CECIL BALMOND / DAN CRUICKSHANK / JASPER MORRISON

CECIL BALMOND / DAN CRUICKSHANK / JASPER MORRISON / DAREN NEWTON / PAUL COCKSEDGE / JOANA PINHO
+ C O LU M B I A R O A D ’ S D A R K PA S T / A S E L E CT I O N O F E A S T LO N D O N ’ S B E S T D E S I G N A N D I N T E R I O R S
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Cordy House Magazine | T H E D E S I G N I S S U E | S P R I N G 2 0 1 3
STAR OF CALEDONIA BY CECIL BALMOND
HOT PROPERTY
LONDON BOASTS ONE OF THE WORLD’S
MOST EXCITING PROPERTY MARKETS
– MURA ESTATES AND AITCH GROUP
ARE PROUD TO BE PART OF THAT.
WITH OVER 20 YEARS’ EXPERIENCE,
WE ARE A PROPERTY DEVELOPER
WITH A DYNAMIC PORTFOLIO INCLUDING
700 RESIDENTIAL UNITS, 20,000 SQ/FT
OF COMMERCIAL SPACE IN PLANNING
AND 250 HOMES UNDER CONSTRUCTION.
IN ADDITION TO THIS WE ALSO OWN A
500-UNIT MIXED-USE SCHEME IN THE
THAMES GATEWAY REGENERATION AREA.
Over the next 18 months, we are
developing in districts as diverse as
Bow, Islington, Bloomsbury, Fulham,
Hoxton, Shoreditch and Clerkenwell.
Always looking to the future, Mura
Estates in Partnership with Aitch Group
champions sustainable development,
and draws on leading consultants to
complement an expert in-house team.
CONTENT
2
MY EAST LONDON Spitalfields: forever in flux
For art historian Dan Cruickshank, living in Spitalfields
is often challenging, forever stimulating – but has it lost
its soul?
4
SNAPSHOTS East-side aesthetic
The boutiques, cafes and galleries to hit for
unmistakeable East London style
7
THE INSTITUTION Middle grounds
Attention, curtain-twitchers: take a peek into the evolution
of the middle-class living room at the Geffrye Museum
8
HERITAGE Behind the blooms
It wasn’t always coming up roses in London’s famous
flower market – we delve into Columbia Road’s dark history
10
THE PROFILE Understatement is the new English
Internationally renowned industrial designer Jasper Morrison
talks style, English spirit and his love for East London
12
THE GUIDE Destination: design
Where to go for the East End’s best in fashion, interiors
and innovative products
14
COVER STORY Cecil Balmond: artist in orbit
The visionary artist, architect, engineer and writer
on pushing the limits
18
TWO MINDS The creative dynamic
Designer Paul Cocksedge and his company director
Joana Pinho on striking the right balance
20
OBJECTS OF DESIRE Clever & covetable
Our hotlist of functional design pieces
22
THE PIONEER The Champion Of Clerkenwell
Daren Newton, the mind behind Clerkenwell
Design Week, shares his festival picks
24
THE LAST WORD East End evolution
Property guru Henry Smith on the transformation
of the East End – and why it’s only getting hotter
To find out more, visit us at
www.aitchgroup.com
www.mura-estates.co.uk
Editor Kat Phan
Cordy
House
Cover image: First version of
conceptual artwork for Cecil
Balmond’s Star of Caledonia, a 181 ft
sculpture, to be erected at the border
of England and Scotland at Gretna
Creative Director Andy Greenhouse
Sub Editor Selina Altomonte
Editor’s letter
East London offers a kaleidoscope of culture and
colour, and for those looking to be inspired when
it comes to design, there is no better place to
visit. Home to some of the world’s most revered
designers and London’s best independent design
shops, from cutting-edge modern to old-school
vintage, there’s something to satisfy every design
fetish.
Design in varied disciplines – architecture,
interiors, art, curating and more – drives
this issue. On page 14, journalist/novelist
Richard Benson interviews the visionary Cecil
Balmond, co-creator of East London’s infamous
ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture and a man whose
work fluidly transcends all conventional design
boundaries, to mesmerising effect. In the leadup to Clerkenwell Design Week (21-23 May),
culture writer Ekow Eshun meets founder and
creative director Daren Newton, who shares his
top five festival picks.
In his essay, Spitalfields: Forever in flux,
architectural historian and long-time resident
Dan Cruickshank provides a personal
account of the changing landscape of his
neighbourhood since his arrival in the late
‘70s, now describing Spitalfields as “one of the
strangest places on earth”. Cordy House also
talks to iconic product and furniture designer
Jasper Morrison about how his “Englishness”
informs his work, and speaks with property
guru Henry Smith, chairman of Aitch Group,
about the exciting new developments the
company has in store for East London and
beyond. This issue has been designed to
interest and entertain – we hope you enjoy
reading it as much as we enjoyed making it.
Kat Phan, editor
Photography Krzysztof Frankiewicz,
Inzajeano Latif, Andrew Meredith,
Ivan Terestchenko
Illustrators Philip Bannister, AnnaKaisa Jormanainen
Editorial Assistant Una McKeown
Words Richard Benson, Dan Cruickshank,
Ekow Eshun, William Everett,
Alyn Griffiths, Linda Wilkinson,
Jolyon Webber, Betty Wood
Typeface Danmark by A2/SW/HK
Special thanks Jennifer Kean,
Nicholas Rainsford, Erwin Schulz
CORDYHOUSE.CO.UK
Publisher Mark Whiteway
Business Planner Christina Chan
Printers Printhouse Corporation
For advertising enquiries please contact
[email protected]
Agency DPP
8 Elder Street, E1 6BT, London, UK
Tel: 020 7737 6556 Fax: 020 7733 0880
Email: [email protected]
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MY EAST LONDON
MY EAST LONDON
SPITALFIELDS:
FOREVER IN FLUX
Long-time resident Dan Cruickshank looks back over the exotic characters,
seedy scenes and lawless atmosphere that gave Spitalfields so much spirit
WORDS DAN CRUICKSHANK
ILLUSTRATION PHILIP BANNISTER
Living in Spitalfields, East London, is now
a most stimulating challenge. The world
has changed around me almost completely
since I bought my abandoned, long-derelict
but hauntingly beautiful early 18th-century
silk merchant’s house 35 years ago. I was
very young, and then Spitalfields felt very
old indeed.
