Milan has 10 Corso Como, Paris has Merci, Manhattan has the all-new Chamber. Now, finally, London has its own bona-fide design destination of note in the 10,000 sq ft shape of Clerkenwell London, a space (don’t call it a ‘concept store’) opening officially this month on Farringdon Road.
Combining eatery, bar, wine library, design gallery, furniture floor, event space, spa, tailoring boutique, gold-parqueted fashion space, perfumery, and jewellery rooms, Clerkenwell London’s remit is to showcase niche and established designers, creatives and artisans. Mixing contemporary and vintage hand-picked homewares, fashion, jewellery, stationery, art, music and literature, it’s a celebration of innovation and craftsmanship across many industries.
Clerkenwell London was originally founded and has been newly recreated by David J Brown – a trained tailor, classical pianist and fine-wine enthusiast who also happens to be co-founder and CEO of what is now Europe’s third-largest tech company, Ve Interactive. With an impressive team on the ground to continually and expertly curate the space, the aim is to make the most of the location and its resident talents as well as the heritage of the architects, watchmakers and other designers the area has historically attracted.
Within a warren of different rooms over two floors, much of what is available is specific to Clerkenwell London. The on-site perfumery, for example, features their own in-house brand, ‘Synesthesia’, and customers can create their own bespoke fragrance, candle or body product. The appointment-only personal tailoring service with an experienced in-house tailor offers bespoke and made-to-measure clothing, including their very own signature suit – the ‘Clerkenwell’.
Showcased designers hail from all over the world, however: the space stocks stationary from Akoto; blankets from Andreas Engesvik; ornamental glassware from Dechem; and geometric tableware from Ewelina Wisniosvka. In the neon-labelled Undressing Rooms, customers can try pieces by Stutterheim, Zoe Jordan and Hannibal.
The team behind the space have every intention of ensuring it is recognised as much more than a store or a restaurant, too. A busy calendar of events, workshops, tastings and classes include hands-on butchery, wellbeing sessions and scent-making master-classes.
The design space (don’t call it a ‘concept store’) combines eatery, bar, wine library, design gallery, furniture floor, event space, spa, tailoring boutique, gold-parqueted fashion space, perfumery, and jewellery rooms
The space's remit is to showcase niche and established designers, creatives and artisans
Clerkenwell London was originally founded and has been newly recreated by David J Brown – who also happens to be co-founder and CEO of the major European tech company Ve Interactive
The space stocks myriad international designers, from stationary by Akoto, to Bunad blankets from Andreas Engesvik and ornamental glassware from Dechem
Mixing contemporary and vintage hand-picked homewares, fashion, jewellery, stationery, art, music and literature...
... it’s a celebration of innovation and craftsmanship across many industries
With an impressive team on the ground to continually and expertly curate the space, the aim is to make the most of the location and its resident talents as well as the heritage of the creatives and architects the area has historically attracted
The space's 155 Bar and Kitchen is open and taking bookings now, testing recipes for the permanent menu
Across a warren of different rooms over two floors, much of what is available at is specific to Clerkenwell London – from an on-site perfumery to a personal tailoring service
ADDRESS
Clerkenwell London
155 Farringdon Road
London, EC1R 3AD
-
Marylebone restaurant Nina turns up the volume on Italian diningAt Nina, don’t expect a view of the Amalfi Coast. Do expect pasta, leopard print and industrial chic
-
Tour the wonderful homes of ‘Casa Mexicana’, an ode to residential architecture in Mexico‘Casa Mexicana’ is a new book celebrating the country’s residential architecture, highlighting its influence across the world
-
Jonathan Anderson is heading to Dior MenAfter months of speculation, it has been confirmed this morning that Jonathan Anderson, who left Loewe earlier this year, is the successor to Kim Jones at Dior Men
-
The art of the textile label: how British mill-made cloth sold itself to Indian buyersAn exhibition of Indo-British textile labels at the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru is a journey through colonial desire and the design of mass persuasion
-
Artist Qualeasha Wood explores the digital glitch to weave stories of the Black female experienceIn ‘Malware’, her new London exhibition at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, the American artist’s tapestries, tuftings and videos delve into the world of internet malfunction
-
Ed Atkins confronts death at Tate BritainIn his new London exhibition, the artist prods at the limits of existence through digital and physical works, including a film starring Toby Jones
-
Tom Wesselmann’s 'Up Close' and the anatomy of desireIn a new exhibition currently on show at Almine Rech in London, Tom Wesselmann challenges the limits of figurative painting
-
A major Frida Kahlo exhibition is coming to the Tate Modern next yearTate’s 2026 programme includes 'Frida: The Making of an Icon', which will trace the professional and personal life of countercultural figurehead Frida Kahlo
-
A portrait of the artist: Sotheby’s puts Grayson Perry in the spotlightFor more than a decade, photographer Richard Ansett has made Grayson Perry his muse. Now Sotheby’s is staging a selling exhibition of their work
-
From counter-culture to Northern Soul, these photos chart an intimate history of working-class Britain‘After the End of History: British Working Class Photography 1989 – 2024’ is at Edinburgh gallery Stills
-
Celia Paul's colony of ghostly apparitions haunts Victoria MiroEerie and elegiac new London exhibition ‘Celia Paul: Colony of Ghosts’ is on show at Victoria Miro until 17 April
