Marylebone Journal issue 104

MARYLEBONE JOURNAL

ISSUE NO.104 BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE HOWARD DE WALDEN ESTATE AND THE PORTMAN ESTATE

P.42 SUZANNAH CRABB OF SUZANNAH LONDON ON HOLIDAYS, HATS AND HIGH SOCIETY P.14 SHELLEY SIMPSON ON WHY MUD AUSTRALIA IS ABOUT MORE THAN JUST CERAMICS P.20 THE 20-YEAR STORY OF THE MARYLEBONE SUMMER FESTIVAL

Cover: Suzannah Crabb of Suzannah London by Josh Shinner

MARYLEBONE JOURNAL ISSUE NO.104 BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE HOWARD DE WALDEN ESTATE AND THE PORTMAN ESTATE Published April 2024

Marylebone Journal marylebonejournal.com Marylebone Village marylebonevillage.com Instagram: @marylebonevillage Twitter: @MaryleboneVllge Portman Marylebone portmanmarylebone.com Instagram: @portmanmarylebone Publisher LSC Publishing lscpublishing.com Editor Mark Riddaway mark@lscpublishing.com Advertising sales Donna Earrey 020 7401 2772 donna@lscpublishing.com Contributers Jean-Paul Aubin-Parvu Lauren Bravo Ellie Costigan Clare Finney Orlando Gili Emily Jupp Viel Richardson Design and art direction Em-Project Limited mike@em-project.com Owned and supported by The Howard de Walden Estate 23 Queen Anne Street, W1G 9DL 020 7580 3163 hdwe.co.uk annette.shiel@hdwe.co.uk The Portman Estate 40 Portman Square, W1H 6LT 020 7563 1400 portmanestate.co.uk rebecca.eckles@portmanestate.co.uk

3 HAPPENINGS IN MARYLEBONE

34 A CLOSER LOOK

14 IN PROFILE: SHELLEY SIMPSON

34 Q&A: HARRY WEBB

Events, exhibitions, film, music, shopping, talks, theatre and walks

The founder and creative director of Mud Australia, on throwaway comments, the roots of her design ethos, and why her company is about so much more than ceramics

20 SUMMER IN THE CITY

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Marylebone Summer Festival, the Journal looks back at two decades of fun, food and fundraising

31 THE DIFFERENCE MAKERS

Helen Mann, CEO of Young Westminster Foundation

Food, style, home, wellbeing and healthcare

Boxcar Bar & Grill’s head chef on learning from Jun Tanaka, working with producers and swapping the building site for the kitchen

42 Q&A: SUZANNAH CRABB

The founder of luxury womenswear label Suzannah London on how to break a dress code without ruffling feathers

44 STYLE PHILOSOPHY

Sacha Rose, CEO of Derek Rose, on the joy of free time, the importance of job creation, and the wisdom of a German octogenarian

54 ANATOMY OF A DESIGN

Tricia Guild, founder of Designers Guild, on a vibrant floral fabric design

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HOPE MONTESSORI SCHOOL NURSERY & BABY ROOM 3 Cramer Street, Marylebone, W1U 4EA Admin@HopeMontessoriSchool.com +44 (0) 7919 84 48 53 HopeMontessoriSchool.com

HAPPENINGS IN MARYLEBONE

HAPPENINGS IN MARYLEBONE EVENTS EXHIBITIONS FILM MUSIC SHOPPING TALKS THEATRE WALKS 1.

1. Elaine Mitchener, Wigmore Hall 2. Novus String Quartet, Wigmore Hall 3. T he Dream of a Ridiculous Man, Marylebone Theatre

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MUSIC 13 APRIL, 7.30pm ELAINE MITCHENER & APARTMENT HOUSE Wigmore Hall 36 Wigmore Street, W1U 2BP wigmore-hall.org.uk Two of Wigmore Hall’s associate artists, the remarkable vocalist Elaine Mitchener and the Apartment House ensemble, come together for a programme containing new works by Rolf Hind and Jack Sheen, alongside a 1975 piece by Elisabeth Lutyens.

MUSIC 15 APRIL, 7.30pm NOVUS STRING QUARTET Wigmore Hall 36 Wigmore Street, W1U 2BP wigmore-hall.org.uk Novus String Quartet, one of South Korea’s leading chamber ensembles, performs William Walton’s rarely played Second Quartet, composed in the 1940s, alongside Shostakovich’s Twelfth Quartet of 1968 and Dvořák’s String Quartet in G Op 106, written in 1895.

EXHIBITION UNTIL 21 APRIL TURNER AND BONINGTON: WATERCOLOURS FROM THE WALLACE COLLECTION The Wallace Collection Manchester Square, W1U 3BN wallacecollection.org This free exhibition brings together 10 landscapes by JMW Turner and Richard Parkes Bonington – the first time the works have been on display in 17 years – with subjects ranging from Scarborough beach to the Doge’s Palace in Venice.

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THEATRE

Adapted by Laurence Boswell from a short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, this new play tells the story of a deeply depressed man who dreams of a beautiful future earth and attempts to persuade a cynical world that what he’s seen is possible.

21 MARCH – 20 APRIL THE DREAM OF A RIDICULOUS MAN Marylebone Theatre Rudolf Steiner House 35 Park Road, NW1 6XT marylebonetheatre.com

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Lionel and Kim Logchies, the founders of Moco Museum, certainly know how to pick a location.

Moco’s first two hugely popular, highly accessible art museums opened in an early-20th century townhouse in Amsterdam’s Museumplein district and a 16th century palacio in Barcelona. The third iteration is arriving in Marylebone this summer, housed in a strikingly refurbished 1920s block on the corner of Marble Arch. Reflected in its name – a contraction of ‘Modern Contemporary’ – Moco’s collection contains works created by the biggest 1. names of the past 50 years, including Marina Abramovic, Banksy, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Tracey Emin, Keith Haring, Jeff Koons, Yayoi Kusama and Andy Warhol.

MOCO MUSEUM 1-4 Marble Arch, W1H 7EJ mocomuseum.com

1. Moco London 2. Ibiza (2008) by Franco Fontana, Atlas Gallery 3. Academy Brass, Royal Academy of Music 4. Coppelia, Marylebone Theatre

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THEATRE 23 APRIL, 7pm NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE: NYE Regent Street Cinema 307 Regent Street, W1B 2HW regentstreetcinema.com

MUSIC 23 – 25 APRIL MUSIC AND THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY Royal Academy of Music Marylebone Road, NW1 5HT ram.ac.uk

MUSIC 26 APRIL, 7.30pm ACADEMY BRASS PERFORMS SINATRA HITS Royal Academy of Music Marylebone Road, NW1 5HT ram.ac.uk

Broadcast live from the Olivier Theatre, Michael Sheen plays the great Nye Bevan, the architect of the NHS, who, confronted by death, takes a mind-bending journey back through his life, from working in the Welsh mines to fighting with Winston Churchill.

This free festival explores the rich world of music and memory. Featuring collaborations with the Roberts Institute of Art, composer Edmund Finnis and the CHROMA emsemble, it brings together new and old music and half-forgotten ideas.

Virtuoso trumpeter Mike Lovatt makes a welcome return to the Academy to perform the hit songs of Frank Sinatra in orchestrations by Colin Skinner, including I’m Gonna Live Till I Die, You Make Me Feel So Young and The Best Is Yet To Come.

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HAPPENINGS IN MARYLEBONE

EXHIBITION

Since the early 1960s, the pioneering Italian photographer Franco Fontana has been creating richly coloured, abstract landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes. This exhibition brings together some of his best-known images, as well as neverseen-before rarities.

21 MARCH – 4 MAY FRANCO FONTANA Atlas Gallery 49 Dorset Street, W1U 7NF atlasgallery.com

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DANCE 24 – 27 APRIL COPPELIA Marylebone Theatre Rudolf Steiner House 35 Park Road, NW1 6XT marylebonetheatre.com

EXHIBITION UNTIL 4 MAY WIDE-ANGLE VIEW RIBA Architecture Gallery 66 Portland Place, W1B 1AD architecture.com

EXHIBITION UNTIL 4 MAY ACCORDION FIELDS Lisson Gallery 27 Bell Street, NW1 5BY 67 Lisson Street, NW1 5DA lissongallery.com

Kevan Allen’s KVN Dance Company brings a contemporary edge to the classic French ballet Coppelia, which charts the dramatic impact on a small village of a life-sized clockwork doll created by the eccentric Dr Coppelius.

In the 1960s, the Architectural Review magazine created a bold new approach to architectural writing and photography.

This free exhibition shows off over 70 photographs from the magazine’s Manplan series, which explored architecture’s impact on people and society.

Across both of its Marylebone sites, Lisson Gallery presents a wide-ranging group exhibition of paintings from cross-generational artists, each of whom began their careers in London after attending one of the city’s renowned art schools.

HAPPENINGS IN MARYLEBONE

1. Dear Japanese: Children of War by Miyuki Okuyama, Daiwa AngloJapanese Foundation 2. Pavel Kolesnikov, Wigmore Hall 3. Afternoon Light

by David Gleeson, Thompson’s Gallery 4. Cherise, The Orchard

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MUSIC 8 & 10 MAY, 7pm ROYAL ACADEMY OPERA: MARTINU DOUBLE BILL Royal Academy of Music Marylebone Road, NW1 5HT ram.ac.uk Royal Academy Opera performs two wildly expressive comic operas by Bohuslav Martinu, Comedy on the Bridge and Twice Alexander: a tale of bourgeois infidelity and an exploration of the challenges of loyalty and discretion in a time of conflict.

MUSIC 15 MAY, 1pm ACADEMY PIANO SERIES: HARRY RYLANCE Wigmore Hall 36 Wigmore Street, W1U 2BP wigmorehall.org.uk As part of a series of lunchtime piano recitals featuring Royal Academy of Music students, British Korean pianist Harry Rylance pairs Richard Strauss’s romantic Brentano Lieder with Liszt’s transcriptions of Wagner’s Liebestod and Tannhäuser Overture.

EXHIBITION UNTIL 20 MAY MIYUKI OKUYAMA: JAPAN, OUTSIDE JAPAN Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation 13/14 Cornwall Terrace, NW1 4QP dajf.org.uk

EXHIBITION

Featuring new work from both artists, this show brings together Teresa Lawler’s stylised houses inserted into fictitious landscapes, alongside David Gleeson’s quiet still-lifes, which meditate on the transience of time and the wonders of the ordinary.

Documentarian and photographer Miyuki Okuyama presents two recent films: Dear Japanese: Children of War (2012-17), which portrays the children of Japanese soldiers and Dutch-Indonesian women, born during the Pacific War in Indonesia and now living in the Netherlands, and Michinoku Homeward: Walking Towards the Northeast (2021), a personal reflection on the artist’s home region of Michinoku, based upon her 400km walk in 2021 from Tokyo to her childhood town of Yamagata.

24 APRIL – 10 MAY DAVID GLEESON & TERESA LAWLER Thompson’s Gallery 3 Seymour Place, W1H 5AZ thompsonsgallery.co.uk

MUSIC 22 MAY, 7.30pm PAVEL KOLESNIKOV Wigmore Hall 36 Wigmore Street, W1U 2BP wigmore-hall.org.uk ram.ac.uk Pianist Pavel Kolesnikov performs Celestial Navigation, a programme featuring passages from numerous works, named after a sculpture by the American visual artist Joseph Cornell who created his work from the assemblage of objects and materials.

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MUSIC 23 APRIL & 29 MAY, 6pm JAZZ NIGHT: CHERISE The Orchard 1 Great Cumberland Place, W1H 7AL xandwhy.co.uk Cherise is one of the rising stars of UK jazz – an artist whose growing reputation has led to her collaborating with Gregory Porter and touring with Michael Kiwanuka. Across two nights this spring, she brings her soulful melodies and smooth rhythms to The Orchard.