Strange to imagine now, but it was an empty
and echoing district, secreted between the
commercial hum of The City and the endless
sprawl of East London. It was a place that
few explored, with many of its early Georgian
streets and houses empty and generally
unloved and unrecognised. The most powerful
presence was the wholesale fruit, vegetable
and flower market. This was a vast nocturnal
affair that, with its cast of exotic characters
including extraordinary derelicts camped
each night around blazing fires made from
discarded timber pallets, was intensely
picturesque, Hogarthian. It was like a
vignette of the Georgian city, with an
incredibly atmospheric authenticity.
But for most people this image of ancient,
outcast London was too disturbing.
Spitalfields was generally regarded as too
dirty, noisy, lawless and even dangerous.
As if by common consent it had been consigned
to oblivion. But this was not to be. When the
market closed and mass demolition seemed
inevitable, Spitalfields became a high-profile
conservation battleground. Ultimately,
most of what was historic was saved – so
a victory. But as is so often the case with urban
conservation battles, even when the body is
saved, the soul of an area is lost.
For me, who has lived and fought through all this, Spitalfields
is now one of the strangest places on earth. And I say this as
someone who travels a lot and has indeed wandered through
some very odd and exotic places.
London has, in its history, been characterised by change
– the Great Fire of 1666, of course, and the Blitz, but also
the wholesale and speedy replacement of huge tracts of the
Georgian city through voracious Victorian expansion and
redevelopment. So change in itself is nothing special in
London. But in Spitalfields, the change has been so rapid,
so vast in scale and so radically transforming in its nature
that – when I think about it – my head spins. The once
abandoned wastes of Spitalfields are now exquisite patrolling
grounds of Londoners and tourists in search of pleasure and
the exotic. Brick Lane, which I first knew as a place dominated
by the smells and industrial activity of Truman’s Brewery and
by the few, most welcome restaurants created by the resilient
Bangladeshi community, is now rather alarmingly a European
centre of youth culture and fashion awash with bars and
smart restaurants. The Bangladeshi community hangs on,
but there is barely a trace of the Jewish community that, until
WWII, formed about 80 per cent of the area’s population.
Do I like the new Spitalfields? Of course I now feel like
a square old peg in an ever rounder hole. But my goodness,
it is an interesting place to observe, a piece of historic city
in flux, occasionally in paroxysm, certainly at moments
dysfunctional and dystopic. There are now too many
chain restaurants arriving, the inevitable consequence
of commerce attempting to exploit the success of the
area. Yet there is still much individual and creative spirit
– among the artist community and in one-off restaurants
and bars – of which there are many. Would I want to
live anywhere else? Certainly not, and while my local
pub – the wonderful Golden Heart – endures, so will I.
‘I was born two minutes
from my workshop, so
I’ve been here for 58 years’
2
Dan Cruickshank is an art historian specialising in
architecture and a BBC television presenter
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S N A P S H OTS
S N A P S H OTS
The nostalgics
LABOUR AND WAIT
Labour and Wait on Redchurch Street has become
the prime destination for design enthusiasts looking
for timeless pieces for the home and garden.
An antidote to the ‘disposable design’ movement
of the early noughties, Labour and Wait was
founded by menswear designers Rachel
Whyte-Moran and Simon Watkins. With a simple
idea of selling functional and beautiful design
products with enduring style, their collection
includes canvas bags made from British materials,
balls of twine, enamel lampshades and galvanised
housekeeper buckets that tap into a sense of
nostalgia. Already a favourite with locals, Labour
and Wait’s fans now include actresses Sienna Miller
and Keira Knightley, and author David Sedaris.
85 Redchurch Street, E2 7DJ labourandwait.co.uk
Remember when furniture didn’t come
flat-packed? Unto This Last does. Named
after a line in John Ruskin’s 1860 essay
on the necessity of artisan crafts at the
height of the industrial revolution, this
EAST-SIDE
AESTHETIC
Eye candy
For made-to-order pieces, bowerbird boutiques and
impressive interiors, East London has plenty to explore
WORDS BETTY WOOD
Best of British
Art, eats & interiors
PITFIELD CAFÉ
Marrying interior design, great food and an ambitious gallery space, Pitfield
in Hoxton is the brainchild of interior designer Shaun Clarkson, textile designer
Paul Brewster and chef Eddy Grappy, and is one of the most aesthetically
interesting cafes in East London. Fusing one-off items with vintage goods,
Pitfield’s ever-evolving collection ranges from Verner Panton fabric-covered
Bauhaus chairs to up-cycled lampshades. And everything is for sale: if you like
the chair you’re sitting on as you eat your freshly baked brownie, you can purchase
it with your cake and coffee. The menu offers hearty salads and pasta dishes
too – all made with locally sourced ingredients. Don’t miss the chicken pie.
31-35 Pitfield Street, N1 6HB pitfieldlondon.com
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The dream factory
UNTO THIS LAST
BEAGLE
Named after the steam trains that
used to run on the original East London
Line, Beagle restaurant opened this
Easter to much fanfare. Located in the
arches of the railway bridge next to
Hoxton Overground station, the space
has been lavishly restored. Head chef
James Ferguson, formerly of nearby
Rochelle Canteen, is pioneering British
ingredients, from crab and samphire
salads to braised rabbit with butter
beans and pig’s head croquettes.
Seasonal ingredients are the order of
the day, with plans to offer a daily menu
driven by local produce. The cocktail
menu is also marked by traditional
British flavours including nettle, ginger
and rhubarb-infused liqueurs, plus
tonics and British beers and wines.
397-400 Geffrye Street, Hoxton, E2 8HZ
beaglelondon.co.uk
furniture shop is just off Brick Lane,
and every item in store is made to
order, in-house, on a digital router.
Expensive packaging, transportation
and warehouse storage have been dropped
for a back-to-basics approach: working
extensively in FSC-certified
birch plywood, items are made and
delivered within the London area,
avoiding the need for heavy transport
costs. The result? Bespoke, artisan
furniture that’s as affordable as
mass-produced designs.
230 Brick Lane, E2 7E untothislast.co.uk
LOLLIPOP SHOPPE
If you’re looking for a signature design
piece for your home or office, this is your
spot. Conceived as a ‘display window’
for fine design items – from heritage
brands such as Vitra and Eames,
through to upcoming and contemporary
designers such as Established & Sons
(a major platform for British design and
manufacturers), Lollipop Shoppe offers
an experimental and uplifting mix.
From easy chairs and loungers, to desks,
low tables and lighting, this good-looking
collection is designed with ergonomics
in mind, while calendars, accessories
and storage units seriously up the
eye-candy factor. It’s all designed to
make life more enjoyable, and it works.
10 Lamb St, Old Spitalfields Market,
E1 6EA thelollipopshoppe.co.uk
Drink me
LOOKING GLASS
In Looking Glass, a Lewis Caroll-inspired alcoholic wonderland, a cosy
interior of mismatched furniture and dim lighting sets off an atmosphere
of hazy decadence. The space may feel small on arrival, but a gentle push
of the large mirror on the wall reveals the real belly of the joint, a large
space that leads to the rest of the bar. The effect is surreal and fantastical.
While the Wonderland theme has been done before out East, Looking Glass
has more than mere gimmickry on its side: the bar serves some of the
most interesting (and affordable) cocktails in London. Playfully mixing the
unusual and traditional, expect absinthe, cardamom and
bergamot alongside gin and smoky vodkas. Start with signature
cocktail the Shoreditch Cuppa, which evokes the flavours of earl
grey – cardamom bitters, Sicilian lemon and tea syrup.
49 Hackney Road, E2 7NX lookingglasslondon.co.uk
CORDYHOUSE.CO.UK
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S N A P S H OTS
THE INSTITUTION
Industrial luxe
SHOREDITCH HOUSE
Prior to being converted
into what is East London’s
trendiest private members’
club today, Shoreditch House
on Ebor Street was an old
tea warehouse (or a biscuit
factory, depending on which
source you read) built in
the 1930s. In 2007, the Soho
House Group, headed by
entrepreneur Nick Jones,
bought the space, and
commissioned Tom Dixon’s
Design Research Studio
to revamp its interior.
Perhaps East London’s most
iconic industrial designer,
Dixon is best known for his
welded, salvage furniture
pieces (a skill he taught
himself; his aesthetic lauded
among the most innovative
industrial design of the ‘80s).
With a brief to combine
the rawness of the former
warehouse space and the
grittiness of the Shoreditch
urban landscape, he drew on
his experience as an industrial
designer to image the interior
spaces of the luxury club.
MIDDLE GROUNDS
Needless to say, there are
characteristic ‘industrial’
touches, such as the buffed,
stainless-steel light shades
above the communal dining
tables, and the clever use
of light, amplified by a
largely monochrome colour
scheme. And as in industrial
design, less is more: simple
forms, painted brickwork
and stripped floorboards
complete the look. Tom
also designed the plush
armchairs – upholstered
by master cabinet-makers
and upholsterers George
Smith – which marry the
East London aesthetic of the
interior with the heritage
and appeal of sister-venue,
Soho House in West London.
The chameleon
The roof space is undergoing
major renovations, but reopens
in April, offering the chance
to swim above the hubbub
of Shoreditch’s streets while
enjoying spectacular views
across London’s skyline, pitted
by landmarks including The
Gherkin in nearby Aldgate East.
Ebor Street, E1 6AW
shoreditchhouse.com
(LN-CC)
With visits arranged by appointment only, Late Night
Chameleon Club (LN-CC) is an exclusive boutique that
merges a gallery space with fashion, music, books and
a new nightclub to create a unique shopping experience.
In February, the store unveiled its latest addition: the
Chameleon bar and sound space. Set to host LN-CC’s monthly
events – in addition to entertaining clients by day – the bar is
fitted with warm wooden panelling and a mirrored back-bar.
It all echoes the angular theme of LN-CC’s octagonal Secular
Space, and the geometrical design of the rest of the store.
The Secular Space room is dedicated to leather accessories
and footwear. Featuring an elaborate eight-sided mirror and
fitted entirely in neoprene (creating a clean canvas against
which shoes and belts sit), the result is modern and semiclinical, enhancing the contemporary design theme.
Along with new lines for SS13 – including designers
Jil Sander and Dries Van Noten alongside emerging
brands such as Yang Li, and established brands such as
Givenchy – the first gallery exhibition for 2013 is entitled
Our Exquisite Corpse. It features intricately hand-beaded,
highly colourful skulls and skeletal structures.
The Basement, 18 Shacklewell Lane, E8 2EZ ln-cc.com
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The middle class is the dominant
tribe in England today. So says the
Geffrye Museum, and the contents
of this East London treasure trove
certainly bear out the claim.
The museum explores the London
middle-class home from 1600 to
the present, whisking you through
the centuries along a very pleasing
series of living rooms. In effect,
you’re seeing the same room as
it changes over time, rather like
Rod Taylor joyriding to the future in
the 1960 film The Time Machine.
Each room contains myriad
artefacts from the respective periods,
complemented by illustrations and
narratives to bring exhibits to life.
Interior changes reflect social and
economic change – as the middle
classes gained more wealth and
status in the 18th century, they
dined in a ‘parlour’ away from
the household bustle, cherished
‘politeness’ and displayed their
best crockery in a dresser to,
well, keep up with the Joneses.
Step into Hoxton’s Geffrye Museum for a walk
through time – and a glimpse into middle-class
taste Grayson Perry could only dream of…
WORDS WILLIAM EVERETT
Meanwhile, the Thames teemed
with trade ships bringing goods from
far-flung lands. A wave of Chinoiserie
saw faux-oriental lacquerware fly
off the shelves in London shops, and
so followed a giant leap for middleclass mankind: the Willow pattern.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the
‘middling sort’ included merchants,
doctors and lawyers who practised
their trade from home. As business
and manufacturing grew in the 19th
century, such men began leaving the
house for a place of work, and so the
home became a feminine environment.
Queue patterned wallpaper and
crocheted screen panels ad nauseum.
This new penchant for the ornate
brought with it chintz, which would
linger in English homes for a good
hundred years before our Swedish
friends demanded we chuck it out.
More fashionable homes cut a
plainer, Moderne dash in the 1930s,
as modernist and neo-Georgian
flats popped up across the capital.
In the ‘60s we were already giving
a nod to Nordic, with simple wood
furniture, parquet flooring and low
coffee tables to give a clear view of
the TV – the new focus of the living
room. Warehouse conversions marked
the tail end of the 20th century, with
one open space for kitchen, living
and dining areas. The middle classes
now had to master the art of chatting
while cooking, while guests went
home smelling slightly of garlic.
The museum itself was once a row
of almshouses built in 1714. Founded
with a bequest from wealthy merchan
Sir Robert Geffrye, the Grade I-listed
building housed the elderly poor until
1911, when it was sold to London
County Council. The Arts and Crafts
movement persuaded the council to
convert the space into a furniture
museum, and so the Geffrye opened
in 1914. The almshouses’ original
gardens were preserved – a minor
miracle – and now form a series of
period gardens showing the changing
tastes of the green-fingered.
