LONDON — Jo Malone London has a new home. The brand has moved out of the Estée Lauder headquarters on Mayfair’s Grosvenor Street and into a Georgian townhouse at 52 Gloucester Place, London.
“I wanted it to look like the boxes,” said interior designer Rose Uniacke, who curated the space with creative director James Gager. “The metal light fittings are custom-made and depict oak leaves to reflect the botanics that go into the fragrances. I wanted to reflect the colors, atmosphere, spirit and luxury of Jo Malone London so the walls are chalky, the curtains are full and rich, and the floors are raw wood.”
Throughout the building, Uniacke has used light fittings from the sixties, bespoke chandeliers, Nando Lanfranco prints, handmade tables, Fifties mirrors and custom-upholstered furniture in her translation of the Jo Malone London look.
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The building is one of the largest on Gloucester Place, covering 6,797 square feet across five floors, and was built between 1780 and 1800. The basement, with its original York stone floor, is where education and training sessions are held; the ground floor is home to the PR and online departments; there is a showroom and drawing room for meetings on the first floor; offices sit across the second floor; and the third floor houses the marketing and creative teams.
Jo Malone London currently operates in 31 markets, including Korea, which opened in August.
To celebrate the move, the Jo Malone team did what anyone with a new home would do: they threw a housewarming party. On Wednesday night, Jo Malone style editor Charlotte Stockdale joined forces with global general manager Jean-Guillaume Trottier and Uniacke, and invited all of their favorite people over to celebrate the new space with a “thoroughly proper party”.
“I wanted tonight to feel like a proper English house party, where people could eat, drink, dance, catch up. The dress code was black tie but I always said that if someone turns up in jeans, then that’s kind of cool,” Stockdale told WWD.
David Bailey did turn up in jeans but Hugh Grant, actress Olivia Grant, model Suki Waterhouse, the Noisettes’ Shingai Shoniwa, Bonnie Wright, MTV’s Izzy Lawrence, Alessandra and Stephen Rich, Nicholas Kirkwood and Nick Rhodes were all appropriately attired.
Upstairs, past Christmas wreaths of Jo Malone boxes, there was a sumptuous festive feast — towers of lobster, wheels of stilton, bowls of quails’ eggs and walnuts, platters of prawns, and crystal trifle bowls. And a lot of ‘R’ de Ruinart Champagne doing the rounds.
The first fruits of Stockdale’s creative efforts will be available in April next year. “Everything takes an age,” she said. “In fashion, I’m so used to things being super-fast, but here everything takes a year. For me, fragrance and fashion are the same thing. The same as music and art and books — you can have an opinion on them all. I never start from the clothes. I’m a storyteller. It all starts from a mood for me — and it is the same with what I’m doing here.”