered weekly, fortnightly or monthly, and due to the insulated packaging to keep food fresh, you don’t even need to be home to accept your delivery.

Gousto is big on sustainability, claiming that a weekly box reduces your carbon emissions by 23% compared to buying the same food at a supermarket, and the company aims for its Gousto-branded packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable by this year. www.gousto.co.uk

HelloFresh

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elloFresh keeps it simple with three plans: Classic, Vegetarian, and Family-Friendly – each of which includes complete nutritional information. They also deliver step-by-step recipes and all the fresh preportioned ingredients you need straight to your door, and claim to be the first global carbon-neutral meal kit company out there.

If you’re vegan, you can easily set your meal preferences to cut out meat and seafood, instead getting options for some tasty plant-based meal kits that feed between two and four people.

According to HelloFresh’s research, UK households waste a whopping 4.5 million tonnes of food every year. However, it’s easy being green with HelloFresh’s pre-measured ingredients and recyclable materials, helping reduce food waste by purchasing ingredients based on your order – pre-portioned to the gram. www.hellofresh.co.uk

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The Pure Package

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reated by award-winning chefs and nutritionists, The Pure Package tailors the box you receive to your eating habits and health goals following a phone consultation or online survey. Using a science-based approach, your meals will arrive customised to your protein, carbohydrate and fat requirements – an ideal plan for anyone seeking to transform their health.

Once you’ve chosen what your goal is and have picked your plan – whether it’s to lose weight, eat more healthily or fit nutritious food into a busy lifestyle – The Pure Package takes some personal details such as height, weight and lifestyle habits, plus food preferences, and tailors the programme to you.

Once the plan has been confirmed, your quota of healthy food is delivered daily, so there’s no need to plan meals, go food shopping or worry about portion control; every meal and snack is already prepared to be eaten and enjoyed by you.

It’s worth noting that The Pure Package prices include delivery to all over London. This includes all postcodes falling within the M25 motorway plus a select few around it including GU25, SL4, SL5 and KT16. www.purepackage.com

Exclusive Member Benefit The Pure Package is offering Home House members a complimentary nutrition consultation. Email info@purepackage.com and use the code HOME22 to redeem this offer.

Wild Radish

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o-founded by Anthea Marie Stephenson, a former chef at the Michelin starred River Cafe in London, Wild Radish promises to ‘Michelin-Star your night’, and distinguishes itself from the majority of the other meal kit services by swerving away from the ‘flat pack’ food concept, containing all the fresh, unprepared, seasonal ingredients you need to cook a main meal for two from scratch.

While many of the meal kit services appeal to those short on time, Wild Radish is for people who love cooking almost as much as eating.

Quick meals have their place, but this offering encourages you to slow it down and appreciate the art of creating a fine meal experience from scratch.

Wild Radish’s award-winning wine experts will also suggest a paired bottle of wine to complement your meals – complete with tasting notes for the full ‘sommelier at your table’ experience.

Everything is portioned and weighed, using the least amount of packaging possible, and all packaging is recyclable, biodegradable, and returnable. www.wild-radish.co.uk

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Allplants

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s the name suggests, Allplants is an entirely plant-based food service catering to vegan diets with its chef-made frozen meals – meaning no food prep is required. This service offers plant-based dishes delivered to your freezer, ready to heat and eat.

As well as locking in flavours using the freezing process, this method also has an impact on food waste: no more throwing away wilted, furry veg from the back of your fridge!

Allplants reports that eating just three plant-based meals every week for one year saves 600kg of CO2 (the equivalent of driving from London to Egypt – 5,000 km), 370,000 litres of water (the equivalent of leaving the shower on for 33 days!), and almost 1 acre of land – which could be used to plant over 1,000 trees.

The company’s food is 100% palm oil-free, they don’t use any soya products grown in South America (where soya production is linked to deforestation), and they are working towards climate positivity (aka Net Zero) by 2030. www.allplants.com

Mindful Chef

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hile most of the meal kit services offer healthy options alongside ‘family favourites’ or comfort food dinners, Mindful Chef is 100% focused on healthy options, whilst zeroing in on packaging, food waste, farming and animal welfare.

Mindful Chef ’s recipes are gluten-free and dairy-free, never contain refined carbs, refined sugars or cheap fillers, and are always 450 to 650 calories a serving. There are also vegan options available, and unlike many of the other providers, there are one-person options available.

Mindful Chef is also carbon neutral, and the company is on a mission to be Net Zero by 2030. www.mindfulchef.com

There’s plenty of choice out there, and other options include The Good Prep (tailor made meal plans), Abel & Cole (organic food), Fresh Fitness Food (helping maintain your fitness-led lifestyle), and Detox Kitchen (dairy and wheat free), so have a look around online and see what suits your lifestyle. And may god have mercy on your targeted ads.

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MAGAZINE

Discover what’s coming up at Home House.

Issue 01 2022 Spring and Summer.