Visit now, and stay posted: the
Geffrye is in the planning stages of
an £18.9m development masterminded
by David Chipperfield Architects.
Let’s see the Joneses top that.
The Geffrye Museum, Kingsland Road,
E2 8EA geffrye-museum.org.uk
CORDYHOUSE.CO.UK
7
H E R I TA G E
H E R I TA G E
BEHIND THE
olumbia Road Flower Market, situated in the
heart of the East End, is one of London’s gems,
attracting visitors from all over the world. But
until the early 1800s the only building on what
was then known as Birdcage Walk was an aptly named
pub: The Birdcage, which still stands today. What became
Columbia Road formed part of an ancient drovers’ route that
brought livestock from Essex and beyond to slaughter in the
City of London. The first stalls were set up near The Birdcage
to provide for the needs of drovers, who travelled on foot with
their families.
C
BLOOMS
Each Sunday you’ll find Columbia Road bursting with colour and buzzing with
energy, but this famous East London flower market has a dark history as the site
of a slaughterhouse, slum and a series of murders
‘At its zenith in 1900
there were 233 stalls and
it was the largest flower
market in London’
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2
HULTON ARCHIVE / GETTY IMAGES
During the 18th and early 19th centuries, market gardens
flourished in the area. Driven by the Huguenot immigrant
population and their love of floriculture, plants and flowers
were sold locally and a small market developed on the protoColumbia Road alongside the established stalls. By the 1830s,
however, the area had become the byword for slums. The
notorious Italian Boy murder of 1831, which led to the discovery
that at least three people had been killed and sold for dissection
at London medical schools, revealed the neighbourhood’s
true decline. Former Huguenot summer houses had become
unsanitary slums and Nova Scotia Gardens, just opposite The
Birdcage, was as squalid a collection of dwellings as you could
find. Here lived John Bishop, who with accomplices Thomas
Williams and James May, drugged and drowned their prey in
a well in Bishop’s garden.
Bishop and Williams were hung for their crimes and as
a result of the publicity the area was visited by some of the
great and good of the land, including Charles Dickens and
England’s wealthiest woman, the philanthropist Angela
Burdett-Coutts. Dickens was an aficionado of Hoxton and
environs, where he had spent time garnering inspiration
for characters in his novels. Indeed, his final work Our Mutual
Friend featured a vast dust mound composed of human
excrement, rags, dead animals, and coke and ash – perhaps
inspired by the dust heap found at Nova Scotia Gardens.
These waste heaps – which were a goldmine for scavengers
– were the recycling centres of their day, but seepage of effluvia
into the water system posed a direct threat to public health.
2
3
KRZYSZTOF FRANKIEWICZ
TRUMAN BREWERY PUB ARCHIVE
WORDS LINDA WILKINSON
1
On seeing the state of the area, Burdett-Coutts
purchased the land on which the dust mound sat.
In the 1860s a model housing project was built in
her name and Columbia Road was established.
At this stage a small horticultural market existed
on Hart Lane (at the southern part of Barnet
Grove), which was moved to Columbia Road to
establish the site of the market we know today. The
market strip was once much longer, however – at its
zenith in 1900 there were 233 stalls and it was the
largest flower market in London.
The fortunes of the market fluctuated with the
times, and by the early 1980s, like much of the area,
it was derelict. However its fate was changed by
George Gladwell, a humble plant seller who arrived
in the East End in 1949. Now the head of the
market traders, Gladwell oversaw Columbia Road’s
resurrection and the flower market has evolved into
the international tourist destination it is today.
Linda is the author of Watercress But No
Sandwiches – 300 years of the Columbia Road area
1 The infamous
Birdcage pub on
Columbia Road
in 1930
CORDYHOUSE.CO.UK
2 Columbia Market
was established in
1869 as a covered
food market with
400 stalls
3 Columbia Road
as it is known
today. Every
Sunday the street
is transformed into
an oasis of foliage
and flowers
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THE PROFILE
THE PROFILE
Understatement is
THE NEW ENGLISH
He has studios in Tokyo and Paris, but influential industrial designer
Jasper Morrison still has a soft spot for East London. Here, he shares
how his subtle style and English spirit are intertwined
WORDS BETTY WOOD
PHOTOGRAPHY IVAN TERESTCHENKO
“There is an old adage that the further
you go from England, the more
English you become. I think it’s true
and I find myself expressing not just
my character in designs, but also my
Englishness. It’s something to do with
presenting a sober façade that doesn’t
quite hide a sense of humour; about
understatement with plenty of spirit.
“I grew up on the other side of
London, on the edge of Notting Hill,
but as prices went up, my generation
headed East or North in search of
better value and to escape what
we all felt was the downward
spiral of neighbourhood spirit.
The East End of London is a good
replacement; there are a lot of people
doing things on a small scale and
with a lot of heart. You don’t find
that in West London anymore. “I have studios in London and Paris,
and another one in Tokyo, too. Each
studio has a different atmosphere,
and I enjoy the change – it gives me
a lot of energy, even though the work
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process is similar wherever I am. I prefer to design for other brands:
I enjoy the feeling of inspiration in
understanding their identity, and trying
to add to it. I’m designing a watch for
Issey Miyake right now and it’s been
so nice to do something in the fashion
world while keeping my feet in the
design world. I find that working for
different brands expands what I would
have been able to do for my own, so
now I more or less restrict my own
projects to my shop on Kingsland
Road, or a few other cultural
ventures like books or exhibitions. “I should mention that in the
furniture and product world, very few
brands are ‘big’ in the way fashion can
be. It’s much smaller scale, but there’s
room for smaller brands to make an
impact as they are able to present
a more coherent identity if they are
clever. I designed a new chair for
a very small Italian company called
Mattiazzi, which has very sophisticated
machinery for making wooden
CORDYHOUSE.CO.UK
furniture. That presents me with
an opportunity to do something
with great quality and reasonable
cost as they do everything in-house.
Good brands are more important
than big brands, I think. “Nowadays, I tend to spend less
time in London, so putting on some
kind of exhibition in our shop [for
London Design Week] is my way
of being a part of the scene. The
shop also communicates my beliefs
about how things should be. I am
a very poor public speaker, so I
prefer to find other ways to express
myself than giving lectures!
“While I wouldn’t say I draw from
it directly, London is a hard-working
city and you feel the collective effort
here more than elsewhere – be it
a creative effort, a culinary one,
a financial one or just the energy
of the traffic.”
