Posted by Melissa Henry
Image: Margot Bowman
Friday
Being in the studio on Friday is normally really fun. We’ll be listening to NTS Radio (ntslive.co.uk) as well as other mixes we’ve picked up in the week. Our current favourite is Lotte Andersen and Phoebe Collings-James’ Living For The Weekend on KNOWWAVE (know-wave.com).
I’m based in Hackney so after work we always seem to head to The Royal Oak (73 Columbia Road, London E2 7RG, 020 7729 2220, royaloaklondon.com), which serves the dual purpose of being super close to my apartment and one of London’s best pubs. I drink a neat Nikka Whiskey or a classic G&T.
Image: Royal Oak
For dinner I love the food at Bethnal Green Town Hall Hotel’s Corner Room (Town Hall Hotel, Patriot Square, London, E2 9NF, 020 7871 0460, townhallhotel.com/corner_room). It’s such a magical building and their taste in furniture, art and quality is really awesome. Don’t skip the bread, it’s some of the best in London.
Image: Town Hall Hotel's Corner Room
Saturday
Sometimes the reality of work means Saturdays are spent in the studio but having the whole space to myself without the bother of email and people coming-and-going is a real pleasure. On weekends like that I’ll beat the crowds and get an early coffee from Climpson’s & Sons on Broadway Market (67 Broadway Market, London E8 4PH, climpsonandsons.com).
Image: Climpson's & Sons
Then I head to London Field’s Lido (London Fields West Side, London E8 3EU, 020 7254 9038, hackney.gov.uk/c-londonfields-lido) which is unquestionably my favourite part of living East. It’s an opportunity to swim, think and clear my head of the week, as well as being the perfect place to trial and test out the new designs and prints my swimwear label Auria (auria-london.com) is releasing for SS14.
Image: Auria
In the studio I’ll listen to Alexander Nut’s show on Rinse FM and then Giles Peterson on BBC 6 Music. I’ll take a wonderful lunch at Floyd’s (89 Shacklewell Lane, London, E8 2EB, 020 7923 7714, floydsonthelane.com), which is just next-door. The fresh, modern cooking they have crafted over the last 18 months has made it a real community staple. Get the courgette linguini and a spicy margarita for some um, ‘creative’ inspiration...
I love going out for food I can’t make myself, so dinner might be somewhere low-key like Tonkotsu East (Arch 334,1a Dunston Street, London E8 4EB, 020 7254 2478, tonkotsu.co.uk) (their mushroom gyoza rule), or My Old Place (88-90 Middlesex Street, London, E1 7EZ, 020 7247 2200, oldplace.co.uk) which is a crazy Szechuan Chinese restaurant in Liverpool Street. It’s different and kind of amazing.
Image: Tonkotsu East
Saturday night is spent dancing at a friend’s party, Maxilla Social Club in Ladbroke Grove (2 Maxilla Walk, London, W10 6NQ, 020 8969 2308), or one of the Nightslugs parties at Oval Space (29-32 The Oval, London, E2 9DT, 020 7183 4422, nightslugs.net). Otherwise Hoi-Polloi (Ace Hotel, 100 Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6JQ, 020 8880 6100, hoi-polloi.co.uk) is a great place for a few cocktails.
Image: The Oval, Lee Arucci
Sunday
I’ll get on my bike (lovingly made by Lunar Cycles) (Arch 66, Wilkin Street, London, NW5 3NN, 020 7482 1515, lunarcycles.co.uk) and check out a show in town. I love central London on the weekend, when all the workers are gone and there’s a great feeling in Soho. Everything at Duck Soup (41 Dean Street, London, W1D 4PY, 020 7287 4599, ducksoupsoho.co.uk) is so good; I always go for the specials menu.
There are so many great galleries in London to check out but at the moment I’m really enjoying Pace (6-10 Lexington Street, London W1F 0LB, 020 7437 1050, pacegallery.com/London), The ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts, 12 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AH, ica.org.uk) and Hauser and Wirth (23 Saville Row, Mayfair, London, W1S 2ET, 0207 287 2300, hauserwirth.com), which is tucked in right next door to the iconic Issey Miakye store (52-53 Conduit Street, London, W1S 2YX, 020 7851 4620, isseymiyake.com), so I’ll pop in there for some design inspiration.
Image: Pace Gallery London Exhibition “Everything Falls Faster than an Anvil”
On the way back home, I like to catch the end of Columbia Road flower market (Columbia Road, London, E2 7RG, 020 7613 0876, columbiaroad.info) when the sellers are clearing there decks and the flowers are super cheap!
I’ll dash home and leave my flowers in water before popping out to check out some of my favourite stores in the area, including Artwords Books (20-22 Broadway Market, London, E8 4QJ, 020 7923 7507, artwords.co.uk), Good Hood (45 Coronet Street, London, N1 6HD, 020 7729 3600,goodhoodstore.com) and even though it’s menswear, Present (140 Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6JE), 020 7033 0500, present-london.com).
Sunday nights are either spent at home cooking with friends or down at Hackney Picturehouse, below (270 Mare Street, London, E8 1HE, 0871 902 5734, picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Hackney_Picturehouse) eating dark chocolate and catching a film.
Margot Bowman is a London-based artist and designer. She'll be presenting WET!, an animated installation piece with audio from Actress & Giganta, at The House of St Barnabas' inaugural festival, Art Social '14.
The full programme and ticketing details can be found here:
