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In the first of a series of tales that begin from a Pullman Hotel in a number of locations, we explore the relationship of artist and patron and how a serendipitous meeting in a lobby or bar might just change the course of your career.
Meeting someone on the ascent is intoxicating, their energy and excitement is like the fizz of a newly opened bottle of champagne and it seems everyone around them is waiting hopefully for a glass full of their magic. One such person on the ascent is Irish jewellery designer Melissa Curry, who flew into London to attend the official launch of the Future Leaders Program, brainchild of the IIBN (Irish International Business Network). The IIBN is a not-for-profit and has at its very core a mission to support and promote entrepreneurs with a strong connection to Ireland.
We planned to meet in the lobby of the Pullman Hotel St Pancras, in part because it is one of the most inspired and humanistic meeting places in London, and for its serendipitous location accessible from every available form of transport that London enjoys. Designed by Mathieu Lehanneur, lighting is used ingeniously to create different moods throughout the open space – light boxes at the bar, coloured light beams in the stairwell and a nod to surrealism with a set of bowler hat lamp shades suspended over the internet area. When Melissa Curry arrived, her cobalt blue coat and brightly painted lips setting off her dark expressive eyes that shone with pleasant surprise, I knew we had picked the right location – everything about this place was sensitive to aesthetics without being superfluous. It celebrates design.
Checking into the arts room on the 16th floor, I could not believe my luck. Passionate about fine art photography, here was a room dedicated to a series of lover’s portraits from Carole Bellaiche’s Les Amoureax. Left to explore the pieces in my own private gallery, all on a theme of intimacy without overstating the erotic, as only the French can, Bellaiche’s photographs were the perfect choice for this very exclusive view. My eye lingered where it had never before, and my mind created sequences from what was about to unfold.
The fourth wall of this gallery room is an epic panoramic view of London’s skyline. Reaching up to the sky in the centre of the perspective was Renzo Piano’s glass fronted 87-storey masterpiece The Shard, like London Bridge’s answer to Norman Foster’s undulating glass 30 St Mary Axe (otherwise known as the Gherkin) in the city to the left. Seeing the buildings like this I was reminded of Richard Rogers’ manifesto that buildings should “reflect their structure, and create a space for things to happen”. Between the Pullman lobby and our room the scene was set for anything to happen – like the concept of “ma” or “ ”void“ ” so poetically described by Li Xiaodong, Professor of History and Theory at the Tsinghua University School of Architecture, in his installation at the Royal Academy’s Sensing Spaces Exhibition. Space is the true luxury of any cityscape, and thoughtfully arranged space is good for the soul.
That evening was the opening of the Crossings – The Journey to Peace, with photographs by Carol Allen Storey, in conjunction with International Alert at the Pullman Hotel. The images give us an insight into how open trade across boarders can positively impact international relations and promote peace. Incidentally sponsored by the Irish Embassy where we were heading, it was like a distant echo of how critical collaboration is to everyone’s future no matter where they are starting their journey from.
Melissa Curry’s journey as a jewellery designer is an incredible tale of triumph over adversity in both her personal life as a single mother and in a career as an independent designer. She has two distinct ranges of jewellery, a stand-out-and-be-bold range of vibrant coloured fashion pieces and a quietly provocative range in rose gold and silver that celebrates success. Curry conceived of a beautiful gold bar inscribed with the word “success” as a kind of amulet for the wearer, to encourage women to keep striving for their own growth and personal success. Unveiled on International Woman’s Day the first three pieces were given to Michelle Obama and her daughters by the Irish Prime Minister and his wife, Fionnuala Kenny. Success is about empowering women and girls globally – and is due to be launched in the USA later this year.
Invited to the Future Leaders Program launch in London, this was to be my first encounter with the IIBN, and to be fair I was overwhelmingly surprised. Hosted by the Irish Ambassador Daniel Mulhall and introduced by the effervescent IIBN co-founder Ross Finnegan at the Irish Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London, the message was simple, “Never forget where you are from and you will always know where you are going.” By creating a network of support for young Irish entrepreneurs through three vibrant Chapters in London, New York and Ireland, the idea is to encourage them to try, and if at first they don’t succeed to try again. In this way they are creating a circle of virtue, as those who they support will in turn bring up the next generation behind them.
With its fourth Global Annual Conference in New York scheduled for November 7 this year, it is clear that the IIBN are serious about helping to coach and develop the next generation of “rising stars”. That evening we were treated to CEO of WheyHey ice-cream Damien Kennedy’s hilarious and very self-effacing account of his journey from making high protein ice creams in his bedroom in frustration that there was nothing else on the market for his parents, both diabetic, to blowing up an industrial ice cream machine in Northampton, and finally delivering WheyHey ice-cream that night to the uber-trendsetter Harry Styles. He was deeply grateful for the support offered to him by the IIBN – and whilst the tale had us all killing ourselves with laughter its message was not lost. What goes around comes around.
After a brief detour to a secret little watering hole behind the Embassy with one to watch CEO Adrian Flemming of Manage CO2 and larger than life Sean Collins of Trinity Corporate, we returned to the Pullman for a nightcap. The lobby was a buzz with hotel guests all soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying the freedom of light and space in the city that rarely sleeps and serendipitous encounters are often life changing.
by Nico Kos Earle