MUSIC 5 JUNE, 6pm MICHAIAS BERLOUIS & EDWARD LEUNG Wigmore Hall 36 Wigmore Street, W1U 2BP wigmore-hall.org.uk Pianist Edward Leung and bass trombonist Michaias Berlouis met on the Philharmonia Orchestra’s fellowship programme for aspiring musicians. This talented young duo’s informal, intimate performance is part of the Hall’s Wigmore Sessions strand.

MUSIC 6 – 9 JUNE ROYAL ACADEMY MUSICAL THEATRE: SPRING AWAKENING Royal Academy of Music Marylebone Road, NW1 5HT ram.ac.uk This angsty, rock-musical adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s seminal play about the trials and tribulations of growing up follows a group of late 19th-century German students on their journey into adulthood.

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HAPPENINGS IN MARYLEBONE

Q&A: ROSIE O’CONNOR

The senior curator of the Frameless immersive art experience on working with tech people, bringing fresh perspectives to old paintings, and making galleries accessible to everyone Interview: Emily Jupp

Q: How did you come to be curating immersive exhibitions at Frameless?

A: I work for a company called Artscapes UK, and we were brought in as consultant curators. We work with art historians and create art experiences, but I’ve never worked with anything immersive before now.

Q: How is it different?

A: Here, we’re working with animators and incredible tech people. When I gave them a twodimensional painting file, they could do all these amazing things that I never thought possible. All those ideas you have when you look at a painting, they make real. You might think, that sense of movement in the art, if we could actually make it move that would be amazing. And they can do it! I’ve always imagined what it would be like if the ship in that Turner painting actually hit that rock. Now I’m seeing it happen.

It’s really cool.

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Q: How has the tech behind immersive exhibitions developed in recent years?

A: The technology has come on in leaps and bounds. I think some of the first people to do it were Culturespaces, who created Atelier des Lumières in Paris. But there are constant jumps forward in this projection technology. Here at Frameless, they partnered with Panasonic with this incredible technology, which we hoped was going to be the next leap forward.

And I think between the projection technology and the animators themselves, we’ve set a high bar.

Q: Tell us about the galleries.

A: We’ve got four immersive galleries to explore, and each one has a different theme. As a curator, I really wanted those themes to be quite open and accessible.

I think traditional museums intimidate a lot of people – these huge buildings with quietness

everywhere, paintings against stark white walls and everyone telling you to shush. Especially if you’re a child, that’s not a fun experience.

Whereas hopefully, here, they can run and roll around and literally do cartwheels as they’re experiencing the art. It’s a really informative, fun experience. The whole point is that anyone could come into this space, even if they’ve never been to an art gallery. Even if they connect with just one painting, it might be the start of their journey into art history.

Q: In the Beyond Reality gallery, which explores surrealism, there are mirrors on the floor and walls and the art is projected around you. What’s the thinking there?

A: The point of having the mirrors is that you’re reflecting something that is already quite strange.

I describe it as like Alice going through the looking glass. The image constantly reflected, making it even more surreal.

HAPPENINGS IN MARYLEBONE

EVENT

joke, which no one else gets.

Finally, the biggest gallery is called The World Around Us, which essentially celebrates artists who have captured the beauty of our world through paint. I guess the best thing for me about having quite open themes is that I can put together paintings that would never exist side by side in a traditional gallery space, which is really cool.

Q: Is this permanent or will you change the galleries?

A: At some point, there will be a complete refresh of all four galleries to bring in brand new themes with different technology and different music. But at the moment, it seems to be going down very well, so that’s for the future.

Q: What other galleries are there?

A: Colour in Motion explores the impressionists, post-impressionists and neo-impressionist. There are a lot of happy children running around in there sweeping up virtual pointillist dots. I always say you’ll find your inner child there.

You can become your own digital artist. They’re kind of moving and making things come alive.

We’ve also got The Art of Abstraction, which celebrates the pioneers of abstract art. This is the only gallery where we project inwards into a sort of maze.

Q: In The Art of Abstraction, the projection goes through a gauzy screen, accompanied by a special jazz composition. It even gets a bit menacing at the end!

A: Yes. Because the art is bleeding through, crossing over surfaces. So the abstract art is abstracting. That’s kind of the play on words: ‘the art of abstraction’, which is my personal 9 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

Q: How do you balance the spectacle with the art itself?

A: What was really important to the creative director and the whole team is that the technology and the art complement each other.

They don’t fight each other. The way we’ve projected them, the way we’ve animated them, is all about enhancing the art, not taking anything away from it. What you’re able to do with the technology is zoom in on details that you never noticed before, meaning you’re seeing it in a whole different context.

Q: What do people say to you about their experience here?

A: They often say that they’ve really connected to a particular painting and that they really want to go read about it and learn more about the artist or go and see the work if it’s in London. That for me is very fulfilling because it’s made them curious about seeing the real thing. Anyone can come here and have a great time, whether or not they think they’re into art. Hopefully they come away with a love of art in some form.

FRAMELESS 6 Marble Arch, W1H 7AP frameless.com

Marking its 20th anniversary, the Marylebone Summer Festival returns on Sunday 9th June with a blend of familiar attractions and exciting new additions. Enjoy an all-day street party complete with food and craft stalls, sports and wellness activities, a farmers’ market, live music, a festival bar, children’s entertainments, a Ferris wheel and rides, and a community dog show.

There are special offers and events to be found at many of the local retailers and restaurants throughout the day. The festival is funded and organised by The Howard de Walden Estate, with all money raised going to Young Westminster Foundation.

9 JUNE MARYLEBONE SUMMER FESTIVAL marylebonevillage.com

HAPPENINGS IN MARYLEBONE

1. Marylebone Music Festival 2. The Enormous Crocodile, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre 3. T he Good Women, The Cockpit 4. Thomas Quasthoff, Wigmore Hall 5. Warp & Weft, Marylebone Theatre

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THEATRE 3 MAY – 12 JUNE TWELFTH NIGHT Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre Regent’s Park, NW1 4NU openairtheatre.com

MUSIC

The Academy’s 10th annual Summer Piano Festival, curated by Joanna MacGregor, celebrates the creativity and boldness of Academy pianists.

The 10 events, all free to attend, include film improvisation, Godowsky at Wigmore Hall and a day devoted to György Kurtág.

Set in the beautiful surroundings of Manchester Square Gardens and inspired by Marylebone’s rich history as a home of pleasure gardens and musical performance, this annual four-day festival features an eclectic programme of classical music, opera, folk and jazz. Highlights include Sue Perkins conducting Hans Zimmer and John Williams film scores, a night of traditional Celtic music on the summer solstice, and a Saturdayevening performance by the Orion Symphony Orchestra of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, a work whose creation in 1824 was part funded by the Marylebone-based Philharmonic Society.

THEATRE 5 – 15 JUNE THE GOOD WOMEN The Cockpit Gateforth Street, NW8 8EH thecockpit.org.uk

20 – 23 JUNE MARYLEBONE MUSIC FESTIVAL Manchester Square Gardens, W1U 3PL marylebonemusicfestival.com

Once completely devoted to the Bard but recently set on expanding its horizons, the Open Air Theatre hasn’t presented an adult Shakespeare production since 2016. That run ends this spring with the welcome return of an absolute classic, directed by RSC veteran Owen Horsley.

MUSIC 12 – 14 JUNE ACADEMY SUMMER PIANO FESTIVAL Royal Academy of Music Marylebone Road, NW1 5HT ram.ac.uk

Set against the backdrop of the Swiss suffragette movement of the 1960s, The Good Women tells of the love between Bette, a TV cook, and Trudy, a housewife.

The relationship leads them to question their life choices, politics, sexualities and what it means to be ‘a good woman’ in a society that denies their rights.

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THEATRE

Following a successful run at Leeds Playhouse, this lively new musical version of Roald Dahl’s popular children’s story arrives in Regent’s Park with an impressive menagerie of puppet animals and a book of songs by lyricist Suhayla El-Bushra and composer Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab.

17 MAY – 8 JUNE THE ENORMOUS CROCODILE Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre Regent’s Park, NW1 4NU openairtheatre.com

MUSIC 21 JUNE, 10pm THOMAS QUASTHOFF, SIMON OSLENDER, WOLFGANG MEYER, SHAWN GROCOTT Wigmore Hall 36 Wigmore Street, W1U 2BP wigmore-hall.org.uk World-famous opera singer Thomas Quasthoff stepped out of the limelight in 2012 and immersed himself in jazz. He returns with a stellar ensemble to chart a journey through jazz works by George Gershwin, Nat King Cole and Duke Ellington.

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EXHIBITION 10 MAY – 22 JUNE TERENCE DONOVAN Atlas Gallery 49 Dorset Street, W1U 7NF atlasgallery.com Terrence Donovan helped define the look of 1960s London, documenting the people and places that made it swing. One of the first British photographers to find fame, he continued as a chronicler of fashion, pop culture and commerce long after the sixties were over.

DANCE 22 – 23 JUNE WARP & WEFT Marylebone Theatre Rudolf Steiner House 35 Park Road, NW1 6XT marylebonetheatre.com

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This contemporary ballet from Marika Brussel and Aaron Thao reshapes two classic narratives: By a Thread reimagines Homer’s Penelope as a military wife who takes the reins to become a leader, while Iago v. Othello moves into the world of corporate law.

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EXHIBITION

EXHIBITION MAY – JULY OTOBONG NKANGA Lisson Gallery 27 Bell Street, NW1 5BY lissongallery.com

New York-based artist Jack Pierson, who emerged from the 1980s Boston school of documentarian photographers before moving into punk-infused collage and sculptural assemblage, presents new work with a renewed focus on photography.

MAY – JULY JACK PIERSON Lisson Gallery 67 Lisson Street, NW1 5DA lissongallery.com MUSIC 25 JUNE, 7.30pm PHANTASM Wigmore Hall 36 Wigmore Street, W1U 2BP wigmore-hall.org.uk As part of a season-long series marking the 400th anniversary of the death of William Byrd, one of England’s greatest composers, leading German viol consort Phantasm explores his work and its influence on the music of John Jenkins, William Lawes and Henry Purcell.

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1. Jack Pierson, Lisson Gallery 2. Otobong Nkanga, Lisson Gallery 3. Phantasm, Wigmore Hall 4. Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King, The Wallace Collection

Otobong Nkanga’s inaugural Lisson Gallery exhibition includes drawings created at both large and small scale, as well as new sculptural objects: stacked and striated columns of ceramic vessels, and wallhung and floor-based works that combine rope, glass, oils and tactile materials.

EXHIBITION UNTIL 3 AUGUST THE LEISURE CENTRE The Brown Collection 1 Bentinck Mews, W1U 2AF glenn-brown.co.uk This exhibition combines Glenn Brown’s own works with those of artists past and present whose paintings and sculptures have become part of his personal collection. The title, he says, questions not so much what a leisure centre is but where the centre of our leisure might be found.

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EXHIBITION 10 APRIL – 20 OCTOBER RANJIT SINGH: SIKH, WARRIOR, KING The Wallace Collection Manchester Square, W1U 3BN wallacecollection.org Through over 100 exquisite artworks, including jewellery and weaponry, this major exhibition explores the life and personality of the great Sikh leader Ranjit Singh, who in the early 19th century conquered the Punjab and became its undisputed Maharaja.

TerryMacey Beautiful clothing made in England

Pop-up shop

67 York Street, Marylebone Monday 6 - Saturday 11 May. 10.30 am - 5.30 pm www.terrymacey.com

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IN PROFILE: SHELLEY SIMPSON

IN PROFILE

SHELLEY SIMPSON The founder and creative director of Mud Australia, on throwaway comments, the roots of her design ethos, and why her company is about so much more than ceramics Words: Viel Richardson Images: Petrina Tinslay, Leif Prenzlau

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IN PROFILE: SHELLEY SIMPSON

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IN PROFILE: SHELLEY SIMPSON

“Well, New York would be great!”

