Enjoy life in and around the place you live Winter/Spring 2014 The hot issue BUILT ON SPICE London’s spicy history PLAYING WITH FIRE Craftsmen heating things up FABRIC OF NATURE Traditional fibres get technical THE ART OF PLACEMAKING Nine Elms gets artistic Editors Chris Abel Nick Jones The hot issue Deputy editor Katie Park Even when it’s cold outside, London is still one of the world’s hottest cities. Design director Matt Hill The place where the last word in anything seems to happen first, and where Digital design winter brings with it a myriad of things to see and do when the temperature drops. Simon Hodgkinson Production manager St James is a company that specialises in the design and creation of the most Cynthia Duku-Asamoah stylish and enjoyable places to live in and around London. Picture editor Katie Mousley We are a proud member of the Berkeley Group of companies, one of the UK's Writers most respected residential developers. We know that the most enjoyable homes Hayley Ard Josh Sims are those that keep you warm and comfortable all year round – which is why Rebecca Hattersley Claire Walsh we work with the world's finest architects, designers and engineers, applying Publisher the latest thinking and technology to creating bright and beautiful places to live Totality UK Ltd that are second to none. Cover Merano Residences, Albert Embankment, London. So we have chosen to dedicate this edition of Homes & London to all things hot. Computer generated image. From forthcoming events and the latest trends, to a crackling fireplace in a cosy pub; places to enjoy the finest spiced cuisine, to the latest in design from Brazil - the ‘soon to be’ FIFA World Cup and Olympic host and spiritual home to all things ‘hot’. We hope you enjoy warming your hands on Homes & London this winter. Printed by Park Communications on FSC® certified paper. This document is printed on Core Silk, a paper containing 100% virgin fibre sourced from well managed, responsible, FSC® certified forests. The pulp used in this product is bleached using an elemental chlorine free (ECF) process. Homes & London on your tablet Available on your iPad or Android The views expressed by tablet. Search contributors are not necessarily Homes & London shared by the St James Group. to download the No part of this magazine may latest edition. be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without permission. Homes & London is published on behalf of the St James Group by Totality UK Ltd. All rights reserved. Computer generated images are indicative only. Homes & London – 01 The hot issue Contents 17 Contents 04 Winter/Spring 2014 41 04 Built on spice 49 Fabric of nature St James collection Once worth more than its weight in gold, Once the preserve of more traditional clothing, 76 Places to live from St James we discover how London’s reputation as natural fibres are now at the heart of creating a global banking and trading powerhouse cutting edge high-performance wear that is 78 The Corniche was built on spice. setting new standards in warmth and comfort. 82 Riverlight 08 Playing with fire 54 Scandi style 86 Kew Bridge West Reliant on heat to shape and mould their They spend half their lives indoors sheltering 90 Merano Residences work, we meet four of London’s most revered from the cold outside, and when it comes craftsmen to find out what it is like to make to home styling no one does it quite like the 94 Queen Mary's Place a living playing with fire. Scandinavians. Blending simple lines, rich 96 Hurlingham Gate textures and functional style. 17 Wake up and smell the coffee! 100 Wye Dene With London’s ever more knowledgeable 58 Trail blazing 101 Kennet Island and demanding coffee drinkers consuming Like many great cities, London’s beauty and over 15 million cups per day, we explore what history is often best experienced on foot. So it takes to create the perfect brew and the put on your walking boots and choose from Coming soon perfect place to drink it. our selection of four perfect winter walks, all 102 Brewery Wharf ending in a great pub with a roaring open fire. 24 The art of placemaking 103 Moore House St James is a company driven by a vision 65 Heat wave 104 Hurlingham Walk to create unique places for people to live and London’s finest chefs are experimenting with enjoy – we discover how a new partnership heat and spice like never before, transforming 105 Butlers Court 27 with the Royal College of Art will place traditional cuisines into some of the city’s 106 Hornsey Depot a dynamic creative hub at the heart of the most elegant new taste sensations. new Nine Elms on the Southbank district. 