Soho House launches debut homeware line Soho Home

And as if world domination, city by city wasn’t enough, Jones has now got designs on your home. It was at Soho Farmhouse – their one-year-old booked-out Cotswolds retreat – that an enthusiastic Jones and his close-knit team, led by design director Vicky Charles, revealed their latest project: Soho Home, an interiors line of furniture, lighting, textiles and tableware as featured in their various houses. Available online at sohohome.com, shoppers can purchase House favourites, from the Slovenia-made crystal barware to the Frette sheets, cashmere throws and signature velvet chesterfield sofas made by quality British upholsterers George Smith.

This new interiors venture has been bubbling away for the past few years, but it has been able to grow organically as a fortuitous by-product of the houses rather than a conscious bid to take on the likes of Heals or the The Conran Shop. “There’s always been a demand for ‘the look’,” explains design director Charles, who’s based in New York and bears more than a passing resemblance to the actress Katie Holmes. “We’d receive an email every other week, asking where we got certain things from, so it just made sense. We were already doing the product development for the houses and had good suppliers in place. It was just the logistics we had to work out.”

The sprawling Chicago House with its multiple public areas provided the springboard they needed in terms of extensive buying in bulk, and then last year they appointed Jayne Demuro, formerly beauty and home buying director at Selfridges, to become managing director of Soho House Retail.

But don’t expect cutting-edge design - that’s not what Soho House is about. Jones’s mantra is that “the ultimate luxury is comfort” so, as you might expect, the range has a cosy English heritage feel, albeit it one with a contemporary twist. Ultimately this is an eclectic collection that offers a dose of bygone glamour but also reassuring familiarity. Large ticket items include the classic sleigh beds made from rustic reclaimed wood (a recurring design motif of Soho Farmhouse) and elegant Victorian-inspired four-poster beds, as spied at the Chicago property.

The most appealing designs by far are, predictably the sofas and armchairs produced by George Smith, who the group has been working for years. There’s a classic chesterfield in rich burgundy mohair velvet (priced just shy of £4,000) and button-backed Charles armchair, as well as the more modern Loft sofa in loose grey linens. There’s also a vintage section with battered leather club chairs, assorted midcentury modern finds, cute salvaged milking stools and Moroccan and Persian rugs. Tableware is also well catered for, with several options ranging from everyday white china to hand-painted striped stoneware from Whichford and floral blue-and-white Burleigh pottery ideal for afternoon tea.

It was the British designer Ilse Crawford who established the blueprint for the Soho House Group (after Jones had created the original club) with the Somerset bolthole Babington House with its roll-top baths and chunky timber touches, followed by Soho House New York. This aesthetic evolved when Tom Dixon collaborated on Shoreditch House, and more recently Martin Brudnizki, who brought his decadent flourishes to the Chicago and Miami properties.

Now, long-time design director Charles has taken up the baton, overseeing both the house interiors, the home collection and their residential design business which is growing (they recently completed George and Amal Clooney’s Berkshire pile). Pretty impressive, given that Charles started out working as a waitress for the group during the late 1990s when, she jokes, she “saw things I shouldn’t have seen!”

Charles, a fine arts graduate, is innately creative: she got involved gradually in interior design by producing temporary events – such as the group's annual Oscars party – learning project management while finessing her talents shadowing Crawford and Brudnizki. “Ilse’s spaces are very emotionally driven; she made me think about how you feel in a space. Whereas Martin really looks at the details and lighting in particular, that’s his forte. As a customer you don’t notice these things, but they all contribute to how you feel,” she says.

Although Jones only has a minority share – the private equity firm owned by US billionaire Ron Burkle has the majority stake – he remains the charismatic front man of the brand. It’s Jones that ultimately holds it all together. “He’s the customer,” Charles enthuses. “Nick has an incredible eye and you don’t have to explain everything to him, he just gets it. A project might start with a scrap of fabric or a particular chair and he just lets you run with it.”

One major advantage for the group’s foray into retail is that every item has already been given the thumbs up by its members and, although they may not adhere to the conventional retail pattern of releasing seasonal homeware collections ad infinitum, perhaps that’s the beauty of the enterprise. New pieces will arrive as and when they’re required – expect some Mediterranean ceramics when the Barcelona property opens soon – which better reflects how we all shop for our homes. Jones could well be onto something here; now whether we invest in a £1,800 chair or a £50 teapot, we can all join his club.
 

Soho Home is now available at Liberty in London and also online; sohohome.com