And so began the story of Mud Australia’s first overseas showroom.

“Where would you open it then?” an exasperated Shelley Simpson had asked James, her partner in business and in life, having suggested a location for a new store on the opposite side of the Sydney Harbour bridge to their first shop. His response, loaded with visions of hours stuck on the bridge in traffic jams with vans full of porcelain, was delivered with a look of horror. He then jokingly suggested a location with a somewhat longer commute.

For most other people, the matter would have ended with this tongue-in-cheek response, but the fact that just over a year later Mud Australia did indeed open a New York showroom tells you a great deal about the company and its founder. Shelley Simpson definitely takes the road less travelled.

The first time she picked up a piece of clay, Shelley was working in hospitality. “Making pots was such a wonderful meditation,” she says.

“When you’re throwing a piece of clay, you can’t think about anything else, you really have to be present.

It felt like something magic had entered my life.”

That magic changed everything.

When a hoped-for promotion never came, Shelley decided to ditch the world of hospitality and commit to turning her love of pottery into a viable career. “At the time there was an initiative called the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme that paid you the equivalent of unemployment benefits for one year while you set your business up,” Shelley tells me, calling in from a room above her Sydney studio. “To qualify, you had to take some business courses and create a business plan. This was great as it made me really think about what I wanted to do. At the beginning I sold at markets and approached other businesses to make things 16 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

for them. Eventually I found my rhythm. I realised that I liked to make slightly asymmetric pieces with a real depth of colour – and that’s when things really started to grow.” And grow they did: Mud Australia is now available in Europe, Asia, Canada, New Zealand and the Unites States, as well in Australia.

Those original designs had very practical beginnings. “It all started in my house, with things that I needed for myself. In those days we had a tiny dining table and when the family sat down to dinner, I didn’t want to be continually leaving the table to get more dishes as we ate,” Shelley explains. “So, I created pieces that sat together nicely on the table, looked good and could hold everything we were eating. After dinner they could go straight into a dishwasher and from there into the cupboard. It had to be functional and look lovely and not be the kind of crockery that created extra work for someone.”

All Shelley’s designs follow the same very internal process. “Ideas for a piece will swim around in my head for a long time before they start to coalesce into something that I want to take further,” she says. “I always sketch my designs – but by the time I sit down with a pencil the design will be at least halfway there. I’ll spend a few hours working through the form to create a drawing and then show it to my mould maker, an amazing ceramist called Somchai Charoen who I’ve been working with for over 20 years and who’s helped develop the Mud design language.”

Somchai, who now teaches ceramics at Australia’s National Art School as well as running his own internationally respected studio, still works on prototypes with Shelley. He will create a plaster carving of Shelley’s design, and this is used to make a mould from which the production pieces will be cast, before being individually handfinished and fired in the company’s kilns. The finished pieces are as robust as they are elegant.

“Talking to designers and ceramists from other countries in wonderful environments, seeing how people engage with our work – that changed my view of what we’re achieving here.”

IN PROFILE: SHELLEY SIMPSON

environments, seeing how people engage with our work, changed my view of what we’re achieving here.”

One of the beauties of a design ethos rooted around the family table is that Shelley’s pieces are enormously flexible. “Somebody may take what we design as a platter and use it for their dinner plate. People in the Middle East, with their traditions of communal dining, will eat from my pieces in very different ways than somebody in Korea might. In Australia’s multicultural environment, with all these wonderful food cultures, we see people using our pieces in ways we never envisioned.”

Global success has provided opportunities the young Shelley would never have dreamed of.

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“A few years ago, Mud Australia was asked to be part of a group exhibition in Milan. During that event I had some extraordinary conversations with really interesting people and there was a level of respect that I probably haven’t allowed myself to accept in Australia,” Shelley explains. “It was the first time I felt like a designer as opposed to a potter and allowed myself to accept that thought.

At home I’m problem solving, working with clay, helping with HR. I’m very much in ‘business’ mode. Stepping away from that and talking to designers and ceramists from other countries in wonderful

While Shelley is committed to creating products that are both functional and beautiful, that is only half the story. The legendary designer Dieter Rams once said: “Indifference towards people and the environment in which they live is the biggest sin of contemporary design.” It’s a view Shelley takes to heart. And it comes through strongly in her advocacy for the rights of Australia’s Indigenous population and the connections she has made with the community since those early days in her first tiny studio.

“Early on I was helped massively by a lovely Indigenous man named Greg Weatherby. He helped me find my first big studio space.

I can’t remember how we found each other but he would come into my studio, sit down and paint things on my pots. It was wonderful,” Shelley recalls with a warm smile “We just connected. I was happy for him to come in and go through that process with me – it wasn’t a moneymaking thing. Then suddenly the stars aligned.” One day some people from Lane Crawford in Hong Kong walked into her tiny studio, looking sharp in their Armani suits, and placed an order. Then a well-known Australian chef called Donna Hay placed an order for pieces to use for a book launch. “I was in this tiny workshop and had no idea how I was going to make it all!”

It was then that Greg told her about an old building he knew that might make a good studio space, and introduced her to some people in the local council to start the process of securing it. “There was no benefit for him in doing this, he was just a lovely person.”

Since then, Shelley has worked with Indigenous artists on various projects, but initially on a very adhoc basis. Wanting to do something more substantial and consistent, > Shelley contacted the Anangu

IN PROFILE: SHELLEY SIMPSON

Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands Art Centre Collective, a group of Indigenous-owned and governed art enterprises based in the APY Lands, deep in central Australia – just before the world woke up to the global catastrophe that was Covid.

“We arranged to send the artists Mud Australia blanks. They would then paint their designs onto the pieces, the same way Greg had done all those years ago,” Shelley explains. “For the first collaboration, we sent 50 blanks and some underglaze colours, which you use to colour ceramics. These underglazes don’t necessarily look like the colour they will be after firing in the kilns so there was a bit of training to be done, but because of Covid we had to get creative and find ways to do everything over Zoom.” Once the artists were finished, the pieces were driven from the APY Lands to Sydney.

“I remember, as we were unpacking them, we were in tears seeing these beautiful artworks.”

It was when the pieces were then fired in the company’s kilns that their true beauty emerged. The collection sold out in 17 minutes, with all the funds going to APY and their artists to help them create their own porcelain pieces. The next year, with four times as many works available, it swiftly sold out again. “These artists have their work collected by people all over the world, they exhibit in extraordinary places, but they’re always looking for something new and interesting to do. It’s a compliment to us that they were interested in doing this,” Shelley tells me. “We just provided the blanks and some training and this wonderful art came back.”

Of course, the prestige involved is not all one-way. With an internationally regarded ceramics business and a well-respected eponymous arts prize, Shelley brought her own measure of status to the project. Talking to Shelley, you get a strong sense of traditional 18 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

Australian understatement and a reticence about singing her own praises. With that in mind, I wondered what had led her to set up the Shelley Simpson Ceramics Prize in 2020. The answer, of course, started with family.

“Watching my daughter go through fine arts college, I realised that even though she had supportive parents who encouraged her, it was still a struggle. She worked part time, she had to scrounge around to find materials, and it started me thinking about ceramics students.

When we opened the London store, I met some of the teachers from Central Saint Martins art school and realised that everybody there was working with earthenware, no one with porcelain. I thought that was odd until I realised that it’s all about the expense. It’s so much more expensive working with porcelain. Then I thought about those students who are incredibly talented creatively but don’t have a support network. It must be so hard. As we’re in a position to help, I think we should.”

The aim of her prize is to support the next generation of Australian ceramicists. The competition is open to artists working across small-scale, fine art, handcrafted or more commercial pursuits in ceramics, with the winner receiving a AUS$10,000 prize to put towards their final-year studies or further their ceramics career. This is important to Shelley, as she believes that ceramic artists – in fact artists in general – are undervalued and need as much support as we can give them.

Shelley herself was never formally trained. In fact, she thinks that some of her greatest successes have come from pushing through with ideas she simply didn’t know shouldn’t work. As with every artist, her work has evolved over the years, so I wonder how those early pieces, sold from market stalls, would sit alongside her work today. “In

some ways they’re very different,” she says. “In those days it was all hand thrown, which we don’t do at all today. It was earthenware, not porcelain – the colours we use have become so much more important.

I used to hand-paint designs on my early pieces, all part of being playful and adventurous. So, it’s very different. But the essence of those first pieces is still there, aiming for that fusion of utility and beauty.”

What has never changed is the way she cares about people. For her, it has always been crucial that everything Mud Australia does is uplifting – that it enhances the lives of the people who work there, the clients they sell to, the wider community and the environment we all depend on. “We were talking about International Women’s Day recently and somebody asked how we make decisions about our social, environmental and ethical business policies,” she says.

“My answer was that we don’t follow policies, we live them. They are what we do, it’s who we are.

For all of the success the company has had, the fact that we have done it without sacrificing values of respect and humility is something I am incredibly proud of.”

That, then, is the secret to Mud Australia. That, plus the vision, skill and work ethic that turned a throwaway remark about New York into a showroom in lower Manhattan in less than 24 months.

MUD AUSTRALIA 61 Marylebone Lane, W1U 2PA mudaustralia.com

IN PROFILE: SHELLEY SIMPSON

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SUMMER IN THE CITY

SUMMER IN THE CITY To mark the 20th anniversary of the Marylebone Summer Festival, the Journal looks back at two decades of fun, food and fundraising Words: Mark Riddaway Images: Lloyd Sturdy, Nyla Sammons

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For most of its 20-year life, it was known as the Marylebone Summer Fayre. It was a name that hinted of an old-style village fete, something a little sleepy and twee, a slow day of cake competitions and giant vegetables and a vicar drawing the tombola. When I first attended in 2005, the second year the event took place, that’s exactly what I expected. What I hadn’t anticipated seeing was what awaited me: an Alton Towers in the car park, a Pyramid Stage in the gardens, dancers and performers on every corner, stalls by the dozen, and tens of thousands of people packing the streets.

In 2018, this much-loved annual event was renamed the Marylebone Summer Festival, a name that comes a little closer to capturing its breadth and ambition. So, how did such a vast jamboree come to exist? And why has The Howard de Walden Estate, a company that isn’t really in the business of putting on events, spent two decades investing 22 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

large quantities of money and time into organising it? To understand, we need to go back to the early days of Marylebone’s renaissance at the start of the millennium.

In 2004, this corner of London was really starting to blossom, thanks in part to its landlord’s embrace of high-quality independent retailers.

La Fromagerie and The Ginger Pig had recently opened on Moxon Street and a farmers’ market had started trading in the Cramer Street car park every Sunday morning. The car park (now home to the Marylebone Square development) had been a blight on the landscape since the 1960s when council bulldozers cleared the land for a school that was never built, but the arrival of those fantastic specialist shops and market traders had led to this unlovely patch of tarmac and the small, pretty street that led into it becoming a haven for food lovers. The team at Howard de Walden, the historic

landlord for the eastern half of Marylebone, began pondering whether by hosting an event on a sunny summer Sunday they might draw attention to their budding food quarter’s nascent charms.

The company had in the previous few years started to dip its toe into the waters of public entertainment by hosting a lowkey Christmas lights switch-on ceremony, based around a scissor lift on the high street – a precedent that made the idea of putting on a summer festival seem marginally less preposterous. So, they gave it a go. They would erect a marquee in Paddington Street Gardens for the music, a small fairground and a farmers’ market in the car park, and some tables, chairs and stalls on a pedestrianised Moxon Street.

