All posts filed under: London

Covid19 quarantine #1

Covid19 quarantine #1 There are different ways to cope with what happened to us in the last 6 weeks. I see people desperately trying to keep on going, despite the lock-down, the social distancing and the nasty virus outside. I hear them dreaming about gin tonics on a sunny terrace, summer festivals they miss and sports events that are cancelled. It reminds me sometimes of contestants of ‘Expedition Robinson’ who, on the 26 th day, are fantasizing about burgers and fried chicken. People who are amusing us with smart, crazy and sometimes very fun challenges, celebrities who keep on broadcasting their real (& fake) self and others who want to understand as quickly as possible how we are going to live after the pandemic. Webinars about the post-Corona future, articles and podcasts with dramatic & utopian (and everything in between) future scenarios are launched at the speed of light, and I think this makes sense. But there are on the other side of the spectrum people who embrace effortless, without any difficulty, this slow life …

Damien Hirst Pharmacy 2 London

Damien Hirst Pharmacy 2_London

I am one of the lucky ones who visited Damien Hirst’s first original Pharmacy in Notting Hill. It blew my mind and what I most remember are the waiters dressed in blood red surgeon aprons, with an open back. Sexy as hell and so was the rest of the restaurant. Hirst wasn’t the super rich artist he is today and  his art was not that famous yet, so frequenting The Pharmacy was cool. The original restaurant was open between 1998-2003, the new one opened two years ago. I was there the week it opened, and remember taking a cab from the city to South London especially to be one of the first to discover it. The Pharmacy 2 is hosted in Damian Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery in Vauxhall, South London and is a real hommage to Hirst’s art installation The Medicine Cabinets series and butterfly Kaleidoscope paintings of 1992. Designed entirely by Hirst, Pharmacy 2 has etched glass windows depicting DNA strands, marble inlayed flooring and a bar of stainless steel and glass vitrine. Pharmacy Damien Hirst Pharmacy 2 is a …

Willy Vanderperre_London

The moment I first heard about the exhibition Willy Vanderperre ‘prints, film, posters and more‘ was holding in London, I knew I had to go and see it. I know Vanderperre’s work since I started my study photography years ago and I always love the way he looked at images, especially when he started working with stylist Olivier Rizzo. Two Belgian fashion pro’s who, years later, made it to the absolute top, without losing their naturel and edge. Willy is a longtime collaborator and friend of Raf Simons, shot everyone from A$AP Rocky and Millie Bobby Brown, to Harry Styles and the Kardashian-Jenners, and made campaigns for brands like Calvin Klein, Prada and Jil Sander. The exhibit took place at Store X, in the basement of Brutalist landmark 180 The Strand.  Not easy to find as nothing but a black plastic cache indicated the entrance of the show. The friendly doorman wanted a picture with me and I could enter the venue reception. A simple table with the (few) leftovers of all the merchandising (which I bought straight away), a …

Huel up your body!

Being professionaly focusing on food trends and all kind of food related innovations, sometimes you discover a new kind of food product that asks further investigation. Let me introduce Huel, a brand new food replacement in the market. I was in London when the team behind Huel give me some samples of their product: a white attractive, ûber neutral pouch, very low but strong branding in a black Helvetica typo and  the product itself has a velvety powder-ish feeling.     What is this Huel hype all about? Well, Huel is a nutritionally complete powdered food that contains all the proteins, carbs, and fats you need, plus at least 100% of the European Union’s “Daily Recommended Amounts” of all 26 essential vitamins and minerals . It’s been formulated by a renowned nutrition expert James Collier who has 25 years of experience working in nutrition and dietetics, so not a rookie would I think. Huel is 100% vegan (better for the environment and animals), super convenient, high in protein (148g per 2000 calories) and fibre (35g), contains just 4.6 grams of sugar per 2000 calories (no …