Jasper Morrison Shop, 24b Kingsland
Road, E2 8DA jaspermorrison.com
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THE GUIDE
AROUND & ABOUT
Destination:
design
For independent fashion, carefully curated
boutiques, bespoke furniture and innovative
design pieces, East London has the edge
WORDS JOLYON WEBBER
ILLUSTRATION ANNA-KAISA JORMANAINEN
MATERIAL
Founded in 2007, Material
Gallery & Bookshop champions
the printed page in the digital age.
Beyond books, magazines and
periodicals, there are posters and
prints from artists and designers
from around the world including
John Dilnot and Wuon Gean-Ho.
materialmaterial.com
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LEE BROOM
THE GOODHOOD STORE
Opened as a self-funded
project to showcase clothing
collections and objects, Goodhood
offers men’s and women’s fashion,
while unique home furnishings can
be found in its Life Store. Here, you
can find Muuto alongside HAY and
Midori stationery.
goodhoodstore.com
2
Specialising in lighting and
furniture, sometimes combining
the two to startling effect, Lee
Broom founded his design company
after training in fashion. His work
can be found all over Europe and
is stocked locally from Selfridges
& Co. to Liberty and Heal’s.
leebroom.com
STUDIO TORD BOONTJE
An internationally renowned
designer whose work has been
exhibited in MoMA New York and
the V&A, Tord Boontje just last year
moved his studio, workshop and
retail outlet to Shoreditch. His
collection of products includes
lighting, chairs and clothing.
tordboontje.com
SCP EAST
Since its inception in 1985,
SCP has emerged as one of the
UK’s most innovative and acclaimed
manufacturers and retailers of
modern design. SCP East is the
flagship store, where you might
find original pieces mixed with
20th-century design classics.
scp.co.uk
MOMOSAN SHOP
With objects selected by
owner Momoko Mizutani from the
UK and Japan, Momosan showcases
British pottery alongside traditional
Japanese kitchenware. In this trove
of unique and interesting items
you’ll also find stationery and
beautiful wooden puzzles.
momosanshop.com
LUNA & CURIOUS
This boutique opened in
2006 and showcases a full range of
design products and clothing, much
of which is supplied by East End
designers. Interior furnishings take
centre stage, with tea sets and cake
stands featuring alongside
stationery, books and jewellery.
lunaandcurious.com
SQUINT LIMITED
Squint works with many
independently owned and family
workshops to create quality, bespoke
hand-crafted furniture and design
pieces. From sofas and tables to
chests of drawers, commodes,
mirrors and soft furnishings, the
designs are undeniably original.
squintlimited.com
DECODE
Founded in 2007, Decode’s
aim is to create design pieces that
are individual and functional while
challenging convention. This take
on modern British design is striking,
unique and most often collaborative,
featuring work by the likes of
Jethro Macey and Benjamin Hubert.
decodelondon.com
MILK CONCEPT BOUTIQUE
Located in the iconic
18th-century Clerk’s House and
established in 2009, Milk Concept
Boutique offers a wide mix of
design and fashion pieces from
around the globe, with a strong
selection of work by Milanese
polymath Piero Fornasetti.
milkconceptboutique.co.uk
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CORDY HOUSE
CORDYHOUSE.CO.UK
COV E R STO RY
CECI L BAL MOND
ARTIST IN
ORBIT
Artist, architect, structural
designer, engineer and writer
– the multitalented Cecil
Balmond has made his mark
with some of the world’s
most ambitious structures.
Yet, after living in London
for 50 years, this creative
force still finds wonder in
the streets of this city
Star of Caledonia The
national landmark will
stand at approximately 181
ft at the border between
England and Scotland at
Gretna. “When lights shine
from the tips of the spikes
a star burst occurs – the
brainpower of Scotland”
Cecil Balmond in his
studio in North London
WORDS RICHARD BENSON PHOTOGRAPHY ANDREW MEREDITH
T
he 2012 Olympics left many images imprinted
on London’s collective consciousness, but when
it comes to the physical look of the eastern part
of city, the strongest and longest impact has
surely been made by the ArcelorMittal Orbit
Tower. Looping up on the skyline like an enormous, loosened knot
of steel lattices, it represents for many not only a new architectural
aesthetic, but also a new way of thinking – open, ambitious,
radical – that has taken a hold in the modern metropolis.
It also serves to remind the city of one of its most globally significant
creative talents working here today. The artist and structural designer
Cecil Balmond, who co-created the Orbit Tower with Anish Kapoor, is
one of the driving forces behind the new de-constructivist architectural
aesthetic. Earlier this year Cecil’s sculpture, Star of Caledonia, which
nestles into a landform designed by Charles Jencks, received planning
permission. Twice the height of North-East England’s landmark
sculpture The Angel of North, it is to be erected at the Scottish-English
border and was born from Cecil’s desire to capture the powerful
energy, scientific heritage and magnetic pull of Scotland. The design
pays homage to Scottish innovation and particularly James Clerk
Maxwell, the pre-eminent Scottish physicist and mathematician.
Cecil also played significant roles in London’s V&A Spiral winning
design and the 2002 Toyo Ito-Balmond Pavilion at the Serpentine, plus
world-renowned buildings such as Beijing’s CCTV Headquarters and
Seattle’s famous Central Library. Toyo Ito, the pre-eminent Japanese
architect and winner of the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize, says
Cecil’s “meaning and influence” is analogous to that of Le Corbusier.
This summer, Cecil’s futuristic H_edge installation will be brought to East
London. An impressive geometric structure consisting of 5,200 lasercut plates frozen between stainless-steel chains, it seamlessly blurs the
boundaries between mathematics, art, architecture and engineering.
CORDYHOUSE.CO.UK
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COV E R STO RY
1
Born in Sri Lanka, Cecil came to London to study
in the late 1960s, later working for Ove Arup and
going on to become deputy chairman. He remains
a trustee at Arup, and now runs his own art and
architecture studios in London and Sri Lanka. In
addition, he currently holds the Paul Philippe Cret
Chair at PennDesign as Professor of Architecture,
and is also the founder of the Non-Linear Systems
Organization (NSO), a material and structural
research unit at University of Pennsylvania. He lives
with his wife Shirley in Crouch End. Cordy House
shared coffee and a plate of chocolate digestives
with him at his art studio on New North Road.
Research
“Organic.
Infinite. Craft.”