Responsibility for making this happen landed on the shoulders of Steve Bateman, the estate’s then head of retail, and Jenny Hancock, who had come to the business the previous year to fulfil an eccentric

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and ever-evolving brief that included both architecture and marketing.

Jenny, who would continue running the event for the next 15 years, lived locally, knew the community inside out, adored music and loved festivals – but had zero experience of organising them.

In an era less risk averse than today’s, this didn’t seem to matter.

“There was no real event plan, certainly nothing like there is now,” she recalls. “We had a meeting with a lady at Westminster council, and with Charlie Barber, who was the local policeman. I remember drawing a freehand sketch of the car park to show where the fairground was going, but that was about it. Maybe I was meant to have done more, but if I was, nobody told me!”

Lots of people in the business were persuaded to muck in. “We made all the banners and flyers.

We did the stewarding. A chap 23 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

“My colleague Simon and I basically spent an entire day blowing up hundreds of helium balloons by hand, just the two of us.”

Jon Leake, designer at The Howard de Walden Estate

called Frank who worked for the estate did the power,” says Jenny. Jon Leake, who still works as a designer at Howard de Walden, remembers abandoning his CAD drawings for less familiar responsibilities: “My colleague Simon Davies and I basically spent an entire day blowing up hundreds of helium balloons by hand, just the two of us. It took us a while to get it right – not blowing them completely to smithereens.”

Even the road closures were handled in-house, with Jenny and Steve Batemen arriving at 4am to heave the barriers into place: “We were thinking, what are we doing?

How has this happened?”

Entertainment was provided by a motley crew summoned from Jenny’s contact book. “I knew a guy called Terry who had a fairground, so I gave him a call,” she says. “I also knew Tony quite well and had spent time at his club, so we got him to do the music.” The Tony in

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question was Tony Moore, who’d played keyboards for Iron Maiden and Cutting Crew before founding the legendary Kashmir Klub, a tiny, free-entry music venue located in a Marylebone basement. From there, and later from the Bedford Bandstand in south London, Tony championed many of the young singer-songwriters who came to bestride the British music scene. It was Tony’s proteges – Paolo Nutini being one notable example – whose strumming soundtracked the fayre 24 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

“We were absolutely adamant that if we were going to take over this street, it doesn’t belong to us, it belongs to everyone here. If it’s local, great – make some room.”

Jenny Hancock, former creative director at The Howard de Walden Estate

in those early days. Despite having no solid evidence to back up her claim, Jenny is convinced that the biggest of all the millennial minstrels, Ed Sheeran, played here in that first year (or maybe the second). If true, one of the best-selling musicians of the past 20 years seems to owe it all to the Marylebone Summer Festival.

“Our biggest worry was that nobody was going to come,” says Jenny. But come they did, and a

lovely old time was had by all. So, the decision was made to do it all again – and again and again. By the second year, the event had already expanded significantly, taking up a long stretch of the high street, accommodating many more stalls and entertainments and necessitating a far more disruptive set of road closures.

That breathless evolution never stopped. Every year, the scale and ambition ratcheted up another notch, with the festival’s footprint

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growing street by street. In 2015, an alfresco film night was added on the Saturday, utilising the staging that had been erected in preparation for the Sunday. As Jenny explains: “We’ve set up all the stuff for tomorrow, we’ve got everything here, we’re ready to go.

The thinking was, we need to do something with that space at night, for security as much as anything.

What can we do?”

But however ambitious the event became it never lost its sense 25 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

of place. Its streets and stages have hosted the entire tapestry of local life: retailers, restaurants, schools, community groups, dance instructors, fitness clubs, hospitals.

“We were absolutely adamant – and I’m glad we were – that if we were going to take over this street, it doesn’t belong to us, it belongs to everyone here,” says Jenny. “If it’s local and you can find room for it, then great – make some room.”

Looking back through old photos, all local life is here. Greek

dancers from the Hellenic Centre.

Chamber musicians from the Royal Academy of Music. Belly dancers from a local Levantine restaurant.

Spin bikes from the Third Space gym. Hat making. T-shirt printing.

Head massages. In 2014, Jenny decided that London Zoo should be represented in the mix. “I was thinking, why can’t we have a couple of lions? Maybe build a little pool house of penguins.” After that idea hit a (somewhat predictable) wall, a compromise involved

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SCREEN TIME

Between 2015 and 2023, the festival was a two-day affair, with the Saturday evening given over to an alfresco film screening in Paddington Street Gardens. This year, after a change of layout, the event is back to being Sunday only.

2015 O Brother, Where Art Thou?

2016 Burn After Reading 2017 The Big Lebowski 2018 Four Weddings and a Funeral 2019 Billy Elliot 2022 Bohemian Rhapsody 2023 Encanto / Elvis

bringing in a petting zoo, featuring alpacas, rabbits, ducks and absolutely no man-eating felines.

Since the start, the festival’s intention has been to give a platform to local culture and commerce while building bonds with the entire community. The principal aim, though, has been to raise money for charity, through bucket collections, competitions and the profits of the festival bar, amounting to tens of thousands each year. The first event raised funds for a children’s cancer charity, the name of which escapes the memory of everyone I’ve spoken to. From 2005, the recipient was Teenage Cancer Trust. From 2012, it was Kids Company, and from 2016 it was COSMIC, which supports intensive care units for children.

The three most recent festivals have supported Greenhouse Sports, based just across the Marylebone Road. This year, it’s Young Westminster Foundation.

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The fundraising operation has become increasingly large and sophisticated over the years, as has the festival itself. The expression ‘Heath Robinson’ was used by several observers to describe the event’s early days – a reference to the English cartoonist who imagined wildly elaborate gadgets held together with knotted string.

Before long, though, aided by the harnessing of external expertise, the team turned their jerry-built contraption into a streamlined apparatus capable of overcoming a vast array of unavoidable complexities. “These sorts of projects are usually in rural areas or big fields – large, open areas where you can take as long as you like to build them,” explains Carl Miller, whose company Event Operations Limited has been responsible for powering the festival since 2010. “Here, we’re in the middle of Marylebone, on one of the busiest streets in London, so getting so much equipment in and

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out in a very limited time scale has always been a challenge. It takes a lot of planning, but it’s a well-oiled machine now.”

It helps that, being the local landlord, the company responsible for the event have such an acute understanding of the area. “It’s a knowledgeable group of people, insofar as this little geographical plot in London goes,” says Jenny.

“If the same team tried to do that event elsewhere, I’m not convinced it would work. You knew where the trees were being planted, you knew that a particular retailer had a particular character, you knew where the scaffoldings were going up, you knew which of those would be a problem and which would be beneficial, you knew if a building was going to be empty and offer storage or power infrastructure.”

As well as overseeing the entire venture, the Howard de Walden workforce is also the source of the dozens of volunteers needed on the day to collect money, provide 27 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

information and put out fires (mostly metaphorical, occasionally literal). Over the years, it’s become a great bonding experience. “If you talk about ‘office away days’ or team building – this is a great example of that,” says Jenny. “The volunteer meetings have always been great fun. For many people in the business, this is one of the highlights of their year.”

Jon, who for the past 20 years has volunteered at the festival whenever life has allowed, agrees: “You’re doing something that’s not related at all to your job, and that’s half the fun. I spend a lot of time at my desk, so there’s definitely an attraction in getting out and about, seeing lots of people.” Most volunteers are needed for their willingness and their legs (“The step count’s usually about 30,000,” says Jon), but some bring specialist skills. “You have to count up all the charity collections,” says Jenny, “and what better people to have than these top accountants for a big

company, doing big, complicated spreadsheets!”

Carl, whose work runs the full gamut of public events, believes that such enthusiasm is a rare and beautiful thing: “From our point of view, it’s one of the most enjoyable events of the year, because it feels like a family running it rather than a corporation. It’s always felt like everyone’s pushing in the same direction. Everyone’s personally invested in putting on the best possible show.”

It’s testament to the rigour of the organising that nothing significant has ever gone wrong – or certainly nothing that could possibly be controlled. “The weather is the biggest challenge,” says Carl. “And that’s both hot and cold.” There was a year when torrential rain turned the park into a bog. There was a year when the sun blazed so hot that workers were dropping with heatstroke. “It was a disaster,” remembers Jenny. “It was great for

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the charity, because the bar in the gardens was the only shady place, and that was where we took most of the money. But it was a disaster for people working here and it was a disaster for the traders on the street, because it was so hot that no one wanted to eat or shop.”

I try to get Jon to remember a spectacular crisis that might lend a bit of drama to my story, but he comes up short. “We’ve had the odd lost child, the odd missing handbag, a few complaints about smoke from the food stalls, but nothing particularly dramatic,” he says. “We once had somebody on a bicycle with a loudhailer preaching outside the pub saying that drinking on a Sunday is a sin and basically telling us all off for being ungodly.”

Maybe he’s right. Maybe the Marylebone Summer Festival will send us all to damnation. But on the plus side, for 20 years and counting, we’ve all had a very nice time.

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SUMMER IN THE CITY

9 JUNE 2024 This year’s Marylebone Summer Festival takes place on Sunday 9 June, with a packed day of food, drink, music, dance, stalls, children’s activities and a dog show. All profits go to Young Westminster Foundation.

MARYLEBONE SUMMER FESTIVAL marylebonevillage.com

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9 JUNE Sun

Live music, food, drink & shopping stalls, sports & wellness activities, children’s zone, ferris wheel & rides, farmers’ market and community dog show.

MaryleboneVillage

Visit MaryleboneVillage.com

THE DIFFERENCE MAKERS

THE DIFFERENCE MAKERS Introducing the people behind central London’s vital charities and community organisations: Helen Mann, CEO of Young Westminster Foundation Interview: Jean-Paul Aubin-Parvu Images: Orlando Gili

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Young Westminster Foundation, part of the nationwide network of Young People’s Foundations, was set up in response to funding cuts back in 2017. Our charity is a membership organisation that brings together not-for-profit groups that work with children and young adults in Westminster, up to the age of 25. Our members include youth clubs, sports clubs and mental health organisations and the support we provide to them ranges from targeted funding to training and qualifications for youth workers. We also link them to other stakeholders in the borough, such as the council, local businesses, the NHS and the police.

Working in collaboration with our members and partners, we’re committed to ensuring that the borough provides its young residents with the opportunities they deserve. Collectively, our vision is for all young people in Westminster to grow up healthy, safe and happy.

Our strategy is shaped by a needs analysis conducted by Young Westminster Foundation on a three-year cycle. This peer-led research informs us about what young people in Westminster think about the borough they live in, what they like, what they don’t like, what they think the big issues are. Our third piece of research, published last November, is called Our City, Our Future. Some of the issues are the same every time, including employability, mental health, safety and the struggle to access affordable housing. In this research, the two most striking things that we hadn’t heard much about before related to young people’s concerns around social media and vaping.

Off the back of our analysis, we publish a set of recommendations that the whole Westminster community can then be involved in delivering. The youth voice element is really important, and it doesn’t end with the research. We have a team of young people who hold us to account by asking what we’ve actually done about each issue – they really do keep us on our toes. Two of the young people who were involved with our needs analysis in the past are now on our board of trustees. Another is former Lord Mayor of Westminster, Hamza Taouzzale, who was on the panel when I had my interview in 2017.

In order to address the specific issues raised by young people, we organise a wide range of specialist > programmes. About four years ago we commissioned

THE DIFFERENCE MAKERS

“Never ask a young person what they think unless you’re ready to hear the answer! They always have a view, and they usually express that view with real passion.”

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THE DIFFERENCE MAKERS

one of our partners, 2-3 Degrees, to set up the Mastering My Future employability programme.

