London 1
Brown’s Hotel London has been associated with the arts ever since its beginnings in 1837. Taking the arts and crafts in their broadest sense, its history is layered with remarkable moments: Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call in London from here in 1876; Rudyard Kipling wrote The Jungle Book here; and, much later, Agatha Christie drew on Brown’s as inspiration for At Bertram’s Hotel. “Arty-crafty,” in the nicest possible sense, is the perfect description of Brown’s today.
At Charlie’s, the restaurant—decorated, as always, by Olga Polizzi—the eye is drawn upwards to an exquisite cornice wallpaper, while sculptures placed throughout lend a sense of quiet theatre. By the lift lobby, there’s a life-size head of the late Lord Forte. The hotel’s creative spirit is carried forward daily by its boss Richard Cooke, whose daily handwritten notes by elevator doors offer small homilies on how to make the world a better place. It is a quietly distinctive touch.
Across the road lies another expression of that same “arty-crafty” energy. Richard Cooke personally escorted Girlahead across Albemarle Street to the Mayfair studio of Sir Paul Smith, above. There was a popup of emerging artists, but the destination was Paul Smith, himself, waiting on a lower floor. This is the eternally-young designer known for his stripes, certainly—but more importantly, for making gear that simply works. Clothes and accessories designed for real life: durable, wearable, and always with a twist. He’s now got 160 stores worldwide, and growing.
This morning gathering was the inaugural of The SET Society, convened by The SET CEO Robin Stangroom: The Set Collection is a loose but compelling grouping—The Upper House in Hong Kong, The Chedi Muscat, London’s Hotel Café Royal and so on.
“Breakfast with Sir Paul Smith” was magnificently catered by Café Royal: croissants that were light as air, and sausage rolls filled with properly northern sausages. Around 60 highly covetable attendees gathered—though the real draw was the conversation.
Paul Smith chatted with – rather than was interviewed by – Sarah Miller, see below. A natural raconteur, he drifted delightfully off piste, recounting how he began in photography before fashion intervened, thanks in part to meeting Pauline Denyer in 1967, whom he eventually married on the very day he was knighted in 2000. It was quite obvious that everything in life is a joy to this near-octogenarian who refuses a mobile phone, a laptop or emails. He simply does not do conflict.
What does Paul Smith actually do? He makes jackets you can scrunch into a bag, pull out, and they look as though they have just left the atelier. Clothes designed for wear and tear—but always to look good. He wears them himself, cycles avidly, and, approaching 80, travels relentlessly.Most impressive, perhaps, is his Foundation—quietly supporting young entrepreneurs with studio space and practical business guidance. At the breakfast, he produced a well-worn canvas bag of tricks: swathes of fabric, paper patterns for famous clients, and he demonstrated how templates for his signature stripes are, to gain depth, not painted, but wrapped and constructed.
He’s a great friend of Brown’s Hotel. He has already designed one suite and is now creating two more, which will allow the hotel to offer a three-bedroom Paul Smith Suite, with interconnecting privacy from the outside world. Would he ever create a hotel of his own? Not, it seems, top of his list.– but never say never.