2 ArcelorMittal Orbit
(i) Cecil’s initial
sketch of the Orbit,
Britain’s largest piece
of art co-created
with Anish Kapoor
(ii) The completed
sculpture, standing at
approximately 377 ft
at the Olympic Park in
Stratford, London. “The
structure is a kinetic,
fluid figure animating a
geometry of revolution”
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i
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Snow Words A tower of light
and an abstract time piece
consisting of repeat motifs
embodying a code created for the
Crime Detention Laboratory in
Anchorage, Alaska. The artwork
stands at approximately 30 ft high
and features 24 aluminium tubes
and 206 lights encased in acrylic
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3 H_edge installation A futuristic art piece (36 ft by 5 ft) to
be installed in Spitalfields, East London in summer 2013.
“Space has no boundary. Geometry and light come
together to create a world of light and form.”
3
Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2002
A geometric transient pavilion
installed at London’s Kensington
Gardens, designed in collaboration
with Japanese architect Toyo Ito.
“The aesthetic effect is to occupy
a multiplex of web and as the eye
traces the cells of engagement, the
eye travels out and what is plane
becomes limitless void. The box is
no more”
Cordy House: You work all over the world, but you’ve
lived in London for almost 50 years – does the city
influence your work?
Cecil Balmond: Yes. Not visually – I don’t directly
reference it in my work – but London has given me a
bed of acceptance, which was important. It doesn’t
really have an overarching architectural aesthetic, but
it has little separate places that you can wander and
get lost in, and I have always been attracted to that.
CH: What are your favourite places in the city?
CB: I like to wander around Brick Lane and
Spitalfields because I like the atmosphere there.
Also, I love walking around Hampstead, and then
further out there is Southall and Willesden Green,
which have great places to eat. I like Stroud Green
for its lovely mix and fabulous, cheap eating. What
I really like is that London’s so vast, it’s never
knowable, so I know one area then I get to know
another area, and when I go back to the first area I
knew it will have changed. I like that kind of change.
CH: Your work is based on completely original ways
of thinking about space and structure, and you draw
inspiration from outside conventional engineering,
from disciplines such as music and mathematics. How
did that start?
CB: I had an epiphany when I was about 35, when I
was sitting working and I thought to myself: ‘What
am I doing? I’m just finessing and refining what
people have always done.’ People think of space
a certain way and all I’m doing is refining; since
Greek times nobody had really thought differently
about making space. And I kind of felt somewhere
that unless all of me came together I would become
one more Western rational person, and my Eastern
roots of complexity would be left behind. I don’t
know how I thought it, but I thought I’ve got to bring
2
COV E R STO RY
CORDY HOUSE
4 “I proposed an algorithm:
half to a third of adjacent
sides, of the square. This
rule forces one to go out
of the original square to
create a new square so
that the algorithm,
may continue.”
together the Western rigour and rationality versus the
Eastern irrationality, or whatever. It was a big moment for
me, and everything in my thinking changed immediately
overnight. And then gradually I built things and people
began to see that these things weren’t actually that crazy,
they actually changed the way of how you see yourself.
Fundamentally what I wanted to do when I fused everything
together was to show the poetic in whatever I did. I always
say that ‘space is not empty’ in architecture. For me, every
puncture of space matters – it’s full of the unknown.
CH: Which brings us to your and Anish Kapoor’s Orbit tower,
which is a sort of tower that doesn’t, er, tower…
CB: It’s a new take on form; it’s against a tower that rises,
anyone can do a tower that rises. I like it as it’s humble, it
doesn’t go shooting up in the air in arrogance, it comes back
down to the ground, picks you up and then takes you back
up. It’s not just a shape for shape’s sake, it’s doing various
things to your psychology of space and your orientation.
CH: We hear a lot now about British design icons – the Scott
telephone box, the black taxi cab and so on – but I’m wondering
what you would choose as your icons of London?
CB: Well, there’s the Tube map [pauses as if to contemplate
its beauty] – that’s a fantastic piece of graphic work. Hats off
to Harry Beck, who designed it. I would like to have designed
that. I like the old London bobbies and the City gents in
bowler hats too, but for me the other great icon would be
the old pubs in the East End. Many are now being revamped,
but there are some old ones still around. I just love them.
CB: You also love music, being a classical guitarist, and have
likened some of your thinking to jazz. Did you enjoy the music
scene in London when you arrived here in the Sixties?
CB: Yes. I used to hang out at the 100 Club and the Marquee,
and I knew Alexis Korner quite well. I used to play and sing
myself, folk music rather than jazz. Jazz is a medium I’ve
always been interested in. I did a lot of classical music,
and a lot of my friends who are classical people look
down on jazz – they don’t think it’s serious – but the really
good jazz people are amazing musicians because they
not only understood the structure like a classical man
does, but they can manipulate the structures to make
moods. That is something a classical man can’t do.
CB: Is it true that when you and Toyo Ito’s famous Serpentine
Pavilion was being built in 2002, one of the builders propped
up one corner on blocks, because he didn’t believe it would
stand up?
CB: Yes! They rang me up and said there’s a problem: we’re
building this and we’ve realised that this part won’t touch the
bottom, so we’ve had to put blocks underneath it. I rushed
to site thinking, ‘My god, what has happened?’ When I got
there, I said, ‘It’s okay, take away the blocks. It’s okay, it’s
just that the building has a different logic. Believe me, it will
stand up.’ The men were nervous taking away the blocks. But
of course it stood!
Cecil’s new book Crossover, published by Prestel, will be
available from summer 2013
balmondstudio.com
CORDYHOUSE.CO.UK
17
TWO MINDS
TWO MINDS
PAUL COCKSEDGE
Paul Cocksedge grew up in North
London and studied product design
under Ron Arad at the Royal College of
Art. After graduating in 2002 he worked
independently before collaborating
with Joana Pinho on an exhibition of
his work at the Milan Furniture Fair in
2003. He moved to East London in 2006
and now lives with friends close to the
Paul Cocksedge Studio in Hackney.
THE CREATIVE
DYNAMIC
From their Hackney headquarters, designer Paul Cocksedge and
company director Joana Pinho dream up playful products and
awe-inspiring installations for the likes of BMW, Hermès and
Sony – brilliantly balancing creativity and structure along the way
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CORDY HOUSE
WORDS ALYN GRIFFITHS
PHOTOGRAPHY INZAJEANO LATIF
“During my studies at the RCA
I was encouraged to explore the
different departments within the
college, and that’s how I met Joana.
We collaborated on a few projects and
it felt natural to start the company as
we’re both interested in each other’s
ideas and we work well as a team. As
a designer, freedom is very important to
my creative process and Joana supports
that, but adds structure so things
get delivered. Without that structure
it’s easy for good ideas to get lost.