This programme, which is now completely funded by businesses, runs during school holidays and gives young people in Westminster the chance to find out about the opportunities that exist within a particular sector. That could, for example, be banking and finance, or it could be marketing and communications. The theme for the February half term this year was property – the young people who attended had four days of events, workshops and visits to property companies in Westminster to find out how they might kickstart a career in the industry. What do they need to do at school? Do they need to go to university? Are there apprenticeships available? There is often the potential to do some work experience or be part of a mentoring programme.

The appeal to businesses is that they’re getting access to highly motivated young people who they might not normally reach and who live right on their doorstep. And for young people, they’re learning that careers they might not have considered, careers they thought weren’t for people like them, really are a possibility. They get to enter some of those scarylooking buildings and realise that there’s nothing to fear. It really opens up their horizons.

Serious youth violence is another major issue highlighted in the most recent report. Working with Westminster City Council and London’s Violence Reduction Unit, we set up the Helping Hands programme, which is bringing the community together to tackle youth violence in northwest and northeast Westminster. Again, it is led by the voices of young people and the communities they live in.

Through our network, the programme develops interventions proposed by community members affected by serious youth violence. We allocate the funding, and then members of the network decide how it should be spent in their local area to best address the serious issues of violence.

Our work is extremely varied, but everything we do is about bringing people together to work towards a common cause. We put people in touch with each other and make the appropriate introductions. For example, if the NHS is looking to put money into mental health services, we will find a local partner who can deliver that in the best way possible. Young people don’t like being pulled out of school to go and see a counsellor in a mental health setting, but what they do like is for their local youth club to have a mental health youth worker who they can go and talk to. It’s about identifying the best way to spend the money so that it 33 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

has the strongest possible impact, and then finding the best partner to deliver that service.

Our programmes are only as good as the funding we can generate for our member organisations. That’s why we set up an annual Brighter Futures grants round. We went out to the Westminster business community, and now have a growing number of growth partners, including The Howard de Walden Estate. Howard de Walden has been a partner right from the beginning, and their work with us now goes far beyond donating money. They support us in all sorts of ways, participating in our employability programme, welcoming young people into their offices, or even sending a surveyor to help one of our members with a building issue. We’re really happy to have been chosen to be their charity partner for the Marylebone Summer Festival in June.

I have been with Young Westminster Foundation since 2017 and took over as CEO in September 2022.

We’re a team of nine, and my role is to ensure that every function within that team is supporting our members and, by extension, the young people of the borough – and, most importantly, doing so in a way that those young people have told us is meaningful.

I believe that our charity’s work has made young people feel more optimistic about the future. It has given them opportunities to participate in our programmes and feel that they can really make a difference, both to their own lives and the wider community. We’re always hearing about how young people are apathetic and don’t want to get involved, but that’s not our experience at all. When presented with opportunities, Westminster’s young people are picking them up and taking them forward with real energy. And they do have a strong and well-informed view on things. What we’ve learned along the way is that you should never ask a young person what they think unless you’re ready to hear the answer! They always have a view, and they usually express that view with real passion. Our job is to harness all that youthful enthusiasm.

Knowing the potential they have, I love that we’re able to offer these young people the opportunities they deserve. We work for them. Rather than me deciding what we should do, handing out instructions from on high, it really does feel that it’s they themselves who are leading us to improve the outcomes for their communities.

YOUNG WESTMINSTER FOUNDATION 3 Rupert Court, W1D 6DX youngwestminster.com

A CLOSER LOOK FOOD

A CLOSER LOOK FOOD » 34 STYLE » 42 HOME » 54 WELLBEING » 56 HEALTHCARE » 58

STYLE »42

Q&A

Suzzanah Crabb of Suzannah London on how to break a dress code without ruffling feathers, and why big hats are staging a comeback STYLE »44

STYLE PHILOSOPHY

Sacha Rose, CEO of Derek Rose, on the joy of free time, the importance of job creation, and the wisdom of a German octogenarian HOME »54

ANATOMY OF A DESIGN

Tricia Guild, founder of Designers Guild, on a vibrant floral fabric design

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A CLOSER LOOK FOOD

Q&A: HARRY WEBB

The head chef at Boxcar Bar & Grill on learning from Jun Tanaka, working with producers and swapping the building site for the kitchen Interview: Clare Finney

Q: What led you here to Boxcar Bar & Grill?

A: I joined in May last year. The story goes that I was at The Ninth, Jun Tanaka’s Michelin-starred restaurant in Fitzrovia. I was working my notice in order to help them out – and then a fire broke out. The restaurant closed for eight months, and I was stuck for a job. I knew a friend who worked with Open House, the group behind Boxcar, and I joined, working around the restaurants in the group as sous chef. When the head chef position came up here, I wasn’t sure about it, to be honest.

I wasn’t looking to be a head chef – but I came in, looked around and thought, this restaurant is beautiful.

I loved the bare brick walls and the round tables. It had lots of potential.

I spoke to the owners about what they wanted to do, and we had similar ideas regarding cooking and working directly with producers. A year later, here we are – and it’s going well.

Q: What have you brought to Boxcar from your previous experience working at a Michelinstarred restaurant?

A: One word: flavour. Jun is an amazing chef, and nothing is ever on the plate just because it looks nice. Everything is there for a reason. We did everything on the grill at The Ninth, over charcoal, which stood me in good stead for 35 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

being here, where we cook the same way. We use the best food we can get, and we treat it with love. We don’t mess around, because if you have started with good ingredients you don’t have to do too much to have a good dish.

Q: Jun Tanaka is known for his kind, calm leadership in the kitchen. How has that influenced the way you operate?

A: The Ninth is completely different to most Michelin-starred places. Jun was always the first in and the last out. If you did something wrong, there was no shouting. It sounds like a cliche, but The Ninth felt like a family. I remember my first work there was on the veg section, and he was there podding peas for me. If it needed to be done, he did it. It was a small restaurant with a small team, and he led from the front. Now I’m the first one in in the morning and the first person to pod the peas if that needs doing. Like The Ninth, we have a very small operation in terms of kitchen size, and everyone has a part to play. I lead from the front; I don’t stand around telling people what to do.

Q: There are plenty of meat-led restaurants in London. What would you say is Boxcar’s USP? A: I love the location; it’s a neighbourhood gem, in my

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LA BRASSERIA MILANESE Alberto Fraquelli, co-founder and managing director of La Brasseria Milanese, on working with family, playing the hits and borrowing from Paris and New York Interview: Ellie Costigan Images: Alex Treadway

opinion. You walk past it, and it’s small, intimate and cosy, and you simply want to go in. There are lots of restaurants that are similar, it’s true, but we have a real focus here. We don’t do much, the menu isn’t ginormous, there aren’t white tablecloths and six types of cutlery.

It’s good ingredients, cooked simply – and there’s more to that than meets the eye.

Q: How do you think Marylebone differs to other areas of London?

A: I don’t see much of the customers, sadly, but coming to work in the morning or leaving at night, there is a real neighbourhood feel to the street. Whether it’s the restaurants or the hat shop, owners and staff will say “Morning”, “How are you?” and so on. After service, chefs from other restaurants will ask how your shift was. It’s lovely.

Q: How closely do you work with your producers?

A: I know them well. Our meat supplier comes from just outside London and supplies lovely, aged, carbon-neutral, grass-fed beef.

We don’t just order it and it turns up; we’ve had them come in and break the animal down for all the chefs who work with us, so we get a real understanding of what 56-day aged, grass-fed means. I’ve been to St Ives to visit our supplier of fish 36 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

I was lucky enough to grow up with unfettered access to good food. My mother, who is Turkish, is a great cook and would always make everything from scratch. We are also third-generation restauranteurs, so we would either have dinner in my father’s restaurant or at home as a family – often with loads of people. My parents would host lunch parties after church.

There was always a warm atmosphere in our house.

My brother Andrea cofounded the restaurant with me. Both of us had more exposure to the front of house side of things than the kitchen.

But that love of cooking is still there – I often cook at home.

My father used to own Getti on Marylebone High Street, as well as four other restaurants in the West End. When my brother and I decided to branch out on our own, we wanted to move away from that traditional Italian trattoria style and open something with an all-day offer.

I resisted joining the family business at first. I worked as a lawyer for five years before dipping my toe in. It was all very traditional – the father and the eldest son working together – so as the younger brother, I felt like my influence might be smaller. But the experience I’d got outside of the family business means I’ve been able to bring a

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and brunch menus. She’s had a huge influence on the restaurant and is very much a part of the family business.

My brother and I have been lucky enough to spend time in lots of different cities, but we’re particularly fond of Paris and New York. We’ve taken inspiration from French brasseries. From New York, we’ve taken that city-thatnever-sleeps approach to the all-day menu. In New York, it doesn’t matter if it’s 9am or 3am there, you’ll get the same quality food and service.

different skillset to the table – raising capital and helping us to compete in what is a very tough market. When I joined, there was a clear role for me.

We’re really happy to be in Marylebone. What we’ve always loved about it is that it’s always been defined as a village. You’re so central, but can also walk down the high street and bump into someone you know. There is a real sense of community here and we think the restaurant has been a great success because of that. It’s absolutely no coincidence that we set up La Brasseria in Marylebone.

Being a family business definitely comes with

challenges, but there are certain things you can tolerate when working with family members that you wouldn’t necessarily put up with if you were just colleagues. We understand each other’s frustrations and those idiosyncratic things about each other, which our team has also learned through osmosis. You know when to give someone a hug and when to leave them be.

That family element affects how we support each other, but also how we welcome our customers.

My favourite dish on our menu is the cotolette alla Milanese, a traditional breaded escalope dish from northern

Italy. We do quite a light version in Marylebone using chicken, which is very popular.

The reason for the great successes of grand brasseries in Paris or places like the Wolseley in London is that they blend comfort food with a charming but slightly chaotic atmosphere. We’ve taken inspiration from that and have tried to emulate it in our restaurants.

We offer brunch, which isn’t traditionally Italian, but we add an Italian twist to the dishes. For example, we do American pancakes, but with Italian ricotta. My wife, our head of communications, developed the breakfast

and game. I’ve been to the Newlyn fish market, I’ve been out stalking deer. You don’t get that with any old supplier; these are people who want to do the right thing – and we want to work with them.

for chefs, because you appreciate the skill and work that has gone into that fish or meat, and it’s more enjoyable too. These skills are dying out, so it’s important to keep them alive.

Q: How much butchery do you do on site?

A: As I said, we’ve only got a small kitchen, so we’re limited in what we can do, but we do as much as we can on site. It would be easier sometimes to order cuts in cellophane, but we would rather break down a forerib of beef here or get a whole turbot or brill in and portion it ourselves. It’s good

Q: Why do you think fire cooking is having such a moment?

A: For me, it is primal. It’s the most natural, pure way of cooking. We’ve been doing this for thousands of years, long before the frying pan.

It’s deep within us all, I think – but it’s also quite a skill. Fire is alive.

You don’t turn the cooker on at 110C and that’s that. You have to understand it – when the coals are

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Our menu is made up of the greatest hits of classic Italian dishes – plates you want to eat no matter your mood, be it pizza, pasta, salad or grills. There is a really strong vegetable element to the Italian diet too, so we’ve recently added more things for vegetarians and vegans, as well as dishes for people who are gluten-free, while still offering something authentic.

The word ‘brasseria’ doesn’t actually exist in Italian – it’s a twist on the French brasserie.

It’s unique to us and we feel it really encompasses what we’re all about.

La Brasseria Milanese 42 Marylebone High Street, W1U 5HD labrasseria.com

ready to cook on, how much heat it loses when you fill it up, how long to wait until it gets hot again. It adds another layer to cooking.

Q: Sustainability is another big buzzword at present. How does Boxcar incorporate those principles into its menu and operations?

