SERVICE
Seeds of Inspiration With Fjora at 1 Hotel Copenhagen, Chantelle Nicholson expands her regenerative approach beyond London, weaving nature, craft and purpose into a new chapter of hotel gastronomy. Words: Heleri Rande • Portrait Photography: © Shilo Duffy
I
t was a clear winter morning – bright,
impact of her regenerative approach to cooking
cold and humming with quiet vitality –
beyond the walls of Apricity, her Mayfair
when Chantelle Nicholson first set foot in
restaurant, into a new culture, landscape and
Copenhagen. Based in the UK, the chef hadn’t
audience. “I sometimes worry I’m speaking
anticipated an overseas project, but walking
into an echo chamber,” she admits. “Because
into the serene, plant-laden interiors of 1
at Apricity, most diners already care about
Hotel, she felt an instant connection. “It lured
their environmental impact. So, the idea of
me in,” she says with a smile. “The energy was
going somewhere new, working with a larger
just incredible.”
organisation and reaching different people
The property itself – a transformative
really mattered.”
reimagining of the former Skt Petri – had
Nicholson’s story begins far from Copenhagen
been converted to 1 Hotels’ Nordic flagship. Its
in the orchards, gardens and home kitchens
design, rooted in Danish craftsmanship and
of New Zealand, where food was inseparable
an ethos of mindful luxury, offered Nicholson
from daily life. There were no school dinners,
a canvas unlike anything she’d had at her
so everyone brought lunch from home, and
disposal before.
Nicholson’s mother, a nurse, insisted on
Today, that initial spark has become Fjora,
nutritious meals, meaning if she wanted
her first restaurant outside London and a
indulgent snacks, she had to make them herself.
significant milestone in a career defined not
“My sister and I had to take turns cooking,” she
by fanfare, but by conviction, curiosity and a
recalls. “And if we wanted anything interesting
determined belief that hospitality can – and
in our lunchboxes, we had to bake it.”
must – be better. For 1 Hotel, whose global
Summers were spent on a stone-fruit
identity rests on sustainability and biophilic
orchard, where her aunt, a gifted baker, devoted
design, Nicholson was an obvious partner;
long, sun-filled days to turning the harvest into
for the chef, the opportunity also offered
jars of chutneys, preserves and glistening jams.
something meaningful: a chance to expand the
She recognises now how deeply this upbringing