106 Isleworth House 70 20/20 vision 106 Kew Bridge West Phase II 27 Hotspots We meet Berkeley Group Head of Sustainability, From a roaring log fire high in the mountains, Lorraine Fursland, to learn more about the to a tropical surfing beach, we pick five company’s commitment to setting the very remarkable places to enjoy keeping warm highest standards in sustainability, and why this winter. the future of our urban lifestyle and landscape 08 is safe in their hands. 34 The diary The hottest events taking place across 73 Firebrand the capital this Winter. When Rapha launched its first roadwear products in 2004, few could have predicted 41 Born in Brazil the impact the British cycle brand would With the approach of both a World Cup have on sport and even fashion. Now, as it and an Olympics, Brazil is fast becoming the celebrates its 10th anniversary, founder Simon world’s hottest country – with a wealth of Mottram shares his thoughts on the future 65 young talent creating new international luxury for the hottest brand on two wheels. brands. We profile four to look out for in 2014. 46 Hot list Our selection of the season’s coolest products to keep you warm. 13 02 – Homes & London Homes & London – 03 The hot issue Built on spice Once worth more than its weight in gold, we discover how London’s reputation as a global banking and trading powerhouse was built on spice. WRITER Josh Sims 04 – Homes & London Homes & London – 05 The hot issue Built on spice tul Kochhar was one of the first Indian Spice was the builder of empires in the Little trace remains of the East India Company chefs to receive a Michelin star. His modern era too, effectively leading to Britain’s today. The name was revived earlier this decade as A restaurant, Benares, in Mayfair, is colonisation of India, for example. And that a posh condiments brand, and its presence in East acclaimed for its modern Indian cuisine, with its brings the story to London, specifically to its India Dock – largely flattened during World War skilful blending of western and eastern cooking port. Spice may have been valued in part because Two – might only be discerned by street names the traditions and ingredients. Unsurprisingly, it was hard to come by – because much of it had likes of Clove Crescent and Nutmeg Lane. Although Kochhar uses all kinds of esoteric spices. And yet to make an arduous journey over land from no plaque states as much, the warehouses in where would Kochhar best source these? Back in the east. But it was the discovery of sea routes Devonshire Square, near Liverpool Street station, his native lands of Jamshedpur? “I get a better that truly opened the market – spices became are all that remain of its one-time storage depot. range of spices here in London than I ever could cheaper, more accessible, and so demand The relevance of the brickwork there is probably back in India,” he says. “The best of the world’s rocketed, both for use in food and in medicines. unbeknownst even to the Indian restaurants spice crop still comes through London – such The London businessmen behind the East that now occupy the buildings – here, as the poet that spice has become a common ingredient India Company saw the chance to make a lot laureate John Masefield wrote, could once be in all sorts of cuisines here. In fact, I’d say of money, as much in textiles as in tea. But, seen “Cinnamon, myrrh and mace... And a billion that the availability of spices in the capital has founded in 1600 by royal charter, it first went cloves in an odorous mount… You showed, for a shaped its restaurant scene – the use of curry up against the Dutch in a bid to monopolise the most delightful hour / The wealth of the world, and powder, cloves, saffron, for example, have all spice market by opening trade routes with India. London’s power.” become mainstream in even more traditional And the East India Company really went for it, Certainly the impact on London of the East English cooking, such that national cuisines in despotic fashion: by the time it was dissolved India Company’s pursuit of spices can hardly be are merging.” – 140 years ago this year – it had reaped the exaggerated. “The East India Company was very But Kochhar goes further in his praise benefits of having the largest private navy ever much a London company and all of its business of London as the world’s unexpected spice created, having one of the biggest private armies came through London,” explains Robert Blyth, capital, suggesting that a number of spices that and having controlled 50% of world trade.