A: We are as seasonal and local as possible. We don’t have mozzarella or burrata; we stick to English produce. Our meat comes from a collective of farmers who’ve got together to produce amazing quality beef which is all carbon neutral – very important in these

>

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times of global warming. We’re zero waste. It’s easy to end up throwing lots away, but you can use offcuts in all sorts of ways. We pickle the stalks of the broccoli, use the cauliflower leaves in a salad, and so on. When you do that across the whole menu, it makes a difference.

Q: There are many quite traditional – or traditionally inspired – dishes on the menu.

Howmuch of your cooking is informed by your childhood?

A: My mum is a feeder, and my dad loves food, and both are larger than life. I think they played a big part, though in quite different ways. Mum is a great cook – she worked hard, but she’d always cook something from scratch when she came home at night – but she moved to Greece a year or so before my dad did, when I was at college. Dad was… not such a great cook, but he tried his best.

Mum would usually cook something Greek because she loved Greek food; with dad we’d have things like sweet and sour sausages with Uncle Ben’s sauce. He’s a builder, and for most of my childhood I wanted to be a builder with him. I’d go with him at weekends to building sites and help carry bricks or clean up. Every morning we’d go via the burger van for bacon rolls, and I loved that. I still love that food, as much I love sitting in the dining room of The Ninth.

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So we do have some traditional foods here, but they’re elevated; our sausage rolls are wild boar with blackberry ketchup, for example.

The burger is made with smoked cheddar and paprika aioli. I think my upbringing gave me a good grounding. I saw both sides, basically.

Q: How did you end up pivoting from building to cooking?

A: I had no intention of going to college; I was going to be a builder with my dad. The plan was for me to move to Greece with them and build there. But I happened to pick up a prospectus and flick through it – and I saw a catering course at the

Colchester Institute and thought it looked good, so I went to the Open Day. Mum came with me and said: “Try it.” She was moving to Greece, but Dad said he’d stay with me.

I fell in love with the course from day one. I thought, this is what life’s about; the sense of camaraderie, of all of us being in it together, cooking.

We went to college in the mornings and worked in the evenings for seven days a week, for three years. It was exhausting, but I loved it. Fourteen years later, it’s all I know.

BOXCAR BAR & GRILL 23 New Quebec Street, W1H 7SD boxcar.co.uk

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ANATOMY OF A DISH

A GLASS APART

Drink maker Sam Reynolds on a traditionally made small-batch damson gin that can only be found at Chiltern Street Deli Interview: Viel Richardson

Making damson gin is an age-old tradition dating back as far as sloe gin production, but it isn’t as widespread, as damsons tend to grow in more localised areas. At Witherslack Orchards, we’re blessed with being in the Winster Valley in the Lake District, right in the heart of a region known for a particularly good kind of damson called the Westmorland. We’re also next to the Lyth Valley and the two valleys straddle a large outcropping called Whitbarrow, which helps create a microclimate that’s beneficial to damson trees.

Our damson gin is technically a liqueur because we add some sugar during the steeping process. The gin balances the sweetness from the sugar with a tart, plummy flavour that gives it this lovely crisp edge. But then you also get the sweet flavours from the damson itself coming through, so the drink has a very slight fruit punch feel.

The final drink has a good kick of botanical gin flavour, but you can also really taste the fruit.

At the moment we buy in the gin we use from a distillery in Cheshire that’s not too far away. The traditional process for making damson gin involves steeping. You mix the gin, damsons and required sugar onto a vessel, shake it up to ensure the sugar fully dissolves and then let time do its thing. After a while you start tasting and when it’s ready you 40 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

pipe off the gin and strain it.

We generally leave ours for a minimum of six months.

With this gin, I was given full reign over its development – I could essentially set out to make something that I liked.

I spent around six months on developing the recipe, as I found that even though it is only three ingredients, small changes in the proportions would have a huge impact on the final flavours. Really dialling in all the different aspects took a lot of trial and error.

We only started selling it last year and have had very good feedback both from individual customers and the shops we sell through. In fact, we’re planning to increase production to keep up with demand, so at the moment the Chiltern Street Deli – a place we really love – is the only shop in London where customers can buy it.

CHILTERN STREET DELI 27 Chiltern Street, W1U 7PJ chilternstreetdeli.co.uk

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DEEP-FRIED WELSH RAREBIT

Fintan Sharp, head chef at St. JOHN Marylebone, on a classic with a cheeky twist Interview: Clare Finney Image: Sam Harris

In a nutshell A traditional rarebit, such as the one we serve at St. JOHN in Smithfield, is a roux made with cayenne powder, Worcestershire sauce, mustard powder, ale (we use Guinness) and mature cheddar, put on toast and melted. This is a fun twist – it’s still technically a rarebit, but it’s deep fried. Being in Marylebone, and being more of a wine bar, we’re slightly detached from some of the rigour of the original St. JOHN and we have more creative freedom. The food is still St. JOHN, but it’s a bit cheekier. Fergus Henderson, the group’s co-founder, refers to our dishes as “racy”.

The inspiration Inspiration came in part from a malakoff we served in the Alpine-style restaurant in Sydney I worked in before moving to the UK. It’s a mix of gruyere, wine and garlic on bread, deep fried. Here, I swapped the wine for Guinness, the gruyere for cheddar, the milk for Worcestershire sauce, and so on.

The purpose I felt the need for a staple cheese dish. When you go to a good wine bar in France, Spain or Italy, they always have something like croquettes or gougères – something cheesy and warming, perfect with a glass of wine. It felt like a slot that had to be filled.

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The technique We make a dry mix of cheese, flour, cayenne and mustard powder. The eggs, Worcestershire sauce and Guinness bind it together into a dough. We then mound this over the bread, which we dry out a little first. The bread is our sandwich loaf from our bakery in Bermondsey and the cheese is Montgomery cheddar, which is mature enough to stand up to the big flavours in the dish.

When it goes in the deep fat frier, it’s such a dense mix that it rolls over and the toast acts as a sort of life jacket; it bobs to the top. We fry at 170C, which is lower than the classic 190C – we found it didn’t melt so well at a higher temperature. It’s around 3-4 minutes, but we don’t use timers. That’s quite a St. JOHN thing – you learn to work off instinct. Your body can sense when it’s ready.

The secret People always ask if the rarebit is crumbed before frying, but it’s not. The flour and egg help create a shell. It breaks open, and it’s runny inside. When we plate it, we put a bit of Dijon underneath to add an extra kick and hold it down when we’re walking around so we don’t have rarebits flying everywhere.

We advise eating it with lashings of Lea & Perrins.

ST. JOHN MARYLEBONE 98 Marylebone Lane, W1U 2JE stjohnrestaurant.com

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Q&A: SUZANNAH CRABB

The founder of luxury womenswear label Suzannah London on how to break a dress code without ruffling feathers, and why big hats are staging a comeback Words: Lauren Bravo Images: Josh Shinner, Rachel Louise Brown

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“There’s not a lot of whim-buying that goes on anymore; it’s about considered choices.

Comfort really came into play in the pandemic too, from wearing all that athleisure. People don’t want to feel restricted!”

Q: You’ve recently launched your first vacation collection. But we’re not talking cut-offs and flip-flops, are we?

A: It was inspired by a family holiday to Barbados last year. I bumped into two of my clients there, and while we were chatting about which of their Suzannah pieces they bring on holiday, they said, “Why don’t you do cotton? We want to wear your pretty, polished style, but in cotton.”

Our bestselling vacation pieces so far have been luxury kaftan dresses, which are really gorgeous and not at all sheer, so you can throw them on over your bikini or wear them into town. I took my holiday photos from Barbados and asked an illustrator friend, Susannah Garrod, to paint elements from them, which we then placed around a dress. There’s another with palm fronds, and another dress called the Carmel which is covered in lemons and jasmine flowers, inspired by a road trip I took around California.

I enjoyed developing the collection so much. It was such a joyful, optimistic process.

Q: We’ve just lived through an era of extreme casualisation.

Are people ready to get dressed up to the nines again?

A: Yes! But clothes also have to have a lightness and a wearability to them these days. Our customers 43 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

don’t want to discard that dress or suit after one wear – they want to be able to style it for daytime, for several other events, to keep it for next year and the year after. There’s not a lot of whim-buying that goes on anymore; it’s about considered choices. Comfort really came into play in the pandemic too, from wearing all that athleisure. People don’t want to feel restricted! We offer a fit service to get things just right.

Q: From royal enclosures to red carpets, you’ve dressed clients for some of the most prestigious events in the global calendar. You must be an expert in cracking mysterious dress codes…

A: We’re very lucky in that we tend to dress people for special moments in their lives. Milestone birthdays, destination weddings, royal occasions – it’s a privilege to be involved in that world, and we have a lot of experience in helping clients get it right. “White tie, black tie, what do they mean?” “What do I wear to the Kentucky Derby?”

We hear a lot of these questions and have generally covered them all before. But we always refresh ourselves and do our research, because times change, styles change, and we want our customers to feel confident that they are wearing absolutely the right thing.

They trust us to know, and we put a

lot of energy into making sure we do.

Q: But doesn’t great style mean breaking all the rules?

A: I think the rules are more flexible now than they used to be, but of course it just depends where you’re going. Generally, there are stylish adaptations you can make to the framework, and I think it’s really appreciated when people make an effort but bring out their own personal style – it all adds to the mix, doesn’t it? It makes things more exciting. If a dress just isn’t your style, it’s better to go to Ascot in a three-piece trouser suit and a great hat.

Q: Speaking of hats – is the fascinator dead, or is it merely hibernating?

A: There’s definitely been a migration towards bigger hats with wide brims again. We’ve developed what we call “straw couture”, which is a sustainable straw hat collection, and our bestselling hat has been a really large, Audrey Hepburn-style hat with a massive pink bow.

A hat you dream about! But big hats don’t suit everyone. If you’re petite in height they can be more of a challenge to wear, so in that case I would say a structured headband is the way forward, rather than a load of frouff. >

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Q: Tell us about your own style evolution. Did fashion always excite you?

A: Always. My mum was immaculate, and fashion was a big part of my upbringing. But I was limited growing up in east Yorkshire – there weren’t a lot of fashion shops around. We used to go to an amazing vintage shop in Leeds, and then I would adapt the pieces with my sewing machine – badly!

Q: How did you get from there to founding a label loved by royalty?

A: My parents ran their own business, so entrepreneurialism is deep in my DNA. But I went into fashion because I read a brilliant article about a fashion buyer and her life, which struck a chord with me. So, I studied fashion and textile design, I spent a summer in the fashion cupboard at Vogue, then worked in the industry for 23 years as a designer, stylist and trend forecaster, travelling around the world visiting factories and mills.

But while fashion was becoming more and more commercial, my real love was always the textiles. One day I had an urge to translate my vintage collection into beautiful Italian cloth. I wanted to make 10 amazing dresses, in the ultimate shapes.

One of my friends said: “Just do it – what’s the worst that could happen?

You’d have an amazing wardrobe.”

So that’s how I started. My very first stockist was KJ’s Laundry in Marylebone, so I’ve come full circle!

Q: Not everyone can afford couture – but should we all know the power of good tailoring?

A: Having things altered can also be transformative, and that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. There are more and more great alterations businesses popping up around London – you can buy a high street piece and then have it altered to fit you perfectly. You could just take in that sleeve, refine your bodice a little bit, make something the right length, loosen a waistband. Rather 44 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

Atelier collection Left: Ellington gown Middle: Brooklyn suit Right: Harriman top and Carnegie skirt

STYLE PHILOSOPHY

DEREK ROSE Sacha Rose, CEO of

Derek Rose, on the joy of free time, the importance of job creation, and the wisdom of a German octogenarian Interview: Mark Riddaway Our basic premise is that free time is the most valuable time in people’s lives. Free time is made up of moments. Time alone, time with friends, time with family. Summer holiday, winter holiday, whatever you’re doing, wherever you’re going, we’ve got a product designed specifically for that moment.