“Like any relationship, a creative
partnership takes time to develop.
It’s important to find someone who
shares your long-term vision because
otherwise the work you do ends up
being compromised. When Joana and
I started out we were quite selective
about the projects we took on and
that helped us define the studio’s
identity. Now we’re in a refreshing
situation where people are coming
to us with really interesting proposals
because they like what we do.
“Working in East London means
that we’re connected to the city
but surrounded by industry. Our
process involves lots of making
and testing, and we’re able to get
everything we need locally. Other
designers and creative people seem
to flock to this area and I can’t
think of a better place to be.”
CORDYHOUSE.CO.UK
JOANA PINHO
Joana Pinho moved to London from
Portugal in 1993 to study graphic
design at Central Saint Martins. She
returned home following her studies
to manage her family’s property
development business for two years
before moving back to London and
completing a Masters in Visual
Communication at the Royal College
of Art. She lives in Islington with her
husband Guillaume and is expecting
her first child, a daughter, in May.
“After graduating from the RCA in
2002, I worked at [multi-disciplinary
design consultancy] Pentagram for
a year. Paul was doing all sorts of weird
experiments that fascinated me, so
I began helping out in the evenings.
When he was invited to exhibit in
Milan in 2003 I helped set up the
show and launch the new products
and things evolved from there.
“I generally act as the middle
person between our creative team
and the client, making sure our
designers are fully briefed and that
everything is delivered on time and
on budget. Paul is a perfectionist and
is obsessive about details. When it
comes to the technical aspects of a
project he somehow manages to make
the impossible possible, but it can be
difficult because he won’t accept no
for an answer. We complement each
other and our personalities are a good
match, which I feel is as crucial as the
skills we each bring to the partnership.
“The studio has expanded in the
last three years and we’re engaging
in all sorts of projects, from designing
rings and shoes, to interior design
and small-scale architectural projects.
I hope that we can sustain this exciting
variety as we continue to grow.”
paulcocksedgestudio.com
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OBJECTS OF DESIRE
OBJECTS OF DESIRE
Super Normal
by Jasper Morrison
and Naota Fukasawa
This book’s title
encapsulates Shoreditch
designer Jasper Morrison’s
quest for simplicity and
features everyday objects
that fulfil their purpose
with minimum fuss.
jaspermorrison.com
Bookmark by Paul
Cocksedge Studio
Show off a favourite book
cover or simply give
your reading material
a stylish resting place
on this sculptural stand
that beats a boring
bookmark hands down.
paulcocksedgestudio.com
Font Clock by Sebastian Wrong
for Established & Sons
Twelve distinctly different typefaces feature
on this modern interpretation of the iconic
calendar clock, which lends every minute,
hour and day its own character.
establishedandsons.com
CLEVER &
COVETABLE
From elegant energy-savers to a timepiece
for typographers, these smart design pieces
do more than just look good
Plumen 001 by Hulger and Samuel Wilkinson
Save the world in style by investing in this elegant
energy-saving lightbulb. It’s the bright idea of
Spitalfields lighting brand Hulger and Hackney
designer Samuel Wilkinson.
plumen.com
1:4 bowl
by Philippe Malouin
Bowls of different
shapes and sizes can
be assembled from
these modular concrete
elements, which are
handmade in designer
Philippe Malouin’s
Hackney studio.
philippemalouin.com
WORDS ALYN GRIFFITHS
Covent Garden club chair
by Klauser & Carpenter
Port table lamp
by Alexander Taylor
for David Gill Galleries
This plush perch by
Hackney design duo André
Klauser and Ed Carpenter
combines the comfort
of a club chair with the
practicality of a dining chair.
klauserandcarpenter.com
The Port is designed to
evoke the look of ships and
coastal iconography. The
interior of a rolled steel
tube is illuminated by a light
source hidden in the base.
alexandertaylor.com
Coatstand
by Unto This Last
Visit Unto This Last’s
workshop in Brick
Lane to watch them
use a digital router
to make products
like this sleek birch
plywood coatstand.
untothislast.co.uk
Euclid desk trays by Tomás Alonso for PRAXIS
Based on Greek mathematician Euclid’s theories of
geometry, the proportions of these rubber and ash
desk trays help keep stationery in perfect alignment.
tomas-alonso.com
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CORDY HOUSE
Poppins umbrella stand
by BarberOsger for Magis
Long and short-handled
brollys can be smartly
stowed in this update of
the traditional umbrella
stand by Edward Barber
and Jay Osgerby.
barberosgerby.com
CORDYHOUSE.CO.UK
21
THE PIONEER
THE PIONEER
CHAMPION OF
CLERKENWELL
Four years ago, Daren Newton masterminded Clerkenwell Design Week
to celebrate the area’s astounding creative pool. Now, this independent
festival is considered one of the world’s most dynamic design events.
Newton’s law for success? Keeping it local
WORDS EKOW ESHUN
PHOTOGRAPHER INZAJEANO LATIF
n the few years since it launched,
Clerkenwell Design Week has established
itself as a key fixture in the international
design calendar. Aimed primarily at
a trade audience, but with a free
public program of workshops, presentations and debates,
the three-day festival has earned a reputation as a
dynamic and deftly produced occasion. In 2012, over 60
showrooms participated, 150 international brands were
featured and the festival saw more than 30,000 registered
attendees. This year promises to be bigger than ever.
The man behind the festival is Daren Newton,
founding partner and publishing director of events and
publishing company Media 10, which counts the hugely
popular Grand Designs Live and Ideal Home Show in
its portfolio. Daren’s focus is on contemporary design.
He’s the publisher of Icon magazine and the Clerkenwell
Post, and is also responsible for events such as the Icon
Design Trail and 100% Design, the long-established
trade fair that was acquired by Media 10 last year.
The genesis of Clerkenwell Design Week, says Daren, lay
in his conviction that a sector of London with a thriving
creative base deserved an event of its own. “I was frustrated,”
he says. “As a publisher with many years in the design
industry, I wanted to create something to support my
colleagues in the area and there was nothing there for them.”
He has a point. Few parts of London have a deeper
relationship with the design trade than Clerkenwell. Since
the Industrial Revolution, the area has been home to craft
workshops, designers and publishers. Traditionally, printers
would base themselves there because the neighbourhood’s
proximity to Smithfield’s meat market made it easy to
procure glue for book bindings. Architects also began
to gather there because the profusion of local printers
made it a convenient place to get blueprints made up.