My family started making sleepwear in the 1920s under various guises. My father, Derek, joined my grandfather in the 1950s. My father did a wonderful job of growing the business. I think he did it because he loved making pyjamas. I love it from the point of view of the person who puts them on and enjoys the moment of wearing them.

When I first took over the company, I said to the guys: “Our challenge is to answer this question: why would someone buy a white t-shirt

from me?” We worked with a mill to develop a fabric that when you touch it, people literally go: “Oh my God, what is that?” It’s our best-selling product to this day. It’s a fabric that when you touch it, literally, people go, ‘Oh my God, what is that?’ The beautiful thing is that a billion-dollar well-known fashion brand tried to copy it, but theirs was the cheap version, and it just makes you hot.

We are very much a functiondriven brand. Our philosophy on design is function first, form second. My feeling is that if you are a form-driven brand, the function is always a compromise. I think great design has to be function led.

I hate logos and I hate what I call ‘me too’ brands. Just because you can make swimwear, doesn’t mean you necessarily should make

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than cast it aside, why not perfect something you already have?

Q: Suzannah London is proudly slow fashion. How do you minimise the impact of your collections?

A: We start with the cloth. We research the composition, and the traceability. It can be difficult to tick all the boxes, but we’re conscious of choosing really good fabric mills that have the same ethics and priorities as us. One of the mills we work with a lot has signed up for the Greenpeace detox challenge, phasing out all toxic chemicals by

2030. However, you’ve got to be realistic – the clothes have also got to work. So even if a fabric has ticked all the sustainability credentials under the sun, the garment also has to last, it has to perform well, or people are going to discard it anyway. It’s no use having an item that creases as soon as you move, or falls to bits in the wash, or the dye becomes patchy. It’s a balance.

Q: You’re influenced by many style icons of the past, but what’s your spiritual decade?

A: If I had to pick one era, I would say the late 1930s to early 1940s.

member of the press. She said something that brought home to me the notion of value: “When I was a child my grandmother said to me: ‘We’re too poor to buy cheap.’” As a summation, that’s just fantastic. We work with materials and build to a quality that should last years and ideally decades, not days, weeks and months.

swimwear. We’ll look at a freetime moment, we’ll research the products that one could enjoy in those moments, but we’ll only launch them if we think we can make them better than what’s out there already.

For us, our whole brand is less a logo and more of a kitemark.

I love that we’ve been going so long, I love that we’ve got nearly a 100-year history, but I’m petrified. When I was a kid I worked in a place called Ed’s Diner, this Americanstyle burger bar. I remember a sign on the wall that said: “We’re only as good as the last 45 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

burger we served.” And that’s how I feel about heritage. I’m petrified by the thought of what will happen if we ever think we’re great. Every product we make, we’re constantly asking, can it be improved? Are we happy with it?

I run this business to create and protect jobs. There are people who put food on the table because of our collective efforts, and that is at the core of our decision making. How many people have we got employed? Have we added jobs? What I’ve found is that by focusing on that, you obviously

do take an interest in things like cash and profitability and sales growth – but that stuff is the by-product, it’s not the core objective.

You should treat other people the way you want them to treat you, and that applies to our whole supply chain.

I’m looking for long-term partnerships, not suppliers.

When you’re not 100 per cent focused on eking out every last micro percentage point of profitability, it’s not that hard.

I was at a press day in Munich and I met this lovely older

There are lots of tiny little things every brand can do to be more sustainable. It’s just a small example, but we got rid of wooden and metal hangers from our business and moved to recycled cardboard.

There were lots of people who gave us valid reasons why, as a luxury brand, we shouldn’t do that. But I don’t believe consumers are so unbelievably fickle that they’re going to penalise us for that, so we rolled it out. And it’s absolutely fine.

You see our clothes in lots of films and TV. Ultimately, it doesn’t move the needle, it doesn’t impact our business, but it’s fun. I liked Sherlock the best. Whenever Benedict Cumberbatch is pacing around in a dressing gown, that’s all our stuff. That was fun.

DEREK ROSE 39 Marylebone High Street, W1U 4QQ derek-rose.com

>

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Feminine, elegant, demure but silently sexy. I’m not a slave to the vintage thing, but I refer to vintage pieces a lot and have a big archive of my own. It’s what I love, so I guess it comes out when I’m designing – in the detail, the neckline, or just the feel of a garment. There’s so much there, so much beauty. It’s like art.

Q: Quite literally, in the case of your collaborations with artists like Rob Ryan and Marieluise Bantel. How did they come about?

A: It started with an artist called Kate Scott. I found her beautiful, photo-realistic florals in Italian Vogue. I approached her and said:

“I would love to translate this onto cloth.” Luckily our brilliant Italian mill was able to print it without affecting the depth of the image, and people just loved the results.

After that the collaborations kept on developing. I would see a piece of art and think, oh wow, that would look great in cloth. It really does elevate the clothes, and it also celebrates new artists; it gives them a platform for people to see their work where they otherwise might not have discovered them.

Q: Are there any Marylebone hotspots you like to champion?

A: I love Marylebone. It has a

buzz about it, but a gentle buzz.

A community feel. For coffee and brunch, I send clients to Daisy Green at the end of New Quebec Street. Amazing coffee, lovely staff, the food is beautifully curated and just really delicious. Then for fish it has to be La Petite Poissonnerie, which is a restaurant we’re often in.

Just gorgeous. And I recommend reformer pilates at Nobu, which is a new thing for me – it’s an amazing experience.

Q: How do you want people to feel when they step into your space on New Quebec Street?

A: People walk in and say: “Oh, it’s beautiful in here!” which is always nice to hear. It’s fresh, welcoming, feminine, and inviting. But most importantly, I want people to feel relaxed. Our staff have a lot of expertise and they’ve been with me for years. We want people to feel they can look through the rails and try things on, without feeling pressured. We get a lot of compliments on our customer service, and it’s something we love to provide.

SUZANNAH LONDON 10 New Quebec Street, W1H 7RN suzannah.com

Vacation collection Left: Beverley dress Right: Palm Beach dress

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THE LOOK

HARDY PERENNIAL

Jane Ellis, co-owner of KJ’s Laundry, on a blouse that is always in style The Rosa is a perennial blouse from our eponymous in-house label, KJ’s Laundry: a collection I design together with my co-founder Kate Allen and the help of a small production team. It’s a signature KJ’s Laundry shape: a short sleeved, soft cotton blouse with a delicate ruffle detailing

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along the neckline and front.

Like all the pieces in our in-house label, the Rosa is non-seasonal and designed to be worn all year round.

It is always in stock in black and white, but each season we will add a pop of colour. This season it’s a beautiful dusty rose hue, and we’ve also done one in a summery soft blue.

The Rosa is cut in the softest Indian cotton, manufactured in India in a small women-led factory which we’ve worked closely with for a while. We only do small runs to avoid any wastage,

as part of our long-standing commitment to sustainability.

It’s such a great addition to your wardrobe and, as with all of our styles, it’s perfect for any occasion.

The pretty pleating on the shoulders means the blouse works well tucked into a print skirt or tailored trousers. It’s the perfect blouse for wearing in the day, teamed with denims; then, come the evening, add some heels, jewellery and a smart bag for something a little more sophisticated.

KJ’S LAUNDRY 74 Marylebone Lane, W1U 2PW kjslaundry.com

E S T A B L I S H E D 19 8 9

FOR BEAUTIFUL LIVING

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THREE OF THE BEST

SPRING KNITS Though the life-affirming extremes of high summer’s heat and midwinter’s sharp, white cold are hard to beat, there’s something to be said for those liminal seasons that are pleasantly, temperately neither here nor there. Most of spring is like that – sometimes warm, sometimes cool, sometimes dry, sometimes damp, but rarely ever hot or cold. ’Tis the season for layers; more specifically, light knits, which can be draped over shoulders, wrapped around waists or worn in a conventional manner as the weather dictates. Here are some of the finest around.

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A CLOSER LOOK STYLE

1.

1. LAMBSWOOL CREW NECK JUMPER SUNSPEL, £265 sunspel.com As Scottish as the Saltire (though infinitely softer), this soft lambswool jumper is knitted in Scotland using yarn from one of the world’s oldest spinners – Todd and Duncan, based in Fife – then washed in Scottish spring water for extra softness. Even the colour, a pale sky-blue, is evocative of Scottish skies on that rare, clear day in springtime. Pair this jumper with chinos for a look that’s chic, and with jeans and a jacket for those afternoons when you can finally enjoy a pint in a pub garden.

53 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

2.

3.

Bryceland’s & Co’s take on a classic knitted polo is ideal for those in-between days – perfectly elegant under a jacket, but warm enough to stand alone should the sun shine briefly bright. Woven from a soft, lush cotton knit, it fastens at the neck with a single cat’s-eye mother-ofpearl button and loop, and, with its relatively short length, is designed to ride louchely on the waistband of the trousers.

The reference, we’re told, is Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief, which is good enough for us.

Though the bold, bright colour of this knit leans towards an Italian summer, the fine-woven cashmere and crewneck cut is pure British springtime. Which is appropriate, given the cashmere is woven in Italy and finished here in the UK. Tailored for a regular silhouette, the cut is clean but comfortable, with neat ribbed stitching on the hem, cuffs and neckline, as chic over a shirt as it is a t-shirt, as cool under a blazer as it is under the inevitable waterproof.

2. SHORT SLEEVE ‘SKIPPER’ POLO BRYCELAND’S & CO, £185 brycelandsco.co.uk

3. ORANGE CASHMERE CREW NECK SIRPLUS, £450 sirplus.co.uk

A CLOSER LOOK HOME

ANATOMY OF A DESIGN

ISABELLA FUCHSIA

Tricia Guild, founder of Designers Guild, on a vibrant floral fabric design Interview: Viel Richardson

Requirement We create a huge variety of different textiles, ranging from the practical to the ornamental. Isabella Fuchsia is a more decorative fabric, so a beautiful design is the driving force. The aim is to create something that enhances the space it’s in and brings enjoyment to those within it.

There’s a lot that goes into deciding what you’re asking from a design. But for me, the thing is not to impose my vision on a space but give the customer something with the flexibility to meet their needs.

Inspiration It’s all about the interior, about how to create a really beautiful environment to live in. Every living space has to be thought through. What is happening in that room? What kind of atmosphere do you want to create? As a designer, you try to ascertain the answer either from your client or from within yourself. When we design a collection, we create mood boards in the studio. The main inspiration could be an amazing painting, a wonderful piece of furniture or a room that we’d like the piece to live within. With mood boards and colour swatches, we create an atmosphere that reflects the overall feel that we’re working towards. The key thing is that the piece is not designed in isolation, as a separate entity, as it will not be experienced that way. It’s been designed to fit beautifully within an environment.

Process The initial design was hand painted. This is something 54 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

we’re well known for – I really value the texture and feel of something that is hand painted rather than a flat piece of computer-produced artwork.

Once we’re happy with the initial design, we scan the painting onto the computer. As we had decided that this would be an embroidered piece, we sent the scan to an embroidery factory in India. We use this specific factory because they have a real expertise with this type of work – there’s nobody else quite like them. They will send us a CAD sample, which is their embroidered version of the design. We discuss different embroidery stitches, and types of thread – maybe we’re looking for a very delicate stitch or maybe one that represents ‘crewel’ work, which is a beautiful stitching technique that’s very well known in India. We also look at the colours they have available, and if the right colour isn’t available, we will dye the appropriate threads.

We lead the design process, but it’s a real collaboration, engaging with their deep expertise in the craft.

Materials Having chosen to embroider this design, we needed a material that would work well with it. The nature of the design is vital when choosing a fabric. With 10 colours and some complex stitching, this design wouldn’t work on a very fine translucent or patterned fabric. Things would get too messy, with the background competing with the design.

That’s why we chose a naturalcoloured linen which doesn’t black out background light

but provides a plain canvas on which the design can really shine. The fabric is multi-use: you can use blackout material to line curtains if you really want to darken a room, but the weight of the material means it can also be used for upholstery if you choose.

Philosophy Within the creative process, it has never been possible to answer the question ‘how successful is this going to be?’ without actually trying

it. What we are continually striving for is to choose the right colours with the right fabrics with the right touch that allows a design to really come alive. Achieving this can only come within, from your own sensitivity as a designer towards what you’re doing. Asking if a design is successful is like asking an artist how they know a painting is finished. They just know. But you have to give it your very best to get there. If we’re not quite sure about a design and

A CLOSER LOOK HOME

SIX WRITING ITEMS

THE EDIT KAWEKO AL SPORT BALLPOINT PEN MOUKI MOU, £55 moukimou.com

ENAMEL PENCIL POT LABOUR AND WAIT, £32.50 labourandwait.co.uk

DREHGRIFFEL PEN MONOCLE SHOP, £28 monocle.com

think we can make it better, then we keep working. It might mean getting more samples, it might mean being late for a deadline, but you have to get it right, you have to feel that feeling within.

You have to know that this is how it should be. It’s an exciting journey that I still enjoy enormously.

DESIGNERS GUILD 76 Marylebone High Street, W1U 5JU designersguild.com 55 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

FABRIANO JOURNAL COLOUR FABRIANO, £16.50 fabrianoboutique.com

CUERO TWO TONE PAPER CASE THE CONRAN SHOP, £75 theconranshop.com

PETROL DOCUMENT CASE LA PORTEGNA, £66 laportegna.com

A CLOSER LOOK WELLBEING

THE FIRST CUT

Stephen Nurse, operations director at Daniel Galvin, on an apprenticeship scheme designed to create the hairdressers and colourists of the future

NEW ARRIVAL

NEW

56 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

Q: You joined Daniel Galvin as an apprentice at the age of 18 and have been there ever since. Now your job includes responsibiliy for the apprenticeship scheme. Has the training changed much since your day?

A: In some respects it has. Obviously, technology has changed how we deliver some things, but principally, it’s pretty much the same. It’s about providing excellent training and producing highquality young professionals – the essence is the same, but how you get from A to B is probably somewhat different.

Q: What do you look for in a potential apprentice?

A: We prefer to get people straight from school, and the reason for that is that it gives us a clean canvas to work with. They haven’t picked up any bad habits. They may be somewhat raw, but we like it that

way, because it allows us to mould them into the type of hairdresser – and the type of individual – we think is right for this business. What we’re looking for is some real passion. Someone who wants to be the best they can possibly be. Hard work, determination and just a good eye.

Sometimes, during the interview process, we get them to sketch a self-portrait.

It’s very interesting, it’s always insightful – it tells you if they have that eye.

Q: How do they find it, coming into the salon at such a young age?

A: I think the biggest culture shock for them is working all day! They’ve been doing school hours, and all of a sudden they’re in a mature, sophisticated environment, working 40-plus hours a week, and there’s no playground to play in. Getting them used to that is always a challenge for us, but that’s part of the fun of the job.

A CLOSER LOOK WELLBEING

Q: How is the apprenticeship structured?

A: It’s a three-year programme. For the initial stage, they work towards an NVQ level 2 in all aspects of hairdressing.

We work in partnership with a training provider who looks after the paperwork and delivers the theory training. Once they’ve got their NVQ and achieved that basic grounding, they then specialise either as a hairdresser or a hair colourist.

Ultimately, they don’t do both, and that’s entirely their decision. It’s a little bit like the medical profession, where you specialise after your general training.

We do all the training here on a Tuesday and Wednesday evening, because there’s no better environment to learn than in a working salon. All of our teaching team were former apprentices, so they can relate quite easily to what these young people are going through.

Rebase Opening in April in Marylebone Village, Rebase is a new wellness club specialising in contrast therapy – the use of alternating immersion in saunas and ice baths to benefit cardiovascular health and reduce inflammation.

The club was co-founded by two good friends, Alex Rebeiz and Waldo Ramsay, whose enduring interest in health and sports recovery was made deeply personal after Alex endured a near-death experience and an arduous journey back to fitness.

Alongside contrast therapy, Rebase will offer a range of treatments designed to promote better sleep, higher energy levels, enhanced concentration and faster recovery from illness and injury. These include breathwork, movement and yoga classes, as well as massage, hyperbaric oxygen sessions, cryotherapy and vitamin infusions.

REBASE 1a St Vincent Street, W1U 4DB rebaserecovery.com

Q: What are the apprentices doing during the day?

A: They ordinarily work five days a week in the salon. They’re assigned to a senior member of staff. Not only does that staff member deliver hairdressing training, they also become a bit of a life mentor. The apprentices greet the clients, prepare them for the service, fill out the record cards. It’s so important being around those senior people, observing how they communicate with their clients. We encourage them to engage in those adult conversations, which starts building confidence.

Q: At what stage are they let loose with the scissors?

A: Within about six weeks they’ll be touching real heads of hair. There are members of the public who pay greatly reduced prices to have their hair done by a trainee, under supervision.

Q: How does the programme end?

A: When they get to the end of their third year, there is a two-day practical skills test, where they have to replicate everything in the training manual and present it to our examining team. If they fail a little bit, they get the opportunity to retake, and if they fail miserably, it’s a conversation with a big box of tissues. That very, very rarely happens, because normally you can identify any problems along the way. Once they’ve gone through that, in essence they are qualified, they are graduated. They throw their cap in the air, they get given a column and they start looking after paying clients.

Q: Just how many trainees do you have at the salon at any one time?

A: We’ve got around 30 apprentices at the moment. That represents a third of the workforce, which is really quite high.

And of the current workforce, 72 per cent originally trained as apprentices, and most have been here for more than 10 years.

For those who leave, it’s a bit like coming up through Manchester City. Once you’ve played at a Premier League level, you can go and play anywhere, and it’s the same in hairdressing. If you’ve trained and worked in a top West End salon, that’s such a kudos – you become a very desirable individual.

Q: What’s it like having so many young people around?

A: Genuinely, the thing that gives me the most satisfaction is employing these young people and watching them grow, develop, become skilled, become confident, and have a long and successful career. I think they bring a really fresh energy, a fresh dynamic, and I think it’s a really positive thing. The only problem is we’re constantly arguing about which music we play!

DANIEL GALVIN 58-60 George Street, W1U 7ET danielgalvin.com

57 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

A CLOSER LOOK HEALTHCARE

58 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

A CLOSER LOOK HEALTHCARE

JOINT VENTURE

Mr Luke Jones, a consultant knee surgeon at King Edward VII’s Hospital, on the complexity of knee replacements and the importance of physiotherapy to a full recovery Interview: Viel Richardson

Q: Why would someone need a knee replacement?

A: People come in when arthritis in their knee joint is causing pain that has not responded to nonoperative measures such as physical therapy, weight loss or injections.

Arthritis can occur in one, two or all three of the compartments of the knee and this will determine the appropriate surgical procedure.

For example, if you have arthritis in just the medial part of the knee, you might be suitable for a partial joint replacement, whereas for someone who has more advanced arthritis, the whole knee may need to be replaced.

Q: In those advanced cases, are you replacing the entire joint?

A: In some ways, the term ‘knee replacement’ is not a very good one, as we’re not actually replacing the knee. What’s really happening is that the knee is being resurfaced.

The arthritic, worn-out surfaces in the knee joint are removed. We then place a very thin metal sock at the end of the thigh bone and a very thin metal plate at the end of the shin bone. Finally, a shock absorber is placed in between the two.

Q: If I were undergoing the procedure, what would the process be before the operation to help ensure the best outcome?

59 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

A: Getting the best results is based on good planning. Typically, once the decision to operate has been made I would refer you to a physical therapist to help build up your cardiovascular fitness and get your muscles as strong as possible before the surgery. This helps in both how much the surgery impacts you and how well you recover. You would also go through what we call Joint School.

This is an opportunity to discuss with our physical and occupational therapists your home environment, your post-op regime and the support you might need after the operation.

After that, our anaesthetic team would take you through the details of the anaesthetic. We also send our patients some information on what the recovery looks like in terms of exercise, pain management and recovery times. We find that people get the best results when they are as informed as possible.

Q: What happens during the procedure?

A: It starts with the surgeon making a very detailed plan for the operation based on x-rays and a series of technical measurements.

The procedure starts with a very small cut on the front of the knee – we perform this in a way that minimises damage to the surrounding muscle and soft tissue.

Surgical jigs are used to hold the

>

A CLOSER LOOK HEALTHCARE

“It’s a mistake to think of arthritis as purely a disease of the bones. It’s really a disease of the joint. People get stiff because the soft tissues around the joint get stiff as well.”

soft tissues out of the way and then specially designed jigs are placed onto the bones to allow very accurate cutting when removing the worn-out surfaces. Having removed the damaged bone, we make a series of cuts in a geometric pattern that allows us to fit the metal sock and plate onto the bones. We will also take off a very small amount of bone, allowing the sock to fit very snugly onto the bone’s surface. The aim is to get as tight a fit as possible.

Q: Is it just a case of renewing the surfaces?

A: Actually, no. One of the most important and technically complex skills in joint placement is balancing the soft tissue envelope – the muscles, ligaments and cartilage used to make it work. The mistake is to think of arthritis as purely a disease of the bones. It’s really a disease of the joint. People get stiff because the soft tissues around the joint get stiff as well. So, the skill with joint replacement is making sure that the soft tissue and the ligaments are all very carefully balanced after the operation.

Q: What does that involve?

A: If you imagine a knee that curves outwards in someone with bowed legs, the ligaments on the inside of that joint are going to be stiff and tight because they’ve been 60 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 104

curved. Also, because they’re out of position, they can sit against the bone and become stuck to it.

This means that the knee won’t be balanced and won’t have the full range of movement. This can happen to more than one ligament.

So, once you’ve resurfaced the bone, you may also need to carefully release the ligaments back into their normal position. This allows them to regain their normal tension and movement. Then you have to ensure they’re balanced so they can work together properly once the physiotherapists get to work after the operation.

Q: How important is the relationship with the physical therapist?

A: Physiotherapy is one of the most important aspects of recovery from a joint replacement. It’s probably as important as the surgical technique in achieving a successful outcome.

The patient has to engage fully, so forming a good relationship with the physical therapist before the operation is key, as they’ll be pushing you quite hard at times during recovery. It can be much trickier developing this relationship straight after the operation when you’re in some discomfort.

Q: How long does the recovery typically take?

A: The first two weeks after a joint replacement, the patient is resting at home, getting over the surgery and working on reducing the swelling. After that, alongside their physical therapist, the patient works on getting the muscles in the area properly activated and working. At around six weeks the patient will be walking unaided without a limp and will be able to live life normally on a day-to-day basis. At about 12 weeks they’re going to be at 90 per cent of peak fitness in the area, but full recovery takes about a year. That last 10 per cent takes a lot longer than you might expect.

Q: What do you enjoy most about performing this type of procedure?

A: I like knowing that I’ve removed the patient’s pain and helped them get back to their best, that they don’t have to think about or live with pain anymore. That is tremendously rewarding. It is also an intellectually stimulating field which is continually evolving, so there is always more to learn. You combine that stimulation with the life-changing benefits it brings, and it makes this a great field to work in.

KING EDWARD VII’S HOSPITAL 5-10 Beaumont Street, W1G 6AA kingedwardvii.co.uk

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Leasehold

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