Today, Clerkenwell is home to an unprecedented
concentration of creative studios. The area has more
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architecture practices per square mile – over 200 of
them – than anywhere else on Earth. That number
includes the likes of Zaha Hadid, who’s a longtime
resident. And Clerkenwell is also the location for flagship
design studios and interiors showrooms including
B&B Italia, Vitra and Flos. More recently, it has also
become home to an increasing number of fashion and
advertising brands – all of which makes developing
Clerkenwell Design Week a particularly astute idea.
“The uniqueness of the festival is its geographical
concentration,” says Daren. In contrast to the London
Design Festival, which sprawls across the capital and makes
it virtually impossible to see in its entirety, this event is tightly
focused on its immediate environs. Distinctive buildings
in the neighbourhood are utilised, including the House of
Detention, a subterranean Victorian prison, the Farmiloe
building, a former merchant warehouse, and the 12thcentury crypt of the Priory Church of the Order of St John.
This year’s festival includes the participation of UK and
international brands, including SCP, Arper, Deadgood,
MARK, Swedese and Zanotta. Highlights include a
stunning installation by sculptural lighting specialist
Sharon Marston; blogger workshops and a session with
prolific French designer Ronan Bouroullec for Vitra; a
collaboration between fabric innovators Camira and Danish
carpet manufacturers Ege; and the unveiling of Patricia
Urquiola’s new tile range at the showroom of Domus Tiles.
“Year on year we’ve grown the amount of brands,
the visitors and the venues, while making sure we keep
the geographic focus that’s key to the atmosphere,”
says Daren. “It’s an amazing networking opportunity
for everyone in the industry, but it’s also a fantastically
creative event for the public. It really works.”
Clerkenwell Design Week runs from 21-23 May 2013
at various venues across Clerkenwell. For more
information visit clerkenwelldesignweek.com
CORDY HOUSE
‘It’s an amazing networking
opportunity for everyone in the
industry, but it’s also a fantastically
creative event for the public’
Daren’s festival picks
TALKS
The festival provides a unique
opportunity to hear from the
most forward-thinking people
in architecture and design.
This year will see Patricia
Urquiola talk about her
extraordinary collection of tiles
for Domus, Ronan Bouroullec
in conversation at the Arper
showroom, and Tom Dyckhoff
chairing a discussion about
architecture on water.
EXHIBITIONS NEW TALENT
We are very proud to be
exhibiting Design Exquis,
which will feature four
(undisclosed) designers from
very different disciplines,
each creating a product
based on the previous
participant’s final design.
None of the designers is
aware of the starting object,
nor the identity of the other
participants.
New talent is the lifeblood
of the industry. Our show at
the House of Detention is
dedicated to younger brands
Evil Robot, James Tattersall,
Fred&Juul, Freyja Sewell,
Regina Heinz and Foreign
Bear Studio. Rising stars will
be showcased: Camira has
worked with RCA graduate
Emma Shipley, printing her
drawings onto wool.
LIGHTING Light is like a forgotten
material – it can be used
to create mood, define space
and highlight features, and
lighting fixtures are also
usually ahead of the trends.
This year, we have dedicated
an entire floor of the Farmiloe
Building to design-led lighting
brands. Check out Luminosity,
Holloways of Ludlow,
MacMaster and Vitamin.
CORDYHOUSE.CO.UK
DECORATION
With showrooms like Poltrona
Frau, Porcelanosa, Knoll,
TOTO and Vitra, Clerkenwell
is fast becoming the place
to learn about the best in
interiors. Check out the
decorating exhibition at the
Priory of the Order of St John.
The church will house brands
Sé, Ochre, Larkbeck, Prêt à
Vivre, Ginger & Jagger and
Virginia White.
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THE LAST WORD
THE LAST WORD
EAST END
evolution
Once a forgotten borough, the East End has emerged as
London’s most unique cultural and creative hub. Property guru
Henry Smith has seen it all – and says the best is yet to come…
WORDS WILLIAM EVERETT
PHOTOGRAPHY KRZYSZTOF FRANKIEWICZ
f anyone knows about the new East London,
it’s Henry Smith. Since the property developer
founded Aitch Group in 1995, he has seen
his native East End evolve from a forgotten
borough to belle of the ball. What was once a development
no-go now boasts some of the most prized square metres
in London, and he has had a front row seat throughout.
“When I lived in the East End it was all working
class and still recovering from the Second World
War,” says Henry. “Now it’s a hub of cultural and
class differences with people itching to become part
of one of the trendiest postcodes in London.
“The big difference I’ve seen is the perception and
attitude towards the East End. Views have changed so
much over the past 20 years it’s almost unrecognisable.
The whole area has vastly improved, beyond my
imagination, from bombsites and poverty to sleek offices
and top restaurants and bars. Yet the East End has kept
the same thriving community and buzzing atmosphere.”
Under his leadership, Aitch Group has built a diverse
portfolio of commercial and residential property both
in East London and beyond. And the best is yet to
come if the group’s plans are anything to go by.
“In partnership with Mura Estates, in addition to Cordy
House, our current projects include Now Bow on Fairfield
Road, an exclusive development of 49 luxury apartments
near Mile End; EdgeN1 on Cropley Street, a mixed-use
development of commercial and residential apartments near
Regent’s Canal; and The Yard on Warner Street, a stunning
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Curtain Road, EC2
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2 NowBow,
Fairfield Road, E3
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CORDY HOUSE
CORDYHOUSE.CO.UK
development of apartments in Clerkenwell. In
West London, we have eight exclusive apartments
on Shorrolds Road in prestigious Fulham. All
these are due for completion in the next year.
“Each development is unique, as they are
designed to suit the surrounding area and must
stand out. One of our most exciting projects is
Cordy House. The cutting-edge development
will contain a large commercial space and eight
luxury apartments in the centre of Shoreditch.
Cordy House will use a diverse range of raw
materials, and sit in one of London’s most
up-and-coming places to live, work and eat.”
One principle that shapes all Aitch Group
projects is sustainability. Henry treats the
social, economic and environmental
responsibilities of developing seriously.
“Our buildings are designed to target
a 20% reduction in carbon emissions. The fabric
of the buildings is well insulated and constructed
to a high standard of air-tightness to reduce
the energy demand. Photovoltaic panels on the
roof provide an on-site renewable electrical
generation contribution, while Smart Metering
systems are provided in our buildings to allow
occupants to monitor their energy consumption.”
For more on the changing landscape of London,
visit mura-estates.co.uk | aitchgroup.com